HOLDEN WITH CORDS

fW TUJ? QflPRflT
Ur

1 GJMLl

A FAITHFUL REPRESENTATION IN STORY OF THE EVIL INFLUENCE OF

FREEMASONRY
FLAGO,
Author of "Little People" "A Sunny Life"
Etc,

EZRA

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A. COOK, PUBLISHER,

1883.

Entered according to Act of Congress In the year 1883,

BY EZRA A. COOK,
In the
office of

the Librarian of Congress at Washington, D. C.

PUBLISHER'S PREFACE.

influence of stories both for good everywhere recognized. The vile anecdotes of the bar-room and saloon debauch the conscience worse than the liquor they drink does their bodies.

The educating
evil
is

and

most eloquent or he who can but give the most sensaworthy politician, tional illustrations, that stands the best chance of elecIt is notorious that it is neither the
tion.

The popular legends and fables of a nation indicate and largely determine the character of the people. Masonic writers have not been backward in the use of legends and narratives to bolster up that institution. Albert G. Mackey, the most influential and extensive Masonic writer of this country is the author of a book " THE MYSTIC TIE, or Facts and Opinions entitled Illustrative of the Character and Tendency of FreemaOf course the object of the work is to show what Masonry has done for men, its practical value, by and such chapter headings as u Freemasonry Among u Pirates," "Masonic Courtesy in War" and The Soldier Mason," show the object of the author. Such stories
sonry."

have doubtless led many to join the order, that by its mystic power they might be safe among pirates and other outlaws, little thinking they were at the same time obligating themselves to shield these outlaws from deserved punishment.

PREFACE.

But the power for good of narrations illustrative of God's dealing with individuals affd nations must not be overlooked, for this forms a large portion of God's Word, and Christ himself employed narratives and parables with great power in his teachings.
Bunyan's beautiful allegories have shown many the u blessedness of walking with God,' and the influence " " of Uncle Tom's Cabin in showing the people the
1

abominations of human slavery can scarcely be overestimated, because it was a true picture of that iniquitous system. Like the volume before the reader it was
a recital of facts, with but
for a covering.

enough of the garb of

fiction

of the abduction and

For ample proof of the accuracy of the sketch murder of Wm. Morgan and
trials

the

that

followed,

the reader

is

referred to

Broken Seal," by Samuel D. Greene, and to the "History of the Abduction of Capt. Wm. Morthe

"

gan," prepared by seven committes of leading citizens

of the

Empire State. And for the story of Mary Lyman's wrongs the pamphlet entitled "Judge Whitney's Defense,' furnishes ample material. All of these may be had in pamphlet form by addressing the pub1

lisher of this work.

After reading the aforesaid pamphlets the reader will " are stranger certainly be ready to exclaim, Surely facts how the see to able better be will than fiction," and

thousands of our land can be thus

of secret iniquity.

HOLDER WITH COBDS THE PUBLISHER.

OTITS
"-'

CONTENTS,
CHAPTER.
I.

PAGE.
11

MY

GRANDFATHER'S ADVICE " Mackey Asserts that Masonry is a 'Religious Institution, Note 1 Chase .-ays "Masonry has nothing whatever to do with the Bible.".. Morris tells the "Allurements" of the Lodge, Note 3 "Masonry unites men of every country, sect and opinion, Note 4..
'
.

12

12
12 12

Grandfather's Masonic Experience in a French Prison " Secrecy has a mystic binding almost supernatural force," Note 5..
II.

13

14
19

THE "COMMON AND PROFANE" DISCUSSING FREEMASONRY

III.

A MYSTERIOUS BOOK CHAMBERS

'

OF IMAGERY Initiation 'a death to the World and a resurrection to a new llf e"Note 6 Mackey Hints at the Stripping for Initation, Note 7 Taking the Entered Apprentice Oath "The importance of secret keeping, Note 8 "The shock of enlightenment, " Note 9 ' 'The social hour at high XII, " Note 10
''

25

29
29 30
31

32 33
34

IV.

A TALK WITH MY GRANDFATHER

4

.-

'This surrender of free-will to Masonic authority

is

is

absolute^Note 11 34
35
13

"Masonry
V.

a religious institution, " Note 12

"The dignity of the institution depends mainly up >n its age," Note PREPARATION FOR A JOURNEY PASSED AND RAISED." "It isthe obligation which makes the Mason, " Note 14
'

36 38

38
..

'Entered Apprentices are possessed of very few rights, " Note 15

45

VI.
VII.

AN EVENING WITH RACHEL

"Do you
suppose the Good Samaritan was a Freemason?"

47
49
53

A
' '

CERTAIN

JERICHO violent blow on the head that knocked me senseless from the
saddle"
to

MAN WENT DOWN FROM

59

VIII.

IX.

The horseman had flung himself off and was listening ' Don't go to maddening me with any of your grips and MRS. HAGAN'S OPINION OF ELDER GUSHING Honest Ben Hagan " MR. HAGAN T^LLS WHAT HE KNOWS ABOUT MASONRY "Placing a drawn sword across the throat," Note IB
' ' '
.

' '

my tale "
"
.

57

signs

59 60
61 67

72
7ii
. .

Treason and Rebellion not Masonic Offences, Note 17

4

'I

X. XI.

promised to help a companion in any difficulty, right or wrong" MASONIC MURDER SUCCESS AND RETURN HOME

74

76

MORE TALK WITH MY GRANDFATHER A MODERN PAN.

87

6
CHAPTEB. XII

COHTEBTTS.
PAGE.

MASONIC PUZZLES SAM TOLLER'S AFFAIBS, XIII. MASONIC BONDAGE. XIV. A DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE NOT OF '76.

A FEW

98 107

SAM TOLLER
115
126

MISSING XV. THE SPRING OF 1826. SAM TOLLER. "COMING EVENTS CAST THEIR SHADOWS BEFORE" XVI. AN ADHERING FREEMASON INCAPABLE OF ENTIRE LOYALTY TO HIS WIFE. A LODGE QUARREL. JACHIN AND BOAZ XVII LUKE THATCHER. KUMORS. MASONRY IN ITS KELIGIOUS ASPECTS ,
XVIII.

134
144 152

THE GATHERING STORM

XIX.

A NIGHT IN BATAYIA XX AN EXCITING SCENE

' '

162
176

XXI. THE MYSTERIOUS CARRIAGE XXII. MARK EELATES HIS MASONIC EXPERIENCES The ties of a Eoyal Arch Mason, " Note 23 "Libations are still used In some of the higher

187 197

200
degrees,

"Note 24 200
200 203 203 207 210

" mystery that awful secrecy, Note 25 "The Ancient Freemasonry that was practiced in the Mysteries, " Note 26 ... " The Worshipful Master himself is a representative of the sun," Note 27 XXIII AN EVENING IN THE LODGE The Ancient Mysteries, " Note 23 XXIV. FREEMASONRY'S MASK REMOVED SILENT ANTIMASONS, THE CIRCUIT PREACHER. RACHEL FINDS PEACE. HE GIVETH His BELOVED SLEEP XXV. MOVING. THE MASONIC OBLIGATION REMOVED. THE WARFARE

"That

vail of

'

217 229 238

BEGINS XXVI. THE FALL OF 1826. OUR JOURNEY. FREEMASONRY vs. JUSTICE XXVII THE SWORD OF DAMOCLES XXVIII. MASONRY REVEALED SAM TOLLER'S MASONRY. THE MYSTERY OF OAK ORCHARD CREEK XXIX. SUNDRY HAPPENINGS XXX. MASONIC SLANDER. THE ENGAGEMENT. RATTLESNAKE COBNEU XXXI. NEW SCENES AND OLD FACES

249

257
267

275
286 294 301

XXXII. THE MYSTERY OF INIQUITY

XXXIII. AUGEAN STABLES

XXXIV. ONE MORE UNFORTUNATE XXXV. MASONRY PROTECTING MURDERERS. Vox POPULI, Vox DEI XXXVI. SOME EXAMPLES OF MASONIC BENEVOLENCE AND MORALITY XXXVII. HISTORY REPEATS ITSELF " is to its over
Masonry
strong enough the vilest criminal" spread
protecting wing

308 317 333 348

349 360

XXXVIII. UNDER THE JUNIPER TREE XXXIX. A FORETASTE LX. THK VICTORY OVER THE BEAST
**

369 376 379

would not wish

to enter

Heaven with one honorable scar the

less" *Will you be the slaves of the lodge, secret iniquity?"

HOLDER WITH CORDS

of
884

INTRODUCTION.
For clothing fact in the garb of fiction the writer deems no apology necessary, having only followed in
so doing the universal fashion of the day; but in order

between author and reader a sympathetic understanding from the outset, it has seemed both proper and needful to give some of the reasons which lead to the writing of this volume. Once in their past history has God in His providence placed before the American people a great moral issue that could be neither shirked, nor ignored, nor met half way. In vain statesmen compromised, in vain " pulpit and press cried peace, peace!' when there was no peace. God continually sent ''prophets and righteous men," who kept that one issue sternly before the popular mind, and in many cases sealed the truth they spoke with their blood. The sequel we all know. The question God had been asking the American nation so
to establish
1

years in the terrible, relentless logic of events, at last but it was at the point of the sword. Shall the lesson be in vain?

many

was forced upon us

It

would seem as if God intended America to be the great moral battle field for the world. In her freedom from priestcraft and kingcraft; in the sacred traditions that cluster about her past and the bow of promise which spans her future she occupies a vantage ground in such moral struggles impossible of attainment to a people fettered, as are the nations of the Old World,

INTKODTJCTION.

with the remnants of feudalism, and bowed down with centuries of oppression, and toil, and ignorance. To America, the pole star of the world's liberties, their
eyes are looking with loflf ing desire. In every great question that agitates us, which affects the freedom of

our government and the stability of our institutions, they have a vital interest. Shall the simple, hardy, honest emigrant escaping from the despotisms of Europe, find enthroned on our shores the more hopeless

despotism of the Secret Empire, with its Grand Masters and Sir Knights and Sublime Princes, its Kings

and Prelates and Inquisitor Generals, its secret cliques and rings and combinations? This is one phase of the question which the sons of Pilgrim and Revolutionary sires will be called upon at no distant day to answer, and whether the shadow on the dial-plate of human freedom is to go forward or backward in the next generation depends in no small degree on the readiness with which they wake to the danger and their right
understanding of a subject fraught with such far-reaching consequences to themselves and their posterity. Thus it will be seen that the writer would have found
in motives of mere patriotism more than sufficient excuse for desiring to embody in a living dramatic form a true picture of the Masonic system both in its past

history and its present revival.

From

the

Morgan

by the sworn testimony of that great Christian statesman, Thurlow Weed, to the closing scenes of the book, not a single incident of importance has been introduced which cannot be easily
tragedy, unlocked at
last
veritied, the writer

allowing no artistic considerations

to blunt the force of that mightiest of error the simple, unvarnished truth.

weapons against

INTRODUCTION.

But weighty
here presented

as is this reason

and

let the reader

judge for himself if indifference to such facts as are

is

compatible with sincere love of coun-

another and even highery^eason was the primary try force which first urged the writing of these pages.

For again God is calling the American people to face a second great moral issue, greater than the first inasmuch as the evil we are now called upon to combat is
not merely local and sectional but national; not merely national but world-wide. Slavery was a foul excrescence
requiring the surgeon's knife; secretism is a subtle poison which, if not speedily erradicated from our body " the. whole head sick and the whole politic will make heart faint." Again God is commanding, " Proclaim
liberty to the captives," for though slavery exists no longer there is a system of spiritual bondage in our midst, a fettering of mind and conscience worthy of

days of priestly tyranny. And every church, every individual Christian, who through dread of agitation, fear of stirring up strife or mere lazy inthe darkest
difference countenances this great evil or refuses to bear witness against it, has the fearful guilt to answer for of forging those fetters anew.

More than

all,

Masonry

is

a religion, and as there can

be but one true religion in the world any more than there can be but one true God, it follows that it is either
a false religion or else for eighteen hundred years the hopes of humanity have centered about a cunningly

devised fable of a certain Divine

earth, died for sinners,

Man who came on and rose again to be their eternal Friend and Intercessor which was all quite unnecessary if Daniel Sickels, a distinguished Masonic writer, is correct when, in speaking of the Master Mason, he

10
says:

INTRODUCTION.

man complete in morality and with the intelligence, stay of RELIGION added, to insure him of the protection of the Deity and guard him against ever going astray. These three degrees thus form a perfect and harmonious whole; nor can we conceive that anything can be suggested more which the soul of man requires." SickeTs Monitor, p. 97. Be" in one Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ lieving devoutly of whom the whole family in Heaven and earth is
find

"We now

named," the writer

felt called of

God

to

show the

anti-

Christian character of the Masonic system, but at the same time it is hoped that the reader will recognize in
portraits of Leander's grandfather and Anson Lovejoy a desire to do justice to the many good men w ho have been and still are caught in the snare of the In truth, throughout the writing of this vollodge. ume two classes have been kept continually in view as especially needing enlightenment Masons and nonMasons; the former being in nine cases out of ten

the
r

actually the most ignorant of the real nature and designs of the institution to which they have sworn away
their, liberties

and their

lives.

These, in brief, are the author's reasons for presenting this work to the public, in the hope that many honest and candid minds both in and out of the lodge may be lead thereby to a still fartKer investigation of
its

"For
cometh
be

character and claims. every one that doeth evil hateth the
to the light lest

light, neither

his deeds should be reproved. he that doeth truth cometh to the light that his deeds

But

may

made manifest

that they are

wrought in God."
E. E. F.

CHAPTER
HAD
this

I.

just

attained
like

my

sounds

an

abrupt

majority. If as well

as

story,

egotistical way of to people who do

beginning a not care to

waste their time

bles,
it

reading

will

at

least

long parahave the merit of

simplicity and directness, while as respects the second charge the very fact just stated is
sufficient answer. I

was

egotistical.

thought

a great deal more of myself than the world did, or was ever likely to.

had just attained my majority. My seated grandfather, taanquilly in his favorite corner,
But, as I
said, I

felt it

incumbent on him to give me some advice. It was very good and excellent advice, of the same general sort that is always given to young people, and I need
not repeat it here, except to say that counsel very like it may be found in certain old-fashioned moral essays called the Proverbs of King Solomon.
"

Now, Leander,"

said

my

grandfather, laying

down

his pipe for a final and solemn winding up, "you will be a useful and honored man if you strictly obey these
rules.

principle in nature.

law of gravity, or any other great You cannot disregard them without suffering the consequences and making your friends suffer with you. But I am going to speak of something
It is like the

12
else.

HOLDER WITH

CORDS.
to become a Freemawould be an excellent

You
and
1

son,

are the right age I am of opinion that

now
it

one can be a good Mason without a belief in 2 Bible, and strict attendance to his moral duties, so that it developes and trains a sense of moral obligation in its members from the outset. Then there
thing.

No

God and the

other advantages, though I don't want to the habit of always looking at the worldly you get side of everything. We are immortal souls and should
are, of course,

remember that
it is

this is not our final abiding place.

all

Still,

right means for advancement in life, and becoming a Mason will be a great help to you, Leander, now that you are just about to start in business for yourself. All the members of the fraternity will be, bound to consider your success as their own, and

proper to use

friends,

should you ever travel, or be taken sick away from you have onl}" to give the necessary sign and any true Mason will minister to your wants like a
brother.
4

Now

have a story to

tell at this

point that

NOTE 1." The truth is, that Masonry is undoubtedly a religious institutionbeing of that universal kind in which all men agree, and which. handed down through a long succession of ages from that ancient priesthood who first taught it, embraces the great tenets of the existence of God and the immortality of the soul; tenets which by its peculiar symbolic language, it has preserved from its foundation, and still continues in the same beautiful way to teach. Beyond this for its religious faith, we must not and cannot go." Mackey's Masonic Jurisprudence, page 95. NOTES. "Blue Lodge Masonry has nothing whatever to do with the Bible. It is not founded on the Bible; if it was it would not be Masonry; it would be something else." Chase's Digest of Masonic Law, page 207. NOTE 8. " The allurements to unite with the Masonic fraternity partake of the nature of personal advantages. It were folly to deny that while the applicant is willing to impart good to his fellows, he expects equally to receive " The good.' * * * prime advantages derived from a connection with Blue Lodge Masonry may be summed up under three heads, viz: relief In distress, counsel in difficulty, protection in danger." Morris's Dictionary, Art., AdIts religion
1

vantages.

NOTE
ris's

4.

"Masonry

unites

men

of every country, sect and opinion."

Mor-

Dictionary; Art., Brotherly Love.

MT GRANDFATHER'S
happened
let

ADYTCE.

13

over twenty years ago, and I I guess it was, for you wasn't born then, Leander. Well, well, Life's an empty show,' as the hymnbook says."
us see
as

don't

know but

much as twenty-five.

grandfather sighed and took a pinch of snuff. had heard the story before but was not averse to hearing it again. I am afraid the idea of any moral or religious benefit to be gained by taking the step he so
I

My

strongly advised did not impress me very deeply. Bub on the other hand the idea of joining a fraternitj7 all the members of which would be bound to help me on
,

in

life, I

need not
u

did find especially agreeable, for reasons that now be stated.

At

the close of the last century," began

my
'

grand-

you know, were greatly our I was commerce. troubling captain of the Martha a and the deck of Ann,' stauncher, trimmer vessel I never trod. I shipped with a good crew, tried and able seamen; so, getting all things together, I was calculatfather,
cruisers, as

"French

ous, voyage.

ing by the help of Providence to have a pretty prosperThe idea of being captured hardly entered my head till we were captured, ship, cargo, crew and

by a French frigate that swooped down on the Martha Ann like a hawk on a chicken^ We were carried to the nearest French seaport and thrown into prison, a vile, clftse hole where we nearly smothered. The place must have been some old fortress, I think,
all
1

'

for there

were

slits

in the wall like port holes, only so

high from the ground that we had to make a ladder of each other's shoulders when we wanted to look out. We could catch a glimpse of the water and the ships r and though the sight used to make us so homesick that half of us cried like babies, we all wanted to take one

14

HOLDER WITH

CORDS.

turn in looking. I tell you, Leander, I felt a thousand times worse for my poor men than I ever did for myself."
I did not doubt this statement in the least. My dear grandfather had the kindest heart that ever beat in mortal bosom. His very silver snuff-box reflected the benevolence of his face like a radiator.

One

1 '

day,

the prison. spector or something of the sort, and it flashed through my mind that very possibly he was a Mason. Without

he continued, a military officer visited I believe he was some sort of General In-

"

stopping to think I gave the sign of distress, to which he promptly responded. And now do you wonder that I rate highly the advantages of joining such an institution a universal brotherhood as wide as the world?

For remember, he was as ignorant of English as I was 5 of French. Only his vow as a Mason could have led him to take the smallest interest in my fate. Yet from New that hour my condition was entirely changed. and roomy^ quarters were given me, a new suit of clothes, good food and considerable freedom everything
in short but the privilege of writing home to my family and friends. But the condition of my poor men weighed 6n my heart. I tried hard and used every

means
NOTE
unites

in
"

my

power to exert

my

in^ience

as a

Mason

Secrecy has a mystic, binding, almost supernatural force, and closely together than all other means combined. Suppose two men, strangers, traveling in a distant country, should by some accident be brought together for a few brief moments, during which they happen to be the involuntary witnesses of some terrible deed, a deed which circumstances demand shall remain a secret between them forever. In all the wide world only these two men, and they strangers to each other, know the secret. They separate; continents and oceans and many eventful years divide them ; but they cannot forget each other, nor the dread mystery which binds them together as with an iron chain. Neither time nor distance can weaken that mighty bond. In that they are forever one. It is not, then, for any vain or frivolous purpose that Masonry appeals to the principle of secrecy. " Sickens Ahiman Rezon,, p. 63.
5.

men more

MY GRANDFATHER'S
in their behalf, but
it

ADVICE.
use.

15
to re-

was of no

They had

main

in that wretched prison, destitute of till finally the difficulties were settled every comfort,
six

months

between our government and the French, when we were all set free." u But I can't see why this officer, whoever he was, was not bound by his Masonic oath to heed your appeal in behalf of the poor sailors," I said, rather in-

consequently, as
"

my

grandfather proceeded to show.

They were noi Masons. We must draw a dividing line somewhere. Because a general rule sometimes bears very hard on a particular case it doesn't follow
that the rule
its
is

not good.

To allow

outsiders to share

benefits

order.
if

would only end in the destruction of the Nothing could be plainer. But then Leander,
to join just yet
I

you don't care

won't urge

it.

There's plenty of time."

grandfather evidently thought he had said enough, but his sudden lapse into a tone and manner,
traries

My

seemingly half indifferent, by some curious law of conproduced more effect on me than his former
earnest strain. " I don't want to put off doing anything that would
really be

an advantage to me,"

t said.

My grandfather looked gratified. " I'm glad to hear you say so, Leander. ProcrastinaIt has ruined the prospects of tion is a bad thing.
many
a young man before now. If a thing is right and proper to do, nothing is gained, but sometimes a good deal is lost by delay." My grandfather shook the ashes from his pipe and said no more, while I suddenly remembering some neglected farm duties, to which the moral reflections he

16

HOLDER WITH

COEDS.

had just uttered were certainly very apropos, took my its peg and hurried out. It was also the spring It was the spring of 1826. time of the Nineteenth century, ushered in for the Old World in fierce storm and conflict, for us of the New in comparative peace and quiet, though the year 1812 had left scars on our prosperity not wholly effaced, while there was even then in the atmosphere of the " a sound times, at least for those who had ears to hear,
hat from a going in the tops of the mulherry trees stir of contending moral forces, of great questions to be answered, and great issues to be met how answered and how met, ye brave souls who have stood so nobly for God and right, even in the very darkest hour of
as of a
1'

wrong's seeming triumph, tell us! In our small wilderness community, with few books and fewer newspapers, we knew little and cared less for

some

the differing issues of the day, but there are always souls who seem to be electrically responsive to

the times they are born into, and such a one was my second cousin and nearest neighbor, Mark Stedman.

To

a slightly built frame was coupled one of those ardent, longing, religious souls that are ever strivafter

ing

unattained

the world says unattainable

ideals.

the

'He had taught our district school two winters, but in summer he worked on his father's farm. Astrono-

my

and theology were his favorite

studies.

They

fed

his love of the sublime a.nd the mysterious, while they ministered to the deepest cravings of a nature at once

reverent and speculative; ready to follow Truth to the world's ends, but afflicted with a certain moral near-

sightedness that

made him

just as ready to follow

Error

17

when she aped Truth, though

fashion.

in never so

clumsy a

It was, as I have said, a period of suppressed stir and ferment in the intellectual and religious life of the country a breaking away from the old forms of thought, a cutting loose from the anchor of the old creeds, and the subtle influence of the times could not fail to reach a soul so sympathetic and intense as Mark Stedman's, though with an effect a good deal like new wine in old bottles.

How we
reader.
I

ever became close friends

may

puzzle the

can give no better explanation than tli3 facts previously stated, that we were cousins and near neighbors, with this important addition, I was affianced
to his sister Rachel.

why my
tainly
set,

Of course the sagacious reader will at once perceive grandfather's advice was so peculiarly palataa very pardonable one cerIt was my ambition ble.

to give Rachel a comfortable home at the outand almost any stepping stone to success I felt warranted in mounting, unless it involved doing what was really mean or dishonorable. And that, one thought of Rachel, and the noble scorn that would flash from her black eyes if she knew it. had the power to stop me from on the instant. This being the case I was blessed with something Her approval or disapproval, like a double conscience. like a final verdict from the Supreme Bench, carried with it no possible chance of appeal. Yet with all her

stern sense of right she was a most gentle creature, pitiful to a worm, careful of everybody's feelings, and

ready to show kindness to the most degraded

being.

human

18
T

HOLDER WITH

CORDS.

had no thought of entering the lodge without first talking over the suhject with her. I felt that her practical good sense would be quick to see the advantage of such a step, and being by this time fully persuaded that it was entirely and solely for her sake that 1 contemplated taking it, I was naturally not unwilling that
1

she should be cognizant of this

fact.

visit at the Stedman's found only Mark at home, seated on the back stoop with a book and a piece of paper before him on which he was drawing some complicated diagram by the failing sunset light. Rachel was spending the afternoon with a neighbor and had not yet returned. It was so warm and pleasant I declined his invitation to go in, but took a seat beside him on the stoop, and

But on paying my customary

after a little preliminary talk, rather absently sustained

by Mark, whose soul was in his beloved calculations, I began upon the subject just now uppermost in my
thoughts.

Mark, I'm thinking of joining the Freemasons. grandfather strongly advises it, and when all is considered I am not sure but it would really be as he says,

"

My

the very best thing I could do." Mark chewed a spear of grass in silence. But his abstracted manner was entirely gone, and I could see that my communication had for some reason roused an

unusual degree of interest, though he waited minutes before replying.

full

three

CHAPTER
ELL, Leander," he

II.

said at last,

"what

is

your principal reason for wishing to join the Masons, anyway?"

u

The idea

of

some

practical benefit to

me, of course. Their influence will help me on in my business, and be a great advantage
life."

now

that I

am

just starting in

I beg your pardon; but such a reason seems very low and unworthy. Motives of mere selfish interest ought hot to be the chief ones to sway men of

"

to

me

principle and conscience

decision; especially tion whose character

when making any important when it regards joining an institu-

and antiquity ranks it only next church itself. Even you, Leander, would shrink aghast from the thought of joining the church for any such reason as mere worldly benefit.'
to the
1

I listened in some amaze, for Mark in his earnestness was twirling and twisting the piece of paper on which he had drawn his half-finished diagram, into a shapeless quid between his thumb and finger a forgetfulne^s which evinced as nothing else could have done, that our subject of talk was, for the moment at least, of supreme and absorbing interest.

20
u
I

HOLDER WITH

CORDS.

know Masonry

morality and religion and " But the fact at length.

different sets
I'll

claims to be very old and to teach all that sort of thing," I said
is,

you and

belong to two

you are well, somewhere between heaven and earth most of the time, and After all, I I guess a little nearest heaven of the two. don't understand this fuss about motives. If two roads lead to the same place, what great difference dyes it make which one I take? Though I don't join with an especial eye to these moral and religious considerations that you seem to think so much of, I suppose I shall
frankly
get the benefit, of them just as much as those who do." " Do gold and I am not so sure of that, Leander. jewels lie on the surface of the ground for men to pick up at their will? And is truth, which is more valuable

own up

of beings. I am to it. And

of the earth, earthy.

than topaz or ruby, to be gained

it

at less cost?

Doesn't

make

all

the difference in the world whether a

man

sets out to search for gold, or hunt for blackberries? If you join the lodge for mere worldly advancement you

will

probably get what you seek, but

benefits, as
all

they grander motive in entering, will not in

yours." '"For pity's sake, Mark,
asked,

its higher and formed no part of your

likelihood ever be

why don't you join?" I u Does the Papal doctrine of banteringly. supererogatory merit prevail in the lodge? I hope so. I am sure it would be very convenient for me and other
poor sinners, for a few members like you scattered here and there would cover up all our shortcomings."
"

Leander, don't

make

can't bear to have you.

The

a joke of serious things. I fact is I have been think-

FREEMASONKY DISCUSSED.

21

ing over the matter for a long tivne ever since I had a talk with our minister, Elder Gushing. You know I

never could see

hope
1

am

my way clear to join the church. I a Christian, but I never had the assurance.

am sorry for my sins, but I was never visited with those deep convictions that others feel. And while these evidences are lacking I simply don't dare approach the Lord's table for fear I may eat and ,drink unworthily, and so bring down on my head the guilt of unpardonable sin. I told him just how I felt, and he said that perhaps, on the whole, it would be better to wait till my evidences grew clearer. And then he be-

gan to talk about Masonry, how it was the oldest and most venerable of institutions, sanctioned by the good and great of every age. Religion's strongest ally, teaching the most sublime principles of virtue, so that it was really like a kind of vestibule leading into the church itself. He strongly recommended me to join
I have put it off for a as a kind of preparatory sisep. good while, but I don't mean to any longer. Now you know my reasons, Leander, for becoming a Mason. u the children of this world It is said by Christ that are in their generation wiser than the children of Even in this case I was a good deal wiser than light." Mark Stedman. But I made no audible comment except a low whistle under my breath which would bear any interpretation he chose to put upon it. 11 u Have you told Rachel? I finally asked. u No, but I have been meaning to; I hardly know
it
1

'

why

haven't."
fact

The

was

than his

sister did.

enjoyed more of Mark's confidence His poetical, mystical nature was

22

HOLDER WITH

COKDS.

apt to shrink from the touchstone of her clear common sense. The very closeness of their near relationship,

allowing as it did no vantage ground of distance from which to view each other, was in their case what it very often is a bar to mutual understanding.

At

that

moment

Rachel's

light

step parted the

orchard grass.
the sky and in the eventide.

The gold and crimson had faded from its place was the more heavenly glory of There was the pale sickle of a younga few stars had begun to tremble

moon overhead and

She came forward with her faintly out of the blue. bonnet untied and falling backward, and her brown
cheek glowing with youth and health. Ruth might have looked thus hastening home from the harvest fields of Bethlehem. " I thought I heard my name spoken, she said, as u What is the confab about, pray?" she came up. " We were talking about joining the Masons. What do you think about it, Rachel?" Rachel took her bonnet entirely off and twirled it
1'

by the string a moment before she replied. " I don't think anything about it. Why should I? about I know first In the it, and am nothing place never likely to. That is reason enough for keeping my opinions to myself. But I don't mind telling both of you that there are things about Masonry which I neither like nor understand. What is the need of I should not have to ask that secrecy, for instance? question about a band of thieves, or even a handful of patriots who had met to plot the overthrow of some
tyrant such as we read of in history. But in a time of peace and a land of freedom what is the use, as I say,
of secrecy?"

FKEEMASONEY DISCUSSED.
"
I

23

suppose good can work in secret as well as evil," " Mark. Indeed, I asked Elder Gushing this very and he reasoned something like this: that the question
said

mysteries of Masonry, like the mysteries of religion, were too sacred to be openly exposed to the gaze of the common and profane, who would not be benefited thereby, and for whom such things would only make Even the white stone and the new name were sport. secret symbols used in heaven."
"
ly,

Well,'' said Rachel, turning upon him rather sharp" as nature made me a woman I suppose I am one

of the common and profane in the eye of Masonry and Elder Gushing. How could he draw any such parallel? Religion opens the door freely to male and female, rich and poor, bond and free. I never did get any good out of our Elder's sermons and I am afraid I shall get less now. But that brings me round to the next point. Don't Isn't it rather hard that women are excluded?

we need its moral and religious teachings as much as men do? Are we never placed in circumstances of trial or danger when the succor and help that } OU say every Mason is bound to give his distressed brothers
T

would be very grateful?"

But, Rachel," I said, men vote and make the laws. Women are excluded from our legislative halls, but you
don't complain of that. If our laws are made by only one sex they are framed in the interest of both, one as
as the other. And so, though women cannot be Masons, they get all the real benefits of the institution when their husbands and brothers join." My experience had not then shown me their falseness. I was telling Rachel only what I actually be-

much

lieved.

24

HOLDER WITH

CORDS.

in

She was silent a moment and then with a little laugh which amusement seemed to blend with a suppressed

doubtfulness, she turned to go into the house, only saying as she did so u I won't presume to dictate in a thing I know nothing about. I dare say it is all right. It must be if

such a good
is

a better

man as your grandfather thinks it is. He man than Elder Gushing a great deal."

Rachel did not open her lips again on the subject and steadily evaded all efforts on my part to resume it.

CHAPTER
A MYSTERIOUS BOOK

III.

CHAMBERS OF IMAGERY.
that

WAS accordingly arranged

I

Mark

Stedman and

should present ourselves as candidates for admission into the

lodge, which was at that time one of the most flourishing institutions of our little
village.

Not only

did the minister belong

to

it,

but

the senior deacon and

many

church members, to say nothing of others, who, though of that carnal world which, ac" cording to St. John, lieth in wickedness," were yet pew owners, and in their way pillars of respectability and influence. The preaching of Elder Gushing was on this wise. He often gave us excellent moral homilies and sometimes equally excellent resumes of Israelitish history, in which he lashed severely the sins of the chosen people and their countless backslidings into idolatry, from Aaron's golden calf down to the sun worshipers seen

by Ezekiel

in the temple.

The young people mean-

while, seated in the galleries, laughed and whispered, and wrote notes to each other, while their elders slept comfortably in the pews below. But into his sermons,

Christ Jesus, the Hope of all nations, the Sin Bearer " for a ruined world, if He entered at all, came only as

a wayfaring

man who

turneth aside for a night."

26

HOLDER WITH

CORDS.

great Head,

Under a preaching that had so little to say about the church in it must be owned that the
''

Brownsville needed considerable propping up, and " might well be congratulated that so efficient an ally and the stood at her elbow; for the meeting house lodge, as if to symbolize their friendly relations were only separated by the main street of the village, and stood not a stone's throw apart. Perhaps the meekest sheep would have its thoughts if the shepherd persisted in feeding it on thistle; and I cannot blame Rachel if in her young uncharitableness, craving for spiritual food that should satisfy a hungered soul, hardly knoAving herself what she wanted,

only knowing that she never got it, she often said sharp things of Elder Gushing. My initiation into the lodge preceded Mark's by his

me I was quite willing to take the and alone, and was only amused at " Of course so many good men would Mark's request. never join it if it wasn't all it claims to be," he said,
own
desire.

As

for

entering step

first

apologetically,

making use of that time-honored argubelieve has, at one period or another, u But every evil thing under the sun.

ment, which

buttressed up the thought troubled

tions

me
can

whose nature
It

of assuming solemn obligaknow nothing about before-

hand.

really

makes me tremble.

Supposing

couldn't conscientiously take them?" u Don't distress yourself, old fellow," I returned care" Your conscience is just like a new shoe lessly.

always pinching. When IVe crossed the Rubicon you'll pluck up some courage, I hope." And poor Mark, meeting with no sympathetic understanding of his peculiar difficulties, either from Rachel

A MYSTERIOUS BOOK
or

CHAMBERS OF IMAGERY.

27
dis-

me

for she

would not be drawn into another

cussion of the subject by the most artfully framed

attempt to throw her off her guard betook hinrself to the barn, where a dozen gentle-eyed nioolies, his special Not a creature pride and care, stood ready for milking. on the farm but would come at Mark's call. And in their dumb trust and confidence I have no doubt he

found some comfort, if nothing never misunderstood him.

else.

They, at

least,

I must state here that my younger brother, Joe, had been improving his leisure time for several days in poring over an old book which he generally contrived

when anybody approached. 1 beneath thought my dignity to be unduly curious in Joe's affairs, but one night the important one of my
to shuffle out of sight
it

initiation into the lodge

usual manner,

ran
"

my

seeing him occupied in his inquired, as I consulted the glass and lingers through my hair several times to be
I
all right,
I'll

sure I was

what book he had

it

there.
it,"

Maybe

lend

to

you when I'm done with

was Joe's evasive answer. When I turned round Joe was innocently paring an apple, but the book was gone: a faculty of suddenly and completely disappearing, as if the earth had opened and swallowed it up seeming to be one of the most remarkable properties of the volume. "I dare say it is some foolish dream book. If it is, Joe, you'd better throw it into the tire and not be
spending precious time in this way." " It ain't a dream book," said the indignant Joe, in
response to this brotherly counsel.
"
It's

a Bible story,

now;

ain't

it,

Sam?"
to

The person appealed

nodded

his

head and blinked

ZO

HOLDER WITH

CORDS.

one eye alternately at Joe and rue like a quizzical owl, but made no other reply. " Sam, by the way, was a kind of village ne'er do weel"who only worked when he felt like it; and as his feelings in this respect were about as little to be depended on as the weather, his services were not in

much demand among the farmers round, except at particular seasons of the year when help was scarce. But my grandfather, in the kindness of his heart, often hired Sam Toller when nobody else would; and thus
Joe,
as

Going now, Leander?" asked Joe, on the latch. u Yes its about time. Why ?"
;

"

who rather took to the shiftless, kindly fellow, had much of his society as he liked.
as

my

hand was

"Oh, nothing. Only take care you don't get too much
light.

'Taint healthy.

It

blinds folks sometimes.

1 '

was only a specimen of hints many mysterious dropped by Joe, I paid no attention to it, though after closing the door I was very certhis enigmatical advice

As

smothered guffaw from Sam. view of the lodge room was not calculated My to impress me with any undue sense of solemnity. Our meeting house, bare, homely, barnlike structure though it was, I never entered without feeling in some dim way that there was a wide difference between it and all secular places. Here tobacco juice defiled the floor, while the atmosphere was unmistakably pervaded with a strong smell of Old Bourbon. But as this was before the era of the temperance reform, when even ministers drank their daily glass (or more) as a matter of course,
tain I heard a
first
it is

to be

hoped the reader

will conceive

no unreason^

able prejudice.

A MYSTERIOUS BOOK
Except
I naturally

CHAMBERS OF IMAGERY.

29

as regarded the obligation to secrecy, which thought must imply a secret of some im-

portance to keep else why the obligation? and the equally natural idea that the ceremonies of initiation 6 into an order coeval with the building of Solomon s r

temple must be conducted with at least some degree of corresponding dignity, I had not the dimmest guess of

what was

to follow. "

the question whether unbiased by friends, uninfluenced by worldly motives, I freely and voluntarily offered myself a candidate for the mysteries of Masonfalteringly, the expected u " not been strongly biased by my grandfather's wishes? and had not Mark Stedman told me that my motives in entering were altogether un-

To

ry," I gave, affirmative.

though rather
I

Had

worthy? Though I had none of Mark's religiousness, 1 had been brought up in good old Puritan fashion, and a double falsehood right on the very threshold of my Masonic career did not look to me like a promising
beginning.
I

am an

old

man now,

but

blush to-day at the

thought of a half-nude, blindfolded figure/ with a rope around his neck waiting for the lodge door to be opened " '' to a poor blind candidate poor and blind enough.
1

NOTE 6. "There he stands without our portals, on the threshold of this new Masonic life, in darkness, helplessness and ignorance. Having been wandering amid the errors and covered over with the pollutions of the outer and profane world, he comes inquiringly to our doors seeking the new birth and asking a withdrawal of the veil which conceals divine truth from his uninitiated si^ht. * There is to be not simply a change for the future but also an extinction of the past, for initiation is as it were a death to the world and a resurrection to a new life." Mackey's Ritualist, pages 22-23. NOTE 7. " PREPARATION. There is much analogy between the preparation of the candidate in Masonry and the preparation for entering the Temple as practiced among the ancient Israelites. The Talmudical treatise entitled Beracoth " No man shall enter into the Lord's prescribes the regulations in these words: house with his staff [an offensive weapon] nor with his outer garment, nor with his shoes on his feet, nor with money in his purse." Mackey's Ritualist, page 42, Art. Preparation.
'

'

'

30
%

HOLDEK WITH
"
!

CORDS.

who had long been desirous of reand having a part of the rights and benefits of ceiving this worshipful lodge, dedicated to God, and held forth to the holy order of St. John, as all true fellows and brothers have done who have gone this way before him/' Of course the Masonic reader is privileged to skip
Heaven knows
" are only intended for the common and profane outsider to borrow Elder Cushing's phrase, so highly resented by Rachel; and as they are

these details.

"

They

not pleasant to
for

me

in the retrospect, T

may

be excused

wanting to abridge them

it

as far as is consistent

with

a graphic account.
Suffice

to say, that after

answering in an equally

manner a varietj^ of foolish questions or rather having them answered for me, I was made to kneel in front of the altar with my left hand under the open
foolish

Bible, and my right on the square and compass, there to take the oath, with the customary assurance that it

"would not

affect

my

religion or

my

politics."

had been simply dazed and confounded. The wide difference between my imaginings and the reality had almost roused in me the indignant suspicion that instead of being regularly initiated I was

Up

to this time I

real thing

being made the victim of a practical joke. Now the was to come; and comforted by thinking^ that the Ultima Thule for which I had embarked on
the
I

unknown

sea of

Masonry was
first

at last in plain sight,

went through the

"

part calmly and steadily.

I, my own free will and accord, in presence of Almighty God and this Worshipful Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons, dedicated to God,

Leander Severns, of

and held forth to the holy order of St. John, do hereby and hereon most sincerely promise and swear that I will

A MYSTERIOUS BOOK
always
hail,

CHAMBERS OF IMAGERY.

31

ever conceal and never reveal any part or

parts, art or arts, point or points of the secret art

and

mysteries of Ancient Freemasonry which I have received, am about to receive, or may hereafter be
instructed in, to any person or persons in the known world, except it be to a true and lawful brother Mason, or within the body of a just and lawfully constituted

lodge of such; and not unto I shall hear so to be, but unto
I shail find so

him or unto them whom him and them only whom

and due examina-

to be after strict trial

promise and swear that I will not write, print, stamp, stain, hew, cut, carve, indent, paint or engrave it on anything movable or immovable, under the whole canopy of heaven, whereby or whereon the

tion or lawful information. "

Furthermore

least letter, figure, character,

resemblance of the same

telligible to
8

mark, stain, shadow or may become legible or in-

myself or any other person in the

known

world, whereby the secrets of Masonry may be unlawfully obtained through my unworthiness." But when I came to the closing part: " To 'all of

which

I do most solemnly and sincerely promise and swear, without the least equivocation, mental reservation, or self-evasion of mind in me whatever, binding

myself under no
across,

less penalty than to have my throat cut tongue torn out by the roots and my body buried in the rough sands of the sea at loiv water mark.

my

where the
so help

tide ebbs and flows twice in tiventij-four hours; me God, and keep me steadfast in the due performance of the same" I stopped short in horror and

dismay.
.

"The importance

of Secret -keeping

is

made

the ground-work of
.

all

Masonic degrees.

Morris's Dictionary, Art. Secret-Breaking

HOLDER WITH

CORDS.

Bind myself under penalties so horrible?

Never.

Not
to

for the secret of the philosopher's stone. Shocked and horrified I was going to refuse decidedly

go on, when a thought of

my

absurd condition,

kneeling there blindfolded, haltered, with only a shirt and a pair of drawers, the former with the front folded
back, one leg and one arm bare, one shoe off and one " shoe on, to vary slightly the classic rhyme of my son

John," rushed upon

ludicrous.

me with

a horrible sense of the

And

aftar that one

swallowed my scruples and took Entered Apprentice oath.

moment's hesitation I God forgive me! the

Masonic phrase, the " Shock of Enlightenment," by which I was curiously reminded, as I had been several times before, in the course of the cer-

Then came,

in

emonies, of Joe's mysterious hints. I heard the Worshipful Master repeat that passage which stands on the
threshold of Holy Writ, alone in its majesty, like a sublime archangel, set to guard the portals of eternal truth, "And God said, Let there be light, and there was I heard a confused uproar all around me like light."

Pandemonium

let loose.

The bandage

fell

from

my

feet to eyes, and giddy and faint I staggered to listen to a short semi-moral, semi-religious, semi-

my

mystical address from the Worshipful Master, receive my lambskin apron, and be presented with the three

Masonic jewels, u a listening ear, a silent tongue, and a faithful heart," which though not used inexactly the
NOTE 9. In Masonry by the Shock of Enlightenment we sect humbly, indeed, and at an inconceivable distance, to preserve the recollection and to embody the idea of the birth of material light by the representation of the circumstances that accompanied It, and their reference to the birth of Intellectual or Masonic light. The one is the type of the other, and hence the illumination a'
the candidate is attended with a cer< mony that may be supposed to imitate ^he primal illumination of the universe. " Mickey's Ritualist, page 34.

"

A MYSTERIOUS BOOK

CHAMBERS OF IMAGERY.

33

since, as

have had considerable occasion for subsequent chapters will show. I was a regular Entered Apprentice It was all over. in a lodge of Free and Accepted Masons. u " I went home clothed/' but not in my right mind." My senses were in a whirl and my head ached terribly, which was no matter for special wonder considering the fact that in our lodge, as in most others at that time, 10 u refreshment" had followed very close on "labor," and contrary to my usual habit I had taken more than was good for me. As I felt in no mood to encounter the rasp of Joe's tongue, I was much relieved Jo find him in bed and But his evident inkling into lodge room matasleep. With the resolve that on the morters was a puzzle. row I would get Joe's secret out of him if bribes or threats could do it, I crept silently into bed, not desiring to waken Joe if I could help it, and went to sleep " like one of the wicked," without saying my prayers.

manner intended,

NOTB 10. "By the term ''refreshment' is symbolically Implied the social hour at high xli. when the members of the lodge are placed under charge of the Junior Warden, who is strictly enjoined to see that thov do not convert the purposes of refreshment into Intemperance and excess. "Morris's Dictionary, Art. Refreshment.
,

CHAPTER

IV.

A TALK WITH MY GRANDFATHER.

CALM review of the

whole subject next morning only confirmed me in my wondering bewilderment. If this was Freemasonry, great indeed were its mysteries
;

and feeling that my unassisted faculties were quite powerless to comprehend them, 1 concluded to have a talk with my grandfather, as being the only person near me eligiFor even now I ble to such communications.

began to
could not

feel the galling

tell

bond 11 of lodge

slavery.

Stedrnan, my bosom friend from boyhood, and though in his case the embargo on our free speech was likely soon to be
perplexities to

my

Mark

How removed, between Rachel and me how was it? must it be in the years to come, when we should sit by our own hearthstone ? Freedom to talk on every other subject, but as regarded this, a black, bottomless gulf of silence, which one of us could not cross, and the other dared not. I did not want to start the conversation, and fidgeted about some time, hoping my grandfather would begin.
NOTE 11. " That this surrender of free-will to Masonic authority is absolute, (within the scope of the landmarks of the order) and perpetual, may be inferred from an examination of the emblem (the shoe or sa-idal) which is used to enMorris's Dictionary. Art. Authority. force this lesson of resignation.
1 '

A TALK WITH MY GRANDFATHER.

I

35

ities

must stop to state that, owing to his age and infirmhe had not for some years attended any meetings

Well, Leander," he said at last, pushing his specta" when are you intending cles back over his forehead, other the take to degrees?' " I don't believe I shall ever take them at all."
7

of the lodge. "

My

and looked

grandfather pushed his spectacles farther back at me with mild surprise.

"That won't do, Leander. To get the full benefits of joining the order you ought certainly to become a Master Mason. That's far enough;* as far as I ever
went myself.
I don't

think

much

of these higher de-

grees they are perpetually tacking on nowadays. They are what Papist ceremonies are to religion innovations
;

that can only

work

mischief.

These new-fangled, up-

start degrees are invented to tickle shallow minds. They are like mitres, and red hats, and triple crowns,
just

up human vanity, nothing else under 11 the sun. Masonry, pure and simple, is a divine institution, and doesn't need any of this artificial bolstering

made

to puff

up."
the truth, grandfather," said I, waiving a the branch of subject in which I did not feel interested, " am I disappointed in the whole thing. It isn't what
tell
' k

To

thought
kt

it

was.

I don't

understand

it."

Of course you don't," answered

"

my

grandfather,

placidly.

It isn't intended to be understood at first.

Knowledge must

corne by degrees.

never met with a

NOTE 12. " All the ceremonies of our order arc prefaced and terminated with prayer because Masonry If) a religious Institution and because we thereby show iv- r dependence on, and our faith and trust In, G-od." -Mackey's Lexicon, Art.
Prayer.

36
"

HOLDER WITH

COEDS.

man yet who

understood the first chapter of Genesis." But," said I, making a desperate rush to the real u I don't like the way in which the oath is put, point,

and don't quite

but
if I

could take

like the idea of taking an oath at all; it as in a court of justice, erect, with

my

eyes open like a man, and none of those horrible

feel

make no objections to it." something as I did, Leander," was my '" There are things in grandfather's unexpected reply. could understand even to this Masonry that I never
penalties at the end, I should

"You

day, that I never could bring myself to quite like. But we must remember that it is a very ancient 13 institution,

founded in very different times from these, so naturally there would be things about it that don't accord with our ideas now. Why, I find it just so with the Bible, Leander. There are things in the Old Testament that I never could quite reconcile in my own mind with the New: the wars of the Jews, for example, and David's praying for vengeance on his enemies. But then I I know it is all right, and don't give up my Bible. that is enough for me. And just so with Masonry; I take what I do understand, and let the rest go."

Oh, my dear grandfather! was there ever a simpler, " the handtruer soul than thine caught in the coils of

maid?"
I felt my objections unconsciously melting before such simplicity, such kindness and candor, as snow
tion of Masonry.

the commencement of the world we may trace the foundaEver since symmetry began and harmony displayed her " charms our order has had a being. WeWs\Monitor^ page 1 Sickels's Ahiman 'A belief In the Antiquity Rezon, page 14; Sickel^s Masonic Monitor, page 9. a of of Masonry Is the first requisite good teacher. Upon this all the legends of The dignity of the Institution depends mainly upon its age, the order are based. and to disguise its gray hairs is to expose it to a contemptuous comparison with every society of modern date." flote by Robert Morris, page 1, Webb's Mon-

NOTE

13.

" From

itor.

A TALK WITH MY GRANDFATHER.

37

melts under a spring sun. After all, could there be inherent evil in Masonry when such a man as he. upright,

benevolent, doing his duty to

God and

his

neighbor, so far as he knew it, saw none ? er is tempted to ask the same question, let

If the read-

put to

him another: In

the days

me in return when human slavery

lay like a pall over our land, were there no apologists for the terrible system, as kind, as candid, as Christian
as

was

my

grandfather?

my expectations, had not tried to annoy me with any of his mysterious inuendoes; and, acting on the wise old adage, to let "sleeping dogs alone," I concluded that it would be best on the whole That he had to let him enjoy his secret unmolested. overheard the talk of some careless Masons who had
Joe, contrary to

"cowans and eavesdroppers " seemed the most probable way of explaining it; and, truth to tell, I shrank from a contest with Joe in which I was very likely to come
off

neglected

to

"
tyle

"

their

doors

properly

against

second best.

was much more troubled

to think

what

I should

say to Mark, especially as I saw him just then crossing the fields, and knew that though he had come ostensibly on some errand of the farm, his real object was to have a talk with me. And so it proved. u Mother wants to know if Uncle Severns has got a setting hen he'd like to part with. One that she put some eggs under the other day is flighty, and keeps leaving her nest." went out to the barn together and a hen of the

We

desired proclivities being duly selected, Mark, holding his captive fast, turned to me with an expectant

"Well?"

CHAPTER
PREPARATION FOR A JOURNEY.
u

V.
PASSED AND RAISED/'

HAT
I

do you want

me

to tell

you?"

asked.

"None

of the secrets, of course; but

thought you might give

me some

gen-

eral idea of the nature of the obligations

without disclosing anything." " That's exactly what I can't do," I an" The obligations 14 themswered, promptly.
selves are a part of the secret.
11

Mark's countenance
for a

fell

perceptibly.

He

stood

still

moment, softly stroking the brown feathers of the hen, which gently pecked at his hand and gave
sundry low, pleased cackles in response to his rather abstracted caresses. Then with a sudden brightening of his face he looked up and said: 11 Anyhow, you can tell me one thing. Are you glad or sorry you have joined the lodge?" He had put the test question. I might nave shirKed him it by some cowardly evasion, but I thank God that I never alone, for it was no courage of mine

thought of doing so. u Mark. I answered, " when a thing is done and there is no going back, regrets are not of much use. But I want to tell you now that Masonry is not in the least what I thought it was, and when you come to find
1 '

NOTE

14.

"

It Is the obligation

which makes the Mason. ''Morris Diction11

ary. Art. Obligation.

"PASSED AND RAISED/'

out what
J
all I

39

it really is you will be more disappointed than am, because you expected more. And this is about

able to tell you." then/' said Mark, after an instant's thought, " you must remember that you have only taken the first degree; perhaps that is the reason it disappoints

am

"But

you.

If

we judged everything by
partial

judgments would be very

us to utterly
cases."

its beginning our and biased, and lead

wrong conclusions

in the majority of

the more I thought about it the more rethe idea of letting Mark, with his grew pugnant nervous system as finely toned and delicate as a

Though

woman's, enter the lodge without any notion of the

ordeal he
syllable to warn ble vow binding

must pass through. How could I utter a him with the iron grip of .that terrime to perpetual silence? And what
;

my perplexity, I did not feel prepared, since that talk with my grandfather, to call the system evil, and entirely evil. I had only taken the first degree, as
added to

Mark

was not impossible that by going farther and deeper into it I might find my previous
said,

and

it

Impressions entirely altered; for I felt much as Rachel did, that my grandfather, though an untaught layman who had followed the seas most of his life, in his simple-hearted goodness actually stood on a far higher level of Christian attainment than our formal and per-

functory Elder. Let the reader bear in

sonry was a power

mind that at this period Mato one of its own according that, " stood behind the sacred desk, sat in the chair orators, of justice, and exercised its controlling influence in executive halls." a factor of unknown quantities that

40

HOLDER WITH

CORDS.

entered more or less into every problem of the day, social or political, and he will understand one reason why it was so seldom denounced as a moral evil. True,

some exceptionally bold

spirit here

and there had the

courage to protest, but his witness generally fell powerless between the horns of two opposing dilemmas; for
either he

was or was not a member of the lodge, obliged in the one case to withhold his real reasons for denouncing
it,

because those reasons were themselves a

very important part of the secrets his oath required him to keep; or, on the other hand, forced to base his opinions of the system almost wholly on the little he
could see of
its

outside workings.

was thinking what to say to Mark, Joe's inseparable companion, Sport, a brown and white puppy of no species in particular, ran in and began to smell

While

frantically about the floor, then giving one joyons yelp and bark dashed into a corner behind me, and tearing

away the hay, disclosed Joe himself in his retreat, which, to do him justice, he had chosen for purposes of privacy rather than eavesdropping. For among other
inconvenient traits incident to his age and disposition, he had a habit of shirking any irksome or unsavory task about the farm by absenting himself in the manner above described. And thus he had overheard all

our conversation.
I regret to say that I immediately collared Joe the intent to give him a shaking, but as Mark,

with

who

had much the same liking for him that he might have felt for a mischievous monkey, good-naturedly interposed in his behalf, I finally released the young gentleu man, after darkly promising that he would catch it another time."

''PASSED

AXD

RAISED."

41

hen under his arm, perplexed, I must confess that it was a At relief to me to have our conversation broken off. the same time it was plainly evident that I could not guard my Masonic jewels any too carefully from the
his

Mark went off with

curious and dissatisfied.

unscrupulous Joe.

At
"

that

moment Sam

Toller,

pitchfork in hand,

looked in at the barn door.

Yer gran'ther wants ye, Leander, right off." Do you know what for, Sam?" I asked, rather prised at this sudden summons.
"

sur-

some news

Wall, I couldn't say for sartin. May be he's got to tell you. He kinder looked as though he had. And, come to think on't, I saw the postman
leave suthin' about an hour ago."

Sam's Yankee faculty for guessing, and generally guessing right, whether it concerned the weather, or the crops, or human doings in general, was seldom at
fault.

It was not in the present instance. grandfather held a certain land claim in western Pennsylvania, and the important news was this: There was now an opportunity for selling the land at a great advance on the original price, so great indeed as almost

MJ

to

make our

fortune, as fortunes

tive times.

Furthermore,

as

in those primibusiness by corredoing

went

spondence

was slow, troublesome

and

unsafe, our

present perfect mail system being then in embryo, and as there were also sharpers in the land in those days, human nature being much the same in 1825 that it is
in 1882, it seemed highly necessary that some member of the family should go in person to negotiate the sale.

grandfather adjusted his spectacles at exactly the right angle, and gave the letter one more careful and

My

42

HOLDER WITH

CORDS.
it

deliberate reading. to me.

Then he

folded

up and turned

"Yott must be the one to attend to this business, Leander; I see no other way. I've always calculated

on giving you and Rachel something to

start

with

you come very handy now. It's something of a responsibility, I know, to put on young shoulders, and if you were like Mark Stedman, with your mind in the clouds half the time, I shouldn't feel easy to trust you. Not but what Mark is as good a fellow as ever breathed, and knows enough to be a
in

when you

are married, instead of leaving

it all

to

my

will,

and

this'll

minister, only a level head."

when

it

comes to doing business

it

needs

My grandfather's decision was ratified in a solemn family council held at dinner, when the subject was discussed in all its phases and bearings, the only opposing voice being my gentle widowed mother's, who saw only danger and death for me in the enterprise. " He will "0, I can't let Leander go!" she cried.
certainly be killed by the Indians." u "

Poh !"

ing

of,

Belinda?

He

will

What are you thinkThere are no Indians about there now. be in a sight more danger from painters and ratsaid

my grandfather.
that

tlesnakes.

Not

/ ever saw

rattlesnakes

anywhere

else as thick as I've seen

'em right here in this very

township.

Why,

a party of us

I remember when we first came here went out and killed twenty in one after-

noon."
Toller for in true democratic eat at one table and master servant fashion proceeded which I will not mar another with this to match story by trying to repeat. Sam was renowned far and near

Whereupon Sam

"PASSED AND RAISED."

for his

43

snake stories." While nobody could relate tougher ones, he had the true artist instinct, and knew

just

how

impossible to
left off.

interest,

and fiction so nicely that it was where the one began and the other Even my grandfather listened with indulgent but my mother gave rather absent attention,
to mingle fact
tell

and

as

soon as

Sam

finished started a fresh cause for

alarm. u

snakes.

There are worse things than painters or rattleWhat if he should be robbed and murdered

my grandfather spoke gravely and " solemnly, this business has got to be attended to. I hate to have Leander go, but there seems to be no other
my old age, but there is can safely trust him." And Miss Nabby Loker, my mother's prime minister in all domestic affairs, and despotic, as prime ministers are apt to be, put in her word of consolation. " After all, Mrs. Severns, I wouldn't worry. If anybody is foreordained to be killed, staying at home won't help it any, and if they are foreordained to die a natural death, why, it'll be so even if they go to the world's ends. There's a sight o' comfort now in that
way One
to do.
is

coming home?" u Belinda," and

He

the staff of
I

in

whose keeping

doctrine.

wonder

folks don't see

it

more.

It

makes
is
all

you

easy 'like to decreed beforehand."

feel so

know

that everything

As my grandfather leaned towards Methodism,

his

ideas of free grace and Miss Loker's rigid Calvinistic interpretation of the Divine decrees often came in conflict;

offered no word, either of contradicbut sat with his gray head bowed in comment, silent reverie: possibly prayer. It may have occurred

but

now he

tion or

44

fiOLDEH WITH CORDS.

to liiin that even so stern and forbidding a doctrine might be a refuge to the troubled soul in hours like this. There are times when it is good to feel that underneath God's love and tenderness is an infinite knowledge, embracing all our future life, our down-sittings and uprisings from the cradle to the grave, and even beyond into that dim eternity which bounds all mortal vision. Rachel took the news very quietly. Like all selfcontained natures her feelings showed very little on the
surface.

your duty to go, Leander, and that settles it. sorry your poor mother feels so worried. She exaggerates the dangers. I have no doubt you will come home all safe and quite a hero/' "And then?" I looked up at Rachel questioningly. She understood me, for a little wave of color rushed over cheek and brow. But there was not a shade of coquetry about Rachel. In her sweet, pure nature there was no room for such a thing.
It is I

"

am

"

As soon
so our

as

you get home, Leander;" she quietly

fixed.

answered.

And

wedding day was

It

was

to be the

my projected journey, in which the whole village took a decided interest not at all strange under the circumstances.
As my grandfather was
and child and
I

sixteenth of September Rachel's birthday. Sam Toller duly spread abroad the tidings of

liked by every
full of

man, woman

might

safely add the very dogs in

Brownsville

everj^body

was

good wishes and

kindly advisings, given in the hearty, neighborly fashion of rural communities, where the weal and woe of the individual is considered part and parcel of the whole.

45

Among others who came in to talk over the important matter was Deacon Brown, a man of much influence, both in the church and out of it. Not only was our village named for him, and its every post of trust
and honor filled by him at various times, but he had been twice elected to the State Legislature. Being an enthusiastic Mason himself, when the talk turned, as it naturally did, on the length and possible perils of the journey, he at once adverted to my having
lately joined the fraternity as a particularly at this juncture.

good thing

"

Only he ought

to take the

two upper degrees be-

fore he starts; decidedly, he ought to." " You are quite right, Deacon," answered

my grand-

him myself that to get the full benefits of belonging to the order he must go as high 15 You must urge it on as the Master Mason's degree. him. The words of a man like you, now. might have
father:

"I have

told

a good deal of influence with him." The Deacon was used to such gentle, unconscious flattery from his. townsmen and turned to me with a fatherly smile. kt You must listen to your grandfather, Leander. You
are not at liberty to neglect such an important duty; such a shield against all manner of unknown perils.

You owe something

to

your friends

if

you don't to

Why, nobody knows or ever can know how yourself. many lives Masonry has saved," he added, waxing enthusiastic over his pet institution. u IVe heard of even
and highway robbers that respected the Masonic sign and, when it was given, treated those they had been laying out to rob and murder like brothers. But I don't mean," explained the worthy Deacon with :i
pirates
* * NOTE 15. "Entered Apprentices are possessed of very few rights, arc not permitted to speak or vote or hold anv office ; secrecy and obedience are tlie only obligations imposed upon them. " 159. Mackey's Jurisprudence, p.

46

HOLDER WITH

COBDS.

sudden remembrance of the possible interpretation which un-Masonic ears might put upon this statement, " that a lodge would ever take in such characters, knowingly. Even the church cannot always keep out unworthy members, so I have no doubt some have joined the Masons who became robbers and pirates afterwards, and yet had enough of conscience left not
to dare violate their oath."

Remembering the awful nature of that oath, as it had been imposed on me, I found no difficulty in believing that it might have acted as a restraint on Captain Kidd himself, had that worthy ever joined the fraternity, of which I was doubtful. As the highest Masonic authority gravely holds out, among the various inducements of the order, its power "to introduce you to the fellowship of pirates, corsairs and other marauders," let not the innocent-minded
reader conceive any ill opinion of Deacon Brown for doing the same thing; nor think it strange that, urged by him and entreated by my grandfather, who was not
quite willing to leave his favorite grandson to the shield of Omnipotence alone, I consented to take the upper

degrees and was duly passed and raised to the Sublime Degree of a Master Mason, with all the privileges

"

"

appertaining thereunto among them that of consort" " ing on brotherly terms with the pirates and corsairs
aforesaid.

CHAPTER
.N

VI.

EVENING WITH KACHEL..

going to take the journey on horseback; and Major, a fine, fleet, spirited animal raised on the farm, was the one selected by my grandfather as
best fitted in qualities of speed

WAS

durance to bear
pedition.

me

and enon the exsuccessfully

"

gathered round to say Good-bye," and see me off the dear home faces transfigured with the love and tenderness of parting. Even Joe, though he had so often been an aggravating thorn

They

all

in the side of his

more sedate

elder brother,

now looked

almost manly in his new gravity and soberness. So much so that I bent down and whispered to him, as he stood giving Major a farewell pat:
don't

Dear Joe, I hope I shall come back all safe, but if I take good care of if anything happens to me our mother and grandfather. Don't let them want for anything, but be their pnop and stay instead of me."

who was

Oh, Leander, don't talk in that way!" sobbed Joe, " I as warm-hearted as he was provoking. want to tell you now before you go off, I'm real sorry for all the mean, aggravating tricks I've played off on you, and 1 want you to forgive me/'
Forgive Joe!
Yes, until seventy times seven!

