at the banquet, be a home and a refuge not for Masons of New York alone but for thousands from other jurisdictions of our common country.

The following graphic account of the day's proceedings, written by J. W. Brown, editor of the Chicago "Voice of Masonry," who was present as one of the guests, deserves preservation:

On the first day of June we arrived in New York and soon after had the pleasure of beholding the new Masonic Temple. The first objects which specially attracted our attention were two magnificent bronze pillars standing at the Twenty-third street entrance to the temple. These pillars are fourteen feet high, exclusive of the ashlars of polished Scotch granite, which are about three and a half feet. They weigh over 3,000 pounds each, and are cast of superior bronze alloy-eighty-eight parts of copper, ten of tin, and two of other metals. These pillars, which stand in front of the Doric granite columns at the entrance, are of the Egyptian style of architecture. The plinth, which is thirty-two inches square, is surmounted by a cushion, from which springs the shaft, twenty-seven inches at its greatest diameter. The lower portion of the shaft is beautifully ornamented with lotus flowers, semiincised. The upper portion, which is reeded, supports the cap in the form of an inverted bell, decorated with pomegranates in high relief and papyrus leaves. The basket above the cap is in imitation of wicker-work, ornamented with the flowers and buds of the lotus lily. Each shaft is surmounted by a globe, that on the west, the celestial, displaying the signs of the zodiac; that on the east, the terrestrial, representing a map of the world, the land being semi-incised. These pillars are said to be, in point of design, workmanship and finish, among the fin est specimens of bronzes in the country, and attracted considerable attention while in course of erection.

Directly above these pillars was a large painting of George Washington standing by his war horse. The picture was surrounded by drapery bearing the colors of the Union. Immediately below the picture and extending the entire width of the entrance, was the inscription in letters of gold on a blue ground, Sit Lux et Lux Fuit. From a window above was suspended a magnificent blue silk flag bearing the arms of the Grand Lodge, while from the summit of the building floated the national colors.

Just within the lower hallway and on each side of the stairway, resting on a marble pedestal, was an elegant winged sphinx. The hallways were

adorned with devices of the order and the national colors.

The Grand Lodge hall was lavishly and elegantly decorated with symbols and emblems of the craft composed of appropriate flowers and the new Grand Lodge banner. In the Grand East was a large beehive composed of carnation pinks, roses, heliotropes, lilies of the valley, and other flowers, bound together with straw. On the right of the bee-hive stood a large hour-glass, made of carnations, violets, and lilies, heliotropes representing the sand. There was also a large emblematical column, the pedestal and base of which were composed of ivy leaves bound with a wreath of smilax, festooned with lilies and pink roses. On the top of the column stood a globe of carnations and violets; at the bottom was the letter B in violets and carnations. On the right of the bee-hive was represented the 47th problem of Euclid, the outline being filled in with white carnations combined with a row of violets around the edge, the back being of ivy leaves. The column on the left was similar to that on the right, except that the letter J was represented in floral adornment. The chandeliers on the platform were decorated with smilax, roses, pinks, heliotropes, and violets. In the reception-room of the committee there was a large straw basket on the center of the table composed of roses, violets, heliotropes, and lilies, with strings of smilax suspended.

In the Grand Master's office was the ancient Masonic pitcher recently presented to the Grand Lodge. There we also beheld Crown Prince Frederik's letter to M.. W... Ellwood Thorne, Grand Master, and numerous other attractive articles. There, for the first time, we met many of the honored members of the fraternity. There we found the Grand Master, the Grand Secretary, and the Grand Tyler of the Grand Lodge of Illinois. In the Blue Lodge, Chapter, Council, and Commandery rooms there was no effort at display beyond that usually made. All of the orders of architecture are represented in the building, in the furniture and in the lights. The view from the turret of the temple is, perhaps, the finest to be had from any point in the city. Altogether this structure is a monument to the wisdom, strength and zeal of the Masons of the city and State of New York. It is an accomplishment which the world delights to honor and to inscribe high on the roll of fame.

The festival of dedication on the 2d day of June was a pageant never before equaled in the city of New York.

