A Withered Flower.

Is given in the " pleasaunce " Or on our homeward Avay , Yes I still IIOAV very fragrant Is the memory of that day ! And time has come and gone , And years have flitted fast

, And all those gracious moments , Are shadows of the past ; Poor ghosts of care-Avorn faces , They tap at our closed door . For the loving light and the living hope Can be ours never more .

On that floAver dim and faded , The Avorld has thrown its spell , Like on all Ave prize so clearly , Like on all Ave lov'd so well ; For that faded floAver tells us ,

In language void of art , HOAV that it is an emblem Of our OAVU Avithered heart . Alas ! for us , how sad to think , That all for us is gone

Of what we loved so hugely , —vanish'd Our dear fancies one by one . Yes ! that withered floAver minds us , How perish love and trust , And IIOAV like all of human mould , 'Tis but a pinch of dust . W .

An Oration

AN ORATION

Delivered by Bro . Pinchinat , in the Session of the G-. Orient of France , commencing September 13 , 1875 . TRANSLATED FROM THE MONDE MACONNIQUE FOR SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER .

MY BRETHREN , —Each time that I have been permitted to take part in a General Assembly of the Grand Orient , I have been penetrated by this conviction , that it would be difficult to demand of the

members Avho compose it a better spirit . In the discussion of questions placed on the " order of the day" more or less animated , but ahvays serious , each one has brought , so to say , the mark of his own character and temperament .

ButuotAvith-, standing difference of views , which , of necessity , must arise in everything , triumphant majorities as well as defeated minorities , the feeling of brotherhood , of

An Oration

conciliation , of reciprocal affection , could not and Avould not disappear in our Masonic relations . Whatever was the result of our voting , our hands continued to seek and to grasp each others' mutually , aud Avithout distinction . What , then , is the cause ? Avhat is the " raison d ' etre" of this mutual toleration for which ' we all

pride ourselves , of this touching harmony Avhich nothing can trouble ? It is , that Ave all in this hall have but one object in view , that Ave all pursue Avithout intermission the same ideal , the most noble that can be proposed to our human activity ; it is thatthough we may differ as to the means

, of arriving at the result , we have , and can have , but one and the same end to reach . You know as Avell as I do , this end , this ideal , this object in view . It is the greatness of our dear order . With respect to it no strugglesno possible quarrels ; Ave

, are in agreement ; our hearts beat in unison ; and the personal egotism which we meet at every step in the profane Avorld is poAverless here to SIIOAV itself on the face of our robust faith , of our professed convictionof our inextinguishable ardour for this

, great work of jnsticeand of truth . Oiirunion on this basis is indissoluble , so that our disputes leave no trace in the memory of the bitter Avord , of tho offensive remark , of the wounded personality * , of the chafed "amour

propre ; " and Avhen the hour of separation has sounded , Ave leave behind us neither anger nor revenge , for Ave all knoAv that each has clone his duty , in conscientiously accomplishing that Avhich he believed to be the good , the useful , the welfare of all .

At the end of this long and laborious session , you have named Bro . de St . Jean to preside over your labours . This is a just homage rendered to him , Avhose Masonic life has been one of perpetual devotion to our cause . It is a mark of gratitude for

the numerous services he has rendered , and for those Avhich he is ready to render still . May he permit me , iu the name of all , to express to him our gratitude . We count on him , and wo have the firm hope that he Avill know in all circumstances how

to defend tho sacred interests of that Freemasonry which is so dear to our hearts . I will not enter into the detail of all tho questions resolved by yuit . Your votes , only inspired by the anxiety lo see our order prosper , to amend our regulations , to place our constitution in agreement R