"

Nor

48

HOLDER WITH
it

CORDS.
fullness of

was

any check on the freeness and

my

forgiveness that I

knew

would last as long as my not a day longer. I had bid good-bye to Rachel the night before. What we said I will not write here, for I am afraid the reader will not be interested in our lover's plannings for the
future, or all the little things as important to us as the bits of straw to nest-building birds, which, with proviforecast, Rachel was already beto ginning gather together in reference to our future

very well Joe's repentance absence by the calendar, and

dent

New England

home, and now showed me with a pretty pride in her own economy and thrift. There was an old arm chair that she had stuffed and covered with her own fingers,
till it was the perfection of coziness and comfort; a stand bought at a bargain, which would be just right to hold the family Bible; and such stores of linen

table cloths and towels of her

own

weaving, wonderful

to behold in their exquisite fineness and whiteness.

Yes, Rachel and honest love, which

as
it

I loved I

am

afraid

each other with that pure, is not as common now

ought to

be,

me feel as if a flower from Eden had

in

but which, whenever I see it, makes suddenly blossomed

my path. Yet Eden had its serpent. There was one subject avoided by both of us with a kind of instinct. I had advanced to the third degree
in
rst experience repeated; Masonry only to find to be disappointed and astonished at the infinitessimal smallness of the secrets revealed, and bewildered with

my

characterized the ceremonies.

the 'general mixture of solemnity and puerility which But I had come to the

conclusion that so long as I was fairly in, with no prosit by pect of getting out, I would make the best of

AH EVENING WITH RACHEL.

49

reaping all the advantages I possibly could from my connection with the order. My self-satisfaction, how-

was much disturbed by Rachel's negative disapwhich I felt, like a kind of Mordecai in the gates, that would neither bow down nor do homage.
ever,

proval,

see, Rachel," I said, with the hope of " getting her to say something favorable, that my jointhe Masons is a I may be now. ing very good thing

"

You must

placed in circumstances where I shall need assistance that no mere stranger, uninfluenced by any such tie, would be likely to render."

Rachel took a moment to consider, and then, instead of giving me any direct answer, turned around with the rather startling inquiry: u Do you suppose the Good Samaritan was a Free-

mason?"
"

What

an

idea,

Rachel!

1'

"I don't see anything so very strange about it. Didn't Elder Gushing tell us when Uncle Jerry died, and had that great Masonic funeral, that Masonry was many hundred years older than the time of Christ?

John the Baptist and ever so to Hiram and Solomon, were back many others, way Masons? So the Good Samaritan might easily have been one, only I am certain he wasn't." u Why not?" I inquired, curious to see by what style of reasoning she would prove her point. u just because our Savior holds him up as an example of the purest benevolence for all mankind to imitate, which he certainly never would have done had there been any tie between the Samaritan and that poor wounded Jew, other than just their common humanity; for then it would not have been benevolence,
Didn't he
tell

us that

50

HOLDER WITH

CORDS.

but a mere sense of honor or duty, or some such thing, quite different from charity. Don't you see?" I did see, and for the first time felt a little vexed at
Rachel's clearsightedness. I had been rather fascinated, to tell the truth, with the brotherly love, so strongly
inculcated

among
itself

lodge duties,
to either

the only thing about

Masonry, by the way, which had as yet very much

commended
sense.

my

conscience or

common

seems to me, Rachel, you are straying wide of the " Why do you evade a plain question? I only asked if you did not think it a good thing under the present circumstances." " Oh, I dare say," answered Rachel, indifferently, as if she did not care to discuss the subject. And then she went and stood at the window a moment, silently
It

"

subject," I said, impatiently.

gazing out at the starlit sky. A vein of mingled poetry and humor, bubbling up in 'all manner of unexpected ways and places, gave to I think Rachel's character a sort of piquant charm. now she resembled as much as anything a New England huckleberry pasture, rich with every kind of wild, sweet, homely growth hardback and sweet fern

and blackberry vines

tangled in together. u

full

of sharp little

briars, all

Now, Leander," she sa.id, suddenly pointing up to " the sky, 1 am going to give you something to remember me by. I shall choose a star and call it mine, and whenever you see it shine out you must think, That's
;

Rachel's star.

But which

shall

it

be?"

And

she

stood in a pretty, reflective attitude, with upraised Then she clapped her eyes, scanning the airy vault.

hands gleefully.

AX EVENING WITH RACAEL.

"There,
school
I

51

m ember when
the

it!" she exclaimed. ''Don't you rtwe were children, coming home from hot and thirsty, we used to think the water at

have

Widow Slocum's was better than anywhere else, for no earthly reason than because she always gave it to
us in a
in it?
I will

new

tin dipper, so bright

we could
it

see our faces

Thinking of that has put

choose

into

my

head what

the constellation of the Dipper. It has such a housewifely, practical sound, too; just the thing."
in which, as I

And Rachel laughed had now

tion

with her, I Suddenly sobered, and turned away from the window with eyes suspiciously bright in the star gleam.

her sweet, low, musical laugh, forgotten my momentary vexacould not help joining. But she

"Sometimes I have thought it wrong for me to pray," she said, "because I am not a Christian; but I shall pray that God will guard you from every danger, and I think he will hear me, though I am not 'a believer.'
it. But oh, I wish I was! I think I might had somebody to tell me how. I tried to talk with Elder Cushing once, but what he said to me It was all might as well have been so much Hebrew. about 'saving faith,' 'sanetification' and 'assurance,' and

as they call

be one

if I

such things that I could not understand in the least, or see how I could eveT make them have any practical connection with my homely, actual, every-day life. I
suppose, these things are really necessary before one can be a Christian, but they seem to me as far off and as

hard to reach as the very stars shining up there. Of course, it is not really so, or else nobody could be a
Christian.
I

suppose the fault

is

is

all
it

in

me

that I

might have them if I would. I am willing, and all I want

But

seems to

me

that

to find

somebody that

52

HOLDEK WITH

CORDS.

knows how to begin low down, and teach teach the primer to little children." While nothing
longings, I

me

as

they

in my own heart answered to Rachel's was touched by the pathos in her cry, and felt something like indignation at Elder Cushing's utter For what right had a man to inability to help her. stand where he did and yet have no word of heavenly

counsel that a simple, honest soul like Rachel's could When she asked appropriate to her spiritual needs? for bread when, in the humility of her soul-hunger,
she would have been glad of the very crumbs of Grospel truth why did he give her a stone?
It is but fair to say that Elder Gushing had no direct, intention of thus mocking her needs; no thought of bringing down on himself the old prophet's terrible denunciation, "Woe to the idle shepherd that leaveth

But did he never sorrow in secret over his barren fruitless, ministry? Was he satisfied that while the lodge grew and prospered the church received next
the flock."
to

none into

its

fold?

Did no thought

cross his

mind

that, professed minister of Jesus Christ though he was, he served at a strange altar that he even took of its

unhallowed
I dare

fires,

and in the very temple of Jehovah

offered profane incense in praise of another

God?

not say.

Long years ago Elder Gushing went where mortal judgment has neither right nor the power to follow him; but let the "foolish shepherds" of a later day heed these woids of warning from another plain old prophet: Thus saith the Lord God, Behold I am against the shepherds, and I will require my flock at their hands.

CHAPTER
HE

VII.

A CERTAIN MAN WENT DOWN FROM JERICHO.

parting fairly over, my spirits went up like the barometer before a clearing norVest wind. The going forth like

the hero in a fairy tale to seek my fortune had a pleasurable excitement that buoyed me up through the first part of the expedition, and made me insensible to most of the discomforts and fatigues which a journey of

any length in those days almost necessarily involved. But I had never any difficulty in obtaining a night's shelter even when tavern accommodations failed me, as
for

they often did in that new, sparsely settled country; among the rough but kindly farmers, hospitality

was the
first

Thus the rule and its opposite the exception. part of my journey was utterly devoid of those situations in which the Masonic rites and privileges

with which I had been lately invested are peculiarly valuable; and a certain pride and self-respect, the result of my New England birth and breeding, kept me from claiming them when there was no urgent call for

so doing.

Near the Ohio boundary

I stopped at a cabin situated

in the middle of a small clearing, but with no sign of way v any other human habitation near, to inquire

my

of which I felt doubtful..

Dogs,

little

and

big,

rushed

54

HOLDEN WITH

COEDS.

out as I rode up, barking defiance in various keys, from the shrill yelp of the smaller curs to the deeper and more threatening bass of their leaders; but an old man
sitting on a log outside, smoking his pipe, came forward and hospitably dispersed the dogs with an oath here and a kick there all but one, who seemed to be a privileged character, a cross between the bull and mastiff breed, and as surly as the captain of a regiment

of Bashi-bazouks.

The whole place was repulsive its owner no less so. Rum-soaked, tobacco-soaked, he was the very picture
of a hoary-headed old sinner; I could not bear to look
at him.

Fine beast, that o' yours,' he said, admiringly, " eying my horse, but looks kinder jaded. Been far to
1 '

"

day?
"

Quite a piece,"
tell
11

I said,

"

Can you
"

me

if I

am on

feeling disposed to be laconic. the right road to Lundy's

Settlement?

Lundy's Settlement?
1

Ye

ain't

reckonin

to git

thar to-night?'
I

answered in the affirmative, feeling that I should infinitely prefer spending the night out of doors with Major tethered to a tree than accept his hospitality, which, however, he did not seem to offer. 11 " he called out, stepping back and I say, Matt, speaking to some one within the cabin. "Here's a man wants to go to Lundy's Settlement. You kin tell him about it I reckon." And in answer to this appeal u Matt " came out; but as our conversation was mingled on his part with profane expletives, many and various, I shall not record it here, only to say that it was extremely unsatisfactory, for
while
possessing
entire,

A CERTAIN MAN WENT DOWN FROM JERICHO.

55

knowledge of the whole local geography of that region, he ingeniously evaded giving me any direct information regarding the points on which. I most desired to be enlightened. He was a younger man than the other young enough to be his son, and of equally sinister Indeed the relationship between them was expression.
apparent at a glance. He kin git thar to-night, dad," said the worthy, finally, and tipping a sly wink in the old man's direc4'

tion as he spoke.
its

"

There's a

way through the woods,

Git out thar, you!" only This side remark, I must explain, was not addressed to me, nor to the paternal relative, but to the canine

kinder lonesome.

Bashi-bazouk, who was smelling viciously about Major's BONES. B}T putting a few more questions I found that " " the way through the woods was a bridle path that

would lead me out near the river, on the other side of which the settlement lay, and decided to take it without more ado.
till

Just follow the road you come on, straight along you come to a blazed tree its a big butternut. Turn in thar and keep along till you come to the river,'
1

"

was the gist of the directions given me as I rode away, which being* so plain and simple seemed hardly to
admit of mistake, especially as I found without any " " blazed tree which was to be my gui'de difficulty the
to Lundy's Settlement.

may need

Innocent readers of more civilized regions and times " " to be informed that the number of blazes on a tree that is, where the bark is chipped off also their peculiar position on the trunk, whether horizontal
or perpendicular, formed a system of directions for the use of the traveller as important for him to understand

56
as the language
civilized parts.

HOLDEN WITH

CORDS.

on the regular signboards in more

For a while I trotted on in good spirits. But the woods grew denser, the shadows longer, and I halted and looked about me with a feeling of disheartening doubt. Could I have possibly mistaken the way? I was about to move on when the woods to one side of me crackled sharply. Several masked men sprang out, and before I could turn for defence or parley I received a violent blow on the head that knocked me senseless from the saddle.

When

*******
I

not try to move but lay in a shining. kind of stupor, feeling curiously indifferent to all that had happened. But as my senses slowly returned the
I did

awoke At first

to

consciousness the stars were

whole terror of the situation rushed upon me like a The robbers had not only taken my faithmy trusty pistol, but had also taken every cent of money I had about me. I tried to sit up but fell wearily back with a groan of pain, wondering if there was anything left for me to do but lay there, desolate and forsaken, in those wild, unknown woods till death found me. But suddenly my heart leaped with a new sense of hope. As I gazed
great wave. ful horse and

btankly upward I could see shining down upon me, still and clear, the constellation of the Dipper Rachel's chosen sign. Rachel, bright, merry, housewifely

Rachel!

What was

she doing

now?

Working some

pretty knicknack for the happy home that perhaps would never be ours? drawing the needle in and out " with bright visions of the future ? Rachel, Rachel," I moaned; and then, echoing in my heart like an angel's

A CERTAIN MAN WENT DOWN FROM JERICHO.

57

voice, I hear again her tearful words said on the eve of our parting: "I shall pray that God will guard you from every danger, and I think he will hear me." I felt strangely comforted! The awful terror passed from me, and in its stead came a restful, soothed feeling

almost like a child on

its

mother's breast.

And

the

the night wore on, and still I lay there watched over by Rachel's starry sign that paled as the dawn approached like a beautiful hope lost in its own

hours of

fulfillment.

grew pearly gray, then flushed to roseate. the stir of awakening life. I roused myself to one more effort, and found I could walk, though with great pain and difficulty, for among my
east

The

All about

me was

other injuries I had suffered a dislocation of the ankle bone, which was the result of falling from my horse when the sudden attack of the ruffians felled me to the

ground. As I limped groaningly along, being obliged to sit down and rest at such frequent intervals that I made small progress, the welcome sound of a distant gallop
struck
u

my

ear.

It

was coming nearer, and

Helloo!" with
"

all

1 shouted, the strength of voice I could

muster.

Helloo!" was answered back, and in an instant the horseman had flung himself off and was listening to my tale in much wonder and indignation. He wore the common, rough, backwoodsman's dress, and his black hair and beard seemed totally unacquainted with razors or barber's shears; but he had very pleasant features, lit np by an expression of unconscious, almost childlike goodness, that I secretly felt to be rare, and was attracted to accordingly.

58

HOLDER" WITH CORDS.

"Confound the mean, horse-stealing rascals," he burst " last. I ain't swearing, stranger, though my woman would say I was. It must have been Dick Stover's where you stopped. I always suspected him
out at

and his sons of being in with that gang, bat never could get the proof. They directed you right the opposite way from the settlement, and then gave information whereabouts to lay in wait for you as you rode
along.
I

now

sec

it

all

as

plain

as

church

steeple."
I may as well stop to explain that I had suffered at the hands of a noted gang of horse-thieves, the impun-

with which they committed their outrages being due to the fact that they had secret accomplices scattered here and there through the settlements.
ity

chiefly

up a now, my name ain't Benjamin Hagan," continued that modern representative of the Good Samaritan. " But let me help you mount my beast, and we'll get
trifle

If the folks in these parts don't get stirred

home

as quick as

we

can.

You
it

look as though you occurred to

wanted a little fixing." Grave as was the situation, some sense of amusement that
u

me with

was pretty thoroughly

fixed" already, being now in circumstances of sufficient distress to give me an undoubted claim on the charity of any Masonic brother, for it may not be
to the general reader that the style of dress, or rather undress, imposed on every lodge candidate and duly described in a prior chapter, is really an object lesson, the lodge being much given to this peculiar

known

method of

instruction; and the reasons therefore, Mau That, being an sonically considered, are as follows: was to remind the it of distress at the time, object

A CERTAIN MAN WENT DOWN FROM JERICHO.

candidate
if

59

he ever saw a brother in like situation to

contribute liberally to his relief." Mr. Hagan's connection with the fraternity I felt to be a rather doubtful point, but I remembered that
the other bits of disinterested advice given me before leaving home, I was told that it was always best to determine, by putting a direct question at the outset, whether or no the person on whose charity I might

among

happen
I

thrown was a Mason. And this question accordingly put. But instead of answering me at
to be

once, Mr. Hagan stared with something between a frown and a smile, and then put the return interrogatory: "

" u

Be you one?"
I

Yes,"

answered, rather faintly.

I will give you some advice. Don't go to maddening me with any of your grips and signs, for I tell you beforehand, I ain't responsive." And having thus delivered himself, Mr. Hagan's face resumed its usual serenity of expression, as he helped me to mount, and then led the horse by the bridle for about half a mile, till he reached a neat, substantially built log cabin, the front almost covered with flowering vines, where "his woman," a gentle, dove-like being, who used the Quaker thee and thou, stood ready, as soon as the case was explained to her, to lavish upon

Then, stranger,

me every motherly care. And sorely, indeed, I

result of

needed

it.

my

wounds, and

for several

Fever set in, the days ran high.

CHAPTER VIII.
MRS. HAGAN'S OPINION OF ELDER GUSHING.

glad thee is feeling better, friend Leander. Will thee try some squirrel soup? It will be nice and nourishing
for thee."

AM

This remark was addressed to me by Mrs. Hagan, one day after I had made considerable progress on the road to convalescence. Dressed in the regulation gray of her
sect, with a snowy handkerchief pinned across her bosom, and on her head the daintiest Quaker' cap', which could not quite confine the bright hair that waved and rippled over her forehead with most un-

freedom, my hostess was a charming adorn a palace, had Providence seen fit to place her in one, as her own log cabin home. During my sickness I learned considerable about my

Quaker

like

woman, as

fitted to

host and his wife.

They were both communicative

in

the easy, simple-hearted fashion which naturally begets confidence in return. Already I had told them all

about Rachel, and

my engagement to her, to the great the of worthy couple, the history of whose own delight
courtship and marriage I will now proceed to relate. Mr. Hagan was born in Virginia, and on the death
of
his father

property, of which a

came into possession of considerable number of negro slaves formed

MRS. HAGAX'S OPIHlOtf OF

Lt)ER GUSHING.

61

a visit into the bordering the most valuable part. he fell of State deeply in love with a fair Pennsylvania, young Quakeress, who, though her family were decidedly against her marrying outside the pale of Friends, seemed disposed to smile upon his suit. But on one point she stood firm. Educated to believe that human slavery was a horrible system, replete with wrong, and

On

the grossest injustice, she utterly refused to countenance it so far as to marry a slaveholder. And as

fourteen years of service were as nothing to Jacob for the love he bore to Rachel, so the value of his human chattels were to honest Ben Hagan as the small dust
of the balance compared to the priceless jewel of such a woman's affection. Like the merchantman in the parable he sold all he had and bought it. As was natural with a man of his intense convictions

was but a step from ceasing to be a slaveholder to becoming an ardent Abolitionist, and Mr. Hagan, by his fierce denunciations of the system, soon made himself so unpopular with his neighbors that he was finally glad, for more pressing reasons than poverty for after freeing his slaves' there was not much left of the father's patrimony to leave Virginia and buy a
it

tract of land in one of the wildest portions of western Pennsylvania. But the woman who had urged him to
this step for conscience' sake

was not the one

it

to shrink

back from any personal

Cheerfully she accepted all of that rough border life,

might involve. the hardships and privations while her Quaker thrift and
sacrifice

management

Children were born told in the long run. to them, and a fair degree of comfort and prosperity now bless their simple, God-fearing lives.

Mr. Hagan had been for a number of years an

62

HOLDER WITH

CORDS.

itinerant Methodist preacher, whose services at campmeetings were in great demand, as before his stentorian

voice and fervid eloquence his simple, excitable hearers bent like a field of corn before the reaper's scythe; and his gentle Quaker consort supplemented his labors most

seemingly opposite faiths, producing lives, caused no separation in their u work. Her "inner light,'' and his witness of the 11 her of Quaker simplicity Spirit; speech and his Meth-

efficiently, for their

no discord in their

odist fervor, blended

together in delightful

harmony

like the different parts in a

psalm tune; though the man within him would sometimes crop unregenerate out in a mild expletive for which she always reproved him with a gentle, u I am surprised at thee, Benjamin." As I was sipping the squirrel soup, delicious in its rich flavor and exact seasoning, Mrs. Hagan took out her knitting and began to engage me in a talk about Rachel, which brought out among other things the story of her spiritual difficulties to which she listened with silent though intent interest. "Has thee no minister in thy midst?" she finally
asked.

yes; Elder Gushing.

preacher, I believe;
well,

and he
he

"Hath
I

thought bluntly but

anybody."
"

He is considered a good but Rachel doesn't like him very never seemed to help her any." helped others?" a moment and then was obliged to answer, u I never heard of his converting frankly,
I to

Then am

revivals in thy midst,

understand that thee never has any no seasons of refreshing from the

Lord?" gravely pursued my interlocutor. " A few join sometimes by letter from other church-.

HAGAN'S OPINION OF ELDER GUSHING.

es

63

Now and then somebody makes a probut that's rather an uncommon thing." fession, Mrs. Hagan's needles clicked very fast for a moment,
mostly.

and I began to hope she had asked me all the questions she was going to, at least on this particular subject; for not having thought much about it before I did not
feel qualified to give

her strictly accurate. information.

Finally she dropped her knitting and turning round

to

me
"
Is

inquired,

thy minister a good man?" Nay, friend Leander," she added, seeing that I was really too much astonished to make an immediate reply,
"

"

thee will turn to the

priests
evil in

thee need not look so surprised at my question, for if Bible thee will learn how the

under the ancient covenant sometimes wrought

There must always be the sight of the Lord. that man unto by whom the offence offences, but woe
set for a

cometh; and a double woe if he be of Zion. But I desire to think no

It

watchman
tell

evil of thine Elder.

may be in the people. about him ?"

"

What more

can thee

me

He is thought* a good deal of by other ministers, and some of his sermons have been printed; mostly Masonic addresses, delivered at funerals and other He stands very high in the order, special occasions. and has taken fifteen or more degrees. I really don't
know
as I can think of much of anything else to tell you about him," I added, apologetically, for I could hardly suppose she would be satisfied with such a brief and bare description of Elder Cushing's ministerial character and qualifications. But she answered quietly, " Thee has no need to say more, for thee hath said quite enough to show me why

64

HOLDER WITH
4

COEDS.

he has no help for thy friend. Can the blind lead the blind?' He hath need to be taught himself, and how should he teach another? taught the same lesson that

my husband learned five years ago this very night, when the Spirit of the Lord came upon him mightily, and so convinced him of sin in the matter of being a Mason
and joining in their false worship, that he came out from among them forever, and bore testimony to their evil works." She spoke with slow, solemn, almost rhythmic cadence, as she generally did when under the influence of strong feeling. And much as I wondered at her words, I wondered more at the speaker this fair, spiritual woman with her strange dual life; one part all earthly and practical, filled with the rough, homely duties of a borderer's wife, while the other took such hold on the divine and the heavenly that she seemed almost like one who moved and had her being among the eternal realities of the unseen world. During my illness she had often beguiled me of " weariness and pain, by relating to me some of her experiences," which, as I think of them now in the light of a maturer understanding, appear to have been the result of a mighty faith acting unconsciously on one of those rare natures in which the practical common sense of the worker goes hand in hand with the poetic mysticism of the idealist and dreamer. Once when lost in the woods she had prayed .for guidance and seemed 'to hear angel voices directing her At another time when her husband was prossteps. trated by a slow wasting sickness in which neither medicine nor doctors proved of any avail, after a season of prayer by his bedside she had seen in a vision an

MRS. HAGAN'S OPINION OE ELDER GUSHING.

elderly " be of

65

man
good

of grave appearance, who, bidding her to cheer," put into her hand a certain root

with directions
sick husband;

how

to

make a medicine from

at once

it

for her

on awakenfrom her trance to follow with such good ing proceeded results that he soon began to recover. Of course nothing could be easier than for the skeptically inclined to demonstrate to a nicety that Mrs. Hagan was altogether mistaken and deceived; that the angel voices were mere figments of a bewildered fancy, and her knowledge of the root which proved so
remedy, instead of being supernaturally imparted by a divine messenger, had dropped in her childhood from the lips of some old Quaker nurse, but being too young at the time to give it any heed, it had
efficacious a

which directions she

dormant and forgotten until memory, wrought upon by a sudden crisis, had delivered up the secret in
lain
this visionary guise. But, after granting the truth of like the above, there remained much the any theory

same

difficulty that thoughtful minds experience after hearing the Bible miracles explained away on the most approved materialistic basis; for her whole life and character, sublimated as they were by a habit of most frequent and exalted intercourse with the Eternal, pre-

phenomenon more wonderful than any of her dreams and visions. " My husband desires to have a talk with thee on this
sented in itself a
subject before thee leaves us," she said, rising to take " I fear thee will never see thy away the empty bowl.

horse again, but thee must not feel uneasy about pursuing thy journey. Means will be found for so doing when thou hRst gained sufficient strength. The robbers have been pursued, fhee knows, but without sue-

66

HOLDER WITH

CORDS.

It was hoped the capture of Dick Stover and his cess. sons would break up the work of the gang in these parts, but they received warning in time to flee the

settlement.

But there

is

Benjamin, now."

she hurried off to greet her husband, and attend to certain housewifely duties incident on his home-

And

coming.

CHAPTER
MR.

IX.

HAG AN" TELLS WHAT HE KNOWS ABOUT MASONRY.'

HOPE if the rogues ever are caught and there's small chance of that, for they are miles over the border by this time, and safe in some of their haunts, most likely they'll be hung without benefit of judge or jury," remarked Mr. Hagan, whose soul chafed within him at the easy
escape of the desperadoes. " Does thee know what thee
1 '

is

saying, Ben-

jamin? mildly inquired his wife, this outburst rather shocking her peaceful non-resistant principles, as savoring quite too much of that spirit of vengeance inherent " in the natural man." 4t It is an awful thing to send

any poor soul before time for preparation.'

"
I

its
1

Maker without giving

it

any

Mary, and I would be the last man to the law could be depended on. But now about Dick Stover. Who gave him and his sons warning? and how did it happen that the sheriff at the time the writ for their arrest ought to have been served was away and couldn't be found till there had been

know

that,

counsel violence

if

plenty of time for

them

to

make
and

tracks out of the set-

sheriffs, juries, and the very are in bench on the league with thieves and judges

tlement?

When

&8

HOLDER WITH

COEDS.

murderers, honest men had better take the law into their own hands. That's just 'my opinion." "Thee thinkest, Benjamin, because one end of the
skein
to
is

work and

snarled, $ie best way to get it smooth is to go snarl up the other end, does theenot?"

At which small piece of feminine satire her husband laughed good-naturedly, and then as a sudden remembrance seemed to strike his mind, he turned to her and said:
asked his wife.
"
to

know

Daniel Stebbins' child is sick again, and they want if you haint got some more of that bark

it so much good last spring." whole bottleful. The children are off down to the creek, but if thee'll see to the baby while I am gone I'll go right over and carry them some." This was no formidable charge, as the baby, a chubby ten-month-old, was then placidly enjoying its afternoon nap. There was nothing to hinder a quiet talk, and Mr. Hagan seemed in the mood for one. Tilting his chair back at precisely the right angle for comfort, he

that did u

began,

was about

putting in abeyance for the time a question I to ask, whether indeed the laws in that par-

ticular portion of the Quaker State were so imperfectly, administered as to shield criminals, a painful conviction

to that effect having been forced the preceding conversation.

upon

my mind during

asked

now you thought by what I said when you was a Mason that I wan't one. But I am or rather I was one once. Now, if I may inquire, what is the highest degree you've taken in it, so far?"
suppose

"I

me

if I

"The
after

Master's," I answered, not feeling, of course,

surprise at

what Mrs. Hagan had divulged, any s

the revelation.

WHAT
"

MR. HAGAST

KNOWS ABOUT MASONRY.

69

I didn't reckon you'd been much further," coolly " I've gone jour degrees higher pursued Mr. Hagan. than that up to the Royal Arch. Now, are you satisfied with it so far, speaking in a general kind of a way?" For reasons that must be obvious to the discerning reader, I found it much easier to reply to Mr. Hagan than to Mark Stedman, who, it will be remembered, had once put to me a similar question. Here was a

man who knew

"

not only all the Masonic secrets I knew but presumably a good many more. "It doesn't suit me in all respects," I answered,
I don't fancy the oaths, nor many of the ceremonies they have to go through with. But then I shouldn't think of saying there was no good in Mason-

candidly.

ry.

Its teachings are

on the

side of morality

and

re-

ligion;

and that

goes. the best

My

certainly a good thing as far as it grandfather belongs to it, and he is one of

is

men

I ever

knew."
1

only put the question that I might see better how the ground lay between us,' continued Mr. Hagan, with " Now I'll a quiet ignoring of both these arguments.
I
tell

"

you how
I

come

to give it up.
I

when

married Mary

made myself

You know that a poor man for

her sake.

Not
first

you; broke the

of

never

felt so

that I've ever been sorry for that, mind happy in my life before as when I

ground about here, and thought and comfortably settled on farms my of their own. No broken hearts,' thinks I, to be laid to my account hereafter; no wives parted from their husbands; no babes torn out of their mother's arms and sold on the auction block.' But that's neither here nor there. It's Masonry we are talking about, and that you know is a thing Friends ain't over partial
clod of
i

slaves all free

'

TO
to,

BOLDEST WITH COEDS.

no more than they are to

slavery.

So when

married

Mary

concluded not to say anything to her

about my being one. While I see no great evil in it, I'm free to allow that I was anything but satisfied in my own mind. There were things about it I couldn't seem to make hinge with Scripture, no how; but I thought I'd hang on to it, saying to myself that I was
a poor

man and might

we
fly

seeing

are all liable to sickness

be glad of their help sometime, and trouble as the

I

sparks

upward.

And maybe

should have gone on

deceiving Mary to this day if I hadn't fell under the power of the Spirit. I was at a campmeeting over to

Bear Creek.

We had

some powerful preaching and

it

I thought I had religion before; I hit right and left. used to pray and exhort; so I was kinder pitying the
fell to the ground all around me and calling on the Lord for mercy, by scores, groaning when all at once an arrow from the Almighty struck me, right between the joints of the harness, as it were. I began to shake and tremble, and almost before I knew it, I was down as flat as the most hardened reprobate

poor sinners, as they

1 tell you when the Spirit gets hold of a man he did of me then, and turns him inside out and upside down he feels like an empty vessel, as the Scripture

there.
as

says: there ain't much spiritual pride or anything else left in him. Folks that knew me and had heard me

pray and exhort thought

shouted
1
l

was getting' some deeper

experience, and so they crowded round me, and

Hallelujah.'

some

and some prayed, and some sung Glory;' but all the praying and shouting and singing went over my head as idle and unmeaning as the rush of the wind in the treetops, till finally old Father ILoomis came along. He wan't the smartest preacher

WHAT
on our

MR.

HAGAN KNOWS ABOUT MASONRY.

way

71

circuit, folks said,

the anxious ones, a

but he had a kind of gift with of seeing through 'em some-

how, and putting his finger right on their trouble. And when he came to me all he did was just to kneel
Lord, show this man wherefore thou contendest with him. Set his secret sin in the light of thy countenance.' And then he
like
this:

down and pray

went straight off to somebody else, but that prayer just flashed the truth right through and through me. I knew I'd got to give up Masonry. And I was glad
to give it up; I hated it. Why, if two doors had opened before me, and on the signboard of one was wrote, The
k

Lodge,' and on the other The Bottomless Pit,' I'd have gone into one just as quick as into the other. The
'

Lord had
nance.
fession

set

my

secret sin in the light of his counte-

I got right

how

up on my feet, and I made conhad sinned by continuing a thing my

conscience disallowed.

And

as

soon as

I did that the

Lord restored unto me the joy of gave me great liberty in laboring there was a precious ingathering of ing such as was never seen before
parts."

his free Spirit,

and

with sinners; and souls at that meetor since in these

Mr. Hagan paused an instant in his rapid narrative, and then went on:

we are to go by. we had nothing but just the Ten Commandments and the Sermon on the Mount, they'd be enough to show whether MasonIt's

''But our feelings ain't the thing the law and the testimony; and

if

ry

is right or wrong." Astonishment and perplexity had taken hold of me while I listened, nor was either feeling much diminished when he handed me his well-thumbed pocket Bible

72

HOLDER WITH
l

CORDS.

open at the fifth chapter of Matthew, thirty-fifth verse. "That says, Swear not at all;' then are lodge oaths And ain't there some contrary to Scripture or not? things in 'em at the end that don't gibe very well with

Commandment?'' "You mean the penalties," 16 1 answered, with a vivid rememberance of my own scruples in that regard, and
the Sixth
the soothing anodyne administered by some of the lodge brethren. "I have been told that they do not
really

the candidate's

mean anything more than merely to impress on mind a sense of the guilt he would in-

cur if he violates his oath." "Ain't it breaking the Third Commandment to call God to witness words that don't mean anything? And will the Lord hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain, because he does it in a lodge, with ministers and church members round to keep him in countenance ?" I was silent, while Mr. Hagan's long fingers moved on to another passage as relentless as one of the Fates. "You promised never to defraud a brother Mason. How about cheating folks that ain't Masons? The Golden Rule don't read much like that, if I remember right. And you know our Lord has given us some pretty plain talk on the Seventh Commandment. How did your lodge oath handle that? Didn't it say, not in just these words, but what come to the same thing: Break it as often as you're a mind to, and we'll wink at it; only because when you're bringing misery into happy homes, and ruin and disgrace on the innocent, that they ain't Masons' homes nor Masons' wives and daughters?' How would you like some time after you are married to sit down and tell Rachel that part of your Master Mason's oath ? What do you think Christ
1

NOTE 16 "A most solemn ir.ethod of confirming an path was by plating a drawn siuord across the throat of the person to whom it was administered.'
Pierson's Traditions, page 33.

WHAT

MR. HAGAIST

KNOWS ABOUT MASOKRY.

73

would say to it? I don't wonder his presence ain't wanted much in the lodge. He was sharp enough on the Pharisees when they tried to pare down and clip Ye serpents, ye generaaway from the laws of God tion of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of Such a remark as that now might jar on the hell?' proceedings considerable."
l

I thought the same, but preserved a discreet silence; though all the while Mr. Hagan-was putting to me these terrible questions, I watched with fascinated gaze that faithful hand move serenely on, marking Mene< u moral and religious" system so Mene, against that dear to the hearts of my grandfather, and Deacon Brown and Elder Gushing, to say nothing of a host of other worthies more or less eminent in their day and

generation. "
'

What do you think Christ meant when he said, Render unto Caesar the things that be Caesars'?"

I did not see very clearly the -drift of this inquiry, but feeling it as a temporary truce in this severe cross" examination, I answered promptly enough, That we ought to obey the laws of the land and be good citizens, I suppose." " Did you think of that when you promised to warn a brother Mason of any approaching danger, and keep

murder and treason" excepted?" thought a good Mason was not supposed to commit criminal acts," I said, this being the best answer I ..could think of under the circumstances. "Then it seems to me that when they put in them words they took a mighty deal of trouble for nothing, especially as, they ain't very pleasant sounding ones," remarked Mr. Hagan. dryly.
all his secrets,
kt

NOTE 17. ''Treason and rebellion al?o, because they are altogether political offences, cannot bt: inquired into by the lodge, and although a Mason may be convicted of cither of those acts in the courts of his country, he cannot be Masonically punished*, and notwithstanding his treason or rebellion, hia relation to the lodge, to use the language of the old charges, remains indefeasible." Mackey's Masonic Jurisprudence, p. 510.

74

HOLDER WITH

COEDS.

Again a discreet silence, in which I began to dimly perceive the beauty of at least one of my Masonic For in the lack of any answering argument, jewels. what refuge like a " silent tongue?" "And how are you going to tell a good Mason from
a bad one?" pursued Mr. Hagan, thus calling to memory the unpleasant fact that even though the lodge expelled an unworthy* member, there was no Lethe process

which could pour oblivion over the knowledge of its secret signs and grips and passwords, for when once imparted he would be just as free to use them as a shield from the consequences of his own criminal acts, as any member in 'good and regular standing' for legitimate purposes. But I won't be hard on you, seeing I've done a trifle worse than that myself. When I took the Royal Arch degree I promised to help a companion in any difficulty, right or wrong, and keep all of
his secrets, without any exception. And besides, I " Mr. Hagan," I exclaimed, starting up, tc I really

can't

mean

wish you wouldn't

tell

me anything

that you have no right to tell. 1 think with your views about the order you did entirely right to leave them, but to reveal secrets that you have taken a solemn oath
to keep seems to

me

quite a different matter."

My host answered with the same peculiar look he had worn on our first encounter, when I put to him that unlucky question regarding his Masonic connections. "
I argered that out

long before you ever thought of

being a Freemason, and I've seen no ground for changing my mind since. If a man takes a wicked oath,
where's the Bible authority for keeping it ? Is it to the glory of God that he should keep it, or break it?

WHAT
his voice,

MR. HAGAST

KNOWS ABOUT MASONRY.

75

But then," added Mr. Hagan, with a slight change in " a man hain't no right nuther to throw away his life. I argered that out too, and I'm mighty careful what I say before them that'll turn it to my hurt." " Mr. Hagan," said I, startled but incredulous, " do
you actually mean that if any Mason should betray the secrets of the order he would have to suffer the penalty of his oath?"

Mr. Hagan looked keenly at me from beneath his shaggy eyebrows. "That ain't the question, whether such a thing would r It has been done; and be. knowing to it.

Tm

CHAPTER
A MASONIC MURDER
SUCCESS

X.
AND RETURN HOME.

HORROR fell upon me.

on the

The soft south wind came sighing through the cabin,

the sunshine lay in great golden patches floor, but I. felt like one on whose

shuddering gaze the door of some mouldering charnel house had suddenly opened as 1 listened to Mr. Hagan's story, which ran
as follows:

"

I joined the lodge a

Now
that;

there's a difference in

and there's

when I lived in Virginia. human nater, we all allow difference in lodges. Some are de-

tent and respectable, as far as the outside of things go, and others again aro as full of rowdyism and all manner of goings on that shouldn't be, as an egg is of
I joined. a after that I I got so disgusted while stopped going to their meetings. I hadn't much taste for profanity nor

meat.

And

this

was the way with the one

see, but I kept on paying my dues, and so was considered a regular Mason in good standIt was afterwards that this affair happened which ing.

hard drinking, you

I'm going to
"

tell

you about.
-

The chaplain was Gus Peters, and though he could not read a word of two syllables without spelling it, they chose him to the office for a joke. He was a simof some ple kind of a fellow, that got hold accidentally of the secrets, I never rightly knew how, so they made

A MASONIC MURDER.

7?

him take the oath and become a regular member as the best way to shut his mouth. He got into drinking
been in the lodge a while he'd been and that was how the trouble come. When the liquor was in him he was apt to let out the secrets, and it got to be a serious question what to do about it. Things went on so for a time, then all at once the man was missing, and he never turned up again, dead or alive. Folks settled it that he'd stepped into the water some night when he was too tipsy to go As I said before, straight, and there the matter ended. I'd pretty much stopped going to the lodge then, and I married soon afterwards and came up here to live, and what with the trouble we had, for I was sick all one

ways

after- he'd

tolerably steady before

summer, and the crops, fell short for two seasons running, enough happened to drive the whole thing
out of

my

head.
last winter,

while I was on a preaching circuit, 1 come across an old acquaintance that was a member with me of that same lodge in Virginia. The man stuck to me like a burr, and when I found he was

"Three years ago

him further, I really sick and had no money to carry a for bill the told him I'd settle night's lodging at the
tavern. u
in a

talked Well, he set and shivered over the fire and all at once Then while. a for random way queer he started up and stared at me kinder wild and anxious. " You remember Gus Peters?' says he. " I told him, Yes:' and then he said in a whisper, as he was afraid somebody was listening at the
' '

though
l

keyhole "

I'll tell

you, for

we

are both

Masons and bound

to
/'

keep each other's secrets.

'know what became of him

78

HOLDEK WITH

CORDS.

awful suspicion shot through my mind when he said that, but I kept quiet and let him talk on. " You see we were chosen by lot, I and another man, We couldn't help it. We to put him out of the way. 18 had to do it. Ain't we sworn to obey every summons of the lodge to the length of our cable-tow? And the drunken fool was babbling out our secrets. But it wan't me that drawed the knife across his throat; I
k

"An

want you to know that. I helped fasten the weights him and throw him into the creek. He'd taken the oath and knew what the penalty was, and it ain't murto

der I say to hold a

man

to his oath.
that's got to

Jack Benedick, not me,

Leastways answer for

its
it.

Benedick, one of the dare-devil sort. He's a gentleman of the road now, and I reckon has forgot all about that little affair.' " I let him ramble on, for I felt as though I was under a spell. I couldn't move hand nor foot. I ain't giving you all the little details of his story, but every circumstance about it fitted together like a piece of joiner's woik, and I hadn't a doubt in my mind but what it

You remember

was
u

true.

In two dajr s he died of delirium tremens, and I see that he was decently buried." I sat for a moment after Mr. Hagan had finished this awful recital, literally dumb with horror. Was the " benevolent instispirit of Cain at the heart of this not the mere lifeless and its terrible tution, penalties formulas I had been taught to believe, but instinct with awful meaning for the betrayer of Masonic secrets ? u Benedick?" I said, questioningly, as a new idea" struck me. Isn't that the name of the head one in the gang that took my horse and nearly murdered me ?"
NOTE
18.

"The Mason who

disobeys a due,

summons

subjects himself to se-

vere penalties."

Morris's Dictionary, Art. Disobedience.

A MASONIC MURDER.
u

79

He's the very same man; a Royal Arch Mason/' answered Mr. Hagan coolly. u He's learned his trade thoroughly since he cut poor Gus's throat. The Stovers are all Masons, and if you don't understand how they cleared out of the settlement so easy without any hindrance from the sheriff, you've forgot the most important part of your lodge oaths, I reckon." Over this information I pondered silently, for
it

cer-

tainly verified the truth of Deacon Brown's statements in a manner more convincing than, agreeable. What u a fine chance of consorting on brotherly terms with

rohbers and marauders"

I lost

through undue modesty

!

when I stopped at the Stovers' cabin The sudden awakening of the baby, who began

to

cry most vehemently, and refused to be comforted by any process with which masculine minds were conversant, stopped further revelations until Mrs. Hagan's return allowed us to continue our talk.

"Mary knows
things ain't
are;
fit

as

resumed Mr. Hagan.

for a

much about Freemasonry as J do," You may think some of the

kt

but to
tell

my mind

woman's ears, and I don't say they no lodge oath has a right to sun-

der

them God has

joined together.

can

things to an angel that you can't to a

And somehow you common

woman."
Mr. Hagan uttered this profound philosophical truth with a simplicity refreshing to hear; and silence fell

moments, which 1 spent in menthe test would apply to Rachel. tally considering Under no imaginable circumstances could I ever find it easy to tell her the secrets of the lodge, from which I
for several

between us

how

concluded that there was considerably more woman and less saint about Rachel Stedman than Mary Hagan.
'

80
''

HOLDER WITH

CORDS.
1'

Did you ever hear of a Captain William Morgan? " I asked Mr. Hagan, finally breaking the silence. heard he had moved to New York State. We were
1

boys together in Culpepper County.' " My grandfather is very well acquainted with him, I answered eagerly, little thinking how soon that name would stir the land to its very center with the greatest horror and pity and indignation. "At least I think
1 '

must be the same man you are speaking of, for I know he came from Virginia." " I used to think he was uncommon smart," pursued " a man the world might hear from some Mr. Hagan; was one that always had his thoughts, and day. He
it

was

free-

him

or not.

to speak 'em whether other folks agreed with frank, generous, open kind of a nature

he had.
never."
turned.

Nothing underhand about William Morgan;

thinks very highly of him," I revery fine appearing man, I have and one that can talk well on almost say,

"My grandfather "He is a

heard him

any subject. He first went to Canada, and engaged in business, but a fire reduced him to poverty, so that he has gone back to his old trade of bricklaying. He and his young wife are now livin'g in Batavia, Genesee
County." Mr. Hagan, with his hands clasped over his knees, sat silent, his eyes fixed on one of the golden checkered patches of sunlight that wavered and danced over the
cabin
"
floor.

"Captain Morgan is a Freemason," I continued, and unusually well posted in the secrets of the order, I have heard my grandfather say. Now, if Masonry is to the and I must admit that it Bible, really contrary

CAPTAIN WILLIAM MORGAN

81

seems so from your showing, how is it that two such as they don't or can't see it in its true light? How can it be supposed that they or the members of the Masonic fraternity generally could look with anything but execration and horror on such a cold-blooded murder as you have been telling me about, planned and carried on by a few desperate villains, Masons only in name, and vile enough to use their connection with the

men

order as a cloak for every crime?" " I ain't a man to see visions or dream dreams/' slowly answered Mr. flagan, " but speaking from what I know of the spirit of the order, something as bad as that, or

worse, will happen yet, arid not done in a corner as that deed was. Then, and not till then, the scales will fall

from their

eyes.

know what I'm

saying, and

you

mark

my

words."

time to ponder over but after a moment of silence began on another subject by making an inquiry about
this startling prophecy,

My host did

not give

me much

the

locality of

my

grandfather's claim.

The

rest of

not transcribe, it being decidedin its too general details to interest the ly geographical average reader. The " claim" lay about forty miles distant, and like the Good Samaritan he had already proved himself, as
our conversation
I shall

soon as I was able to resume my journey, Mr. Hagan lent me a horse and funds sufficient for my needs.
Fortune, though she had showed an adverse face hitherto, now suddenly changed her frowns to smiles, and when I reached my destination a tract of wilderness
land near the Virginia line, where some enterprising capitalists had taken it into their heads to lay out a city whose name and precise location on the map need

82

HOLDER WITH

CORDS.

not be given here, being a matter of no special moment I succeeded in negotiating such favorato the reader able terms of sale as more than realized my grandfather's

most sanguine expectations; and I begun the return journey, which being perfectly free from adventure gave me time to do considerable thinking, with a

light heart.

On my homeward way
Hagans'.
terest in

stopped for a night at the

The

my

gentle Quakeress, whose womanly inbetrothed had not at all abated, gave me

a couple of fine hem-stitched handkerchiefs to take to Rachel as a wedding gift, remarking in the quaint man-

ner peculiar to her sect, " I have a concern on my mind for thy friend, but I do not doubt she is one of the Lord's elect, and will some

day be brought into the light. But have a care that thee does not put a stumbling block in her way." " Mrs. Hagan!" I exclaimed, feeling really hurt at
the insinuation. " Thee would never do
it

purposely, friend Leander,'

but thee might do it unthinkingly. Did Rachel wish thee to join the lodge?" " No; she was very much opposed to it." " Does thee imagine her opposition will grow less

when thee and she are wedded?" was Mrs. Hagan's next searching inquiry. Before this pure-souled woman, knowing that she was talking with full knowledge of all the ridiculous ceremonials of the lodge, its awful oaths and hideous
penalties, i felt
;

my

cheeks glowing hot with the blush

of honest shame.

"

'No;"

I
is

Rachel

answered, after a moment's hesitation, not apt to change her mind when it is once

SUCCESS

AND BETUKN HOME.

we

83
are married,

made

But I sincerely mean, after up. to stop attending the lodge altogether.
want

It will be ex-

cuse enough that I don't

to leave

Rachel alone

evenings." '"Take heed, friend Leander, lest thy fear of man bring thee into a snare, and with thee this dear soul

whose welfare should be precious to thee

life,

as thine

own

have the heart of a woman. never husband My guessed it, and I have never told he confessed to me that he had but before him, long been a Mason I knew the whole truth. Does thee think I passed no miserable hours with the thought like an arrow in my heart that the one I loved and
t

am

woman

and

all other men was deceiving me? And would warn thee beforehand of the danger to thy mutual happiness. Thee and Rachel will make a sad

honored before

mistake to begin married life at variance with each other. 'Can two walk together unless they be agreed ?'" " 0, we agree to disagree, Mrs. Hagan," I answered, with an assumed lightness, " at least so far as Masonry
is concerned. Rachel never really opposed my joining the lodge in so many words; but she has a tremendous power of letting me know what she thinks without

saying much."
I have warned thee," she answered, her deep, spiritual eyes not looking at me as she spoke, but with a curious far away gaze in them that awed me though I

"

did not understand

peated, in the

it. "I have warned thee," she resame strangely solemn way, and said no

more.

The beautiful lives of Benjamin and Mary Hagan were never wrought into a biography, but long afterwards I accidentally heard of them as keepers of a

84

HOLDEN WITH

COEDS.

famous station on the underground railroad, ministering to the Lord they loved in the person of many a poor footsore fugitive to whom such a halting place on their weary road must have seemed like the chamber called Peace, with its windows opened toward the rising sun of liberty. I paid for the horse and returned the money Mr. Hagau. had lent me to offer anything more I felt would be an insult to their simple-hearted kindness and rode

away the next morning, the hot tears blinding my eyes as I left them standing in their cabin door with words
of farewell

upon their lips. The sun was setting when

first

entered Brownsville,

and the
u

happened

person to meet me with recognizing glance to be Sam Toller.

If I ain't glad to see ye back again, Leander Severns," he said, after his first doubtful stare, for the sun

was in

his face,

and

it

was not

till

came

directly

alongside that he fully comprehended who I was. "But they'll be a sight gladder to see ye up to the
house.

Been swapping horses?" he asked abruptly,

as

raw-boned steed, which was certainly his eye fell on in decided contrast to the sleek and beautiful Major.

my

"

Yer gran'ther won't like that." I had not thought it best to rouse

useless anxiety

by

writing

home any account

of the adventures which had

befallen me, and Sam was therefore the first person to receive the news. Certainly if its speedy publication

had been an important object with me, nobody any better qualified for that purpose could have been selected.

tial,

"Wall, things did fall out with ye kinder providenafter all," grunted Sam, who was by no means of

SUCCESS

AND RETURN HOME.

85

an irreligious turn of mind, and could, when he chose, the most edifying moral reflections. It was a remarkable deliverance, and I hope ye thanKed the Lord

make

it. Now I lay anything that the man that did so well by ye was a Mason, and I have been thinking that it might be a good thing for me to join the lodge. " Mr. Hagan had been a Mason, it is true," 1 an-

for

swered, cautiously, concealing with some difficulty a smile at the very idea of poor, shiftless Sam Toller,

who never had money enough in his pocket to pay his entrance fee, ever being admitted. "He told me so himself; but it was because he was a Christian that he
was so good to me, and not in the
a Mason." u All the same,
1'

least because

he was

replied

Sam

"

cheerfully,

I've kinder

gathered from Elder Cushing's talk that there ain't much difference; a good Mason and a good Christian are abo'.it alike. Now what would you say if I should tell you I had jined 'em while you've been gone/'

And to my unspeakable amazement Sam leaned over and gave me, in the most approved Masonic style, the Master Mason's grip.
"
Is it possible,

Sam?"

I asked, as soon as I could get

breath from
"

my first bewilderment, which state of mind

Mason
as

was nowise abated by Sam's answer,

Hain't I got just as good a right to be a
I.

any man? If I hain't And Sam, ordinarily

like to

know why."

the best-tempered fellow in the

world, waxed surprisingly irate. " I am sure I meant no offence, Sam," I answered, u It was quite natural I should be a little humbly. But now I want to know all about the surprised.

86
folks,

HOLDER WITH

CORDS.

and how things have gone on at home while iVe been away." "Middling well," was Sam's succinct reply. "There's the Captain now, a standing at the gate as though he was looking for ye."

CHAPTER XL
MORE TALK WITH MY GRANDFATHER.

A MODERN PAN.

moment my grandfather had caught sight of me and hobbled out, his white
a
locks

waving in the wind.

the joy of

home coming! The quiet, blissful content when my mother's tears of hapthat
piness were all shed, and my story of disaster and success recounted in its every detail for

the twentieth time!

For, as Rachel
"

quite a hero," prophesied, I had come home even in Joe's eyes, who was decidedly more respectful to me that evening than he had ever been in his life
before.

Rachel and I had our own little private cup of joy with which no stranger intermeddled. She listened with paling cheek, but not saying a word, when I related how the robbers struck me down and left me for dead
in those dark

unknown woods; but when

told the

experience which followed, the strange sense of comfort and peace that stole into my heart when lying there, bruised and bleeding, I saw the constellation of the Dipper, and remembered her parting promise, she looked up with great wide eyes, in which the surprise of some wonderful, unlooked-for joy seemed suddenly
s

kindling.

"0,

remember that night," she exclaimed.

"I

88

HOLDER WITH
restless

CORDS.

was

and couldn't

sleep.

A fear of

something
off,

dreadful seemed to oppress me. I couldn't shake it but 1 thought a breath of fresh air might make
feel better

me

got up and raised the window. As I leaned out I could see the Dipper, and I began to won-

and

feeling.

you were in trouble or danger that I had such a So J just put my head down on the windowsill and prayed; and then all the strange oppression seemed to slide right off of me like some heavy weight.
der
if

0, Leander, do you think

little foolish

God

really did hear

my

poor

prayer and answer it?" know he did, Rachel," I answered, solemnly and

earnestly.

Two great tears rolled down Rachel's cheeks. ing out dumb hands of longing, her soul had

Reachat last

touched the Invisible Father, and for one transcendent moment her whole being dissolved in awe-stricken bliss
at the thought.

day, in a private aside, I asked my grandhe knew Sam Toller was a Mason. No; he replied, nearly dropping his pipe in astonu There's no more harm I don't believe it. ishment. a in Sam than there is in chip squirrel, but he's such an

The next
if
1'

father "

idle, shiftless

fellow that there isn't a lodge in the State

in."

He gave the Master Mason's gave it to me correctly too."

grandfather My "

would take "

him

grip last night, and

Then

of course he

looked nonplussed. must at some time or other have

Worse fellows than Sam Toller have joined the order. been Masons before now, but I must say I am surprised." And my grandfather, whose good, easy, placid soul
was seldom long astonished
at anything, after a

mo-

MORE TALK -WITH MY GRAKDFATHER.

had

89

ment's reflection took up the Canandaigua paper which just arrived, and would have dismissed the subject if I had been willing to let him. " I haven't told you yet that this Methodist preacher, who, together with his wife, showed me such kindness,

was a Mason,"

grees to the point T

remarked, feeling my way by slow dewished to reach. "Ah !" and my grandfather looked interested. " Now, Leander, after such practical proof of its benefits, I hope you see that I was right in urging you to join the
I

order.

11

But Mr. Hagan had renounced

before.

all
it

connection with

a bad thing, conhad a long talk about it, and trary to the Bible. he made it very clear to my mind that the oaths and

Masonry years

He

thinks

We

penalties at least, if nothing else about

it,

are entirely

wrong." I spoke with a little concealed trepidation which I found was wholly unnecessary. My grandfather's faith in his favorite institution was much too strong to be
thus easily disturbed. <k Good men don't always feel nor think alike, Leander," was his answer, as placid as a summer breeze. u that what a man read somewhere in the
Epistles thinks to be sin, to him it is sin. 1 never blame any one for acting up to his conscience, even when I know he is mistaken. I've always said myself that there

We

were things in Masonry that 1 couldn't understand, nor bring myself to think are really right; but my idea about them is that they are relics of a barbarous age that will fall away in time. And besides I have known
a great

many

against

honest, good men to become prejudiced Masonry by joining a lodge where there was a

90

HOLDER WITH

CORDS.

great deal of profanity and hard drinking going on. Why, I've known lodges myself that any decent man,
if

as

he once got into, would want to clear out of as quick he could. By a very natural mistake they blame
for the sins of its individual

Masonry

members,

for-

getting that they might just as easily tianity on the same grounds."
It

condemn

Chris-

dimly occurred to me that a church composed mainly of drunkards and swearers was a strange anoma\y I had not yet met with; but I was anxious to know my grandfather's opinion on another point. " If a member should divulge the secrets of the order, would he be punishable with death, according to the terms of his oath?" I asked. My grandfather, for the first time in all our discussions of the subject, had no answer ready. " 44 Why, Leander," he answered at last, in the first
place there

no officer in the lodge empowered to act and in the second place it is not supthat posable any member would so perjure himself as
is

as executioner,

to disclose the secrets.

this is

In my understanding of things one great reason why these ancient penalties,

that seem so unsuited to the spirit of the age, are still kept up, for human nature is so depraved that the oath,
divested of these forms, might not have sufficient restraining power over some. But why do you ask such a question?"
I concluded, as the best answer I could give, to relate Mr. Hagan's story, to which my grandfather listened, his ruddy face fairly white with horror. "That was a fearful murder; perfectly awful. It makes my blood run cold to think of it," he said at last, after sitting for a moment in shocked silence.

MORE
u

TALK:

WITH MY GRANDFATHER.

iJl

But now

been saying.
it

that story, Leander, just proves what I have In a lodge where they are half heathen

stands to reason that their acts will be heathenish.

If there are

an ox, they'll such a it; only lodge doesn't more than the men who stabbed represent Masonry any infants in their mother's arms on St. Bartholomew's

murdering a

men among them man than they do

that care no more for

for felling

be likely enough to do

day represents Christianity."

reasoning so entirety satisfactory to my grandfather that, with a deep-drawn sigh for the depravity that made such deeds possible, he again took up his
paper.
I was by no means entirely convinced, but added to the seeming reason and fairness of what he had said was my reverent affection, almost more than filial, for the

guardian of

counsellor of

my fatherless boyhood, the my maturer years. To

patient, lovingsuppose for a

moment

sake, arguments in which believe was to suppose

that he would advance, for mere persuasion's he did not himself thoroughly

an impossibility.

Day and

soon change places as my grandfather in his stern honesty which by the way was the only thing stern about him seek to impose on even the

night would

as

credulity of a child. Elder Cushing's influence over

Mark Stedman was of

an altogether different kind. At the time I did not entirely understand it, for it was a plain instance of what is not uncommonly seen in the world, the higher nature held in complete possession and control by the lower one. Mark's peculiarly unworldly spirit had yet its weak points. He was ambitious, not for money he despised it; not for fame he despised that too, but

92

HOLDEK WITH
less. he

CORDS.

longed in secret to win that human and sympathy of which fame is the mere recognition outward symbol. And more than all, he was intensely curious, fond of prying into the unknown and unimagined, hopeful, ardent, unsuspicious, with all the harmlessness of a dove, but none of the wisdom of a

none the

serpent.

was disappointed not to hear the story of his infrom his own lips, but he was now from home, having secured a tutorship somewhere in the vicinity of New York through the recommendation of Elder Cashing, who was naturally not ill-pleased with the opportunity to aid his young friend and at the same time give him practical proof of Masonic influence. Truth to tell, I had passed many disagreeable moments in reflecting on his probable state of mind when brought face to face with those terrible u obligations," and was not at all surprised to hear from a lodge u acquaintance that Mark was a great spooney, who had given them more trouble than he was worth."
I

itiatory experience

1 thought we should be all night getting him through the first degree. He was just like an old bureau drawer that sticks and catches whichever way you pull it. Positively we shouldn't have got through by morning if we had stopped for all the work generBut we skipped a few little things, nothing ally done. very important, omitted to save time and trouble; that was all." " Then I don't think Mark has been regularly initi-

"

ated," said

I,

to

whom

this revelation of lodge tactics

was rather startling " Oh, we asked lawyer Bacon about that. He said it was all right. Lodges very often shorten the work

MARK A TROUBLESOME

INITIATE.

93

when

lack of time or any other reason makes it necesAnd, as I said, we never should have got through, sary.

when we had to meet his objections at every step, and spend an hour trying to convince him that it would all be made right, before he would consent to go on, if we hadn't done some such way. But such milk-and-water
chaps as Mark Stedman ain't of much use in the lodge. He'd better join the church and go to preaching. An opinion which. Elder Gushing, who had played so
'

the part of Mr. Worldly Wiseman to Mark's In his zeal to spiritual needs, did not appear to share
well

make proselytes for the lodge he had induced him to take the three lower degrees in one night; a very com-

mon

device, let

when

me explain, and one much resorted to there were serious fears that the candidate's con-

science would prove so inconveniently sensitive as to

forbid his return to the lodge after taking the first degree, and if there afterwards remained the less easy

task of pouring

oil

deeply disgusted soul,

on the troubled waters of Mark's it was one to which the Elder

He knew through long experience equal. that such souls required very wily handling; that to laugh in a gentle, deprecatory fashion, and to say he was just like others, disappointed because Masonry did
was fully
not reveal
all its

beauties at

first

sight; to descant

on

the divine grace of patience as needful in every searcher after truth, and hint at the existence of sublime and
ineffable mysteries of

wisdom, veiled in the lower debut opening up in ever widening vistas to the grees, the of faithful ones who refuse to be deterred from eyes exploring the inner temple by the mass of seeming rubbish

od

of

encumbering its entrance, was by far the best methproceeding under those particular circumstances.

94

HOLDER WITH CORDS.

Rachel still adhered to her general role of silence on the subject, and as I took prudent care not to sa}r anything calculated to make her depart from it, her only allusion to the step taken by her brother came in the

form of this very natural but inconvenient query: " 1 want to know, Leander, what sort of doings they can have in Masonic lodges to send a man home at two
o'clock in the

Mark.

morning looking like death, as they did wasn't himself for a month after." While I could well imagine what a shock to every

He

instinct of Mark's pure and high-minded nature the whole proceeding of initiation must have been, how

could I answer Rachel's question without revealing what I had sworn "ever to conceal?
1 '

,Mark?

some information out of lame attempt to shirk the inquiry. " Exactly what I should have done," answered Rachel " if he hadn't been cross as a bear. I couldn't coolly,
don't you Why v
try to get
I said, in a

"

say a word to
I
k

him about it without being snapped up. Now, Mark was never cross to me in his life before, and
must say
divine
'

I don't

understand
"

it.

An

institution so

(and here Rachel's lips took a slight curl) ought to send a man home at a decent hour, and better instead of worse than he went."
as

Masonry "

What

could I do but have recourse to that standing

argument made and provided for just such exigencies: u Oh, well, Rachel, Masonry is a matter women are
not expected to understand." " I know one woman," returned Rachel, with a very u decided snip of her scissors, who is capable of understanding a good many things she is not expected to." My only answer was a laugh, but in my secret soul I wished Rachel's assertion was not quite so true.

SAM TOLLER AS A MASON.

95
docile,

Why

couldn't she be like

little

my

mother: a gentle,

trusting

woman, who never troubled her head

about masculine doings in general, or those of the lodge in particular, any more than she did about the aberration of the planets. I felt vaguely dissatisfied with Rachel, and vexed with myself for the feeling. .Even
ears,

now

to spoil the fair

the hateful hiss of the serpent lying in wait Eden of our mutual love was in my

and though an angel had stood in

my path to warn

me I h;id refused to heed the message. Sam Toller, in his new character of Mason, flourished
That very morning the non-arrival of certain domestic necessaries having thrown the whole kitchen cabinet into confusion, I found him at the store, whither I was dispatched by the despairing and indignant Miss
greatly.

Loker to hasten his tardy movements (Joe being, as usual, out of the way when most wanted,) holding forth to a group of loungers on the beauties of the institution.

