REPORTS OF THE BUILDING COMMITTEE. 681 



music accompanied the procession, which was more than a mile in length. Of the 

 music we cannot avoid saying that it was excellent. The marine band is uniformly 

 so. The national brass band, recently formed under Mr. Massoletti, played ad- 

 mirably. Garcia's band, from Alexandria, attracted particular attention by its ex- 

 cellent performances. This band, being uniformed, was taken by several persons for 

 Deem's celebrated Baltimore band ; a great compliment truly. 



"The column moved down 4 J- street to Pennsylvania avenue, then up the avenue 

 to Seventh street, up Seventh to E, up E to Eleventh, up Eleventh to F, and thence on 

 F to the Presidential Mansion, where the President, heads of departments, diplomatic 

 corps, &c, were received into the line. The entire column then moved by Pennsyl- 

 vania avenue and Twelfth street to the site of the Smithsonian Institution. 



The military was then formed in line on the south side of the site, and the President, 

 heads of departments, diplomatic corps, Regents, mayor and corporation of Washing- 

 ton, &c, passed in front, receiving 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- 

 stone. 



" The Masonic ceremonies were then performed, for the details of which we are 

 indebted to an oflicial source, as follows : 



" Proclamation for silence having been made by the Grand Marshal, B. B. French, 

 Esq., the Grand Master, accompanied by James Page, Esq., the Grand Master of the 

 Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, and Charles 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 

 Maryland, Brother McJilton, to address the Throne of Grace, which he did, as fol- 

 lows : 



" PRATER. 



" 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 hast promised 

 them in all generations ; and that which thou hast spoken with thy mouth thou hast 

 fulfilled with thy hand even unto this day. (2 Chron. vi, 14, 15.) As thou 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 beneath 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.) Thou gavest 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 defence. 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 borders, and filled her with 

 the finest of the wheat. Thou hast strengthened 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 

 establish thy covenant with them. Under thy fostering care the land became the 

 heritage of freedom, the asylum of the oppressed, the home of the stranger, a bless- 

 ing to the nations. The gloomy clouds of ignorance and superstition are resting 

 darkly upon other lands ; but the sun of enlightenment and religion is beaming 

 brilliantly upon ours. The shackles of civil bondage are binding the nations of the 

 east, and they bow in their captivity to the despot's iron rule ; but no fetters of 

 oppression bind the free of this favored land. Civil discord has reared its hydra 

 head, and rent asunder the bond that united other States, but ours is unharmed, and 

 no enemy appears that has power to sever it. The pestilence with fearful step has 