In every available position along the route of the procession there were throngs of persons eager to witness the display. At the corners of Madison square, Union square, Washington square, at Canal

street and Broadway, and at Twenty-third street and Sixth avenue the press was immense. By the kindness of Bro. Geo. Moore we obtained an excellent position at the corner of Twenty-third street and Fifth avenue, from which we viewed the procession as it passed on Broadway from Twenty-second street to Twenty-third street; on Twenty-third street to Madison avenue; on Fifth avenue from about Thirty-fourth street to Twenty-third street, and from thence to the temple. The scene from our point of observation was indescribably grand. We noted the advance of each division, the numbers composing it, and its bearing, and we can say that the appearance and movement was remarkable. The view on Fifth avenue surpassed the power of words to paint.

The Knights Templars vied with each other in the display of tactics, but Detroit Commandery, No. I, surpassed all others in the performance of evolutions. The great feature of the procession, however, was the Master Masons, followed by Gilmore's Band and Drum Corps, escorting the Grand Lodge and its guests. No true hearted Mason could look upon this part of the pageant and not have his heart thrill with admiration and love for Masonry.

We love Knight Templarism; we dearly love the A.'. A.·. S.·. Rite, but notwithstanding all that, we cannot lose sight of Ancient Craft Masonry nor abate one particle of our enthusiasm and zeal in its behalf, and therefore we cheerfully and heartily endorse the following encomium to the Grand Lodge pronounced by the Hon. Jesse B. Anthony at the banquet on the eve of dedication:

"To-day this Grand Lodge is the observed of all eyes, not only for the brave and gallant battles which she has fought in the interest of Freemasonry, not only because she has conferred upon mankind greater blessings than any other body save that of the Christian religion, but because she has solemnly placed her substance and wealth for the erection and endowment of an asylum and home for the worthy distressed, for the widow and for the orphan.

"To-day this Grand Lodge, by this demonstration, proves to the citizens of this city that there is power and strength in its membership of over 80,000; and in its future it will present a page far exceeding in interest anything in the past. On this day of enthusiasm our hearts beat responsive to what I know is the heart of all, and we impulsively unite hands in congratulation at the completion of the temple in which the Lodges of this State are to greet their peers. The 2d day of June, 1875, will ever shine forth on the page of this Grand Lodge inscribed in golden letters. And this is not

confined to our own jurisdiction. All over the land has the news gone forth, and from the North and the South, the East and the West have representatives come to join with us. We are pleased to greet them as a Grand Lodge. We feel highly honored by their presence; for they have indeed made this day one of greater importance to this Grand body than it would otherwise have had. The results of to-day cause us to redouble our zeal in the prosecution of this noble work. It needs only united and earnest labor, and it can be accomplished. Then and only then can our record as a Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons, an institution devoted to charity, be complete."

And also, the remarks of Past Grand Master John W. Simons, which were as follows:

"Brethren: Please to understand in the first place that this day is not the day of New York; that it is the day of Masonry universal. Whether you belong to Nova Scotia, Massachusetts, or Pennsylvania, or Florida, or Bombay, or any other place that you can think of, the most remote on the continent or on the earth, there is not one of you that is not directly interested in the ceremony and proceedings which are reaching their culmination in this work. Our work to-day is not, I repeat, the work of New York alone. It is the work of Masons everywhere; and therefore it is that we have asked you to come here with us, to join hands and hearts in approving the culmination of the labors of half a century, so far as they have gone. For, mark me, brethren, if New York makes provision for the widow and the little one, for the helpless and the indigent, we have to enlarge the works and the work of Masonry. [Applause.] What did the Lord ever make it for, but that it was to take care of just that kind of people, and why did He allow it to spread over the whole surface of the inhabited and civilized globe, if there were not to be found men in every clime and condition who would give their zeal, their knowledge, their devotion to carry out the work of the Lord? And if we have been able to do it, we have only done our duty. We don't ask the honor of it. We ask you all to come in and take your lawful share of it.