Nobody

shall speak a
I

word agin
"
It's

he was saying as
thing.

came

up.

it in my hearing," a divinely appointed

That's the

way Elder Gushing

talks,

and

I'll

stand by what he says aginst the hull world. Why, Masonry is older than Solomon's temple, or the pyraU 0h, you shut up, Sam you never was mids, or the
;

Mason," interrupted a skeptical bystander, at which Sam, catching sight of me, turned in aggrieved appeal. "You'll do me a favor, Leander Severns, to jest tell this gentleman whether I be or not." Actuated partly by the spirit of fun, I gave the required testimony, which appeased Sam's wounded dignity so far that after casting a glance of withering contempt on the unlucky person who was now in the awk-

96

HOLDE2ST

WITH COEDS.

ward predicament of being proved in the wrong, he proceeded with his parable.
She's the twin sister of Christianity, as you may "say; the " Christianity's grandmother, you mean," put in the
kt

who sat kicking his heels against the molasses hogshead on which he had perched himself to
irreverent Joe,
listen

to Sam's harangue. "According to your tell two or three thousand years the- oldest. You don't make your talk hang together, Sam." There was a general laugh, but Sam, " vowing he wouldn't stand sarce from nobody, least of all a boy
she's

turned in great wrath on the latter, who ran and leaped and dodged, and finally made his escape through a rear door, Sam after him in a hopeless chase, being much too stout and lumberingly built to be any match for Joe, who was nearly as fleet of foot as the Ashael of Scripture.
like Joe,"

occurred to

laughing at the absurd scene, it suddenly Joe's mysterious knowledge of Masonic secrets, hitherto such a baffling puzzle, could I knew the two had been much easily be accounted for. together, and that Sam should incautiously let them out to Joe was quite supposable. I was so certain that the bottom of the mystery was reached at last that I concluded to put an inquiry point blank to the latter, though I felt very doubtful about getting a satisfactory answer, for having now been at home an entire week I had ceased to be a hero in Joe's eyes. But when I approached him on the subject I was agreeably astonished to find him disposed to be frank, even confidential. " You see, the fact is," and Joe, who was engaged like Pan of old in fashioning a flute, not out of a reed
I stood

As

me how

A MODERN PAN.
from Eurotas, but the stem of a pumpkin
vine,

97

went on

" Sam don't notching out the stops with great care; mean to let out the secrets, and if you asked him he'd

when he gets to talking they break without his knowing it, a? easy as water runs through a sieve. He don't tell the secrets right out, but he'll say things that anybody that's sharp can pick up and piece together and so find out a good deal. And I've been thinking for some time," added Joe, stopping in his work and looking serious, ''that you'd better give him a hint to be more careful. I'm afraid he may get into trouble. But I keep mum about everything he has let out to me. You needn't be afraid. Only if
say he didn't; but
out,

you say anything to him, don't let him know what I've told you. It would only make him mad." I promised, inwardly resolving to lose no time in warning Sam to be more mindful in future of his Masonic requirements. And Joe, having ended his revelations, which made me the more uneasy from their vague and indefinite character, applied his lips to the primitive wind instrument before mentioned, and blew a most un-Panlike strain." Half an hour later, had I been gifted with clairvoyof the
I might have seen the two, their difference morning happily forgotten, engaged in close conference, much interrupted by sundry chuckles on Sam's part, and perfect convulsions of smothered laughter on

ant vision,

Joe's.

CHAPTER
A FEW MASONIC

XII.
PUZZLES.

ACHEL

mid

were married one

fair

that seemed to have gathered into itself all the ripeness and glory
of the summer that had fled a day like an embodied Psalm-tune. And the world

Autumn day

lay

all

souls; in the mysterious

before us, young, ignorant, untried economy of divine

law, twain

no longer, but one

flesh.

up housekeeping as happy as any pair of robins that ever rented an apple tree, and as full of abounding hope for the morrow. We had plenty of friends, and not an enemy that we knew of; we had youth and health, and implicit faith in one another; what else could we want more? Had the question " been put to me I should have answered, Nothing;" and Rachel, covering up the unsatisfied longings of her soul with all the little joyful cares of a newly wedded wife, would very likely have said the same. Brownsville was a prosperous village not far from the lake-shore of northwestern New York, a peaceable, law-abiding community, where the high-handed crimes that shock newspaper readers of to-day were utterly unheard of, and people went to bed at night without bolting their doors. -Most of the inhabitants were of New England birth, and had brought with

We

set

A FEW MASONIC PUZZLES.

them
the

all

the thrift and forehandedness indigenous to

of the Pilgrims.

soil

My

grandfather's family,

a quiet old town near Boston, which had given a Governor to the State, to say nothing of lawyers, clergymen and legislators, who had further distinguished its annals, ancKn whose ranks Mark Stedman might have stood, had not Destiny seemingly blocked his way by decreeing at the outset
as also the Stedman's,

came from

an altogether different life. But like all noble souls he had the seeds of victory within him. The rough labor of the farm hardened muscles and sinews, and the long winter evenings passed in solitary wrestling with his books, devoloped a sturdy self-relianco worth more than all the discipline of the universities. And thus Mark Stedman had grown up as true an offshoot of Puritan thought and culture as if he had walked all his life under the shadowy elms of his New England birthplace. Sam Toller hailed from New Hampshire, but though of genuine Yankee stock, he was, as we have seen, a a degenerate plant, so far as industry and faculty for But after all, Sam had getting ahead was concerned.
plenty of faculty of a certain kind; his very laziness

and shiftlessness, I am inclined to think, were nothing but their Yankee opposites turned wrong side out. And as no woman had ever been found insane enough to unite her fortune with his, he managed, in the absence
of any family to support, to get along very well,

that

u watch over the especial Providence which is said to " lame and the lazy not being remiss in its kindly care

of

Sam
The

Toller.

chance I could get to privately remind him of his Masonic oath to secrecy I took care to improve,
first

100
it

HOLDER WITH
all

COEDS.

the tact of which I was master but required neither to betray Joe as my informant in this matter, nor give mortal offense to Sam himself, who was at first inclined to take in high dudgeon the charge of having

even unwittingly betrayed any of the secrets. k% Wall, yeVe kinder hurt my feelings, Leander," he *" said at last, rather more amicably. J vow, I never of such a as lettin'out thought anything I hadn't thing
orter."

"Oh,

well;

"

soothingly.

you never meant to, Sam," I answered, But the queerest thing about it is why

you've never let us know before that you were a Mason.'* Sam scratched his head reflectively for an instant,
before replying. Ye see there wan't
pt

no lodge

in the place where I

lived afore I

came

to Brownsville.

Now you go where

there ain't no lodge and stay a dozen years and ye'll a'most forget ye ever was a Mason. But come to a
place like this where there's a lodge wide awake and progressing and all yer old feelin's begin to siir. That's natur' now. And then Elder Cushing's talk when he
stirred

preached the funeral sermon for yer Uncle Jerry kinder 'em up more. That's natur' agin, for I thought
a sight of yer Uncle Jerry." And Sam heaved a befitting sigh.
I felt satisfied

with an explanation so reasonable, and

allowed

him

The whole

to depart without further questioning.. subject of Masonry was so involved with

wearisome and perplexing pros and cons, that I hardly to think. For on the one hand were there not general principles of virtue and morality set forth in the charges and lectures, to which Socrates himself eould not have objected? truisms that were old as the

knew what

A FEW MASONIC PURZLES.

fact of

101
indisputable?

human

existence, and just

as

And on
about
it

the other hand were there not

that even

many
all his

my

grandfather, with

things venera-

tion for the institution, found it easier to excuse than defend? It was a relief to think that now Rachel and I were married, 1 could fulfill my resolve to Mrs. Hagan, and tacitly drop all these troubfesome questions by the very easy and simple process of never appearing at a

lodge meeting! Mark was not at the wedding, but gained a brief release in the latter part of November, and took Rachel

and

me by

surprise, walking in just as the table

was

set

for tea.

Of course he had much to tell us, about his school and divers matters of interest pertaining to the great world in general, whose distant pulse-beats were felt so In truth we were all proud of faintly in Brownsville. Mark. He was the scholar of the family, of whom the minister, and the school committee, and, in short, all those village dignitaries supposed to have peculiar insight into the destinies of the rising generation, had prophesied great things from his very cradle, while it had been settled at many sewing circles and Sunday noon conclaves that he would certainly make a preach" er; the fact that he was serious," in the common reof that ligious phrase day, seeming to form some solid basis for the general confidence. Mark's naturally sweet and humble spirit was not spoiled by the more
discriminating praise of
the intellectual
circles

in

which his lot was now cast. He came home as ready to shake hands with Sam Toller as if he had not actually had the honor at some school celebration of shaking hands with Governor DeWitt Clinton himself 1

102

HOLDER WITH

COEDS.

Sam, by the way, still took special delight in gatherering around him, at every convenient opportunity, a crowd of village loafers and small boys to whom he
would hold forth by the hour together, or
at least so

long as their patience lasted, in a similar strain to that recorded in the previous chapter; while Joe, who
usually contrived to be roosting near, would intersperse a running fire of witticisms, to the great displeasure of

Sam, and the equally high delight of the audience, whose generally un- Masonic character may easily be inferred from its material as given above. And the very next day Mark and I happened to be eye-witnesses
to one of these scenes.

Sam, not unlike some more distinguished Masonic orators, thought nothing of going back several thousand years in search of shining examples wherewith, to glorify the craft. He was now boldly averring that Adam was not only the first man but the first Mason, at which Joe elevated his eyebrows portentously. "Phew! what a jolly time old Father Adam must have had with only Eve to play cowan and eavesdropper.' And how about his Masonic apron, Sam? Oh, I forgot; he wore one of fig-leaves, didn't he? Exl

cuse

me for interrupting." And Joe subsided once more

humble
listener.

into the character of an

attentive and

for

biting his lips with suppressed laughter, he saw another listener of whom neither Sam nor Joe were aware no less a personage than Elder Gush-

Mark was

ing himself, it being in the public room of the tavern, a most important institution in those pre-railroad times, where all the news, local and political, were discussed over

mugs

of

flip

with more or

less

ardor and

A FEW MASONIC

PUZZLES.

103

The Elder having some business with the landlord had gone into a private room to transact it, and now stepped out just in time to hear both statement and commentaiy. u and speakMy friend," he said, clearing his throat u ing to Sam with a condescending smile, I fear you are meddling with matters too high ior you. Masons can help the order best, not by talking about it but by living up to its principles. Yet the divine truths of Masonry being eternal and given to man long before they were embodied in set forms, while its symbols are old as nainterest, that this little scene took place.

ture herself, it follows that in a certain sense all the wise and great of past ages may be classed in the order. The precepts of Masonry,' added the Elder, turning
1

from

Sam and making

doubtless

communicated

thus cleverly rescued the whole subject from the hands of the zealous but indiscreet Sam, Elder Gushing came forward to greet Mark, whom he had not
seen before since his arrival. The low-toned conversation which followed I did not hear, but Mark himself unconsciously supplied the key
to this

Adam may And having

his remarks general, ^were to our first father, and thus unquestionably be called the first Mason."

and many subsequent talks with his minister, by abruptly inquiring on the last night of his stay: "Leander, did youVyer think you would like to take the upper degrees in Masonry? " " Mark," said I, facing round on him, I wouldn't go through such a torn-fool exhibition again as I did on the night I was made a Master Mason for all the wisdom of Solomon. I never in my life felt so thoroughly when I lay on the lodge floor shamming degraded as 19 Hiram Abiff. And now, Mark, as you are more learned than I, pray tell me where Masons get that story ? Not
1

'

NOTE 19. "We readily recognize In Hiram Abiff, one of the Grand Masters of Freemasons: the Osiris of the Egyptians, the Mithras of the Persians, the Bacchus of the Greeks, the Dionysius of the Fraternity of Artificers, and the Atys of the Phrygians, whose passion, death and resurrection were celebrated by these people respectively. For many apes and everywh re Masons have celebrated the death of Hiram Abiff." Piersou's Traditions^ p. 240.

104

HOLDER WITH

CORDS.

and I've looked all through the Apocrypha, and taken down Josephus on purpose to see, and not a hint of it can I find anywhere. Catch me believing that Hiram was murdered by three ruffians because he refused to give them the Master's word, and tumbled into a grave under an acacia tree, and then raised to life again by Solomon on the five points of fellowship -after he had been dead fifteen days so that
in the Bible, surely;

the flesh slipped from the bones! Sam Toller's toughest yarns wouldn't be a circumstance to swallow beside it." "Elder Gushing admits that there is no such story in any of the ancient writers," answered Mark. "He says the true light in which to regard the legend is that

whose origin is lost in the obscurity of past ages; but which, as used in the lodge to-day, has a most important symbolical meaning, as typifying the struggle and final triumph of light over darkness, life over death, and good over evil in the final millennium of the world.''
of a pure myth,
like
I am not mystical and poetical plain and practical and don't see any of these superfine meanings. But I do see one thing

"Oh,

well,

Mark,

you; I
it

am

why

hasn't disappointed you as it has me." "Oh, Leander,"' said Mark, eagerly, "I was disappointed, only the word does not begin to express what
I felt.

20

I was almost crazy, I verily believe, with chaand mortification, it was all so different from what grin expected. I told Elder Gushing that I would never go near the lodge again, and I thoroughly meant it. But he says if 1 will only have patience to go on and
I.

take the ineffable degrees the things that trouble

me

so

NOTE 20. "It is one of the most beautiful, but at the same time most abstruse doctrines of the science of Masonic symbolism, that the Mason is ever to be in the search of truth, but is never to find it. And this is intended to teach the humiliating but necessary lesson, that the knowledge of the nature of God, and of man's relation to him, which knowledge constitutes divine truth, can never be acquired in this \\.tQ."Mackey'8 Ritualist, p. 106.

A FEW MASONIC
will all

PUZZLES.

105

be explained; that

it is

feel dissatisfied

now, for

it is

quite natural 1 should just as if I had read only

Leviticus-

and Deuteronomy and knew nothing about

the rest of the Bible.

to the others

He says the ineffable degrees are

is to the law, interprettheir hidden and even throwing light on ing meanings, sonle of the difficult passages in Revelations and the

what the gospel

Epistles of St. John. And he is a member of the Lodge of Perfection himself; he ought to know," added Mark,

simply.
I was silent, for what was what Elder Gushing said?
I

that

should dispute

INow.

if

any reader wonders that Mark Stedman

should have been willing, even on the .strength of his pastor's persuasions, to search farther into Masonic
mysteries in the face of continual disappointment, 1 can only say that on some souls they act like an intoxicating drug, and this was the case with Mark. Every bitter waking from his dream found him like the opium eater, more than ever under the spell of the enchanting delusion. Every failure to find what he sought but whetted his hope that farther on wonderful secrets awaited him, shining jewels of truth to rejoice his soul forever, hidden treasures of wisdom for time and eternity.

Oh, Mark. Mark! turning away from the green pastures and still waters of Christ's blessed salvation, what shall be said of the so-called shepherd who lured you on?

A
4

few days afterwards

said

was accosted by Joe with the

inquiry:

'Have you

anything to

Sam

yet?"

106
"
I just

HOLDEN WITH COEDS.

spoke to him and advised him to be more

careful.

Why?"
it's

"Oh, nothing;

no

affair

of mine, of course,"

answered Joe, with the virtuous air of a person not disposed to put his fingers unwarrantably into any" body's pie but his own; only I thought it might be a
little
it

awkward

for

Sam

if

they should ever get wind of

in the lodge. And Sam is a good fellow enough; I don't like the idea of his getting into any trouble." The foregoing is a specimen of divers dark hints by

which, without clearly asserting anything in particular, Joe had managed for some time past to keep me on
pins, metaphorically speaking.

CHAPTER
MASONIC BONDAGE

XIII.

SAM TOLLER'S AFFAIRS.

N spite of much persuasion, mingled with

good-humored bantering,
until one day
I persisted in

absenting myself entirely from thelodgei

I received notice of

an

extra meeting of special importance, at which my presence was imperatively de-

manded.
er sapper,

Accordingly

said

to

Rachel,

'I am going to the lodge to-night. They an important meeting, and I really don't know say but I ought to attend, at least now and then." " Which one of your duties, as a man and a citizen, will suffer most if you stay away?" asked Rachel, dryly, as she stood rinsing cups and saucers at the sink. u Don't be foolish, Rachel. You know I hardly spend an evening away from home." u Now, Leander," and Rachel set down the cup she u I am not one of was wiping and spoke earnestly, these silly wives who are miserable if they can't have every atom of their husband's time and attention. If this was a public meeting, and the business to be transacted involved public. interest, I would say, 'Go; by all means.'' 1 should despise myself if I wanted to keep you from doing your duty."

it is

108
"

HOLDER WITH
But supposing
it is

CORDS.

a duty, a solemn and bounden

duty, for

go to-night.'' can suppose that,'' said Rachel, slowly; "but have I not a right to know what makes it your duty? How can we be really and truly one with secrets between us? I read somewhere that a secret between married people was like a slow poison to affection." u Must be very slow indeed, Rachel. There's Deacon Winship and his wife, and Dr. and Mrs. Starr devoted couples, and they've been married over a quarter of a century. Deacon Winship and Dr. Starr are both
a
l

me

to

Masons, you know." Rachel made no answer. She was setting up dishes and possibly did not hear me; but she had by no means done with the subject, for when she had just put away the last plate and hung the towel on the rack to dry, she again resumed it. u Leander, you remember when the Freemasons laid
the corner-stone of the

new

court-house.

Well, now,

in front of the procession, carrying the Bible, walked a man whom I know to be a profane swearer. Side by
side

with Deacon Winship I saw Colonel Perkins, a hard drinker, and people say that he breaks the seventh Commandment. I could name others in that procession, some of the hardest characters in town, but they were walking on equal footing with the rest. I never want to see you in such company, Leander." Now as I happened to be a spectator of this ven procession and a witness of these very same facts, I could only take refuge in the old threadbare argument;
r

"

"

Then am

But, Rachel, there were good men there." I to suppose that you would have no ob-

jection to seeing

me

in a procession, side

by

side witl]

MASOKIC BONDAGE.

109

women
it

of

known bad

character,

if

sufficient sprinkling of

good

women

only there was a there to throw over

a mantle of general respectability?" inquired Rachel, with dry sarcasm. "Oh, but that is a little different. Men and women are not alike, you know," I answered^, in the great scarcity of original arguments making use of one that I had better have let alone at least when arguing with
not, Leander," she asked, quickly; "when ita plain question of morals I believe both sexes stand before their Grod on the same plane. Are the Ten Com-

Kachel. "

Why

is

mandments

less

Then man, because he is a man, can touch uncleanness and not be defiled, while a woman, because she is a woman, cannot come within a stone's throw of it without risk of pollution. But to come back to the question our talk started from; what maizes it your duty to go to-night?" Should I tell Rachel that the notice I had received was actually a summons41 which no Mason could disregard without incurring the displeasure of the secret power set over him, and risking such punishment as 'Masonic law might see best to inflict? That I, a freeman, with the old free Puritan blood in my veins, the blood of men that had marched to victory with Cromwell and carried their hatred of priestly and kingly tyranny over the seas; that had fought at Bunker Hill and starved at Valley Forge, was in reality no freeman at all, but a bond slave, bound hand and foot to a despotic tribunal, whose mandate I did not dare disobey? What remained for me but to say, with an injured air:
NOTE 21 "A due summons' from the lodge or Grand Lodge is obligatory upon him; should he refuse obedience he will be disgracefully expelled fiom the with society public marks of ignominy that can never be erased." Morris's
'

Why, "

"

binding on
1'

men than women?"

of course not. don't tell me that a

Dictionary, Art. Authority.

110

HOLDEtf WITH CORDS.

Rachel;
I

should think you might trust me I don't dictate to you about your duty and you mustn't to me about mine." " Rachel "dictated no more. But it is easy to see

"Now,

little

better than this.

that such a conversation between a newly-married husband and wife can hardly tend to mutual agreement and concord. Rachel's feelings were hurt and she showed it not by tears or any sharp retort, but by

To her brave, open nature, such shirking of plain, honest questions, was contemptible; she could neither understand nor quietly let it drop as a thing
utter silen ce
.
.

that did not concern her

will pause to

all

which characteristics

very obvious reasons, extremely inconvenient in the wives of Masonic husbandsAs a result of this meeting of the lodge, (which I of
are, for

remark

course attended in obedience to the Master Mason's

oath, which

among
to

its

ments bound me

all signs and summons given, handed, sent or thrown from the hand of a brother or the body of a lawfully constituted lodge. ') I might have been seen the next day in close conference with Sam Toller. Two lines of a certain patriotic ditty, very

"

other easy and modest require-

obey

popular in

its
'

day,
The British yoke and the Gallic chain, Was urged upon our necks In vain,'
1

'

lustily sung,

guided me to the corner lot" where he was cutting wood, and seating myself on a great hickory log, while Sam, nowise loth, did the same, I unfolded to him my errand, which was simply this: Sam's easj Joe, after all, was right in his hints. going tongue had been allowed to wag too long, and though the lodge had been slow in taking cognizance " of the matter, a vague rumor that lie was free with
T

"

SAM TOLLER'S AFFAIRS.

the secrets the special
"

Ill

had got about.

Hence the meeting and

summons

to me, for as

Sam

lived at

my

grandfather's, having been engaged to do the general chores, it was not unreasonably presumed that I might

give some information on the subject, though, as the reader has seen, I knew absolutely nothing except the few facts elicited from Joe. But many in the lodge

and not a few outside held the opinion that Sam was never a regularly-made Mason, and certainly grave doubts might justly be entertained of such newlyfledged claims considered in the light of his previous reticence, which was, to say the least, marvelously out of keeping with Sam's ordinary characteristics.

But how

to shut his

mouth!

This was the vexed

question that agitated Brownsville lodge. Finally one of the older members, considered a very Ahithophel for wise counsel, advised the brethren to

adopt a course which he had known to be pursued in a very similar case by a lodge in Rhode Island. Induce Sam Toller either by persuasions or threats to take the

Entered Apprentice oath. This would place him unequivocally under Masonic law and probably check
further indiscretions of speech. Interest in Sam and a desire to stand his friend

now

that his garrulousness seemed likely to get him into trouble with the lodge, made me willing to take upon myself the task of bringing about this desirable result.

Hence the interview. Sam, however, took the proposal very

u

coolly.

he said, after he had chewed a sprig of checkerberry for a moment " in silence. If I've jined once what's the use of my
Wall, I dunno;
I'll

think about

it,"

jining over again?''

112
"

HOLDER WITH

CORDS.

To tell the truth, Sam, I don't feel sure about that. Have you any objections to letting me test you?"
had no objections/' and would grinned, but have passed the test very well, but unluckily gave the
password for the Entered Apprentice Degree as Jachin, when it should have been Boaz, and in the Fellow Craft as Boaz, when it should have been Jachin, and also transposed the grips. While this might have been a mere lapse of memory on Sam's part, as he had always professed to have become a Mason in some very remote era of his existence, it naturally gave some color to the suspicion that he had gained his knowledge
outside of the lodge-room.
" this is a serious matter, Sam," said I, severely, and it would be better for you to tell the truth at once.
"

Sam

are only playing a trick; if you have got hold of the secrets someway and are passing yourself off as

If

you

Mason when you

if

are not,

you you, the secrets of the order

Masonic law can
"

will only

own
is

why, it is all the better for For a Mason to betray up.

considered a high crime in

the lodge, and punishable by the severest penalties

inflict."
I

Wall, now, the wust thing,

take

it,

that the law

of the land can do to a

till

man,

is

he

is dead,''
is

sonic law
It

coolly replied su'tMn' like that."

hang him by the neck Sam; "maybe the Mato

was impossible to guess how much or how little Sam meant. I was silent, but shivered inwardly under the weight of an awful remembrance. Sam was silent too for a moment and then brought his hand down on my shoulder with a resounding clap. " I never was inside a I'll own up, honor bright.

SAM TOLLER'S AFFAIRS.

lodge in my life. Now hold of the secrets?"
"
I can't

113

how

d'ye suppose I ever got

imagine, Sam."

Wall, now," said Sam, speaking in a slow, ruminat" ing fashion, supposin' 1 was on intimate tarms, as ye may say, with a Mason that got drunk off and on. Couldn't I get 'em so? "Or, supposin' I overheard some talk between two Masons where one was a trying to
post up the other in matters pertaining to the lodge. Couldn't I get 'em easy that way?" " yes, Sam; only listening is rather mean business." u Or suppose," continued Sam, not heeding my re-

Why

little fictions,

mark, but going on complacently with his brilliant u I was set to sweep out a room that had been used for a lodge, and I should come across some papers with the secrets all writ out on 'em jist as they were employed by the members when their memories needed a little refreshin', couldn't I pick 'em up and etow 'em away in my pocket for contemplation in leisure hours?" u Have you got them now, Sam?*' I inquired, rather
skeptically. u Haint told ye yet that I ever clapped eyes fust thing of that nater."

on the

And Sam chewed

ating coolness. "
is

checkerberry leaves with exasper-

Now, Sam, I might as well tell you that the lodge pretty well stirrec^ up over this matter. You had better take my advice, and if you are prudent in future
all

the fuss will blow over.

But

really,

without any

fooling, "

how did you get hold of our secrets, anyway?" Ax me no questions, Leander Severns, and I'll tell

114

HOLDER WITH

COEDS.

you no lies," answered Sam, with a curious smile. " But about jining the lodge, as ye~*re so kind as to be
particular sot on't, why, I'll think it over." But Sum Toller's name never adorned the roll of

membership in Brownsville lodge. One or two mornings after there was no one but Joe to do the daily chores at my grandfather's, while a visit to the chamber where he slept demonstrated the fact that he had been
gone
all

night.

CHAPTER

XIV.
NOT OF 76.
SAM

A DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE
TOLLER MISSING.

thought any harm had come my grandfather," as he stirred his cup of rye coffee rather unI really

to

Sam,
"

said

easily,

couldn't rest

till

the neigh-

borhood had been searched; but he was such a queer fish, it would be just like him to take himself off on the sly and let nobody know. I only wish I could be certain nothing had happened to him." But Miss Loker, in whose good graces Sam had
fears.

never stood very high, rather scoffed at my grandfather's For her part she thought it was a good riddance,

and
^

as for

hunting for him, they might as well hunt

didn't drink.

for

last year's swallows.

And Sam

He

couldn't have stepped

like

Homer Sprague." mother. my As Sam bore the character of a kind of half tramp from whom erratic leave-takings were to be expected,
off the

bridge and got drowned

put in

his first advent in Brownsville

having been on

much

the same sudden and unexplained order as his going, his disappearance was more of a puzzle to us than an actual anxiety. He had, in truth, one of those unsettled,

116

HOLDER WITH

CORPS.

ities,

roving natures, to be found more or less in all nationaland perhaps as often among a staid New England population as anj^where, though in the simple times of which 1 am writing, when the yearly rush of summer travel was a thing yet to come in with the age of steam

and telegraphs, we had not earned our present reputation of being about the most restless and change-loving
of any civilized people 011 the face of the earth. "I'm sure its clear money in my pocket to have Sam go," said my grandfather, draining his coffee cup, though with an air that was far from being exactly

'He had good living here and more wages by work he did was worth; he's welcome to better himself if he can." Joe alone, of all the family, proffered no remarks, but on getting up from the table he slipped three or four doughnuts into his pocket, together with a large piece of shortcake, and coolly appropriated the two boiled eggs that were left in the dish. Joe's appetite was always good, even for a growing boy, but so extensive a lunch as this made Miss Loker stop short in her task of clearing off the table and even startled my
satisfied.

half than the

mother into saying, " What on earth can yon need of so much luncheon, Joe?" u Let the boy have Here my grandfather roused up:
all

he wants, Belinda.

Nobody

shall

be pinched for

victuals in

my

house."

Joe left the table in triumph with his spoils. I could not help believing in the reasonableness of the general theory; at the same time a thought of poor

And

Gus
less

whose blood unavenged save by that nameNemesis which has tracked the footsteps of every
Peters,

SAM TOLLER MISSING.

11?

murderer since Cain the earth had drank in as quietly as the summer showers and made 110 sign, sent through me an involuntary shiver. But I kept it to myself, there being not the smallest basis for any absurd fear of a similar fate for Sam, as the few random threats uttered in the lodge meeting had been speedily silenced by the calmer counsels, which finally prevailed. I
grandfather into his own private room four- windowed, freshly-sanded, with a great solemnlooking secretary in one corner and a massive silver
followed

my

in

watch ticking away on the mantle just as it had ticked my childish ears, with its accents of awe and mystery, the unknown and the infinite, a like a voice out o
prophecy without words, dimly revealing the heart's own secret of joy or sorrow, solemn or glad, as it measured off the pulse-beats of a passing life, or ticked

away the happy moments before the bridal. 0, my Though it long since went grandfather's old watch the way of all mortal things, heaven keep its memory. The fact is," said I, for I had followed him into
!

'

this, his

own

sacred and peculiar sanctum, for no

es-

pecial reason except to tell him what c<fuld not well be revealed to the un-Masonic ears of my mother and Miss

u Loker; Sam's foolish tongue has got him into trouble. He's never been a Mason, he confessed that; but somehow he's got hold of a good many of the secrets and li:is been pretty free with them. Joe has been hinting

along, but I never paid much attention tc the other night, when I was summoned before the lodge to tell what I knew of the matter, which was

about

it all

him

till

precious little. But I talked to Sam and told him if he would only take the first degree and be prudent in future it would stop the fuss. He seemed quite willing

118

HOLDER WITH CORDS.

1 '

to do so I thought. He can't have cleared out to get rid of joining? That ivould be a joke.

But it may be so, after all," said my grandfather. You see an idle, shiftless, good-for-nothing fellow like Sam can't appreciate the advantages of Masonry. Its rules and regulations seem perfect slavery to him. He
u
don't

want

to be industrious,
all
it's

and

diligent,

and

self-

denying, and
teaches.

And

these other things that Masonry People don't just so in religion.

to join the church because they know if they do they'll have to give up a good deal they don't want to

want

give up, and practice a good many disagreeable duties they'd rather let slide. And in my view nobody is any
better for being forced into a good institution.

And

don't hold either to filling up the lodge with members It's of all sorts by cajoling and persuading them in.

bad policy. Time and again that plan has been tried in the church and always with the same result weakness and corruption. And the lodge ranks next to the
If a man joins either he's got to rise to the level of its claims upon him or sink belsw it, and if he does the last it's worse

church in sacredness and importance.

for

him and worse

for the institution."

grandfather, sublimely unconscious of any inconsistency between his views, as stated above, and the persistent "cajoling and persuading" by which Mark Stedman and I had been drawn into the lodge,

And my

proceeded to hunt for his spectacles and found them on the top of his head. " Well, well," he said, with a placid laugh at his own
absent-mindedness, "I'm growing old and forgetful. It's a good thing for your mother and me, Leander, that we've got you and Rachel settled down close be-

SAM TOLLER MISSING.

side us to

119

either of us

keep things straight. I don't would do without you."

know what

For though my mother had at first wanted Rachel and I to set up housekeeping in one end of my grandfather's house, which was a large and capacious one for
those days, thus thinking to keep us as near her as possible, my grandfather himself had refused his consent to any such arrangement. " But it will seem so lonesome," faltered my mother. " We've got Joe yet. He'll keep us from stagnating,"

answered
"

my

Young

folks ought to have a

grandfather, with a twinkle of his eye. home of their own, if

its

only one room with a cup and plate between'them, and the sooner they begin the better." u Accordingly Rachel and 1 did have a home of our own," only divided from my grandfather's by a narrow lane; one of the cosiest, quietest nooks of peace, with trees and grass, and a bubbling brook not far off, to

make

it beautiful when the long summer days should r come, bright with unknown hopes } et to be, crowning with glory and fragrance the end of our first year of

wedded
"

life.

Leander," called out door just as 1 was going

Joe.

my
off.

mother from the kitchen

"

Do

see if

you can't

find

To

These hickory sticks are too long for the oven." ferret out Joe from the multiplicity of his hiding

me

But a bright thought struck on my eye Sport, curled up on the door mat. his innocent treachery on a former ocRemembering casion I whistled to him to come to me. " " where's Joe? Find Joe." Sport," I said, The intelligent little animal pricked up his ears and looked questioningly at me, but on repeated reiteraplaces
as

was a

serious task.
fell

120
tions of

HOLDER WITH
the

CORDS.
to

command seemed

comprehend, and

trotted off in the direction of the barn.

called Joe's

But

in vain I

name, while Sport smelled round in circles, a bewildered expression on his brown face, till just as I was about to give up the search he planted his forefeet on the bottom round of the ladder leading to the hayloft, and throwing his head back began to bark with
at a certain corner way up in the sweet, darkness. fragrant I followed the clue, inspired by a sudden recollection of the time when Joe, wishing to enjoy the fascinating History of Henry, Earl of Westmoreland, undisturbed
all his

might

by any

-distracting calls

made unto himself

identical

from the outside world, had a species of cubby-house in this

corner, protecting it from prying eyes by walls of hay on three sides, while a knothole above gave light, and a store of nuts and apples providently
laid in, satisfied the cravings of his

youthful stomach;

for with Joe, as with most boys of fifteen, matter stood in very intimate relations.

mind and

Sure enough, a few investigating pokes in the hay revealed not only Joe. which did not surprise me in the least, but Sam Toller also; which latter discovery, it
is

needless to say, did surprise

me

exceedingly.

Sam

had his mouth full of doughnuts and cheese and could not conveniently reply at once to my ejaculation of astonishment, but Joe was equal to the occasion and preserved an unabashed front. " I haint done anything I am ashamed of yet,' he
1

u
said, sturdily,

would know

as not.

or hadn't just as leaves grandfather Sam come to me yesterday and

said he'd got into trouble to leave Brownsville, but

with the Masons and had got he didn't know where to go,

A DECLARATION" OF INDEPENDENCE.
I told

121

and him him a place in the barn where he could stay till he decided what to do. That's the long and short of it, and if you want to be so mean as to
I'd fix
tell of us,
<k

you can."
1 '

said I, as severely as I could consider" inclination to laugh, mother sent me to find ing my and what better see she wants done; if you you you'd

Well, Joe,

don't,

somebody
I shall.

else

may

out than
a while.'

It will

be along that will let more be better if you will just go

peaceably

off

and leave

Sam and me

to ourselves for

Joe looked at first as if he was half inclined to stay but thought it best, on the whole, to take the hint; and thus Sam and I were left alone, to make the best we could of the rather comical situation.
at all hazards,

Ye want to know what I m here for;" began Sam, who had disposed of his doughnuts and was now free
T

"

to talk.

ha' kept mind to

I ain't no fool, Leander Severns, but I might on fooling you till doomsday if I'd been a risk having my throat cut across and my torn out by the roots and my body drowned in tongue river. I knowed the game wan't wuth the Niagary
1 jest owned up." "I thought you had too much

"

candle, so

sense,

Sam, to be

frightened by such bug-a-boo stories." " Ye needn't go to pulling the wool over

my eyes," '' scornfully, telling me Masons swear to things they don't mean. I know too much for ye. I s'pose ye'd try to make me believe next, if ye could, that ye never had a rope round yer neck and a blinder
answered

Sam

over yer eyes and

from East

to

made to march round the lodge-room West with jest yer shirt to yer back. I

s'pose ye'll tell

me now

that ye was never knocked

!22

HOLDER WITH
up again

CORDS.

down by
raised
I don't

three ruffians and tumbled into a blanket and

after ye'd laid in the grave fifteen days.

to you.

suppose such wonderful things ever happened Oh, no!"

And Sam chuckled to himself in a highly provoking manner. This was certainly pressing me hard, and with Sam, as with Mr. Hawaii, there seemed to be no method of
defense open but the very safe,
if

not remarkably

original one, of silence, previously spoken of as the standing resort of distressed Masons when thus driven
to the wall.

"But about jining, as ye kindly axed me to, went on Sam, who saw his advantage and had no conscience
but to push it, I can see through a ladder with any man. They think if they get me once safe in I won't dare let nothing out; but I tell ye Sam Toller runs his neck into no such noose not if he knows it. And
u

7'

another thing I'll tell ye for yer information: you and the rest of the Masons have let out inore'n I have by a

long chalk."

u certain inspired declaration reads thus: Verily T say unto you, there is nothing hid which shall not be revealed, nor kept secret but that it should come

And of nothing on earth is this more true than of Masonry, which not infrequently, by the very pains it takes to keep its mysteries from the vulgar The fact is, a system eye, unwittingly betrays thorn.
abroad."
of organized secrecy will surely find, sooner or later, " that even the stars in their courses fight against that the whole economy of the universe in Sisera;"

general is in some mysterious way opposed to letting one small part of the human race keep undisturbed the

A DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE.
exclusive possession of any secret whatsoever. Sam was shrewd enough to see that the effort to

123

And
make

join the lodge was in itself a tacit admission that he had discovered the hidden things of Masonry. " u But, Sam," I finally said, ministers and deacons,

him

lawyers and judges, and even the Governor of our State belong to the lodge. It is considered an honor and advantage to be a Freemason and here you are

running away to get rid of it." u Wall," answered Sam, picking his teeth contentedly " I've noticed that it is with the Masons wijbh a straw, as it is with the rest of the world, ginerally putty much The big bugs at the top get the most of the speaking. fuss and attention and grand funerals. The little bugs have to stay at the bottom and take up with the leav.

ings.

My

father

But that ain't the principal pint of my objections. was one of them that fought the Red Coats

at Concord. I've heerd hiui tell many a time how they chased the Britishers over the bridge and tired at 'em behind walls and trees. I'm a free-born American,

think and speak what I'm a mind to. I want no Worshipful Master, nor Grand Commander, nor Grand anything else to lord it over me; and I tell ye, Leander Severns, I won't swear away niy libertj in any lodge under the canopy."
free to
"

And
was a

as

Sam

real dignity

thus declared his independence there about the loose, shambling fellow,

that inspired me with sudden respect. The Sum Toller had suddenly risen and confronted
I stood

man in me and

to fasten

abashed before him. What right had I to seek on another the fetters that I myself would have gladly cast off if 1 could? And, furthermore, it was very plain to see that tho figurative and esoteric

124

HOLDEK WITH

CORDS.

view entertained by
culiar

meaning of the lodge

by him.

He

grandfather regarding the pepenalties was not shared believed that there was an actual punish-

my

ment

for the

Mason who should

li

violate his oath of

secrecy, and that punishment was death. " Well, Sam," I said,finally, I'll tell you what you'd better do. Make a clean breast of the whole thing to

my

grandfather.

He'll find a

way oat

if

anybody can.

accordingly, after Sam had deliberated over the " plan for a while and concluded that he'd kinder like to bid good-bye to the Captain, who was about the fairest

And

man

he ever worked

1 '

for,

had the pleasure of

ushering that worthy into the presence of

my

aston-

ished grandfather, whose portly person fairly shook with laughter when he comprehended the situation. "
1

Sam, you

foolish fellow!'

he

said, as

soon as he re-

covered his gravity sufficiently to have the power of u This is a free country. Nobody shall make speech.
a Mason of you if you don't want to be one. Still I think it might be well if you left Brownsville a while.

The affair will all be forgotten in six months. And then you can come back if you don't find some better
Wall, IVe thought over a number of places, but make up my mind,' answered Sam, reI did stay at Pemaquoddy one summerflectively. hired out to Jake Brown the meanest man. You could have put his soul into a bean pod and had room for twenty more just like his. And I lived with Mr. Greene a while that kept the brick tavern in Pembroke. I liked that well enough for a spell, but it's an uneasy sort of a life and I got tired of it. Folks coming and
couldn't jest "
1

place. "

Where would you

4 '

like to

go?

going kinder keeps you on the jump

all

the time; don't

A DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE.

125

give you any leisure at all for serious reflections. So I pulled up stakes and went away from there. Then I stayed to Squire Slack's a couple o' months. Beats me

how he

ever come by his name, for he was jest as tight

as the bark to a tree.

And then

there's old

Uncle

Zebedee; lives at a place they call the Bend. I've been a calkerlatin' to go and see the old gentleman but I never could get a chance to somehow. But now my havin' to leave Brownsville seems to be kinder in the
1

nater of a Providential opening, as ye may say." And Sam, who was much addicted to tracing the ways of Providence as manifested in the peculiar phases

and aspect of
fashion not
of
life

a his own career, sighed profoundly, uncommon with good people in all ranks when making similar reflections.

Uncle Zebedee," to whom his heart had taken such a sudden yearning, won the day; but there was an affecting parting between him and Joe before he turned
his
I

"

back on Brownsville, to which, it is needless to say, was not an eye-witness. A little while after Sam had made an unobserved exit by a side entrance attired in some of my grandfather's cast-off clothes and his worldly all done up in a bundle on his arm, my mother came in with the remark " that Miss Loker had seen somebody that looked
just like Sam Toller close by the big hickory, only he didn't seem to be dressed exactly like him. " It would be very easy for Miss Loker to be mistaken

father,

such a distance, Belinda." And my honest grandunused to ways of deception, coughed and hemmed and rubbed his glasses iu a manner that would certainly have roused suspicion in any less innocent and unsuspecting soul than my mother.
at

CHAPTER XV.
THE SPRING OF
SAM TOLLER. " COMING CAST THELR SHADOWS BEFORE." " THE DEEDS OF YOUR FATHER YE WILL DO." " HE WAS A LIAR FROM THE BEGINNING."
1826.

HE
i

story writer is in one sense a seer. Projecting its dark shadow across his sunniest pages he sees the swift-coming

tragedy of which his readers

know noth-

ing, and at no point in this history has there been, a time when the remark did not

hold true.

have never lost sight of

it

simply because I could not

that terrible event

which was hastening on to make a leaf in our national records that should be an unread blank for
half a century, and then, like a writing in secret ink, flash suddenly out to be (God grant it) the death war-

rant of the vile institution which, thinking its crime buried forever, has dared to step boldly back into its
old place of

power and challenge for itself an authority

or even divine law.

above

all

human

Yet the spring of 1826 has little to mark it in my memory. An era of national prosperity had begun with the eight years' Presidency of Monroe that bid fair to continue under his successor, John Quincy Adams. Florida had been added to the Union, the

THE SPRING OF

1826.

127

built;

national debt largely liquidated, and the Erie canal and the social wheels of Brownsville moved

smoothly on in those good old ruts of social custom so extremely hard to get out of, as most people will testify who have made the effort. The reasons for Sam's sudden exodus had somehow leaked out in the village I am inclined to think Joe was the bird of the air that told the matter and caused

many
is

a sly laugh at the expense of the lodge. Now it characteristic of evil generally that it can not bear

A good man or a good cause is cased armor that no shafts of ridicule can penetrate; but not so with a system built on iniquity, or a man whose When Napoleon, success in life is founded on wrong.
to be laughed at.
in

with a million of trained soldiery at his back, feared Madame De Stael so much as to banish her from France, it was simply because her keen wit made him ridiculous in the eyes of the French people, and no-

body knew better than he that it was a dangerous thing for Napoleon to be made ridiculous. So the papacy, in Luther's day, withered under the biting

Reynard Reineke, for it understood perfectly well that, the popular laugh once turned against it, all was over with its claims to infallible authority. And
satire of

in like

manner Masonry fears nothing so much as to have the ridiculous side of her pretensions shown up. When the lodge in Brownsville realized that it had been mocked and trifled with by " a fellow like Sam Toller," I am obliged to confess that the wrath of the brotherhood found vent in many expressions not at all compatible with their avowed principles of universal benevolence. For it was plain enough to see that Sam's whole course of conduct had been, from be-

128

HOLDER WITH CORDS.

ginning to end, a cunningly devised plan to throw ridicule" on the sublime and glorious institution of Masonry and then escape disagreeable consequences for himself by running away at the last moment. "The scalawag has done more to hurt us here in Brownsville than a little;" remarked the same brother Mason who had called Mark a " spooney." " He never ought to have been allowed to go on so." " I thought a man's tongue was bis own," I answered,
rather curtly,
u

How would you stop him ?" There are ways," was the significant answer. " What do you mean by that?" I asked, turning on

"

the speaker rather more sharply, perhaps, for the reason that 1 did not like him very well; but as he is to figure hereafter in one or two important scenes it is best he should be introduced to the reader. His name

was Mr. Darius Fox, and he held the responsible pobut as breaches of the peace were not very common in Brownsville he was obliged to vary this employment by carrying on a distillery, which in those pre-reform times reflected no discredit on anybody's personal character, especially as Mr. Fox inherited the business from his father, who was a former deacon of the church. That gentleman gave me no explanation but to shrug
sition of village sheriff,

his shoulders; perhaps in contempt for greenness; at least I so interpreted the action. " Sam Toller never did all this out of his own head.

my

Somebody

set

my
I

opinion

him on, and we shall have

the question

is,

Who?

It's

to look pretty near

home

to

find out."

was in a hurry and did not pay very much atten-

tion to these remarks of Mr. Fox's, for they did not

THE SPRING OF
then strike

1826.

129

me

as

cept as a view of the case hitherto unthought possibly the true one.

having any special significance, exof, but

for which I was waiting came lumbering " a hasty Good morning" 1 sprang in. and with along fellow passengers was a man apparently Among my about fifty, who attracted my attention, not onl} by a remarkably noble cast of the head and face, but by the curious contrast between his upright, military bearing, and a certain un definable something in air and manner that usually marks the learned or literary professions. He took a corner seat and sat for most of the way

The coach

seemingly absorbed in silent reverie till the stage stopped to change horses, and his next neighbor, a chatty little man, evidently one of the class with whom a prime condition of happiness is to have somebody to talk to, began a conversation something in this wise: u That Erie canal is going to do wonders for the business interests of the State, I take it, but it's something I never thought to see done in my day. Why, Governor Clinton, they say, went to Jefferson when he was President and tried to talk him over to it, and says Jefferson, Your idea is a grand one, and the thing may says he,
'

be put through a hundred years hence.' wise men don't, know everything now."

Shows our

And

the speaker laughed pleasantly, as people are

apt to do
tripping. "

when Wisdom, under

official robes, is

caught

u Well," said the other, rousing himself up, we live in an age of progress and improvement, and when a few years can work such wonderful changes it isn't very safe predicting what science may or may not do

ifor

us in the future."

130
"
It

HOLDER WITH COEDS.

seems to
I take

that the country is middlin' prosthat the nation has about got through its biggest trouble, now the hard times are over that come of our last war." u I don't agree with you there," answered the other. "It is my belief that our Republic has not even begun to
perous.
it

me

Underlying our whole enough in itself, if let alone and given time and space to grow, to sap the life of our Government. There are dangers to our poit.

see the worst trouble before

social

system are evils, each one

to our very existence as a nation, not which, perceived and avoided before it is too in late, will, my opinion, work our national ruin." "Oh, well.'' returned the man of cheerful views,
litical integrity,
if

who,

like some people of the present day, was not in" " " or dangers not clined to worry himself over ''evils " immediately palpable to the sight, there's always the

Red Skins. They make us lots of trouble, and we may have another brush with the Britishers, but I aint much I guess we've had about enough fighting afraid of that. to last both sides one spell." " I hope you are right," answered the man of halfclerical, half-military look, "but if foes from without are all we have to dread our country has been born to an exceptional destiny. It isn't a great many years since Aaron Burr plotted to divide the Union. Why did his plot fail? Just because he was not a leader.

He

did not possess the confidence of any portion of the people and his murder of Hamilton had covered him

with odium and suspicion." " " Burr did not have Just so," assented his auditor. no very great chance to do mischief after he had shown himself out so by killing Hamilton."

131

But now, given different circumstances," pursued " the other, say a man that was a leader, that did have the confidence of the people, and could hatch his conspiracy under the cloak of a secret order as Burr did,
a Royal Arch Mason, and my word for it, if ho failed it would be because the hand of God worked confusion to the plot." " Maybe you are right about it," said the man who had begun the conversation, u but then 1 don't believe
that will ever happen. Our Union is getting too strong for traitors to try to overturn it." " I know this much," said the other, speaking with the slow impressiveness of one whose words are weight-

"

who was

ed with a good deal of previous thinking on the sub" I was born at the South and I see elements there ject, that are even now tending to disunion. Should such
a plot arise it will, in my view, be most likely to originate in that part of the country where there is the

best chance to keep such a movement secret." " You don't say so," said the chatty man, startled into silence for about half a minute, during which
time, the

work

pleted, the stage

of changing horses having been began to move on, and several

commore

passengers entering it, the conversation stopped, but I could not help gazing with a strange interest at that
grave, noble-looking

man in the corner, and thinking over what he had said about Burr's connection with
Masonry.

How

could

an institution be

beneficial

morally, socially or politically, that could be made a cover for secret crimes and subservient to all the vile

ends of criminals and conspirators? Yet my grandfather thought it could, so did Governor Clinton, so did others whom church and state delighted to honor And

132
should

HOLDEN WITH

CORDS.

sume

I, in my inexperienced young manhood, preto be wiser than they ? And, besides, how could I be certain that he meant any condemnation of Ma-

sonry by his allusion to Burr's treason as being planned under its protecting wing, for how many crimes have been perpetrated under the mask of piety and in the
holy names of religion and liberty ? At our next stopping place the stranger got out, and a Brownsville acquaintance who happened to be in the coach, came forward and took his vacant seat.

That was Captain William Morgan, of Batavia," he remarked, casually. " I know him by sight. Fine looking man, isn't he?" But the name stirred no rush of memories, thick and fast though they crowd upon me as I write it now. 1 was glad to have seen one whom my grandfather knew and esteemed, and felt instinctively that the character
given him as a boy by his old friend, Benjamin Hagan, must be true of the man, but I never recognized in him the coming deliverer, through whose witness, sealed with his life, thousands of souls, and mine among them, were to owe their freedom from galling, bitter bondage, to a power which had made them first its dupes and then its slaves. " I thought Captain Morgan was quite a distinguished

Mason," said my companion, who happened never to " have had the " cable-tow -about his neck, lowering " his voice and speaking confidentially, but some of his talk sounded to me as though he didn't think very much of it after all. You see I've had an invitation to join the lodge myself lately and I'm keeping my ears open to get all the information I can about it first. If I was certain the things Sam Toller let out were true, wild

133
horses shouldn't get me in there, and [ told Baxter Stebbins so when he asked me to join, but he says Sam

knew nothing about Masonry

I

really.

had not yet reached the point where I could listen unstartled to such a revelation of lodge duplicity, especially as Baxter Stebbins was the very one with whose Ahithophel counsel in the matter of Sam Toller the reader is already conversant, and was silent from
sheer astonishment.

"I shouldn't have thought

said," continued

my

much of what he whose name was Luke companion,

so

Thatcher, a young farmer of Brownsville, a plain, honest, steady fellow, of more than common intelligence
close

and good sense, "only Deacon Brown was standing by and spoke in- nearly the same wa} about it.
r

'Sam has contrived

l

to get a little inkling into

is all.

Mason-

ry,'

says he, real secrets.'

but that

He knows nothing of the

''

Now

ness to do

what is a young man of average conscientiouswhen brought into a strait where he must

either himself consent to a lie or tacitly charge on another, old enough to be his father, one of the most re-

men in the community and an officer of the church beside, this most disagreeable accusation? I did as the average young man probably would have done in like circumstances. I took the easiest course,
spected

helped by some shadowy recollection of the Fifth Commandment as including that honor and respect for elders which seemed hardly compatible with the other mode of meeting the case. And Luke Thatcher a few

weeks

after joined the lodge.

CHAPTER

XVI.
OF ENTIRE LOY-

AN ADHERING FREEMASON INCAPABLE

ALTY TO HIS WIFE. A LODGE QUARREL. JACHIN AND BOAZ.

consequence of the fact that my presence had been several times required as
a witness to testify in regard to the affair about Sam Toller, and partly be-

cause I saw the necessity of keeping up some show of outward interest if I wanted to retain my standing in the lodge, I was now a regular attendant on its meetings. Rachel uttered no second remonstrance, not even when the book we were planning to read together had to be laid aside, and the subject on which we had promised ourselves a quiet chat must be deferred, while she was left to an evening of loneliness, uncheered even by the expectation that I would tell her what I had seen and heard when I came home. Between us had
the lodge shadow; it sat like a ghost at our hearthstone; it laid cold hands of separation on two
fallen

of our

hearts that honestly loved each other, and the current two lives, which should have glided on to the

Eternal Sea in an indivisible unity of thought and sympathy and affection, were separating farther and farther from each other into their own individual

LODGE QUARREL.

135

channels of separate feeling and purpose. Not that we were either of us even dimly aware of this state of The bare thought would have shocked us, yet things.
is

was true nevertheless. Rachel's nature, slightly imperious, yet rich and sweet and womanly to the core, was capable of a boundless self-surrender, a royal giving up of her entire being to make the joy and blessing of another's life; but there is a divine law of equity in all
true love, which,
tion.
if

transgressed, brings its

own

retribu-

She had not received what she gave and she knew it, but as I said before, Rachel had a proud, steady
poise of will that caused her to maintain a general silence on the subject, only flashing out at rare intervals in a manner decidedly uncomfortable. For the reader

among people addicted to saying what they think," there are two classes, one in a state of continual eruption, like Stromboli nobody
"

has probably observed that

minds th^m while with the other this operation is more like an eruption of Mt. Vesuvius a thing to be remembered with fear and awe, and kept out of the

way of as much as possible. As the heading of this chapter may

excite wonder in some innocent minds, whose idea of the lodge is a place where the utmost concord and brotherly love must

necessarily prevail as a matter of course, let me hasten to remove an impression so entirely erroneous. It is a

lamentable
quarrel,

fact, but no less true, that there exists a tendency in our fallen humanity to quarrel. Editors

Congressmen quarrel; there are quarrels in high places and in low places; quarrels in the church, the parish and the family; and why, in the name of all
that
is

Be

this as

reasonable, should the lodge be exempt? it may, serious difficulty arose one evening

136

BOLDEST "WITH CORDS.

between Darius Fox and myself, caused by some remark u of the former about Achans in the camp," which I u chose to regard as especially aimed at me. Now the
beginning of strife," according to Solomon, who, whether he ever ruled over a lodge at Jerusalem, as stated by Masonic tradition, or not, was certainly in " is as his day a shrewd observer of men and things, when one letteth out water;" and through the tiny leak of this ill-considered speech rushed a whole torrent
of angry words.
If you accuse me of being in complicity with Sam Toller you've got to prove it, that's all," I answered, u It stands you in hand to be a little careful defiantly.

"

what you
"
u
I

say, however." If the coat fits you can put

it

won't charge you with anything.

on," retorted Darius. I only said that

somebody, right here in this lodge, too, put Sam up to There is no use trying to shuffle it, and I say so again. We've got a traitor among us. off the truth. Elder Gushing was present when this altercation took
place and felt called upon by virtue of his ministerial office to say something which should calm our rising
passions.

"Come, come;
love.

this

won't do.

This

isn't brotherly

Mutual accusation and recrimination are the last things in which good Masons should indulge, fhe true spirit of Masonry does not allow us to suspect evil of a brother and requires us to throw a mantle of the
broadest charity even over his failings." Respect for our minister checked the dispute for the time being, but fire was smouldering under the ashes.
It should

be remarked in excuse of Mr. Darius Pox,

wlio was certainly in a most unpleasant temper, chat

A LODGE QUARREL.

137

he had just been accosted on his way to the lodge by a small boy, rejoicing in bare legs and a rimless hat, who drawled out with a provoking grimace, at the same time raising both arms to his head and then letting them drop to his side, " Lord, my God! Is there no help for the widow's son?" 'Now that one of the sublimest and certainly one of the most profitable secrets of Masonry, the grand hailing sign of distress, had become the jest and by-word of profane village gamins,

what zealous Mason can wonder

very

much
and

like
its

defiled

if poor Mr. Fox felt an ancient Jew when he saw the temple glories laid waste by the hordes of heathen

Babylonians?
It

may

also be

characteristic of

human

observed that, with the desire so nature whenever an accident

happens to lay the blame somewhere, a spirit of mutual chiding had taken possession of the lodge. Everybody was sure that somebody else must have been reprehensibly careless, or how could Sam have possibly obtained the secrets? Which serves to explain in some
degree the reason for my being in a rather irritable frame of mind as well as Mr. Fox, and inclined to see
occasion for offence in a remark that I might have passed over in silence at any other time.

such a thing as stealing the lodge member, Mr. Silas Pratt by name, keys, who seldom spoke, but when he did had generally some'' If any outsider should get a chance at thing to say.
I've heard of
11

suggested a

that 'ere book that's kept here

what's

its

name?

Jachin and Boaz, they might find out the secrets fast enough." I had noticed that when initiating candidates reference was frequently made to a certain volume, which I

1S&

HOLDEN WITH

COUDS.

supposed contained merely the charges and lectures, but I had taken no nearer view of it than as I had seen
it

in the hands of some officer of the lodge on the above-mentioned occasions, and not being in the least a "bright Mason myself,, was quite ignorant of the
7'

fact that

many
its

of the

their glib speech

members who astonished me by and ready memories were assiduous

students of

pages.

In spite of the assertion so frequently heard at the " present day, that Masonry cannot be revealed," it is an undeniable fact that there existed in many lodges,
as well as in the secret keeping of

many

individual

members of the fraternity, an old book first published in England in 1762, called Jachin and Boaz, which
at the time it was published was a complete revelation and exposure of the first three degrees. But to prevent the downfall of the entire system which any discerning mind will at once perceive would have been the result had no protective measures been taken, the lodge reversed the grips and passwords of the Entered ApOtherwise the book prentice and Fellow Craft degrees. remained for all practical intents and purposes a complete guide to the mighty and august mysteries of Ma-

sonry, and, as such, proved very useful to the craft,

who were not above

taking advantage, as far as possible, even of so untoward a circumstance as the illicit publication of their boasted secrets.

But what of the author of Jachin and Boaz? He was, of course, a Mason; but the most that has come down to us regarding him across the shadowy gulf of the last century concerns the manner of his death.

He was found one -morning

corpse, his throat cut

in the streets of
ear;

from ear to

London, a and whatever

JACHIK AKD BOAZ.

his motives in publishing the secrets of

130

Masonry

whether for gain, or notoriety, or the purest and holiest motives that ever throbbed in a patriotic bosom pubAnd under the knife of his Masonic lished they were. murderers in great, populous London, the soul of a man who had broken no law of his country took its flight u to Him who has said, Vengeance is mine." But how? Did he face his terrible doom like a martyr and a hero, doubly a martyr and a hero that he had not the incitement of crowds of spectators to bear up the sinking flesh; that if he yielded up his life nobly for truth and right the world would never know it? Questions that cannot be answered for eternity keeps the secret, and to those dim, silent shores whither the murderers sent
their victim, they themselves long since passed away to receive their just reward, while the system which made them its tools proudly boasted of its benevolence and
charity, and with the blood of the innocent crimsoning her skirts, called herself the handmaid of Christ's pure

and holy religion. It must not be supposed, however, that all this was told me in the lodge. By no manner of means. I was given to understand that Jachin and Boaz was a very rare book (as indeed it was, the fraternity having
been pretty successful in preventing
this country),
its

publication in

and that its author, for purposes of speculation disappeared from the public view and had it given out that he was murdered by Masons in order to a statement honestly give his book a more rapid sale
follow that because a

by many members of the lodge, for it does not man is joined to a system which is, in itself, a gigantic fraud upon humanity, he must be himself a conscious and deliberate liar. Masonry, like
believed

140

HOLDEK WITH COBDS.

the fabled enchantress, mixes a draught for her victims, which may not indeed change them into beasts, but has

a strange power of so darkening the moral consciousness that they lose that most God-like attribute of the human mind, the power to discern between truth and
falsehood.
sorceries, will call evil

awful words of the Hebrew prophet, " He cannot deliver his soul nor say, Is there not a lie in my right hand?" Owing to Elder Cushing's interference there was no
further interchange of sharp words between Darius
their memory rankled unpleasantthe lodge regarded me as in a certain sense mixed up in the affair, and it was a disagreeable question how far he voiced the opinions of the rest.
ly, for I

Such an one, maddened by the cup of her good and good evil, until, in the

Fox and myself, but

knew

Mr. Pratt's suggestion that some one might have stolen the keys was followed by various other attempts to solve the mystery, equally sagacious; but no light, either from the East or any other quarter, dawned on the
vexed subject.
sion, the lodge
1 '

Finally, after a rather heated discus" " " labor to refreshadjourned from

and in the general unstopping of bottles and clinking of glasses good fellowship was in some measure u restored. Confusion to the foes of Masonry," which
ment,

was the toast given by Elder Gushing, was duly applauded and drank; others followed of much the same
tenor, ending off by a general drinking to the health of all good and faithful brother Masons. For though

clined than

the lodge in Brownsville was no more convivially inmost others, there were always certain

in drinking all these various healths, to so seriously damage their own as contrived generally to need assistance

members who,

home.

A LODGE QUARREL. Could it be that Sam had in some way got sion of Jachin and Boaz? Remembering his
reversal of the grips
fact that

141
possescurious

and passwords, together with the

throughout the affair there seemed 'to be a good mutual understanding between him and Joe, I resolved to make one more effort to probe the secret to the bottom. Which was easier said than done, Masons not being the only people in the world who know how to keep secrets. But Joe himself opened the way for such a conversation by innocently inquiring as soon as he saw me next morning 44 Say, Leander, what was the row in the lodge last
night?" I had never before considered Joe a wizard, but I certainly stared at him for an instant as if some such idea

was in my head, quite forgetting that in going home from the lodge Deacon Brown had kept me company as
far as

my grandfather's;
me
a
little

I suppose for the purpose of

paternal advice, and the wind had been just right to waft his parting words, u Keep your temper, keep your temper, Leander; there's nothing to be gained by losing that, you know," into the open window of the chamber where Joe slept, who, being

giving

blessed with a pair of sharp ears,

had heard

it

and

drawn his own deductions. "For pity's sake, Joe! said

1

I, fairly thrown off my you know anything about it?" Joe grew suddenly thirsty and went to the water-pail for a

'

"

guard,
drink.

how

did

1 didn't know but there might be some fuss brewing about what Sam let out," he answered, turning round with a preternaturally grave face, though 1 had my own

4t

142

HOLDER WITH

CORDS.

reasons for suspecting that the dipper a moment before had mirrored one vastly different. " Sam was a goose

and clear out as he did. The Masons couldn'tdo anything to him as long as he'd never been one himself, and I told him so. But he was bound not to join the lodge anyhow, and he was afraid they might work it so as to get him in. He said he'd heard of such things; and then if they shouldn't believe him that he'd never been a Mason, some of them might cut his throat for telling the secrets. I told him it was perfectly ridiculous to talk of any such awful thing as
to get scared

that ever being done in Brownsville." And Joe whistled a stave of u Hail Columbia."

about time to push the so much together question, I know that he must have told you who put him in
.

Joe," said

I,

thinking

it

"when you and Sam were

possession of the secrets." " What if he did," said the undisturbed Joe.

"

Sup-

posing I promised him that I would not tell. don't want me to break my promise, do you?"
"

You
if

Not

in ordinary circumstances, of course, but

some member of the lodge was accused of it and your testimony could clear him it would be your duty to
tell."

For once I had touched the right chord in Joe's bosom. Under all his wildness and mischief there was honor and conscience, and I could see in a moment that my shaft had struck home.
Well, I vow; that's plaguey mean, Leander, if they have done any such thing. Was that what the fuss was about?" u How do you know that we had any fuss?" I asked
again.

"

A LODGE QUARREL.
"

143

0, I'm acquainted with an old woman that's a witch. She showed ine how to make myself invisible

and lent me her broomstick;" coolly fibbed Joe, the fun again getting the upper hand. And then he added, with a sudden change of tone: "They have not been accusing you^ have they, Leander?"
spirit of
44

Not

exactly, only Darius

Fox

"

~x
~

Joe started.
44

If I don't shut his mouth! J /good. Never you fear, Leander,

Darius Fox.
I'll

That's

make him whist as

young Machi-

a ibaouse."

And Joe chuckled

avelian.

to himself like a

CHAPTER
LUKE THATCHER.
RUMORS.
ASPECTS.
>

XVII.
ITS RELIGIOUS

MASONRY IN

warm evening

in the latter part of

July, Luke Thatcher happened along,

and leaning over the fence in the approved fashion of rural communities, began a general chat with me about the weather and the crops one of those quiet bucolic discourses in which the heart of your true farmer delights, for Luke Thatcher was in every fiber of his being a true son and
lover of the
soil.

