My Initiation Into The Abyssinian Mysteries.

then closed , and I was taken up a pair of stairs , where I was informed a new trial awaited me . Being now an Abyssinian , who had penetrated the deepest shades , if I Was true bine , fire would not harm me ; I must therefore submit to be blind-folded , ancl undergo the . ordeal of fire . I must be immersed in a bath of molten lead , which was already prepared . If I could stand that ordeal I was worthy of the highest honours as a full-blown adept in the Abyssinian

Mysteries . With this I was seized b y three or four strong men , and I braced all my sinews , expecting to be dipped in pretty hot water at the very least . The sensation which ensued was the exact oppjosite . I was seated in a bath tub of the most icy description . The scamps must have prepared , it with salt and snow ; ancl on a hot August evening , after such an excited and hot experience as I had passed through , the contrary shock to that which I had expected may be imagined .

This over , I was pronounced a tried and accepted adept in the mysteries , and I was reconducted to the bathroom , where I had originally prepared myself , and after enjoying a capital bath and after redressing , I was invited forth to the dining-room . Here I found all rny friends clothed and in their right minds , looking like gentlemen and scholars ; ancl we spent a very happy hour in consuming an elegant supper , and in a hearty flow of spirit . It began to dawn , amidst the jokes of the supper table , that I had been really " sold . " I

had taken a bogus degree ; ancl my fift y dollars had gone to furnish these gay boys a supper , which they were evidentl y enjoying at my expense . , Finally , I innocently told them that was my diagnosis of the case . The discovery was greeted with hilarious laughter . "Well , " said Ed . Johnson , " say nothing about it , and we will have another supper out of some other neophyte , as ardent for degrees and as green as you were . " "I wont do it , " I said , with virtuous indignation , " I am going to blow on this whole thing , ancl if the editor of the Masonic Magazine will give me space to do it , you will all find your pictures taken for the August number . "

The Budding Spring.

THE BUDDING SPRING .

THE budding spring will have an end , And into summer grow ; The blooming summer will descend To autumn ' s russet glow . The mellow autumn next will glide Alon g to winter ' s frost , And all we cherished will have

died—Be swallowed up and lost ! We see the flowers bud in spring , In summer see them bloom , We know the frosts of autumn bring Their glories to the tomb . The winter snows become their shrouds

, And hide them out of sight ; Beneath impenetrable clouds Of everlasting night ! So . 'tis with man—but not with man , When spring is on the earth He enters on his little

span—Is ushered into birth . We see him bloom in summer time , In autumn pass away , To enter a congenial clime Of never-ending day . W . COEBET' 1