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honors from the hands of the Craft, which would warrant him in assuming a dictatorial tone, or applying terms of contempt to a worthy Brother, whom the Fraternity of Iowa have thought worthy to be elected their Grand Master. We would recommend to Brother Brennan to study the principles of our time honored Order more attentively; and we trust Brethren will discountenance such objectionable effusions as he has recently seen fit to publish in the American Free

mason.

APPEAL FROM THE GRAND MASTER.

A YEAR ago last October, an appeal was taken and allowed from the Grand Master of Illinois to the Grand Lodge. We thought it wrong at the time, and we have not seen any reason to change our opinion. The following remarks of the Committee on F. C. of Vermont, tally exactly with our own. views:

We had hoped that a whole year of reflection and research would have convinced our brethren in Illinois that there is no "right of appeal from the decision of the Grand Master ruling a motion out of order;" but they seem rather to be confirmed in their opinion, and quote the able argument of Brother Abell, of California, in their behalf, with entire approval. Your committee can neither indorse the opinion nor the argument, believing the true doctrine to be that, under the ancient landmarks of the Order as the rule and guide of his acts, the Master is absolute, in the East, and that no appeal can be taken from his decision. The disposition to popularize and soften down the distinguishing features of Ancient Freemasonry, to suit the whims and caprices of this progressive age, we protest against, and we can conceive of no effect which will more certainly follow a cause, than that of anarchy and confusion among the craftsmen at work upon the Temple, from destroying the controlling power of the Master builder. Say it is despotism, and characterize it as despotic power, if you please, it is yet a despotism whose ruling principle is love, and which in the lapse of ages has infringed no brother's right and trampled on no Masonic law.

HYMN OF YGGDRASILL, THE TREE OF THE

WORLD.

[Selected.]

Ye children of Time! ye men of earth!
Would ye see the Mother who gave you birth?
Then turn ye your eyes to the northern sky,
Where the Bow of Heaven gleams bright on high;
For that Bow's a Root of the Mother-Tree
Which riseth and bloometh eternally-

The Tree of Life, which shall wave o'er all,

Till the stars shall fade, and the world shall fall!

That tree is the wondrous Yggdrasill!

Far spread its boughs and the wide world fill;
Beneath them, in changeful whirl and flow,
All events, men and ages come and go!
And no mortal eye saw that root shoot out;
For long ere the seasons began their route,
The mystic branches did rise and swell,
All fresh and green, by the sacred well.

The Tree's other name is Time-old Time!
Its foliage spreads o'er every clime!
There is no Event, no Thing, no Art,

But springs from the deeps of its fruitful heart.
And how strange! O strange! that it still is seen
As erst it arose, all as fair and green;

It hath not faded, that Holy Tree,

But waves through the ages its branches free.

Though old it hath grown, its branches fair
Are kept all green by the Norna's care;
Its foliage spreads, but it withers not;
It may fall to the ground, but dieth not:
Yet no mortal man can with justness say,
How dismal the fate it will meet one day;
For 't will not stand everlastingly-

It will fade and die, that celestial Tree.

Draw near, sons of Time! hear the Ash Tree sigh!
Four snow-white stags,* in its branches high,

Through every age unceasingly,

Gnaw the bark from the sides of th' afflicted Tree;

The four winds of heaven, or, more properly, the four seasons, which, as they roll, con

sume the energies of Nature, and hurry all forward to the day of final doom.

They destroy each shoot, and the fibres small,
The forth-springing buds, and the leaves and all;
And thus, through time, those white stags will
Consume the verdure of Yggdrasill!

The Tree of the World more ills shall know;
For e'er on its roots preys a dreadful foe-
The Dragon Nid-Hógr, with his serpent train,
Who shall war with the gods, and not in vain;
And the Ash itself shall grow old and frail,
And all up its sides shall the gray moss trail;
And the sap shall sink from the branches tall,
And alas! the wondrous tree will fall.

Hear ye the mysterious, mighty tone,
Which thunders out from the Eagle's throne,
And swells as a hymn with a wondrous trill,
Through the far-spreading top of Yggdrasill.
Ratosk, the mystic squirrel, springs

Along the old boughs, and the cadence brings
Adown to the caves by Urda's well,
Where the spirits light and the Nornas dwell.