Nobody

in

all

Brownsville raised

finer cattle or gathered in a heavier harvest than he,

even in those days, when there was no such thing as an agricultural college thought of, and treatises were few and costly, there were thinking farmers; and Luke Thatcher, out of a very ordinary common-school education, had brought what some fail to bring from the universities habits of observation and study, together with a keen, inquiring mind, that liked to know something of the philosophy underlying nature's wonderful operations. He could talk intelligently about the various minerals that go to make up the soil, and tell how a preponderance of one or a scarcity of the other
for

HUMORS.

145

could best be remedied; he knew the fine points in cattle and was something of a veterinarian, whose services

were in frequent demand among his neighbor's live own, by judicious care and feeding seldom being on the diseased list. It could hardly be supposed that such a man would
stock, his
especially pleasing to his
silent disgust

find in the foolish ceremonials of the lodge anything mental 01 moral sense, and in

Luke had quitted the institution like many others, feeling that his manhood had been disgraced and degraded; that he had been duped and lied to; yet, through motives of mingled fear and shame,
willing to remain silent rather than confess that in surrendering his neck to the cable-tow he had put himself

under a secret power which exacts of its slaves, anywhere and everywhere, SILENCE. No matter how much they despise it in their hearts, no matter if heaven-eyed Truth herself stands before them and commands them to testify; no matter if Justice falls in the street and Liberty dies on the very threshold of her birthplace, a Mason must be silent and it is the
silence

very least the hoodwinked, cable-towed system of darkness demands of him. u I heard some news to dajT ," said Luke, just as he

turned to go.
Batavia, and

I came across an old acquaintance from what do you suppose he told me? That
all

"

Captain Morgan was going to publish

to the

the secrets of

Freemasonry up degree."" " Did he tell it on good authority?" I asked, astonished, but at the same time utterly incredulous.
"

Royal Arch

Of course

don't

answered Luke, u but I know it is something more than mere rumor. The one that told me was a Mason, and

know just how the

story started,"

146

HOLDER WITH

COEDS.

he said they had just had a meeting of the lodge in Batavia to consider what could be done about it."
>

"

Well, what do they intend to do?" I asked. Suppress the book if they can; but I don't see how,
"

unless

Luke stopped abruptly, and whatever the thought that was in his mind it remained unuttered.

Of course 1 went to my grandfather with the news, but he was one of that easy, good-natured class of human beings who, in relation to evil tidings, have a
happy faculty of skepticism.
U
I don't

believe

it,

Leander.

He may

have some

enemy that has set the story to going. Perhaps he is getting up some book for the use of the fraternity; but Captain Morgan is the last man that would go to
work to expose the
of that." "
secrets of the order.
I

am

certain

But they seem

to believe it there in Batavia," I

suggested.

My grandfather smoked his pipe for a moment without replying, a look of trouble on his round, cheerful face; but it cleared up as he finally said
"Lies most generally start in a man's own neighborhood just as toadstools grow round an old house. I made it a rule years ago, and it is a good rule, Leander not to mind evil I wish everybody would follow it out will turn to be false, and Ten to one reports. they even if they are true it's bad stock to invest in. 1 re* member when I was a young man courting your grandmother, somebody told her an awful lie about me that I had two strings to my bow and was courting another
girl besides her.

many women now-a-days

Wejl,your grandmother there ain't as handsome as she was,

RUMORS.

though Rachel has a look

like her, tall,

with color in

her cheeks like a rose and black eyes that would flash if anything was said that didn't suit her just turned that told it was Stebbins one Jack round to the (it to so there was wanted cut me and her he liked out,
for him after all, poor fellow), and says a word you say; and marched out believe don't she, of the room like a queen. I've often thought what an

some excuse
'

might have had on me if your grandmother had believed Jack Stebbins. But the next time I saw her she told me the whole, and put it right to me if it was true. And then for the first time we saw straight
effect it

into each other's hearts.

never

felt

sure before that

she really cared for me, there were so many others that wanted her that had more money and could make more

show

in the world than I did.

But she gave me her

promise that very night, just fifty years ago, Leaiider." And my grandfather's eyes grew dreamy, as he leaned

back in his chair, having ended his stoiy and moral

lecture together. Memories of the past, like a sweetscented wind, were breathing through his soul, and the gentle smile on his aged lips told that for the moment

he had forgotten the joys and sorrows of half a century and was a young lover once more, happy in the greatest earthly gift

of a true
I

God can bestow upon man woman.

the heart

knew now why my grandfather had always been why he laughed at and seemed to her little enjoy imperious speeches, why his eyes often
so fond of Rachel,

followed her about with such a look of pensive pleasure. She reminded him of his own buried love, over whose

head the daisies had blossomed for many a long summer since he laid her to rest in that quiet New England

148

HOLDER WITH CORDS.

churchyard, and thought his heart was broken. But while her name grew dim under the gathering moss, time did its blessed work of healing, and though my
grandfather's sorrow for the lost partner of his youth had been so deep as to forbid him ever taking to him-

he could speak of her with a smile, and read in his large-print Bible of the City which hath no need of sun or moon, because the Lamb is the light thereof; he could stifle every pang of mortal reself another,

when he

from
I

gret, thinking of a white-robed anger- form 'that, free all stain of earthly infirmity, waited for him with

love's sweet patience

on the other side. would not break in on my grandfather's reverie with any words, and in a moment or two silently

quitted the room.

Rachel had proved herself a careful housewife, a prudent manager, a loving helpmeet, one in whom the heart of her husband might safely trust. She made the door-yard gay with marigolds and pinks and prince's feather; she coaxed morning-glory vines to clamber about the windows; she cooked to perfection all the honest, homely dishes that in those days were the common bill of fare, even of the most well-to-do; she spun

and wove, and that pearl of good managers,

virtuous

the

woman,"

herself could not have excelled her

But all in this particular line of household industry. the while that her busy hands moved so lightly and
deftly
spiritual insight

from one task to another, any one of keen might have seen in her dark eyes the look of a soul nut at peace, but covering up its inward " unrest with the thought that it was no use to tell." But one Sunday Rachel, who, had been sitting for a while with her Bible open on her lap, suddenly closed

MASONRY
1

1ST

ITS KELIGIOUS ASPECTS.

149

it,

ana hiding her face on

U

my

shoulder burst into tears.

0, Leander! how I wish I was a Christian," she sobbed. "I have always wished so, but lately more

than ever.
"
sire to

11

I, in my mingled perplexity and decomfort her, saying the first thing that came u if we pray, and read the Bible, and try uppermost, to do as near right as we can, it seems to me that is all that is required of us. Even a Christian cannot do anything more." " " but I used to think so myself," answered Rachel, I have done all these things and no good has come of

0, well;" said

them that

can

see.

No,

don't

mean

just that.

It

isn't a right

of expressing myself. These ought to be done, but there must be something left undone; there must be some truth that I don't understand

way

which needs to be understood and brought into some my daily life before I can feel satisfied. And now, Leander, I am going to ask you a question and I want you to answer me truly." Thus adjured I promised to do so to the best of my ability, not without some misgivings, however, due to " " the fact that Rachel's were often of a questions rather startling, not to say embarrassing, nature. u It is just this, Leander. Ever since I can remember I have heard Masonry called a religious institution.' Now I don't care a pin's worth for your secrets, but even the Jews would let the dogs under the table eat of the children's crumbs, and if there is one single divine truth taught in the lodge that would help me, I am willing to take up with the merest crumb uf it. I could not suspect Rachel of concealed sarcasm, not with those unshed tears still trembling on her eyerelation to
' *

150
lashes,
felt

HOLDER WITH

CORDS.

but 1 think Elder Gushing himself might have somewhat embarassed by such a peculiar claim on " his Masonic charity. If I kept my promise and answered Rachel truly," I must either say that Masonry was less benevolently inclined than even Judaism in its worst estate, or confess that it had in reality no divine truths to impart; not a whole or even a half loaf to its own children, much less the crumb for profane

cowans
"

outside.
is

" a moral institution," I said, at last. It doesn't profess to make men Christians." u But it is certainly religious," 22 contested Rachel. "It has chaplains and high priests, and of course prayers and an altar, and some kind of a ritual. That

Masonry

follows as naturally as B follows A. And whoever u heard of an institution that was just moral " and
all

doing what Masonry does, and claiming what Masonry claims? This is all I judge Haven't I been to Masonic by, and it is enough. funerals and haven't I heard Masonic ministers preach aud pray? If they told the truth it is a great religious

nothing

else,

for itself

system; and if it is anything less than that, all their preaching and praying was just a lie from beginning to end. Haven't I heard them call it time and again a divine institution ? Don't they claim that it is founded on the Bible? that its teachings are the very essence of Christianity, the sum total of truth and virtue? that it actually contains in itself e\7 erything needed to make man perfect in this life and insure him an entrance into the Grand Lodge above? Of course John and

Paul must have been mistaken when they called Heaven a city instead of a Grand Lodge," added Rachel, who
was, I
NOTE
who
is

am
22.

afraid,
"

growing a
and

trifle
Is

sarcastic,

"or

it

may
Him

The Speculative Mason

engaged in the construction of a

fit

spiritual temple in his heart, pure

spotless,

for the dwelling place of

p. 39.

the author of purity.

^Mackey's

Ritualist,

MASONRY

IN"

ITS RELIGIOUS ASPECTS.

151

be only an error of the translators. I have a great mind to ask Elder Cushing's opinion on that point the next time I see him."
"

Perhaps

it

-would be a

good

idea,

Rachel,"

I said

meekly. Did the conversation draw us nearer together in that close, enduring bond which reaches into eternity, of two souls united in one high purpose, to know and serve
their Maker? Did it not rather drive us apart ? Rachel had spoken the truth, though as yet not conscious of the whole truth, about Masonry. It was a religion. But while Rome.honored her Vestal virgins, and the old Goths their fair-haired Valas; while the grand, all-

embracing faith of the blessed Redeemer, sweeping away such superstitious reverence, had raised woman wherever it found her, to the broadest social and mental equality with man, Masonry classes the whole sex in" discriminately with fools and atheists," and then has
the
the audacity to flaunt before the eyes of the world as " essence of Christianity."

Meanwhile a cloud was gathering that was yet to cover the land, and the low mutterings of the distant thunder began to be very audible, even in Brownsville.

CHAPTER
'Y
grandfather

XVIII.

THE GATHERING STORM.

said

but

little

after

it

rumor and became report that Captain Morgan of Batavia was writing out the secrets of Mason ry with intent to publish them to the outside
ceased to be world, and feeling rather curious to learn what shape his thoughts were taking I asked him one day if he really believed the book would ever be published.
I don't know," he anI don't know, Leander. " I am swered, with a dubious shake of his gray head. has been so unwise as to undersorry Captain Morgan take such a thing. It will only hurt him. and being a

family man he ought to consider his wife and children. And of course it will hurt Masonry to begin with, but 1 have been thinking it over, and it is my opinion that
in the

end

it

"How so?"
'

will only be an advantage to it." I asked, somewhat surprised at this san-

guine view of the case.

laying
ness.

Why. don't you see, Leander," said my grandfather, down both pipe and newspaper in his earnest"

Masonry will have to be altered if this thing goes on. I don't mean in any of it's essentials, for of course it cannot change in spirit or principle; but I

THE GATHERING STORM.

153

have been thinking there could be no better chance to reform the institution in a few points to drop for instance some of its forms and ceremonies that are only
a needless offence to

others in their

young candidates, and substitute more in agreement with the prostead

of the gressive spirit of the age; in short, to have less should this if in it. And the law and more of gospel be the result of Morgan's publishing the secrets, I, for
one, don't care in the least

how

soon

it is

done."

And

my

over this agreeable outcome of the whole affair grandfather waxed decidedly cheerful and turned to

and paper with a very untroubled air; pausing, however, almost as soon as he began to read, with his finger on a certain paragraph, to which he called my
his pipe

attention.

It

ran as follows:

NOTICE AND CAUTION.

WILLIAM MORGAN should intrude himself on the community they should be on their guard particularly the MASONIC FRATERNITY. Morgan was in this village in May last, and his conduct while here and elsewhere calls forth this notice. Any information in relation to Morgan
If a

man

calling himself

can

lie

obtained by calling at the

MASONIC HALL

in this village.

Brethren

and companions

are particularly requested to observe,

mark and govern

themselves accordingly. JjS^Morgan is considered a swindler and a dangerous man. i3P~ There arc people in this village who would be happy to see this Captain

Morgan.

"Canandaigua, August
44

9,

1826."

May

last." I repeated.

"

That was the time

saw

Captain Morgan in the stage coach. Don't you remember my speaking about it ?" But my grandfather did not answer. He generally
read anything important over twice, and was now engaged in giving the notice a second careful perusal. " back his

Leander," he said, finally, pushing glasses with one hand while the finger of the other continued u what did they do in to point at the italicized words,

154

HOLDER WITH

COKDS.

the lodge last night? I haven't thought to ask you before, but I suppose Elder Gushing and the rest of the

committee made their report.'' " Well, not a report, exactly; Elder Gushing said it was a matter to be settled in the chapters, but not ripe

He had no authority than more this, that Morgan's book anything should and would be suppressed/ My grandfather looked thoughtful but said no more, an4 after a moment of silence resumed his reading. In those days a newspaper was not the lightly esteemed article which it is now, and all my grandfather's
yet for discussion in the lodge.
to say
1

were carefully saved for Rachel and

I to read,

and after

we had done with them they were passed to somebody Thus it happened that else, and so on ad infinitum.
Rachel's eye fell on the same notice, and her wonder and curiosity were at once aroused. u " Leander." she said, I don't understand it. What has Captain Morgan been doing so bad that he must be " pointed out to the public as a swindler and a dangerous man?" And what do these words mean: u observe, mark and govern themselves accordingly?" " Only violating his Masonic oath," I replied, think" it best to answer the easiest question first. So I ing

suppose this him."

kt

is

intended to warn the fraiernity against

don't they use good common English?" What is the use of all this beating

Then why

said Rachel.

"

about the bush?

Or

is it

intended that

it

should only

be understood by Masons?"

Now I knew
father
so

der that

well enough what had made my grandsuddenly thoughtful. I knew that unform of words lurked a sinister meaning,

THE GATHERING STORM.

155

detected by Rachel's quick and pure perceptions, as one feels the slimy, creeping presence of a serpent.

For the report of what was doing in Batavia had spread through the whole Masonic camp, and created an excitement not at all to be wondered at when it is considered that on the keeping of its secrets inviolate hinged the whole question whether Masonry should continue to be what it had been in the past, " the power behind the throne," swaying the decisions of bench, and senate, and council chamber; or whether, its silly secrets and impious ceremonies fully unvailed,
like wild-fire

should go down like a mill-stone before the popular u a hissing scorn, in the graphic words of Scripture, and a reproach." Brownsville lodge even forgot Sam
it

Toller in this
interest.

It held several

much

free

more immediate and absorbing subject of meetings in which there was and hearty abuse of the worthless miscreant
villain,

Captain Morgan, and many stout Masonry not only never had been And revealed, but never could, would or should be. considering how often this sentiment was repeated the general excitement among Masons of every class and condition over a thing that could not possibly happen was certainly a curious phenomenon.
assertions

and perjured

made

that

life of Brownsville remained There was the same sound of village gossip, the same small tragedies and comedies that go to make up the sum of daily living. Every Sunday standing in the sacred desk, Elder Gushing preached and prayed precisely as he had preached and prayed so many Sundays before, and how should anybody suspect that he, a minister of the Gospel of peace and good will to men, was all the while cherishing murder in his

Still

the ordinary social

undisturbed.-

156 heart?

HOLDEK WITH
Still less,

CORDS.

that the same remark could just as

pertinently be made of many of his brother ministers whose devotion and piety no one thought of impugnAnd, furthermore, would it not have been a ing.

strange and startling thing to tell in the ears of any lover of law and order that not in Brownsville only,

but scattered through the whole county and State were sheriffs, justices of the peace and ex-legislators, either committed personally to the same course of action or
giving
it

their tacit approval?

an.

Yet

it

-was true, never-

honest Mason would have theless, though many been full as slow to believe it as the most skeptical outsider. For, like most other systems of evil that have cursed poor, weak human kind since the Fall, Masonry understands perfectly well that the fanaticism or even the depravity of its members are not more
valuable aids in carrying out a plan of concealed iniquity than the honest stupidity of good men; men who would not themselves injure a fellow being, and are

therefore slow to suspect it of others; men who have practically deserted its counsels and can deny with all

the assured confidence of ignorance that "these things

is something about this piece that 1 don't continued Rachel, decidedly; "it is too much like stabbing a man in the dark to call hini a swindler and 'dangerous to the community, and not tell what

are so." u

There

like,"

'

'

'

he has done. But of course it is wrong for Captain Morgan to break his oath." Rachel sat for a moment with her eyes fixed on the floor and had only just resumed her reading when Joe brought in a letter from Mark. He wrote that we must not expect him home this vacation as he could

THE GATHERING STORM.

157

not well afford to spend either the money or the time. He was now making rapid progress in the classics and the higher mathematics and felt that the few weeks of exemption from school duties must be improved to the utmost, especially as he had a prospect of advancement to a higher position next quarter. The letter contained, as usual, much love to all at home, and many inquiries after sundry four-footed friends about the farm, and

ended with a grateful mention of Elder Gushing. u Dear boy! was Rachel's only comment, though
1 '

she looked disappointed. u " Well, Rachel," said I, folding up the letter, you a has done must acknowledge that Elder Gushing good thing for Mark in getting him this situation, and you
see

him.

how deeply Mark seems to feel He might have been plodding

his obligation to along in the old

ruts to day if the Elder hadn't happened to take such an interest in him, and now there is no saying what he

may get to be Judge, or who knows?"

smile.

Senator, or perhaps President

Rachel smiled, but it was a very thoughtful little Then she turned suddenly round to me. "Leander," she said, "I want to tell you a short There was once a beggar who was heir to a story. throne, only he didn't know anything about it. And one day a man came across him who was a royal embassador from his father's court, specially commissioned to find the missing heir. But what did the man do? He was very kind to him he took pains to procure him a good situation with a fair prospect for rising in life; but all the while, though he knew he was the king's long lost son, lie verer told liim of it! Now do you
;

understand

my

parable?''

15S
u

fiOLDEN WITH COEDS.

Not very well. What has all this to do with Mark and Elder Gushing?" " A great deal, as you will see after I have explained Mark is a Christian, I firmly believe, and it to you.
Elder Gushing knows, or ought to know it. hasn't he ever told him? Why hasn't he been at least half as anxious to prove him an heir of Christ as to

Why

a Mason? I tell you, Leandor, if he had even though he had never got him this situation, been, Mark would have a thousand times more reason to feel grateful to Elder Gushing than he has now." And having had her say, Rachel dropped the subject till some other time when the spirit should again move

make him

her.

No one in the lodge denounced more severely the " u in Batavia, than doings of that vile, perjured wretch Darius Fox, who, by the way, had been very civil to me
since our little disagreement previously mentioned, and had even apologized after a fashion for his offensive

words in the lodge meeting. As for me I was very willing to let bygones be bygones, and only quietly wondered at his change of manner, though not without a hidden inkling that Joe might have explained the mystery had he felt so disposed. " It won't do to mind all a fellow says, especially when he gets worked up, and the time has come now for all true Masons to hang together; if we don't, our secrets will get to be nothing but a by-word from one

end of the country to the other. The publishing of that book must be stopped. There are no two ways about it. If we can't do better we'll send Morgan to travel East one of these days consign him to a kind of honorable exile, you know.
7

'

THE GATHEKIKG STOKM.

159
the point of

And

Darius chuckled over his

little joke,

which I failed to see very clearly, but not liking to show my stupidity, let it pass. Mr. Fox was a Royal Arch Mason, and so had the
by ordinary members of the lodge three degrees, to know what was doing in the chapter. Deacon Brown was another thus privileged, and expressed himself quite as decidedly in regard to the matter as did Mr. Fox, though in a little different fashion, as befitted his age and ecclesiright, not possessed

who had taken but

" This is the time for every good Mason to rally to the support of the most moral, humane, and, next to the church itself, the divinest institution on earth. To

astical standing.

be indifferent or careless in such a crisis is to provoke the wrath of heaven. Curse ye Meroz, curse ye bit'

terly the inhabitants thereof, because they came not " up to the help of the Lord against the mighty.'' It struck me that the worthyj)eacon was a little out

in his quotation; that it was a rather violent stretch of the imagination to say the least, to class that open-

man who sat writing " in Batavia, among the mighty," however apposite the term might be when applied to a vast secret power that numbered its adherents by tens
browed, clear-eyed, brave-souled
in his little

room

of thousands
vincible.

all

But the Deacon seemed quite oblivious made this little dip, and it was not for me having

over the land, and boasted itself inof

to

enlighten him. Thus matters went on in Brownsville lodge, the air charged with a kind of brooding electricity, like the subterraneous lightning which foreruns the earthquake. But though there was plenty of talk like the

160

HOLDER WITH

CORDS.

above which made

me vaguely uneasy, it was mostly of that enigmatical sort which may mean much or little, according as one chooses to interpret it. To my unit

derstanding

only expressed a determination, more or

less decided, to suppress, if possible, the publication of

the book, and 1 was sufficiently ashamed of my own share in Masonic fooleries to feel quite willing to see But the idea of violence, of actual murder! this done.

who, as I said before, could possibly suspect such things of his neighbors and fellow townsmen worthy, respectable men for the most part, who went to church regularly and voted at every town meeting, and demeaned themselves like Christian citizens of a free Republic! I did not and could not believe it, especially
after

my

and

grandfather's easy way of viewing the subject, put it to the reader if he could, in a similar situa-

tion,

have thought otherwise. So the days wore on those August days of Anno
1826.
are going to gather in a splendid crop^this worked hard enough to do it," I said to u

Domini

We

year, but I've

my

grandfather with a litffe pardonable pride, as we stood looking at the acres of waving grain ripe for the
sickle.

''That's right, Leander; the

hand of the

diligent

maketh

answered my grandfather, approving"But now I think of it, I wish when you take ly. at your flour to market you would contrive to stop Batavia coming back and see Jedediah Mills for me. A man at my age ought to have no loose ends to his of business between affairs, and there's a little matter
rich,"

us I would like to have settled up."'

THE GATHERING STORM.

I

161
1

readily promised, little thinking that in so doing

was about to become a spectator, and in some sense an actor, in scenes so strange and startling that to the reader of to-dav they seem more like romance than a
part of sober, veritable history.

CHAPTER
A
rR.

XIX.

NIGHT IN BATAVIA.

/k

SAMUEL D. GREENE kept the Park Tavern in Batavia, at which I put up late one Saturday night. He had moved there from Pembroke a few years before, and it was in the latter place that Sam Toller had spent a brief period in his employ, with a result already known to the
A

reader.
still, quiet man, not yet forty, was mine host of the Park Tavern, born of a line of godly ancestors in the quiet old town of Leicester, in Massa-

chusetts; a gentleman and a scholar, who had received his education at a famous New England University,

and while

fitted

by

his superior breeding

and culture

for a higher position was b}T no means disqualified thereby for the homely practicalities of his present

manner

by the fact that his house one of the best places of entertainment in the country. Furthermore, he was a Christian man who believed in prayer, and tried to square his every action by the Bible; a patriotic and public-spirited citizen, moreover, to whom his townsof
life,

as evinced
as

was widely known

men

naturally looked

when

there was any responsible

A 1UGHT IK BATAVIA.
office to
fill,

163

and, at the time I write, general guardian young and prosperous village of Batavia, being chief of its board of trustees. Such was the man whose name was forever to be linked with Morgan's
of the a

man who

frightened;

who

could not be coaxed, nor bought, nor could take his stand on the Rock of

that was to follow him, not for a

for over half a century
at the stake.
it

Ages, grandly defiant of the malice and persecution month or a year, but

perhaps a more searching test of loyalty to truth than many a martyr's brief hour of

agony But

must not be supposed that I knew all this about Mr. Greene, when, finding that Jedediah Mills had moved to Tonawanda, a few miles off, I put 'up at the Park Tavern for that night and the following Sun-

day, travel on the Lord's day, except in the plainest cases of necessity and mercy being a thing my grandfather never countenanced; nor had sneers at the " Puritan Sabbath" at that time so far let down the

or

bars of public opinion as to common. To know that

make

it

my

host, calm

either respectable and quiet as

he outwardly appeared, was in reality passing through " " one ot those ordeals that try men's souls of what stuff they are made; that he was playing a most difficult and dangerous part with full knowledge of the risk he was running, would have surprised me very much, but it would doubtless have surprised Mr. Greene's neighbors more. For I had made my visit to Batavia in troublous
times.
street corners,

stood talking in excited groups on the and the general air of the place was more that of a village standing in the way of some in-

Men

vading army and hourly expecting to be pillaged, than

164

HOLDEK WITH

OOKDS.

a quiet American township whose peace no war not rumor of war was ever likely to disturb. But a key to this state of affairs had been furnished

me by
when

a rather singular encounter which took place was coming down on the canal. I had just

stepped off the boat at one of the landings when a man came up and clapped me on the shoulder with the

words

We've got to play 'possum for a while. There's some traitor in the camp. Blast him! Miller has got warning and is on his defence." But as soon as I turned round and confronted the
speaker, naturally startled at this style of address, the quick 'change in the man's face showed him to be aware
of his mistake and not a little disconcerted thereat. " " Beg pardon," said he, but I was expecting to

meet an acquaintance here, and you were dressed so much like him, and are just about his build, that I could have sworn it was he as you stood there with your back to me. You are a Mason, perhaps?" This was spoken in a low interrogatory, the stranger scanning my face meanwhile with a pair of snake-like He was dressed in light clothes, outwardly like eyes. a gentleman, and to the unobserving might have readily passed for such, but under a critical view there was much in his whole air and appearance that was at variance with this idea.
Yes, I am a Mason," I answered, with a quick noting of the look of relief that overspread the stranger's He had made a mistake, but by no sinister visage. means so bad a one as he feared.
;<

"

Ah, going to Batavia?" Yes; but may I ask why you make these inquiries?"

A NIGHT IK BATAVIA.

165

I said, for I did riot entirely like the stranger's crossexamination, and the possible meaning of that speech to his supposed friend just then flashed across my mind, for I knew that a certain Colonel Miller of Batavia was associated with Captain Morgan as his publisher, and in the general Masonic zeal to suppress

the book, though by no means fully aware of the deadly form that their hatred towards Morgan was taking, I knew there were men in the fraternity ready enough
to use violence
if

they could be assured of safety to

themselves.
I merely ask these questions to see if you, as a Mason, are prepared to govern yourself accordingly," answered the stranger, with a cautious glance around u to see if any one was within hearing distance. You are going on to Batavia. Well and good; only remember that whatever a Mason knows, he must know nothing where the interests of Masonry are concerned,

"

for his oath

tion."

is

above every other possible obliga-

In his anxiety not to be overheard, the stranger had hissed rather than spoken these last words in my ear, and now walked rapidly off, probably thinking it best
to let this small

lump

of Masonic leaven do

its

work

unhindered.
tion in

my

It certainly raised considerable fermentamind, for I could not doubt there was some

Masonic conspiracy against Morgan and Miller on foot, and the stranger who had so mysteriously addressed me was one of the chief ones in the plot. Now to be mistaken for a fellow-conspirator was unpleasant enough, but to be told that I must be blind and deaf to " everything I saw and heard where the interests of were Masonry concerned/' or else violate my obliga-

166

HOLDER WITH

CORDS.

tions as a Mason, was more unpleasant still, because it was the truth. But the whole mystery stood revealed when I reached Batavia, for it was as I have said, the theme on every street corner. To protect his life and property from violence midnight by a Masonic mob, Colonel Miller, in this land of equal rights and general respect for law, had been obliged to set an armed guard over his printing office, the plot against him having been revealed nobody knew how by some unknown mem-

ber of the fraternity so poorly instructed in his

sonic obligations as actually to put his duty to and his neighbor first.

MaGod

those

From one source and another, from Masons, and who were not Masons, I had gained a tolerably

correct knowledge of the state of affairs in Batavia before I entered the bar-room of the Park Tavern, where

the one exciting topic of the hour was being discussed by several new arrivals like myself, after the free and candid fashion peculiar to American citizens in public
places.

"I say now, Masonry is a good thing;" spoke up one " " There's ins and outs in of the said new arrivals." trade, and a whisper in the ear from one of the knowing ones that can tell you just when and where to sell, I've found as good as hard dollars many a time when And I say I've been to market with flour and grain.
that to reveal the secrets as
a

Morgan and

Miller are

vile, dastardly thing, for it is like taking doing is money right out of the pockets of the farmers and

working men who pay their lodge dues and have a

hinright to enjoy the benefits of Masonry without drance from any one. That's my view." And the

A KIGHT IK BATAVIA.

167

speaker, an individual of a ^enus very common everywhere, who was not so much consciously selfish as he

was mora!l} obtuse, blew

T

his nose with the air of

one

a point not easily carried. u That's right, always speak well of the bridge that carries you safe over,' my old grandmother used to say,"
'

who has made

put in a jocular looking man who stood ordering a drink at the bar, and now walked forward and joined
the group.
"
I

said another

believe in free and equal rights for everybody," and younger man. I never could see any
1 '

reason, for my part, why Masons should be privileged before other folks. " You ain't one, that's plain enough," put in the " I have noticed that it generally takes a jocular man. Mason to see the beauty of that kind of thing. You'd

better join 'em and you'll find the grapes are a sight sweeter. Fact now."

mighty

And with

up had ordered, while the other retorted with some spirit: u I won't just yet, anyhow. Pretty business, I say, here in free America, if a man can't write and print what he's a mind to without the risk of having his life taken and his house burnt over his head!" "Now such talk as that is all bosh," answered the first speaker, decidedly; "there has been no attack made on Miller yet, and there won't be. The man that got up such a story was a fool, to my way of thinking, and the people that believe him are more fools yet." But at this point the waiter came to show me to my room and T lost the rest of the conversation. No midnight alarm disturbed my rest, and the Sun-

to the bar to take the

a grin that spread from ear to ear he went tumbler of punch that he

168

HOLDEN WITH COEDS.

day dawned as fair and peaceful as any Sunday morning in Brownsville. During the day I took a stroll through the village, feeling a curiosity to see the building where a work that had raised so much commotion and passionate excitement was going on. It was in the second story of a building separated from another by a narrow alley (a private family occupying the lower part), while from the corresponding office on the other side hung the sign of the Batavia Advocate, of which Miller was
publisher.

Suddenly

I saw, or

thought

saw, lurking in the

shadow of one of the stairways that lead up to these rooms from the outside, the figure of a man, but when
turned again, thinking to be certain, it had disappeared; but something in that momentary glimpse ref

called to

my

recollection the stranger

who had

so

mys-

teriously

accosted

me when
if

Was
chief,

it

he?

And

leaving the canal boat. so what was he there for? Mis-

But the day had so far passed in and many in Batavia were quite ready to think themselves fooled, and feel ashamed of their alarm, as people are always apt to when they have reason to think it groundless. Even Colonel Miller had decided after having guarded his office two nights to pass this without any particular precautions for deundoubtedly.
perfect quiet,

fence

As

for

me

I retired

to rest at

an early hour so as to

be ready to rise betimes on the morrow, go to Tonawanda, and thence homeward.

I was sure I had seen that I could not sleep. lurking by Miller's office. If I shut my eyes his face was before me, his hissing whisper in my ear. The incident which in the daytime I had tried to assure

But

man

A NIGHT IN BATAYIA.

169

myself was nothing, came back to me in the solemn night hours instinct with fearful possibilities. What should I do? Rouse the whole house with my story and get laughed at for my pains? This clearly would not do. I sat up in bed for a moment and thought it
over.

My
all

resolution was soon taken.

dressed myself

but

my

make no

boots, which I took in my hand, so as to noise in the passage-ways or in descending

the stairs, and found as I had hoped a window easily raised on the lower floor, out of which I swung my-

and was soon hastening in the direction of Miller's printing office. I could at least give warning if I saw any indications of an attack, but beyond this I had no clearly formed resolve what to do when I got there. Circumstances, however, with their general kind inself,

clination to act as guides in difficult cases decided the matter for me. For when I was within a few rods of

the

office, 1

down with
on
I
it.

saw a bright flame leap suddenly up, dying a sizzle, as if somebody had dashed water

quickened my walk to a run and joined the chase with two others after the flying incendiary. But it was a hopeless pursuit for he had the start at the outset

to lend

and the imminent danger of being caught seemed him wings. Paul ing and breathless the pursuers gave up the chase one by one and came back. One of the two, puffing and blowing and uttering most Sam Toller! But extraordinary ejaculations was when I turned and laid my hand on his shoulder, in
the excitement of the

moment I came near being mistaken for an enemy. u Hands off Help!" shouted Sam, with a strength
!

170

HOLDER WITH

COEDS.

of lungs that brought his

rescue, prepared to give

companion instantly to the

treatment under the impression that I was an accomplice of the villain they had been pursuing.

me rough

Don't you know me Leander Sevwhich the man who had collared m$ erns?" let go his grip, and the astonished Sam nearly shook my hand off in the vehemence of his surprise and

Why, Sam.

I said; at

gladness.

"Know ye?
name
o'

Ruther guess
1

I do.

But how in the

creation should I think of seein' you here, And I imagined a slight shade this time o' night?'

of suspicion in Sam's voice. 14 But I wasn't thinking of seeing

I answered, coolly.

you

either,

Sam,"

u
"

Wall, I guess we're about even.

rest of the folks?"

How's the Captain

life

and the

Nicely, Sam. And how has since you left Brownsville?"

"

gone with you

"Tips and downs," answered Sam, philosophically. That's what I take it life is to most folks. I've got a job at teamin' now. That kinder suits me, not havin' We were calkerlatin' to to buckle down to one place.
load with flour early in the
canal.

morning and
fire.

start for the

And

we'd just camped down in our wagons to

It all

go to sleep when we see the

like.

happened

see there's a providence to providential a'most everything that does happen, if folks would only stop to think about it," added Sam, who had lost

Ye

none of his old gift at moralizing. The wood-work had been thoroughly saturated with
inflammable material, while a quaniity of combustible stuff, all ready to ignite as soon as the match should be

A NIGHT

IN"

BATAVIA.

171

applied, showed that the incendiary understood his business, for the fire had been set directly under the

stairway, and nothing but the timely appearance of the two teamsters had prevented a serious conflagration.

of the village people, roused by the alarm, now gathered about, while Sam and I indulged ourselves in

Some

a brief aside.
I might ha' known you were too much a chip of the old block to go in for any sich rascally doings," said the former, when 1 detailed to him my experience " with the suspicious looking stranger; but I tell ye,

Leander Severns" and Sam, leaning up against his team spoke low but with mysterious earnestness " if I ain't no Mason I've got a kind of open sesame, as ye

may

say,

among them

that are.

And

only the other

day I fell in with a chap that axed for a ride on my team; I found out he was a Mason and gave him the grip and that loosened his tongue to talk about what
Captain Morgan is doing. And that ain't the fust time nuther I've talked with Masons about it. And I
ye I don't like this style of talk; it's the roundabout kind that goes all about the bush to say one word; and that word, to speak it out plain, is jist murtell

der
I

"

was silent, for I too had heard plenty of such round-about" talk among Masons and by this time had begun to surmise what it meant. Sam continued:
I wouldn't give a four-penny for Colonel Miller's chance, nor Captain Morgan's nuther, if this thing goes on. Tain't in human nater to be all the time like a treed coon, and when they're off their guard, why " then and Sam ended his sentence with a significant

"

gesture, for

it

was nothing

less

than to

lift

his

hand

172

HOLDER WITH

CORDS.

and draw it obliquely across'his throat the penal sign of the Entered Apprentice. " Nonsense, Sam," I answered; but, I must confess, rather faintly. " The law of the land is against murder, I believe; and, mad as the Masons are against

Morgan and
lives

Miller, I don't think they

would take their

and run the risk of hanging."

I

Wall,
like,

hinted as

much
want

to that

Mason

about, that axed

me

for a ride

on

my

ye know;

didn't

to

mad

I told ye team, but softly him and lawful

thought to hear him talk that we were all governed by their Grand Lodge and Grand Chapters, and what not. What are yer sheriffs ?' sez he. Who are yer jurors, and yer lawyers, and yer judges on the T ho are yer bench? Who are yer army officers? constables and yer justices of the peace? Who's yer Governor? and hain't he got the pardonin' power, I want to know?' I knew it was jest so, and I laid my hand on my mouth. I hadn't another word to say, but
sus! you'd a
'
'

I tell

ye

it jest

stuck in

my

crop.

Tain't a right state

Wall, I guess I'll camp down agin. I'm real glad to have come across ye, anyway. Jest give my compliments to the lodge, will ye? Tell 'em I ain't quite ready to jine 'em yet till I see how this
of things no how.
little affair is

coming out."

again disposed of himself comfortably with his team, the excitement having in some measure subsided, while I pursued my way back to the tavern feeling very wide awake indeed. So this was Masonry! a

And Sam

mighty
carried

secret power that laid its plans in the dark and them out in defiance of every law both of God and man. But as yet my eyes were only half opened. I considered the whole thing as the work of low-bred

A NIGHT

Itf

BATAVIA.

173

scoundrels, but at the same time I could not help suspecting that men to whom it would be scarcely truth or charity to apply such a term, winked at the lawless

proceedings, if they did nothing more. Of course the affair was duly discussed the next morning at the Park Tavern over an abundant breakfast, mine host moving quietly about, attentive as usual to the wants of every guest, but having very little to say himself except when obliged to reply to some I began to watch this quiet, grave-faced direct remark. man with a new interest, having learned accidentally

from one of

my

gree institution? I wondered.

Mason

like myself.

fellow-lodgers that he was a third deWhat did he think of the

That it was of

direct heaven-

ly origin and this attempt at arson a mere incidental a view freak on the part of some misguided member?

of the case

which was being held forth with much

ardor by a gentleman of ministerial dress and counte" nance, who took pains to inform his audience that he

was both a Royal Arch Mason and a Baptist clergyman; that he would as soon think of speaking against Christianity as against Masonry, and considered those that did no better than infidels."
Ain't there something in the Bible," put in the u about a strong jocular man previously mentioned, One religion, 1 ass crouching between two burdens?'
;

take

it, is all human nater can stand under, and I don't blame any poor fellow unless he is an ass outright, for And turning infidel when he has to shoulder two.' doubling up his flapjack, the buttered side in, and cutting it across with mathematical precision, he proceed1

ed to dispose of it in just four scientifically proportioned mouthfuls, while the other, not quite certain

174

HOLDER WITH

CORDS.

whether there might not be a personal reference intended by this allusion to the animal with the short name and long ears, looked as if he did not know
whether
it

was best

for his dignity to let it pass in

silence or attempt a reply, and before he could make up his' mind a sudden diversion stopped the conversa-

tion and converted the whole tableful into listeners to

a startling piece of

news

Captain Morgan had been

kidnapped

Having rather imprudently left his boarding place, which was somewhat out of the village, a little before sunrise, he had been roughly seized, thrust
!

into a carriage and driven rapidly off in the direction of Canandaigua all to recover a shirt and cravat

which he was alleged to have stolen when in that village the preceding May. So cunningly had the whole plot been laid that even those most in sympathy with

Morgan could
mast take

see nothing in

it

its course,

however much

but a legal process that it might be re-

gretted that such a thing should happen at this particular juncture. "It's all in the

way of law, and that won't be inter" It's just the affair fered with, you know," said one. of last August over again." " another.
But that was rather different," interposed Who's to go bail for him in Canandaigua, fifty away? Here in Batavia he was among friends."
"
miles

"And
"

his poor wife

and children,"

said another.

That's too bad, of course," replied the one who had u first spoken, but men with wives and children are arrested for debt every day. I don't see how it can be
helped." In all the excited exclamation and questioning I noticed that Mr. Greene bore but little part, yet to this

A NIGHT IN BATAVIA.

175

day 1 remember the expression of his face on reception of the tidings neither startled nor disturbed, but out-

wardly calm
fearless

act in a crisis such as

who, called upon to comes to few, stands prepared, of consequences, to do his duty, cost what it

as a hero is calm,

may.

You see it is all legal, perfectly legal," pronounced " the Masonic clergyman. Unfortunate circumstances of this do nature. That is always attend cases usually
to be expected. must not allow our feelings, which of course are right in themselves, to blind our judgment or make us wish to interfere with the law."

We

'"Yes; I see, I see," said the man who had spoken of Morgan's wife and children, and who perhaps was thinking of his own. And to this conviction all minds seemed to finally settle down. It was a pity, of course, but the majestic progress of the law must not be obstructed. Meanwhile, to Morgan's young wife, with her two infant children, this was but the beginning of long, weary days of waiting and watching for a step that came not that would never come again. God pity

her!

CHAPTER
FTER

XX.

AN EXCITING SCENE.
leaving the Park Tavern (which I was to visit under circumstances less memorable, perhaps, but with much
clearer

knowledge of many things, the my host included, than I then possessed) my intention was to transcharacter of
act

my

business as speedily

as

possible

and resume
delay.

my journey homeward without

But Mr. Jedediah Mills had gone to a neighboring village on some errand which would keep him till the middle of the afternoon, and, under the
circumstances, though inwardly chaffing at the unexpected delay, I was glad to accept good Mrs. Mills' invitation to dinner.
Is the reader so fortunate as to hold in his remembrance the picture of a well-appointed farm-house kitchen of the oldeii times? Does he remember the

huge oven, out of which came the smoking brown

bread, the

pumpkin

pies,

the Indian pudding, baked to

that perfection of comely toothsomeness which no modern u range" can ever hope to rival? Does he
hospitality that welcomed, that his with him, heaped plate every goodly viand 9

remember the whole-hearted

AN EXCITING
and made him
of the phrase?
"
feel

SCENE.
"

177

at

home

in the truest

meaning

imagine the style of entertainment without more description, and I will proceed at once to introduce him to the family. Mr. Jedediah Mills was a prosperous farmer owning a large farm in Tonawanda, which he tilled with his own hands and those of his two stalwart sons. In person he was tall, with keen eyes, a short, stubbed beard, thickly sprinkled with gray, and that peculiar development of head which is apt to mark an excess of the combative quality. Mrs. Mills, fresh-faced and motherly, assisted by her daughter, Hannah, with oc" casional seasons of hired help,'' brewed and baked, and pickled preserved, and made butter and cheese; and with all these multitudinous occupations found time to read and sew, to make broth for an invalid, or tidy up a neighbor's sick-room all with the most perfect unconsciousness that they were doing anything in the
least

If so, he can

remarkable.
just like her

Hannah was

name,
old

if

the reader rederivative,

members the meaning of the

"kind, gracious."

Hebrew

She had none of Rachel's bright bloom and quick, imperious ways; she was not fair and spiritual like Mary Hagan, but was womanly and capable and something else besides. The soul that looked out of her honest gray eyes was that essentially motherly soul, which is the same in the maiden and the matron of four-score; one that as the years went on would " abound more and more " in good works and
practical sense; cheerful, helpful, courageous ready to advise, whether it concerned some question of domestic

economy, such as the best way to take out mildew, or how to cut a garment from a yard less of material than

178
is

HOLDER WITH

CORDS.

usually required, or some perplexing matter of duty or conscience that a ripe experience and a loving heart

can solve better than

all

the philosophers and theolo-

gians in the world. Anybody who has carefully studied the lives of reformers, will doubtless have noted the fact that their wives, either through some instinct of
natural selection, or the kindly orderings of Providence, are apt to be women of this peculiar calibre a

remark whose connection with

my story the reader does not probably see at the present moment. But I have a reason for giving him so special and particular
an introduction to Hannah Mills, which will appear in due time. tk So they've actually took Captain Morgan off to " Canandaigua;" began Mr. Mills, as soon as the busir for which I had come was over and leisure alness u And on such a silly, trumped lowed for other topics. to And then think of their trying to set up charge.
fire to

beat

all

Miller's printing office last night. Well, it does what the world is coming to." And Mr. Mills
felt it to

looked decidedly sober as he

question indeed. I asked him if he was
Miller. " I've

be a very serious

much

acquainted with Colonel

known him these years; knew him when he was carrying on the publishing business in Saratoga, and. I'll tell you how he happens to be so against the Masons, though he has taken one degree, just as I was It was about twenty years fool enough to do myself. the that he lodge in Albany. He was going joined ago
to bring out a

new

name
"

of

it,

that tells

edition of an old book, I forget the "all about the secrets

I

Jachin and Boaz?''

suggested.

AH EXCITIHG
0, yes Jachin and So the to think of it.

SCEHE.

179

Boaz that was the name, come Masons went to work to stop him by telling him Masonry was altered. Well, he and he joined' and took the Entered Apprentice degree, found that all the difference was just a change in the to grip or the password. Of course it maddened him
be so lied to," graphically concluded Mr. Mills, and the Colonel has been dead sfet against Masonry from that day to this." I had come to the conclusion that my entertainer,
il

though a Mason of one degree, was not over friendly to the order, and now ventured to ask how long it was
since he joined the lodge. " I see.

years, for I

guess it ain't far from thirty was just before our twins died Isaiah and Jeremiah. I was just through with a spell of typhus and was sitting by the fire feeling real

Well,

let

me

remember

it

discouraged about making ends meet, when my wife's brother came in. He'd talked to me about joining the Masons before, but I never took up with the idea at all till now I began to think it over, and I concluded if it
really

was as he said, the best thing I could do for my family to become a Mason, why, I was ready to do it. So I sent in my application right off and joined that very week. But, as I was saying, I had just been down to death's door with typhus fever, and I suppose I was a trifle weakly. Anyhow, after they had put me through the usual tomfoolery and went to take off the hoodwink I fainted dead away, so it was a good while before they
could bring
since.

me
wife

to.

And

haint been nigh the lodge

to

My

she's at

me now sometimes

know

what made me have that fainting fit, but I've never let on. And its the first and only secret I ever kept from

180
Mehitabel.

HOLDEN WITH

CORDS.

in

I wish I had never bound ray conscience any such way, but an oath is an oath. Maybe when Morgan's book is printed she'll have a chance to find

out."

And Mr.

Mills laughed as

light of a joke.

But

had

little

merriment, feeling that if horribly silly secrets I could never look her in the face So 1 took occasion to suggest that possibly the again.

it in the heart to join in his Rachel once knew those

if

he considered

volume in question might never be published

u

at

all.

Maybe not," assented my host, "for I believe they got hold of most of Morgan's papers when they arrested hin: last August. It's going to be serious business

And Mr.

serious business, I'm afraid." Mills sat for a moment seemingly absorbed

in studying the texture of his pantaloons. I finally broke the silence by making some inquiry about the

time for meeting the next stage.

"

Now you

ain't

go!ng to

stir

away from here

to-

"I won't night," answered the good man decidedly hear of it. I've got to go to Savin's Bend to-morrow. That's only a little this side of Brownsville, and I can
take you along just as well as not." I could do nothing but yield to such kindly despotism and about noon the next day we entered Batavia, that village tying in our route. " said Mr.
I

Mills, as we. set out,

did calculate to u

make an

earlier start,"

ing all should get started.

but something has been happenthe morning, till 1 begun to think I never

The minute I opened my eyes I remembered there was a weak place in the harness that ought to have been seen to before, and the boys were busy, so I had to see to getting it mended myself; and

AN EXCITING
Merrill

SCENE.

181

well, he's a good workman, but awful slow about taking hold of a job. Well, now, it is a queer thing, but I've often noticed it if matters begin to go wrong with me before breakfast, accidents are pretty

sure to keep happening all day, just like a row of bricks you topple one over and the rest all go. But a bad

beginning makes a prosperous ending, they say. We shall be in Savin's Bend by sundown, and you can take the coach from there to Brownsville/'

And

thus cheerfully conversing

we

arrived, as before

stated, in Batavia, to find a

new

source of excitement

agitating the village people. Colonel Miller had received warning from the same unknown source that,,
at the ringing of the

noon

bell,

the Masons had planned

to rally in a body and attack his printing office, and though in his first alarm lie had prepared to have some
his fellow citizens in the crisis, he

handbills struck off containing an appeal for help from had been dissuaded

from distributing them by the advice of his friends, who put no faith in the report. "What do you think about it, Mr. Mills?" I ventured to ask, when our informant, who averred that the very idea of such a daring outrage in open day was utter nonsense, had passed on. Mr Mills' answer was rather startling. It was merely to point with his whip down the street and utter the single ejaculation
"

There!"
beseiged Miller's print-

A crowd of forty or fifty men

ing
office,

armed with clubs cut from hoop-poles. I saw two men, one of whom I supposed to be Miller the other I did not know, dragged into the street and carried off by the mob, and then I turned to Mr. Mills;

182
"

HOLDEN WITH

COEDS.
"

Where are they taking those men to ?" " It is a lawful arrest on some charge or other," said a bystander, who, like us, was watching the proceeddoes this
I asked.

What

mean?"

"

ings.

Jesse French, the constable,

legal about it."

is

there, so there

must be something

Mr. Mills uttered something which sounded very like an imprecation, either on the law or its representative in the person of Mr. Jesse French, and giving his horse a sharp touch with the whip, drove on, the mob having left with their prisoners.

much

ki

You and

I are

Masons," he

said,

grimly; and vol-

umes could not have spoken more of the inward reTo be sure there bellion that was raging in his soul. was a difference between us the difference being a man who is only bound with one pair of fetters, and a man who is bound with three; but when the one pair
is

and clinched beyond mortal power to break, it, except for the added burden, whether the number be one or fifty?
rivited

what matters

We

were but a

little

way out

of the village

when

the horse began to limp. The law that accidents, like disasters, follow each other, which many people besides

Mr. Mills have discovered in the course of their daily living, still continued to govern events, for the horse had loosened a shoe, and there was nothing to be done but to stop at the nearest blacksmith's. We were
about to start on again,
alcade of men,
all

the road came a cavsome on horseback seemingly animated by one common object, which

when up

some

in wagons,

was, as we soon learned, the rescue of Colonel Miller from the hands of the Masonic mob, who, under color

AN EXCITING

SCENE.

of law, were bearing him off the same dark Morgan had gone the day before.
Fire flashed from the old man's eyes.

way

that

He
a

turned to

me
"

Hang

it

all!

don't care

if

am

Mason!

won't stand and see a man like Colonel Miller kidnapped in open daylight without lifting a finger to help him.

But then," he added, hesitatingly, u seeing that you are a third-degree Mason, I don't know as I ought to do anything that will get you into trouble. And I suppose you are in a hurry to get home besides." Never mind me, Mr. Mills," 1 answered, for his " I am too far from Brownsville spirit was contagious, to be recognized. And they seem to be going the same
ki

way we

are.

We

may

as well join

them."

And so we

two Masons, in company with the rescuing party, swept on up to Stafford, meeting the others where they had halted at a stone building, the upper part of which was occupied by a Masonic lodge into which Colonel Miller had been taken for safe keeping, the other

A prisoner, Captain Davids, having been released. lawyer by the name of Talbot had accompanied the party from Batavia, arid now demanded entrance into the lodge-room, which demand was refused. But the party pushed their way, Mr. Talbot leading, into the room, where a curious scene was transpiring. There stood Colonel Miller, a helpless prisoner, while one of his captors stood over him brandishing a naked sword over his head and uttering loud threats in which we heard the name of Morgan mingled as the door burst
open. " This
firm,
is

no court of
voice,

justice," said

Mr. Talbot, in a
taking hold of

clear

stepping up and

184

HOLDER WITH
u

COiiDS.

Colonel Miller's arm. You must go on to Le Roy where the warrant was issued." And as the men of
the hoop-poles, having laid so much stress 011 legal forms when they arrested their prisoner, could not well make resistance now their own weapons were turned against them. A way was cleared; Colonel Miller,
closely guarded,

was ordered into a wagon, and we

now remained but to Le Roy. But the opposing part}' were fertile in shifts and expedients. They were not in the smallest hurry to go on to Le Roy, knowing very well that the case would
naturally supposed that nothing

proceed directly to

drop through as soon as they appeared before a magistrate. Colonel Miller was ordered out of the wagon, then ordered in again, then ordered out, in the most
capricious manner, all apparently to consume time, while Mr. Talbot, in stern and angry tones, was demanding of the constable why he did not do his duty

and carry the prisoner on to Le Roy. " Easy enough to see why. They hain't got no case 4t I'm against him," whispered Mr. Mills, excitedly. afraid I've come about as nigh swearing these ten minutes past as a Christian man conld and not do it." And, apparently relieved by the confession, Mr. Mills leaned forward in his wagon to watch this extraordinary scene. But I was too much attracted by a face that I saw and recognized among the crowd of Masons, and which I was certain recognized me, to pay much attenHow did he tion to his remark. It was Darius Fox. happen to be here, thirty miles from Brownsville^ engaged in this evil work? But I did not mention my discovery to Mr. Mills, and after a while the whole noisy and excited assemblage moved on towards Le Roy

A1ST

EXCITING SCENE.

185

many stops by the way, till finally the party having Colonel Miller in charge halted at a tavern for supper, and after a brief consultation with Mr. Talbot
with

we saw the former

leave the

wagon

as if released

and

But there was a rush made headed by the constable French, mid he was once more a prisoner. This, however, gave occasion for repeating the demand with greater urgency to take him before a magistrate. It was at last acceded to,
start off in the direction of Batavia.
atid before

Judge Barton occurred the strangest scene

so active in ar-

of

all.

The constable Jesse French,

resting him, oddly disappeared, while neither plaintiff nor witnesses came forwaid to support the charge against Colonel Miller, who was accordingly set at But in a few moments after he had left the liberty.

justice-room there was a hallooing and shouting down the street. Jesse French and his posse had reappeared

and were trying to arrest him again. There was a rush of Colonel Miller's friends to the rescue. And I have here to record a most extraordinary feat of arms on the part of Mr. Jedediah Mills who could by no means sit quietly in his wagon, but jumped nimbly out, forgetting his three-score years, and joined in the melee with as much ardor as if he had also quite forgotten the pressure of the cable-tow which perhaps
he had.

Three times there was a rush and a rescue. The time right and might prevailed, and Colonel Miller was put into a stage and driven rapidly homethird

ward.

Mr. Mills jumped into the wagon and wiped his

heated brow.
"

This

is

about the hardest afternoon's work

ever

186
did.

HOLDEN WITH COEDS.

I'd rather break up new land all day. Well, I'm going on to Savin's Bend. I've been promising old Aunt Dorcas Smith a visit this some time. And she is

given to entertaining strangers. over night and be glad to."

She'll take

you in

chose instead to take the night coach to Brownsville, and reached home just as the glow of
I

But

dawn was

flushing the eastern sky.

CHAPTER
ACHEL
riser,

XXI.

THE MYSTERIOUS CARRIAGE.

was by nature and habit an early and as I came up to the house in the gray dusk of morning, she herself

stood in the open doorway breathing in the sweet, fresh air; and then, suddenly turning her head, she saw me coming up
the walk, and uttered a quick cry of pleasure.
I really began to feel worried for fear someu had to you, Leander," she said. We happened thing were expecting you home sooner."

"

And I, not caring to enter into a detailed account of the strange scenes of yesterday, only laughed as I returned her kiss of welcome at what I called "her foolish fears,"

and told her that

had been unexpectedly

detained.

At that instant a low rumble of approaching wheels made us both turn our eyes to the street, and we saw a

common hack

carriage dr've by, the curtains closely

as if
this latter

drawn and the horses looking weary and jaded

from a night of hard travel

circumstance the that attracted our attention principal being thing to the vehicle, although Rachel remarked as she leaned

188

HOLDER WITH

COKDS.
it

forward to catch a last glimpse as around a curve of the road

"

was disappearing

Strange that people want to travel such a beautiful morning as this with all the curtains down." For it was one of those delicious mornings that sometimes comes in September, cool and dewy and fresh

any in early June, though it promised to be hot farther on in the day when the sun should reach its
as

meridian.

Still

there was nothing in the appearance

unusual enough to excite more than a passing comment. And then Rachel hurried in to see to the breakfast while I took a general view of matters and things about the farm, and thought
of the closed carriage

over yesterday's events in Batavia, finding a constant and ever recurring source of uneasiness in the fact that

Darius Fox was there and saw

Miller's friends.
It

me

in the party of

I was easy enough to say that didn't care, and it was none of his business anyhow," when 1 knew perfectly well that I did care, and how easily he could make it his business if so disposed. u Now do tell me what detained you so," said Rachel, u Not as soon as we were seated at the breakfast table. bad luck, I hope." And considering that she would probably hear sooner or later what was going on in Batavia. I related the whole story, to which she listened in wondering silence, only giving her head an emphatic nod of approval

"

when
day. "

I told

her of

my own

share in the events of the

You were on

the right side, Leander

just

where

always want to see you." " But it might get me into trouble,"
ly (I

I said, cautious-

had concluded not to say anything to her about

THE MYSTERIOUS CARRIAGE.

189

my seeing Darius Fox, the valiant, armed with his hoop-pole, in the company of Masonic rioters), "if it should be known by the lodge that I was one of the
party that rescued Colonel Miller." " " Of course what Why?" asked Rachel, quickly. Masons were engaged in the affair must have been of

They can't hurt you an} ." innocent Rachel! But it was not easy to un0, my deceive her when 1 was not more than half undeceived myself, and still considered the outrages on Morgan
the baser sort.
T

and Miller as the work of misguided individuals, rather than what it really was only the deliberate carrying out of the principles of the institution. For though I had seen enough of Masonry by this time to fear its power to vex and annoy, of the iron hand that could smite in secret, and, most horrible thing of all, so enslave the souls and consciences of men as to make even ministers and deacons consenting to the bloody deed, I

knew nothing
"
I

as yet.

don't like the

way things

was

my

grandfather's comment.

are going on, Leander," " These lawless pro-

ceedings only dishonor Masonry. No good institution needs to be defended by violence and fraud. As I was
telling Elder
is
it.

of God, neither

Gushing only the other day, if Masonry Morgan nor Miller can overthrow
"

my grandfather came to a pause, and there was such a look on his face as that old Roman might have worn when he delivered up his erring and yet darling son to the axe of the executioner "if it isn't, then it is of the devil, and the sooner it is thrown back on his hands the better."
if it isn't

And

And having uttered this startling sentiment grandfather closed his lips and said no more.

my

100

HOLDEK WITH
I

Neither Rachel nor

must have been the same one Miss Lawton was telling about seeing. She was standing at her chamber window and saw it drive up and stop a little way from Deacon Brown's on the back road a yellow carriage
It

carriage we had seen in the to by Miss Loker. "

thought again of the strange morning till it was referred

with gray horses. And she see the driver get off and go somewhere after a couple of fresh horses, and when he came back with them they lookecl just like the dea-

new span. And that ain't all. brother's wife's cousin, Nathan Leach, that keeps the toll-gate up at Platt's Corner, says he knew the driver, one of the foremost men of the place, and a man that wouldn't
con's

My

be likely to turn stage driver without there was some very particular occasion for it. And the queer part of it was, he handed Nahum the toll without saj ing a word
T

and then walked off quick to where the carriage was standing two or three rods away. And he didn't answer even when
it

Nahum

said,

How d'ye do?' You see

was in the night, and the carriage drove up kinder softly and mysterious with the curtains all down, and no more sound of anybody inside than if it had been a hearse. Why, it gave him a real ghostly feeling,
he hollered out loud enough to What's the mathe was dreaming, ter?' 'Nothing,' says the man, never stopping or turning his head; and then he mounted the box and the carriage drove off just as it had come." But my grandfather only uttered an energetic "Pooh!" when Miss Loker had ended her uncanny
says.

Nahum

And

wake himself

'

if

recital.

Maybe Nahum was

fast asleep,

wouldn't won-

THE MYSTERIOUS CARRIAGE.

der.

191

Now I remember that when 1 was Captain of the Martha Ann, the crew were frightened half to death one night by something they thought was a ghost in
the forecastle.

Well,

it

did look just like a

woman

in

white, with her hair floating about her face, and turned out to be nothing after all but a mischievous trick of

one of the midshipmen.'

u

But there was

it

about

who
<l

certainly something very queer the carriage, I mean,' persisted my mother, did not feel quite satisfied at so easy a disposition
1

of the subject.
to

Well," answered Miss Loker, who was not addicted smoothing down hard facts either in Scriptures or
"
life,

human

instead of a

Nahum says, if it had been a stranger man so well known to him, as a church

member and
a doubt but
'

a town officer beside, he wouldn't have had what he was on some evil errand. And

says

Nahum, you'd better take your Bible and read about David, before you warrant a church member for not committing murder and adultery, if the Spirit
I,

leaves

that

him to himself. It's only by the grace of God we stand a minute without falling into sin, even

the best of us!' says I." 11 " That is very true, answered
ously.

my

grandfather, seri-

And there ensued a period of silence such as usually follows the utterance of one of those great, mysterious,
awful truths that hedge in our
eternal strength.
finite

weakness with the

Through town and village and hamlet all that day and night the closed and silent carriage drove horses and drivers supplied as if by magic so as to cause scarcely more than a moment's detention in the whole

192

HOLDEN WITH COEDS.

route ot one hundred and twenty miles. And within sat a man, gagged and bound, who knew that every step of the way was leading him to death not on the

where friend and foe alike might witness his but a death in secret, bitter with prolonged suspense and agonizing uncertainty, and all that could add poignancy to the martyr's doom.
scaffold
last heroic stand for truth,

shall say what thoughts filled the bosom of that pale, silent man, as the faces of wife and children rose before him on that strange journey! Were there

Who

moments

when he half regretted the awful moments when flesh and spirit failed him, when the tempter whispered, " Yon have thrown away
of weakness
sacrifice?

and what have you accomplished?" there were, for William Morgan was human like the rest of us, but surely the noblest of earth's martyrs and heroes never rose more grandly triumphant over mortal weakness than the man who could say to his foes with a cruel death staring him in the face, "I have fought for my country and as a soldier I would die for her"
your
life

Doubtless

',

'#

Betrayed under the mask of the taken from friendship, jail where, however illegal and unjust his imprisonment, he was at least under the protecting arm of law. he is whirled farther and farther away from wife and child and friend, till finally a gloomy prison house rises to view over which floats the

The scene changes.

and stripes, as if in bitter mockery of him who, because he has dared, with a patriot's noble scorn of consequences, to expose the dark, secret power which
stars
is

plotting against his country's free institutions, is thrust into its gloomiest hold never again to see the

THE MYSTERIOUS CARRIAGE.

light of day

193
is

for

when he

is

taken out it

a moonless

starless night, fit shroud for the tragedy which follows, as the river closes dark and chill over the hapless vic-

tim, and the murderers chosen by lot for the horrid deed of blood row back swiftly and silently to the
shore, and, disbanding, go their separate ways. William Morgan's wife is a widow, her children fatherless.

Verily

Thou

art a

God that

hidest Thyself, or else

justice be

would the wicked triumph, and law and

foiled at every turn, while over the martyr's

name and
is

memory, Falsehood, that familiar spirit of the lodge,

busy erasing,
ation rises to
defiling, destroying
till

at last

a gener-

whom Morgan's story is an idle tale, a mere myth of the past? The deadly wound of the Beast has healed, and again his worshipers ask boastu Who is like unto the Beast? ingly and tauntingly, who is able to make war with him ?"
But there
is

One who

and make war, and ranged under

in righteousness doth judge his banner I see a

small but faithful host, who, counting not their lives

dear unto them have gone forth to attack the monster in his stronghold. He chafes and rages, but the archers wound him sore. The fiat has gone forth against him.

