Masonry Over The Border.

their bed , the founder and lirst disciples of a great school in the healing art ostracised , the lirst advocates of civil liberty mobbed—but in vain . In each case the keystone , though rejected at lirst , was afterwards eagerly sought and "applied to its intended use , " binding together some arch in the great temple of human progress , adding something lo the strength , glory , and beauty of the fabric , something to the enlightenment and welfare of mankind , and bringing home to every honest heart the

comforting and inspiring conviction that truth is mightv and will prevail . Under most constitutions the Mark degree is preliminary to that of the Holy Royal Arch , and is intermediary between it and the Craft . For instance , an English Royal Arch

Mason , who was not " marked " would not be able to enter an American Chapter . Up to the time of the Union , the Mark was more or less recognised , but in 1813 it was excluded . In 1855 an attempt to secure recognition was made , and a committee was appointed to report . Their

report , in favour , was approved by the Grand Master who said that the Mark , while not essential , was a "graceful appendage" to the Craft . Grand Lodge endorsed this in March 1856 , and so the Mark was recognised . But at the next Communication , that portion of the minutes was

nonconfirmed , and so an independent Grand Lodge of Mark Masters came into being , with the late Lord Leigh , Provincial Grand Master of Warwickshire , as the first Grand Master . An interesting offshoot from the Grand Mark Lodge is the system called the " Royal Ark Mariners . " This degree

is governed by a sort of sub-committee of Grand Mark Lodge , called the Grand Master ' s Royal Ark Council . The legend and the teaching of the degree do not appear to have a very intimate relation with those of the Mark . As implied by the name , the old world story of the Hood is commemorated and the deliverance that befell Noah and his sons , and as

might be expected , the jewel of the Order includes the rainbow and the dove . The rainbow , and the covenant of which it was the symbol are further commemorated in the clothing , which included an apron bordered with rainbow coloured riband . As the events referred to are almost prehistoric , the V . S . L . forms no part of the furniture . The

language is nautical , and the degree dates from 1871 , on which date it was formally adopted by the Grand Mark Lodge . As regards any light it may shed on Freemasonry the degree is useless , and it imposes no obligations nor duties that are not fully provided for in the Craft and Mark . Still

any reference to the Mark degree would be incomplete without mention of the Royal Ark Mariners . Some ten years ago the writer published and printed a new lecture , illustrative of the new Mark Tracing Board , permission to use which was officially given , and he will be

pleased to send a copy to any W . M . of a Mark Lodge who should wish to see it . A card addressed to the publishers will receive attention , or to the Rev . J . T . Lawrence , Read Vicarage , Blackburn .

The New Language For Freemasons.

The New language for Freemasons .

MUCH has been said and written recently , not only on the subject of reforming the spelling of the English language , but on the more comprehensive and important question of the creation of a new universal language . The Esperanto International Conference , which for nine days has been going on in Geneva , has brought together

Esperantists from all parts of the world , and will , doubtless , greatly contribute to the spread and propagation of Esperanto . Esperanto is a new language , designed for universal use by Dr . Zamenhof , a Russian doctor . Many attempts have been made before to produce such a language , but all have

failed because of the mass of detail in the grammar , and the lack of system in the compilation of the vocabulary . Dr . Zamenhof went about his task in the onl y logical manner likely to bring results , and the success he has achieved is evidenced by : he great and ever growing number of enthusiastic Esperantists , among whom tire many of the first scholars

of Europe . Almost every language has peculiarities in pronunciation and grammar very difficult for foreigners to understand and overcome . All of these have been carefully avoided , and only the simplest forms are used . For instance , the English

/// and !*' , which are very difficult for the people of other nations , are dropped ; the French u and the Spanish j and n are also eliminated . There are no mute letters , but instead , the inflexible law : One letter one sound , one sound one letter .

The pronunciation rules are simple . The primary accent is always placed on the last syllable but one . The sounds of the letters are : A as in father ; B as in be ; C = ts as in wits ; C = ch as in church ; D as in do ; E = A as in make ; F as in lly ; G as in gun ; ( i = J as in join ; IT as in half ;

H = Ch as in the Scotch pronunciation of loch ; I as in marine ; J = Y as in yoke ; y' — Z as in azure ; K as in key ; L as in line ; M as in make ; N as in now ; O as in note ; P as in pair ; R is a strong dental-R ; S as in see ; S - Sh as in ship ; T as in tea ; U as in rule ; t / = 0 ii as in mount

( used in Diphthongs ) ; V as in very ; Z as in zeal . The caret is used to avoid the necessit y of the double consonants . [ In this paragraph we have italicised the letters which , in Esperanto , are used with the circumflex accent ( ) ; ( his

accent is adopted to obviate the necessity of double consonants . ] The vocabulary contains absolutel y no new words and was compiled so as to bring into use the words common to the greatest number of languages , and the dictionaries of all

the European nations were gone over with this object in view . There are many words that are international , such as tcalr , ad res , form , poel , histori , lelegraf etc ., and these were first selected . Then the words were chosen in order as they appear in the greatest number of languages : Burl : is

found in English , French , German , Italian , Russian , Polish , and Spanish ; eksp / od , in all these except Spanish ; Jlor in all but Spanish and German , etc . Many Latin words are found in all the languages either in the original form or as the root of a modern word : Domestic comes from the Latin

dom us , house , and damo is used in Esperanto . Son is lilo in Latin , familiar to us in the adjective filial ; and so it is throughout . There is hardly a word that does not look familiar and that cannot be guessed . The grammar of Esperanto is particularl y simple , and

the sixteen rules have no exceptions . 0 final marks the noun ; palro , father . A final marks the adjective ; palra , paternal . E final marks the adverb ; patre , in a fatherly manner . J final marks the plural ; houaj palroj , good fathers .

N final marks the direct object ; mi aunts la patron , I love the father . 1 liual marks the infinitive ; ami , to like . AS final marks the present ; mi amas , I like . Li eslas , he is .

IS final marks the past ; ni amis , we liked . OS final marks the future ; vi anios , you will like . US final marks the conditional ; /// aunts , they would like . U final marks the imperative ; amu , like , ue parol 11 , do not speak . ANT final marks the present participle ( active ) ; aiiiania ,

liking . AT final marks the present participle ( passive ) ; amala , who , or which , is liked . IT final marks the past participle ( passive ) ; aiiiila , who , or which , has been liked .