Hiram Abiff

“ Let us pray the Eternal to preserve our order from such an evil you have hereof seen an example, in that degree to which you came, by your zeal, fervor and constancy. In that degree you have remarked, that from all the favorites that were at that time in the apartment of Solomon, only nine were elected to avenge the death of Hiram Abiff; this makes good, that a great many are often called, but few chosen. To explain this enigma, a great many of the profane have the happiness to divest themselves of that name, to see and obtain the entrance in our sanctuary ”

“ Yet, O Lord! have compassion on the children of Thy creation; administer unto them comfort in time of trouble, and save them with an everlasting salvation. Amen. So mote it be."
They then rise, and the conductor says to the candidate, "Brother, in further imitation of our Grand Master, Hiram Abiff, let us retire at the South gate." They then advance to the Junior Warden (who represents Jubela, one of the ruffians) , who exclaims, "Who comes here?" [The room is dark, or the candidate hoodwinked.] The conductor answers, "Our Grand Master, Hiram Abiff." "Our Grand Master, Hiram Abiff!" ”

“ The legend relating to him is of no value as a mere narrative, but of vast importance in a symbolical point of view, as illustrating a great philosophical and religious truth; namely, the dogma of the immortality of the soul.
Hence, Hiram Abif is the symbol of man in the abstract sense, or human nature, as developed in the life here and in the life to come.
HIRAM OF TYRE. The king of Tyre, the friend and ally of King Solomon, whom he supplied with men and materials for building the temple. ”

“ Perhaps the thief may fall into our hands even sooner and with him the emerald, unless the rogue has succeeded in hiding it or selling it." Then his voice sank, and he added in a tone of regret. It is a pity as concerns the man, we had not one in our stables who knew more about horses! Fresh proof of your maxim, mother: if you want to be well served you must buy rascals!"
"Strictly speaking," said Neforis meditatively, "Hiram is not one of our people. He was a freedman of Thomas' and came here with his daughter. Every one speaks highly of his skill in the stable ”

“ Once, Hard-Times Wharff came up and started to have a weather-vane spell on the Look porch, but Hiram drove him away with violent contumely.
“He’s crazier’n a barn rat in a thrashing machine,” the showman observed to his faithful Avery. “Why, I hear he even said I was bringing trouble into this place, the old liar. I’ve only come to straighten out trouble, that’s all. Smoothin’ and glossin’ things over and lettin’ people kick you around and never objectin’ may be some folks’ idea of livin’, but it ain’t mine. And I don’t allow anyone to say I’m makin’ trouble when I’m doin’ a duty. ”

“ Abibal reigned ten years and died in the year 1046 B. C.,—and from Scripture seems to have borne the surname of Huram (i. e. Hiram) , which has led some authors to style his son and successor, Hiram the Second. The following, however, is an extract from the letter written by the Son of Abibal to Solomon, after the death of the first King of Tyrus, wherein the father's name is distinctly stated to be Huram. The letter has reference to the Temple. ”

“ He went close up to Paula, told her in a low voice that Hiram was safe, and implored her, as she hoped to be forgiven for her own sins, to grant him a few minutes. When she rejected his prayer with a silent shrug, and went on towards the boat he put out his hand to help her, but she intentionally overlooked it and gave her hand to the physician. At this he sprang after her into the barge, saying in her ear in a tremulous whisper:
"A wretch, a miserable man entreats your mercy. I was mad yesterday. I love you, I love you—how deeply!—you will see!" ”

“ I expect you've got to look out for yourself, boy. If you can get another job, you take it. It's a 'tarnal shame you didn't take up with that Bronson's offer when he come here after you.”
“You needn't feel so,” said Hiram. “You're no more at fault than I am. This thing just happened—nobody could foretell it. And I'm just as sorry as I can be for you, Mother Atterson.”
The old woman wiped her eyes.
“Well, Hi, there's other things in this world to worry over besides gravy, I find,” she said. “Some folks is born for trouble, and mebbe we're some of that kind.” ”

“ You’re Cap’n Klebe Willard, ain’t you?” inquired Hiram, affably. And a wordless shout answering him, he said:
“Yes, I know you and I know the mark, because I put it there myself for good reasons.” He looked around at the little group of spectators with an air of secure triumph.
“And you threw my poor old father over his own fence, you coward, when I wasn’t there to defend him. Now, Hime Look, you’ve got to meet a man and not a boy.” ”

