there were many men, otherwise of good estimation, who believed in it, and were influenced by it. But what matters this long array of objections which was presented before the little meeting of the brothers assembled in the parlor of Sister Page! They were sufficient to justify the conclusions to which the party came, "that the reinstatement of Masonry at Spafford, under the present untoward circumstances, was impracticable, and was for the present postponed."

The brothers, however, would not disperse until they had announced their decision to the good sister herself, and a messenger was sent to the door of her sitting-room to announce it. She came at their summons, leading by either hand a stout boy, stalwart lads, once the pride of the father as they were now the hopes of the mother. She listened, with downcast eye, to their statement of the obstacles which had deterred them from pursuing their desire, and answered not a word until the catalogue was complete. But then a change came over her face; her eye kindled with meaning as she directed it toward them. She arose with a dignity they had never seen her exhibit before; and, placing her two boys before her, thus began: "This is not what I looked for from the companions of my deceased husband. On his death-bed he charged me to prize, as one of my highest privileges, my claims as a Mason's widow. He said that these boys would never want a father while there was a Mason in the land, and that a Mason's Lodge was the widow's home!" From this startling exordium, she went on

to make known, what was clearly evident to her mind, that without the establishment of a lodge, it was useless for men to profess themselves Masons; that all the benefits of the Order flow out of the lodge as the fountain; and that as her husband was buried at the hands of the Brethren in lodge assembled, so she hoped some day to see her sons initiated by the same body. In short, she pursued to its legitimate conclusions the argument, "that every Brother ought to belong to a lodge," and "that without the lodge there is no Masonry;" and she pressed it so earnestly home upon each of her hearers, that he could not resist it.

Perceiving, with a woman's tact, that she had convinced them as to the expediency of the effort, she proposed to furnish a vacant chamber in her dwelling, and to see to it that all necessary furniture and clothing were supplied for the work of the lodge. She offered-we have a copy of her letter before us as we write this-she offered to furnish the lodge gratuitously with refreshments, at every meeting, until they could do better; and that the public might not be deceived as to the respectability of the institution, she would march with the lodge in its first public procession, and protect it.

Of course she triumphed-of course the petition was prepared and signed that very night; forwarded to the nearest lodge for recommendation that week; sent to the Grand Master for approval that month; and returned accepted ere the moon waned. At the organization of the lodge, the subject of a name was

1

agitated; but all suggestions and debates ceased when a Brother proposed "Widowed Sister's Lodge;" it was too good to admit of a moment's hesitation. The aprons were ready, made of white silk, furnished from her own old-fashioned wedding-dress! Her family Bible made the first Great Light-could a better be desired? The gavels and other implements were provided at her charge. An ample supper was ready at the close of the meeting, and she presided at the head of the table, with her little boys at her side. Her own domestic wine made the beverage in which the regular toasts and her own name, the best of all, were duly honored.

But the occasion of her public appearance as a Mason, is the most interesting part of our tale. Father Lawson, the oldest member of the lodge, died suddenly, yet not so suddenly but that he had time to request a Masonic burial. The Brethren hesitated. They were not quite prepared to meet the public eye. They referred the matter to Sister Page. She, good soul, unhesitatingly told them they were bound to obey a dying Mason's request-much she knew of the matter!-and declared her determination to go with them! The procession formed at Bro. Lawson's-the whole population of Spafford gathering together in doubting whether to laugh or applaud -and, true to her word, the resolute woman marched at its head! It must have been a moving spectacle to see the dear lady, dressed in deepest mourningweeds, leading her little sons one by each hand, and walking the whole of that weary two miles in front

of the Tyler! Many was the proffer from the gentlemen of the village to lend her a conveyance; many was the door opened to invite her in to pause and rest; but she refused all entreaties; was the first as well as the last at the grave; and joined, by permission of the Master, in casting clods of earth upon. the coffin!

That day's exercises settled the question for all this generation as to the popularity of Masonry in Spafford. After that, there was no room for ridicule; for the thought of that devoted woman's adherence to the institution in its hour of adversity, incontinently banished it, or gave it a favorable turn. Men, who knew nothing of Masonry, admitted that it must be a good thing to deserve the support of so estimable a lady as Mrs. Page. The first effect of her devotedness was to bring in the adherence of many of the demitted Masons of the vicinity, who, from timidity probably, had stood thus far aloof; and this gave great additional strength to the lodge. Its second effect was to allure a few outsiders, whose parents, long ago, had taught them the value of Masonry as a social tie, and thus the temple was still further enlarged. The next thing was to nerve the Fraternity to a public procession, an address, a public dinner, and all that sort of thing; and when that was over, they felt strong enough, as Bro. Rakkoone somewhat lightly remarked, "to out-mouth His Satanic Majesty himself." Was not "Widowed Sister's Lodge" rightly named?

The Right Eye-The Right Hand.

A TALE OF FRATERNAL SACRIFICE.

Inscribed to R. W. Bro. Col. S. B. Campbell,

FOKONTO, CANADA WEST.

OW shall I describe the consternation-by what language we Brethren know prudently to use, can I depicture the alarm apparent in Spondylus Lodge, No. 19, at Peckville-you understand, reader, the name is a fictitious

one-when the discovery was made that that old Mason, Bro. Lewis Shipman, by many years the senior, in age, of the other members, and long the Master of the lodge, had committed a certain act which cast him at once beyond the pale of Masonic forgiveness! No such signs of distress were ever seen in that lodge before. In all their trials, in all the troubles of the antimasonic warfare through which the members of No. 19 had passed with clean aprons, though many a token of despondency remains upon the records of the lodge, there was nothing comparable with this.

When a friendship of ordinary character is severed by word or act, and transformed into the coldness of ordinary acquaintance; when love, which once seemed perfect, is lost in satiety or the craving for