The Sunday herald and weekly national intelligencer., 1890-10-12
WITH ORIENTAL IMAGERY.
SCENES OF BEAUTY AND SOUNDS OF
REvELRY IN ALMAs TEMPLE.

A Memorable Occasion For Devotees of |
the shrIne-The Thrilling and Pictur-
esque Ordeal of the eInitiation-Revelry |
and Music by the Kazoo Band Follow.
The reader who is familiar with Moore's
"Epicurean," the fascinating tale Of the Chris
tian maid who in the stormy dawn of the faith
fought 80 nobly to escape the snares of the
priests of ISIS and succeeded in flying with her
Athenian lover from the custody Of the Goddess
of the Nile; the reader who is familiar with the
majestic ceremonies of the initiation into the
secrets of the inner temple of the Goddess; Of
the Incompatible delights which greeted the no
vtiate at every step, of the thrice more entranc-
ing and luxurious pleasures of his future state
glimpses of which rewarded his progress as he
approached the solemn grandeur Of the mighty
Veil the reader who, meditating upon recol-
lections of that story and giving rein to his
fancy, could have been transported within the
secret precincts or the oasis OF Almas Temple
last Monday evening and beheld the beauties OF
that Eastern scene, the thrilling ordeal of the
initiation and the reward of the faithful seeker
in the mysteries of the past, must have felt
that somewhere he had beheld the scene before
and experienced that peculiar sensation wherein
the present seems so closely connected with the
past that events of the future may be foretold by
a species OF lnUulUlVe 1OreKnOWleuRe. lnTOugn
palms and towering plants the subdued, silvery
light glinted softly from leaf to leaf and re-
leved the darkness of the scene only enough to
reveal the statuesque sentinels in attitudes and
postures as rigid as marble itself. Through ave-
nues and leafy bowers the Patrol, whose rich
armor catches the beams OF light and reflects 1t
in many colored hues, marches in solid phalanx
and soldiery array upon their round OF lnspec-
ton of the several posts. Challenge answers
challenge, steel meets steel in friendly salute,
| quietness again reigns, burst of wild and me-
| lodious harmony, and the first caravan leaves
| the beautiful oasis to take up its journey over
| the burning sands of the trackless desert. The
| scene now changes, and all is desolation and
! barrenness. tempest is approaching. The
| dreadful sand storm of the desert is at hand.
Man and beast alike seek such shelter as circum-
stances afford during the terrible ordeal. At
| length it has passed, the journey recommences,
day gives place to night, morning again dawns,
the journey is over, the caravan halts beneath
| the shadow of the pyramids. Lone neophyte,
| in the spotless dress of innocence and crowned
| with the laurel and myrtle Of youth, must you
] essay the remaining portion of the journey, no
| hand TO guide, no voice to counsel, no strong
arm to support. Through those avenues and
| dark and rugged corridors, over the pitfalls on
| the brink of yawning precipces, and through
| the rushing torrents must you alone pursue
your way, until at last the road will become
straighter, the pathway smoother, the darkness
brighter, and you will fall speechless and CRATE
full before the beautiful radiance and matchless
majesty of the Shrine "Fare you well, Initiate,
may God and His Prophet protect you May
Allah guide the footsteps of his slave-and Ma
homet guard his soul'
"Wal kerol cottandwo cd,
| Scri bum maua gertrus tee,
| Anawf ulte amfor acaudyda to-
Areth reesuc hmena swee."
| The big turnout and the enthusiasm displayed
| by the members denoted that, as THE HERALD
predicted no loss of interest had been occa-
| stoned by the long summer recess, but rather it
had acted as an incentive to continued effort, as
| fhan n1occ of lharip tIyar ,tu
one of the largest that the Temple has ever con-
ferred the order upon. The work was fully up
to the usual standard of excellence, and was
witnessed by large number of visitors from
out of the city, among whom was Congressman
Yoder, of Ohio, who is member of Syrian Tenn
ple of Cincinnati. AT the conclusion of the de-
| gree the Mobiles present were formed in line and
! proceeded to the banquet hall, headed by the
famous 'kaZoo'' band of Almas Temple, which
as musical organization should be awarded the
right of line among all the calithumpian combi-
nations of the republic. The harmony produced
by this band of minstrels was aptly described by
one of their admirers q cross between "a buzz
saw that had caught double - Nelson on
big knot in gum log and fire in an infant
asylum" When the banquet hall was eventu-
ally reached the room and tables were found to
be handsomely and tastefully decorated with
palms, potted plants, and floral emblems. Pot
entate Walker assumed his place in the rush-line
and gave the signal to "tackle," and soon the
clatter of the tableware drowned even the last
plaintive notes of the kaZoo orchestra, which for
the benefit of the invited guests had been sta
toned on the roof of the summer kitchen. Pot
entate Walker at the post-prandial acted as
toast-master and created much merriment by
his extremely witty introductions The first
toast, ''The Compass and the Square" was re-
sponded to by Noble e. III. Chamberlain in
manner that made the foundation stones of the
Sanctuary swell with pride and Importance and
assume a sort of fatherly and protecting air and
guardianship over the superstructure. Commis-
sioner John w. Ross answered amid the great
est enthusiasm to '"Ihe Star of Empire.n ''God
said, Il am tired of kings | suffer them no
moren His speech was perfect gem and was
received with the most hearty applause, Mobiles
James H. Trimble and James Auer becoming so
enthusiastic as to formulate a plan then and
there to annex Canada right away, but were re-
minded by Noble Jesse Grant that the sentiment
did not allude to the Queen, when somebody over
by the ce-cooler was heard to remark, soto vOce,
''Three of 'em; | call" Past Potentate George
w. Pratt orentally described the beauties of
the ''Star and Crescent" and Maj. Moore fol-
lowed with the "Star and the Club" very ap-
pllcable toast for him as regards the latter por-
tion, but they wear German silver fac-simile
of the Capitol here, which fails of any connec-
tion with the former part Noble William e.
Quinn, of Tangier Temple, Omaha, responded
for ''Our Guests" in a manner that brought
tears into the eyes of the poor relations" pres
ent, and Noble James H. Wardle, who was
swathed in bandages of linseed oil and lime
water and other blister reducers, after care
fully counting the assemblage and dropping
the result into a miniature Holereith tabulating
machine he wears as a watch charm, proceeded
to reply on behalf of the twenty victims to the
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