Democratic standard. [volume] (Georgetown, Brown County, Ohio) 1837-1850, 1841-10-26

There is not on earth lovlier princi-
pie than association. Union is both
strength and beauty.
The lift Of curtain discloses to view
stormy and dscordant worlds Passion
is the tyraut of the realm: his sceptre is
tipped with scathing fires, that dart lu-
rid radiance over forms which seem scor-
ched by the glare. The whitening flow
ers of innocence droop on either hand
the storms of misfortune brood on every
hill-the cataracts of callmity ravage
every vale. Man himself is but shad-
ow. In his proudest estate the visions
of his hopes grow fainter and fainter, un-
I'll their penciling is but memory:up-
on the canvass Of the soul. The aspira.
tiOns of early life grow sluggish and for
get TO mount upward. The dream be-
comes but the reverberaton Of the 81 gh;
the sigh the echo Of tear. The dreams
are more sombre in their coloring; the
widows weeping and the orphans wailing
come low on the ear of night; the mourn
ers go about the streets, for man goeth
10 his long home.
What in such world of shadows and
of change is the only and true philoso-
ply of lfeH 1t is UNION! Alone and un-
aided, virlue becomes a hermit to live
and die, "unwept, unhonored, and un-
sung" Alone, misery becomes agony
and despair. Alone worth is worthless,
having but its own dubious praise, unaid-
ed by the cheering sufrages of a fellow
humanity. Alone, the first Eden was
more dreary abiding place for man than
the blasted fields oftoil to which he was
driven; but with a friend to feel with
him, community of wo, fellow sensa-
ton of regret, and an interest in his fu-
ture hopes, the thorns Of earth become
more beautiful than the flowers of Para
disc.
Thus, when the FIRST man saw standing
BY his side another man with whom he
could take sweet counsel; and when
these Two saw themselves multiplied into
hundreds Of strong armed and clear hea-
ded men, lending power 10 resolve and
victory to effort, we can scarcely wonder
at the pride Of man in the "world before
the flood" Such power and such con-
centrationlwere new TO him, and he could
scarcely WELD them and feel their graft.
tude without arrogance.
MASONRY IS UNION!
Turned loose upon the warring theatre
ofmatter, with his bosom bare to the pit
tIless storms-Teadng on thorns harder
than his flesh-and walking in the midst
Of the strong elements each one wIth
power TO master and destroy hn-man
is the desolate orphan Of creation. His
Heavenly Father cannot be seen by his
natural eye. He needs shelter from
the hurricane, the dew, the rain, the sun
beam. His frail body, in which The seeds
Of his immortal life are planted, formed
of the very elements from whose rage ne
needs projection, must be sheltered alike
from the heat and the cold. An angel
meets him at night.fall, and teaches him
now to weave the foliage over his head
as a shelter-and thus he made the arch
of the first dome. That Angel was Art
MASONRY IS ART!
In world Of imperfection and error,
where life of virtue is one OF continual
struggle, and when vicious influences
sometimes gain an ascendency over even
the good, there is need that the mantle 4 o Of
charity should be thrown widely and light
!, over the deviations of the weak
Charity covereth multitude of sins
There is need that the whole restore the
sick: that the strong assume part of the
burdens Of the feeble, and that the wise
enlightenthe darkness of the ignorant
Charity is the CrOwning grace OF Chrlsr
tiadlty-
MASONRY is CHARITY!
There Isl an adoption in the human
heaTt TO one great absorbing, soothing
Amoti0n,-oua fnP which the warrant soul