GRAND COUNCIL OF CONNECTICUT.

Companion Jos. K. Wheeler, the very able Grand Recorder of the Grand Council of Connecticut, thus defends himself against certain charges. He says:

"Some years ago, in view of the reduced condition of the Rite in Alabama, I expressed the idea that if they could put it in good condition by conferring degrees on Sunday, they had better do it. For this I have been taken to task by S. S. Williams (Ohio correspondent), as being in favor of conferring degrees on Sunday. Now, although a sinner, I like my Sundays as well as anyone, and will not willingly give them up; but I can best illustrate my position by giving something of my own experience. In the summer of 1862, I enlisted as a private soldier in the 19th C. V., and went into Camp on Chestnut Hill, about two miles or so from Litchfield village. All of the field and most of the line officers were Masons. While we were there, Dr. Bostwick, who was Grand Master in Connecticut in 1864-5, came over to the camp one Sunday, and said they were much hurried in the Lodge, making Masons of young men of good character before the regiment left for the seat of war; the officers were tired out, having been in almost continuous work for several days, and asked me if I would pick out some of the Masons in camp and come over and give them a lift that afternoon. So, after religious services were over in camp, we got passes and went. I don't remember who they all were, but I know that James N. Coe, now Commander of the G. A. R. Post in New Haven, was one; so was the Grand Master of this Grand Council two years ago, A. B. Shumway. We went over to the Lodge about five, staid there and assisted in raising three candidates, and then went back to camp. On the graves of some of those who were with me that August night the grass has been grown for many years; but I have always been glad that I was able to assist those young men to that which might have enabled them to find friends in the hour of battle, and perhaps mitigate in some degree the horrors of a prison pen, even though they were of that class so contemptuously spoken of by some Masonic writers-war-made Masons.' Nearly all of us who survive show gray hairs and whitening beard; but looking back over the quarter of a century that has intervened, I have no apologies to make. I say we did the thing that was right, and under like conditions would do it again. I don't wish to trade on

borrowed plumage, or have you think I was a soldier when I was not. When a boy I had the misfortune to break my left arm badly; it was not set properly, and has always troubled me; so I was rejected as a soldier. I then tried to get some appointment, so that I could enter the service. I had no money or friends. Well, everybody knows what chance a man would stand of getting such an office without money or friends.

"I believe it is lawful to do good on Sunday. I think we have a precedent set forth in the Book of the Law, Mark iii, 4; Luke vi, 9 Call me a sinner or a heretic, if you will; but while I have life, I will do all the good I can on Sundays, as well as on other days of the week. I hope I shall not be compelled to allude to this subject again."

SPEAKING EVIL -Mrs Mattie A. Yost, Past Grand Matron of Missouri, in an address to members of the Order of the Eastern Star, says:

"For myself permit me to say, that if a deep interest in the prosperity of the Order, and a most profound reverence for its principles and teachings, yield an adequate return, we will go on from conquering unto conquest.

"I consider this institution worthy the hearty support and endorsement of all good Masons, its designs being to give to the mothers, wives, daughters and sisters of Master Masons that protection and assistance which Masonry affords to men.

"It furnishes a broad philanthropic platform, upon which all sects and denominations of faith may meet, sinking all differences of creeds, and finding nought to excite their prejudices or mar the harmony of social union.

"One single injunction contained in the charge to members renders this Order worthy to be extended to earth's remotest bounds. What a glorious approach to the millenium it would be were all the wives, mothers, sisters and daughters of Master Masons united with them as one great family, bound by one common interest in the mystic bonds in the Order of the Eastern Star, all being governed by the precepts which enjoin them to cautiously avoid speaking evil of one another, or perform any act of injustice or unkindness towards them.

"Then the hydra-headed monster scandal, would hide his diminished head, the breathing of slander would be forever hushed; happy homes would never more be dishonored, but each man and woman bound by this bond of union would feel it to be their sacred duty to protect the honor and reputation of all connected with them in this Order, and peace and harmony would prevail throughout the land. Not long since I heard a lady begin to make unkind remarks about another lady, but she almost instantly checked her speech, and with pained and confused look exclaimed, I must not say that, she is a sister of the Eastern Star.'"

THE EDITOR.

THE publishers will accept thanks for Number 2, Vol. III, of the History of Freemasonry in Maryland, by Edward T. Schultz, 32°. Bro. Schultz is doing his work in the most thorough manner, and has proven himself a "workman that need not to be ashamed."

GRAND LODGE OF IOWA closed its session June 10th, and its indefatigable Grand Secretary T. S. Parvin, had the printed proceedings, a volume of 460 pages, all distributed on July 6th. There are not many Grand Secretaries, with volumes quarter the size, succeed in getting out their reports as quick. Some require six and nine months for their task. Why should it be thus ?

