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  • Sept. 1, 1880
  • Page 27
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The Masonic Magazine, Sept. 1, 1880: Page 27

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    Article GOLDEN DREAMS. Page 1 of 2 →
Page 27

Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.

Golden Dreams.

GOLDEN DREAMS .

BY A DREAMETt . WE , all of us , even we Freemasons , have , I fancy , at one time or another of our life , our own " golden dreams . " We are said , as Freemasons , to be very prosaic and matter-of-factand averse to sentimentbut I fancy

, , if any of us could procure that magic "topaz" by which every one ' s secret thoughts and feelings were known to the possessor of that awful , if legendary , ring , we should soon find that our sleekest and sedatest neighbour has had a " golden dream " after all , was partaker of a secret which he particularly wished his own clear , dear Jezabel should never know . Some of us , as we advance iu years , affect to treat all such ideas and feelings as what we like to term

" gush , " " sentimentalit y , " and the like , and we deprecate much any allusion by any one to "golden dreams " and " p icturesque personalpre-Raphaelitism . " When Goethe said " Ich babe gelebt unci geliebt , " he uttered , according to such unimaginative censors ,. unmitigated "bosh ; " when the young man strikes his forehead , as young men sometimes do , and cries out ecstatically , " Ah , meine goldene traumen , " we are wont generally , if " sotto voce , " to dub that

young man an " anser . " There are many of us , indeed , to whom , as life lias passed away , leaving us old , greyheaded , gouty , and forlorn , all these ideas and theories appear too sublimated for our earthly vision . We don't believe in "love at first si ght , " the " mutual harmony" of " confiding bosoms , " the " glancings of rapturous glances , " the " squeezings of hot little rooms" ( whatever these may be ) , and we strongly repress all allusions to our own earlier clays , hopes , plans , longings , idealities . Indeed , like the poet , we say somewhat proudly and sternly , when we hear young men talking what we like to call their " spoony nonsense " now ,

New milk 1 own is very fine When foaming from the cow ; But yet I want my pint of wine—I ' m not a lover now . I never tell a tender tale , I never want to sigh , I never seek to raise a veil ,

I never tell a lie . But yet , as I remarked before , say what we will and do what we will , spend our lives where and how we may , we cannot silence " memory , " and the present , with all its attractions for some and its bitter heartaches for others , is ever carrying us away on its " resistless tide " to that "past" of ours , which , try as we may , we can never shut out in its tender interests and living sympathies either for time or eternity . But I must not drift into too serious a tone .

We all , then , have our " golden dreams , " or , as the courtly preacher once said to Louis XV ., when speaking of universal death , " presque tons , " and very pleasant they are while they last . Sometimes they do not endure for long ; of ttimes they fade away as with the morning ' s light ; but while they are ours they are cheery to the sight and good for the mind . For there is , if they are " golden dreams , " something elevating in them : they seem to lift us above the common crowd and the noisy ruck of men , and to fill us with happy hopes and fair imaginings . To-day , when we are old and cold , and weary and worn , when trials and troubles , crosses andf years have bowed our

“The Masonic Magazine: 1880-09-01, Page 27” Masonic Periodicals Online, Library and Museum of Freemasonry, 24 May 2025, django:8000/periodicals/mmg/issues/mmg_01091880/page/27/.
  • List
  • Grid
Title Category Page
THE OLD MASTER MASONS. Article 1
ROLL OF EXTINCT LODGES UNDER THE GRAND LODGE OF SCOTLAND, WARRANTED FROM 1736 TO 1836.* Article 5
A FRENCH MASONIC ADDRESS IN 1880. Article 8
A ROYAL ARCH SONG. Article 11
A STRANGE STORY OF EASTWELL Article 12
OLD RECORDS OF THE LODGE OF PEEBLES. Article 15
TIME WAS, TIME IS. Article 17
FRENCH FREEMASONRY. Article 18
"ARS QUATCOR CORONATORUM."* Article 21
THE YORK FABRIC ROLLS. Article 23
THE MEANING OF " COWAN." Article 25
GOING HOME. Article 26
GOLDEN DREAMS. Article 27
LITERARY AND ANTIQUARIAN GOSSIP. Article 28
H.M.S. EURYDICE. Article 32
H.M.S. ATALANTA. Article 33
HISTORY OF RINGS. Article 34
HOLIDAY HOURS. Article 37
IN MEMORIAM. Article 38
THE ANCIENT MYSTERIES. Article 40
TEMPORA MUTANTUR. Article 44
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Page 27

Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.

Golden Dreams.

GOLDEN DREAMS .

BY A DREAMETt . WE , all of us , even we Freemasons , have , I fancy , at one time or another of our life , our own " golden dreams . " We are said , as Freemasons , to be very prosaic and matter-of-factand averse to sentimentbut I fancy

, , if any of us could procure that magic "topaz" by which every one ' s secret thoughts and feelings were known to the possessor of that awful , if legendary , ring , we should soon find that our sleekest and sedatest neighbour has had a " golden dream " after all , was partaker of a secret which he particularly wished his own clear , dear Jezabel should never know . Some of us , as we advance iu years , affect to treat all such ideas and feelings as what we like to term

" gush , " " sentimentalit y , " and the like , and we deprecate much any allusion by any one to "golden dreams " and " p icturesque personalpre-Raphaelitism . " When Goethe said " Ich babe gelebt unci geliebt , " he uttered , according to such unimaginative censors ,. unmitigated "bosh ; " when the young man strikes his forehead , as young men sometimes do , and cries out ecstatically , " Ah , meine goldene traumen , " we are wont generally , if " sotto voce , " to dub that

young man an " anser . " There are many of us , indeed , to whom , as life lias passed away , leaving us old , greyheaded , gouty , and forlorn , all these ideas and theories appear too sublimated for our earthly vision . We don't believe in "love at first si ght , " the " mutual harmony" of " confiding bosoms , " the " glancings of rapturous glances , " the " squeezings of hot little rooms" ( whatever these may be ) , and we strongly repress all allusions to our own earlier clays , hopes , plans , longings , idealities . Indeed , like the poet , we say somewhat proudly and sternly , when we hear young men talking what we like to call their " spoony nonsense " now ,

New milk 1 own is very fine When foaming from the cow ; But yet I want my pint of wine—I ' m not a lover now . I never tell a tender tale , I never want to sigh , I never seek to raise a veil ,

I never tell a lie . But yet , as I remarked before , say what we will and do what we will , spend our lives where and how we may , we cannot silence " memory , " and the present , with all its attractions for some and its bitter heartaches for others , is ever carrying us away on its " resistless tide " to that "past" of ours , which , try as we may , we can never shut out in its tender interests and living sympathies either for time or eternity . But I must not drift into too serious a tone .

We all , then , have our " golden dreams , " or , as the courtly preacher once said to Louis XV ., when speaking of universal death , " presque tons , " and very pleasant they are while they last . Sometimes they do not endure for long ; of ttimes they fade away as with the morning ' s light ; but while they are ours they are cheery to the sight and good for the mind . For there is , if they are " golden dreams , " something elevating in them : they seem to lift us above the common crowd and the noisy ruck of men , and to fill us with happy hopes and fair imaginings . To-day , when we are old and cold , and weary and worn , when trials and troubles , crosses andf years have bowed our

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