[From _The American Freemason_ (Louisville, Kentucky, September
15, 1854)]
We meet upon the Level and we part upon the Square:
What words of precious meaning those words Masonic are!
Come let us contemplate them, they are worthy of our thought--
With the highest and the lowest, and the rarest they are fraught.
We meet upon the Level, though from every station come--
The King from out his palace and the poor man from his home;
For the one must leave his diadem without the Mason's door,
And the other finds his true respect upon the checkered floor.
We part upon the Square for the world must have its due;
We mingle with its multitude, a cold, unfriendly crew;
But the influence of our gatherings in memory is green,
And we long, upon the Level, to renew the happy scene.
There's a world where all are equal--we are hurrying towards it
fast--
We shall meet upon the Level there when the gates of death are
passed;
We shall stand before the Orient, and our Master will be there
To try the blocks we offer His unerring square.
We shall meet upon the Level there, but never thence depart:
There's a mansion--'tis all ready for each zealous, faithful
heart:--
There's a Mansion and a welcome, and a multitude is there,
Who have met upon the Level and been tried upon the Square.
Let us meet upon the Level, then, while laboring patient here--
Let us meet and let us labor tho' the labor seem severe;
Already in the western sky the signs bid us prepare,
To gather up our working tools and part upon the square.
Hands around, ye faithful Ghiblimites, the bright, fraternal
chain,
We part upon the Square below to meet in heaven again;--
Oh, what words of precious meaning those words Masonic are--
We meet upon the Level and we part upon the Square.