News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1885-01-29
H0NORING DEAD MASONS.
IMPRESSIVE CEREMONIES OF THR
GRAND LODGE OF SORROW.
The Ceremonies Carried Out According to
the Scottish Rite OF Free Masonry.

The Ceremonies Carried Ont According T.
the Scottish Rite OF Free Masonry.
| From the New York Times.1
The ceremonies of the Grand Lodge
of Sorrow, according to the Ancient Ac'
cepted Scottish Rite of Free Masonry
dead of the last seven years, at the
Academy of Music Monday evening,
were very solemn and impressive. An
audience that entirely filed the body OF
the house and the box circle gathered to
witness the services, and they listened
throughout with the utmost attention.
The programme particularly requested
that the audience refrain from any ex-
preston of feeling and there was not a
single outbreak after any of the solos or
choruses, while the most profound and
reverent attention was paid during the
more solemn services.
The ceremonies began in the lodge
room, where the services of the prologue
were enacted. The officers entered and
took seats. Venerable Master Charles
L. McClenachan and Deputy Master
Charles Roome sat upon a raised dais
facing the auditorium, and seated in q
| circle about them were Orator William
H. FL. Russell, Senior Warden Augustus
W. Peters, Junior Warden Frank Wes-
ton, Senior Deacon Charles Fl. Heyzer,
Junior Deacon George M. Thomas,
&c r
Lawless, Second Master of Ceremonies,
Joseph B. Eakins, First Steward Ste
phen D. Affieck, Second Steward, Geo.
VanVliet, and Captain of the Guard
George H. Fitzwilson. The officers went
through the ceremonies of opening the
Lodge of Sorrow, male chorus chanted
"We brought nothing into this world"
and Carl Bergstein sang the baritone
solo "Hear my cry to Thee"
The second part of the ceremony was
the alIegory. The curtain slowly rose,
while the orchestra softly performed a
''Song Without Words" by Mendels-
sohn, and disclosed an impressive scene.
A platform draped with black, in the
centre of the stage, rose behind sable
covered bier, at whose four corners the
flames of swinging censors fickered fit
fully in gloom through which only the
outlines of the surroundings were dis
cernible. A black pail covered the cas-
ket and black Grape shrouded the chairs
of the priests and was draped about the
altar. Directly in front of the casket
cleaned brazen candelabra with sew en-
branches, and at the opposite corners OF
the front of the stage were the emblems
and insignia of the Masonic order
wrought in gold.
Soft, slow music was heard, and
from the two sides of the stage a solemn
procession of neophytes entered, attired
~ black, each wearing "a oowi and hold
ing book in his clasped hands. With
eyes fixed above them, the neophytes
marched slowly to the front, and then
ranged themselves along the right and
left sides of the stage and stood motion
less. A throng of pretty little children
in white trooped on to the stage, scatter
ing flowers left and right as they came
down to the front, and disappeared at
either side, leaving the stage strewn
with blossoms. The solemn music of
Beethovens funeral march sounded, aud
the acolytes and priests entered in
solemn procession, the former in robes
OF white and the latter clad in sable.
Each wore shining helmet that redec-
ted the light of the torch he carried, and
to the strains of the funeral march they
marched slowly about the stage and
ranged themselves before the neophytes,
while High Priest J. H. Hobart Ward,
First Priest Walter M. Fleming, and
Second Priest John P. Collins mounted
the dais. They were clad in robes of
purple; gold chains cleaned from their
necks, and white sashes were across
their shoulders. Seven priests ranged
themselves about the seven branches of
the capdelabra, and there was an i'm
pressive silence as they uttered the
names of the Masons whose death they
commemorated, putting out one of the
seven lights after another, until the
final announcement was made.
Then came the invocation of the High
Priest, and Miss Christine Rosswog and
Miss Jennie Fish sang requiem. The
three High Priests, one after another,
recounted the virtues of the deceased
brethren of their order, and Miss Fish,
Miss Rosswog, Carl Bergstein and Fred
rick Harvey sang songs of praise and
victory, the latter three closing in the
trio, "Praise of God" as the curtain
went down upon the first part of the al
Iegory.
The same scene was presented when
the curtain rose again, and priests,
icolytes, and neophytes marched il and
formed hollow triangle, opening for the
passage of the funeral procession, after
which followed the invocation and fare
well and the solemn ceremony of en-
tombment.
The scene was again in the lodge
room, where Jerome Buck delivered an
eloquent peroration, and the Lodge OF
Sorrow was closed with Handels "Hal-
| lelujah" chorus.