ur inches, or a hand's breadth.

Q. Why were they cast hollow? A. The better to withstand inundations
or conflagrations; were the archives of Masonry, and contained the
constitution, rolls, and records.

Q. What did you next come to? A. A long, winding staircase, with
three, five, seven steps, or more.

Q. What does the three steps allude to? A. The three principal
supports in Masonry, viz., Wisdom, Strength, and Beauty.

Q. What does the five steps allude to? A. The five orders in
architecture, and the five human senses.

Q. What are the five orders in architecture? A. The Tuscan, Doric,
Ionic, Corinthian, and Composite.

Q. What are the five human senses? A. Hearing, Seeing, Feeling,
Smelling, and Tasting; the first three of which have ever been deemed
highly essential among Masons: Hearing, to hear the word; Seeing, to
see the sign; and Feeling, to feel the grip, whereby one Mason may
know another in the dark as well as in the light.

Q. What does the seven steps allude to? A. The seven sabbatical years;
seven years of famine; seven years In building the temple; seven
golden candlesticks; seven wonders of the world; seven planets; but
more especially the seven liberal arts and sciences, which are
Grammar, Rhetoric, Logic, Arithmetic, Geometry, Music, and Astronomy;
for these, and many other reasons, the number seven has ever been held
in high estimation among Masons.

Q. What did you next come to? A. The outer door of the middle chamber
of King Solomon's Temple, which I found partly open, but closely tyled
by the Junior Warden.

Q. How did you gain admission? A. By a pass, and token of a pass.

Q. What was the name of the pass? A. SHIBBOLETH.

Q. What does it denote? A. Plenty.

Q. Why so? A. From an ear of corn being placed at the water-ford.

Q. Why was this pass instituted? A. In consequence of a quarrel which
had long existed between Jephthah, Judge of Israel, and the
Ephraimites, the latter of whom had long been a stubborn, rebellious
people, whom Jephthah had endeavored to subdue by lenient measures,
but to no effect. The Ephraimites being highly incensed against
Jephthah, for not being called to fight and share in the rich spoils
of the Ammonitish war, assembled a mighty army, and passed over the
river Jordan to give Jephthah battle; but he, being apprised of their
approach, called together the men of Israel, and gave them battle, and
put them to flight; and to make his victory more complete, h