The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1877-05-24
sIasonic Incidents.

II sslasOnic Incidents.
At a feast given by the Grand Lodge
of Massachusetts, Rev. Bro. Young, the
Grand Chaplain, related the following
incidents, and made the following excel.
lent comments thereon -.
The otheg evening, on certain occa-
sion, I alluded to the influence of Mason
ry during the rebellion. Since then
heard story from one who was in the
war, which beautifully illustrated the
influence Of Masonry in the direction Of
love and fraternity. In one of the bat.
ties of Virginia, Gen. Wordsworth
think that ia the name-of Vermont, fell,
and was within the enemy's lines. His
friends wished to obtain it, and a Federal
officer, who was a Mason, said to the SEN
tinel, who was also a Mason, "you go
down to the shore of the stream, and if
you see a man on the other side, make
some signal TO him of a Masonic charac.
ter" He went down to the shore, and
by and by he saw person on the oppo-
site side. Be gave the signal, but no
answer was returned. The next morn
ing when he went down he repeated the
practice with the same result; no answer
was given. Finally the officer went down
and made some signals, and he soon
found them answered on the opposite
side. In the course of the day commu-
nication was had, the body was given into
the hands of its friends, and carried
home for interment The Confederate
officer, in his communication with the
Federal officer, said that the sentinel on
the other side did not know what those
signals meant.
Now, it is just that brethren. The
world laughs at our signs, and calls them
nonsense. i1ut their object is to touch
the secret springs through which we are
brought into close and intimate connec-
tion with others, and are enabled, as in
the case illustrated to close a bloody
chasm, and bring enemies into the rela-
LION of friends.
And so in the secret character of our
organization. Why, all the grand forces
of nature ara secret. God himself is a
great secret; great mystery; the eye
does not look upon him, the ear does not
hear him, the hand cannot touch him,
and yet we believe in his boundless love
and wisdom, and power, and we worship
that Great Unseen and Invisible One.
Life is secret and invisible. The surgeon,
the dissector, can cut the body and lay
open its parts; but he cannot lay his
knife upon the secret life and expose it
to the eye. The air is invisible. We
only feel it on our cheeks; we hear its
music in the forests. Electricity is in.
visible. All The secret powers and forces
that move the world and hold systems
together are unseen and secret, eluding
the eye and rand. So it is in this grand
Institution of ours, which believe we
cannot too much praise and too much
love, brethren, nor too much honor in
our own manly characters, in our own
upright lives, and in our loving DISPOSE
tions. 1t is that very characteristic of
Masonry which gives it the power that is,
to-day, in q hundred thousand ways that
we don't see, moving the world onward,
and lifting ii: up nearer to the skies, and
preaching that love and brotherly kind
ness which shall make the earth we live
on like heaven to aspire to.
On the same occasion Bro. Swain, the
S. G. Warden of Massachusetts,, related
the following incidents. Although tinged
with party or sectional feeling, and some-
what overdrawn ws publish them:
In the Seven Days Fight it was my
misfortune 10 fall into the hands of Stone
wall Jackson at Savage Station. I was
sent to Richmond and placed in LIBBY
prison. Our men were suffering terribly.
We found men whose limbs had been
amputated, and had gone without Dress
ing for ten or fifteen days. They were
dying as mich for the want Of proper
nourishment as for want of proper care.
Strict orders had beer given that NO
Union persons should be allowed to con-
tribute anything to the hospitals, no mat
ter what the circumstances might be. I
was not a Alason at the time, but my
steward was, and he said to me, 81 have
power about me which. Think will
supply this hospital with food. I shall
try it, if I ges put in Castle Thunder"
The result was that he soon had an
under current working that supplied the
hospital with delicacies and other things
which every other hospital failed to re-
ceive. And shat is what made me Ma
son. I had thought many times before
that it must be good organization, but
I was busy aud refrained making appli-
cation. But said then, eff there is q
power in Masonry that makes men broth
ers like this, i5 is something worth hav-
ing" That III one reason why I became
Mason; and I thank God did.