“ That institution they put me in—and the old woman I lived with before that, who drank so much gin and beat me—and the boarders—and that boy who used to pull my braids whenever he met me—My that would be fine!”
“I reckon that is what Life does do for us,” returned Hiram, thoughtfully, stopping at the end of the furrow to mop his brow and let the old horse breathe. “Yes, sir! Life plows all the experience under, and it ought to enrich our future existence, just as this stuff I'm plowing under here will decay and enrich the soil.” ”

“ How you rush at conclusions! What he found out is next to nothing. I had only a minute to speak to Hiram. To-morrow morning he is to bring the man to me. The only thing he told me. . ."
"By Christ's Wounds! What was it?"
"He said that the messenger had heard of an elderly recluse, who had formerly been a great warrior."
"My father, my father!" cried Paula. "Hiram is sitting by the fire with the others. Fetch him here at once—at once; I command you, Perpetua, do you hear? Oh best, dearest Betta! Come with me; we will go to him."
"Patience, sweetheart, a little patience!" urged the nurse. ”

“ Mrs. Atterson could not be more troubled than was Hiram himself. Youth feels the sting of such arrows of fortune more keenly than does age. We get “case-hardened” to trouble as the years bend our shoulders.
The thought that he might, after all, get nothing but a hundred dollars and his board for all the work he had done in preparation for the second year's crop sometimes embittered Hiram's thoughts.
Once, when he spoke to Pepper, and the snaky man sneered at him and laughed, the young farmer came near attacking him then and there in the street. ”

“ But as Hiram got some few yards from the hitching rack, the seat was suddenly pulled from under him, and he was left sprawling on his back in the bottom of the wagon.
A yell of derision from the crowd outside the store assured him that this was the cause of the boys' hilarity. Luckily his old horse was of quiet disposition, and he stopped dead in his tracks when the seat flew out of the back of the wagon.
A joke is a joke. No use in showing wrath over this foolish amusement of the crossroads boys. But Hiram got a little the best of them, after all. ”

“ Hiram stood, his arms hanging at his side, his lower jaw drooping, his eye shuttling from face to face evasively.
“Kind o’ makes you drop your tail, Hime—that, eh?” jeered Amazeen from his place in the crowd.
As Hiram still drooped there, Uncle Buck ran his cane into the fallen hat, lifted it with a deft toss, ran his elbow around its nap, and set it on Hiram’s head, standing on tip-toe to do it.
The man never moved or blinked.
“There’s your plug hat, Hime,” he said. “It fell off, and pride goeth before a fall.” ”

“ The rains started the vegetation growing by leaps and bounds; weeds always increase faster than any other growing thing.
There was plenty for Hiram to do in the garden, and he kept Sister and Old Lem Camp busy, too. They were at it from the first faint streak of light in the morning until dark.
But they were well—and happy. Mother Atterson, her heart troubled by thought of “that Pepper-man,” could not always repress her smiles. If the danger of losing the farm were past, she would have had nothing in the world to trouble her. ”

“ There had been no time to rouse either the neighbors, or the rest of the family.
If he did not overcome these flames—and well he knew it—Mother Atterson would arise in the morning to see all her goodly timber scorched, perhaps ruined!
“I must beat it out—beat it out!” thought Hiram, and the repetition of the words thrummed an accompaniment upon the drums of his ears as he thrashed away with a madman's strength.
For no sane person would have tackled such a hopeless task. ”

“ The orphan looked wistfully after the wagon as Hiram drove out of the yard. Then she turned, with trembling lip, to Mother Atterson: “She—she's awfully pretty,” she said, “and Hiram likes her. But she—they're all proud, and I guess they don't think much of folks like us, after all.”
“Shucks, Sister! we're just good as they be, every bit,” returned Mrs. Atterson, bruskly.
“I know; mebbe we be,” admitted Sister, slowly. “But it don't feel so.”
And perhaps Hiram had some such thought, too, after he had driven the girls to the big boarding school in Scoville. ”