*******

I look again. In Batavia's quiet cemetery where the martyr has slept for over fifty years in his nameless and unhonored grave, I see a monument rise to his memoIt is crowned with his statue, and I look once ry. more on the grave, noble, thoughtful face seen so long

ago in the Canandaigua stage coach. It is the free-will offering of men, women and children. The hardearned pennies of the poor and the dollars of the rich

194

HOLDEN WITH

CORDS.

have gone side by side to help build it, and the dark system of falsehood trembles to its foundation, for like the trump of doom in its ears is the witness William Morgan bears once more through those lips of stone.

Thank God that I live to see the day! But let me wake from these dreamings, remembering
not in 1882, but in 1826, that the scenes of story are now laid. Contrary to my fears no notice was taken by the lodge of my share in the rescue of Colonel Miller a
it is

that

my

marvelled,

reticence on the part of Darius Fox at which I silently little thinking that my mischievous brother

Joe was

all the time holding over his head a wholesome fear of that particular mode of punishment threatened by Scripture on the crafty who lay in wait

for their fellow

men

"

He

shall be taken in his

own

snare."

The tact was he had once been a suiter for Rachel's hand, and when he found that she would have none of him, some coolness of feeling towards his successful rival might be naturally expected to spring up, while on my part, dislike to a certain arrogance of manner had widened the breach, though we still preserved an outward semblance of cordiality. " Elder Gushing reported in the lodge that effectual measures had been taken to suppress Morgan's book,
and though he was not at liberty to state, there and then, precisely what those measures were, all good and faithful Masons might rest assured that no further
alarm .need be apprehended of any publication of Masonic secrets to the world, and he trusted that all true brothers and companions would join him in a fitting
tribute of praise to the great Architect of the universe

THE MYSTERIOUS CARRIAGE.

195

who had been

saries of their ancient

pleased to bring confusion on the adverand glorious order."

Though I saw nods and winks pass between particular members of the lodge, the awful meaning couched
under those smooth-sounding words was as yet a sealed book to me; but when the hour for "refreshment" arrived there was an unloosening of tongues, and a
very curious style of talk succeeded the Elder's speech. "I say," said one, "there's big game in Niagara

River for anybody that wants to go fishing there." A laugh chorused this statement, while another inquired u
u

What

sort?

Bass or sturgeon?"

Well, it is an awkward sort of fish to handle, and not very common, so they say," answered Darius, coolly " I understand there are parties draining his tumbler. out already with their nets and lines, but if they ever
haul
I
it to shore they'll be good fellows." had listened to the talk at first with a mere feeling of wonder as to what all the chaffing could be about, till the thought flashed over me with a suddenness that made me turn sick and giddy: Theij were talking about

Morgan !
"

What

do you mean?" I asked of one of the speak-

ers as carelessly as I could.

for more light;" answered a with sneer. Darius, slight " A most laudable desire, but at present he must be content to learn the truth in riddles," said Elder Gushing, who, though not one of the group, stood where he could overhear the talk, and had once or twice joined in the laughter. And what wonder that the dark

"

Our young brother seeks

196

HOLDEN WITH COEDS.

suspicion melted suddenly away under the genial influence of the Elder's benign smile!

was going home from the lodge when I heard quick steps behind, and turning round saw, to my astonishment, for it was a bright moonlight night, Mark Stedman. " How did you happen not to send us word you were " But coming?" I asked, the first salutations over.
I

Rachel will be pleased enough to see you." "You know I am fond of surprises," was the rather " evasive answer. They don't know anything about it there at home. I am coming to see you and Rachel
first."

I ushered him into the great comfortable kitchen. Rachel was not in the- room, but a candle was burning on the table, and as its light fell on Mark's face I saw that it looked worn and haggard.

CHAPTER
MARK RELATES

XXII.

HIS MASONIC EXPERIENCES.

ACHEL,

riedly in

hearing our footsteps, came hurfrom another room, but stopped

short with an exclamation of glad surprise -as soon as she' saw who I had with

me.

Mark How does this happen ? Did work so hard all the holidays that you you have to come home in term time to be nursed
k>

0,

up, you poor, foolish boy?" have come home for good, Rachel," answered " I have lost my situation; but Masonic Mark, quietly. influence gained it for me in the first place, and I have nothing to complain of if I lose it by the same means."
*'

Rachel and I sat down in astonished silence by Mark's side and waited for him to explain. But instead of doing so he turned to me with the startling
inquiry

Leander, do you know what the Masons have done with Captain Morgan?"

"No."
'"

"

Do you have your

Yes."

suspicions?"
is."

'"Well, I

know where he

198

HOLDEK WITH
in

CORDS.

Brownsville, as well as through all the region generally, the sudden disappearance of Captain Morgan had become the one exciting subject of talk. It was known that on arriving in Canandaigua no case

Now,

was found against him, and the magistrate had ordered his discharge, when he was again arrested on an alleged claim of two dollars and thrown into jail, from which he had been taken on the night of September 12th, and carried off amid his struggles to escape and cries
of

murder," in the manner described in the last chapIn un-Masonic circles there was a general hope and belief, shared by not a few in the lodge, who, like myself, were not admitted into its secret counsels, either from a suspected lack of Masonic zeal, or because
ter.

ki

ies,

they had not advanced far enough in Masonic mysterthat he was kept concealed somewhere irs Canada, and when no further danger was to be apprehended

from the publication of his book, would be set at liberif their ty rumors of this kind being very rife, though a traced out, paragraph from origin had been carefully the of interests the some newspaper in lodge would their cases most in be to starting have been found For this reason Mark's words aroused more point, curiosity than surprise. u I was told the other day that Morgan's place of I hardly credit the imprisonment was discovered, but
1'

report.

doors will only Leander, his prison is one whose last trumpet; Captain Morthe of sound the at open lies at the bottom of Niagara River." gan ' Rachel uttered a low cry of ho'rror. I was silentstruck
the reflection of Elder Cushing's horrible jesting which had suespeech and the coarse,

dumb with

MARK'S MASONIC EXPERIENCES.

ceeded
it.

199

Every allusion made by Darius Fox and the was the center, most of them Royal Arch Masons like himself, grew clear as daylight. They were talking about the murder of Captain Morgan. Elder Gushing knew it and that benign smile and smooth speech was intended to blind me as well as some others in the lodge to a truth it was thought best
group of which he
not to have us learn too suddenly. " How do you know Captain Morgan has been murdered?" I inquired at last. " From the best authorities possible Masons themFull five weeks before he was kidnapped in selves. Canandaigua, I heard the subject discussed at a meeting of the Chapter, in a way that left no doubt on my

mind what the

fraternity intended.

minister of the

Gospel, a Royal Arch Mason, gave me my first information that Captain Morgan was writing out the secrets
of Masonry. He said that Morgan had forfeited his by the act, and he himself would be willing to be one of a number to put him out of the way, for he belife

lieved

God regarded the Masonic

his executioners
I

institution with so

much complacency
derers
suffer for the deed.

that he would never allow his mur-

was the word he used to understood from a reliable source that Morgan and Miller were both apprised of this danger and prepared for defence or I should have* sent

them warning." " But how does

il

happen That I know so much more about this horrible business than you?" said Mark, anticipating my unuttered " You are only a Master Mason you have question. to promised keep every secret .of a brother Mason, murder and treason excepted. But lama Royal Arch
it
;

"

200

HOLDER WITH
23

CORDS.
all

Mason;
secrets, more, I

have promised to keep

a companion's

murder and treason not excepted. Furtheram what they call a high Mason; as high as Elder Gushing himself. I took the Ineffable Degrees in the city of New York. I am a Knight Templar; I have drank of wine from a human skull, and over the
horrible draught I

have invoked in awful terms a

double damnation on

my

soul if I violate the least of

because it seals all other has taken or will take. Henceforth he is bound by double penalties a horrible death and perdition on his soul, both invoked by his own What wonder that the secret 25 of Morgan's murlips. der can pass safely and silently from one Knight Templar to another without the smallest fear of disclosure!" " But if this is so, Mark, how dare you " and again I stopped, while Mark completed the unfinished inquiry: " How dare I reveal all this, you mean? But it is a very small part of what I intend to reveal to the world should God spare my life. I am Masonry's slave no longer; I am Christ's freeman. And tf the foul institution whose hands are red to-day with, the blood of Morgan should require my life also, may He give me strength not to shrink from the sacrifice!" tk But 0, Mark! ray Brother, be careful!" cried Rachel, turning pale, while I put in a word or two of caution. " Mark.
called

the sealed libation obligations the candidate

Masouic obligations. You and Rachel look horrified. I don't wonder; but I speak the words of truth and soberness when I affirm that this is actually what I and every other Knight Templar has done. It is 24

my

'

Don't go to throwing away your young

23.

life,

that deserve the name can ever forget the ties of a Royal Pierson's Traditions, p. 339. NOTE 24. " Libations are still used in some of the higher degrees of Ma" sonry. Mackey's Lexicon, Art. Libation.

NOTE

"None

Arch Mason."

NOTE
ly,

25,

"One

of the most notable features of Freemasonry

one, certain-

attracts, more than anything else, the attention of the profane worldthat awful secrecy, behind which it moves and acts. is that vail of mystery From the earliest periods this has invariably been a distinctive characteristic of

which

the institution and to-day, as of old, the first obligation of a Mason his supreme duty Is that of silence and secrecy." Sickens Ahiman Rezon, p. 61.
;

MARK'S MASONIC EXPERIENCES.

201

You much good, perhaps more than by testifying publicly." But when once the martyr spirit is fully roused in man or woman, words of merely worldly prudence will
can bear testimony in a quiet way, and do just as

go as Greek
u

far

towards quenching

it

as

water poured on

lire.

Ah, Rachel and Leander, you both love me, but you must, forgive me if I have already taken counsel of a higher wisdom than yours. Why should I continue to deny the Lord that bought me? If I have let fear and shame govern me in the past, must they hold a base dominion over me all my life? Never!" u But Mark"
"

He

that loveth his

life

life shall lose it.

it

He

that hat-

eth his
fear

I answered Mark, solemnly. them which kill the body. And if you want to know where, it was in an encampment of Knight Templars, when I saw the sword of every Sir Knight in the room drawn to charge upon me. a poor, shiver-

in this world shall keep u

unto life eternal ;*' have learned not to

ing, helpless wretch, because I refused either to drink wine from a human skull or take the blasphemous

inent

oath required of me, and was told by the Most EmPilgrim, you here see the swords of your companions drawn to defend you in the discharge of every
'

duty we require of you. They are also drawn to avenge any violation of the rules of our order. We expect you to proceed! For one instant I thought I would submit to anything, erven death itself first. And then a clergyman, who was an acquaintance of mine, and had accompanied me all the rest were utter strangers
1

stepped forward and told me that he and the rest of the Sir Knights had taken the oath and drank of the

HOLDEN WITS
fifth libation;

CORDS.
perfectly proper, and

that

it

was

all

would be

qualified to

my

satisfaction.

Fear accom-

plished the rest. I drank the cup of a double curse, but better I had died a martyr's death on the points of those naked swords than have done it! Satan de-

me as wheat; but not strengthen my brethren, bound in these terrible meshes longing to escape, yet seeing no way of deliverance? Shall I not by revealing all I know of this monstrous system save other poor souls from being fooled and betrayed as I have been?" I looked at Mark in a wonder which was due to the fact that while his Masonic obligations to secrecy seemed to rest on him with the lightness of a feather's weight, I felt them as binding as ever on me, and did not understand how he, with his more delicate moral sense could dispose of them so easily. Mark must have understood the look, for he continued " Not a single one of those unholy vows has the
sired to

have

now

that I

me that he might am converted shall

sift

least

binding force on

my

conscience.

Once they

bound

my whole soul and mind and will as with fetters of adamant, but now the law of the spirit of liberty in Christ Jesns hath made me free from the law of sin and death. Those vows were made to Satan and not to God. Shall I by continuing to regard them acknowledge hi? authority over me? Shall I have secret fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness because too cowardly to come out boldly o*n the Lord's side and expose them? Shall I give the god of the lodge even a silent worship? for it has a god, and lately I have found out his name. Not Jehovah, maker and preserver of men; not Jesus Christ, our ever blessed Redeemer.

MARK'S MASOKIC EXPERIENCES.

203

His name is Baal, the sun-god of ancient Moab and idolatrous Israel. And in every lodge all over the land
are practiced rites borrowed from the old pagan mys26 the same that Ezekiel described in his vision: teries;

Behold at the door of the temple of the Lord, between the porch and the altar were five and twenty men with their backs toward the temple of the Lord and their faces toward the east.' You and I. Leander, did exactly

'

what those old idolatrous Jews did when we were conducted round the lodge three times with our faces 27 towards the east. We, too, were worshiping the sun, or, call it by another name, Baal." "But how did you find out all this, Mark?" said I, in mingled astonishment and perplexity, greater, if possible, than when I sat in Benjamin Hagan's cabin and listened to the honest backwoods preacher as he weighed the boasted morality of the lodge in the scales of the Ten Commandments and found it wanting. u The murder of Morgan was the first thing that opened my eyes, and this little book," added Mark, at the same time drawing a small volume from his coat u has, under God, been pocket, which he handed to me, the instrument of converting me forever from the worship of this false, unclean, red-handed deity of the
lodge."
I

An inquiry into the Origin and Nature of Speculative Freemasonry, by

timied
it

over.

It

was

entitled:

"

Elder John
"
.

Gr.

Steams."

Mark continued

Quite as

much

for the crime of introducing this

book to the notice of some of

ances, as for

my

my Masonic acquaintoutspoken abhorrence of Captain

NOTK 26.- " In the rite of circumambulation we find another ceremony borrowed from the Ancient Freemasonry that was practiced in the mysteries. * * * In making this procession great care was taken to move In imitation of the course
of the sun." Pierson's Traditions, pp. 32-33. NOTE 27 " The Worshipful Master himself Morritfs Dictionary, Art. Sun.
is

a representative of the son."

204

HOLDEN WITH

CORDS.

Morgan's murder, a hint was soon dropped me by the Faculty all high Masons that my resignation would
be acceptable.
let

them know

Of course I resigned at once, though I at the same time that I understood

Now you perfectly well the reason of my dismissal. and Rachel know the whole story. I have come home a humbler, wiser, and I trust better man than when I went away. I believe the Lord has a work waiting for me. Till he shows me when and how to take it up I shall go back and fill my old place on the farm. And now, Leander, I have a question to ask. Are you content to remain longer with the institution that has
*

taken the
"

life

of

1 '

Morgan?

No; and may heaven bear witness that I leave it henceforth forever," I answered, solemnly. And then Rachel, who had sat silent hitherto, gazing in blank bewilderment from one to the other, as what woman
would not on discovering that her nearest male relatives have been secretly practicing heathenism, turned to me with the quick tears of a sudden joy in her eyes
to

Now you are mine, Leander, all mine! Nothing come between us more. Thank God!" I clasped her hand silently, and it was like a second

sealing of our marriage vows. " Leander," said Mark, as we were parting for the U night, I know your grandfather is a zealous Mason. What does he say about this affair of Morgan's? u Very little; but I think you will find it hard to
.

1 '

convince him that

Morgan
I

is

not alive and safe some-

For the fact was, my most easy and good the hitherto grandfather, though natured of beings, had developed of late such a strange testiness in regard io this one particular subject, that
where in Canada,"
answered.

MARK'S MASONIC EXPERIENCES.

I hardly

205
refused to

knew what

to think of him.

He

listen to the least^ hint of

any suspicion on niy part

Morgan might have possibly fallen a victim to Masonic vengeance. "Don't talk nonsense to me, Leander," was his invariable way of disposing of the subject, and after a few attempts 1 finally shut my mouth and talked no more of the objectionable u nonthat
sense.
1'

The next morning we went over to see him. There had been a sharp frost during the night and my grandfather, who suffered much with rheumatism, and felt keenly the sudden oncoming of cold weather, we found seated in the kitchen which no one au-fait in the domestic economy of those primitive days will need to be informed was, in ordinary cases, the family sitting
room
enjoying the warmth of the bright fire blazing huge fire-place. He shook hands heartily with and the latter after replying to sundry surprised Mark, exclamations and inquiries from my mother and Miss Loker, took a seat beside him and quietly told the awin the
ful tidings.

But contrary to all my expectation there was no impatient outburst of disbelief on my grandfather's He sat for a moment not speaking a word, his part.
head bowed and his eyes fixed on the floor. "I can bring proof, if that is necessary," said Mark, who felt as I did, at a loss to interpret his
silence.

Proof ! I want no proof." And grandfather rose up, tall, straight as in the days of his youth; and

"

my

taking off the glistening Masonic badge that he had worn for so many years, he walked up to the fire blazing on the hearth and deliberately flung
it

into the

206
flames, while

HOLDEN WITH

COEDS.

my

mother and Miss Loker looked on,

"
It is all there
I

amazed.
"
I

want no proof," he repeated.

Entered Apprentice oath.
it

in the

Fool that

was

never to see

before!"

And

tottering back to his chair, the excitement over,

my

grandfather

W^ed

his gray

head and wept.

CHAPTER
HOUGH

XXIII.
LODGE.

AN EVENING IN THE
I

Captain Morgan's fate was by no means definitely settled in the popular mind, the suspicion grew stronger day by day that he had been foully dealt with; and the low-muttered groundswell of that coming whirlwind of indignation which was to lay low every lodge and Chapter in the land, had already begun to make itself heard in the ears of the startled As a result, a special meeting of Brownsfraternity. about a week after Mark's ville lodge was soon called

unexpected home-coming. To this meeting the latter announced decidedly his determination to go. "For pity's sake, Mark! What for?" I asked in " I should think you might have had enough surprise. of their confounded foolery by this time. I don't care if they summon me fifty times over; I am not going." " Nor would I, Leander, were it not that I feel called of the Lord to bear my testimony against the abominable wickedness of Captain Morgan's abduction and murder. It is like a fire shut up in my bones night and day. And what better place than right here in

HOLDER WITH CORDS.

-Brownsville lodge,
to stand

among

friends

and acquaintances,

up and testify?"

Now this "testifying" spirit in Mark had already begun to make me uneasy, with the fear of what might follow if allowed to have its way unchecked by a little prudent advice, which I accordingly proceeded
to administer.

0, come, Mark; it won't do the least bit of good. You'll only stir up a hornet's nest about your ears.
as to their being old friends and neighbors in Brownsville lodge, you know precious little of human nature if you think it will make any difference with

"

And

their reception of what you have to say. They will only be ten times more bitter and abusive on that very account."

All of which was hard matter-of-fact truth, but

failed to

it

move Mark an

iota.

The Lord had given him

a message to speak in the ears of the lodge that would probably make them tingle; that would alienate some

and anger others; but of all such merely human considerations he felt that sublime carelessness which belongs to intense conviction. For wonderfully had Mark advanced in spiritual life since his soul burst the lodge fetters, and soared at one glad, exultant bound,
into the full liberty of a child of God. "Let them abuse me if they will!" he answered, his " I I shall go and bear my testimony. eyes kindling. know there are some in the lodge who will hear me."

"Now, Mark,"

said

I,

"I'll tell

you

just the

way

Brownsville lodge has its disaffectthis matter stands. that Morgan has been foully who believe ed members the crime; who feel just as I have murdered, and detest
felt

many

a night^when I have been to the meetings of

AN EVENING IN THE LODGE.

209

the lodge, glad from the very bottom of my heart to have seen the whole abominable thing blown sky high the next day. But the mischief is, there won't be a
soul of them there to-night. They are ashamed of their connection with Masonry, but are afraid to come into open collision with it. And the consequence is
all such ones will stay at home just as I was intending to do, and only the part that are bound to stand by the institution through thick and thin will be there to hear

you."

But none of these things moved Mark. He rose with quiet determination and proceeded to put on his coat and hat, saying as he did so " Anyhow I'm going. It is the only way I can free my mind and conscience. Silent withdrawal from the lodge is not enough. There must be a testifying; and whether they will hear or whether they will forbear is none of my concern."
Well, old boy," said I, as his finger was on the last " button, it's no use talking, I see, so I may as well
to

make up my mind to go along with you. I'm no hand make speeches myself, but I should be sorry to lose

your's. to back

And

if I

am

you up and

see that

not mistaken you'll need a friend you have fair play before
I
I.

you get through.

going."
tion,

But

must

tell

Rachel that

am

stepped to the door of the buttery where she was busied in some household avoca-

Accordingly

and said

Rachel, you told me once that you could imagine circumstances that might make it my duty to go to the
lodge. nothing will satisf} Mark's conscience unless he goes and testifies,' as he calls it. Shall I go with him or stay at home? What do you say?"
"

Now

210

HOLDER WITH

CORDS.

Rachel covered up the batter she had been setting to over night, and was silent for an instant. Then with a look which I told her afterwards was quite Deborah-like, she answered " Leander, I never wanted you to go to the lodge before, but I say now, to you and Mark both, fear God rather than man. Go, and do your duty."
rise

thus strengthened for the fight as only the brave words of a true woman can strengthen a strong, man, Mark and I went forth to find the brethren assembled read}7 for business as soon as the usual preliminaries should be gone through with. Which preliminaries, for the enlightenment of the un-Masonic reader, I will state consisted in calling up the lodge by three distinct knocks of the Master's gavel, and a series of catechetical questions and answers between the latter and the two principal officers of the lodge in which might have been learned several instructive facts u for instance, that his obligation makes a Mason;" " that the Junior Warden stands in the south like the sun at high meridian, the beauty and glory of the day;" "that the Senior Warden stands in the west *like that same luminary at its close;" "and as the sun rises in the east to open and adorn the day, so presides the Worshipful Master in the east to open and adorn his lodge" allusions which Mark had said were clear proofs 28 that Masonry was identical with ancient sun worship practiced among the natives of antiquity under the name of the mysteries of Baal among the Jews and Canaanof Osiris among the Egyptians, and Eleusis among the Greeks. [See note 19.] Then came a prayer to the unknown god of the lodge, the Great Architect of the Universe; at which some bowed their heads decorously,
ites,

And

NOTE 28. "The identity of the Masonic Institution with the Ancient Mysteries is obvious from the striking coincidences found to exist between them. The latter were a secret religious worship, and the depository of religion, science
$ncl art."

Plerson's Traditions,

p. 18,

AN EVENING IN THE

LODGE.

211

while others assumed all those curious varieties of attitudes congenial to the undevotional mind Mark himself sitting- like a statue, his

arms grimly folded,

his

eyes looking straight before him, and on his face such an expression of silent scorn and contempt as Elijalrs

might have had when listening to the prayers of Baal's prophets. And the lodge was declared open for the
regular dispatch of business. First in order came the reading of the minutes of

the last meeting by the Secretary, which as it of course included Elder Cushing's. report, naturally brought up the business of the present hour what should be said and done in relation to the widespread excitement

about Captain Morgan's' fate? Deacon Brown was the first one who took the floor, and his views, as stated to the lodge, amounted in substance to this: "Let
itself.
it

alone and

Our ancient

institution

it would die down of had always been subject

to the malice

and hate of ill-wishers who did

all

they

could to impose on the ignorant and bring the craft into disrepute. In his opinion the wisest policy for all Freemasons at this critical juncture was to preserve a
discreet silence,

remembering that a silent tongtie was always and every where the chief jewel of faithful Masons." Another old and respected member of the lodge then " He was sorry to differ, even slightly, with the rose: but would like to express his view of the case. Deacon, had forfeited his life by attempting to expose Morgan the secrets of Masonry, but whether or not the penalty of his violated oath had actually been visited upon him, there was one unanswerable answer for those who would charge his cleath upon the lodge. Where was
1
''

the proof?'

212

HOLDER WITH

CORDS.

Mark was on his feet in an instant, and a flattering hush of attention succeeded. For the lodge was inclined to take some pride in Mark Stedman as a rising young man of talent and worth, and a high Mason hesides; and as his change of opinion had not yet become known, young and old prepared to give respectful heed to whatever he might say. " I have proof, positive proof," he began, speaking " with calm, deliberate utterance, that Captain Morgan of Batavia was murdered somewhere about the 19th or 20th of September, by being drowned in Niagara River.
This proof 1
the lodge that so great a crime has actually been committed. But for the majority of the members now present I
believe that

am prepared to furnish to any brother in who may not feel satisfied in his own mind

no such proof is necessary. Lodges and Chapters through this entire section of country, in conjunction with the Grand Lodge and Grand Chapter of the State, have planned and plotted not as distinct
bodies, but in groups lyingly
reality conspirators

the murder of

termed committees, in Morgan and Miller.

Miller has escaped, but the blood of Morgan is on the heads of- the entire Masonic fraternity; and he who seeks to cover up this unholy work instead of exposing and denouncing it, but lays up vengeance for himself
final doom."" against the great day of had been listened to in perMark Up to this point He had a was it but stupified silence. fect silence,

taken the lodge completely by surprise the more so as his calm, slow utterance had at first acted as a partial contained in his disguise to the scathing denunciation words. But as his meaning fairly broke on the startled the assembly, looks of contempt and anger took

Atf EYElsTlKG IN"

THE LODGE.

of satisfied complacency, and

last into audible hissing, filled

roused the lodge dragon.

murmurs which broke at the hall. Mark had My prediction made before

starting had been fulfilled with disagreeable exactness. What a comfort the mere sight of Luke Thatcher's

honest face would have been in that sea of scornful,

contemptuous looks! Elder Gushing and one or two other members tried to quiet the disturbance, and so far succeeded that

when Mark
call

again rose to speak

in

response to a

half in earnest, half derision, for his proofs of Morgan's murder, there -was quite a profound silence.

"If I should bring forward my whole array of evidence, beginning wich the first intimations that I received of the conspiracy against the life of Morgan last August, and the numerous conversations held with

Masons on the subject who both acknowledged and murder, I should trespass on the time of " the lodge. My proof is nearer home. Sheriff Fox and Mark leaned forward with a look that was sword" like in its keenness you, a minister of the law whose business it is to punish the guilty and shield the innocent, you have helped forward this work of blood. Deacon Brown, you have done the same. And must it
justified his

be said that against you, Elder Gushing, I have the same damning charge- to bring? God knows that as my pastor I have loved and revered you; that I have been sincerely grateful for all your many kindnesses to

me, but though every word

speak

is

like

an arrow in

my

heart, God's truth

of persons. there was held in Lewiston an installation of the Royal

must be uttered without respect On the night of the 14th of September

214

HOLDER WITH

CORDS.
fate.

Arch Chapter.

You were

That meeting decided Morgan's present and consenting to his death."

There was something in Mark's face and voice that seemed for an instant to awe the lodge. Even Darius Fox was content with silently looking his rage and defiance, while

old

man

till

his fanatical devotion to

Deacon Brown, a kindly, well-meaningMasonry made

him

a murderer, fairly cowered in his seat. Elder Gushing flushed almost purple, but he rose to reply. tk Some allowance must be made for the rashness and presumption of youth. Brother Stedman in thus venturing to accuse his elders and superiors in the lodge shows his ignorance of the very first principle of Masonic law: unquestioning obedience and the swift

execution of
its

its penalties when violated. Masonry has to of laws and -the punish their insystem right the or Church. And as the much as State fringement

what crime more detestable than treason?

To what

government under heaven can you point, however humane or enlightened, which does not punish it with death? Morgan was a traitor to his Masonic vows, and if he has died the death of a traitor, if his throat has been cut from ear to ear, his tongue torn out by the roots and his body buried beneath the rough sands of the sea where the tide ebbs and flows twice in twenty-four hours, he could not complain of not having justice done him." " Amen. Amen. So mote it be;' was the response
1

through the room to the Elder's speech. Mark took with eyes in which a deeper fire was slowly when he once more rose to speak his and kindling, voice was low and solemn as with a prophetic burden of approaching doom.
all

in the scene

A
*

STIGHT IN

THE LODGE.

215

Because ye have said, we have made a covenant with death and with hell sire we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through it shall not come nigh unto us, for we have made lies our refuge and under falsehood have we hid ourselves. Therefore thus saith the Lord: Your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not

when the overflowing scourge shall pass through then ye shall be trodden down by it.' From this unholy institution whose authority is based on deception and terror, whose morality is a lie, whose laws are murderous, whose oaths are high-handed blasphemy, I withdraw forever. God shall yet judge her, and if there be among you, as I would fain believe, some who do abhor and detest this great crime which has been committed. I call upon all such to stand up and unite their testimony with mine against it, that they be not partakers " in her doom. I had sat in silence fairly appalled at Mark's daring till now, but true courage is always contageous, and amid the storm of hissings, hootings, cries of " traitor/' and threats to send him after Morgan, which interrupted his speech, with one thought of Rachel I rose and stood beside him. But no one else stirred in the It was an awful moment. lodge. Neighbors, friends, with whom we had held pleasant social intercourse all our lives, glaring upon us with looks of scorn and hate, abusive epithets hurled at us from lips that heretofore had never anything but kindly greetings! At this moment I can shut my eyes and see it all, then open them
stand;
1

if from a dream of hell. But Mark stood unmoved, brave as a lion and when a slight lull in the clamor allowed his words to be heard he again spoke:

shuddering as

HOLDER
"

WI'EH CORDS.

Threaten us if you will; carry out those threats if you dare but remember that there may be consequences you will not care to face. I have spoken freely against
;

the principles of this institution. I believe it to be anti-Christian and a dangerous foe to our republican
ions

government. For holding and expressing those opinyou murdered Morgan; but I shall not be deterred by his fate from holding and expressing them too. Freedom of opinion, the liberty of the press and the right of free speech I will never surrender to the

bidding of any earthly power. They are rights given me of God, purchased by the blood of my fathers; I will only lose I inhaled them with my first breath
to

them with my last. Remove my objections to Masonry if you can, when these very threats you utter against

me to-night prove their truth as no mere assertion of mine can possibly do. But till then, as I said before, I withdraw from all connection with the institution, and disavow every obligation taken in blindness and terror. I bow no longer at an altar defiled with human blood; I own no High Priest save him who has passed into the heavens; and no Worshipful Master but Jesus Christ

my -Lord."
Mark had said his say; the lodge had not. For two or three hours the stream of invective and abuse continued to flow, and then the meeting broke up after
certainly one of the stormiest and most exciting sessions Brownsville lodse had ever known.

CHAPTER
''

XXIV.

FREEMASONRY'S MASK REMOVED. SILENT ANTI-MASONS. THE CIRCUIT PREACHER. RACHEL FINDS u HE GIVETH HIS PEACE. BELOVED SLEEP.

was sitting up waiting

spite of the lateness of the hour for us,

Rachel and as

soon as she heard our footsteps, flew to open the door and light us in, the candle

which she carried revealing mingled anxiety and relief in her countenance. Mark noticed it.
have been in a den of lions, Rachel."' but we have come back safe. God said, has shut their mouths; we have received no harm."
"

We

he

"

Shut their mouths for the present," said T, rather " but I tell you, Mark, if you keep on the skeptically; are rig you running now there is no saying what the
consequences may be. The fact is public opinion in this matter of Morgan is beginning to press so hard on the lodge that it is just like a wounded wild bull ready to plunge its horns into everybody rash enough to stand in its way. What they have done to one man
k

"

they will do to another, if they dare. question there is about it.

'

That's

all

the

HOLDER WITH
"
I don't

CORDS.
1 '

think
i4

my

life is in

any present

peril,

an-

swered Mark; nor do I intend to rashly endanger it. Half the battle is in taking a bold stand at the outset. They can expel me, derange my worldly interests,' point me out as an unworthy vagabond, and transfer my character after me wherever I go.' This I expect. But I have counted the cost. You see it is an easy thing for me to do who have only myself to count it with. Bat it is different with you, Leander. You, who stood up with me like a rock to-night against all the fury and abuse of the lodge, must count it over with
' 4

another

dearer

than

yourself.

What

do

you

say,

Rachel?"

made more through on any shrinking ni)' part," answered Rachel, with glowing cheek and sparkling eye. u Do you think that I will not help Leander bear all the persecution and reproach that may come upon him loss of property, anything if I can only have my husband back again, none of these terrible lodge secrets between us? 0, Mark!" and Rachel's voice choked and
cost shall never be
selfish

"That the

her eyes overflowed.

I wonder how many Mason's wives have thought the same in the solitude of their lonely vigils, bitter of soul against the institution that robs them of the true the entire confidence of wife's most precious treasure

her husband!

To my grandfather
revealing as

it

seemed as

if

the murder of

by a lightning flash the hellish Morgan, to which, like mailf another the of institution, spirit honest Mason he had rendered a Blind fealty only next
to that
vitals.

he gave his God, was like a blow at his own He lost much of his old loquacity and choor-

HOW GRANDFATHER BECAME A

MASON.

fulness, and as the cold weather set in he grew feebler, forbut he said little only once when he asked

my

giveness

my

persuaded me " I never thought I was advising you for your harm, 11 Leander, he said, pathetically; "but you see I became
a

dear, blessed old grandfather into the lodge.

for

having

Mason when

was a young man, just before

I sailed

on

long voyage. And the way it happened, Dr. Damon, stopped at our house one day when mother was fixing me off. He was a great man in our part Dr. Damon was. So mother bustled round and set out the decanter and sugar and hot water; and he stirred

my

first

and sipped while she was telling how bad she felt to have me go off to the ends of the earth on a three I remember just how the Doctor looked. years' voyage. He was a handsome old gentleman with silver knee buckles and a great flowing wig, and just as stately and
polite in his
if
1

way of speaking, especially to women, as he had been brought up at Court. Madam,' said he, your son ought to become a Freemason. I may .say that I have heard of numerous well attested cases where inability to give the Masonic sign has cost a man his life. But I would not wish to be understood as re'

ferring entirely to its advantages in times of peril. Admirably as you have trained your son he needs the

moral safeguard which joining such an institution will throw about him, and I trust, my dear Madam, that you will use all your maternal influence to induce him to take this step before he sails. Well, mother pool1

dear

soul

believed

what Dr. Damon

so after he

said.

Why
4

shouldn't she?

And

had gone she pon-

dered

over for a while, and then she said to me, Well, David, my son, perhaps you had better do as the Doctor
it

220
says.

HOLDEK WITH CORDS.

It is because sailors are subject to such dreadful temptations that I worry about you so. There is noth-

ing in the world that I want so much as to see you a Christian, for then no matter what happened to you, if you were shipwrecked or taken by pirates, I should know you were all right for the other world. Next to that I want to see you possessed of principles so strong
that they will resist all temptation. A young man can have these and not be a Christian, but he can't have

them and be

far

from the kingdom.

Mason

will help

upright, why I enough for me. I thought a good deal of my mother. Well, when I came to join, it was all as different as

So if becoming a you to be more steady and moral and want you to join them.' That was

I expected. The oaths and penalshocked* me, but the charges and lectures all had such a good moral and religious sound to them that

could be from what

ties

let

my mind a good deal, and I never mother know that I wasn't perfectly satisfied with it. When I came back from my first voyage she was dead. I only stayed at home a few weeks and then I was off again. It was on my second voyage that I exthey helped to quiet
perienced religion you've heard me tell about it, Leander. It was one awful night when a typhoon had struck our ship, and every man of us seemed booked
for destruction. unfit I

was
*

I kept thinking of mother, and how I could see to join her in the other world.

her just as she used to look going about her work and
singing, When I survey the wondrous cross.' in all that awful noise of wind and water, and the

Why

crash of falling masts and parting timbers, I could seem to hear her voice, and it was just like an angel's
telling

me

to repent of

my

sins

and

flee to

Christ for

221
refuge.

Masonry

didn't help

me much

then.

It

was

Christ alone that I wanted.

my

Well, of course between wasn't much time to attend the there .voyages

up the sea and settled down to had got out of the way of going at all But I reverenced the institution. I thought it must be good and according to the Bible, or else ministers and deacons wouldn't uphold and support it. My objections to the ceremonies and obligations T reasoned away you know how, Leander till I really saw nothlodge, and
I give

when

a landsman's

life I

ing in them inconsistent with my Christian profession. I thought it was a divine institution that could neither

do nor teach anything wrong, till the murder of Morgan opened my eyes. Mark Stedman told me no news. I was already convinced in my own mind that Morgan had been killed, but I fought against the conviction; I wasn't willing to acknowledge it till Deacon Brown, in private conversation with me, justified his murder
only the day before

Mark came home.

Then

knew

that the whole system was of him who was a murderer from the beginning. God deliver me from the stain of
blood-guiltiness in this matter."

My grandfather leaned back exhausted in his chair, and I realized with sudden pain how pale and feeble he had grown. Now one word with that large and respectable class " of readers who can't believe that Masonry is such a bad after all when so many good men belong very thing to it." It is true there are good men in the Masonic
order.

Remembering grandfather's spotless life, his spirit of universal kindliness to all created things, his humble conscientious performance of every known
duty,

my

God

forbid that I should

deny

it.

But

if

we

222

HOLDEN WITH

CORDS.

once admit the sophism that a system must be good men support it, where will it land us? Shall I tell you where, dear, intelligent Christian reader? Into the days when so many good people believed religiously in hanging witches, and if pressed hard for a reason for the faith that was in them could have given
because good
chapter and verse in support of their sanguinary creed with refreshing promptitude; into the days when good
Christian judges believed that the prison, the scourge

and the pillory were means of grace for enlightening the blind consciences of heretic Quakers; into the days when so many -ood people, North and South, upheld the system of human slavery, and wished reformers would stop all this disagreeable agitaiion, all this unu pleasant talk about coining the heart's blood of the oppressed it was so much better to let disagreeable

my Christian brother, subjects alone!" tian sister, shame not the thinking mind
heart.

my

Chris-

and noble

God has given you by any such fallacious reasonAccept

issue.
it is

ing!

square Either
of

honest men and women this one Either Masonry is right or it is wrong. a false religion or the true one a worship
like

or a worship of devils. Is indifference to it compatible with loyalty to Christ? Can you be truly his yet care not whether he reigns over the world or anti-Christ? There are good men in the lodge poor,

God

hoodwinked, cable-towed victims Sampson-like shorn of their strength, and made to grind in the prisonhouse of a secret, oath-bound organization. But these good men would come out of it by scores and by
hundreds, walking open-eyed and unfettered in the full strength of their Christian manhood, if you bore your
faithful

testimony against

it; if

you refuse to fellow-

SILENT ANTIMASONS.
ship

223

Masonry

in your churches or tolerate

Masonic
to say

pastors in your pulpits. Which reminds me that I have another

to a certain class of Christian ministers

word
"

who never

were Masons, and don't believe in secret societies." " My dear sir, 1 am glad to know that you have such

Of course you sometimes preach on this subject from the pulpit?" u 0, no. In fact it wouldn't do. I have two or three Masons in my church and quite a sprinkling of Oddfellows and other secret society men, and I should only Bestir up a rumpus and perhaps split the church. sides I am set to preach the gospel, not Masonry or
decided views of the evils of secretism.

Anti-masonry." u But Christ preached against the corrupt doctrines of the Scribes and Pharisees. St. Paul preached against idolatry, Luther against the sale of indulgences. Didn't Christ and Paul and Luther preach the gospel ? And you yourself, if I am not greatly mistaken, have been known to allude more than once in your pulpit discourses to the sin of intemperance." " Ah, well, that is a safe subject.
strife

It can't stir np nor hurt my influence as a public discussion ofcMasonry would be sure to do. A pastor must be careful not to give unnecessary offence, and so hurt the cause of Christ. I trust you understand me." " My dear sir, I understand you perfectly. A certain old Hebrew prophet and reformer who was never afraid

of hurting his influence by denouncing popular sins, has welF described what the cowardly, time-serving pastor, too fearful of his bread and butter interests to wage any warfare against those same unpopular sins does

not do,

Ye have not gone up

into the gaps, neither

224

HOLDEN WITH

CORDS.

made up the hedge for the house of Israel to stand in the battle in the day of the Lord.' Shame on such hireling shepherds who daub the walls of Zion with untempered mortar!' It may be more tolerable in the
fc

day of Judgment for men like Elder Gushing, who, blinded by their fanatical zeal for the lodge, committed the sin of Cain, than for you who acknowledge Masonry to be an evil yet will not lift up your voice when you see the sword coming."

Mark Stedman, since his renunciation of the lodge, had gone contentedly back to the most common drudgery of the farm, but that strange peace and joy which he had so vainly sought in the puerile traditions
of

men

overflowed his soul like a river

when

all

the

are opened, and bank and dyke are the swelling waters. And it was in to keep powerless no surprise to us when a proposal came to him to

windows of heaven

preach. Mark after thinking and praying over it for one whole day as he chopped the wood and fed the cattle, chose his life work to be a poor circuit preacher not

always knowing where his daily bread should come from; and only sure of two things: poverty and the qpntempt of the world, on all whose honors and preferments he was now turning his back. But poor Rachel seemed to profit but little from the
spiritual help

Mark was so eager to proffer her. There sometimes are souls that in their vain struggles after spiritual light and liberty are like birds that fly into a room and beat blindly against the windows when all the while the door stands open. The kindest endeavors
to help

them

find their

way out only adds

to their be-

wilderment.
I have already

mentioned that a peculiar attachment

GRANDFATHER AND RACHEL.

existed between

225

my grandfather and Rachel. One day she was sitting by his side. His great print Bible lay open on his knee, but he was not reading. With spectacles pushed back he was gazing fondly on. the
tiny two-month's-old who represented his name and line in the fourth generation, but whose advent I have

David is so oldname," he said, finally. You might have found one prettier.'' 44 1 don't care for that," answered Rachel, promptly. " I want my boy to bear the name of a good man and grow up like him. And I always fancied David. There Who is something so strong and brave in the sound. when knows what Goliath my boy may have to fight he grows up." u That is true," said my grandfather, gently. 41 And I want to train him right," continued Rachel., 41 If I was only a 1 am afraid I shall make mistakes. Christian I should know how." u But, Rachel, why ain't you one?" asked my grand44 There is Mark, now; I never saw anything father. It almost seems as if he had seen the like the boy. Lord face to face just to hear him get up and pray." " Mark is so different from me. He could always understand and enjoy things in books that I never And it is just so in religion. When he talks could. to me I feel as though he was standing on a ladder of sunbeams and calling to me to come up. I see no earthly way of getting to the top. Now Leander and I would understand each other better I think, but there When Leander went to the lodge is another thing. that seemed to shut us off from talking about religion

hitherto neglected to chronicle. " I don't know, Rachel, as you ought to have given u

him

my

fashioned.

226

HOLDER WITH

COEDS.

to each other. It seemed as if he was seeking salvation one way and I another. So the wall kept growing higher. I've seen the same thing in other women. They go to the prayer-meeting and their husbands go to the lodge. How can they sit down together and

talk of their spiritual interests?

But

I don't

want

to

blame Leander; he never meant to make it any harder for me. And if I had been the right sort of woman I never should have let such a little thing hinder me. But it must be I am not one of the elect. If I was I should have been a Christian before this." And poor Rachel, who felt that Mark's call to the ministry was only another proof that the same inscrutable will, which had made him a chosen vessel of grace, had only doomed her to"be an heir of destruction, sighed as if the end of the matter was reached. u " Rachel," answered my grandfather, seriously, I

am

way

a poor, unprofitable servant, not fit to teach the of life to anybody; but my Bible tells me that the
of.

blood
lieve

Jesus Christ cleanseth from

it

all sin,

and

1 be-

way I feel about Mark is that the Lord is separating him to a special work, and that is why he is filling him so full of grace beforehand. He'll need it all before he gets through. But the free God gift is for you and me just as much as for Mark. makes his sun and rain to come down as freely on a
what
says.

Now

the

blade of grass as on the tallest oak.

And so I take this

giftthis unspeakable gift, just as I take my daily bread, without asking any questions whether Pm elected or not. I do as David did. I take the cup of salvait's just tion and call on the name of the Lord. wonderful, this free gift to poor sinners like you and
me, Rachel!'"

HE GIVETH HIS BELOVED

SLEEP.

227

Rachel had listened with a new light dawning in her eyes which finally spread all over her face like the sun

new
u

risen
I'll

" Somehow try your way," she said, slowly. seems common sense. I can understand it."-

it

then she put on her shawl and bonnet, kissed my grandfather and tripped 'home. But that night she sang snatches of hymns over her baby's cradle; she

And

sang when she was getting tea and moulding biscuit; and the light did not leave her face. It never has left it, it never will; for it was the peace which passeth all
understanding. In the hours of the early morning between two and It was Joe. three there came a knock at our door. " Come over, quick, Leander," he said, " Grandfather is dying /" Quickly as Rachel and I obeyed the summons Joe's words were all too true. The shadowing presence of
the dark angel had gone before us and hushed silent room as we entered it.
filled
all

the

He

lay breathing
it

though

heavily, but smiled on us both, was on Rachel that his eyes slowly filming

over with the mist of death, rested with the tenderest,

longest gaze.

His lips moved as she knelt weeping by the bedside, and we just caught the low accents Huldah. It was the name borne by the beloved wife of his youth, and in that hour of near reunion, with the shores of time fading away, and all the eternal realities of the unseen world ready to burst on his vision, he blended the sight of one with the memory of the other. Joe had gone for the doctor. But his face when he inspired us with no hope. He asked a few ques-

228
tions,

HOLDER WITH

CORDS.

then took a seat in silence as powerless as any of

of.

us in the dread presence

death.

The sun was

away. once a strange rapt look came into his face. Who did he see, in that last solemn moment when the veil was rending which hid all that wonder of gold and jasper and emerald, of white-robed multitudes and harping
choirs from his view?
'

when my grandfather passed He had been lying very quiet. Then all at
rising

Who

shall separate us?

he whispered.
could separate

And then

grandfather wzs
with
its

shall separate us?" a few deep breaths, and my where in truth nothing should or

Who

him from his Lord and Savior. No lodge man-miade traditions, its false worship, its antiChristian rites, to come between and make his love wax As a bird from the snare of the fowler he had cold. escaped into the free, immortal air of heaven.

*******
'

"Leander," said Mark, as we stood looking sadly

down on the
"
sleep,
I

dear, familiar face settled to its last long

can't help feeling glad that he is now out of the reach of slander and persecution. The lodge would

no more have spared his gray hairs, after he had renounced it than it will spare us. But we are young and strong for the conflict, while he was old and feeble, and it would have broken his heart."
I

could not speak for tears, but

knew

that

Mark

My grandfather had been taken from the right. warfare that was even then beginning; a slow, insidithat would only end when we ous, wearing warfare
was
laid

our armor

down

forever.

CHAPTER XXV.
MOVING.
u THE MASONIC OBLIGATION WARFARE BEGINS.
"

REMOVED.

THE

HOW
to

we missed him! how hard

it

was:

keep on missing him every day! but, over our loss, as over every other void that death makes, flowed the cold, remorseless tide of plans and purposes for the morrow. Miss Loker had received a
pressing call from a lately widowed brother
to

come and keep

his house for

him; and

my

mother, in her invalid state of health, was only too glad to resign all her household cares into Rachel's
hands, while I took my grandfather's place as head of the family. So Rachel and I prepared to move from the little home he had built and furnished for us with

such loving care scarcely more than a year before, thinking, doubtless, as we ourselves believed and hoped, that with his hale, hearty frame, a long, green old age might yet lay before him. " He took such pleasure in planning it for us," said
Rachel, tearfully.
"

Even that end window he had put

in just because I happened to say that I always wanted a kitchen to have the morning sun. How I wish Joe

might

live here

some day."

230

HOLDER WITH
isn't
is

CORDS.
sort.

"Joe
time he
in

one of the stay-at-home

he'll

By

the

twenty-one

be striking out for himself

Kentucky or Illinois." Then Mark, perhaps, if he should ever get married and I suppose he will some time." But any thought of marriage seemed at present far from Mark's head, which I privately considered was a lucky thing, for while I cherished the most profound respect for his talents and learning, I had an equally
"

small regard for Mark's abilities in any such practical line of effort as the supporting of a family. And I

only smiled at Rachel's last suggestion. So in that immutable order of things which has ever been and ever will be while the human generations come' and go, new hopes blossomed where the old had
perished, and one morning when the snow lay thick and white over my grandfather's grave I took his place and conducted with faltering voice the family worship, Rachel had told me the whole of that last conversation with my grandfather, keeping nothing back. The gentle Quakeress had uttered no false warning. Unwittingly I had put a stumbling block in the way of

Rachel's salvation.
search after

Him who

Instead of joining her in her is not far from any one of us I

had tried to satisfy my conscience with the Christless prayers and rites of the lodge. But now we were in deed and in truth one fellow pilgrims together through a troublous world, and heirs of the same blessed hope a far more eternal and exceeding weight of glory when we both should pass to an immortal reunion beyond
:

the

veil.

I was not yet entirely free from the lodge fetters. " an oath Like Mr. Jedediah Mills, I considered that

But

THE MASONIC "OBLIGATION"" REMOVED.

was an oath" under
tion thereof a crime
It
all

231

circumstances, and any viola-

was Rachel, who,

to be punished by the judges." with her clearer understanding of

"

Scripture truth, gave the blow that finally knocked apart those shackling obligations too fully and completely for any earthly power ever to clench again.
u

Leander," she said suddenly to

at first it

thought

Morgan

to

me one day, "I was a dreadful thing for Captain break his oath. But I have begun to think

differently.

Now

listen

while I read this verse in

4

If a soul swear, Leviticus, fifth chapter, fourth verse: pronouncing with his lips to do evil or to do good,

whatsoever it be that a man shall pronounce with an oath, and it be hid from him, when he knoweth of it, then he shall be guilty in one of these. Then it goes on to tell how he must bring a trespass offering for Now if there was any provision made under his sin. the old dispensation for rash and foolish oaths there must be under the new. Masons don't know what
they are swearing to when they take these obligations, cases out of one hundred they wouldn't take them at all. It is hid from them."
or in ninety-nine
44

is

But, Rachel," I said, doubtfully. what the verse means ?"

4i

are

you sure that

44

Well,
ster's

if

you don't

explanation of

it:

believe me, come and read Bag4 This relates to rash oaths

man was afterwards unable, or which would have been sinful to perform.' I hope you don't doubt Bagster. There now," continued Rachel, tri44 what can be clearer? Shall a Christian umphantly; a wicked oath that wouldn't have been binding keep even on a Jew?" 1 did not reply at once, for I was reading the verses
or vows which a
it

232
that followed.

HOLDEN" WITH CORDS.

How graciously that old Levitical law u He shall stooped to the necessities of the poorest. bring his trespass offering unto the Lord, a lamb or a kid of the goats * * * or if he be not able to bring a
lamb then he shall bring for his trespass which he hath committed two turtle doves or two young pigeons * * * but if he be not able to bring two turtle doves or two

young pigeons, then he that hath sinned

shall bring

for his offering the tenth part of an ephah of fine flour." Should the blood of God's eternal Son be of
less efficacy to

purge

my

conscience from the guilt of

these rash, blasphemous Masonic vows? To this day I feel the thrill of recovered freedom that tingled through

Jewish law, and realwas a man, no longer a cowering, shivering, faltering slave, bound with the selfforged manacles of a lodge oath. Just then Mark Stedman came in. There are some natures that the first bugle note of any great moral Like the conflict seem to rouse instantly to action. war horse of Scripture, pawing in the valleys and reevery vein
I read that old
I

when

ized that once

more

joicing in his strength, they smell the battle afar off and say, ha! ha! to the sound of the trumpet. And Mark Stedman belonged to this class of minds, pre-

destinated by their very constitution to fill the ranks of the world's martyr's and reformers. " I have been subprenaed to appear at the next
sitting of the county court to tell what I know about the murder of Morgan," he said, as he stood warming "I shall start early to-morhis hands at the fire. row morning. It really looks now as if the courts

were going to take up the matter vigorously; and if so they can't help finding bills of indictment

THE WARFARE BEGINS.

233

against some of the leading actors in this outrageous business." " But what is the use of indicting if they don't convict? I wouldn't snap my finger for any chance of

conviction with a Masonic jury to

And what
the sheriff
it

sit on the case. but a else can you expect packed jury when
it is

who summons

Mason?

Depend upon

the Masonic institution will shield Morgan's murI am not enough of a prophet derers to the uttermost.
to say

what the

final

outcome

will be,

but

am

sure

that law will be evaded and justice hampered in every conceivable way to clear the guilty parties." " " I know that," answered Mark, but I believe in the final triumph of right." u So do 1 when there comes that grand general " By the settling up in the other world," I returned.

way

convinced

saw a newspaper paragraph the other day which me that the father of lies was busy at his
It reported that

usual occupation.

Captain Morgan

had been seen by a lately returned sailor in the streets of Smyrna, disguised as a Turk." u As though anybody would be fool enough to believe such a silly falsehood I" said Mark, indignantly.
1

"

There'll be plenty to believe

it.

Falsehood

is

the

chief engine of the lodge. for you, Mark.'" letter

But here comes Joe with a

gave a brief glance at to me with a smile on

Mark

tore

open the

epistle,

Hie contents and then handed

it

his grave, resolute young face. " You see the fight has begun, Leander."
It

was a wretched scrawl

for the writer

had

evi-

dently tried to disguise his hand threatening Mark in " scurrilous and abusive terms and ending thus: I know

234

HOLDER WITH

COEDS.

you
"

four Royal Arch Masons who stand ready to despatch as a traitor against the most heaventy and benefi-

ONE OF THE FOUR." Quite an interesting communication, isn't it?" said " Mark, coolly; but not the first I have received of like nature."
cent institution on earth.

"Mark, you must go armed.

pistols."

You ought
it

to carry

"No, Leander.
an arm of
be
flesh

have thought

over, but the

servant of the Lord must not strive.

when

Shall 1 rely on Jehovah himself has promised to

my

shield?

Besides,jnen

who

will take the time

and pains to write anonymous threats are usually too cowardly to dare do anything more. Nothing troubles me about these letters but the postage on them. It is rather too bad to have to pay for the privilege of receiving personal abuse."
"

Mark,'" said

I,

finally,

You

on this journey, short

as it

is,

alone.

are not going to start I shall tell Rachel

which

that I really want to hear the proceedings of the court, And having none of your conis the truth.

scientious scruples about the use of carnal weapons, I mean to go armed to the teeth. If anybody meddles

with us

it

won't be for their health."

up. I took Joe into confidence, however, for since our grandfather's death there had been a wonderful change in the lad. The maturity and steadiness of manhood was fast replacing his boyish thoughtlessness and mischief, and I knew I could trust him not only to keep the alarm
I felt

Mark demurred, but my mind was made

brief absence.

from Rachel, but to manage matters during my So that everything was in readiness for
departure with

my early

Mark the next

morning-,

when

THE WABFARE BEGINS

just as the candle

235

was beginning to burn low in the the and socket, great kitchen clock stood on the stroke was a rap at the door. As I opened it, there of nine, to my inexpressible surprise the light fell full on the
familiar features of Sam Toller. u u Why, Sam!" I exclaimed.

Come

right

in.

How

do you happen to be in Brownsville?" u Wall, I'm on kinder pressin' business," said Sam, as with weary, foot-sore tread he followed me into the " IVe walked a'most from Rochester to let ye kitchen. know about it. The Masons have laid a plan to kidnap

Mark Stedman on
'

his

way

to court so as to stop his

giving testimony.
u a

How

did

you

find out about

it,

Sam?"
I

I asked, after

moment's
4>

silence.
it

Wall, ye see the way of

was

overheard accisuspicion
I jest steps
l

dentally enough that they were up to some mischief.

to

of their talk to

make me
So

up

'em and gives 'em the sign, and sez I, I'm yer man, ready to do anything ye set me to; ready to shed my last drop of blood in defence of the glorious institution of Masonry!' And after I had made 'em think by talking in that way awhile they could make a tool of me easy, I found out what they were up to. Their plans are all cut and dried. There's a lonesome part of the road, jest the other side of Savin's Bend where he'll have to walk a piece if he goes by stage, and they calkerlate to waylay him there. They'll all have masks so it who can be known never on, they be. Wall, I and I can spoke up sez, Gentlemen, help ye in this ere business. I know Mark Sfcedman and he knows me; and I can make him play into yer hands as easy as a woodchuck walks into a trap.' So they kinder debated
'

HOLDER WITH
over
it

CORDS.
'

awhile, and then the leader sez to me, The d villain's mouth has got to be stopped. We'll

pay you fair for the job if you undertake it!' So we struck a bargain, and then the whole party of us went to the tavern to get a drink, and while they were treating each other, I contrived it to slip oil by saying I had
got to see to the horses. be done about it."
"

So here

I be.

Now what's to

Sam, you're a good fellow, worth your weight in gold," said I, shaking his hand with a fervor of gratitude, as 1 realized how narrow had been Mark's escape. "But I don't want Rachel to know anything about
this at present

morning. you think any of the Brownsville lodge are in the plot?"
;t

And Mark need not be told of it till Then we can take counsel together. Do
want
to

I don't

name names when

I ain't sartin,"

answered Sam, cautiously. u Them that's got the job on hand don't belong in Brownsville. But 1 tell ye, Leander, Masonry is as full of long arms as that devil fish Tim Kendall was telling about seeing when he was off on his cruise. They keep swaying about ready to clutch ye, and once get a hold they never let go. The only way to do when they grapple a man is to chop off its arms and leave a part of the critter sticking to the
flesh."

Rachel just then entered with that smile on her face which only mothers wear when they come from bending over the rosy leep of their first born. Our little David was growing finely, a bright, healthy babe, and

we were

as proud of all his little budding infantile accomplishments as most young parents who see in their eldest darling something they will never see in any child later born, for it is the first blossoming of their

THE WARFARE BEGIKS.

237

young hopes
strength."

as Scripture puts

u
it,

the beginning of

She started at seeing Sam quietly domiciled in his favorite corner, but it had been a family prophecy that u we should see Sam Toller back some day when we
'

least expected

it,

and after a few surprised inquiries

she hastened to set out a substantial supper of cold meat, brown bread and cheese; nor did she hesitate to cut a generous triangle of mince* pie, to all of which Sam dH justice in a way that would have appalled the dyspeptic generation of the present day.

But Sain seemed to miss something. His eye kept wandering to the empty arm-chair. There it stood in
its

old corner, just as my grandfather left it the night the death angel summoned him. Even his Bible lay

on the stand with

his spectacles beside, for Rachel, with that strange clinging of soul to the poor mute things its beloved will never again need, would not have them

put away. Then he said hesitatingly " The Captain he's well I hope. But when we told him with voices broken by tears that the kindly smile had vanished forever, and the
1'

eyes that never glanced sternly save at some story of wrong and oppression would beam on us no more that the Captain had reached a port beyond storm and shipwreck even the Eternal City of our God, with its
pearly gates, its golden streets, its never ceasing fruitageSain Toller lifted up his voice and wept aloud.

CHAPTER XXVI
THE FALL OF
1826.

OUR JOURNEY.
JUSTICE.

FREEMASONRY

VS.

WILL now

drop the thread of

my

nar-

rative to give a brief statement of the general situation a few months after the

murder of Morgan, lest some reader finding history so silent on the events of those thrilling times should accuse me of a
tendency to romance. Hitherto Masonry had held her own unchallenged by church or state, bat now she was undergoing a metamorphosis similar to that of the fair maiden in the
witch story

who suddenly turned into a loathsome, wriggling serpent. But her power was nowise abated. Though she could no longer captivate good men by her harlot beauty she could intimidate and appall. Under

her basilisk eye the press quailed and was silent, or sounded false notes to baffle public inquiry, and even the majestic Muse of History succumbed to the same withering spell, and expunged alike from the ponderous tome of the student and the text-book of the school-boy all record of those exciting years with their
far-reaching political effects, their strange thwarting of justice, their vivid lights and shadows of personal

THE FALL OF

1826.

239

experience; for it is a fact that many a Mason who chose to obey the voice of conscience rather than the mandates of the lodge, trembled under a fear of its
secret vengeance,

and rumor told of more than one

who

out at nightfall for dread of the assassin's knife at his throat.

stir

dared not

For

as these things

were talked over in store and

tavern, and round the kitchen fire, and the conviction gathered force that Morgan had met his deuth at the

hands of Masonic executioners, ugly tales began to Men remembered Smith, of Vermont, who undertook to republish Jachinand Boazin this country and was believed to have shared the fate of its original
start up.

author, as well as Murdock of Rensselaerville, New York, who likewise rendered himself obnoxious to the

lodge by an attempt to betray the secrets and was found mysteriously murdered soon after. It was therefore no wonder that my fears had been seriously excited for Mark's safety before they were so disagreeably

confirmed by
;

Sam

Toller's tidings of the plot against

him no wonder that

I passed a sleepless night thinking of his peril, and vainly trying to answer Sam's inquiry: " What is to be done about it?" But a strong, brave

soul that has cast out of its calculations every factor of self-interest, fully resolved to follow truth wherever

she

may

lead,

even to martyrdom

if so be,

has a won-

derfully direct

way

of settling

all

such

difficulties.

is plain, Leander," was Mark's answer, communicated to him his danger the next " I must tell what I know, but I shall cermorning. tainly give good heed to Sam's warning. I shall take one of the farm horses, and by making a detour from the direct road both in going and coining foil, as I

"My

duty

when

240

HOLDEK WITH

CORDS.

But I must go alone. trust, all their plans. shall be involved in any risk that I may run."
But
Mark.

Nobody

my
I

resolution

was unshaken

to

accompany

could not let

my

chosen friend from boyhood,

Rachel's brother and mine, take the perilous trip alone. And we accordingly set out under circumstances that
recalled with curious vividness to

my mind the memory

me

of another journey a vision of dim, silent woods, with the same unseen foe lurking in my track the same

that betrayed

me

at the Stover's cabin, that struck

left

down without warning and

me

for dead under the

covering veil of solitude and night. u I never thought it was going to turn out such a lucky thing for you, Mark, when I taught Sam the
grips and signs," said Joe, slyly, as we were about to ride off. For he alone of all the family had been told the latter's real errand to Brownsville. " So you initiated Sam Toller," said Mark, with a " I have always rather suspected that was quiet smile.

the

way

of

it.

But don't you ever intend

to let us into

your u on "Well, that depends" answered Joe, coolly, how a certain individual, who shall be nameless at present, minds his ps and qs." And with one glance backward at Rachel as she stood smiling her farewells in the open door-way, and a furtive look at my pistols to see that they were in order I rode on after Mark. And thus like two palladins of old, with this notable exception that they met their giants and fire-breathing dragons in fair, open fight, while our enemy was a snake lurking in ambush, whose deadly presence could only be known when we
felt its fangs,

secret."

we

set forth for

Ontario court house.

OUR JOURNEY.
"
It is

my

belief that the lodge in Brownsville has

something to do with this plot against you, said I, during one of the brief intervals when
lowed our horses to indulge in a walk. "Very likely," was Mark's quiet reply.
lodge
fifty

Mark,

we

al-

miles

away may

feel just as

And a much interest to

testimony. Masonry is not only a complete despotism, but it is a perfectly organized system, and under it men are like figures on a checker-board,
suppress

my

with neither will nor volition of their own except as the lodge may choose to handle them. Nothing shows
so

much

fact that

the terrible power of the institution as the men who had never seen each other's faces or

heard each others names, who were separated by long distances and could not possibly have held any personal communication with each other acted in perfect concert in this matter of the murder of Morgan." " I wonder who that man could have been who mistook

me

for one of his fellow

plotters
fall.

when

was
al-

coming down on

the canal boat last

I shall

ways think he was the one

who made

the attempt to

burn Miller's printing office that Sunday night when I was stopping at the Park Tavern." "You are right, Leander," said Mark. '" That man lurking in the shadow of the stairway was Richard Howard, a Knight Templar, one of the chief conspirators against Morgan, and one that drew the lot to murder him. He was then acting in concert with Daniel Johns, the spy from Canada, who wormed himself into the confidence of Morgan and Miller, and by absconding with the Chapter degrees a few nights before his abduction, made, as the fraternity then supposed, a But I unfatal break in the publishing of the work.
'

242
derstand that
three
first

HOLDEN WITH

CORDS.

