with a servant girl at Lochlea. To this child he directed the poem commencing "Thou's welcome wean! mischanter fa' me,' " and to her mother the indelicate poem styled "The rantin' dog, the daddy o't." The Smith referred to was James Smith, a shop keeper at Mauchline, when Burns lived near there. Smith was a person of ready wit and lively manners, much beloved by the poet, who wrote one of his most original productions to his honor. The Hamilton was Gavin Hamilton, resident of Mauchline, one of Burns' first friends. Several references to this man are found in Burns' poems. The Aiken was Robert Aiken, a lawyer of Ayr, so intimate a friend of the poet that he dedicated to him the opening piece in the first edition, "The Cotters' Saturday Night," a poem which alone would immortalize its author. Besides the various Farewells, given above, there are such references to his intended exit as the following: And when ye read the simple, artless lines, Farewell, my rhyme-composing billie! I'll toast ye in my hindmost gillie He saw misfortune's cauld nor'-west A jillet brak his heart at last, Ill may she be; So took a berth afore the mast, The jillet was Jean Armour who, under compulsion from her father, had jilted or discarded him, and destroyed the marriage-lines which he gave her. As hinted before, they came together again and married a year later. And now to close with that effusion to a Mason's heart, the very best, written June, 1786, and entitled "The Farewell to the Brethren of St. James Lodge, Tarbolton." It is said that Burns himself sung it to the Lodge at the last meeting in which he ever expected to participate : Adieu, a heart-warm fond adieu, Oft have I met your social band, An' spent the cheerful, festive night; Which none but Craftsmen ever saw, May freedom, harmony and love, And you farewell, whose merits claim To him, the Bard that's far awa'! The person named in the last stanza is probably William Wallace, Master of St. James Lodge, and Sheriff of the shire. He was an attached friend of Burns, and often placed him in the East as Substitute Master, to which honor reference is made in the second verse. Unfortunately for the poet, Wallace died in November following, on the very day Burns reached Edinburgh and entered upon his brilliant (brief) career there. In closing this article it is only necessary to say that before Burns reached Greenock he received such encouragement as to incline him to abandon his Jamaica trip and go to Edinburgh. MASONIC MORALS. M W. John G. Harris, Grand Master of Grand Lodge of Alabama, in his address to that Most Worshipful Body, on the 6th of December, 1886, made use of the following impressive language:Before concluding this address I beg leave to call to your attention, painful though it may be to me, what I conceive to be flagrant violations of our rules, regulations and principles. It is charged that some Subordinate Lodges within this Jurisdiction retain members who profane the name of Deity, and who blaspheme the name of that God in whom we are taught in the most solemn manner to "put our trust" The Lodge that tolerates such conduct is at variance with the very fundamental principles and doctrines of the Order. No Mason who properly regards his Masonic character will so far forget himself as to speak lightly of that Divine Being of whom we are reminded when within the walls of a Masonic hall. Profanity is wrong in any man, but in a Mason it is a crime. George Washington, first President of these United States, and for many years Worshipful Master of a Masonic Lodge in Virginia, while commanding the army of the Revolution, observing that profanity was prevalent among the troops, on the 3d day of August, 1776, issued an order in reference thereto, in which he said: "It is a vice so mean and low, without any temptation, that every man of sense and character detested and despises it." Where is the Mason who has so far forgotten his allegiance to his Creator, his Benefactor, and his first entrance into a Lodge, as to hurl into the face of the Almighty blasphemous oaths and epithets? What has become of his dignity, his manhood, his nobility, his plighted faith? Has he expunged from that Book, the Holy Writings, that con. stantly lies upon the altar of the Lodge room, the command that was issued amid the thundering of Sinai, "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain"? Truth needs no compound oaths to make it more true. Pure and chaste language elevates and refines; it gives dignity to manhood, and tone to character; without it, the Masonic life is a fraud, and Masonic character a deception. There is another vice to some extent prevalent, and I would be recreant to duty, were I not to raise my voice against it, and warn the brethren of its consequences. Whilst we are satisfied this monstrous evil is on the decrease, yet it is still amongst us. I allude to intemperance or drunkenness. It is a vice that carries with it wreck and ruin--ruin socially, ruin morally, ruin intellectually, ruin financially, and therefore ruin Masonically. "Oh! that men should put an enemy into their mouths to steal away their brains; that we should with joy, gayety, revel and applause transform ourselves into beasts, when every inordinate cup is unblest and every ingredient is a devil!" Strike from a man his good reputation, and he is shorn of his strength. Drunkenness dwarfs manhood, dethrones reason, destroys character. While our obligations do not prohibit the moderate, temperate use of ardent spirits, yet they do prohibit most stringently the excessive use of every intoxicating drink. Whatever our individual views and opinions may be in reference to the use of intoxicating beverages, Masonry restricts only to the temperate use of them. Drunkenness is in direct and unequivocal violation of our precepts and tenets. No drunkard, therefore, should be retained as a member of any Lodge. I do not believe it would be a usurpation of authority for the Grand Master to arrest the charter of any Lodge that tolerates profanity or drunkenness among its members. Brethren, we cannot be too cautious, too circumspect. We cannot raise the standard of Masonry too high, morally. Her code of morals, emanating from a Divine source and coming down through the ages unimpaired, should be faithfully observed and rigidly enforced. Her members should be men of spotless reputation. It is not wealth, nor station, nor honor, nor learning that constitutes the model Mason, but character unimpeached and unimpeachable. The humblest citizen is on a level with the highest representative of the nation. Hence our Order knows no distinction among the just and the upright. Let us then, as a brotherhood, strive to reform every vice, and purify every corruption found among our members-in love, warning, in justice, reproving-holding on as long as selfrespect and allegiance to trust will allow, to the wayward and refractory, and when patience and long-suffering are exhausted, and the last fraternal effort is made to reclaim and has proven futile, then be just and fear not, applying the rule of discipline according to the Constitution, laws and edicts of the Order. "We say that it is the internal, and not the external, qualifications that recommend us to favorable consideration." [From "Writings for the Aged," by Mrs. Jane Lee Weisse.] ON THE APPROACH OF DEATH. The infant on its mother's breast, Did ne'er more gladly sink to rest, I long to lay aside the load, To feel no more the urging goad, Resting from all Earth's anxious cares, With dread and fear. Hope all through life hath been my stay. Now Death draws near. A truer friend, with aspect bland, Opening the bright celestial doors, The fluttering lark with out-spread wing, My earthly hopes lie shattered round, I see the hand that laid them low, Now I would bravely bear me up, |