I desire that it should be understood that we celebrate to-day not the fact that New York has erected a temple, that New York has dedicated it to the service of Masonry, but that through and by her efforts Masonry generally has been advanced. Masons all over the globe to-morrow morning can say, when they receive the telegraphic account of this, the brethren of New York have done their share; they have done what depended upon them." It was indeed a "day of Masonry universal.” A

day that wreathed Freemasonry with many laurels and demonstrated that the institution is a physical and moral power worthy of universal honor. But this day in New York is only one of three days on which the order has lately commanded world-wide attention. The first was on March 5, 1875, when in the city of Rome, under the very nose of the Sovereign Pontiff and in the open light of day, the Freemasons with their imposing rites and ceremonies inaugurated their new temple. The second was April 28, 1875, when, at Albert Hall, London, the Prince of Wales was installed as Grand Master of English Freemasons. Then the character and strength of

the order was well illustrated and Masonry universal received the highest plaudits. The third was on June 2d, as above stated. These were three truly great occasions, and their occurrence within the short space of three months is not only very remarkable but unprecedented in the annals of Freemasonry, or any other institution. They were wonderful in this, that they beautifully and fascinatingly displayed the strength and beauty of the great principle of fraternity, which is the life of Freemasonry, and clearly demonstrated the inability of human power to undermine and destroy this ancient and honorable order.

A

S supplementary to this story of the dedication of the Temple, it

may not be inappropriate here to preserve a contemporary account of the building itself taken mainly from the Philadelphia "Keystone:"

The lot upon which the new temple is built is at the corner of Twenty-third street and Sixth avenue, a splendid location. It measures 92 feet by 141 feet. The cost of the ground was $340,000. The building, which has cost upwards of a million dollars, has many distinguishing features of its own, entitling it to be considered as one of the grandest edifices of its kind, rivaling even the famous Masonic Temple of Philadelphia.

Its distinguished architect is Brother Napoleon Le Brun, formerly of Philadelphia, who now has a monument to his genius which will never die, as Bro. P. M. James H. Windrim has, in our worldwonder, the present Masonic Temple of Philadelphia. The New York temple is five stories in height, including the Mansard pavilion. Its general exterior style of architecture is of pure French renaissance, graduated, in each story, in sub-orders, viz.: Tuscan. Ionic, Corinthian and Compositeall in massive granite. Its height from the street to the cornice is 94 feet. The Mansard rises 30 feet higher, while the dome reaches an altitude of 165 feet. The main entrance is on Twenty-third street, through a Tuscan portico, flanked by two bronze -pillars 14 feet in height. These are modeled after the Solomonic columns of the Bible, and give a unique and fitting finish to the portal.

The Grand Lodge room is 85 by 92 feet in area, and 28 feet high. It is rented for other than Masonic purposes-for church services and lectures. The Grand Lodge library is 40 feet by 21 feet. The temple contains seven Lodge rooms, viz.: Tuscan room, 27 by 62 feet; the Roman Doric room, 62 by 30 feet; the Ionic room, 63 by 56 feet; the Liv

ingston room, 47 by 21 feet; the Composite room, Corinthian room, and the Clinton room. The Egyptian room is devoted to Chapter Masonry, and is in size 62 by 30 feet. The entire fifth floor, or Mansard pavilion, is occupied by the Knights Templars and members of the A. and A. Rite. The asylum is 78 by 41 feet, and 21 feet high, and is designed after the French Gothic style of the fourteenth century. The Council Chamber is 35 by 21 feet, and of Saracenic architecture. The Banquet hall is of the Early Norman style, and is 55 by 27 feet in size. There is also an armory, containing hundreds of closets to contain the Knights' equipments. Two elevators conduct to the top of the temple-one a passenger elevator, and the other for miscellaneous purposes. The entire masonwork was done under the direction of Brother John T. Conover, and every part of the edifice was designed by the eminent architect, Brother Napoleon Le Brun. Brother James M. Austin, M. D., the present esteemed Grand Secretary, is the only living member of the original Board of Trustees of the Hall and Asylum Fund. The fraternity of New York will erect the Masonic Asylum for worthy indigent Master Masons, their widows and phans, as soon as the revenue from the temple shall warrant the undertaking.

