Devoutly grateful to God for the manifestations of his infinite love, let us reverently approach the throne of grace and humbly offer our prayer of praise and thanksgiving to the Giver of all. good for his watchful care and manifold blessings.

[The Grand Lodge was here called up, and the Rev. and R. W... GEORGE R. VAN DE WATER, Grand Chaplain, offered the following prayer :]

PRAYER.

We praise thee, O God; we acknowledge thee to be the Lord. All the earth doth worship thee, the Father everlasting. To thee all angels cry aloud; the Heavens, and all the powers therein. To thee Cherubim and Seraphim continually do cry, Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Hosts, Heaven and earth are full of the majesty of thy Glory.

The

The glorious company of the Apostles praise thee. goodly fellowship of the Prophets praise thee. The noble army of Martyrs praise thee. This honorable Craft of Masonry throughout all the world doth acknowledge thee; the Father, of an infinite Majesty; and the sacred Scriptures to be thy Holy Word.

From thee, O God, cometh every good and perfect gift, every rich and gracious blessing.

May we show our gratitude in the way most pleasing to thee by living holy lives, and doing those things that are righteous in thy sight; and when through with things temporal, let us enjoy forever the things that are eternal. Amen. So mote it be.

THE FRATERNAL DEAD.

In every song of human gladness there can be heard the note of human sadness. Our joyful pæan ascends on high to-day, but throughout its melody there is a minor chord of tender sighs for the souls that are vanished.

Latour d'Auvergne was a grenadier of Napoleon's Old Guard. Bravest of the brave on every battle-field, he was tendered for distinguished services a sword bearing the inscription, "To the first Grenadier of France"; but he refused it, saying, "Among us soldiers there is neither first nor last." Constantly declining

promotion, and ever winning fresh laurels, he fell fighting valiantly for his country, and an imperial decree gave to him a distinction never enjoyed by the proudest marshals of the Empire. His name continued on the roll of his company, and when it was called, the oldest sergeant answered, "Dead on the field of honor."

The bugles have sounded the "assembly," and from far and near have gathered the thronging ranks of the Sons of Light. The glad response, "Present, or accounted for," is heard again and again as the call of the roll proceeds. But now an honored name is spoken, and the dread silence that follows for the moment is broken only by the throbbing of anxious hearts. And then, clear upon the morning air, is heard from out our ranks, as if by a common impulse, the answering and exulting cry, "Dead on the broad field of Masonry's best endeavor."

Memory, ever faithful, recalls to us the forms and faces of loyal comrades, the touch of whose fellowship was full of fraternal love, of honest friendship, and of noble manhood; and we now fittingly pause, ere proceeding to discharge the active duties of the Annual Communication, to pay our last and loving tribute to those upon whom the portals of the tomb have forever closed.

R.. W.. GEORGE H. RAYMOND, Grand Lecturer Emeritus.

When the shadows of evening fell upon the forms of the representatives to Grand Lodge returning homeward from its Annual Communication, June, 1899, the earthly life of BROTHER GEORGE H. RAYMOND, Grand Lecturer, sank below the horizon of endless night.

BROTHER RAYMOND was initiated in Silentia Lodge, No. 198, of this city, May 13, 1853; passed May 20, 1853; and raised May 27, 1853. He became a charter member of Puritan Lodge, No. 339, and was a charter member and the first Master of Normal Lodge, No. 523. He subsequently affiliated with Ivanhoe Lodge, No. 610. From this lodge he returned to Normal Lodge, No. 523, of which he was a member at the time of his death. He occupied the position of Grand Steward during the years 1864-1865, and was elected Grand Lecturer on the 4th of June, 1868.

For twenty-seven years he discharged the duties of Grand

Lecturer with fruitful energy; then the infirmities of age demanded the rest which the Grand Lodge cheerfully accorded by appointing him Grand Lecturer Emeritus.

BROTHER RAYMOND was especially adapted to the work committed to his care. Possessing a retentive mind, and a keen faculty for remembering names and faces, coupled with great zeal and earnestness, he readily gained the confidence of the brethren in attendance upon his conventions for the exemplification of the standard work. To him, more than to any Brother, are we indebted for the uniformity in the esoteric ritual of the Craft in this jurisdiction.

R.. W... CHARLES SACKREUTER, Representative Grand Lodge Eclectic Union near the Grand Lodge of New York.

BROTHER CHARLES SACKREUTER was initiated in Socrates Lodge, Frankfort-on-the-Main, Germany, and affiliated with Copernicus Lodge, No. 545, of Brooklyn, on the 21st day of September, 1866. He became Master of this Lodge in 1867, and subsequently served a number of years as District Deputy Grand Master of the German Masonic District. He was for many years a member of the Committee on Foreign Correspondence, and made for that committee the translations of the proceedings printed in languages other than our own, his special attention being given to the translations of the proceedings of the German Grand Lodges. To his zeal and fidelity in this field of usefulness the Craft of the Western Hemisphere is greatly indebted.

