I . W. GRAND LOlMiK ^licitnt, /ice, Mb ^cttptei SElasons, A i/ro \

i r
e have wen it ontlive the rise and fnll of nations, kingdom?, ard empires.
t has witnessed the magnif<strong>ice</strong>nce and grandeur of Balbcc and Palmyra, of
•abylon and \ineveh, sunk into insignificance. It has seen o.eece, the seat
• f freedom, wisdom and the arts, fall from her high estate. It has beheld
a.man eloquence, heroism, and glory left only in her name; and the pyrai
lids and obelisks of Egypt crumbling into the desert sand, tolling the last
1 nell of her departed glory; and passing through ages when the su of the
i H..I Lin i-1 iiiv-1." BJM ob---uicd, and ignoran c an 1 superstition had assumed
t leir sway over the willing multitude, wc sje it again emerge, clothed in the
(lorious panoply ol Heaven's own mail, and stand before the wo.ld, like the
] ir» fall moon on some . toriny night—
Among the f cgitivc clouds that hurrying by,
Leave her alone, unshaken in the sky.
" We have found that it is the spirit and tendency of the institution to
elevate the intellect of man; to raise his moral feelings and enlarge his range
of scientific and useful knowledge, and that at the same time it is emphatically
and peculiarly an institution of social benevolence, forming its members
into one universal and harmonious brotherhood, governed by one set of
principles, animated by one feeling, and pronouncing one shibboleth in all
tongues, countries and ages."
We know of no (Irani Lodge whose proceedings give higher promise of
future excellence than our youthful sister of Iowa.
MISSOURI.
This Grand Lodge met in annual communication in St. Louis, on Monday,
June C, 1863, M. \V Benjamin W. Grovcr, Grand Master. A very large
number of Lodges were represented, the whole proceedings showing the prospt
rity of Masonry in Missouri. The Grand Master in his beautiful address
ssys:
"Once more, under the guidance and protection of our Supreme Grand
'» Mil. ». .II. ].. in.::' i ; i a--:u' I,- a, t'.,e representatives of the subordin
It Ladfl of the State, to consult together upon the interest and welfare
' our beloved Order; to renew our annual greetings and fraternal intcrand
to brighten and strengthen the links of that mystic chain of
otherhood, by which we are bound one to the other. It is a source of un-
|Md SjBBgratulation, that throughout our borders an imu-ual decree ,,f
'• ' li.\ an I l.d pr -] I :l V h.l- d'-l iliol.-l.i 1 . Ii . . .\ . . ' '. , :
ring the Masonic year now about to close. No other institution of human
gia an ]>oiiit back with such just feelings of pride, to itt hitloru, through
> changes and revolutions of centuries, as embodying the same fundamenasinsiplss
of morality—the same unchanging ritual and unaltered tenets,
gts and convulsions of the world—while all other institutions, socio/, moral,
and political, that started with ours in the race of associate existence, have
one after another sank and disappeared beneath the wave and the ttorm—
while, in the very domet in which they had their origin, the serpent hisses,