Bound together as we are in a holy league of brotherhood, I
should not be doing justice to the feelings which actuate me
in my relationship with yourselves, and operate amongst us
all, did I deny that I almost expected you would seek a
special occasion to felicitate me in the character in which we
now appear. For all your kind wishes I thank you from the
bottom of my heart, and among the many blessings for which I
have, at this time, especial reason to be thankful to our
Supreme Grand Master, I do not reckon this the least, that I
enjoy the sympathy of a Fraternity whose objects are so pure,
and whose friendships so true as those of our Order. I will
not multiply words, but believe me, that when I look upon my
infant son, whose birth has been the cause of so much joy to
me, and of so much interest to yourselves, the thought already
crosses my mind that perhaps one day he may wear these dearly
prized badges, and that his intercourse with his fellow men,
like his father's, may be rendered more pleasant, and,
perhaps, more profitable, by his espousing those solemn tenets
which make the name of a Freemason honorable throughout the
world.