The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1879-03-27
THE MYSTERIOUS MAsONs.
An Extraordinary Chapter from the History
of Masonry.

Judgment was at hand; and when the
dreadful year had passed and the panic
had subsidized, a great impulse to the
building Of churches arose throughout
central and western Europe. The build
ings which were tho result Of this inn
pulse gave employment to q largo num-
Der of artificers for period Of many
years. Working at first under the direc-
tion Of the bishops and abbots, they ere
long acquired considerable independence.
The clay brethren" as they had previ-
ously been styled, separating themselves
from their clerical superiors as we'll as
from the common laborers, assembled in
6du-huetten or wooden buildings near the
site of the churches, where they i'm
proved themselves in their art. blending
mathematical and artistic studies with O
mystic philosophy of nacred symbolism
and Biblical illusions. They were divi.
ded into three classes, viz: apprentices,
young men deemed worthy Of admission
into the fraternity fellow craftsmen, who
had 80 far advanced rs to be able to work
alone on the details Of the art and were
bound to impart TO the apprentices their
knowledge, and masters, comparatively
few in number, who wero competent to
undertake the design or direction of en-
tire works. in the capacity Of architect.
surveyors or master builders. The en-.
tered apprentices we're entrusted with q
secret sign and password, and bound OH
oath to divulge TO none but the initiated
either the knowledge he should acquire
or the rite and practices Of his lodge.
This method Of mutual recognition was
n necessity when indentures and diplo.
mas were unknown, but taken in conjunc.
tion with the mystic philosophy inculca-
ted, and the secret ritual practice within
the lodges, it acquired in time solemnity
and sacredness which could attach to no
certificate Of membership or of prof.
cheney. Further credentials were pro-
vided in set of questions and answers,
forming sort OF catechism, orally COM
municated and guarded by the same
sanction by which the "brethren," as
they now call one another, could give
proof of their identity wherever they
might travel in search of employment,
and which are in essential points pre-
served in the lectures" of the threo
degrees of modern Free Masonry. Rau-
huettcn were permanently established in
most Of the chief cities Of the empire,
and the reputation. which their masters
ac',' ired for genius and skill led to the
eng genent of German architects in
o her countries wherever cathedrals or
churches were being erected on the scale
of more than ordinary grandeur. At
first the several lodges worked indepen-
dantly of one another; but in the fif-
tecnth century tho necessity Of further
union began TO be felt, and on April 25,
1859, gathering of the Master Masonu
Of central and southern Germany was
hal1 of Rofsohoy, ,,h l.
of the different lodges were revised and
general assembly was held, ut which the
whole of the Masons of Germany were
represented and united into single
brotherhood, of which the chief of the
lodge of Strausbu,g, which had long
been recognized as a court Of appeal even
by the lodges of Austria and Switzerland,
was declared perpetual Grand Master.
The statutes then drawn up received in
1893 the confirmation of the Emperor
Macmillan l, whose example was fol-
lowed by several of his successors Af-
ter the reformation, period Of transition
began the building of churches declined,
and in the following century the German
princes naturally looked with suspicion
on vast and we'll organized association
Of men bound together by the closest
ties and owing allegiance to an authority
by which Alsace had passed under
French dominion. In 1907 all commu-
nication with the mother lodge OF Stras-
burg was prohibited, and attempts were
made to establish q grand lodge on German
soil but these failing through the Mu-
tual iealousies Of petty states Of the en-
pire, the most persistent efforts were
made for the entire suppression OF the
order. But, although prescribed, it
could not be cxterminated; the lodges
met in secret, admitted new members
and maintained the existence and con-
tinuity until the new Free Masonry,
which had meanwhile arisen in England
on the ruins of the old, held to its Ger.
man brethren the right hand of fellow
ship, and in once more raising them to
liberty and honor did but repay the debt
which our country owes to its continen-
tal sister.-McALillan's Magazine.
THE HoMEsTEAD.-Our readers no
doubt remember the decision imade by
Judge Aldrich on the question Of Home
stead exemption Mt the last term ofCo.,r!
here. That decision was, tla. personal
property, without regard to It's character
or kind, was exempt TO the head of a
family to the amount of Ave hundred
dollars. At the time of tlis decision
aeveral cases werl pending in the Su.
preme Court involving the same question
The case of Duncan vs. Barnett went .uI
from Union. In 1877, tho Sberif
,, levied on corn and cotton, the property
of the judgment-debtor, the debtor
claimed the property rs exempt I'll,
Sheriff declined TO sell /; the Judgment
| creditor ruled him to show cauae why hi
had not made the money; his return
showed that the party had claimed I
homestead in the property; Judge Mose
discharged the rule, holding that th'
property was exempt by Act OF Feb. %
1918, sec. >. Duncan appeaied. III,
Supreme Court the ---- reversed tht
decision of the Circuit Judge, holding
that the act of 1873, SO far as it attemptl
to extend the homestead exemption be
| yond the provisions contained in Ari
| Gle 2, Sec. 80, Of the Constitution j
unconstitutional and void. The decis
ion says very plainly that no persona
property is exempt from attachment
levy and sale except those particular
articles mentioned by.name in Art. 2, Sec
50 of the Constitution; which ar
household furniture, beds and bedding
| LhiAlJ llpEoty, ,dImS, cSIlHs wagons
farming implements, tools, neat cattle
work animals, swine, goats and sheep.
A man who owns no land can CLAIM
exemption only as to these articles; bu
he who owns land can claim one thou
sand dollars worth of land, and the year
ly products therof, besides FIVE hundre
dollars worth of such personal propert,
as is enumerated in the Constitution.
1t is hard on the non-land owner.-
| Netrbsrru Herald.