“ Atterson he could see was vastly disturbed by the statement; but somebody had to keep a cool bead in this matter.
“Let's see your option,” Hiram demanded, bruskly.
“Why—if Mrs. Atterson wishes to see it——”
“You show it to Hi, you Pepper-man,” snapped the old lady. “I wouldn't do a thing without his advice.”
“Oh, well, if you consider a boy's advice material——”
“I know Hi's honest,” declared the old lady, tartly. “And that's what I'm sure you ain't! Besides,” she added, sadly, “Hi's as much interested in this thing as I be. If the farm's got to be sold, it puts Hi out of a job.” ”

“ No use for a woman trying to run a farm. And if she has to pay for everything to be done, she'll be in a hole at the end of the season. I guess she ain't thought of that?”
“It wouldn't be my place to point it out to her,” returned Hiram, “coolly, if it were so, and I wanted to work for her.”
“Humph! Mebbe not. Well, my name's Pepper. Mebbe I'll be out to see her some day,” he said, and turned away.
“He's one of the people who will discourage Mrs. Atterson,” thought Hiram. “And he has an axe to grind. ”

“ Sister was growing like a weed, and it was hard to keep her skirts and sleeves at a proper length. But she was an entirely different looking girl from the boarding house slavey whom Hiram remembered so keenly back in Crawberry.
As for Old Lem Camp, he was as cheerful as Hiram had ever seen him, and showed a deal of interest in everything about the farm, and had proved himself, as Mrs. Atterson had prophesied, a great help.
Scarcely a house along the road was not shut up and the dooryard deserted—for everybody was going to the barbecue. All but the Dickerson family. ”

“ Be prepared for the worst; then you are armed against failure and preserve your right to hope! Tell her, tell her, Hiram, what else the messenger said; it is nothing positive; everything is as uncertain as dust in the breeze."
The freedman then explained that this Nabathaean was a trustworthy man, far better skilled in such errands than himself, for he understood both Syriac and Egyptian, Greek and Aramaic; and nevertheless he had failed to find out anything more about this hermit Paulus at Tor, where the monks of the monastery of the Transfiguration had a colony. ”

“ When he returned with the lantern she was standing in the middle of the barn floor and made a sweeping courtesy to him as he entered.
“That’s good,” said Hiram, setting down the lantern and seating himself on the lowest stair of the flight that led up to the loft. “That’s first-rate. How would it be if you should make two of ’em—one to the left and one to the right? In case folks were seated promiscuous—that is here and there,” explained Hiram, “it would be fair to all parties. That’s it—that’s the way to do it!” and he clapped his hands as Polly greeted an imaginary audience. ”

“ Slow down. We save time in the long run. We got to take it on a trot. Hiram—in case you get wiped out—tell us, so there can't be no mistake, where the girl's cave is." So Hiram told them.
"All right—we can't miss that. Pres, you and Pappy fall back, and check them fellows up. Killin' their horses won't get 'em there. We'll push on for the girl first. After we get her we'll see what we can do for Don. Pres, you pick out ten or twelve of the best-mounted and come after us. Pappy, your horse is better'n Pres's. Change with him. Then you take the rest of the men and go to the Gap. ”

“ I, Hiram of Tyre, the King, and of all the People,
GOD OMNIPOTENT,
Hereby make known to you that it has become my pleasure to reveal unto you my
PARADISE
which hitherto I have concealed in the clouds. Ye who are worthy shall behold it
TODAY!
Of all the clever things he had done, Hiram believed the composition of that proclamation the cleverest.
"Those who do not see, will think themselves unworthy," he said, "and will tremble in fear of my wrath. They will see a little more each day and will think themselves growing worthy. And they will believe; they must, when they see it all. ”

“ The man thus addressed—the same to whom Hiram was to offer Paula's emerald—was a rich Alexandrian of a happy turn of mind; as soon as the incursion of the Saracens had made Alexandria an unsafe residence, so that the majority of his fellow Israelites had fled from the great port, he had found his way to Memphis, where he could count on the protection of his patron, the Mukaukas George.
He shook his grizzled curls at this question, but he presently whispered in the secretary's ear. "We have the very thing he wants. You bring me the cow and you shall have a calf—and a calf with twelve legs too. ”