or

The two magnificent bronze pillars at the Twenty-third street entrance stand fourteen feet high, exclusive of the ashlars of polished Scotch granite, which are about three and a half feet. They weigh over 3,000 pounds each, and are cast of superior bronze alloy-eighty-eight parts of copper, ten of tin, and two of other metals. The pillars, which stand in front of the Doric granite columns at the entrance, are of the Egyptian style of architecture. The plinth, which is thirty-two inches square, is surmounted by a cushion from which springs the shaft, twenty-seven inches at its greatest diameter. The lower portion of the shaft is beautifully ornamented with lotus flowers, semi-incised. The upper portion, which is reeded, supports the cap, in the

form of an inverted bell, decorated with pomegran

ates in high relief and papyrus leaves. The basket above the cap is in imitation of wicker-work, ornamented with the flowers and buds of the lotus lily. Each shaft is surmounted by a globe, one-third sunken; that on the west the celestial, displaying the signs of the zodiac; that on the east the terrestrial, representing a map of the world, the land being semi-incised. The pillars are said to be worth about $10,000.

Brilliant as were the dedication ceremonies, extensive and flattering as were the newspaper notices, the hopes of the trustees anent the building were not realized, or rather, the hopes of the trustees were so slow of realization that they did not seem to make any headway at all to that end. The financial stringency of the time was severely felt, creditors were clamorous, payments were slow and the building did not begin to yield anything like the rental revenue which had been anticipated. For a time it seemed as though the craft had become possessed of a white elephant and the usual crop of "I told you so's" began to crop up and scatter a feeling of uneasiness all around. Then in their desire to acquire funds, a desire prompted by actual necessity, the trustees had to borrow at all sorts of disadvantages, to sell their bonds cheap and to offer them as collateral on a basis that seemed to imply on the part of the borrower as well as the pledges a very poor opinion of the commercial worth of these securities. Several times, if the truth be told, during that year, 1875-76, which began so auspiciously, the trustees had doubts about their ability to weather the storm, doubts if even the most skillful financiering could preserve the building as the property of the fraternity. To make the matters worse several scandalous stories to the detriment of the trustees were whispered about and one brother threatened to appeal to the law and get rid of trustees and building and so remove forever from the craft an agency that was likely to swallow up the last dollar in the hands of the fraternity and then, when no more was

to be had, to disappear from out its ken and keeping. Charges of corruption, veniality and mismanagement were openly made, and made in such a way that while they passed current no answer to them could possibly have been made. The trustees, however, weathered the storm. Their arrangements and the financial improvement which began to set in in the spring of 1876 gradually-very gradually— loosened the chain and by the time of the annual communication that year a little better feeling had crept in all round. By that time. all doubts as to the future of the building had passed, but much yet remained to be done to place it on a firm financial position. In his parting address to the Grand Lodge on June 7, 1876, Grand Master Thorne attended to all this in the following words, after dwelling on other topics of less pressing interest:

And now, brethren, I come to a question in which you are all deeply interested, and to which your earnest and dispassionate consideration is invoked. In my last annual address, I stated that the construction account of this temple was closed. In general terms this was literally true, although, as stated by the trustees, various matters of detail still remain to be finished, and necessarily many accounts remained to be audited before a correct and final report could be made. Moreover, as under the resolution adopted by the Grand Lodge, the ceremonies of dedication were directed to take place at our last annual meeting, the magnitude of that undertaking and the labor needed to make it such a success as becomes this great jurisdiction, required unanimous and unceasing effort on the part of the local Grand Officers and the brethren generally, and, therefore, other matters less immediately pressing were, as far as possible, laid aside until after the event in question. And for this reason the report of your trustees was rendered to the first of May, the date of the ending of the Grand Lodge fiscal year, instead of to the first of June (the day our Grand Lodge met last year), as in other and more leisurely times. It is well known to you, as shown in the last and previous reports, that the Trustees have been obliged to effect loans to a large amount, from time to time, and it may be here remarked that, in the state of affairs existing in the business and financial world for the past few years, to borrow money in any considerable amount has not been as simple a matter and as easily accomplished