Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-12-07
THE LADY FREEMASON.
Historical Authority for the Legend
About Miss st. Leger.

From the London Standard
The. legend of the Lady Freemason is ex-
amined in the dry light of history. by a
correspondent who communicates his learn
ed inGIiries to us this morning. The popu-
lar version-which everybody had heard and
nobody quite believed-was that Miss ST.
i4eger. daughter of former Lord Done
raile. had concealed herself in the case of a
..grandfather's clock" which was standing
in a room where the occult rites of the fra
qernity We're about to be celebrated: that
she sneezed Tor did she yawn0. and was
dragged from her hiding place. but, in lieu
nf instant execution, was mercifully al
lowed. in regard for the feelings of her
father and brothers, to be initiated into all
the mysteries of the craft Being wom-
an she was considered to be sufficiently
punished by being told a secret and forced
to keep it. The fact that she never d.
Vuged what she learned has been used by
perverse misogynists as proof that there
was nothing to reveal. Faithful MaSonS
have been fixed on the horns of rather
diScOrC erting dilemma. either there was
nothing to tell or a woman never found it
out They have been invited to repudiate
either the mystery or the woman. But
our correspondent comes to their rescue
From his researches in stu, and his inves-
legation OF the family archives, it appears
that Miss St Leger did not hide herself in
clock. for the simple reason that no time
piece Oh capacity was kept at
Doneraile Court. What really happened. or
may have happened. is that she was sit
ting in a library adjoining the room In
which the ceremony was being enacted.
But the partition wall CHANGED to be under
going repair; and while she was DOING
perhaps over novel of the period-she was
aw; heEed by the sound of voices. Natu-
rally she wished to know what was being
said Some girls in their fathers house
woud have walked into the next room and
taken their proper share in the conversa-
Iion-
But this too tame for Miss ST. Leger.
She pulled away some of the bricks and eS-
tablshed a position of vantage where she
could see and hear without being observed.
All might have gone well. but either the
iodgc program was less entertaining than
she had expected or, as our correspondent
suggests, she suddenly realized the terri
BILE consequences of her action. Whether
she was conscience stricken or merely
bored, she determined to make her escape.
She got safely into the hall and saw nobody
there hut the family butler. But he no
longer the obsequious retainer; he was a
man and Mason. Indeed, he was acting
as d0orkeeper to the lodge whose sacred
rites she had profaned. 1t was no longer
Gaze of servant and mistress: she was the
culprit, he the avenging priest. Obviously,
he had to tell her papa. 1t was equally
matter of course that she should fall into a
swoon-it gave her time to review the stu
alton. The sequel cannot be more touch
ingiy described than in our correspondent s
own language: The fair culprit, endowed
with high sense of honor. at once con-
scented TO pass through the impressive cere-
monies she had already in part witnessed
and become Freemason.' The RECESSION
of the narrative leaves nothing to be de-
sired until we ask for the date All we are
told is that 1.-The year was probably no -
Probably, We had imagined that this full
true and particular account was Transcribed
from authentic and contemporary records
But IL the year is only q matter of con-
lecture what of the rest of the narrative?
Is il one more essay in that branch of his
tory which the Germans call subjective
reconstruction inventing a private fancy
and stating il an ascertained fact?