His graceful pen contributed largely to our knowledge of the methods observed in the government of the Craft by the German Grand Lodges, and did much to bring us into closer relations with the brethren of Germany.

BROTHER SACKREUTER was a scholarly man, highly respected. at home and abroad. The Grand Lodge of the Eclectic Union, which he represented near our Grand Lodge, some years since paid him the unusual compliment of adopting, and causing to be engrossed and forwarded to him, congratulations upon the occasion of the celebration of his semi-centennial as a Freemason. He died in this city on the 19th of June, 1899, in the

eighty-fourth year of his age, Dean of the corps of foreign representatives near the Grand Lodge of New York.

R.. W.. ALEXANDER T. GOODWIN, Past D.D.G. M., Fourteenth Masonic District.

BROTHER ALEXANDER T. GOODWIN was born in the city of Savannah, Georgia, on the 9th day of August, 1837. He received his early education in the South, but came North when a youth, entered Rutgers College, of New Jersey, and was graduated in the class of 1855. Immediately following his graduation he located at Utica, where, as a student, he entered the office of Roscoe Conkling. Two years later he was admitted to the bar, and practiced his profession in that city. He was elected Recorder of Utica in 1864, and subsequently served two terms as State Senator. From 1889 to 1892 he was Mayor of the city of Utica. He was also a director of the Oneida County Bank, a trustee of the Utica Savings Bank, a member of the Larchmont Yacht Club, and a member of the Lotos Club, of this city. BROTHER GOODWIN removed to New York in 1894 to engage in the practice of his profession. He joined Utica Lodge, No. 47, March 12, 1866, which he served as Master in 1870 and 1871, and was appointed District Deputy Grand Master of the Fourteenth Masonic District, 1871-1873. He was elected a member of the Board of Trustees of the Masonic Hall and Asylum Fund, June 3, 1890, and subsequently became president of that board. His active and devoted service to the interests of the Home, and his careful attention to its needs, proved of great value to the Fraternity. Courtly in manner and genial in disposition, he endeared himself to a large circle of friends, who sincerely mourn his loss.

BROTHER GOODWIN died at Larchmont Manor, his country home, on the 3d of July, 1899.

R.. W... WILLIAM C. DALEY, Past D.D.G. M., Twelfth Masonic District.

BROTHER WILLIAM C. DALEY was born in the town of Chatham, on the 8th of November, 1839. After his education in the public schools he entered the Fairfield Academy, and at the age of twenty-two began the study of law at Kinderhook. He was

admitted to the bar in 1863, and began and continued the active practice of his profession in Chatham until the date of his death, the 6th of July, 1899. In 1895 he was elected to the State Senate and served one term.

BROTHER DALEY joined Columbia Lodge, No. 98, February 15, 1867, of which he became Master in 1871, serving two years, and was appointed District Deputy Grand Master in 1882.

He was a public-spirited citizen, conscientious and painstaking in every duty committed to his care, and by the excellence of his pure and stainless character he commanded and enjoyed the confidence of the community in which he lived.

R.. W.. FREDERICK W. HERRING, Past Grand Marshal.

BROTHER FREDERICK W. HERRING was born in the city of New York, on the 21st of November, 1821, and was the son of the late R.. W... JAMES HERRING, for many years Grand Secretary of the Grand Lodge, and founder of the Masonic Hall and Asylum Fund.

BROTHER HERRING was raised in St. John's Lodge, No. 1, on the 14th of March, 1844. In 1850 he joined the Lodge of Strict Observance, No. 94, of which he became Master in 1852, and served in that capacity six consecutive years. He affiliated with Chancellor Walworth Lodge, No. 271, in 1860, and was Master in 1861 and 1862. In December, 1863, he was elected Secretary, which position he held until 1891, when he was retired from active duty and was made Honorary Secretary. BROTHER HERRING was also Secretary for many years of the former Masonic Board of Relief.

Following in his father's footsteps, he became a portrait painter, and attained a high reputation as an artist. Many of the portraits hung in this Hall are from the brush of our deceased brother.

He died in the city of New York on the 13th day of August, 1899, in the seventy-eighth year of his age.

R.. W... WILLIAM A. JOHNSON, Past Grand Steward.

The announcement of the death, August 16, 1899, of R.. W.. WILLIAM A. JOHNSON, Past Grand Steward, was a severe shock to his many friends. BROTHER JOHNSON had been ill for