Morgan kept

duplicate copies of the

degrees, which were taken from him under cover of a civil process in August last, and that they are now in the hands of Colonel Miller all ready for issue from the press. If these things are so Blue Lodge

Masonry
"

Mark,"

will soon be published to the world." u I believe this cursed insaid I, solemnly,

stitution killed my grandfather. That long, inward struggle wore his life away. I am glad Colonel Miller is brave and patriotic enough to go on and publish, and

may
"

it

prove a final death-blow to the lodge."

The end is not yet, Leander," said Mark, signifi" The institution whose secret plottings made cantly.
the streets of Paris run red with blood in 1789, whose subtle schemings undermined the power of the Puritan party in England, and placed Charles II. on the throne,
will not down without a fierce struggle. And it will be a struggle between light and darkness; between the liberty our fathers crossed the seas to win and old world despotisms; between Christ and anti-Christ. I think I

see it

says

dimly shadowed forth in Revelation where John And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth
;

and their armies gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse and against his army.' It may not come in this generation. Other issues may rise and stave it off for awhile, but come some time it
surely will." "

But what do you think the beast represents ? Papal

Rome?"
Papal Rome, you remember, is the woman who sits on the beast. How can the two be identical ? To my mind the beast rising out of the sea is the old Roman Empire, savage, cruel, despotic, so that the image of
'

"

OUR JOURNEY.
the beast
'

243

some organization of modern and character. And what is more like it than Freemasonry, with her aim at universal empire, her despotic government and savage laws, her Baal worship, her hatred and contempt of Christ's name. No parallel could be plainer."
refer to

must

times which reproduces

its spirit

I always liked to hear Mark talk even when 1 did not understand him, or was disposed to think him mystical. For his mind had that rare balance of faculties on the one side the logical and on the other the poetical which seems necessary to the full enjoyment and un-

derstanding of that strange book of Revelation. In pondering over its wondrous imagery, its panorama of ceaseless conflict with the dragon forces of evil, Mark
felt his

own

earnest, intense nature kindle into a

new

zeal

and

fervor, while for the

outward poverty and

life the Apocalyptic splendors of the Jerusalem, with its glorified inhabitants, its endless chants of victory, its perfect freedom from all that

bareness of his

New

can vex and annoy, was the same that it has been to God's sorely tried ones in all ages, a glorious " recompence of reward." It was expected that bills of indictment would be found at this sitting of the court against some of the
chief actors in the terrible tragedy, as a witnesses were to be examined, some of

number

of

whom

were

supposed to have important testimony, and thus a more than ordinary interest had been excited. But several curious circumstances attended the sitting of this court
of law.

They may question and cross question till they're gray; they won't get the truth out of witnesses that are bound not to tell^" remarked one of those obligingly

"

244

HOLDER WITH CORDS.

communicative individuals who are as ready to dispense information as a spring to send forth its waters. u Now that last chap that was on the witness stand, he knew all about their taking off Morgan, and he perjured himself when he swore he didn't. In my opinion there's been an agreement beforehand among a good many of the witnesses not to know anything worth telling. Things look suspicious when a man comes into court and swears to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, and has his counsel all the while by his side to advise him when to answer and when
not." " That's a
fact,''

pronounced another in the group,

for this conversation took place during an adjournment of the court, when tongues wagged in busy and not

over favorable
u

thus laid in the

" Well, now," went on the first speaker, my brother and he's told was witness once in a trial for murder, bet wen the Masonic me that he see prisoner signs pass and his counsel and members of the jury. And the upshot of the matter was the man was never convicted
hain't been to this day though nobody had the least doubt of his guilt. Talk of Morgan's being alive!

comment on these way of justice.

palpable obstructions

They'd better
alive

tell

that to the marines.

why

don't they produce

If Morgan is him and stop all this

fuss?"

That's hitting the nail on the head square," assented " But some of the another with an approving nod.

"

come-outers are going to testify this afternoon. Them are the ones I want to hear, especially that young Stedman. They say he's going to be a hard witness
agin 'em."

FBEEMASONRY

VS. JUSTICE.

245

And a hard witness Mark Stedman proved himself, but no harder than one or two others, among whom was Mr Samuel D. Greene, our old friend of the Park
Tavern.

His part in the dark and terrible drama was

now

fully revealed, for the

unknown
its

sonry's murderous plottings, the to stand in the breach and warn

man who
saved

divulger of Manobly dared

defenseless victims

of their danger,

who would have

Morgan

if

the

public apathy had not refused to believe such things possible, and who did save Miller by finally rousing a

band of

citizens to start in pursuit of his abductors,

was

one with that grave, silent inn-keeper, who had moved so quietly about among his guests during those memorable days in Batavia.
I remember how he looked standing there in the old court room in the prime of his manhood, his strong, squarely built frame telling of generations of sturdy

yeoman

century later
left

ancestry, as well as I \emember him half a when the waves of Masonic hate in every

conceivable shape and form had dashed over him and him grand, heroic old man that he was, unmoved

r~ u I am an
leave
it

at his post and penning such words as these old man and I shall soon be gone, but I
as

my

last injunction to

my

countrymen that

they watch this institution with a jealous eye. It is an enemy to their liberties. It has no thought of the general good. It is not founded and worked upon any such idea. It is built upon the principle of tyranny in
all

ages the good of the few at the expense of the many^J As he unfolded the whole history, the secret plans of the lodge and his own efforts to baffle them; as in clear^

unvarnished language his scathing testimony branded mimes before unimpeached for respectability with the

246

HOLDER WITH

COEDS.

murderer's stigma, a shiver went through the court room. rSten looked in each other's eyes questioning if it were possible that under all our free institutions lay a quaking Vesuvius ready to overwhelm and destroy

zen to

the right purchased so dearly for every American citikt life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness^

Mark's testimony, in spite of the efforts made by the counsel on the other side to shake it, was full, clear and
convincing.

Legal cunning, with

for simple truth.

all its

artifices,

was

no match

And when,

as the last

weapon in a closing fight he sneeringly asked if all the information Mark had been detailing was communicated to him Masonically, the venomed point of the inquiry which was plainly to prejudice the minds of the jury by holding him up as a foresworn witness revealing sehad been solemnly pledged to keep was so palpably evident that it met with a prompt over-ruling from the court as irrel^ant to the case. But he was a
crets he

wily lawyer; as people said of him, a

deep fellow," developments showed had been given an immense fee by the lodge to clear Morgan's murderers. And in his closing address to the jury he made free use of those weapon s*of falsehood and innuendo so popular with the institution which had chosen him to defend her from the serious charges of kidnapping and murder. He cautioned them not to be influenced by the excitement then prevailing an excitement he assured

and

as after

them

own

political ends."

got up by ambitious demagogues to serve thenLanguage that received its proper

rebuke from the Judge in his address from the bench. In grave and dignified words he portrayed the aggravated nature of the outrage committed, and then alluded to the spirit of indignation which it had excited

FREEMASONRY

VS. JUSTICE.

247

in the breast of every patriotic citizen "as a blessed spirit which he hoped would not subside but be ac-

companied by a ceaseless vigilance and untiring activity until every actor in the conspiracy had been hunted from his hiding place and received the punishment due
to his crime."

Well, it is all over now. Judge, jury and counsel have gone to their final reward. That same Judge, afterwards Governor of New York, sullied his bright record, and from the Governor's chair bowed to the Masonic power which he had battled with from the

As for the lawyer who, Judas-like, betrayed the truth for gold, an avenging Nemesis followed in his track. God hath requited him. " I believe things are in train now for a speedy ferreting out of Morgan's murderers," said Mark,* hopebench.
fully, as

we turned our heads homeward.

If so terrible

a crime goes unpunished after so many of its details have been laid bare and so great an excitement has been created it will be something new in the annals of
justice.

Could we have foreseen that four long years would drag away while case after case was tried before Masonic grand juries which failed to convict on the clearest evidence; that witnesses would be secreted, bribed, threatened; that even the Chief Executive of the State

would be corrupted, and confidential communications exposed to the gaze of the lodge, thus thwarting every
design to arrest the murderers; that in short the shield of a vast, secret, irresponsible power would always interpose at the most critical moment between them and the sword of justice; and furthermore, could we have

known

as lodge after lodge surrendered its charter,

and

248

HOLDER WITH CORDS.

the whole dark system seemed to be in its last death throes, it was only feigning to die, that the popular
attention turned to another question it might recuperand under a hundred protean disguises secretly and silently seize the places of public trust,
ate its strength,

muzzle press and pulpit, and cause even the watchmen Zion to be dumb dogs what should we have thought? what should we have said? But it was well that we did not foresee the future; that, as we rode homeward, urging our horses to a swifter gallop as the shadows of night fell darkling around us, we believed that the end was near, or our hearts might have sunk within us at the seeming hopeless nature of such a struggle with such a foe. Mark Stedman had escaped for this time the trap laid for his/eet, and the only resource for his baffled enemies of the lodge was to plan some other and subtler scheme if they dared. But would they dare? We shall see.
of

CHAPTER

XXVII.

THE SWORD OF DAMOCLES.

my private papers is one yellow^ time-stained document which reads as
follows:
BKOWKSVILLE LODGE, No. Brother Leandar Severns:

November
.

30th, 18-26.

Whereas sundry charges have been preferred against you of un-Masonic conduct in falseand brother members, aiding accusing abetting the enemies ly of the order, and otherwise deporting yourself to the general inare summoned to appear at the the of hereby fraternity, you jury next regular meeting of Brownsville lodge to answer said charges, and show good and sufficient reason why you should not be expelled for the same. By order of the lodge BAXTER STEBBINS, Secretary.
.

It

I put the summons in pocket to show to Rachel. may as well be stated in passing that I had just re-

my

ceived a certain wifely reproof, which on looking the matter over seriously with the golden rule for a measure

and guide
is just as

which same old-fashioned rule b}T the way admirably adapted to married people as any
I

one
"

else

came

to the conclusion

was deserved.

Leander," she said, laying down her sewing and walking up to me with the flush on her cheek decidedly
I thought there were to be no secrets bedeepening, tween us any more. Do you think I would have said a word to keep you back from sharing Mark's danger?

Don't you
married?'
1

know

yet what kind of a

woman you have

250
u

HOLDER WITH

COEDS.

namesake and brave as but here Rachel put her hand over my mouth and stopped me. " Don't be I don't want compliments. silly, Leander. I want you to promise when you or Mark are in any danger again not to keep it from me."
as fair as her

A woman

Deborah, and

"

tk

thought it would save you from worrying, Rachel."

"

If that isn't just like a

man!"

replied Rachel, the

" Don't you laughter coming back into her eyes. think this mystery about Sam Toller's coming worried me any ? As soon as I saw your face I felt it all through me that he wasn't here for nothing. You see we women shut up at home grow to have a kind of sixth sense, and it isn't quite so easy keeping things from us as you men seem to imagine. Now don't you ever do so again, Leander." And with a little imperative shake of her finger Rachel went back to her sewing. But her words

bore fruit as was evidenced by my showing her the lodge summons and asking her advice what to do

about
u

it.

nothing, of course. Pretty business to suppose they have any control over you, a free man under a free government!" And Rachel's eyes glowed with an in-

Do

dignant
"
u

fire.

Well, shall I burn it up?" Yes. No; give it to me."

as Rachel dropped it into her work-box I think was there a subtle sense of triumph in the action. And who can blame her if she did take a certain fine revenge on the institution that had wronged and insulted her womanhood just as it wrongs and insults womanhood everywhere, by consigning its most dread-

And

THE SWORD

01*

DAMOCLES.

251

ed weapon to ignominious imprisonment among needlebooks, hooks and eyes, and skeins of sewing cotton! Though not so shining a mark for Masonic obloquy and persecution as though I had been a Mason of higher degree, I did not escape a series of petty insults and vexations from members of the craft, which is not to be wondered at when it is considered that Masonry " solemnly swears its devotees to take vengeance on all
traitors."

And

as this lovely creed

supporter in Brownsville

had no stronger than Darius Fox, it followed

naturally that he should be chief among my persecutors. Like many another man of small moral caliber

he loved the lodge for the very things that would make honest-minded men shrink from joining it. The obligation to keep all secrets of a companion, the vows to a negative morality that is absolute license all these

he rolled as a sweet morsel under his tongue. What wonder then, when he saw the imminent danger that threatened his beloved craft, he was filled with rage and
fury.

Ways

of annoyance are easy

enough

to find

when

all

one's powers are set in that direction.

teriously let

down, giving my neighboring cornfield with the result in a heavy bill for damages; an old debt of my grandfather's, paid long before his death, was hunted up and made the basis for a claim on the estate that could only be settled by submitting to the wrong, or by wearisome and costly
gation.
liti-

Bars were myscattle the freedom of the

against of what was alleged to be the true boundary line between my own farm and the one adjoining.

And finally an action for trespass was brought me for laying a new stone wall a trifle outside

"The hand

of Joab

is

in this thing," said

Luke

252

HOLDER WITH

COEDS.
"

Thatcher, significantly, to me. They say ens to drive you out of Brownsville."

Fox

threat-

Joe happened to be standing by and heard him. " I've got a small account to settle with Joab first," he remarked, coolly. "I think of going over to-night to see him about it, and taking Sam with me." " Wall, I reckon yeVe.let him go about to the end o his tether," Sam put in with a grin, as he whipped the dust from the knees of his trousers with one hand, and give a satisfied thump to the crown of his hat with the other. "It won't hurt him nor nobody else if ye tie

him up

a grain closer."

For Sam was once more installed as general factotum in and about the house, the same queer, shiftless goodfor-naught, whose short-comings had so often roused
the ire of the much-enduring Miss Loker. He always alluded to my grandfather with a kind of tender, touch-

ing reverence. " Some folks I tell ye the Captain was a Christian. never care how they treat a hired man, but yer grandhis 'ther, now, was one of the kind that allus wanted men to hev as good victuals and drink as he had himself.

think about him I like to remember that verse in Revelations about their all sitting down together to the Marriage Supper up above. He'll hev

And when

good fare there, no mistake."

when the poor and lowly keep knew us once our memories green their when us more no know kindly thoughts forever; follow us like attending angels as we pass into the
0,
it is

a blessed thing

after the places that

life beyond. have previously mentioned the fact that Darius Fox and kept a distillery. It was to this place that Sam

eternal mysteries of the

I

THE SWORD OF DAMOCLES.

'

253

Joe, when the evening shadows began to gather and the farm chores were over for the day, directed their steps an ancient, smoke-stained building much frequented by the men and boys of Brownsville, either because they liked the odor of the still, the chance of imbibing stray drops of the sweet liquor through a straw, or for

some

social

charm inherent

in the general atmosphere

of the place. Joe sat down nonchalantly on one of the big casks beside old Ezekiel Trull, who was partially deaf; and drawing a small volume from out his pocket inquired
in the loud tones rendered necessary

by the old gentleyet,

man's infirmity
"

Have you seen one of Morgan's books

I

Mr.

Trull ?

heard Miller had got

it

out so I sent for one

the other day." u Morgan's book out! the one they murdered him for trying to get up. Dew tell. I'd give a sight to see it,"

answered the old man, eagerly, fumbling for his spectacles, and speaking himself in that high key natural to the deaf, so that the general attention was attracted
precisely as Joe

meant

it

should be.

They crowded round to see the book, some scornful, but all curious. Even Darius Fox drew near with the The thing to prevent which he and so many rest. others had united to murder Morgan had not been prevented after all. Here was the work for which he gave his life, rising phoenix-like from his martyr's grave under the cold waters of Niagara, tenfold more potent through his death. And this was what they in their mad rage against him had accomplished. He took the book, shuffled the leaves over, then threw it from him with an oath.

254
"
"
It's just

HOLDER WITH
a pack of
lies,

COEDS.

but they'll do to fool Anti-

masons with."
If that is the case it ain't worth swearing about, seems to me," said Joe, coolly, as he stooped to pick up the book, a trifle the worse for the rough treatment it had received. His retort was fol]owed by a laugh from one or two who, saw the point. It angered Darius, who
fiercely repeated

"

I say it again.

don't

want

to see

The book no more of

is

it

a vile imposition. I than I have." And

Darius turned away, but not so quickly that he failed to hear Sam Toller drawl out
Say, Joe, ain't it a good deal like that book ye borrowed once? Or I dunno as ye 'zactly borrowed it. Kinder fell in yer way, didn't it? Maybe Morgan copied from that." u That If he did he has altered one or two things. was J. B.; this is B. J.," replied Joe. U B. J.? That ain't the title of the book, is it?" asked one of the company not posted in lodge lore, while Mr. Fox, trembling at the idea that Joe might be on the brink of revealing what would certainly make him the laughing-stock of the whole neighbor, hood if it should ever get out, was for once in the unpleasant predicament of not knowing what to do or
* l

But to make peace with his dangerous adversary, say. " while he was in the way in the words of Scripture, with him," seemed the only discreet thing to do under
the circumstances. " "

Sam," he

said,

wish you would help

too, Joe, if

me a minute

you will. It's only a band's turn I want." And Sam and Joe accordingly followed Mr. Fox, who led them into a small, unfinished
out here.

And you

THE SWORD OF DAMOCLES.

255

room in the rear of the building, and pouring out two

glasses of his own liquor he presented one to each, saying in an injured tone as he -did so

confounded mean business to go and blow on a fellow after you've given your solemn promise to
This
is

"

keep
"

mum.

1'

look here, Mister," answered Joe, scornfully the refusing proffered peace-offering to which Sam, on " When I heard that the contrary, had due respect. the hints to out were lodge that Leander throwing you

Now

had been letting out the secrets, I went to you and I warned you pretty plain that the real traitor would be exposed if that talk wasn't all taken back. When Jachin and Boaz tumbled out of your pocket and I picked it up one night when you were going home from the lodge too drunk to know your right hand from your left, I had no thought of making you ridiculous and hurling you in the lodge by telling the story round how I only wanted a little fun and I came by the secrets. I had it, by teaching them to Sam, so that he could pass himself off for a Mason. But now the secrets are all out my little game is up, but I see yours isn't. Because Leander knows that Masons murdered Morgan, and ain't afraid to say so; because he left the lodge like an honest man when he found out what Masonry really
is,

you've persecuted him every

way you could think

of.

You've used tools and tried to keep your hand hidden, but what is the use when everybody in Brownsville knows as well as I do that you are at the bottom of all this mischief. Now, Mr. Fox, unless you give me your solemn pledge with Sam Toller here for a witness, to have all legal proceedings against Leander dropped, and not to trouble him any more, that story shall be spread

256

HOLDER WITH

CORDS.

And I mean what I say. all over the neighborhood. You had better be careful, Darius Fox, just for your own good. Folks say thai? you know all about Morgan,
your
give

and they say some other things that are not exactly to Just credit, but I ain't called on to repeat 'em.

me

that promise.

That's

all I

want of you"

Darius Fox stood for a

moment in silence, but he had

enough good sense

"

to accept Joe's alternative.

You're too hard on me, Joe, But that matter about the wall if I can get Joel Barnes to drop it I will. I

was only in the way of

sheriff has to

my

duty serving

my

writ.

act without respect of

persons, you

know."
castically, as

or Antimason," answered Joe, sarhe marched off in company with the " Good night, Mr. Fox, I hope you chuckling Sam. will remember the little talk we've just had and govern

"0,

yes;

Mason

yourself accordingly.' One more scene and Darius

Fox fades from

my story.

CHAPTER

XXVIII.
THE

MASONRY REVEALED. SAM TOLLER'S MASONRY. MYSTERY OF OAK ORCHARD CREEK.

sonry. no secret?
veil

appearance of Morgan's book deepened the public agitation and excitement. To many in the Masonic ranks it came like a decree of emancipation. The secrets were out; if not actually proclaimed from the house-tops they were freely sold to the simplest cowan who chose to invest a part of his day's wages in learning the august and sublime mysteries of FreerftaWhy were they bound to keep secret what was

HE

And some

bolder spirits,

among whom was

the

Mark Stedman, went

farther.

Why not tear away

that hid the higher degrees? and show Masonry personating Jehovah in the burning bush, or seated as

the All-Puissant on his throne of judgment, thus literally fulfilling the New Testament prophecies of the

Man

of Sin; show Christ's Holy Supper profaned in horrible burlesque by deacons and drunkards, ministers and libertines and finally the veil entirely withdrawn,

show her swearing her devotees "to crush the head of the serpent of ignorance a serpent which we detest, that is adored by the idiot and vulgar under the name
of RELIGION!''

258

HOLDER WITH

COEDS.

This will surely be the death-blow to Masonry. So and thought the band of patriots which met at Le Roy and placed on record for all future time their in
said

dependence as Christian men and American citizens. So thought every honest man and woman who read or heard their testimony. So thought Joe, who concluded it was time to surrender his secret. And accordingly one day I found a bundle of foolscap laid in convenient reach for my inspection, all written over with the first three Masonic degrees. "What under the sun have you got here, Joe?" I
exclaimed. "

Only something for Rachel to kindle her fire with,'' was the cool reply. " That is all it is good for now. Say, Leander, do you remember that old book I was

looking at the night you joined the lodge?" " To be sure I do. Now, how did you come by it?" "Easy enough. I was walking home from Jake

Goodwin's party "Who with?" I interrupted, with that teasing freedom in which elder brothers sometimes indulge. " u Come, Leander," answered Joe, coloring, that is no business of yours. If you ask impertinent quesOf course I went home with sometions I shall stop. had but we parted company, and I was just body,

"

coming over the

I

hill

there by the

widow Tappan's when

overtook Darius Fox coming home from lodge just half seas over; I never saAV him really drunk before,

but folks say since the Morgan affair happened he's been getting into drinking ways fast." " Well. Joe, go on." I've noticed it myself. " His gait was very unsteady, and once he nearly pitched over, and in the jerk he give to save himself,

SAM TOLLER'S MASONRY.

259

or some way, that book iell out of his pocket. There was a good bright moon and I stopped a minute to ex-

amine

it.

The

title

Jachin and Boaz

sounded as

religious book, but that kind of reading is not quite in Darius' line, so I looked I see it was something about a little farther.

though

it

was some kind of a

When
it
fc

Masonry I slapped So ho,' thinks I,

1

into

my

pocket quick as a wink.

this is the
is

way you lodge members

post yourselves.

What

to hinder

my

learning the

signs and grips and initiating Sam Toller?' You know Sam is always ready for a joke, and he was just as much tickled with the idea as I was. But learning it by heart was such a job Sam told me I had better copy it off. So I bought a quire of foolscap ami we sat up two whole nights out in the barn to do it.' u wonder I you didn't set the barn on fire, Joe."
1

k<

Well,
"

Joe,

we did come pretty nigh it once," confessed when we thought we heard Miss Lojter or some-

Sam scrabbled so to hide our light else coming. he tipped it over, and I thought for a minute we should be all in a blaze. When we got it nicely copied off Miss T had a fine chance to return it on the sly. Loker sent me over to the Fox place for some kind of
body
dried herb she wanted, and while

Aunt Subrey was

rummaging over her collections up stairs I clapped the book right back again into the pocket of Darius' coat
that was laying over a chiiir in the keeping room the very same one he had on that night. And the joke of
is, Darius had never missed it, so lie never thought Ae was the leaky vessel till I come to blow him up for calling you a traitor. You should have seen his face. But I had the staff in my own hands, and I've it there ever since. Darius is like an alligator kept

the matter

&60

HOLDEX WITH

COfcbS.

like to be

bullet proof except in one particular spot. He don't I know just as well as I laughed at.

Now

Barnes on to make trouble about that wall. And you may just thank me that it has all ended in smoke. And another thing Sam tells me, these men t^at were going to carry off Mark Stedman bragged that Sheriff Fox would never arrest them. He's a Royal Arch,' said one, and knows as much about Morgan as anybody except them that pushed

want

to that he set Joel

'

'

him into the

shoes."

river."

Tin glad

don't stand in his

And Joe went off after letting in this flood of light* on more than one hitherto mysterious point; among others the sudden stay of proceedings in the beforementioned trespass case. Though one reason may have been that Darius himself was before long in the grasp of that law which, under guise of administering, he had violated and defied. At the next sitting o f the county court a bill of indictment was found against him for procuring a carriage in which to convey Morgan one stage of his journey and otherwise helping on the work of kidnapping and murder. But the trial was put off on account of some technical irregularity, and the same strange difficulties appeared that had beset the way of
justice in the case of at least a score of others, formally The indicted, but somehow impossible to convict.

hoodwink over the eyes of Masonic

to

juries blinded

them

Witnesses were counselled beforehand by Masonic lawyers to withhold the truth, and when examined the questions were so adroitly put that they could be answered without revealing anything on which to frame indictments or
the clearest evidence of
guilt.

THE MYSTERY OF OAK ORCHARD CREEK.

261

prove criminality. And when most important links in the evidence were wanting, witnesses who had knowledge of the desired facts were strangely spirited off no-

body knew whither, thus baffling chain of clear and decisive proof.

all efforts to

forge a

It was plain to see that the whole Masonic fraternity had an interest in stifling investigation; that it intended the fate of Morgan should remain forever one of those shrouded secrets to which the years only add a deeper mystery as they bear them farther and farther on towards the light of God's great Day of final reBut since the time when the earth refused to vealing.

cover the blood of Abel," there has been a deep-seated belief in the human mind, borne out by many a strange

and curious fact, that subtle agencies are continually at work to dog the murderer's steps and drag his secrets into human view as if the heart of our great Mother Nature herself rose in shuddering revolt to cast it out of her bosom.

On the 8th day of October, 1827, a little over a year from the mysterious disappearance of Morgan, the body of an unknown man was cast ashore at Oak Orchard Creek, and hastily buried after an equally hurried inquest. This fact soon became noised abroad, and the ki question arose and passed from lip to lip. What if this
unknown man should prove to be Morgan?" The fact that all were Masons who officiated at the inquest, and that as soon as the body came ashore members of the
fraternity were on the watch to inter it as quickly and quietly as possible, pointed suspicion. second inquest was resolved upon Mrs. Morgan

was notified and invitations sent out to his old friends and neighbors in Batavia to appear and give testimony.

But the story of this second inquest as well as some curious after circumstances which finally led to a third
one after the identity of the body was supposed to be established beyond doubt, I can best give in the words of my grandfather's old friend, Mr. Jedediah Mills,
I came across one day when on a visit to a neighboring town. I thought Mr. Mills looked thinner and a trifle careworn, but he shook my hand with the same hearty cordiality that had welcomed me to Tonawanda; aud a few words sufficed to launch him on a subject which was just then the theme of universal conversation

whom

the strange discovery of Morg-an's body and the still stranger circumstances attending the efforts made to
identify
it.

It's a

read

it

somewhere in a novel
it.

lieved

queer story from beginning to end. If I had I vow I wouldn't have beYou see the river had been dragged to find

the body, and I suppose it got started somehow from the weight that held it to the bottom, and floated on
top.

The water

of Niagara River ain't just like

com-

mon river water; it's clearer and colder. Why, I've known a man that was lost over the falls and when
they found him a year after he hadn't hardly changed. Now I ain't any surer that I'm a living man than I am
that this was Morgan's body. Mr. Greene was there to the inquest, and Colonel Miller and Captain Davids,

and they

all said

when

she

come
it

God!' and

the same thing. And his poor wife, to look at the corpse, she just said, 'My seemed for a minute as if she was going to
I declare, I felt 1 don't

faint dead away, to see that poor

know how,

young thing with the tears a running down her cheeks, and thought

pretty as a picture, too,

THE MYSTERY OF OAK ORCHARD CREEK.

263

how
now!

she was

left all alone, in

the world with her two

fatherless babes.
I can't feel

What

if it

reconciled to

had been my Hannah some things that hap-

pen in

this world,

nohow."

Mills pulled out his handkerchief and made " vigorous use thereof, while I echoed inwardly, Poor young thing!" hardly older than Rachel, yet called to

And Mr.

such a baptism of suspense and anguish; mocked in her perplexity and distress by the very men who had taken her husband's life, as related in the words of her
simple and touching affidavit. Verily there are things that make us wonder at the patience of the Infinite; but among the promises of Holy Writ is one that shines with that awful glory which is finally to destroy
every system of darkness and oppression. Well may the Church herself look to it that she is not in unholy league with a power that persecutes the saints of the

Most High and hides in its skirts innocent blood. u The day of vengeance of. our God shall surety come; it shall come and will not tarry."
"

Mrs. Morgan's testimony was very

clear, I

under-

stood, about the marks on the body."' said L " " There wan't a flaw in Clear!" echoed Mr. Mills.
it.

She testified before the lid of the coffin was opened about the hair chestnut color, long and silky, and about his having double teeth all around, and told where he'd had one pulled out. And the very doctor that pulled it was there from Batavia and had the
tooth with him, and it fitted right into the place. And she told, too, about a scar on his foot made by cutting it with an axe, and sure enough when they come to
look there it was plain as day. Oh, there was no getting over such evidence if she didn't tell ri^ht about the

HOLDEN WITH
clothes.

CORDS.

mind.

is easy (enough explained to my the Masons changed Morgan's clothes when they had him shut up in the fort." " You're idea is reasonable, Mr. Mills," said I, after u thinking it over for a moment. They intended in the event of the body ever being- found to prevent

But that

I believe

identification as far as possible."

just so. Exactly; answered Mr. Mills. Well of course the body was brought to Batavia and buried; and then came the queer part of the story. It begun

1'

"

round among Masons that it was a Timothy Munroe, a man that was drowned in Niagara River a few weeks before that we'd got buried there. So a third inquest was held and this Munroe's wife and son or a woman and a boy that called themselves by that name came before the 'coroner's jury and swore to its
to be told

being
u

Munroe

instead of Morgan."

What

kind of a testimony did the

woman

give?" I

inquired. " I didn't think

emphatically. round, but she couldn't

much of it," answered Mr. Mills, "She told about the double teeth all

tell to which jaw the tooth that was pulled belonged. She said his hair was short and black, and she didn't know anything about the scar on But come to the clothes, and she run on as his foot. She even told of a place in glibly as an auctioneer. the heel of his stocking that had been mended with yarn of a different color. There was something mysterious about that woman," added Mr. Mills, lowering " You've read in the Bible, I suppose, about his voice. the judgment of Solomon. Well, if I had been Solomon, and that case was brought before me, I should have known mighty quick on which side to give judg-

THE MYSTERY OF OAK ORCHARD CREEK.

265

ment, Morgan's wife or that Munroe woman. I've got my own thoughts about her that I don't tell to everybody.
I believe

she was a

man

dressed up in

woman's

clothes."
I stared at Mr. Mills in astonishment. Could it be that the ancient and glorious order of Freemasonry, which treats the whole female sex with such sublime

contempt, was actually not above borrowing its dress ;m emergency when some little irregularity, entirely Masonic, but which the general sense of mankind
in

strangely enough disapproves of, needed to be covered up? as for instance kidnapping and murder?

She kept her veil down over her face," continued Mr. Mills, u so it was her gait and her voice T judged by mostly, but them two things were enough for me. The boy with her was the greenest kind of a fellow that I ever sat eyes on; just the chap to be made a tool of in any such business. And when the amiir was over they both disappeared, nobody knew where. But I'll nst tell you" and here Mr. Mills again lowered his j u voice confidentially, what my wife's cousin Joshua says about it. He lives in Wayne county, next door to
a doctor by the name of Lewis, a Royal Arch Mason, and one that had considerable to do with taking off

*'

Morgan.
ful flurried

He

says the

Masons round there were dread-

nized.

when they knew Morgan's body was recogThe doctor give out that he h&d a very danger-

ous patient in the next town, and hurried off post haste with his hostler Mike, but instead of going to perform

an operation as he said, it was found out afterwards that he had gone in the direction of Batavia. I described the woman and boy as well as I could to Joshua and he I'd just clappod his hands on his knees, and says he,
'

HOLDER WITH CORDS.

be willing to lay you a five-dollar gold piece that Mrs. Munroe and her son was Dr. Lewis and his coach-boy.'
a queer kind of a world;" and Mr. Mills sighed with that deep-drawn sigh that only comes from the " hidden places of trouble, Now I never thought that in my old age I should be in danger of losing my farm. But the title deed wan't quite right; something put in or something left out, I hardly know which, and I'm
It's

here after a lawj^er, though I hain't much opinion of lawyers nor courts nuther now-a-days."

was the old story over again of persecution and wrong that was to find no redress this side of the grave;
It

of injustice shielded under the sacred form of law; of the wicked laying a snare for the righteous in the secret

chambers of iniquity, and saying, "Behold the Lord

doth not regard."

CHAPTER XXIX
SUNDRY HAPPENINGS.

.HOUGH

it still continued in many minds an unsettled question whether or no Morgan's body had actually been discovered, popular excitement was wakened anew. Masons were exultant over

Timothy Munroe story, while the opposite party saw in it nothing but a clever ruse by which to deceive the public and influthe

ence the approaching elections. For the whole from being a mere matter for the courts to deal subject with had now come to play an important part in our national politics. In a country where the unbiased
will of the people constitutes the only court of appeal
it

follows naturally that all great moral evils must stand their trial sooner or later before that august tribunal. And Masonry had reached the point sooner

for the reason that her

haughty defiance of law and

justice, as well as her arrogant assumption of an authority superior to that of the State had alarmed all

candid and thoughtful men, and fairly forced the question to a political issue.

That the

strife as it

of heat and acrimony and unfairness even

went on should develop a spirit on the side

268

HOLDER WITH

COEDS.

of the partizans of truth, is nothing strange considering the infirmities of human nature. For in every
rising of popular wrath against an established wrong or abuse there is a grand intolerance, like an earth-

quake or a whirlwind that levels indiscriminately; it makes no allowance for possible honesty on the part of some who support that particular evil against which the arrows are for the time being hurled. Timorous Masons cowered before the storm, and withdrew from the lodge in shame and silence, while others of different caliber, roused to a perfect frenzy of bitterness and
stitution persecuted, with all the

hate at the threatened downfall of their cherished inweapons malice could

invent, those recreant brethren

evil

who had

testified to its

works.
in the fall of 1827, a year

Such was the situation

after the death of

Morgan.

Elder Gushing preached on; his congregation, as regarded the male members, almost entirely Masonic, sustained him. But there had been no revival in the church since the period of its first planting, and it was
soon apparent to all that the candle-stick was being slowly moved out of its place, especially when a series of religious meetings in the neighborhood had drawn in many of the young people and caused not a few to
inquire anxiously the way of salvation. For so deep was the interest manifested that these meetings were continued and formed the seed of a new church, small
rich in faith, and full of that spiritual and energy which naturally abounds where most of the members are new converts. It took in Rachel and dear old Methodist EpisI and baptized our little one I shall never cease to love, though copal church whom
in

numbers but

life

269

Church Universal better. And though peoand ple pastor alike have in too many instances forgotten the faith of their early founders, and turned aside to a strange worship, God visit them in mercy and bring them back to their first love! The Morgan trials dragged slowly along without reaching any definite result. His murderers, still at large, defied the hand of law to touch them, and before 'winter was over Brownsville had its sensation in the
1

love the

sudden flight of Darius Fox, against whom new evidence had appeared implicating him still more deeply in the plot, so that another warrant was speedily issued
for his arrest.

"

They say the

officers

were after him,'' said Joe,

"

but somehow he got wind in the news, of it and cleared out. It wasn't an hour before they came to arrest him that Seth Briggs says he was talking with him about a young horse he wanted to buy. They couldn't seem to come to a bargain, and while they were chaifing lie saw Darius look up and grow sort

who brought

mouth. I'm in a hurry now. said we'll let the matter go till another time. And he, Seth says he noticed a man come in while thej^ were talking that he is sure gave Fox the Masonic sign. u Anyhow he's left Brownsville," concluded Joe, and I hope his place will be filled by a better man." In which expression Joe was not alone, but there remained another surprise for the people of Brownsville in the fact that the ex-sheriff had not left his affairs in the confused state which would seem to follow naturally on such a sudden flight. All his property, including the distillery, was soon found to have been secretly purchased rumor said by the lodge at a
of white about the
'

270

HOLDER WITH

CORDS.
all

price so far in advance of its real value as to cover pecuniary loss sustained in his abrupt departure.
it is

As

on record by indisputable authority that the Grand Lodge and Grand Chapter of the State contributed large sums during the time the Morgan trials were pending for the aid and defence of their distressed Mait will be seen that their claim to not without a certain foundation but as a band of thieves and murderers would probably be just as benevolent under similar circumstances I will cite one historical instance and let the subject pass.

sonic brethren

benevolence

is

The following spring, Richard Howard, the midnight incendiary, closely pursued by the officers of justice, entered an encampment of Knight Templars in the

New York, and there confessed himself guilty of the murder of Morgan. He was helped to embark on board a vessel bound for some European port; and
city of

with the wages of sin in his hand, fled his native country, and how or where he died only the Judgment Day
will reveal. The two others also escaped -the grasp of the law by a flight into what was then the extreme western boundaries of the Union, but who shall say

they went unpunished? that in dreams haunted by the last look of their victim, in the sigh of the wind or the rustle of a leaf instinct with startling messages of fear for their guilty souls God did not vindicate his righteous judgment against all murderers.

Mark Stedman had been appointed on a circuit that came very near the Tonawanda line. For this reason or some other we soon found out by his letters that he was a frequent guest in the family of Mr. Jedediah Mills, whose troubles he was not slow to ascribe to
their true origin

the machinations of the lodge.

MARK AND HANNAH.

1

271

" They mean to ruin him for the part he played ill l< When a the rescue of Colonel Miller,' wrote Mark.

power like Masonry sets itself against one thai individual must go to the wall. individual solitary Mr. Greene of the Park Tavern, ruin to mean They
vast secret

and they are doing

his business
'

it

as fast as they

can by 'deranging

in every possible way. To tell you all the outrages he has suffered would fill a volume. He is making a brave fight, but what avails it against such

an enemy?
secute?

How long, Lord, shall the wicked How long shall they bend their bow
their arrows
*l

per-

and

make ready

upon the string that they may

privily shoot at the upright in heart?" " Leander." said Rachel, suddenly. I have heard of

Mills through one of the Lokers. Miss Alvira Loker, you know, has connections in Tonawanda. She calls Hannah a real good Christian girl, and if Mark

Hannah

has taken a liking to her I am glad. He needs just such a wife as she would make him. Mark is all spirit

he forgets he has a body to be taken care

of.

saw

that plain enough when he. was here two months ago. He was pale and thin and had a hacking cough on him.

wonder, catching cold every little while and never taking anything for it. Riding for miles wet to the skin, and then preaching, and then off 'again to hold another service somewhere else. He wants somebody to see to him, that he don't break down in a consump-

No

work is half done; to lecture him every time he forgets to wear an overcoat or tie up his throat; to insist on his taking a hot drink after he has been out in the wet and cold, and see that his flannels are in order, and a thousand and one things that only a wife can do for him a plain, sensible Christian woman that
tion before his

HOLDEK WITH
will glory in his usefulness

COKI>S.

and yet be a
ordinary
ideality

practical,

and share his love for souls, common-sense adviser in all the

affairs of -life. Mark is all spirituality and and heroism and what not, and I consider it a beneficent arrangement of Providence that such men

are usually attracted to their opposites." " Dear me, Rachel," I said, "you talk as

if

the whole

matter was prearranged.

Mark

hasn't even mentioned

Hannah
"

Mills in this letter."

Precisely the circumstance that adds weight to my suspicions," answered Rachel, briskly. "If he had mentioned her I should think there was nothing in it. You don't know everything, Leander."

And
heart a

Rachel,
little

who

must confess had

in her secret

of that love of

matchmaking not uncom-

mon

in happily married wives, smiled with the pleasant complacency of superior knowledge, while I only

uttered that sage and safe remark appropriate to conditions of mortal uncertainty, u shall see."

all

We

At the very time this conversation occurred, Mark Stedrnan was traveling on his circuit through woods
just leafing out

with the emerald hues of spring, and thinking over the subject on which he intended to preach when he reached his destination, a lonely school house where meetings were held at stated periods. He
rode slowly, occasionally referring to his pocket Bible some text, a kind of holy rapture filling his soul as he thought of the grandeur of the struggle before him

for

and the joys of that final victory when the kingdoms of this world should become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ when every refuge of lies should be swept away and that embodiment of Satanic power and malice, the man of sin to which the New Testament

MARK AND HANNAH.

273

writers point in dim and awful prophecy, should be forever destroyed in the brightness of his glorious second coming. For to such a mind as Mark's, things unseen

and eternal have a palpable reality impossible to comprehend by any soul that lingers outside the pale of a full consecration. As he rode along intent on the he was to earth seemed nothing and deliver, message less than nothing; God and his eternal truth, everything.

Suddenly a shot split the air fired from the thicket through which Mark was passing. It took effect, wounding him in the arm. Another and another followed in quick succession but the flash and report so frightened his horse that it needed no spurring but broke at once into a furious run, and the second and third balls whizzed harmlessly past. Providence doubtless ordered that the affair should happen near Tonawanda, and that when his trembling horse finally stopped, reeking with foam, it was close by Mr. Jedediah Mills' gate. His injury proved to be a flesh wound and nothing very serious, but he had to submit to considerable dressing and bandaging for a few days, during which time his resolution was taken to do what he had more than once half resolved upon doing in some of his lonely rides, and then abandoned as too great a sacrifice to require of the woman he loved ask Hannah Mills if in deed and in truth she was willing to be the wife of a poor circuit preachei who felt it his mission to take side with every unpopular reform, and preach all sorts of unpalatable truths, and whom the world would frown upon accordingly,
reserving
its

smiles for those prophets

who prophesy

unto

it

smooth things; who moreover was now engaged

274

HOLDER WITH

CORDS.

in deadly conflict with an unsparing foe sworn to persecute him to the death would she, knowing all these

things, consent to share his lot? I happen to know Hannah's answer.

It

came in the

words of a certain old Hebrew idyl which has stood for ages and will stand while time lasts as the epitome of
that self-sacrificing devotion which shrinks from no trial with the loved one at its side.
Mills became Hannah Stedman, the and in process of time KachePs wish was realized in that unlocked for way in which our wishes so often become prophecies, by their eventually occupying the very cottage from which we had moved on our
so
elder's wife;

And

Hannah

grandfather's death. As for Rachel, she would scarcely have been " if she had never once said, I told you so."

human

CHAPTER XXX.
MASONIC SLANDER.

THE ENGAGEMENT.
CORNER.

RATTLESNAKE

S soon

as

I started off for

we heard of the attack on Mark Tonawanda. It was not

likely the actual perpetrators of the out-

rage would ever be known, but there was no reasonable doubt that they were tools
of the lodge
fearless

whose

first

plot to silence his

testimony had so signally miscarried

-thanks to

Sam

Toller.

of the stopping places on the way an incident occurred so strongly illustrative of that spirit
in

At one

Masonry which a distinguished seceder and writer on the subject has justly denominated " infernal," that I cannot forbear transcribing it. A man well dressed, but with a general mingling of the fumes of whisky and tobacco about his person
rather too strong to be agreeable, stood leaning against the bar apparently on the lookout for an acquaintance,

which he

finally recognized in a thin-visaged, nervousindividual with an umbrella and big carpet looking bag. The latter returned his salute with a rather

slight nod and cool d'ye was of a class not eas}' to snub.

"How

do?"

but the other

HOLDEN WITH
"

CORD&.
1

Going
I

to put

up

at Greene's?'

he inquired, famil-

iarly.

"

was calculating

to,"

responded the one interro-

gated. "

Maybe it's none of my business," resumed the other, with the air of a person obliged to say disagreeu able things at the call of duty, but if I did as I would
like to be
ain't a

ern

done by, [ should tell you that Greene's tavgood place for travelers that have anything valuable about them. If I was obliged to put up there I should sleep with one eye open." The nervous looking man glanced toward his carpet bag as if he saw it already in possession of unlawful u You hands, and answered in a, slow, appalled way, don't say so. Why now I had no idea the Park Tavern was such a place, but I guess I'll go on to the next stand it won't be much further. I declare, there's no
;

knowing who

to trust now-a-days."

And

depositing

his umbrella carefully between his legs he sat down in a remote corner apparently absorbed in mournful reflections "

on the general wickedness of the world. Well, now," put in the landlord, who was standing u I behind the bar, making some entries in his book, must say I am surprised to hear that. I always supposed Greene kept a pretty nice house." U I reckon after you had a bran new ten-dollar horse blanket taken from you as a neighbor of mine did that

put up there
lord.

last winter,

you wouldn't think

is

so,

landto

be getting as do a and I to only really disreputable place stop at, that traveler conscience tells me to in my warning any
fact is

The

Greene's tavern

happen

to

know

It is needless to say that

against going there." my blood fairly boiled with

MASONIC SLANDER.

277

indignation while I listened to ohese base calumnies, knowing so well their foul origin. Should I remain
silent
his

and

let this

thing in

human semblance
or

spit out

vile

venom without reproof

contradiction?

Never.
"
I

know Mr. Greene

1 '

man;
is

I said,

the

first

to be a Christian and a gentleturning to the man of conscience. "This time I ever heard that travelers' things were

not safe at his house.''

My words had a somewhat similar effect to poking a venomous snake with a stick. The -stranger reddened with rage, and answered
"
fiercely,

Do you
I

tell

me

then that
"

I lie?"

responded, quietly, I hope you are only misinformed. But I repeat what I said, Mr. Greene

"

No,"

has always borne a character above reproach; and it is certainly strange that no stories to the discredit of his

house were ever circulated

pened."

till

the

Morgan

affair

hap-

go sides with ye," interrupted a I'd a blamed sight rather be him than the men that will steal their own blankets and then turn round and prosecute him. Or the men either that would take his poor dog, cut its throat from ear to ear and drown it at low water mark. When I get kinder riled up about such doings I pick out a psalm of David and read it about Doeg the Edomite, or Gush the Benjaminite, or some other of them rascally chaps that he is always praying to be delivered from. There's one verse in particular His mischief shall return his his own head and violent dealings upon his upon
111

"Good now;

voice behind me.

own

pate,' that does

me

as

much good

to think of as it

ever did to eat

my

victuals."

278

HOLDER WITH

COEDS.

to be the jocular

And my new-found ally, who proved to my surprise man introduced to the reader on a

previous occasion resumed his seat, and taking a jackknife from his pocket proceeded to coolly pare an apple

and cut
his

it

in even quarters,

which he stowed away in

ease.

capacious mouth with the utmost

Physical bulk and strength is something, decry it as we may, for there is a certain class of men who will pay
respect to nothing else. The jocular man stood over six feet in his stockings, and had chest and limbs of

herculean breadth and power. The other looked as much at a disadvantage as a terrier before a big New-

foundland dog, and did not choose, for prudent reasons, to turn 011 him in the same threatening, bullying fashion in which he had turned on me. So he contented himself with a few muttered words in reply and sneaked
off,

probably to play the same small game of detraction and calumny somewhere else. Nothing was altered at Mr. Jedediah Mill's. The same air of comfort and thrift; the same kitchen with
its

scoured

floor,

its

chairs and

homely

hospitality; the

flag-bottomed, straight-backed u "

same

best

room

with a sampler Hannah had wrought in her girlhood, hanging over the high, black mantle, and such books as Rollins' Ancient History, Watts on the Mind and Baxter's Saints' Rest standing in solemn rows on the
shelves of the bookcase, yet over it all rested the shadow of a brooding trouble as a thundercloud overhangs a
fair landscape.

Mrs. Mill's dejected face, in her husband's whitening hairs and even in the smile with
It Avas visible in

which Hannah greeted me when I came to the door, for it was that pathetic kind of a smile which Old Sor-

THE ENGAGEMENT.

279

New Happiness are apt to wear before they have had time to make each other's acquaintance. Wisely has ProviLight and shadow, joy and grief dence mingled the cup as we shall all know when we reach those love-illumined heights that rise beyond the mists of time and death; as many of us come to realize even here when some thorny trial blossoms into a rich " " red rose of blessing, and Thy will be done grows that we wonder it was suddenly easy to say so easy
row and
!

ever hard.

For Hannah's parents were well suited with her choice, though in a worldly sense they knew she might have done better. They reverenced the young preacher with his slight frame, his burning ardor and devotion in his Master's cause, almost like an angelic messenger, and the recent assault upon him had naturally intensified

the feeling by surrounding

that

him with not a little of homage with which, reasonably or otherwise, the

best portion of humanity are apt to regard one who has come very near being enrolled in the noble army o

martyrs.
Mills, with pleasant garrulousness, told the whole story of the courtship before I had been in the house twenty-four hours. u Father has been real down in the mouth since this

Good Mrs.

me

trouble

come onto us about our farm.

You

see he's a

man

that won't give up a grain to injustice. He's always said he'd fight it out to the end if it took every
l 4

dollar he had, for

they'll take

if I give 'em an inch,' says he, and then whafc am I better off ?' It was two or three days after Mark was shot that father was sitting over the fire in one of his low spells, and I was trying to chirk him up a little by talking

an

ell,

280

HOLDER WITH CORDS.

him

about the old times before we were married, and asking if he remembered the first night we walked home from the singing school together, and how he walked

in one rut and I in the othef because

ful to lock
face.

we were too basharms; but I couldn't get a smile onto his And just then the door opened, and father, he

kinder started up, for there was

of Paradise.

Mark and Hannah,

knitting, for I see

looking as happy as though they had just stepped out

And

what was coming, and

wondered how father would take it. Hannah stepped up and put her arms around his neck, and give a little sob; and then father seemed to understand it at last. He looked from Mark to Hannah, and says he, You know I am a poor man now, And then Mark I can't give you any setting out.' spoke up, and says he, We only want your consent and blessing. Hannah's wedding portion is in herself, and its value is far above rubies. I have told her what to expect if she marries me, but she is willing to try 1 it. And fathei gave his consent right off and seemed
*
'

I lay I

down my

up wonderfully^ so that I told Hannah afteryour father so like himself since to have this lawsuit.' And though I do say he begun
to cheer
1

wards,
it

1 hain't seen

of

my own

daughter,

Hannah

will

make

a first-rate

minister's wife.

just cut out for it. She'll turn off work, baking or churning or spinning, and you wonder how she gets so much done with so little fuss;
is

She

and then she will be

all ready to go and watch with somebody that's sick. I tell folks she is just like her Aunt Eunice " But I forbear, remembering that the reader's interest

will

The marriage was

not be likely to extend as far as Aunt Eunice. to take place in a few months, for

THE ENGAGEMENT.

281
a long engagetheir life

Mark said, neither of them wanted ment. They were eager to enter upon
as

work

together.

The time was short

it

at best.

Why

should

they

make

any shorter by unnecessary delay?

either sex

Of course the reader of

as

who

looks

upon

an affair largely made up of bank stocks, matrimony diamond rings and elaborate trousseaus will have no patience with such an uncalculating young couple; and I fear that no excuse can be made for their verdancy which will be accepted in such quarters. The fact was, Hannah Mills was not only " cut out to be a minister's wife," but she was cut out to be the helpmeet of a poor and unpopular minister, whose mission led him in the ways of Elijah and Ezekiel, and other old reformers, to the great detriment of his
worldly prospects. And when she accepted Mark she simply accepted her vocation. Mark accompanied me home to Brownsville as the
best

way

to convince Rachel that he

had not been

seri-

ously hurt, for the report had reached us, as reports generally do, in so exaggerated a form as to rouse all

her sisterly anxiety

fore

to call at the Park Tavern, however, beand Mr. Mills, having an errand in the direction of Batavia, the latter took us in his farm wagon as far as the outskirts of the village, where he dropped us and we proceeded the remaining distance on foot. Batavia was now in its normal condition, a busy but seemingly peaceful community. I was thinking of the very different aspect it had worn on my first visit when we heard a confused shout from a rabble of men and boys in the distance that did not sound exactly like

He wanted
he
left,

"

mad

dog," though the cry partook somewhat of that

282
character,

HOLDER WITH

COEDS.

An

instant after a
tk

woman

called loudly to a little

Charles pies underneath: house this minute, or you'll get bit.' The alarm, whatever its cause, seemed to spread with electric rapidity. There was a general banging of doors and windows, while frightened women, in all.
1

window opened and a tow-head making mud Henry, come into the

stages of dishabille rushed out frantically calling in their children as if they were menaced by some fearful

danger.
"

What

is

the matter?"

the mother of the Charles

we stopped to ask of one, Henry aforesaid for that

young gentleman was too

at

delightfully engaged to heed

and was now being dragged unceremoniously into the house in a smsill skirmish of slaps and kicks. u Why, hain't you heard about it? It's awful.
once the maternal
call,

Twenty
village!

or thirty rattlesnakes loose right here in the You'd better take care of yourselves.*'
scion, while

And
cious
for

so saying she disappeared with her

For though rattlesnakes had ceased to be indigenous to the soil of Western New York, they were not infrequently killed in remote or newly settled places, and many an old hunter could tell yarns quite sufficient to make the hair rise on the most
unbelieving

young some weapon of defense.

Mark and

I looked

contumaaround us

how

it

fascinated

its

victim with circles

of ever-changing light and color, mingling and melting, melting and mingling, with a low, throbbing

music, sweet as the song of the Syrens, till the fatal spell was broken at last by its fangs in his flesh and the creeping chill of death at his heart. Several men and boys ran past us to join the rapidly

RATTLESNAKE CORNER.

283

nearing crowd, armed with every imaginable weapon from hickory clubs to brickbats and fire-shovels, and we heard the name of Greene mingled with threats and execrations as if he were in some way responsible for
the escape of the reptiles.

This is only another Masonic outrage on Mr. Greene;" said Murk, suddenly, dropping the stout sappling which he was trimming. "I don't believe
there are any rattlesnakes about. See, they've stopped at the Park Tavern and are pouring into his yard.

;i

Come, Leander; we must

know

a back
all

way
I

that

we can take

see this affair through. I so as to avoid mix-

ing with

that rabble."

Accordingly

followed

Mark

the back

way

"

and

public room of the tavern just as a part of the mob, their search for stray rattlesnakes in Mr.
fruitless, carried the

we entered the

Greene's yard and outbuildings having apparently been hunt into the house, loading its

them with
the
fire

But the latter met proprietor with every vile epithet. cool self-possession. He had been under

of the lodge too often to show any surprise or trepidation at this new form of attack, arid there was

even a suppressed humor lurking about his mouth as he -saw a comical side to the affair.
"

if

Gentlemen " and I remember how his clear, full voice sounded above the uproar; a voice I was destined to hear afterwards from the platform as he told the story of Morgan to listening crowds, and faced mobs with the same calm, heroic bearing with which he now met the daily outrage and insults to which he was subthe snakes are all safe in their box. jected ever said they had escaped spread a false report.
"

Who-

I beg you will be content with this assurance and disperse,"

284
"

HOLDER WITH

CORDS.

think we will take your word for it, you cussed, perjured villain ?" responded the foremost one, who seemed to be full not only of the spirit of the lodge but the spirit of whisky, and who as I afte'rwards
learned had done a good deal of false swearing as a witness in the Morgan trials. And he brandished his

Do you

club threateningly near to Mr. Greene's face, but the latter did not abate one atom of his cool, dignified
are not obliged to take my word for it. I can send for who to store the the man asked leave easily box in my granary. He can certify that not one of the snakes has got loose."
I've seen the box myself and it is all right;" spoke " the bar-tender. Do you suppose I would be such up a precious fool as to stay here, if I knew any such var-

bearing. "

You

"

mints were crawling about?"

This argument was rather unanswerable, especially as another man, a lodger at the Park Tavern, added his own assurance to the same effect. And after a little more abuse of Mr. Greene the rioters for such they were finding their game was likely to be a losing one,
departed.

The court was then

town, and
trial

sitting,

the explanation of this

Batavia being a county whole scene consisted

in the fact that one of the witnesses in a forthcoming

had a box of rattlesnakes with him which he was taking to a man in New York.

He accordingly asked storage-room for period of his stay at the Park Tavern.

it

during the This was a

grand opportunity for Mr. Greene's enemies of the lodge to spread a general panic through the village

RATTLESNAKE CORNER.
snakes had broken loose.

285

and frighten away his custom by a report that the

greeted Mark and I with a smile as untroubled he had just been waited on by some flattering committee who wanted to make him their, political nominee; and his only reference to the scene that had passed was in these few quiet words as he took us into a small apartment adjoining the public room: u You have only seen one specimen of the many
as if

He

ness here in Batavia.

their end.

ways in which the Masons are trying to ruin my busiI presume they will accomplish

My

only comfort

is

Heaven; a God of
cause."

infinite justice,

hear the cry of the oppressed.

that God rules in who has promised to To him I submit my

Grand, simple-hearted Christian hero, thy wrongs were never righted on earth, but none the less sure the overthrow of every dark unrighteous system of falsehood for whose destruction souls under the altar, that have shed their blood in the cause of truth, cry contin;

how long! Readers who may desire a proof that I am relating fact and not fiction, know that in the goodly village of
ually,

"

11

0, Lord,

Batavia there
rence,

is

people to this day in

a certain locality called by the townsmemory of the foregoing occur-

RATTLESNAKE CORNER.

CHAPTER XXXI.
NEW
r

SCENES AND OLD PACES.

ET

the reader imagine me a necromancer whose magic wand, waved lightly over him, has the power of putting him to sleep for about forty years; for though a great many things may happen in that

period of time very interesting to the world at large, to say nothing of minor events

equally interesting in a smaller way to the individual, none of which would be omitted by a
conscientious historian or a careful biographer, I am neither the one nor the other. I am simply telling the
story of

with Freemasonry; and if, when nearly all the States passed laws prohibiting extrajudicial oaths, and the churches of Christ everywhere disfellowshipped adhering Masons, the institution had actually died down as it feigned to do I should proba-

my experience

bly

this my concluding chapter, or, what is more not have written any story at all, preferring likely, to let the dead bury its dead in decent oblivion. But the wounded dragon of Masonry did not yield up its life so easily. At the South, under cover of the night-dark wing of slavery it hid in shame and dishonor, to slowly recover from its grievous hurt, and finally

make

NEW

SCENES AND OLD FACES.

287

creep forth again into the light not always under its true name while brave men and women, fighting with tongue and pen for the freedom of the slave never

dreamed what chains were forging in secret, or how in their own free North the time would come when under
the intimidating power of the lodge men dared not claims; when editors of religious journals would refuse, in their craven fear of losing
freely discuss its

patronage, to publish articles against it; and even the Christian ministers, while hating it at heart, should be

Oh, shame! actually afraid to stand up in the and speak God's truth concerning it. pulpit But in passing over such an interim of time there must necessarily be many scattered threads, which it behooves me to gather up and knit in one general whole before I proceed further.
afraid

Of the scores of persons actually participating in the murder of Morgan or consenting thereto, only five were convicted. Loton Lawson was sentenced to two
years' imprisonment. Nicholas and Eli Bruce, Edward Sawyer
1

Gr. Cheesboro to one and John Whitney to varying terms of one month or more, and this was all that resulted from four years trials and investigations. That these men were considered by their brethren of the lodge, not as convicted felons but as martyrs to the Masonic cause may be inferred from the fact that they remained in full fellowship therewith as members in good and regular standing; that they were visited daily while in jail by their Masonic brethren, in many cases accompanied by their wives and daughters; that they were furnished with every luxury money could procure, and when their term was up escorted from prison But 0, most benevolent Masonry, where in triumph.

288

HOLDEN WITH

CORDS.

were thy bowels of compassion for

many an

unfortun-

ate brother confined within those very walls, not for kidnapping and murder, but for debt?

Darius Fox came unexpectedly back to Brownsville about a year after his sudden flight nowise improved by his stay among the wild and reckless characters of the western frontier. Why he chose to run the risk of returning; whether he had been led to believe that
all danger of conviction was over, or whether his course was dictated by mere braggadocio, is move than I can But he talked swaggeringly about having u come say. back to stand his trial," and had his small circle of admirers, who surrounded him in store and tavern, and praised and cheered him as if he had done a very brave and plucky thing in returning. Perhaps he had overlooked the possibility that some

of his associates in evil might turn State's evidence

against him.

A few days after his unexpected appearance in Brown sville^ne of the men convicted of abown

ducting Morgan gave testimony in regard to his

share in that transaction that would inevitably have

consigned him to a felon's cell had he not been found dead the next morning. The cause of his sudden death was said to be apoplexy, though a story never exactly authenticated was whispered about and believed by many in Brownsville that he had really hung himself in a

so acted

fear of punishment on a mind unbalanced by drink as to drive him to self-destruction; and his family, to avoid the dishonor attaching to the name of suicide, had attempted to cover up the fact by ascribing his untimely end to a cause which was not the true one. But whether he met death by his own hand or in the

moment when remorse and

KEW
common his own

SOEKES AKD OLD FACES.

289

orderings of Providence, Darius Fox went to place, where, in the course of years, all his

companions in crime followed him; into that dim eternity towards which the evil and the righteous are alike hastening, where the deeds done in the body are

wmgs ever raising us higher in the scale of purified being, or weights sinking us deeper and deeper into the pit of final despair.
either angel's

For three years the proprietor of the Park Tavern on his business in the face of wrongs and outrages that in number and petty malignity fell to the lot of no other Antimason of those days. Hear his own words on the subject: u My help was hired to leave me; others sent who after being hired would get in debt and prove unfaithful. Sham sales of stage horses would be made to unprincipled drivers who would keep their horses at my house on usual contracts, and when a quarterly bill was presented against the ostensible owner it would be shoved off upon the driver, who was irresponsible and would abscond; or, if sued, pay the debt on the jail Merchants with whom I had dealt would dilimits. vide my accounts and sue me on each day's trade, caustried to carry

ing

me

to pay unnecessary costs."

did they stop short at personal violence, as witness his further testimony: " furniture was injured, and in my attempts to

Nor

My
it

save

from destruction I have been choked in my own my family were alarmed lest my life should All this was done with the avowed intention of tempting me to commit assault and battery, or seek redress by law suit that they might avail themselves o the law to destroy me effectually."
house till be taken.

290

HOLDEN WITH CORDS.

fight

The

was too unequal.

What

chance had one

man, however

just his cause, against hundreds working in secret conclave to accomplish his ruin? Mr, Greene

disposed of his business in Batavia. and as a public lecturer did more, perhaps, than any other man to en-

lighten the public

sonry.

mind on the

real nature of

Freema-

Undaunted by opposition, undismayed by danger, though he once came very near sharing the fate of Morgan, he kept on his way. lecturing, editing, publishing, side by side with a young man, Lloyd Garrison by name, who had just heard the bugle-call to another conflict which was destined ere long to be the one great
absorbing issue that should swallow up all others. The Liberator and the Antimasonic Christian Herald

were both published in the same building and delivered by the same carrier but while one waxed and grew
the other waned before the

new

struggle for

human

punishment was at last rights. meted out to us; when every newspaper was like the prophet's scroll written throughout with mourning and lamentation and woe; when Rachels wept their dead in Northern and Southern homes alike, who saw the secret hands working in darkness and silence to prolong
a terrible

And when

the contest?

