The Yazoo City weekly Whig. (Yazoo City, Miss.) 18??-1855, 1853-01-21

AAVn. Eiizauetn ot. Leger, was the only fe-
male who was ever initiated into the ancient
and honorable mystery Of Freemasonry.
How she obrained this honor, we shall
lay before our readers, promising that our
Information is derived from the best sources
Lord Doneraile, Miss St. Leger,s father,
very jealous Mason, held a. warrant and
occasionally opened lodge at DonerabIe
House, his sons and some intimate friends
assisting; and it is said that never were
masonic duties more rigidIy performed than
by the bretheren Of No. $50 the number Of
their warrant 1t appears that previously
TO the imitation Of a gentleman to the first
steps of masonry. Miss ST Leger who was
a young girl, happened to be in an apartment
adjoining thereon generally u ed as lodge
room; but whether the young lady was there
BY design or accident, we cannot confidently
state. The room atthe time was undergoing
some alteration; amongst other things, the
wall was considerably reducedin one part, for
the purpose of making saloon. The young
lady, having heard the voices of the Free
masons, and prompted by the curiosity ma
tural to all, to see this mystery so long and
SO secretly locked up from public view, had
the courage to pick brick from the wall with
her scissors and thus witnessed the two FIRST
steps of the ceremony.
Curiosity grati6ed. fear at once took pos
session of her mind, and those who undet-
stand this passage well know what the feel
iDgs of any person must be who could un-
lawfully behold that ceremony; let them then
Judge what were the feelings ola young girl
under such extraordinary circumstances.
There wasnO mode of escape, except through
the very room where the concluding part of
the second step was still being solemnized,
at the far end, and the room very large one.
Miss St. Leger had resolution sufficient to
attcinpther escape chat way, and with light
but trembling steps glided along unobserved,
laid her hand on the handle OF the. door, and
opened it, before her stood, to her dismay,
grim and surly Tyler with hislong sword I'M
sheathed
A shrek that pierced through the apart
ment alarmed the members of the Lodge
who rushing to the door, and finding that
Miss St. Leger had benin the room during
the ceremony, resolved, it issaid. in thepa-
roxysm of their rage, to put the fair specta-
ltress to death; but at the moving and earnest
lsupplication Of her youngest brother her life
was spared, on condition other going Through
the two remaining steps Of the solemn cere-
mony she had unlawfully witnessed. This
she consented to, and they conducted the
beautiful and terrified young lady through
those trials which are sometimes more than
enough for masculine resolution, little think
they were taking into the bosom of their
lcfaft member that would afterward reflect
lustre on the annals Of Masonry.
Miss st. Leger was descened from Sir
Richard de st. Leger, who accompanies
William the Conquerer to England. and was
of that repute that he, with his own hand
supported the prince when he first went out
ofhis ship tolandin Sussex. MissSt. Legcr
was cousin to General Anthony St. Leger,
Governor Of St. Lucia, who instituted the
Interesting race, and the celebrated Doncaster
lSt. Leger stakes. Eventually she married
Richard Aldworte, Esq, of New Market. a
member 81 highly honorable and ancient
family. Whenever a benefit was given al
any. ofthe theatres u Dublin or Cork, for the
Masonic Femele Orphan Asylum, Mrs AID
worth walked atthe headOf the Free Masons,
with her apron and other insignia Of Free
masonry, and sat in the front row Of the
stage box. The house was always crowded
On these occasions. The portrait Of this
estimable womanis inthe lodge Of room a
i. most every Nodge in Ireland
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