Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1869-12-02
The Only Female Mason.

The Hon. Elizabeth ST. Ledger was
the only female who was ever initiated
into the mystery of FreemasOnry. She
has had two degress-the first and sec
ond-conferred upon her. AS it may be
interesting to the general reader we give
the story as to how Miss st Ledger OBJ
tanned this honor, promising that the
information comes from the best sources.
Lord Doneraile, Miss St. Ledger's father,
very Jealous Mason, held a warrant
and occasionally opened lodge at Doner-
ale House. his sons and some intimate
friends assisting; and it is said that never
were Masonic duties more vigorously
performed than by the brethren of No.
$50, the number of their warrant.
1t appears that previous to the initia
ton of a gentleman to the first degree of
Masonry, Miss st. Ledger, who was
young girl, happened to be i'll an apart
ment adjoining the room generally used
as lodge-room, but whether the young
lady was there by design or merely ac-
cident, we cannot confidently state. The
room at the time was undergoing some
alteration: among other things, the
wall was considerably reduced in one
The young lady having heard the voices
of Freemasons, and being melted by the
curiosity natural to all to see this great
mystery so long and so secretly locked
up from the public view, had the courage
todpicks brick from the wall with her
scissors, and thus witness the two first
steps of the ceremony.
Curiosity gratified, fear at once took
possession of her mind, and those who
understand this passage well know what
the feeling of any person must be who
could unlawfully behold that ceremony;
let them Judge what were the feelings of
a young girl under such extraordinary
circumstances. There was no mode of
escape, except through the very room
where the concluding part of the second
step was still being solemnized ut the
far end, and the room was very large
one. Miss st. Ledger had resolution
enough to attempt her escape III that
way, and with light and trembling steps
glided along unobserved, laid her hand
on the handle of the door and opened it,
but before her stood, to her dismay, a
grim tiler with his longsword unsheath-
ed.
A shrek that pierced through the
apartments alarmed the members of the
lodge, who, all rushing to the door, and
finding that Miss st. Ledger had been
in the room during the ceremony, resol-
we'd, it is said, in the paroxysm of their
rage, to put the fair spectator to death; /;
but at the moving and, earnest sup
plication of her youngest brother, her
life was spared, on condition of her
going through the two remaining steps
of the solemn ceremony she had un-
lawfully witnessed. This she consent
ed to, and they conducted the beautiful
and terrified young lady through those
trials which are sometimes more than
enough for masculine resolution, little
thinking they were taking into the
bosom of their craft a member that
would reflect luster on the annals of
Masonry
Miss st. Ledger was a cousin to Gen.
Antony st. Ledger, who instituted the
interesting race, and celebrated Doncas-
ter st. Ledger stakes. Eventually she
married Richard Aldworth, Esq, of
Newmarket, a member of a highly hon
orable and ancient family. Whenever
benefit was given at any of the theaters
in Dublin or Cork, for the Masonic
Female Orphan Asylum Mrs. Aldworth
walked at the head Of the Freemasons,
with her apron and ether insignia of
Freemasonry, and set in the front row
of the stage box. The house always
crowded on these occasions. The por-
trait of this estimable women is in the
lodge-room of almost every lodge in
Ireland.