The Globe-republican., 1896-11-05

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ENNIyhSthx or Masonic temple.
EYE2&1A Into the hollow OF
kIA4NA the stone were
NTXQ&n placed scrolls of
NSE<S@& history and import
RSG1O ant documents, to
SSH@ be suggestive if,
one or two hun
dred years after, the building should
be destroyed by fire or torn down. We
remember the silver trowel or iron
hammer that smote the square piece OF
granite into sanctity. We remember
some venerable man who presided
welding the trowel or hammer. We
remember also the music as the choir
stood on the scattered stones and tim
Der Of the building about to be con-
structed. The leaves of the note books
fluttered in the wind, and were turned
over with a great rustling, and we re-
member how the bass, baritone. tenor,
ccntralto. and soprano voices COM
mingled. They had for many days
been rehearsing the special programme.
that 1t might be worthy Of the corner
stone laying.
In my text the poet of u calls us to
a grander ceremony-the laying of the
foundation of this great temple of a
world. The cornerstone was a block
Of light and the trowel was of celestial
crystal. All about and on the embank-
ments of clouds stood the angelic
choristers unrolling their librettos of
nj
shining cymbals while the ceremony
went on, and God the architect, by
stroke of light after stroke of light,
dedicated this great cathedral of a
world, with mountains for pillars, and
sky for frescoed ceiling, and Towering
fields for a floor, and sunrise and mid
night aurora for upholstery. who
laid the cornerstone thereof, when the
morning stars sang together"
The fact is that the whole universe
was a complete cadence, an unbroken
dithyramb, a musical portfolio. The
great sheet of immensely had been
spread out, and written on it were the
stars, the smaller of them minims,
the larger of them sustained notes.
The meteors marked the staccato pas
sages. the whole heavens gamut with
all sounds, intonations, modulations,
the space between the worlds musical
interval, trembling of stellar light
Quaver, the thunder a bass clef, the
wind among trees treble clef That
ia the way God made all things a per-
feet harmony.
The human intellect out of tune: the
judgment wrongly swerved or the
memory leaky or the will weak or the
temper inflammable, the well-balanced
mind exceptional.
Domestic life out of tune: only here
and there a conjugal outbreak of in
compatibility of temper through the
divorce courts, or a filial outbreak
about fathers will through the sur
rogate's court, or a case of wife-beating
or husband-poisoning through the
criminal courts, but thousands of fam
lilies with June outside and January
within.
Society out of tune: labor and CAPT.
tai, their hands on each others throat.
Spirit of caste keeping those down in
the social scale who are struggling to
get up. and putting those who are up
in anxiety lest they have to come down.
No wonder the old pianoforte of society
is all out of tune, when hypocrisy and
lying, and subterfuge, and dOuble-deal-
ing, and sycophancy. and charlatanism
and revenge, have for six thousand
years been banging away at the keys
and stamping the pedals.
On all sides there is a shipwreck of
harmonies. Nations in discord with
out realizing it; SO wrong is the feeling
Of nation for nation that symbols
chosen are fierce and destructive. In
this country, where our skies are full
of robins and doves and morning larks.
we have our national symbol the fierce
and filthy eagle, as cruel bird as can
be found in all the pathological cata-
logues. In Great Britain, where they
have lambs and fallow deer, their SYM
Dol is the merciless lion. In Russia,
where from between her frozen north |
and blooming south all kindly beasts |
dwell. they chose the growing bear;
and in the worlds heraldry a favorite |
dgure is the dragon, the tabled winged |
ferocious and dreadful. And i
30 fond is the world of contention that |
We climb out through the heavens and |
baptize one Of the other planets with |
the spirit of battle and call 1t Mars,
after the god Of war, and We give to /
the eighth sign Of the zodiac the name
Df the scorpion. 4 creature which is
chiefly celebrated for its deadly sting.
But, after all, these symbols are ex-
pressive of the way nation feels to-
ward nation. Discord wide as the con-
tinent and bridging the seas.
Tartini. the great musical composer.
ono night that made q con-
tract with Satan. the latter to be ever
n the composers service. But one
night he handed to Satan q violin. on
which Diabolus played such sweet
Eusic that the composer was awakened
BY the emotion. and tried to reproduce
The sounds. and therefrom was written
Tartini's most famous niece .sThe