Good patriots on the Union side blushed for the cowardice and incompetency that stayed idly in the trenches for weeks and months; that led hosts of brave

men

to inglorious slaughter or disgraceful flight before the enemy. Could they have kiiOAvn that promotion did not depend on bravery or merit, but on the number of

Masonic degrees; could they have witnessed those secret, midnight meetings when Northern generals fra~

NEW

SCENES AND OLD FACES.

291

ternized with the enemy, they would have had a better understanding of the whole subject. And when the

guns of the Rebellion were silenced and the smoke

cleared away, could they have seen delegations from Northern lodges on a visit to Southern cities uniting
in brotherly union with Knights of the Golden Circle, these same good people would not have been so slow to

recognize, grinning under the mask of the Ku Klux, the same old enemy against which Samuel D.Greene so faithfully warned his countrymen.

He died on the threshold of the on-coming struggle a new struggle with an ancient foe, and saw not its
end.

Pursued even to the

last

by the unsparing hatred

of the lodge he died as he had lived, boldly testifying " 1; " to the truth as it is in Jesus against every unfruitful

work of darkness,
"
all.

11

great

cloud of witnesses

and now translated into that " perhaps he does see the

end after

Bright, mischievous brother Joe married early in life a fair acquaintance of Brownsville, who I have reason to suspect was the same he accompanied home

from Jake Goodwin's party, and emigrated to Kansas

in the early stages of its struggle to be a free State, where as a friend and associate of John Brown he par-

ticipated in
ful era.

more than one

stirring scene of that event-

Sam
there

is still

Toller has long since passed from earth, but a circle, slowly narrowing, who hold him

in kindly

remembrance.

Luke Thatcher has represented his native State in the Legislature and is looked up to by his neighbors as an honest, far-seeing man who is always on the right side of every social and political question.

292

HOLDER WITH

CORDS.

Mr. Jedediah Mills

lost his lawsuit

and his farm

result not hard to predict from the beginning. Anxiety and trouble so wore upon him that he did not live long
after,

and another name was added to that hidden

roll

of martyrs to the lodge which

place blood."

God keeps in his secret " the when he maketh inquisition for against day

life has been one of constant warwith every prevailing and popular form of sin. When the Antimasonic excitement died away and even he believed that the lodge had fallen never to rise again, he turned his attention to the crime of American slavery. At a time when the mere avowal of Abolitionist principles cost more than the present generation can readily conceive, he preached, prayed and

Mark Stedman's

fare

emancipation of the slave. And careand imprisonment, out of his own slender store he and his good wife Hannah sent many a fugia tive rejoicing on their way towards the North Star work in which Rachel and I not infrequently had the pleasure of helping, for both families left Brownsville and moved to Ohio about the same time, where we set-

worked

for the

less of fine

tled in easy visiting distance of each other. are a staid, elderly couple now, Rachel with a number of grandchildren to spoil, and

We

and I, one or

two gro\vn r up fledglings still lingering about the home But our little David never went forth with sling nest. and stone against any of these moral Goliaths that from time to time hav? come out from their Philistine One bright fastnesses to defy our American Israel. summer day we laid him under the green grass in
Brownsville cemetery, and on another summer day as bright, there came to our home a second little David,

NEW

SCENES

AND OLD

FACES.

293

He sleeps in his nameless grave at Antietam. Still another of our boys donned the blue and marched proudly
away
Oh,
to die
it is

by slow starvation in a Southern prison. not in hours of joy that hearts knit together

the closest and strongest! From that mighty baptism of anguish Rachel and I came forth united in the grand fellowship of suffering without which love is
like gold that lacks the test of the crucible.

having brought my story down to Anno 1870 or thereabouts, I take it for granted that Domini, the reader is sufficiently interested to wait its further

And now

development, first promising that the end is not far off. For with Rachel and I the shadows are beginning to stretch eastward. She sits shelling beans in the porch which commands a view of rich Ohio cornfields basking In the August sun, a gray-haired, placid-browed matron.

But the fires of youth flash s^iii from her brown eyes, showing that she has not materially altered from the quick, imperious Rachel of former days.
any one doubts it let him rouse her indignation some act of meanness or duplicity, and if he don't by have cause to remember that day as long as he lives I
If

am

very

much

mistaken.

CHAPTER
ACHEL

XXXII.

THE MYSTEKY OF INIQUITY.

finished shelling her t pan of beans and carried them into the kitchen. Then in obedience to a certain thrifty

custom nearly obsolete now but very

industrious housewives of a former generation who did not choose to allow Satan even so small a vantage ground
as a

common with

few

idle

moments between sundown and

dark, she took out a half-finished sock on which her needles flew briskly till she had knit about six

times around, when her inward musings took shape in this terse sentence: " I don't see into it."

Don't see into what, mother?" I asked. For we had now reached that comfortable stage in our matrimonial journey when to address each other by the parental title teems the most natural thing in the world. " How Anson Lovejoy can be a Mason. Now I really like the man, and always have liked him from the very first. But when I find that he can take part in such
4(1

blasphemous folly, and be himself actually Master of a lodge, initiating others into it, I well, really, I don't know what to think except that there is one more fool in the world than I had supposed."
ridiculous,

THE MYSTERY OF INIQUITY.

295

And Rachel
while
I

knit vigorously several more rounds

pondered the subject in silence. I too liked An son Lovejoy in spite of the fact thut he was not only a Mason, but held the office of Worshipful Master of
Fidelity Lodge, located in the flourishing village of

Granby, Ohio; said lodge numbering among its members one or two ministers, a saloon-keeper, one deacon, several notorious gamblers and a general sprinkling of " the lowest characters in the place, all meeting on the level" in felicitous union and fellowship.
" Well, mother, I said, finally, a man isn't always a fool because he does foolish things. The fact is I've had a little talk with him on the subject of Masonry, and I have come to the conclusion that it isn't the system as it really is that he admires, but an ideal existing u
1'

only in his

own imagination

of something

it

might,

could, would or should be if it was only properly understood, and more care exercised in admitting candidates;
short, that I

such delightfully impossible conditions, in was strongly reminded of the old couplet:
'If wishes

If 'twas a

were horses beggars would ride, sword it would hang by your s de.'
:

"

in her earnestness

laid down her knitting don't why you put it right to him about the oaths and obligations and ceremonies. You

"

Now,

father

"

and Rachel

have been through them yourself and

it,

know

all

about

What if this man's soul just the one. should be required at your hands?" " ' I did put it right to him.' I told him he had
so

you are

sworn to conceal the criminal

to

acts of brother

Masons,

warn them
all

of approaching danger and help

cause.

them

out of

difficulties,

might be the

no matter what wrong-doing But he had one answer for every

296
objection,

HOLDER WITH CORDS.

and that was that he did not so understand and Masonry, only considered its obligations binding when they failed to conflict with any superior duty that he owed to God or to Government. I asked him if that was the way he explained them to candidates. He assured me it was. I told him flat that such teaching of Masonic obligations was a mistake and a contradiction; that Masonry owns no law and no authority
outside of or superior to herself; that when she ceases to be a complete despotism; when she allows her members to put their own interpretation on the oaths and
penalties; above all, when she elevates the Bible from a mere piece of lodge furniture on a level with the square and compass to be what the old Westminster

divines called
practice,' her

it

the only sufficient rule of faith and

fled. She simply cannot exist under such conditions." " And what did he say to that?" asked Rachel. "Well, that fellow Jervish came in just then and broke up our talk. I suppose he thinks me a fool and a fanatic. I consider him an honest, well-meaning man, whose chief mistake is in thinking that he can do what the Scriptures declare* impossible Bring a clean thing out of an unclean.' "Well, I don't understand it." repeated Rachel, de" There must be something wrong somewhere cidedly.

power has

'

''

when
him."

man

can't see the plain truth put right before

like 'most practical, matter-of-fact not people, subject to glamours of any sort. When she saw a truth she saw it clearly a sun-illumined mount of God piercing heaven unclouded b}~ bewildering fogs and mists, and could not understand why any

For Rachel was

THE MYSTERY OF INIQUITY.

honest mind sliould
better
fail

297

how men
first

like

But I knew to perceive it too. Anson Lovejoy can be made the

lie;

apologists and defenders of a

seek, the

how

they naturally

disappointment over, to reconcile the of teachings Masonry with their own standard of human duty, and only succeed by an ingenious system of interpretations that, carried into practical effect, would annul the whole thing. grandfather so reasoned

My

like

But a man his eyes. Anson Lovejoy, who- belonged to a generation that knew not Morgan must another tragedy as fearful shock the public mind and rouse in even the dullest that indignation so terrible because it is a dim shadow
till

the murder of

Morgan opened

of the divine wrath against evil doers, before he could be made to see?

This question I silently asked myself while Rachel up her knitting and called to Grace, our youngest, to light a lamp. " Yes, Mother," answered Grace, and rose promptly from her seat on the back steps, where she was giving
rolled his first lesson in

astronomy to a favorite nephew named

Joe, of whom I can only say that he had already begun to develop a talent for mischief that bade fair in time
to cast all the ^youthful exploits of the original Joe quite into the shade. At the same moment the gate swung open and admitted a female figure with a tin
pail.

Mother, there
1 '

is

Mary Lyman come

to

borrow some'

yeast.

"Well, Grace, you can get it for her." And Rachel drew up her chair within the circle of the light and took her sewing, while she invited the new-comer with a kindly smile to sit down.

298

HOLDEN WITH

CORDS.

hardly girl of not more than seventeen Her that. large blue eyes, regular features and heavy braids of tawny gold hair made her face one of singular beauty. But there was a sad, depressed look about her

She was a

mouth, and a lack of youthful elasticity in her motions that made her seem older than she really was. She took her pail of yeast and departed with a murmured word of thanks. Rachel sewed very fast for several minutes till she snapped her thread. Then she
broke out
" "
I say, it is a

shame.'

What now, mother?"

To keep
that girl as they do.
I

"

know how

it

is

just as well as if I

saw it; drudge, drudge from morning till night. Not a minute in the twenty-four hours she can call her own. No chance for improvement
but plenty of chances for everything else. It is too bad, poor orphan child!" added Rachel, who had all the large-hearted instincts of true motherhood, and its
capabilities of indignation also. u Well, I know it is too bad;

but

she'll

be free in a

year or so.

That's one comfort/' 11 1 wish her time was out now," responded Rachel. " Grace can't keep school and help me much. And I believe if I could have the training of Mary for a while I might make something of her yet." "What! at eighteen?" I asked, with natural incredulity.

"Yes, at eighteen," answered Rachel, biting her " It is a mistake to thread with an air of decision.
think the die for good or evil must be cast at a particular age. It all depends on circumstances. Now this I remember girl makes me think of some tiger-lilies

THE MYSTERY OF

IKIQITITY.

grew behind the barn when I was a child. J don't know how they ever came there, in that sunless corner, but there they were, growing and blossoming in about that she is ripening into womanhood. , the same fashion All she wants is a chance-4o develop herself. If I could give her that I should feel that I had, done one good work in the world before I leave it." u Why, mother; your life has been nothing but givand doing for forty years." " Eing Well, I don't know about that, father," answered Rachel, with a little shake of her head. But I could see that her husband's praise was very sweet to her,
nevertheless.

The girl of whom we had been speaking was, as Rachel said, an orphan whom fate, personified by the selectmen of Granby, had delivered over to be the victim of a species of white slavery in the family of a Mr. Simon Peck. To scrub floors, feed the hogs, fetch the water and lug a heavy baby about when there was nothing else for her to do, was the routine of her daily life varied by such small tyrannies and exactions from the younger Pecks as the ingenuity of their o.wn minds
or the example of their elders might suggest. It was not strange that all Rachel's womanly feel-

ings had been roused in behalf of the

ural refinement

girl.

nat-

had kept her from assimilating with her rough and coarse surroundings, and she was now growing up to a dower of singular beauty. Who should say whether it would prove a blessing or a
curse?

, Rachel sewed away in silence for a few moments and when she again spoke it was to recur to our former
subject of talk.

300
u

HOLDEK WITH CORDS.

Well, I don't
see, as I said before,

Anson Lovejoy can defend Masonry, but

derstand the reason

why
'

such men as think I undon't understand it."

I

how

do you mean, mother?" it is the mystery of iniquity.' We talk about 'the mystery of godliness' that cannot be known except by Christians, but we forget there is something There are corresponding to it on the other side. craft as of Satanic there are depths just depths of Recan't Wisdom. either. They We understand deeming
are

"What " Why,

beyond
k

ness,'

what

it

deceivableness of unrighteousthe strong delusion.' Mystery; that is just is, the mystery of iniquity."
us.
let fall

It is the

And

Rachel resumed the work whirh she had

in her earnestness, while I pondered over her words, a.nd concluded that she was about right.

CHAPTER

XXXIII.

AUGEAK STABLES.
Lodge met in the upper story of a brick building near the center of the village, agreeably to the practice of their ancient brethren who assembled on
high places to worship Baal, as standMasonic authorities confirmed by all ard $& the Bible commentaries and encyclopedias, unite to inform us. It numbered sixty or
seventy members and to outward appearances was in a prosperous condition. But an examination of the secretary's books would have revealed a tale of disordered finances only equalled by the petty bickerings and out-and-out quarrels that at every meeting of the lodge vexed the soul of the Worshipful Master, who
strove heroically to infuse his own high Masonic ideal into the worthy brethren, but never succeeded in quite satisfying himself or anybody else.
It is a
5

" melancholy fact that the good

men

in the

lodge'

of

whom we

hear so

much

are a practical

nonentity beside a few unscrupulous members. Goodness is modest and apt to shrink into the background, but wickedness is a^rrrp^ive and outspoken. An son he the held the highest office in Lovejoy, though lodge,

302

HOLDER WITH

CORDS.

did not wield in reality a tenth part of the influence exercised by another member who held no office at all.

This was Mr. Jervish, to

whom

the reader will re-

a rather disparaging allusion in my talk with Rachel recorded in the last chapter. I disliked the man without knowing anything very posi-

member

that I

made

tive

serted

about him beyond what the tongue of rumor asthat he was a free-thinker in religion and a

libertine in morals.

But

it

must

not.

be supposed that

these two trifling circumstances affected in the least his good and regular standing in the lodge, or moved any

one of the reverend gentlemen belonging thereto to protest for the honor of their sacred office against such

companionship.
It

was commanded of old that even the burden-

bearers of the temple should be clean from all defilement. Shall they who are separated to a far higher
service fraternize in

unholy union with

men who

habit-

ually violate God's code of moral purity, and think to stand with unspotted garments in ihe pulpit? Can their prayers, their sermons, their breaking of bread in

the Holy Supper, be anything but an abomination and a loathing in his sight? 0, Church of the living God, how long will you allow such foolish pastors to lay

waste your
shall

fair heritage?

your honor be turned to shame by

0, Bride of Christ, how long their praises of

your harlot rival? Mark or, to speak more correctly, Elder Stedmah. had lost none of his old hatred to the lodge. He had only relaxed his warfare on the system when he believed that it was down never to rise again from its mortal hurt. And now the fall of slavery had made a silence in which the approaching footsteps of the next great

AUGEAN STABLES.
issue

303

the hearing ear," were plainly perceptible to which Elder Stedman believed ought to be more characteristic of the ministry than any other class of men an opinion largely based on the Bible account of the

certainly took a lively interest in the great moral questions of their day. But a good many people did not share this idea, and when Mark began
old prophets, to level his arrows at

who

Masonry there was the usual

number

of undiscerning good men outside of the lodge u who thought ministers ought to preach the gospel and let other subjects alone. But the Elder had never

been in the habit of reading his marching orders backward. He hadn't the slightest notion that the com" u mand, Cry aloud and spare not," really meant, Be silent on all popular sins and spare the feelings of sinners as much as possible." And so he preached on, as
serenely careless of any disturbance produced by his words as the sun is of all the agitated runnings to and
fro in

some colony of discomforted beetles suddenly exposed to the light. Masonry was strong in Granby, and under its shadow flourished Odd-fellowship, and all the kindred secret orders that like mushrooms sprang up in the night of the war to cover the land with their rank, foul growth, It was strong enough to make men who hated the system from the bottom of their hearts shrink from discussing it with that strange fear that only the lodge is capable of inspiring to strike the whole community with a kind of moral paralysis, an unaccountable apathy that is like a death chill at the heart of all free
thought.

"What
up
to her

can the church be thinking of not to wake duty in this matter of Masonry?'' said Mark

304
to

HOLDE.N WITH CORDS.

me one day when he and Hannah had rode over for an hour's cozy chat and a cup of tea together. Above all, what is the ministry thinking of not to see that fellowship with the lodge is spiritual adultery? the very same sin for which God visited the Jewish church with such terrible judgments. There is a blindness on In many this subject that is perfectly inscrutable. are so dominated and the churches completely places
controlled by this foul spirit of secrecy that they are like a hive of bees riddled through and through with

moths.
"

There

is

no

spiritual life left in them.'

Well, the fact is, we reformers made a terrible blunder in the old Morgan days, and now our children and children's children must pay for it by fighting the We took it for granted that the battle all over again. and was dead dropped all talking and writing on lodge the subject. Meanwhile Masonry was striking hands with the slave power south of Mason and Dixon's line, and hatching up Odd-fellowship and Good Teniplarism and a host of other secret orders to keep the way open Now it is back in its for its ultimate return to power. old place with at least a hundred avenues for mischief where it had one before." u But weVe got the old weapons to fight it with," " Thank God for that." returned Mark. Rachel and Hannah had been indulging in some lowtoned domestic confidences. Their attention was now attracted to the conversation and the latter remarked:
u
I

wonder that

so

many women, and some

of

them

the church too, can stand in an apologetic attitude towards the lodge when they know it excludes and treats with contempt the whole female sex."
sisters in
**

Well,

had an experience on that point," answered

AUGEAK
Rachel,
"
at

STABLES.

305

our last sewing meeting, Colonel MontMaria Perkins that was you remember her Hannah was telling about a Masonic grand ball that she attended some where, given in honor of the members' wives; and she stirred me up after a while to ask her how much of their charity fund she supposed went toward the supper and the music, and all the other folde-rols. I might as well have talked to a butterfly. There are always enough foolish women with about as
fort's wife,

brain as you could get into a thimble, that don't two straws for the moral side of the question. All they want is flattery and admiration and a good time,
care

much

and the lodge has found out that a

penditure of
sonic

money

widows

little judicious exin that direction pays even if Maand orphans don't get one per cent, divi-

dend."
" "
I

And

yet," answered the Elder's wife, thoughtfully, believe that one Christian woman who through ig-

norance, or timidity, or the feeling that it is a subjectin which she is not personally concerned, gives the lodge as much as her silent support,strengthens it more than a dozen of the frivolous, pleasure-seeking class. How many times I have heard the remark from good, pray'

ing

sisters,

0, I don't xknow anything about

Masonry

and

I don't care to

owe all their social tem of rites and ceremonies that sets him and his atoningwork at nought rises up in our land they talk as though they actually prided themselves on their indifference to the whole thing." " I can truly say that the sorest wounds I ever received in this warfare have been in th'e house of my
friends," said

know anything about it.' They elevation to Christ, but when a sys-

Mark.

Many

a time I

have had to meet

306

HOLDEN WITH CORDS.

coldness and scorn from professing Christians for break-

ing

my

lodge oaths.

They pretend

to think

it

wicked

to take such obligations, yet with admirable consistency would keep a man bound in Satan's cable-tow forever,

rather than praise the power of

free."
"'

God

in setting

him

suppose Colonel Montfort is a member of the " here?" 1 think I remember lodge inquired Hannah. his war that record wasn't hearing very good tarnished by charges of dishonest use of government money or something of the kind." " That is not a Masonic sin," I answer.ed. " He only cheated poor soldiers. Colonel Montfort has plenty of
I

worthy brothers in the lodge guilty of equal or greater transgressions that ought to send them to State's prison, and would if the laws were enforced as they ought to be. But these men understand the requirements of Masonry better than the Master of the lodge Anson Lovejoy, who is the most honest Mason I ever knew, next to my grandfather. In spite of the fact that I am a renegade and perjured and altogether a reprobate, Masonically considered, he has unbosomed his perplexities to me pretty freely at one time and another. And I really pity the man. He don't rule: he fills the chair, but these men, especially Montfort and Jervish, are the real Masters of the lodge. I'll tell you one thing just for illustration. He was initiating
a candidate
hesitated at a certain part of the oath and so he proceeded to satisfy his perplexed conscience
it only obliged him to help a brother misfortune but not by any means to shield him in crime. Montfort and Jervish took exceptions to what he said in open lodge a thing that, Masonically speak-

'

who

by explaining that
in

AUGEAN

STABLES.

307

ing, they had no business to do, for according to all the statutes of Masonry the Master's word shall be law in

the lodge. And ever since that affair happened his position has been anything but agreeable. He considers

them
I

as

dangerous

men and they

1

dispute and defy

his authority at every turn.' "

wonder he don't resign," said Mark. has wanted to, but the difficulty of uniting under anybody else makes them unwilling to accept his resignation; and the perplexity of choosing a new Master of the lodge might tend under present circum"

He

stances to divide or break it up altogether. You see he has a splendid theory of Masonry, and like m6st theorists he is willing to sacrifice considerable for it. He is naturally high-spirited but he pockets all theso affronts and indignities in the hope that he may finally work such a moral revolution in the lodge that unworthy members will be no longer admitted, and the institution become what he claims it should be simply a moral and benevolent one. a l understand, said Mark, with a slight smile. t; Hercules and the Augean stables over again. But Hercules had to stand outside when he let on the purifying stream, otherwise he would have stood an excellent chance to get smothered.
1 ' 1 ' 1 '

CHAPTER XXXIV.
ONE MORE UNFORTUNATE.
R.

SIMON PECK'S

establishment con-

sisted of a small grocery store

with two

or three untidy rooms in the rear, where every article in the canon of a good

housewife was persistently set at nought. Mrs. Simon Peck was a woman with thin

yellow hair done up in perpetual curl papers and a general appearance suggestive of washedout calico. Of the younger Pecks the less said the better. They were all that might be expected, however, considering their parentage and training. This man belonged to Fidelity Lodge, and low as Avas his social standing compared with Colonel Montfort and others of its leading members, he held a very important office therein which was that of general toady as well as a most convenient cat's-paw for any species of dirty work with which the Colonel did not care to soil This satellitic intimacy with his aristocratic fingers. the great men of the lodge had caused Mr. Peck to advance considerably in his own good opinion, for with the usual obtuseness of toadies he never seemed to suspect the real grounds on which it was based, and set on by the powerful clique before mentioYiPcl he contrived

ONE MORE UNFORTUNATE.

none of which were very agreein a variety of ways able to a sensitive and finely-strung spirit to throw

contempt on the authority of the Master of the lodge by sly, underhand methods of attack, much more annoying than open warfare. " But were there no good men in Fidelity Lodge?
1'

inquires the reader. Assuredly there were, but of these many had fallen into that habit of non-attendance

u the lodge proudly points as distinguished Masons," while those who remained wielded no influence worth speaking of. Thus it will be seen that
to

which certainly has illustrious prestige in George Washington's example, not to mention later \yorthies

whom

Anson Lovejoy
his
off

in his

own high Masonic

than

attempts to mold the lodge after standard was not a whit better

if he had stood entirely alone. was not often that I patronized Mr. Peck's counter, but one morning I was in a hurry and stepped in there for some article indispensable to the kitchen economy which had been overlooked in making out the usual

It

household

list

of necessaries.

Mary, who sometimes waited on customers, went behind the counter and weighed out the pound of bread soda for which I called. 1 could not help noting as she did so her expression of silent misery and dejection.

My

heart ached for her.

Is it possible, I

in the loving providence of the All-wise

lives

thought, that Father some

must ever remain like the unsunned tiger lilies to which Rachel in one of those gleams of poetic sentiment that we so often see flash across the most common-sense and practical nature, had likened her? "But all I could do was to drop a pleasant word as she handed

me

the

brown paper

parcel, little thinking that

when

310

HOLDEN WITH COEDS.

saw that

face again the great Eternal Mystery would have set on every feature its awful seal of silence and separation never to be broken by human blame or pity. I laid the package down on the kitchen table where Rachel stoad rolling out pies and superintending the oven from which several comely brown loaves had just

emerged.
'

wonder
I

if

trouble,"

looked -so

Her face really haunts me, she wretched. Of course I couldn't say anything
said.

that Mary "

Lyman

isn't in

some kind

of

to her, but a real good, motherly woman like you might find out what the matter is and perhaps help her."

Rachel filled a pie thoughtfully and ornamented the edges with elaborate care. I felt that there was something behind her silence and waited patiently till the revelation should come. She put her pie in the oven

and proceeded to roll out another before she spoke, and then it was to make an inquiry not apparently connected with the subject. " I have heard you speak once or twice of a certain Mr. Jervish, a friend of Colonel Montfort's. What do

you know about him in particular?"

call

Well, nothing in particular, but in general I should him an unmitigated son of Belial. However, he has got policy enough to keep his vices pretty well under the surface, and so he gets admitted freely into

"

good society, as such

asked. "

men

usually do, and no questions

Why?"
may
and flashing eyes
"
if it is, I

not be true what I have heard, what I susand Rachel stood erect with firmpect, but if it is"
It
lips

set

don't

want any

other proof that the Bible doctrine of everlasting punishment is the right one,"

MOEB UNFOitTUKATE.
For
a

311

moment

I felt

stunned.

Pity, shame, abhor-

who had wrought such sacrilegious ruin of one of God's fairest human temples struggled together in contending tides of feeling. They who
rence of the wretch

think it strange that in the Apocalypse the Hallelujahs of God's saints are represented as rising joyous and triumphant in' sight of the smoke of eternal burnings

have surely never felt as I did at that moment glad from my very soul that there is such an awful place of retribution where the punishment which society fails
to

mete out

for crimes like this shall at last be visited

upon the evil doer. " As she doesn't happen to be a Mason's wife or u daughter," said Rachel, bitterly, her destroyer will go scot free as far as the lodge is concerned. Ministers of
the gospel will call him
l

brother

'

all

the same, and

dies they'll drop their sprig of evergreen into the grave and make a prayer to the Supreme Architect

when he

of the Universe, and he'll be all right for the Grand Lodge above. I tell you I'm sick at heart when I think of it.
1

'

And Rachel scraped up her dough and put it back in the pan for a Saturday pie, and the clock ticked away in the corner and the sunshine stole in with a fresh
breeze to bea
it

company; and everything went on

precisely the same as if the world had no such awful abyss of sin and sorrow as that which had now opened

before us. u

But
"

last.

Can't

this poor, fatherless, motherless girl," I said at we do anything to help her? believe

We

in Christ's
ty's

way

way. Well, father," said Rachel, with a softened voice,

of treating the fallen and not in socieLet us show our faith by our deeds."

312
u

HOLDER WITH

CORDS.

over.

I'm sure I'm willing to try, I've been thinking it I don't just see my way clear yet, but I shall, of

course; I always do."

Which was no unfounded

ing," as

boast.

Rachel's

"

think-

with most persons of her positive temperament, usually resulted in very energetic action. For just as soon as the pies and cakes were out of the oven and cooling on the pantry table she put on her ^bonnet and stepped across to the Peck's back yard, where a kitchen garden flourished as well as it could under ad-

Here among trailing vines of cucumbers and tomato and summer squash, Mary was picking vegetables for dinner, and shielded from sight of the house by a long row of bean-poles. Rachel went and knelt down by the side of the surprised girl, and without the slightest circumlocution inquired gently
verse circumstances.

but firmly

Mary, I want to know if this story I have heard about you is true? If you say No,' I shall believe you and rejoice. But tell me the truth/' Now if Rachel had not been kind in days before if she had not manifested by word and look that she felt
l

"

a true

womanly

interest in the

bound

girl

who

lived at

the Peck's she never could have taken this poor erring human heart by storm as she did.

Mary looked up
"

Mrs. Severns," she

quickly, colored and burst into tears. " I am going to said, wildly,

drown myself. I thought it all over last night, but I couldn't make up my mind. There is no place in the world for me there never was and it is the best
thing I can do."

Rachel quietly took the two hands down from the averted face and held them fast in her own cool grasp.

(XN"E
44

MORE UNFORTUNATE.

313

Don't talk that way, Mary. God has raised you up two friends in Mr. Severns and I. We are going to do Don't add sin to sin by destroying all we can for you. and remember, another life with your's." yourself,

"What is
girl,

the use of your talking to turning in a kind of fierce despair.

me?"
u

said the

Why

don't

alone?" you " Because I have no right to let you alone, and because there is hope for you yet. Satan may tell you there is none, but don't hearken to his lie. There is a
let

me

place for repentance at the feet of Him who said to a sinner of old time who had fallen lower than you, Go, and sin no more."'
'

So Rachel talked, strong, brave, Christ-like words, till Mary ceased weeping, and it seemed as though a faint, pale rainbow of real hope had begun to span the gulf of her shame and despair. And then Rachel, rising up from her lowly position behind the beanpoles went home feeling as I think one of God's angels must returning from some errand of celestial pity to a sinning soul of this lower world. " " Father," she said, after dinner, I have been thinking of Aunt Faith. That would be just the place for Mary if J can get her taken in there, and I feel sure I can, so if yuu will just have the wagon harnessed up I'll go right over and see her this very afternoon." Now Aunt Faith was an elderly Quakeress, a kind of uncommissioned Sister of Mercy who knew nothing of
training schools or any of the organized systems of charity, but worked independently of all these on a

system of her own, which, upon critical examination, might be found to be quite as near the New Testament pattern; ahd here, as Rachel said, was exactly the

314:

HOLDER WITH

COEDS.

refuge the poor girl needed; rest from the strife of tongues, shelter for the present and counsel for the
future; and more than all else, a living daily manifestation of the great pitiful Christ Heart, breathing in every movement of Aunt Faith's motherly person,

every fold of her Quaker gray dress that partook as little of this world's fashions as if it had been a kind
of spiritual emanation, like the mantle of meekness and charity made visible to mortal eyes iu tangible

form and material. " " The Don't thee worry, friend Rachel," she said. poor soul shall have all needed care. Nor do I want thy thanks. It is for the dear Lord's sake I do it, as thee very well knows/' Rachel had one more task before her, and that was to acquaint Mary with what had been done, and arrange for her speedy departure from the Peck household. Though not remiss in neighborly offices she had never cared to be on visiting terms with Mrs. Peck, and shrank from what she foresaw would be likely to prove It was late when we reached a disagreeable interview. next but home, morning Rachel went over, feelearly business was accomplished the sooner the that the ing
better.

She saw nothing of Mary. Mrs. Peck, with profuse welcomes and many apologies neither of which Rachel
heeded took her into the dirty, disordered sittingroom. She looked disturbed, but perhaps it was only the perturbation caused by Rachel's unexpected visit. "I came to have some talk with you about your girl u I don't see her about; where Mary," said the Litter. is she?" " She's gone off. I hain't seen her since last night.'
7

ONE MORE UNFORTUNATE.

"
!

315

Where to?" asked Rachel, startled with Gone off a horrible fear as she remembered Mary's wild words the day before.
That's more than I know, where to. Bat she'll never come back here, the baggage," answered Mrs. /u After disPeck, flushing with virtuous indignation. gracing herself and all the rest of us as she has I don't
"

want her

in

my

family again.

Rachel had not been so strongly possessed with the idea that Mary had destroyed herself she might have suspected that Mrs. Peck lied in thus denying all knowledge of her whereabouts. 'As it was, the shock with which she first heard the news gave place She felt a real to a sudden revulsion of feeling. and before the to woman, leaving the house antipathy she emptied several vials of very righteous wrath on the head of Mrs. Peck, who she rightfully averred had taken Mary to be a mere household drudge, had taught her nothing, and was therefore responsible in no small degree for her lapse from virtue. Mrs. Peck was angry at first, then took the other tack so common with women of her shallow temperament, and cried. But Rachel, sublimely indifferent to both tears and anger, rose up and went her way sick of soul as she saw all her well-laid plans thus suddenly

Now if

brought to nought.

Why,

why must

it

often thwarted in their blessed ministry wiles of some opposing spirit of evil?
craft

be that the good angels are so by the Satanic

Why

must the

and guile of the old Serpent be allowed to drag back to destruction a soul that was almost saved? Several days passed during which we heard nothing of the unfortunate girl, but the fact that a closely-

316

HOLDER WITH

CORDS.

covered carriage had been seen to stop at the Peck's the night she was missing, and then drive rapidly off'
in the dusk

was a coincidence remembered by one or two people when the subject began to be inquired into. And it was believed that she had gone off of her own voluntary will. But where? and with whom? Questions which it is reserved for the next chapter to
answer.

CHAPTER XXXV.
MASONRY PROTECTING MURDERERS.
DEI.

VOX POPULI, VOX

NE
j

night about a week after these events

there was a meeting of two men at a cross road a little way out of the village;

which meeting was evidently not accidental, for one of the two had been pacing restlessly back and forth for some time

mingled agitation and expecand now tancy, greeted the other with only '* these three abruptly spoken words: "She is dead!" His companion started and a quick change passed over his face. To a man accustomed to taking a good position in society and being flattered and smiled on accordingly, the vision of possible arrest at the hands of the law could hardly be an agreeable subject of contemplation; but there is an old saying which tells us to give even the Prince of Darkness his due, and I am willing to believe that Maurice Jervish felt for one instant
in a state of

though only a passing sentiment, quickly overpowered by selfish considerations for

a real

pang of remorse
safety.

his

own

HOLDER WITH
" u

COEDS.

This

is

a horrible business/' he finally answered.

There
"

will be a

tremendous fuss made I suppose when

the affair comes to be looked into."

have to lay low till it blows over," returned u So now, Jervish, you must let me have a hundred dollars; I can't go without it; my affairs are
I shall

the other.

in a devil of a fix."
"

Haven't got more than

fifty

the other " companion, impatiently. night or it is a jail matter."

"Then borrow

by me." fifty, can't you?" said his

I

must

clear out of .here to-

forget that this confounded ugly business is me into a tight box as well as you," said " But I'm willing to do the best I Jervish, uneasily. can. There's a private room in my office. Come down
likely to get

"You

there with "

I

me and we'll talk know you are thinking

the matter over."

of your

own skin, but

I've

got some regard for mine,'' answered the other, with " And I want you to understand that cool contempt. the sooner I'm off and out of the reach of pursuit the
better for you. I might prove a very inconvenient witness before the coroner's jury. "Oh, come," said Jervish, alarmed at the threat. " What is the use of talking like that. I'll get the money of Montfort or some other member of the lodge.

They won't get wind

morning, and that
fair start."

of the affair before to-morrow

will give

you plenty of time for a

I've got the night before me, and, luckily, a good fast horse," returned the other, after a moment's re" flection. Perhaps I had better go down to the office,

"

and yon can bring quick about it."

me

the

money

there.

Only be

MASOKRY PROTECTING MURDERERS.

319

Jervish handed him the key of his office in silence and the two separated. While this conversation was going on, in a house that stood a little way back from the road and not far from their place of meeting lay all that was mortal of Mary Ionian. The seal of the death angel was on those fast-closed lids, and the lines of weariness and

pain left by the last struggle made the beautiful face look even sadder than in life, as, framed in its rippling abundance of tawny gold hair, it looked up while and

bearing mute but awful witness that a deed of murder had been done. Meanwhile Maurice Jervish, in no enviable frame of mind, was directing his steps toward the hov;se of Colonel Montfort. It was decidedly the largest and most pretentious in the village, for the Colonel was a
silent,

man of considerable property, gained not so much in lawful business as by certain shady transactions already referred to. Ringing the bell he was soon admitted
into a

room

not a

man

smoking morning newspaper and proceeded at once to state his business, with which the reader is already familiar. " The deuce! This is going a little too far, Jewish. Of course the lodge will do its best to bring you off all
right,

styled the library, though the Colonel was of scholarly tastes, and spent more time than in reading anything older than the

but the truth

is

we have got about enough

to

shoulder already.

A good many here in Granby are all

ripe for an Antimasonic excitement, and a less affair than this would be quite sufficient to kindle one. That

infernal seceder, Severns,

is capable of turning the whole neighborhood upside down, to say nothing of the Methodist parson, his brother-in-law," And with an

~*f\v

20

HOLDER WITH

CORDS.

amiable wish that he might see us both consigned to regions unmentionable for I must stop to remark that
the Colonel was a
speech, which
is

man

of decidedly profane habits of

nothing "very surprising considering the fact that at one time and another he had taken a

matter of several hundred oaths, each one far surpassing in studied insult to Jehovah's name the profanity of an ignorant Irish drayman he took out his pocketbook with a rather disturbed air and proceeded to count out some bills which he handed to Jervish. The latter clutched the money eagerly. He had in truth been rather impatient of the preceding lecture and cared little for the possible u Antimasonic excite-

ment" so vividly present to the Colonel's imagination, in the narrower and more personal subject of alarm
which now absorbed his thoughts.
Colonel, left alone, lit a cigar and puffed away What was it to him this foul murder of an uneasily.

The

unprotected orphan girl? He Avas sorry the affair had happened. It was really unfortunate. But with all
his

Masonic degrees of knighthood did a single thrill of indignation at this double outrage on the weak and
defenceless, attest to one faint spark lingering within him of the true knightly spirit of old? Did this " Prince of Mercy," who had dared to take at the same

profane shrine one of the divinest titles of the crucified Redeemer a title the most precious to the heart of his

church on earth, and his brightest crown of glory among the shining ranks of heaven feel even a throb of pure human regret or sorrow for the young life whose lamp had gone out forever in such starless

gloom ? I trow

not.

He

finished

his cigar, sat

down and

MASONRY PROTECTING MURDERERS.

321

wrote a few hurried lines, addressed to the village sheriff, also a member of Fidelity Lodge, and having sealed the note, transmitted it by a trusty messenger. He had learned by certain former experiences that it is
not impossible to make an affair even more unfortunate" than this redound to the glory of the lodge by a skillful use of those secret tactics which such men
k>

know
and

so thoroughly.

the many profane boasts by which Masonry " kindred order, Odd-fellowship, seeks to exalt itself above all that is called God or that is worshiped,'' we hear it sometimes said, " the members of secret

Among
its

lodges

hang together

better tlfan the church."

Now

this matter in the light of the above scene, is certainly worth inquiring into. It is a deplorable fact that a band of thieves and murderers will sometimes " hang" together when a party of philanthropists will split

asunder over some miserable shibboleth; but the reason for this is not hard to seek. Selfishness is a strong cement of union, and is it strange that with our imperfect human race it is often stronger than the bond
of the most disinterested love? Besides, it must be remembered that a band of philanthropists do not need u " to hang together for the purpose of shielding each
other's crime*
is really all the argument though like other pieces of lodge sophistry it palms itself off on many an honest but unreflecting mind for the truth. But how long, oh ye Christian pastors, will you let "the simple perish for lack of un-

for

this

amounts

to,

derstanding?"

How

long shall these

1 '

false

teachers

''bring in damnable heresies, " care for none of these things?"

and you,

Gallio-like,

The night wore away.

Like a queen in gold of

322
all

HOLDEK WITH

CORDS.

her garments smelling of myrrh and aloes Ophir, and cassia, rose the fair regal morning without a cloud

on

glory; and the light of day fell at last on the white, up- turned face, and slowly the village of Gran by.
its

murder had been done. was jury speedily impanneled and a post mortem examination left no doubt of the cause of Mary Lyman's death. The sudden flight of the physician at whose house she died pointed him out conclusively as the guilty tool, and a warrant was at once issued for
to the fact that

woke

A coroner's

his apprehension.

A number of men started in pursuit, the majority being good and honest citizens who owned allegiance to no power but their lawful government, and to this circumstance, quite as much as the delay caused by an " accident to the good fast horse on which he had rek*

lied for safety,

was due the

fact that the doctor

was

overtaken and brought back to Granby. His witness before the jury cleared up all remaining mystery about the case. Perhaps he thought it would
be better for himself
if

he made a clean breast of the

whole

seeing that the evidence of his guilt was too overwhelming to be denied, and the result of his
affair

testimony was .most damaging proof against Jervish, who still stayed about town, knowing that his flight at
this particular juncture would only point suspicion towards him as the real author of Mary Lyman's death. The proceedings were ex-parte the jury's business being simply to obtain evidence against the guilty
parties.

While we were

in session

for, reader, I

was

on that jury and knoV whereof

the point

I affirm

at precisely

Forsyth,

new witness, whose name was Dr. though the name is immaterial as he has no
when
this

MASONRY PROTECTING MURDERERS.

after connection

323

testimony,

my story, was about to give his joined by lawyer Burroughs, a practicing attorney of the village and a member of Fidelity Lodge, who apparently dropped in for no other
with

we were

purpose than to kindly aid, with his legal knowledge the examinations of the jury. He was a man whose

words were softer than oil and smoother than butter, though at need they could be sharper than drawn
thrill of suspicion shot through me when but it seemed like a breach of charity to entered, think him actuated by any other motive than the simple desire to serve justice, so intently did he listen to the testimony, so earnest did he appear to have all the facts elicited which had a bearing on the case.- But when the closing of the prisoner's testimony left us nothing to do but to draw up a formal warrant for the arrest of Maurice Jervish, the before-mentioned attorney looked at his watch and quietly remarked:

swords.
lie

I need not stay longer

now

the witness

is all in.

see it goes hopelessly against client, but as I am counsel for Mr. Jervish I felt bound to stop and see it

my

through." And so saying he left the room, unmindful of thewndignant surprise which was visible on every face, unless I except the only Masonic member of the jury who sat in a corner busily trimming his nails, from which engrossing occupation he did not take the trouble to lift his head as the door closed behind the retreatingattorney.
surprise awaited us. The coroner had penned the warrant, and it only waited our signatures, when information was brought to the jury-room th nt Jervish had fled, having learned no doubt through the Masonic lawyer of Forsyth's arrest and his own

But another

just

324
danger.

HOLDER WITH

CORDS.

Theu, and not till then, did we realize in what an impudent and shameless fashion the jury had

been sold. " Just like Burroughs to serve us such a trick, the mean, sneaking rascal !" broke out one of the jurors, ordinarily a quiet man, but just now roused to a perfect white heat of indignant wrath over this example of Masonic double dealing. "Well, the mischief is done," said another; "the best thing we can do is to sign the warrant right off and get it into the hands of the sheriff as soon as we
1

can.'

Quickly each man wrote his name all but the MaOh, that precious hour and a half wasted in trying to argue with one whose stupidity if it had been real instead of pretended ought to' have consigned him to an asylum of imbeciles! But I have understood better ever since how one Mason can so obstruct the wheels of law as to cause "truth to fall in 7 For that hour the streets and turn justice backward. and a half was improved to the utmost by Jervish in
sonic, juror.
'

making his escape. The next thing was

vish' arrest.

the sheriff, but in vain

to put the writ in the hands of we waited to hear news of Jer-

Sheriff Simonds had his own notions of Masonic duty which agreed very well with those en-

tertained

by Colonel Montfort.

The

hitter's

note the

previous evening had done its work, though my knowledge that he influenced the sheriff to betray his official trust by a reference to his Masonic obligations, and a promise that the lodge would shield him from conse-

quences, as well as other incidents here related, has

been pieced out from the various disclosures that leaked

MASONRY PROTECTING MURDERERS.

325

out at different times either through legal investigation or the less formal process of hearsay. Hour after hour passed. Men gathered in knots, excited, indignant, and talked the matter over, indulging

comments on the shameful inactivity of the well as the conduct of Burroughs in contrivas sheriff, to possess himself of all the testimony against Jering
in free
vish,

warn

and then going straight from the jury-room to his client. And as the talk went on it was easy

to see that the smouldering fires of popular indigna-

tion needed but slight fanning to burst into a fierce flame. There is something awful in such a rising of outraged justice when the people unite as one man to

execute vengeance.
terrible to

know

of but one thing

more

meet

the face of the Judge in the Great

Day

of his wrath.

Before the sun set Colonel Montfort and his clique were likely to get such a dose of Antimasonic excite-

ment as they little calculated on. The sheriff is a Mason and an Odd-fellow. He don't want to arrest Jervish, that's plain to be seen." I heard remarked in one of these excited groups. Masons and Odd-fellows are bound to stand by each other. That's what they all say. " Well I don't know much about the Odd-fellows, only they and the Masons seem to be hand and glove
11
1

'

" I've heard it said that together," observed another. Masonry was a good thing for some of our men when

they

fell
it

into the hands of the rebels in the war, but

conies to secreting and running off criminals there's two sides to the question."

when

man who wore

"I've got a story to 'tell on that point," spoke up a " a soldier's coat. When 1 was in the

326

HOLDER WITH
I

CORDS.

army

used to see a good deal of Masonry

from the

outside, I never was one myself. I know one of our colonels that in the battle of South Mountain would

have been cashiered for cowardice if he hadn't been a Mason. Somehow the court-martial didn't convict, and not a great while after he was promoted. But that ain't, the story [ was going to tell. I was in Ouster's command and a batch of us were taken prisoners by guerilla General Mosby. He ordered that seven

drawn by

lot be hung in retaliation for the hanging of seven of his men by the Unionists. Among those that drew the marked ball was a lieutenant that I knew

I never saw these men again. They were carried off to a place near Sheridan's headquarters and hung. I and some others got exchanged after a while

very well.

and about a year afterward I met this same lieutenant alive and well. 1 thought you wan't in the land of
4

the living,' says

I,

when we came to
'

speak.

'I

shouldn't

have been,' says he,

saved

if I

hadn't been a Mason; that

I

thought Masonry was a mighty good thing after hearing that, and 1 had agreat idea of joining them myself, but there's a sequel to it as they say. When the war was over I fell in with a man that had been a Confederate soldier and knew all about the hanging of these men saw it done. Well. 'He was a Freemason.' I asked about the lieutenant. 'I saw him the sign to my colonel and says he; give saw him return it. The colonel went off and a little while after he came back with two prisoners of his own that he handed to the officer who had charge of the affair. They were placed on the fatal line instead of the lieutenant, who was set free-, and their two lives

my

life.'

I tell

you

went for his."

MASONRY PROTECTING MURDERERS.

32t

horror ran through the group, which was considerably enlarged. The soldier's story had added fuel to the fire. Every minute the exciteonly ment deepened as fresh cause in the continued inactivity of the sheriff or some rumor of a new attempt on the
thrill of

now

part of the lodge to thwart justice, fanned the flame. Suddenly the cry rose up, at first from a single " Tear throat, then caught up and repeated by others, doAvn Burroughs' office! Lynch the Masonic scoundrel!"
fast taking possession of fhe to hundreds, had gathered swelled crowd, about the court-house, when a clear, commanding voice,

The mob spirit^was

which, now

addressing them from the steps of the building, made a temporary silence, " These men are acting on their own responsibility and not in accordance with their obligations as Masons. While I utterly denounce the conduct of the sheriff as
a most base betrayal of his official duty, I appeal to you, fellow townsmen and citizens, to come to the aid of the law, and allow no deed of violence to be com-

mitted which will only obstruct its course. Justice 1 ask your help in ferreting out the shall be done. murderer, and when he is found rest assured that no
lodge obligation, real or fancied, shall screen him from the punishment he deserves.' " The clear, ringing voice penetrated to the farthest edge of the crowd. The speaker himself stood in fair
1

view, his dark eyes glowing like coals of

full,

fire

under the

massive brow, his pale face paler by contrast.

Everybody knew him

lodge.

Anson

Lovejoy, Master of the

sincerity.

There

is

mighty force in simple

Not

328

HOLDER WITH CORDS.

man

in that excited throng ahhorrecl more intensely the crime which had been committed than did he, or felt a more burning desire to see insulted law avenged

in the speedy arrest of the criminal. And when he threw the odium of all this obstructing of justice on the shoulders of individual Masons instead of the lodge
itself,

there were

enough who believed him

in the face

of their

previous convictions, not to say the evidence of their own senses, to make a perceptible differ-

own

tumultuous excitement which had threatened at one time to end in mob violence. The advocates of lynch law were silent and under the reaction thus made the throng slowly
the,

ence in the attitude of the crowd. reasonable spirit was succeeding

more calm and

and by degrees dispersed. A few hours later I was at home attending to some duty about the farm when Anson Lovejoy came hurriedly up, his face still pale but settled into those grave, determined lines which speak the man whose whole soul is roused to meet a crisis. u Mr. Severns, I want the loan of your fastest horseI have just received news that Jervish has left his hiding place where he has been secreted all this time and hired a man by the name of Leach to take him across the river. This Leach is a poor, worthless fellow, who never has any money and is therefore easily bribed."

"What

will

Masons think of your action

in this

threw the halter over the neck of matter?" the beautiful roan, acknowledged one of the fastest " steeds in the neighborhood, and led him out. Depend
I said, as I
it, your part in to-day's affair will never be overlooked or forgiven by the lodge." " u I care not," he answered, I am acting up to my

upon

MASOKRY PROTECTING MURDERERS.

329

Masonic obligations as I understand them. God do so to me and more also if I knowingly leave a single stone unturned that is hindering the way of justice."

He

spoke with solemn, almost tierce earnestness

then, after an instant's silence, added in his usual tone, " While you are getting the horse ready I will speak with Mrs. Severns a moment," and so saying he stepped

quickly across to the open side door where he had always until now met with the ready admittance accorded to a friend and neighbor.

What he was going to say to Rachel I know not, for he was given no chance to say it, but I think a desire to have her God speed in the task to which he had set himself prompted the action. Rachel met him just as he was entering, with stern She had not heard his face and forbidding gesture. conversation with me or very likely would not have
addressed him exactly as she did. u Not a step farther. No murderer or companion of murderers crosses my threshold."

"Mrs. Severns!" he exclaimed, startled, astonished. u " You I mean what I say," she answered, firmly. of the and thus lodge uphold this dark, unclean system

make
shed.

yourself a partaker in the innocent blood

'

it

has

Go!"
as she was,

The reader mush excuse Rachel, unjust

for her very soul

was boiling within her, and this outburst was due to a deeper cause than the passionate common feeling of indignation which possessed the community at large. In divine faith that she might yet redeem to virtue and happiness the erring soul which had mistaken a cold, deceiving mirage for the water of affection, and for whom henceforth society

380

HOLDEK WITH

CORDS.

would have no use but to cast out and trample under had planned and labored as only a Christian woman can. And this was the terrible ending! The prey for which she had wrestled with Satan had been basely, cruelly torn out of her hand, and she felt somefoot, she

thing of the fury of the bereaved lioness

fronted

when

she con-

Anson Lovejoy.

assure you, Mrs. Severns," he began again, and again she interrupted him. though this time her voice was a trifle softer, her manner a shade gentler. " I accuse you of nothing but of being allied to such
a system.
in his

"I

And

that

is

enough.

Shall a

man

take

fire

bosom and not be burned? No. Mr. Lovejoy, no adhering Mason from henceforth receives a welcome

under

my

roof."

him and walked away, leaving the victim of this severe castigation to recover from it as well as he could. And certainly for a moment Anshe turned from

And

son Lovejoy looked rather dejected. He was without domestic ties, his wife having died in the first year of their marriage, and I well understood, or thought I did,

how

this sudden closing against him of ^ home where he had always been a welcome guest, dropping in at any time when his business permitted, thus seeming to

find

some

faint,

shadowy compensation

for his

own

buried joys, would naturally affect him. But he quickly recovered himself, and going to where the horse now stood in readiness leaped into the saddle.

As he
right.

"Rachel has
injustice."

did so I took occasion to say a sharp tongue, but her heart

is

all

Some time
so.

she will see that she has done you

"I hope

Mr. Severns." he answered.

"But"

MASONRY PROTECTING MURDERERS.

and
lie

331

spoke with the grave, slo\v emphasis of one re-

cording a

vow

if

Masonry

is

what from

this day's

have reason to fear it is, and I remain connected with it an hour longer than I can help, I shall merit the sever-est denunciations she has heaped upon me." And he rode swiftly away to join the pursuing party, which had halted at an appointed place of meeting, and

work

were now discussing which of fugitive had probably taken.

two

different roads the

few outsiders had gathered about, among them, the sheriff, who seemed to take an extraordinary interest in the settling of this
question considering his previous inactivity. u I tell you, Lovejoy, if you take the direction of Qui'' Jervish paw Creek you'll miss it," he said, excitedly.

has gone more south." " My men are on the right track," returned Lovojoy, composedly, in whose mind the last lingering doubt

whether he was really taking the roui^e Jervish had gone was now dispelled by the sheriff's evident anxiety to have him go the opposite way. u But I tell you, repeated the sheriff in still more excited tones, "a man told me not more than an hour ago that he had met him and Leach on the road." This piece, of information made some of the party waver but had no effect on their staunch leader, who
1 '

issued his

command
Creek, at

J;o

set off at

once in the direction

of

Quipaw

which the

sheriff called to his aid

considerable profanity, not necessary to repeat, in. confirmation of what he had said, provoking from one of the
as they rode away this satirical speech Set the fox to guard the hen-coop, will ye? When If you Knew I do that I'll take advice from a Mason.
kt

number

all this

about Jervish an hour ago

why wan't you

off

HOLDEK WITH
after

CORDS.

him

instead of loafing about with the coroner's

idle in

warrant lying

your pocket?"

And
tired

the discomforted sheriff,

who

had' certainly

striven heroically to fulfil his

pleasant.

Masonic obligations, reamid more hooting and jeering than was quite

Swiftly, steadity, the pursuers pressed on, and before long came in sight of a common farm wagon apparentThe driver of the wagon ly loaded with meal-bags.

was quickly recognized by several of the party to whom he was well known, as the man who had undertaken to aid Jervish in his flight. But Leach sat alone on the Where was his companion? seat, driving.

An

order from Lovejoy to search the

wagon soon set-

tled this question. The vehicle was found to be so arlaid across the seeming meal-bags, sticks ranged by

which were in reality stuffed with hay, placed on these, and high enough from the floor of the wagon to make a hiding place for the miserable Jervish, who was now ignominiously dragged therefrom, and Colonel Montthe elegant man of society, spent that night in the county jail to the great satisfaction of all worthy citizens of Granby, with whom, now that the chief criminal was caught, the Antimasonic excitement
fort's friend,

subsided as rapidly as

it

rose.
i

CHAPTER XXXVI.
SOME EXAMPLES OF MASONIC BENEVOLENCE AND MORALITY.

>ALF

a dozen summers previous to the one in which occurred the scenes related in the last chapter, there happened one of those common and yet most sad

man with
upon him

events, a serious accident to a laboring a wife and children dependent

for their daily bread.
fell

carpenter and

He was a from an imperfectly built

staging, receiving severe internal injuries that resulted in his death after a year of lingering illness.

u The lodge will see to you and the children," whisthe dying man to his weeping wife, whose always pered
delicate health

ing at the bedside of her sick that his death would leave her

had been shattered by incessant watchhusband, and, knowing

without a penny, could not see in the dark night of approaching widowhood the -glimmer of a single star of earthly hope. "I've
always paid

my dues regular till that accident happened. The lodge owes it to me to see that you and the children are well provided for."
''

They have given us

sick,*'

you have been

in all but twenty dollars since answered the wife, who was only a

334

HOLDEN WITH
"

CORDS.

woman
ters.

and reasoned as women are apt to in such matThat is but a fraction of what you have paid them at one time and another. And I am sure we have needed the money. I know twenty dollars don't go a great ways, but we've rubbed along. And now I've got pretty uigh the end, so there'll be all the more for you and the chil1' ;

dren."
for worlds

His wife was silent. She had her misgivings, but not would she breathe the shadow of a doubt

into the ear of that soul that

was passing into eternity, happy in the thought that he belonged to a brotherhood which made the widow and the orphan the objects
of its especial care.

That night he died. The lodge buried him with Christies prayers and dirges, an-d, to do it justice, spared none of the honors to which a defunct "worthy " brother is Masonically entitled. The widow's hopes
Surely they who would do so much for the dead would have a care for the living. But the lodge, when applied to for assistance, viewed the matter in a slightly different light. For, to state the simple truth, a number of grand suppers given by the fraternity,
revived.
,

sundry bills of cost for regalia, gloves, aprons, etc., to say nothing of a great many extras for wine, beer and cigars, had swallowed up so much of the charity fund as to leave the lodge in no condition to heed her apBut it must not be supposed that any such expeal.

when

planation of the case was given to the indigent widow she asked for further aid. Oh, no. She was coolly told that her husband had not paid his dues for
a year, and they had done all that could reasonably bo expected of them in giving him Masonic burial,.

MASONIC BENEVOLENCE.

335

She could not prove that the lodge had taken her husband's money and paid him back, not counting in-

what was his actual due. The widow struggled along for a while; a few individual Masons contributed to her relief from their own
terest, scarce a fifth part of

pockets, but as benevolently inclined persons are to be found everywhere and the lodge collectively had nothing to do with these contributions, it niny be fair to infer that they might possibly have done the same thing whether Masons or not. It was a hopeless struggle even with occasional aid from private charity. Her health completely broke down at last. Her two children were bound out, while she went to the almshouse as her only refuge^ dying there soon after in a

quick consumption. Death, in separating her from her children, however, spared her, as death so often does, the pang of a deeper

was Mary Lyman's mother. matter where I gathered these facts. They are true. This is not a statistical book or else I should be tempted to give a few figures that would
anguish
It

for she

doesn't

demonstrate to the most skej^ical that the benevolence of the lodge is on a par with its morality a hollow sham, a whited sepulchre. Mary Lyman's father was a Mason, but this fact did not save her from ruin and death at the hands of a
brother

Mason who had solemnly sworn to preserve in-

violate the chastity of all women with near Masonic kindred, though with this very convenient little proviso attached, "knowing them to be such"

of America, do you hold your purity so that lightlv you can afford to countenance such a system Will you, knowing these things, still continue as this ?

Women

336
to smile

HOLDER WITH COEDS.

on the lodge and accept its slimy favors? SisChurch of Christ, does it matter nothing: to you that Masonry rejects his name from her ritual as " too sectarian and tramples his atoning blood under
ters of the

by teaching another way of salvation ? that by the testimony of her own writers she traces back her origin to the ancient heathen mysteries with their abominable rites of darkness, and aspires, as we learn from the same unquestionable source, to become finally u the
foot

universal religion of manhood?" Can you pray for the speedy coming of Christ's millennial reign and be indifferent to the fact that another kingdom is being

up in which he has neither part nor lot? Will you apologize for such a system? defend it by your silence " or worse still care nothing about it?" As it rejects
set

Christ, so it has no place for woman, and should the day ever dawn when Masonry becomes the universal
religion,

God help

her!

Rachel herself gathered the flowers from her own garden to lay about the dead girl's white, still form. She placed a half-opened rosebud between the closed fingers, kissed the cold forehead, and with solemn words of prayer that seemed in their tender, impassioned earnestness like a personal appeal to that infinite, unchanging Pity which is at the heart of God in Christ, it was Elder Stedvisibly manifested before his eyes

man who
was
laid

performed the last services Mary Lyman in a corner of the potter's field outside the cemetery to slumber till the resurrection morning. But before the grave had set its seal of corruption on the statuesque beauty of a single lineament her murderer was released on a writ of habeas corpus and admitted to bail

away

MASONIC BENEVOLENCE.

337

Elder Stedman, when the funeral was over, came back to our house; but, unheeding the cup of tea that Rachel poured out for him. he paced up and down the room in stern and solemn silence, broken at last by these abrupt words "I have been like one of the foolish prophets. I have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people God forgive me. Henceforth every faculty slightly. of mind and body shall be devoted to an unceasing warfare against this dragon of Masonry that stands like his prototype in Revelation ready to engulf and and swallow the church with the devouring flood he " casts out of his mouth. " Why, Mark;' said I, "you do yourself injustice.
1

hardly a preacher in these parts dares to menMasonry you have scourged it unsparingly from the pulpit. What can you do more?" " I tell you, Leander," said Mark, pausing a moment " I feel as if I had only tickled the in his agitated walk,
tion
forth

When

monster by throwing wooden darts at him. Henceit must be a hand to hand combat. Only the iron of truth can penetrate between the scales of
his armor, for, like Apollyon, his scales are his pride. I must lecture as well as preach on this subject." "But Mark," I answered, a little startled, u you will

only rouse persecution. A good many people seem to think Masonry is like the Giant Pope Christian saw too old and decrepit sitting in the mouth of his cave
to hurt.

But

know

better.

The lodge

don't care

few side thrusts, but attack it at close and quarters you will find that it can turn with as deadly vengeance as it did in Morgan's day." a ^ Well," answered the Elder, quietly, I am old and
for a

much

338

HOLDEN WITH

CORDS.

gray-headed now, and a few years of life less or more matters little to me. There is a conflict coining and woe unto me if I gird noc on my armor to meet it. My
old belief

comes back to me.

It
is

This

is

going to be no

the battle of Armageddon, the last great conflict before the final end." Mark .spoke with the same kindling eyes and solemn

ordinary -contest.

fervor with

which he had

dilated

on this very same

have had some such thoughts myself," I answered, moment's silence. " Organized secrecy seems In the old to be Satan's last and most cunning move. to the and times he tried church conquer pagan popery sheer he is to undermine force. Now by open trying the citadel, and the worst of it is the church won't be roused to see her danger. However, I suppose I can no more keep y ou out of the battle than I could Job's warhorse. Only have a care of yourself, Mark, for HanI

subject forty years before. u

after a

nah's sake."
for he and

The Elder started as if I had touched a tender chord, Hannah were a lonely couple now. Of their

sons, one had died in the service of his country, the other was a toiling missionary on the far-off soil of

two

was only for an instant, then shone out clear and steady. "I told Hannah the day she married me that she must take me as the Covenanter John Brown took his wife, Isabel, with the assurance that when she least expected it the hand of violence might part him from not even her.. We have learned to hold nothing back
southern Africa.
it

But

the pole star of his

life

each other." But while the Elder was thus absorbed in thoughts of that great pre-millennial contesLivhich he believed

KASONIC BENEVOLENCE.

339

Was approaching, Colonel Montfort was likewise thinking though 011 a different subject and with a good
cigar to aid the process. Two difficult tasks lay before him; one was the triumphant delivery of Maurice Jer-

vish from the hands of justice, the other was the sacrifice of Anson Lovejoy to violated Masonic law.

The Colonel was not a man of generous impulses, and had there been no other tie between him and Mary Lyman's murderer than mere friendship, he would in He deall probability have washed his hands of him. sired to shield Jervish, firstly and primarily, because the honor and glory of Masonry demanded it. What was to become of the fraternity if its members could
claim
110 special

privileges over honest

men?

vital

question to the Colonel, who knew very well that there had been times in his own political and military career when he might have fared badly if the shielding of
efich other's

crimes had formed no part of lodge obli-

situation might appear gations. to un-Masonic eyes, in the light of these encouraging items of his past experience, the Colonel did not despair

However hopeless the

of bringing off his friend with flying colors. It was over another subject that he spent the most anxious

thought, and consumed the greatest number of cigars. He hated Anson Lovejoy as wickedness will always hate rectitude. He was furious that he had dared to pursue Jervish and deliver him over to the grasp of
the law; and as the controlling spirit of the lodge he was well aware how very easily the wrath of the fra-

be made to bring forth its legitimate fruit murder. Nor is it too much to say of the Colonel that he knew he could at any moment put his finder on the men who would not scruple to dispose
ternity against

him

coul<ji

&40
of

HOLDER WITH

CORDS.

fashion.

