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their salute, and repaired to an elevated platform erected for the occasion 

 near the corner-stone, and beautifully arched and decorated with festoons 

 and wreaths of flowers and evergreens. 



" The column then opened to the right and left, and the masonic bodies, 

 preceded by the Grand Master of the District of Columbia, passed up the 

 line to the corner-sione. 



" The masonic ceremonies were then performed, for the details of which 

 we are indebted to an official source, as follows: 



" Proclamation for silence having been made by the Grand Marshal — 



"13. B. French, esq., the Grand Master, accompanied by James Page, 

 esq., the Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, and Chas. 

 Gilman, esq., the Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Maryland, took 

 his stand at the corner-stone, and. having announced the object of the 

 meeting, called upon the Grand Chaplain of the Grand Lodge of Mary- 

 land, brother McJilton, to address the Throne of Grace, which he did as 

 follows : 



" PRAYER. 



"O Lord God of nations! There is none like thee in heaven nor in 

 earth ; which keepeth covenant, and showeth mercy unto thy servants 

 that walk before thee with all their hearts. Thou hast kept with thy 

 people that which thou has promised them in all generations ; and that 

 which thou hast spoken wirh thy mouth thou hast fulfilled with thy 

 hand even unto this day. (2 Chron. vi, 14, 15.) As thoji didst with 

 thine ancient people Israel, of small beginning, thou hast raised up a 

 mighty nation in this western world. By thy power it has prospered ; 

 by thine arm it has been begirt with strength ; by thine hand it has been 

 overstrewn with blessings. 



" Few in number and feeble in strength our fathers came upon these 

 shores. They hewed themselves a home in the wilderness, and sat down 

 weary and toilworn amid the wilds of the forests. But they abode be- 

 neath the shadow of the Almighty. (Ps. xci, 1.) Thou wast to them 

 as rivers of water in a dry place, and as the shadow of a great rock in a 

 weary land. (Isa. xxxii, 2.) Thougavest them rain in season. The land 

 yielded her increase, and the trees of the field yielded their fruit. The 

 threshing reached unto the vintage, and the vintage to the sowing time. 

 They did eat their bread to the full, and dwelt in the land in. safety. 

 When their enemies rose against them, thou wast the shield of their de- 

 fence. In thy strength they had power to overcome, and their foes fled 

 before them. Thou gavest them independence and peace, and madest 

 them to lie down in safety, with none to make them afraid. Thou didst 

 set up thy tabernacle among them ; thou didst break the bands of their 

 yoke, and made them to go upright and free. (Lev. xxvi.) 



" Thy second Israel has been greatly blessed at thy hands. Thou hast 

 given her plenty of corn and wine. Thou hast made peace in her bor- 

 ders, and filled her with the finest of the wheat. Thou hast strength- 

 ened the bars of her gates, and blessed her children within her. (Ps. 

 cxlvii, 13, 14.) Thou hadst respect unto our fathers. Thou madest 

 them to be fruitful, and didst multiply their prosperity. Thou didst estab- 

 lish thy covenant with them. Under thy tostering care the land became 

 the heritage of freedom, the asylum of the oppressed, the home of the 

 stranger, a blessing to the nations. The gloomy clouds of ignorance and 