The Eagle doth sing of that old Tree!

Of its age, and its dismal destiny;

And that, when its time-withered trunk shall fall,

It will crush the infernal races all,

And destroy that snake, from whose mouth do flow

The streams of vice and of human woe;
But the Ash itself will be withered quite,
Before shall come the predicted night.

Ye men of Earth! will ye stand and fight
In the ranks of the dreadful Sons of Night?
Will ye strive 'gainst the gods who govern all?
And your Mother grieve, and hasten her fall?
Will ye, by your vices, seek to prolong
The sinful life of the Giant-throng?
And with them in impious strife will ye try
To storm the heavens, and the gods defy?

Fight on! fight on! with th' infernal bands!
Ye shall die! ye shall die! by each other's hands.
The avenger comes! and the day of doom!—

The fire-clad thunders shall furrow the gloom;

The heavens shall split, and the stars shall pale,

And the Ash shall shake, as though moved by a gale,

And that sacred Tree when it comes to fall,
In endless night will entomb ye all!

THE GRAND CHAPTER OF

MISSISSIPPI SUS

TAINS THE G. C. OF MICH.

THE following is an extract from a report made by a special committee to the G. C. of Mississippi, in January last, and which was adopted by that body:

"So much for the history of the G. G. Chapter; and as far as this Committee has knowledge, of the action of the G. Chapters in favor of its dissolution. Other Grand Chapters may have taken like positions, but the Committee have not been favored with their proceedings.

"To understand whether it be expedient or not to continue the existence of a society or organization, it is well to look at the past history of its acts and examine into its power and the probabilities for its exercise for good or evil for the future.

"The original purpose of the creation of the body under consideration as a Grand Chapter, no doubt was good, nor would we dispute that its action was beneficial in extending its jurisdiction over unoccupied R. A. territory; but beyond this we know of no positive good which it has done, either by its legislation, wisdom or example; and whatever may have been the utility, real or apparent, of its original organization, now that R. A. Masonry has become so extended and so many Grand Chapters established, none at the present day exists. It has never been enabled to establish a uniform mode of work among its Subordinates, nor has its own work been remarked otherwise than for its singular form-its beauty has never attracted attention. Having no positive virtues, has it been wholly negative in its character? We cannot say that it has done any great evil. It has, in one case at least, violated its own Constitution, in requiring Carrollton Chapter, in this State, to pay dues to the G. G. Chapter after the establishment of this G. Chapter, and, but recently, its G. G. High Priest invaded the jurisdiction of Michigan, and declared a Charter issued by the Grand Chaper a nullity, and its Exalted no R. A. Masons. Of course

the G. Chapter of Michigan treated the mandate with contempt, and directed its Subordinates to pay no attention to its directions. We are not aware that it has ever been the means of producing harmony, while we thus see that it has the power and the will to create discord, by its usurpations. If, however, it may have at any time exercised its influence or authority in quelling disturbances between Grand bodies, the time for that action has passed away; for harmony between such bodies can only be disturbed by questions of jurisdiction, and the law touching that subject is, at this day, too well settled and known for such conflicts again to occur.

"But it is hardly worth while for the Committee to attempt to establish a character of a body which has so little. We will make a suggestion, however, that though it has, with the above mentioned exception, proved itself heretofore only a 'King Log,' it is by no means certain that it will remain so. The recent effort made in the Paris Congress, to introduce new rules and regulations on a subject on which we may well feel sensitive in this latitude, should warn us in time to avoid the danger by a destruction of the only instrument by which we can be assailed. Although it never has had the power to produce uniformity of work, yet it has the dangerous power to create this fatal discord.

"Some years ago it established, or pretended to establish, a system of work. At the following triennial meeting, the Gen. G. High Priest decided that it was optional with the G. and Subordinate Chapters to follow that work or not; and at the very next Convocation, the G. G. Chapter decided that it had never adopted any system of work! If we could entertain any reasonable hope that the future would produce higher and better results; that the G. G. Chapter would exceed as much in wisdom as it does in authority, the G. Chapters, our objections might be weakened; but we can perceive no such promise, and we have thus only to contemplate future evil, or, at least, to expect for the G. G. Chapter a useless but expensive existence.

"In the language of the M. E. High Priest of Indiana:

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