Anson Lovejoy after the most approved Masonic The possibility however of another Antima-

in

was a factor which continually came and disturbed the Colonel's reckoning, for he was a man accustomed to weigh duly all the pros and cons before committing himself to a course of action which
sonic excitement
entail disagreeable consequences. But his hatred of Lovejoy burned with so intense a flame that for once passion overpowered the cool and calculating selfish-

might

him as with most men of that peculiar was the governing principle of his life. The sound of his name spoken in low and cautious tones by some one standing outside broke in upon the
ness which with
caliber

Colonel's meditations. He rose and, opening the long window, stepped out upon the piazza. A man stood there in the moonlight, a prominent member of Fidelity

Lodge.

"Oh, it is you, Mugford. I suppose all the arrangements are made then; but don't let too many into the Half a dozen would be enough if the affair was secret.
1

managed
"

properly.'

I've talked

They

will be all ready to do their part

comes.

with Golding and Peck and the others. when the time But Whitby we can't depend on I am afraid.
back."

He hangs

The Colonel muttered an oath. " Well, shut his mouth up some way. If he is disto posed to blab give him a hint that we know how
manage
other."
traitors.

We

can deal with one as well as an-

And

after a little

more conversation of

like

tenor the two conspirators separated. Masonic murders would be much more
is

common than

happily the

case if

the brethren everywhere lived up

MASONIC BENEVOLENCE.

341

to their obligations; but just as, the majority of slaveholders were far more humane than the system which

gave them irresponsible power, so Masons as a rule are better than the institution which swears its devotees to
bring every traitor to "strict and condign punishment." Among the hardened and desperate men, the rowdies,

gamblers and drunkards who surrounded Colonel Montfort and moved obsequiously to do his bidding, there was one who shrank from the crime of secret assassination. The result was that Ansou Lovejoy the next day received from an unknown source a much crumpled note with a rude imitation of the square and compass in the corner, which after correcting some peculiarities
of orthography ran as follows:
"Don't go to the lodge to-night. They mean to ask you to resign, then drag you from the chair if you refuse, and murder you in the lodge-room. In the scuffle it will never be known who struck the blow. If you value your life, stay
away.

A
do
I

FRIEND AND A MASON."

"How
* l

know but

this

is

a mere foolish trick to

said Lovejoy. It would look too cowfrighten to do I can't it." ardly stay away. " No," I said, earnestly, this is no trick but a friendly

me?"

warning.

You must heed

it."

Lovejoy stood irresolute. I knew he felt as a brave man always does at the thought of saving his life by

what seems like cowardly flight from a post of duty. "I have thought of a plan," I said, after a moment's
silence.
life

Go

to the lodge to-night as usual, and your

shall be protected."

"How?"
Station a guard round the lodge. There are plenty Antimasons in Granby that would rather enjoy serving in such a capacity. Take your seat in the chair precisely as at any ordinary meeting, and as soon
of
"

342

HOLDER WITH
will burst will

CORDS.

as there is the least

attempt at violence, give the signal

and we
u
tion.

That
"

open the door and rush in." do," he said, after a moment's delibera-

better plan could be devised." with the understanding that I should as quickly and quietly as possible gather a force sufficient for his protection, Anson Lovejoy prepared to front the men who had secretly banded together to take his life. For what? For violating his Masonic obligations. In other words, for daring to do his duty as an honest,

No

And

to liberty

God-fearing citizen of this free Republic, consecrated by the blood and tears of our forefathers yet
v

fostering in its

which, when its nor forgiveness, allows of no appeal from its sentence, and punishes without the form of trial. Although the tide of popular excitement in Granby had subsided with the arrest of Jervish, it left, as such excitements usually do, a deposit behind it. Firm and settled conviction had taken in many minds the place of ignorance and doubt. Pronounced Antimasons were scarce before; now they were very common. Consequently I found no difficulty in gathering a force sufficiently large to surround the lodge and prevent the threatened attack on Anson Lovejoy. We allowed the brethren time to assemble, and then inarching silently from our place of rendezvous we took our stations around the building, scarcely daring to breathe lest some sound should escape our ears from the upper room where the lodge was meeting.

bosom a dark and terrible despotism laws are violated, knows neither mercy

Meanwhile Lovejoy had seated himself in the Master's chair and gone through the preliminary exercises with outward calmness. He no longer doubted the truth of

MASONIC BENEVOLENCE.

343

the warning note. Even before lie caught sight of a knife concealed under the coat of one of the members

he knew himself to be surrounded by a band of secret assassins, and felt that on his courage and tact in cooperating with those outside his life depended.
Colonel Montfort, as before hinted, was a man that preferred to do his dirty work by means of tools. He

meant
whole

to keep his
affair.

It

hand concealed throughout this was therefore no part of his scheme

to open the attack 011 Lovejoy in person, but to put forward Simon Peck instead, as the mouth-piece of the Peck was an ignorant and illiterate man, and lodge. far from being a good spokesman, but he knew that the demand to resign would be felt by Lovejoy as an additional insult, coming from such a quarter. Peck was

the most subservient of tools under his master's eye, and in the present case some personal feeling, mingling

shared in

with the infuriated hate towards Lovejoy which he common with the other members of the
lodge, for so violating his arrest a murderer.

Masonic obligations
everybody
is

as to

Some writer has

true, especially

said that

well connect-

ed in certain directions.

So

also is the opposite fact

among

compose American society

the heterogeneous elements that for Maurice Jervish, the

personal friend of Colonel Montfort, was also some connection of the Pecks. It was there he had first

seen

Mary Lyman, and though he moved

in a so

much

higher social sphere than they, was quite willing to take all the advantage which his relationship to the
family gave
tim.

him

in accomplishing the ruin of his vic-

Peck had badgered his wife into dem'ing before the coroner's jury all knowledge of the closed carriage

344

HOLDER WITH CORDS.

that had been seen to stop at their door the night Mary was missing; he had likewise aided in secreting Jervish it was believed on his premises, which the sheriff, true to his Masonic obligations, refused to search all at the bidding of Colonel Montfort, who found in Peck just that mixture of bigotry and self-conceit which is
so convenient in the underlings of the lodge when their superiors wish to manipulate them for purposes of their

own.

Lovejoy listened calmly to the end of the halting, ungrammatical speech, which was really nothing but a low tirade of abuse. He was prepared for this part of the programme. Peck sat down and wiped his forehead, rather exhausted with his effort at oratory, but supremely satisfied therewith. There was an instant's silence, during which Lovejoy's eye looked with eagle keenness over the throng of conspirators which surrounded him like a pack of hungry wolves thirsting for his blood; and then he answered slowly and firmly: " If I have committed any offence against Masonic law I am willing to meet the charge, and if proved, submit like any ordinary member to the sentence of the To resign the 1 am denounced as a traitor. lodge. chair under these circumstances would be equivalent to a plea of guilty, and I therefore refuse most decidedly to do any such thing." This reply was also in agreement with the programme. There was a murmur of rage as Lovejoy finished speaking, and a forward movement from the

member who carried the concealed dirk. " You shall resign, you blasted traitor!" he exclaimed,

with an oath. " Take your choice, either be dragged from the chair or give it up peaceably."

MASONIC BENEVOLENCE.
"
it

345

I will neither

up, coolly answered Lovejoy,

be dragged from the chair nor give who knew that the fatal
to their

moment was fast approaching when, according

pre-concerted arrangement, the whole band of ruffians would be on him. " You have met here to take my
life.

know

it,

and others know

it,

too.

guard of

the .citizens of Grranby, at least a hundred strong, now surround this lodge, prepared to rescue me from your

hands should you attempt violence. I have only to give a certain signal and they will rush in. The result may be a worse Antimasonic excitement than the one

you accuse me of heading. Now take your choice; give up your plan to assassinate me, or carry it through and take the consequences." The lion's mouth was fairly shut, for the most infuriated Mason present did not care to provoke the popular vengeance that would have surely followed any attack on Lovejoy. Colonel Montfort, under his concealing moustache, fairly ground his teeth with rage at this unlooked-for miscarriage of his deep and subtle plot. He had rightly calculated that with every member of the lodge pledged to keep Masonic silence over the affair, and Masonic sheriffs and juries to obstruct the course of justice in every possible way, there would not be the ten thousandth part o*f a chance that the actual perpetrators of the deed would ever be discovered or punished. Nor had it occurred to his mind that Lovejoy, even if he should hear of the plot against him, would take any other measure of self-defense than simply to stay

away "I have one more remark

to

make on

this subject,"

continued Lovejoy, looking round with unflinching " You denounce ine gaze on the baffled conspirators.

34:6

HOLDEN WITH

CORDS.

my

as being false to Masonry because in the discharge of duties as a citizen, I arrested a criminal who is also

a Mason.
quires

If to be true to

my

lodge obligations re-

my country, then I have had enough of the system, and the world has had far too much; and the only thing that I or any other honest man can do in such a case is to quit it.*'
to be false to
I will not transcribe the volley of cursing and profanity which followed this speech of Lovejoy's. It was as if hell had broken loose. Colonel Montfort, who

me

God and

had by

this time assured himself that eager ears

were

really straining in the darkness and silence below to "catch the least sound of tumult or uproar in the lodge,

was alarmed.
forget that this is a meeting for busi" he with We are only cool effrontery. ness, said, useless talk. time this Our wasting Worshipful by Master charges the brethren with a conspiracy to assassinate him. I on my part charge him with un-Masonic conduct in hiring a mob of cowans and eavesdroppers to surround the lodge; with using inflamma1 '

"The brethren

tory language designed to excite the public mind against the order, besides many other violations of his
obligations and duties as a Mason. I therefore move that a complaint be presented to the Grand Lodge of

the State against Anson Lovejoy, Worshipful Master of Fidelity Lodge, No. 60., A. F, & A. M., petitioning
for his expulsion

and removal from

office."

Lovejoy listened with calm disdain. To a man who had stood but the moment before face to face with death this was but the firing of blank cartridges. The after proceedings were unimportant, and after an *un-

MASONIC BEIOIYOLENCE.
murderous purpose.

347

usually brief and quiet meeting the lodge disbanded,

fairly

checkmated in

its

The hushed and silent crowd kept vigilant watch till Lovejoy came out; then greeted him with enthusiastic
cheers that could be heard half over Grauby. He was the hero of the hour, but I fancied that like some other heroes he felt that there was a certain thing lacking to
his triumph.

"A

I said, as I

Christian should not bear malice, Mr. Lovejoy," shook his hand. Give us a call to-morrow

and allow Mrs. Severns to congratulate you." Lovejoy hesitated. He had not crossed our threshold since the day Rachel had forbid his entrance; and I could not blame him if he entertained some rankling remembrance of her harsh and bitter words. " not otherwise," If you think I shall be welcome
he answered.
u

Try

it," I said,

with a smile.

Lovejoy hesitated no

longer. "

you, Mr. Severns, I will, if it is only to I bear no malice,' as you call it, because that prove told me the truth. I was a companion wife your good of murderers as to-night's events have made me realize.
;

Thank

But I am so no longer." The next day, agreeably to his promise, he came over. Rachel met him with extended hand and a hearty, 41 Forgive me, I was unjust; but I have found out my
mistake."

have nothing to forgive, Mrs. Severns," was his " The medicine equally sincere and hearty answer. was harsh, but I am no worse for it."
t

"

Verily,

' '

curse from the depths of

womanhood

Is very bitter

and

salt

and good."

CHAPTER
HE
I

XXXVII.

HISTORY REPEATS ITSELF.

community ah large looked upon the speedy conviction of Jervish as a matter of course, and when the time arrived for the court to sit on the case the public

mind had quieted down from its state of excitement to one of comparative apathy. Against such overwhelming evidence what possible chance for any verdict but guilty?
"

Anson Lovejoy thought otherwise. The lodge is bound to clear Jervish,'' he said

to

me
-

one day when the subject of the approaching trial happened to be mentioned. "And tliey will do it" Even I, who knew so well what Masonic craft and
capable of in the way of perverting justice, at the posjtiveness with which he spoke. u " No plainer case of guilt ever Impossible !" I said. before a came jury." u That may be," answered Lovejoy with a little touch of satire," but you will find that when a fourth or even
guile
is

was surprised

the jury wear Masonic spectacles to assist their understandings the plainest cases have a faculty of growing strangely involved. Colonel Montfort and the other members of the lodge have a personal stake
less of

in this affair quite outside of

any particular

interest

HISTORY REPEATS ITSELF.

they
tion.

349

may

feel in Jervish.

It is a

kind of a test ques-

They want to prove to the world and to themthat selves Masonry is strong enough to spread its protecting wing over the vilest criminal and then defy the hand of the law to reach him. My word for it, Sheriff Simonds will fill out the jnry with Masons and Oddfellows to a man; with possibly one who is neither Mason nor Odd-fellow, but whose sympathies or connections are all with the lodge, put in simply for a blinder to the public nothing more.'"

was the same dodge that had been so successfully in the Morgan and often so played
I started, for this

What should hinder its worktrials forty years before. ing equally well in the present instance? The wide-spread notoriety of the case attracted an unusually large number to hear the trial, and each day of the proceedings a crowded court room attested to the interest it had excited. The witness against Maurice Jervish was clear and conclusive; the testimony in his favor slight and open to serious doubt from the character of the witnesses or the suspicion that lodge influence had been at work, especially with Mrs. Peck, who swore positively to having no knowledge where Mary Lyman went on the night she left the house, or in whose company; but was believed by every candid person to have perjured herself under terror inspired by her husband, who knew very well how to use the peculiar arguments of the lodge with most impressive effect

on his weak-minded partner. Lovejoy's prophecy had proved true to the letter in relation to Sheriff Simonds, who filled out the jury with four Masons and one Odd-fellow, together with a sixth who was neither a Mason nor an Odd-fellow, but a warm personal friend of the prisoner! And so the case proceeded a great deal of tedious quibbling and

350

HOLDER WITH

CORDS.

impudent brow-beating of witnesses from the Masonic lawyer who was counsel for the accused, and did his
best,

Falsemalicious perAnd then, the evidence all being in, the departure of the jury to render their decision guilty or not guilty. I remember with what hushed expectancy we waited for the verdict; how in the stillness of the court room the jury's returning footsteps after their brief absence sounded painfully loud. And I remember, too, the half-stunned^ half- sick feeling that came over me. as if I saw Justice stabbed to the heart and was forced to stand by when the death-blow was struck as the foreare

though signally failing in the attempt some things beyond even the power
whole
affair as a

for there

of

hood

to represent the secution of his client.

man pronounced their "NoT GUILTY!"

was
free.

decision

The lodge had triumphed.

Mary Lyman's murderer

Astounded, indignant, almost questioning whether ears had heard aright, I listened to the giving of the verdict, which was followed by loud applause from Colonel Montfort's adherents, who closed around Jervish and bore him away like a conquering hero. It was the same scene with which the court rooms of western New York grew so familiar in 1826 and the

my

four years succeeding. It was history repeated, a Masonic jury setting aside the plainest evidence for testimony that bore the stamp of perjury on its very face; law helpless under the heel of the lodge, and the same

exultant rallying around the murderer.

Eachel was

silent for a

moment

after I told

her the

result of the trial; then slie

bowed her head on her that was half a groan, half a sound hands with clasped
a sob.

HISTORY EEPEATS ITSELF.

351

" Mother!" I said, gently. " " Shall secret inI can't help it," she answered. I I feel as if could call upon forever? iquity triumph God as the prophet did to rend the heavens and come

down."

"But

there
1

is
'

a day of reckoning coming, you forget-

that. mother.

don't forget it, but it seems such a great way heart cries out for is justice now. It will be a satisfaction to the universe no doubt when this wretch gets his deserts at the Day of Judgment, though it be a million years hence, but thinking of that will never reconcile me to his going free of pun-

"No, I

off.

What my

ishment here. His acquittal is a standing menace to the peace and virtue of every home. If the lodge can defy law at one time and in one place it can at other times and in other places and what is more, it will." u Well," said Anson Lovejoy, who had come in to " talk over the result of the trial, Colonel Montfort and his party triumph openly and shamelessly in the fact that they have cleared Jervish. At this very moment

some of the jury are over at the tavern having a grand drinking fuddle in honor of their victory. Colonel Montfort, 1 understand, is preparing a garbled report of the affair for a Chicago daily, in which he will represent Jervish as a cruelly attacked victim of a malicious Antimasonic persecution, winding up with a glowing account of his triumphant vindication before the jury. I am rather glad he is going to do so for it will give me a chance to reply. The real facts of the case should be placed before the people and signed by competent witnesses, so that every honest man and woman who reads it shall be convinced on which side the truth lies." u That is a good idea if you can get sucji an article inserted," I answered, with a vivid remembrance of the

362

HOLDEK WITH CORDS.

times now grown so distant and shadowy, when from one end of the land to the other scarce a paper dared to print an account of Morgan's abduction; when, deaf alike to the appeals of outraged humanity and violated
law, editors almost everywhere resolutely closed their columns to the whole subject, presenting that saddest of spectacles in a hind of freedom an enslaved press. u Oh! I think there will be no difficulty about that," returned Lovejoy. "After publishing one side of the affair they, couldn't for decency's sake refuse to publish

the other."
"
"

How

is

your

trial before the

Grand Lodge coming

out?"

I inquired.

defence in writing, I hardly know yet, I sent for I could not spare the money to go in person, and besides I have ceased to consider myself as being under

my

the jurisdiction of the lodge. They appointed a committee of three to investigate the charges against me and report to the Grand Master. As this committee was composed of an ex- Governor and two ministers I naturally supposed that 1 should receive gentlemanly treatment from their hands at least courtesy and common fairness. But this was not the case. They refused to hear any testimony but that of my accusers, and conducted the investigation, which was the merest farce from beginning to end, more in the spirit of examining members of the Inquisition than anything else. I presume they reported adversely; I neither know nor care. Nor shall I wait for the decision of the Grand Master; I have already sent in my renunciation and my reasons for doing so which are substan-

Mason is under obligaa brother Mason's crime; that the greater the orime the stronger the obligation to conceal it; that the lodge has the power of life and death over
tially these
'

I find that every

tion to conceal

HISTORY EEPEATS ITSELF.

its

353
his in-

members; and that

if

any member knows of

tended assassination he has no right to use any other means of safety than his own physical force or keeping r out of the way.' Lovejoy spoke with slow, solemn emphasis. He had learned at last the lesson that Mark and I learned two score years before from a page stained with martyr's blood and blotted with the tears of the widow. The iron had entered into his soul. Elder Stedman had already delivered one or two Antimasonic lectures without encountering any very serious opposition. Another was advertised to be given in the Quipaw Creek school house on Thursday evening of this same week. The party at the tavern had a chance to see the notice, which was put up in a conspicuous corner of the
public room, and make their own peculiar comments thereon. But remembering that my reader's ears are unaccustomed to vulgarity and profaneness, I shall only transcribe that part of their talk which is of immediate interest in view of the events that are to follow. Colonel Montfort himself was pledged to settle the score, and under the pleasant stimulus of this recollection there was a general drinking to the health of the gallant Colonel. "Come boys, now for a rouser," s#id the leader, as he u Here's to Maurice Jervish, again filled up his glass. the brave and innocent."

The toast was responded to with drunken enthusiasm and in nauseating triumph every glass was drained.
Reader,

when

the lodge has reached

what

it

takes a

good deal of pains to inform us through its orators on St. John's day and other appropriate occasions, is its ultimate aim and object; when it rules the whole of our
beloved country from

New

England

to the

Sierras;

354

HOLDEN WITH CORDS.

when it elects all our public officers from President and Governor downwards; when it pulls the wires at every political convention and caucus and controls every
town meeting; in those palmy days a man may do that which is right in his own eyes; he may seduce, murder, rob, cheat, commit all the crimes in the decalogue,
only provided that he has first had the foresight to learn a few Masonic signs and grips, and has likewise had the discrimination to select his victims entirely from the ranks of cowans and outsiders. possibility that by that time so many will join the lodge from motives of self-protection as to seriously limit the field

of operations would seem at first a slight obstacle in the way of this cheerful prospect. But all the difficulty rises from a superficial view of the subject. There will always be the cowan in the land; men too poor or too shiftless to pay the lodge dues; men too independent to surrender their liberty to a secret despotism; humble followers of the Lord who refuse to bow to anti-Christ; besides cripples and minors, to say

nothing of the whole female sex barred out by circumstance or accident from the tender charities of the lodge. Now, as the above mentioned classes, taken together, form, at a moderate estimate, considerably more than
two-thirds of the world's population it will be readily seen that the time is not likely ever to arrive when Masonry shall be restricted in its operations by too narrow a field outside. But we Avill leave dipping into the future and go back to the party gathered at the tavern who had been drinking just freely enough to be primed for rowdyism. " I say, let's go over to Quipaw to-night and shut the

mouth
one.

of that confounded Methodist parson," proposed " don't he The old rascal needs a lesson.

Why

stick to his business

and

let

other things alone?"

HISTORY REPEATS ITSELF.

"

355

That's so," was the ready response of another. to be treated to a coat of tar and feathers, ranting up and down the country, making trouble in the family and setting wives against their husbands. Now my wife hates Masonry like the devil, and ever since she heard that confounded fellow lecture she's been worse about it. Now I say that Masonry ain't a part of a preacher's business. He ought to stick to the Gospel. That's what ministers are for." It is astonishing, reader, the unanimity of opinion that sometimes exists between two very opposite classes of men. The drunken rowdy who gave utterance to the above edifying sentiments was of exactly the same mind with the Rev. Dr. Easy, who was at that very moment expressing to one of the deacons of his church his sorrow that Bro. Stedman should leave his legitimate business of saving souls to attack such a respectau

He ought

ble institution as

Freemasonry, with which so

connected.
lifting

many

worthy men were

Meanwhile the Elder was

up

his heart in

prayer for strength to stand firm against the enemies of the truth; for a spirit of meekness and charity towards all who should oppose; for the presence of Jesus Christ to go with him in might and power, directing the battle to a glorious victory over the hosts of Baal for the honor of his precious name and the hastening of his day of Millennial triumph. The Elder rose from his knees and walked to the place appointed, calm as the summer sunset. He would have been calm if he had known that he was to encounter a raging mob ready to tear him in pieces. Into that eternal fortress where the righteous run and are Girded from Jehovah's safe, his soul had entered. celestial armory, with the sword of truth in his hand that forty years of constant warfare had only whetted to

356
a keen edge,

HOLDER WITH

CORDS.

why should he fear the face of mortal man?

his lecture, which was on the relation of the Christian religion to Masonry, in comparative It was a rather miscellaneous audience; a few quiet.

He began

earnest, intelligent

men and women met

to learn

what

they could about a system which pretends to hold in its keeping ineffable secrets impossible to be discovered by profane gaze, yet with carious inconsistency binds all its members under awful oaths never to reveal the unrevealable! A few drawn by curiosity; and a considerable number, among whom was the party from
the tavern, whose only design in coming was to disturb the meeting and mob the lecturer. In the course of his argument he first described in a few brief, fitting words, the nature and essence of true religion, on which followed naturally a counter description of Masonry. Here the Elder began to tread

So long as he kept to generalicould afford to listen with tolerable equanimity. they They could even bear to be told that the lodge was an emanation from the smoke of the bottomless pit; a low, cunning caricature of Christianity, a revival of the worship of Baal and Tammuz, and every other
ties

on dangerous ground.

heathen deity mentioned in Scripture. But when in order to prove these statements he began a rapid review of the lodge ceremonies, the stripping, the hoodwink, the cable-tow, and the mock killing and raising to life again of the widow's son, they felt that it was high time to rally to the support of the ancient and venerable

rowed
kt

handmaid thus ruthlessly despoiled of attire in which her heart delighted.

all

that bor-

"You

are perjured!'' shouted a voice in the audience.

In what way?" mildly inquired the Elder. The man was about to answer, u By telling our secrets," but the liquor he had drank had not so far

HISTORY REPEATS ITSELF.

357

muddled his brains that he did not bethink himself in u time, and as he had not taken the precaution to fill his mouth with arguments" beforehand, having filled his pockets instead with another kind of argument very much in vogue with the opponents of unpopular reform, he contented himself with simply reiterating, You are perjured," and sat down.
ll

The Elder, however, was armed cap-a-pie against all such attacks. "I am perjured, then, because I tell the truth about Masonry. If I was telling falsehoods it wouldn't be perjury. Now," added the Elder, turning to his audiu this man who has just interrupted me is sworn ence, 'ever to conceal and never reveal the secrets of the order; but he has just revealed them by the very act of applying to me such a term. Which of us, then, is I as to wise men. speak perjured? Judge ye."
'

But at this point the speaker's voice was drowned in a storm of hissings, hootings, stampings and yellings, while showers of rotten eggs bespattered him liberally from head to foot. The wild elements were let loose. Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame, is no wrapt description of the scene that followed. The Elder, after a vain attempt to continue speaking, dismissed the audience as well as he could, and the respectable part dispersed. He himself remained behind to gather up his books. This gave time for a crowd of infuriated Masons to close about the platform, and surround him like a cordon of wild beasts, with u cries of Bring a rail, egg him, feather him, shoot him." But their most outrageous demonstrations of insult and violence did not cause a ripple in that heavenly calm which pervaded the Elder's soul. To long to suffer for the truth's sake is in some souls almost a natural instinct. It was so with Mark Sted-

358

HOLDER WITH

CORDS.

man. He was born with those qualities that make a martyr dauntless courage and intense loyalty to his
convictions. And if we add to this the fact of all those long years of service for his Master, deadening every ease-loving, self-interested fibre in his nature; but quickening in the same ratio every heavenly impulse of his soul, till the ordinary motives that sway men had scarcely more influence over him than if he had been a glorified spirit, it will be readily seen that if their object was to frighten the Elder, he was about the worst possible subject they could have selected for

such an experiment. " My friends," he said, mildly, "you see that I am powerless; you can do with me what you choose. You can take my life, but God rules in Heaven, and the truth will triumph all the same perhaps quicker. My soul is in his keeping; you cannot harm the truth, and you cannot harm me." The mob was silent for an instant, overawed by the meek daring of this servant of God; then their rage broke out anew in redoubled yells and fresh threats of violence. Suddenly a man among the crowd whose features were partly concealed by a hat that he wore, either by accident or design, pretty well over bis eyes, leaped on the platform, and with one quick movement
extinguished the lights. The same friendly hand seized on the Elder, who, by the diversion thus made, and with the aid of his unknown helper, managed in the darkness and confusion to make his escape. It was Anson Lovejoy, who had seen the notice and made up his mind to attend the lecture, half surmising that there might be trouble. By mingling- with the mob as if one of them, he had executed his bold maneuvre, and the Elder went home unharmed in person and not a whit discouraged in soul.

filSTORY REPEATS ITSELF.

"

359

The wrath of man shall praise him, and the remainder he will restrain," said Mark, in talking over a the affair a few days after. Outrage and violence
never really hinder the progress of the truth. I believe more Antimasons were made by that lecture than by
the two others that passed off quietly.'
1

"And it would make still more,'' said Lovejoy, if the press were not so completely dominated by Masonic influence that the most daring attempt to suppress free speech passes unnoticed. That Chicago Journal has actually refused to publish the contradiction to Colonel Montfort's article, though signed by candid, intelligent men who were on the coroner's jury and knew all the facts of the case." u " editors and ministers are, of all Well," said I, men, most timid about touching anything that savors The lodge has pretty much the same arguof reform. ment for both. Editors don't want to displease their Masonic patrons and lose thereby a part of their bread and butter. Ministers don't want to preach an unpopular reform and so run* the risk of losing a slice off And considering what a poor, weak contheir salaries. cern human nature is, even at its best estate, I can't
say
* k

much wonder at Do you know that

it."

a professed minister of the Gos-

pel

was foremost in the riotous demonstrations the other night?" said Lovejoy. "I tell you while ministers and church members support Masonry, the system will stand. And furthermore, so long as ministers and church members who are not Masons 'think it is a good institution, so long as they will excuse and defend it, so long it will be impossible to overthrow it." " I have been thinking of bringing up the subject
before our next Quarterly Conference," said the Elder. u If the church is ever to cast this viper out of her bosom it must be through agitation from within. If reform does not begin at the house of God, judgment surely will."

CHAPTER
is

XXXVIII.
TREE.

UNDER THE JUNIPER

a .certain exaltation of spirit

which overcomes the weakness of the flesh when we engage in a stern wrestle with any kind of moral evil. Hence it is that reformers in every age have gone through life with the step^of laurelled victors moving to the souml of triumphal psalms. Yet God has so constituted the human
soul that it cannot always keep stretched to heroic tension. The Elijahs who climbed the nearest heaven on those heights of sublime daring for truth's sake generally find their juniper tree somewhere in the way.
this

Mark Stedman had encountered

persecution,

with

unfaltering

threats, obloquy, heart. He expected

nothing

else.

He was renewing
murderous

the battle at double

Masonry remained unchanged, as evidenced by the attempted attack on Lovejoy, there was not now, as in the Morgan days, an awakening public sentiment to back up its opposers. To rouse that slumbering public sentiment, to lift up his voice like a trumpet and show the house of Judah their sin he conceived to be one of his peculiar duties as a sentinel of Zion; and he made no account
of possible difficulties in convincing of her guilt a lukewarm church that had forsaken her first love.

odds, for while the

spirit of

UNDER THE JUNIPER TREE.

"

361

Really, brother Stedman." said the first of his brother ministers in the conference to whom Mark addressed himself, "I gave you credit for being a man of more sense than to run a tilt against Masonry at your age. You might as well try to throw Gibraltar into the sea." "Amen," returned the Elder, while his dark eye kindled and his thin face flushed. Every false worship has been called impregnable. But the God I serve is a God of the hills as well as a God of the val* 4

have Christ's promise, *If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, be thou removed and be thou cast into the sea, and it shall be done/' u These are not the days of miracles," returned the
leys;
I
1

and moreover

And to tell the truth I don't Christian charity to indulge in such wholethink sale denunciations of Masonry when four-fifths of the
other, rather curtly.
it is

"

ministers in our conference belong i?o the lodge." u Counting yourself, I see," dryly answered Msirk, who had just caught sight of a Masonic pin gleaming

under

the

coat

his

charitably-disposed clerical

brother.

The latter looked a trifle embarrassed, not to say ashamed, at the discovery. u You see I don't wear it out in. open sight. If I was all wrapped up in the institution like Elder Chadband, I joined the lodge a few years ago because I I should.
thought
it

You know
Mark
u
I

St.

might increase iny influence Paul became all things to

as a pastor.
all

men

that

he might save a few."

rose to his feet, stern and solemn. have one question to ask: Was it to save

men

or

to gain
ularity

more hearers, and, as a consequence, more popand more money that you joined an order

362

HOLDER WITH

CORDS.

whose badge you are ashamed to wear openly? You need not answer it to me. Answer it to God and your

own soul.'' And having launched this keen arrow of truth Mark went his way with an inward prayer for this self-deceived shepherd of the flock, who after all was not so blameworthy as his elders in the ministry who had
lured

him by their example into such a path of hypocrisy and time serving. Eider Chadband was an altogether different subject to deal with. Far from being ashamed of Masonry he gloried in the many degrees he had taken, and sounded the praises of the handmaid at every funeral and corner-stone laying at which the fraternity figured, far
and near.

He saw with

alarm the serious trouble that Mark's

fanatical views were likely to make in the conference, and he felt warranted in using almost any measure that

But rid that body of his undesirable presence. he believed in trying a little diplomacy first, and to this end he sought an interview with Mark, who, on his part, had rather avoided any discussions with the
might
Elder, considering him as being too much in the situation of the Scriptural Ephraim to warrant the hope that any good might arise therefrom. He was therefore

proportionately surprised when the Elder thus urbanely began the conversation: u While I am sorry that }r ou feel it your duty to oppose such an excellent thing as Freemasonry, my dear brother Stedman, a system that in its leading points is drawn from revelation and teaches in such an admirable manner so many important moral truths, I must

say that your sincerity and earnestness, however misdiAnd I wish that there was rected, is above praise. need a fresh more of that spirit in the church.

We

UNDER THE JUNIPER

baptism of the old-time

TREE.

363
1

There is too little of it zeal. And the altogether too little of it now-a-days. Elder sighed as if deeply impressed with the melancholy truth just uttered. Mark opened his eyes. What did it mean? Was
'

Saul also
"

among

the prophets?
1'

I believe in the largest Christian liberty, " continued the Elder, not waiting for an answer, and

Now,

no doubt one important use of having so many

ent sects
is

differ-

have been seriously thinking, my dear brother Stedman, that in some other church holding similar views on the subject of Masonry, you could preach those views without offense, and thus labor with more freedom and a greater prospect of usefulness. Of course we should be sorry to lose one of our most valuable preachers; but our loss would be the gain of some other denomination, such as the United Brethren, for instance. We will give letters of or to that recommendation you any church
to
liberty possible.
I

make that

you may prefer." Mark's eye flashed. He had been unsuspicious, hithElder erto; now he saw through the whole thing. Chadband had been playing to perfection the part of a boa constrictor,, which slimes its victim over before swallowing it, and I am afraid that Mark's reply to his proposal had less than the usual savor of Gospel meekness. u Is this Christian liberty

to be able to declare the

whole counsel of God, not freely in any part of the church universal, but only in a few sectarian by-ways and corners? No. Elder Chadband, while 1 have Christian fellowship with all who walk in the truth, by whatever name they are called, the church of the Wesleys is the church of my adoption. It was there my first vows were paid, and until she casts me out of her communion I will join no other."

364:

HOLDER WITH

CORDS.

This outburst rather startled Elder Chadband. He had hoped for a different result, not calculating that there was still some unquenched fire under Mark's meek countenance and threadbare coat. u " and there was a decided Really, brother Stedman " of the Elder's I am grieved urbane tone dropping that you should take a mere kindly hint in such a We are commanded to separate ourselves from spirit. such as cause schism and offense, and to tell you the
truth, many in our conference consider you liable to that charge. So in the truest spirit of brotherly love I have pointed out to you a course that will prevent all necessity for such a painful and disagreeable step." " It seems, then, tha't you are willing to recommend me to some unsuspecting church as a brother beloved for his work's sake, while all the while I am lying under a grievous charge of causing schism and offense.' You would have me act a lie by representing that I seek another church from personal preference, when i do it to avoid the 'painful and disagreeable' notoriety of being forcibly ejected by the one I go from. Is this Christian charity or lodge dissimulation? If truth, faithfully preached, causes schism in any church, the worse for that church. Elder Chadband, in the day of Christ's appearing, how will you answer before him for your connection with a system that points out to man another way of salvation than through his atoning cross? How will you bear to stand at his judgment bar with the blood of souls clinging to your skirts that the lodge has deluded and destroyed? Woe unto you Masonic pastors, for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men. Ye neither go in yourselves, and them that are entering in ye hinder." And having thus delivered his righteously indignant soul, Mark left Elder Chadband in a more disturbed
; '

UNDER THE JUNIPER

TREE.

365

state of mind than Masonic philosophy would seem to warrant, and more than ever confirmed in his opinion that brother Stedman was a dangerous man to remain in the ranks of the Methodist ministry. Now Elder Cushing's church in Brownsville, Avas Baptist, and though, as Mark truly said, the church of the Wesley s was the church of his adoption, he always felt in the hidden depths of his soul a yearning impulse of affection towards that particular chamber in So when a certain Zioii where he had been cradled. Baptist minister came in his way a little while after, who "had never joined the lodge, and considered all secret societies at variance with the spirit of the GosMark began with considerable hopefulness to pel, urge upon him his duly as a Christian minister to express those views in the pulpit. U I have very few Masons in my church; I could count them all on my finger's ends," said the Baptist pastor, looking a trifle disturbed at this very direct ap" It would hardly be worth plication of his principles. the while for me to leave the saving doctrines of the
1
'

Gospel to preach on a side issue." "You acknowledge that Masonry is an evil thing," " returned the severely logical Elder. Then if you, have one Mason in your congregation his soul is in danger, and you can no more neglect to warn him without incurring guilt than if there were fifty or a hundred." The Baptist minister was silent for a moment and then answered coldly: " You were once yourself in the Masonic order I understand." "It is true that I have worn the mark of the beast." quietly answered the Elder, and for a short time I rendered him faithful service. But Christ's own blood washed away that mark long ago."

366
"

HOLDEST WITH CORDS.

Well, everybody has his own ideas of duty, Elder Stedman. Now for my part I couldn't take the solemn obligations that are required of all who become Freemasons and then feel right to break them afterwards. The just man, we are told, sweareth to his own hurt and changes not. So we must agree to differ on the
other question. I think hobbies should be kept out of the pulpit reform hobbies as much as any." This was the taunt that sent Mark under his juniper 'tree that is to say, into his plain, bare little study, where he paced back and forth for a while, his whole soul in one of those wild tumults to which only the But the earthquake still, small voice can speak peace. and the whirlwind must go before. Where he had a
right to expect understanding and sympathy, he had received a stone nay, worse; a stinging scorpion. His heart writhed under the injustice and cried out in must he ever lead the bitterness of its agony. must he be the one to always a forlorn hope? stand in the breach? How could he hope to batter

Why

Why

down this grim fortress of secret iniquity single-handed? Had he not been very jealous for the Lord God of Hosts when every pastor around him was either openly committed to the worship of Baal or preserving a cowardly and shameful silence? Surely he had battled long enough. Death seemed better than life; an ignominious retreat better than to continue a hopeless struggle with the church and the world against him. But God never leaves his servants under the juniper tree without sending an angel to strengthen them.

And even now

his angel was on the way to strengthen the poor, diseouraged Elder who, to spiritual weakness, was beginning to add bodily faiutness; though when there came a tap at his study door, which he took for a call to dinner, he only answered
:

UN DEE THE JUNIPER

"
I

TREE.

367

won't come down to-day, Hannah." used to her husband's frequent seasons of fasting, and it did not strike her as anything unbo she only replied: 4> There is a stranger waitusual, ing below who wants to see you. He didn't give me his name.'
think
I

Hannah was

there in a moment." closed the door Mark threw himself on his knees and tried to pray; but the moment passed in a wordless trance of pain; and, rising, he went wearily down stairs to greet his unknown visitor. That the rough-looking stranger in blue jean trousers, tucked into very muddy boots, who shook his hand with such awkward warmth, was just as divinely appointed to bring him help and comfort as any angelic messenger that ever appeared to patriarch or prophet in the Old Testament times, was an idea that never dawned in even the most indistinct fashion on the Elder's mind. " I'm glad ye didn't get no hurt the other night, parson," was the first greeting of the unknown. " Thank you, my friend." replied the Elder. u The Lord is truly a shield and buckler to them that fear him." " Well, I went fifteen miles to hear that lecture, and I tell you, parson, I was just thundering mad at the way you showed us up; so I was as ready as any on 'em to
Tell him I will be As soon as Hannah

"

boar my part when the rumpus begun. But you had a kind of look as you stood there with the rotten eggs flying about that made me think of my old Methodist mother when dad used to curse and swear at her about her religion and threaten all kinds of things if she didn't leave off her singing and praying. And arter all I don't know but I was more glad than sorry at your getting off so slick when that chap blew out the lights and left us groping in the dark, like the Syrian army that was sentT to take the prophet Elisha. You see I stumbled right on that ar passage when I was hunting up the eighth chapter of Ezekiel. I was bound to find out if there was really anything in the Bible about Masonry; and for all it was two o'clock when I got home, I raked up the fire and went at it. And I

368
tell

HOLDER WITH COEDS.

you, parson, that ar chapter in Ezekiel is a stunner. knocked me flat to think I'd been worshiping the sun like any heathen. And now I've come out from the lodge for good and all. I don't want no more of it. The Lord has come into my heart and taken all the Masonry clean out of me. I hate it worse'n pizen, I do; and now, parson, I want a lecture in our parts as soon as you can come and give one. My name is Timothy Bundy, and I live at Bundy's Flats, just over the river. Maybe vou know the place?" The Elder had heard of Bundy's Flats. He knew it was a hard locality, but at that moment though a legion of devils had beset his way he would have gone all the same. Surely God had spread a table for him in the desert and riven the rock at his need, and his fainting, discouraged soul mounted up as on eagle's' wings in exulting triumph over all the powers of earth and hell. It is in the fiery furnace that a form appears like the Son of Man. Scorn, contempt, persecution, still beset the Elder's path, and he saw no reason to hope for anything else till he reached the end of his mortal journey. But a spirit of divine joy in doing and suffering for the grand eternal cause of Truth just as long as that cause needed him, now possessed his soul. Was it not an earnest of victory that he had been allowed to convert even one soul from the worship of Baal to serve the only living and true God? "'Praise" the Lord, Mr. Bundy, for bringing you out of darkness into his marvelous light," he said, as he U I will gladly grasped the stranger's rough hand. time at in a lecture you may set." any your place give And having consented to an arrangement for Friday night of the following week and seen his visitor off, the Elder rose up from under his juniper tree and did the most sensible thing he could do, which, we are told, was the course followed by Elijah in somewhat similar circumstances he did eab and drink.
It just

CHAPTER XXXIX.
A FORETASTE.
'R.

TIMOTHY BUNDY

was a specimen

of a particular class of men once common in Ohio and the bordering States.

He had been a hunter and trapper in his youth, \vas of Herculean frame and corresponding strength, and there was a legend current in the lodge that he had proved a very troublesome member to initiate, for instead of allowing himself to be knocked down and buried in due form under a pile of rubbish quietly at the east gate of Solomon's Temple, he had taken the farce for a literal attack and pitched his assailants right and left to the imminent danger of breaking their bones. Elder Stedman fulfilled his appointment and lectured at Bundy's Flats, to a small but more quiet and wellbehaved audience than he had any reason to expect
after his late experience at

Quipaw, which was in com-

parison quite a center of civilization and refinement. But truth often has the freest course in seemingly most unpromising places, and nowhere were the Elder's
Flats.

more signally blessed of the Lord than at Bundy's The two dollars given him at the close of the lecture was certainly meagre pay, but the Elder was satisfied. Not so Mr. Bundy, who took him aside at
labors

parting with a rather mysterious air. u Now,, parson, I want to tell you your
safe.

life ain't

never
.

One month ago

if I

had been picked

ofit

by the

lodge to cut your throat,

should have done it"

370

BOLDEST WITH CORDS.

This revelation did not startle the Elder. He knew too well what a terrible power the oaths of the lodge have over an ignorant and blinded conscience. " Thank the Lord, Mr. Bundy, that he has given you u a better mincl," he calmly answered, and pray that his grace may work the same blessed change in others." U I know we orter pray and not to faint, but grace don't do its work all in aminit, you'll find. Now, parson, this ere is a fust-rate revolver, brand new, and I'm going to make ye a present of it. You ain't obleged to let it be known you kerry one, bem' a minister, and you ain't obleged to use it I mean on any ornary occasion; but it's a good plan to have some sich thing about ye jest for a scarecrow, to scare off folks as might

want to meddle with ye to your hurt sometimes." The Elder remembered Peter, and his answer to this warm-hearted but ignorant disciple had a decided savor
of mild rebuke. "The Lord has wonderfully preserved my life hitherto from all the snares evil men have set for it, and would

you have me begin to distrust him now by relying on anything else than his own mighty arm for protection? 'Cursed be the man that trusteth in man and maketh flesh his arm and departeth from the Lord.' Mr. Bundy Stood irresolute. Almost without physical fear himself, all the more did he realize the dangers which beset the Elder. His sudden conversion had generated a spiritual force and fervor that had as yet developed in the active rather than the passive line of direction, for like most men of his peculiar physique the animal in him having the start to begin with, was not immediately subdued by days or even weeks of this new, controlling spiritual force which had arrested him like Saul of old, "breathing out threatenings and slaughter," and bent him by the power of its mighty
''

A FORETASTE.

371

mysterious will to confess and forsake his false worship. Still he felt a strange reverence come over him for the meek and fearless Elder. Far back in his rough boyhood he remembered a timid, shrinking woman who, nerved with the same divine courage, had patiently borne threatening and abase for Christ's sake; and though for long years her spirit had walked, palmcrowned, the heights of Paradise, Timothy Bundy wiped his eyes on his coat sleeve as the vision passed before him. "I don't know but you're in the right on it, parson." he said, finally, laying back the revolver on the shelf. "Anyhow, take this,*' and he pressed some bills into u It was what I've been saving up the Elder's hand. to pay my lodge dues with, and if you don't need it for yourself jest take it to help on the work in some place where they are poorer than they be at Bundy's Flats." The Elder took the offering with a heart of grateful To him there was a peculiar preciousness in this joy. first fruit of his labor. Gladly should it all be laid on
Christ's altar; oh, how gladly! " God bless you, brother Bundy," he said, u and fear not what man's rage can do. He hath preserved me in

seven there shall no evil touch me." in a state of calm, exultant happiness. There are times when to the soul of every sufferer for God's truth he gives a glimpse, as it were, of the final victory. And to Elder Stedman came another such experience of joy and triumph as he remembered having once before when the shot of the secret assassin rang through the still, green woods, and but for the hand of protecting providence would have
six troubles; yea, in

The Elder rode home

terminated his career on its very threshold. The years that stretched behind lay bathed in the sunlight of divine goodness; he remembered not one hard place in

372
his

HOLDER WITH

CORDS.

pilgrimage, no Slough of Despond, no Hill of And Difficulty, no Valley of the Shadow of Death. over the days that lay before glowed that same mellow [ndian summer light. Many or few, what mattered it ? Sooner or later he must fall in this strife and another take his place, as full of youthful strength and ardor as was he when he first stepped into the ranks. But he was willing, nay, joyful, to die on the field with no

huzzas of victory ringing in his death-dulled ears, for only a little while and the end would surely come for which the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain the end of every wrong, the triumph of eternal right in the world-wide reign of the Lamb. Welcome persecution, welcome revilings, welcome the martyr's crown if so be it actually glittered for him over those turbid waters that rolled so dark and chill this side of the heavenly Canaan! Living or dying he was more than conqueror. The Elder roused himself from his reverie and spoke a cheery word to the patient steed on which his old love of animals now found its chief outlet and center. The intelligent beast responded thereto by breaking into a brisk trot, probably accelerated by certain equine considerations of the snug stable and feed of oats

<

waiting for him at his journey's end. But the Elder's lecture had not failed to rouse the baser elements at Bundy's Plats as well as at Quipaw A few nights afterwards Mr. Bundy was roused Creek. by a rap at his door. A little barefooted child stood without, weeping bitterly, and in response to that worthy man's astonished inquiries, sobbed out:
let them do anything to that good Elder, Mr. Bundy? He come to our house and talked and prayed with ma, and she says he seemed just like one of the angels of God, only when she said so before pa it made him swear." " They shan't do anything to him if I know it. Come in. Bub, and tell me what you mean," said Mr. Bundy, who recognized in the child the little son of a

"

You woix t

will you,

A FORETASTE.

373

consumptive woman wno lived about a mile away, and whose husband was both a Mason and a hard drinker. u I heard pa and some other men talking about the Elder," said the child in a frightened whisper. "I was in bed and they were talking and drinking down below. And they said such awful things of what they would do if they should catch him in the dark. And they are going to burn his house down, Mr. Bundy, I heard them say so. I kept still till I thought they were gone and then I jumped out of bed and run over to you; I thought you could stop their doing it." "Now look here, Bub, said Mr. Bundy. after staring for an instant at the wee mite who, with a courage beyond his years, had braved all the terrors of the darkness to avert the danger that threatened the Elder. u Here's a prime turkey I shot to-day. I've been reckoning to send it to your ma. Come over te-morrow and you can have it. But now run home, sonny, and get into bed as quick as you can, and don't forget to say your prayers. I reckon the good Lord above will
1'

take care of the Elder."

The child departed somewhat comforted. Mr. Bundy hastily dressed himself, drew on his boots, saddled his
horse and was soon galloping through the night with one hope in his heart that the warning had not come too late and he should get the start of the incendiaries. He never stopped to question, as one ignorant of the nature of secret organizations would be very likely to, the credibility of the child's warning; whether it were not possible that one of such tender years might have mistaken the real tenor of the talk he had overheard. .A man who, according. to his own confession to the Elder had been so thoroughly enslaved in conscience by his Masonic obligations that he would have taken human life at the command of his superiors and thought he was only doing his duty was not very likely to doubt the existence of men in the lodge who would have no scruple about committing arson at a similar bidding. " But the men who do such things are the scum of the community as u rule, objects one of those would1 '

374

fiOLDEK WITH CORDS.

"be defenders of the lodge, whose name is legion, and whose sole knowledge of the Masonic system is based

on whatever fact or tiction any Mason in the plenitude of his wisdom may kindly vouchsafe to impart. Were the men who murdered Morgan the scum of' western New York? Were the Ku-Klux Klaus with their midnight reign of desolation and terror the scum of the South? And, granted this assertion to be a fact, why does not the lodge skim off a little of the aforesaid "scum" by denouncing the acts and expelling the offenders ? But, instead, it elevated Morgan's murderers to higher honors and fraternized with the secret orders of the South, their hands still crimson with the blood of hapless negroes and unoffending Union men. What is the language of facts like these.
fellow,
It is true that in the present case a drinking, profane who had as little regard for Lindley Murray as he had for the Ten Commandments, had been talked

and fuddled by his fellows of the lodge into thinking not only that the safety of the craft had been imperilled by the Elder's late lecture, but also that it was an imperative Masonic duty to teach him a lesson on minding his own business a subject on which it will be remembered that the lodge had remarkably clear* and that he, the individual above mentioned ideas could do the job more scientifically than anybody else. But did this catspaw for lodge iniquity who, though worthless and degraded, was no fool, undertake such a business without knowing that he was backed up by the oaths of the whole fraternity, ministers, judges and officers of the law not excepted, to keep his crime forever a secret? Then where should the responsibility, be laid? I leave it to the honest, candid reader who has followed me in my story thus far, to say. It was a night partly clear, partly cloudy, with a few stars peeping out, and a brisk wind blowing. The elder lived about a mile the other side of the river from

Bundy's Flats. Mr. Bnndy urged his horse through the stream, and, just as he emerged on the opposite shore a tongue of

A FORETASTE.

375

flame shot up, reddening the night heavens. It was in the direction the Elder livecj, and with n smothered exclamation he put spurs to his steed and dashed forward towards the scene of the conflagration. The barn had caught first. The Elder, awakened by the glare flashing across his eyes, and not conscious as yet that the same insidious foe was beginning to wreathe in serpentine rings the framework of the house itself, roused his sleeping wife and rushed out intent on rescuing, if possible, the faithful horse that had borne him so many long miles in his Master's serBut it was too late. The fire had made too great vice. a headway, and the Elder himself, in his vain attempt to rescue the poor animal, ventured too far, for as he turned to retreat, driven back by the smoke arid flames, he was struck by a timber from the burning building and felled to the ground. Rough but kindly hands instantly dragged him to a place of safety and dashed cold water over his face and hands. Mr. Bundy's prompt appearance on the scene had saved the Elder's life, but none of his worldly possessions beyond a few valuables hastily snatched from the burning house, which in ten minutes was one sheet and in ten more a smoulderpi hissing, crackling flame,

ing ruin.

The Elder's injuries proved serious. For days and weeks it seemed to himself and to others as if his work on earth was done. But he rallied slowly. His manner of living, temperate as an anchorite's, was in his favor, and when spring again returned he was lecturing and preaching with all his old-time zeal and not a whit profited by his woful experience. Nobody doubted that Masonic vengeance had fired his buildings. At the same time Mark received that
meed
of sympathy so freely given to persecuted reformu ers in the anti-slavery times: It is too bad, such a but why can't he let s:ood man as Elder Stedman is

Masonry alone?"

CHAPTER
VERY

XL.

THE VICTOKY OVER THE BEAST.

old, and, in his day, unpopular reformer has thus summed up his personal experience: ''Persecuted but not forsaken, cast down but not destroyed, chastened but not killed;" thus epitomizing for all future ages the experience of those elect souls who stand out from among their fellowmen with a prophet's commission of rebuke and warning, and with too often a prophet's fate of being misunderstood and rejected by

the generation to whom they are sent. To Mark Stedthe Apostle's paradox seemed no strange thing. Ever since that hour of bitter discouragement and un~ looked for lifting up he had never lost the consciousness of a victorious divine power working in him and through him, turning sorrow into joy and defeat into

man

triumph, and making his pathway always radiant with the light that streams from the Paradise of God. But there was one more cup of trial for him to drink. He had seen it looming dimly in the distance ever since his talk with Elder Chadband the same cup which has been pressed to the lips of many a devoted servant of God. The church he loved, in whose service he had grown gray, was about to cast him out, and for no other reason than because he loved her too well and

THE VICTORY OVER THE BEAST.

377

served her too faithfully to tolerate the secret iniquity she cherished in her bosom.

The fact is," said Mark, when Rachel and I, having heard some hint of this new trouble, rode over to see u him, it has long been a preconcerted thing between Elder Chadband and some other members of the conference to expell me from the Methodist church if they possibly can. And now they think the time is ripe. The charges are frivolous and unfounded, but they will cast me out whether the evidence sustains them or not. I have no reason to expect anything else." u ** Oh, Mark!" exclaimed Rachel, indignantly; when have a been such faithful of you shepherd souls, a preacher after Wesley's own heart, instant in season and out of season; never thinking of gain or ease like others now to turn round and kick you out of the ministry. It is shameful, abominable!" "I think I shall have to talk to you as I do to good brother Bundy," answered Mark smiling on his ex; cited sister. "Ever since his wonderful conversion from Masonry to Christ he has stood out against the threats and persecution of the lodge as bold as a lion. I shall never forget how he came to my help once in the sorest soul strait I ever knew, like one sent of God; or how nobly he has stood by me ever since. But I must confess there are times when I find the old Adam
in

"

him very troublesome, and the late action of the conference has stirred him up to such a degree that I could hardly talk him into anything like calmness. He is a genuine son of thunder. If he had his way he would call down fire from heaven on all the lodges in the land and burn them up like the cities of the plain. But he is a great, grand, large-hearted disciple nevertheless."

It

is

hard," said the Elder's wife,

who had been

si-

378

HOLDEK WITH

COKDS.

lent hitherto; "very liard that Mark should be turned out of the ministry in his old age for the crime of being too faithful to souls. And I must say that at first I felt a good deal like sister Rachel. I couldn't be reconciled.

But now

feel

differently.

They who

stand.

godly in this life must suffer persecution. It is not the church which is doing all this to Mark; it is that terrible spirit of anti-Christ which has taken possession of the church. God give us strength to withstand in the evil day, and having done all to "

would

live

So spoke the Elder's

wife,

who had not

forgotten her

girlhood's terrible experience with this same spirit of the lodge. It had persecuted her father to his death in
like

manner

as it

was now persecuting her husband.

this plain-faced, quiet-looking woman had as truly the martyr's seed within her as any of those worthy

But

women

of old times

who

receive such glowing

mention

in the Epistle to the*

Hebrews.

There was a moment's silence and then the conversation turned to family matters, for only the week before the last of our home-birds had flown in a mist of

white muslin and orange blossoms. Anson Lovejoy, though a staid, elderly man, had not found his superior years any bar to winning Grace. And thus Rachel and I was about to say as in the first year I were again left
of our married
life,

alone with each other

but there

was one very important difference in the fact that no lodge oath now came between us to part asunder those whom God had joined together. But as Mark and I stood by tha open door talking over the matter of the approaching church trial, I suddenly noticed how aged the Elder had grown. Yet never had he seemed more like the Mark of old times with the intense ideality and enthusiasm that had once

THE VICTORY OVER THE BEAST.

led

379

him such a fool's chase through the swamps and fogbanks of error when he mistook a deluding ignis fatuus for the guiding star of truth the brave loyalty, the burning devotion that had characterized his first surrender of every worldly ambition at the call of Christ, not one whit abated, he was the same Mark Stedman who sat on the back stoop, in the glow of that far away spring sunset, when, we talked together about
joining the lodge. " " but It has been a hard warfare, Leander," he said, I would not wish to enter Heaven with one honorable scar the less.'' " " Well, Mark," said I, T must say I don't feel easy at the risk you are constantly running. There is an Old Country proverb that the pitcher that goes often to the well gets broken at last,' and in spite of the ask

sertion lodge

men sometimes make that 'they have stopped killing since Morgan's day,' I know the last martyr has not yet been sacrificed to the implacable
spirit of the lodge."
44

Well, Leander, I have always said that

if

the cause

of truth requires the sacrifice of

to be offered.

my

But
the

it

seems to

me

willing that I already see

life, I

am

whether
hardly

in prophetic
first
is

tell

form which
Intelligent

hope or positive reality I can feeble beginnings of a great redestined to sweep the church and nation.

freemen cannot long resist conclusions forced upon them as they have so lately been forced upon the people of Granby. And when once this question is carried to the ballot box, the lodge will see the handwriting on the wall."
I

pallid,

was about to answer, but Mark suddenly turned and sinking into the nearest chair covered his

face for a

moment with

his hands.

380
'

HOLDEK WITH CORDS.

said, in alarm.

You are ill," I made a deprecatory

u

But Mark only

gesture.

any one. Hannah knows nothing of these ill turns and I don't care to have her know, for I think they are some after result of the accident that happened to me last spring, and I am hoping will pass entirely off when I gain my full health and strength. Thank God that it only affected my body and not my
Don't
call

mind.
I

can deliver as sturdy blows for the truth as

ever did."

was not quite satisfied, but my mind was too fully possessed by other fears to attach much importance to a passing indisposition which he himself treated so lightly, knowing as I did that he had gone to work long before his health was entirely recovered. I saw

him beset by mobs or waylaid in his solitary journeyings; but I did not see that his brave, noble heart was breaking in a martyrdom slower but not less sure than
if

the 'knife or the bullet of the secret assassin had been permitted to wreak their deadly vengeance. As Mark needed me for a witness I attended the meeting of the conference, but I will not trouble the reader with any wearisome details of the" proceedings. Suffice it to say that the specifications read by Elder Chadband really amounted to but two: u Speaking to the injury of his brother ministers and neglecting his proper work on the circuit to lecture against Masonry." To these charges Mark pleaded not guilty, and a

cross-examination of witnesses elicited nothing farther than the fact that on several occasions, when his spirithad been especially stirred within him by the lodge idolatry of some of the leading members of the conference, he

"

shepherds had not the smallest business to be in the ministry at

had denounced them freely as " hireling who fed not the flock, and consequently

THE VICTORY OVER THE BEAST.

all.

381

As

to neglecting his proper

it

work

to lecture

on

clearly proved that he had held on an average as many preaching services as any other member of the conference; and it was also clearly proved

Masonry,

was

that the leading prosecutor, Elder Chadband himself, had been known more than once to neglect his regular ministerial work to participate in the ceremonies at some Masonic gathering. But what avails innocence against inquisitorial power? They could tolerate no longer the rebuke of Mark's presence among them, and were bound to cast him out. or, to use Elder Chad band's 11 expression, "put him where he could do the least harm. Mark had no counsel and made his own defense before the conference.

"

Brethren," he

"
said,

I stand

among you

accused of

serious offenses, which the witness against me has utYou, in your secret hearts, know terly failed to prove.

that the real ground of the accusation

is

my uncom-

promising hostility to Freemasonry. That hostility will never abate. It will only grow stronger with every
breath I draw.
I boldly declare that the Rules of Discipline faithfully carried out would expell ev*ry Masonic pastor in this conference. There are no less than

sixty-nine different oaths in the first seven degrees of Masonry. And this, in the face of that part of the Discipline which forbids all v.iin and rash swearing,' and any taking of oaths 'save when the magistrate may require in a cause of faith and charity, so it be done according to the prophet's teaching in justice, judgment and truth.' Is there justice, judgment or
4

truth in these obligations with their fiendish penalties, their terrible trifling with Jehovah's name? " I charge Masonic pastors ever}7 where with the sin of Balaam. They cause God's people to err, they deny the Lord that bought them, and will surely, unless the

382

HOLDER WITH CORDS.

;

Spirit of the Lord leads them to repentance, bring upon themselves swift destruction. Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture, saith the Lord. Shall I, by keeping silent, incur their doom? Najr, ten thousand times better be shut out not only from the Methodist church but from every
1

church in the land. " I have offended in no point the rules of the DisI have ever striven to go in and out among cipline. you with a conscience void of offense and in a spirit of meekness and charity towards all men. The Lord judge between us and lay not to your charge the sin of casting me out for no other reason than because I refuse to bow the knee to Baal." Mark sat down. Once more he had flung his gage of
defiance at the Beast.

The

after proceedings did not

seem to interest him.

sat with a strange look on his face, a high celestial expression, as of one who had fought his last battle and

He

conquered his

last foe, and was waiting in serene silence the moment of palms and shouts of victory, and lifting of triumphal gates. The committee retired and in a little while made their report, which was to the effect that they had found all the charges against Elder Stedman sustained and therefore adjudged him suspended from the ministry of the church and all church privileges.

The Elder started up as if to rise and speak, but sank back in his chair with a groan. The medical man who was hastily summoned coulct do nothing more than pronounce his verdict a case of heart trouble induced
fire

by the accident which befell him on the night of the and suddenly developed to a fatal result by the excitement attending the trial. Mark Stedman had borne his last testimony against

THE VICTORY OVER THE BEAST.

the lodge. Shut out from the church militant he had entered the ranks of the church triumphant. "And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with over the beast, fire, and them that had gotten the victory

and

over his image,

and

over his

mark arid over the num-

ber of his name, stand

upon

the sea of glass having the

harps of God."

My story

is

ended.

and must necessarily

fail

It is the experience of one man in giving a complete picture

of that terrible secret system which binds men's souls in a network of oaths and obligations to do they know not what. But such as it is let the facts here given
for they are facts which speak for themselves.

can be indisputably proved

Freemen

bow your necks

of America, I appeal to you. Will to wear the yoke of the Secret

is

you

Emtoo

pire? or will you waken to the danger before It It has no respect for human rights. late?

it is

mon*

It breathed its first archical, despotic, inquisitorial. breath under the shadow of throned corruption and It is as alien to the principles of a free priestly rule. And on you depends as republic light is to darkness. the question, Which shall rule this fair land, the few or the many; the spirit of caste or the spirit of equality? The weal or woe of future generations hinges on your answer. Churches of America, God has a controversy with his

In your npclst is a horrible thing a gigantic religious system which ignores his Son and proposes to do the Holy Spirit's work of regeneration for men a system as dark, cruel and unclean in its principles and teachings as the ancient Moloch, tolerated and worshipped! Christian ministers officiating

American Zion.

at its altars,

wearing

its dress

and sounding

its praises!

384

HOLDEN

\\T1H

Is it strange that the ways of Zion mourn? that the bright gold is dimmed and tar^i^ecli' The Lord our God is a jealous God. He will not give his glory to another. He speaks now in the still, small voice of warning and entreaty. How soon he may speak in the whirlwinds of judgment who can tell? Before it be too late heed His voice who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks. u Repent, or else I will

will fight against thee with the mouth," Members of the Masonic order, honest men, kin'lhearted, lovers of truth and justice for I know there are many such among you who secretly loathe the iron yoke of your slavery, to you I make appeal. Assert your God-given manhood. Deny the power of the lodge to bind for a moment what He has forever loosed. Your country needs you, but she wants freemen, not

come quickly and

sword of

my

slaves.

God needs you

in the great warfare of these

but He 'wants men with the martyr spirit who have overcome the Beast through the blood of the Lamb and gained the victory over his
latter days against anti-Christ,

mark.

On which side will you take your stand? Will you be the slaves of the lodge, HOLDEN WITH COEDS of seThe issue lies becret iniquity, or Christ's freemen? fore you. If the Lord be God follow him, but if Baal
then follow him.
THE. END.

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