It is perhaps a duty to apologize for the lack of variety in this number of the REVIEW. Yet it is hardly necessary, as the articles that occupy so much space are exceedingly interesting and instructive. That of Bro. J. RALSTON SKINNER is of a character which could not well be divided, and is too valuable a contribution to Biblical and Masonic literature to be lost, while the report of the Banquet of our American Fraters at York, England, is too rich in "good things" to be taken in detail-to divide would be to render insipid.

* **

THE CRUSADER' ASSOCIATION.-We learn from Bro. ROB MORRIS that this Society met in annual session on the 9th September, at Gettysburg, Pa. This is an organization composed of Templars who visited Europe-one party in 1871, the other in 1878-some sixty in all. The business at the annual meetings is to renew old acquaintance, eulogize departed members, enjoy a banquet, and arrange for the year to come. The meeting was a very pleasant

one.

This Association has adopted "the Last Man" theory-it being understood that when all but one have departed, the last man shall keep the feast alone until he too shall join the majority.

PERSONAL STATEMENT

BROTHER WRIGHTSON-A monthly paper, published in this city, contains, in its August issue, a notice of the letter I wrote to you from Des Moines, Iowa, and which you published in the REVIEW for August. The writer of the paragraph in said paper, quotes from my letter as follows:

"I had a letter from Cincinnati to-day (Aug. 10th) saying that Em. Sir Lyttle had appointed a Commission in the case of Em. Sir Stanton, consisting of three Knights Templar of the N. J. of the Scottish Rite. One of them, at least, a 33°."

Upon this statement made in my letter, the writer of the paragraph says:

"Eminent Sir Stanton communicated the contents of the Grand Commander's letter to his particular associates, both in and out of the Order, and it seems hastened to write to his friend, the Editor of the MASONIC REVIEW."

I understand that Em. Sir Stanton has been suspended, by the Grand Commander, from his office of Eminent Commander of Cincinnati Commandery, No. 3, Knights Templar, for communicating this matter to me.

No considerations of a personal character, or of concern for the miserable writer of the paragraph in the monthly paper, make it necessary for me to notice him or it. But as a matter of duty "which honor demands of all true Knights and gentlemen," I desire to say that Em. Sir Stanton did not write to me at Des Moines, Iowa, on that matter, nor on any other concern; that Sir Stanton never wrote me any letter of any kind, to any place, or at any time; that Sir Stanton never told me of the matter by any word or in any way; nor did we have any communication on the subject until after my return home from the West, nor even then, until after his suspension from his office, and the reasons therefor had transpired. I have learned since my return, that the matter was common rumor in certain circles at the time, and was written to me by a brother Master Mason, not a Knight Templar. And yet upon the mere statement that Em. Sir Stanton had so written to me he is subjected to suspension from his office. The statement that he so wrote to me, I pronounce a paltry, contemptible, but none the less malicious falsehood!

The same paper says-that "Tatem and Melish" are the only "members of the corps (editorial) who are responsible for what ap

pears in that number of the paper." The responsibility of the misera. ble screed it will not, therefore, be difficult to locate.

Now one word as to the subject matter of what I wrote in my letter to you:-The slandering trifler of the said monthly paper says:

"There is no 'Stanton Commission.""

Ans. Perhaps not,-but there was one.
Again:

66

has not appointed a Stanton Commission.'

Ans. But he had named one, and had (according to this very writer) asked Sir Stanton "if he had any objections against either of the three Knights whom he named."

Again :

"The three Knights Templars of the Commission are not of the N.J. Scottish Rite."

Ans. The three named were and are of the N.J. Scottish Rite! Again:

"No one of the 'Stanton Commission' is a 33° Mason." Ans. One of the three named was and is a 33° Mason! This scribler of the paragraph in the monthly paper is a quibbler. Of course it is not for an "ex- Knight Templar" to comment upon Proceedings (?) so suggestive of malice, and so marked with lawlessness and outrage. Yours Fraternally,

HENRY D. MORE.

It is a trite saying that you cannot handle pitch without soiling your hands. Hence, we have avoided as far as possible any reference to the screeds of a scurrilous writer in a sheet known as "The Scottish Rite Bulletin." Contact with it is as much to be avoided as would be the foul stream from a common sewer. The great body of the "Scottish Rite, N. J.," are all that could be asked of them to be,-Masons-gentlemen. There are, however, a few that are not of the latter class, -among them some of the "Editorial Committee," of the aforesaid Bulletin.

The jackal of the concern, in the August issue, makes a reference to the Publisher of the MASONIC REVIEW. This would not be worthy of notice did not the screed contain several untruths (intended to injure others), that were undoubtedly known to the writer to be such when he penned them. After a scurrilous reference to a letter