Free Masonry - The Masonic Trowel

XU PREFACE.
name of the author should appear in the work; not that it
would shame the reader; but his work is truth, which is irresistible,
while the author is a mortal that can be barked
down.
He received the secret of the lodges in due form, under
able masters; laboured at the lectures with the resolution
of a hale man taking patent medicines; others found them
so beneficial, he would not fail of their benefit for the want
of a fair trial, All the language of the lodges, and the tedious
details of the lectures, he learned by dint of perseverance,
and could once rehearse equal to his satisfaction:
still the charm refused to operate, the talisrnanic influence
failed to exert itself; and, like one fairly innoculated with
genuine matter, he, to the disappointment of the doctor,
.yet took the disease the natural way.
With great simplicity he sought the meaning of this, modestly
inquiring of the Royal Arch and great Masons; but
a sure hint at the master's entire ignorance of the subject,
was always sufficient, when coming from men four, seven,
and ten degrees above him, completely to shut his mouth.
He could not presume to doubt what they, from their elevation,
saw clearly; and having no disposition further to
climb the eminence, nor relish for the twilight of the lodges,
he withdrew from the connexion; travelling, but neither
giving nor receiving lion's patvs, due guards, or grips ; neither
knowing a man, nor being known, as a Free Mason.
From this state of tranquillity he was disturbed by an
event, which, unworthy as it might seem to its agents, disturbed
every Mason, and shook every lodge, in the Union;
agitated, and does yet greatly agitate, the public mind; sever-.
ing friendships, dividing families, rending churches.
A citizen of New-York, it may be a most unworthy man,
yet an American citizen, in the autumn of 1826, was maliciously
taken with the form of legal process, from his fireside
and family at Batavia, New-York, by Free Masons,
was transported sixty miles to Candaigua for trial. At once
discharged by the law, he was again arrested for debt to