Prov. Grand Lodge Of Cheshire.

well worthy of their consideration , and the Provincial Grand Secretary would , during the coming year , in his visits to the Lodges , endeavour to explain and develop a p lan for the establishment of such a fund . There ought to be no difficulty in raising £ 1000 for its establishment , and he did not doubt that the new fund would receive

hearty support . He ( Lord Egerton ) thanked them for the assistance given to him in administering the affairs of Masonry in the Province . A variety of causes had prevented him from going so much among the brethren as he would like to have done , bat he always felt that he had

their loyal support in his work as head of the Province . During the coming year a number of Cheshire Lodges would celebrate their Centenaries , and he hoped that in each instance so important an event would be marked by special efforts to promote the good of the Order .

Bro . J . Wilson , as the oldest member of the local Eaton Lodge , welcomed the Provincial Grand Lodge to Congleton , for the third time since the Lodge was formed in 1814 . They wished to signalise the event by asking the Provincial

Grand Lodgo to appoint one of their most valued and cultured brethren , Robert Head as Provincial Grand Treasurer . Bro . Head was noted for two qualities—bis antiquarian tastes and his juvenile appearance .

Bro . T . G . Sheldon seconded the proposal , and it was carried unanimously . Bro . H . Gordon Small proposed Brothers Gibson , Ramsden , Wildgoose , Annett , and Finch as Auditors for the ensuing year , which was seconded by Bro . Finchett , and agreed to .

Tbe Provincial Grand Master then invested the following brethren as Provincial Grand Officers for the ensuing

year : — Bro . Hia Honour Sir H . Lloyd ... Depnty Master T . 0 . Thornburn 477 ... ... Senior Wa'den Dr . Thoa . S . Sheldon 533 ... Junior Warden

Eer . K . He Igson ( re-appohted ) *** ChaD - ; n _ Rev . T . T . Higgins ) otiapiaina Thomas Drinkwater 1166 ... Itegistrar E . Newhonse 1045 ... ... Secretary O . A . "Horrlnrn 267 ... ... " * *_ . -

T . H . Haddocks 428 j benIor UeaCoua Henry Smith 287 ... ... ? T . r , T w ono i Junior Dei ; ous James Worsnnp 322 ... ... ) Thomas Bowers 1088 ... ... Superintendent of Wor ! . * G . H . Brown 537 ... ... Dir . of Ceremonies

H . D . Small 23 C 8 ... ... Deputy Dir . of Cers . W . G . Crouan 128 'J ... ... Assistant Dir . of Cars . J . Lee 2375 ... ... ... Sword Bearer

Edward Fmmval 318 ... ... ) Q . , , „ A 1 An TAt \ o t Standard Bearers Alexander Owen 1408 ... ... ) Hubert Ellis 721 ... Organist J . Sheriff Eoberts 4 * 35 ... ... Assistant Secretary John Leigh 287 ... ... Pursuivant J . H . Foster 1957 ... ... Assistant Pursuivant

W . Thompst jne 533 ... ,..--. Mark Stafford 361 G . F . Adams 721 I 0 , , Walter Brown L 95 ' . Stewards

Charles Clarkson 104 ... ... j Patrick Sword ... ... J

Invitations for the holding of next year ' s Provincial meeting were given from the Dee Lodge , No . 1 , 576 , Parkgate , and the King ' s Friend Lodge , No . 293 , Nantwich . The last named Lodge celebrates its Centenary during the year , and Lord Egerton therefore accepted its invitation

Provincial Grand Lodge having been closed ; n due foim , the brethren walked in procession to St . Peter ' s Church , where a special service was held , presided over by the Vicar , the Eev . T . T . Higgins , M . A ., Provincial Grand Chaplain , assisted by the RDV . R . Hodgson , M . A ., and the

Rev . Thomas Spencer , M . A ., of Preston , Provincial Grand Chaplain of the Grand Lodge of England . With infinite self-denial and good taste the Rev . Chaplain announced

that owing to tho lateness of the hour for service , he should omit the sermon , which , from tho rev . gentleman ' s well known talents and eloquence , the brethren had hoped to hear .

In the evening there was tho customaiy banquet at the headquarters of Eaton Lodgo , the Masonic Hall , Mill Street , which was presided over by the noble Provincial Grand Maater with his usual tact and kindness ; aud after his lordship ' s departure , rendered necessary by tho

inexorable train service , the chair was occupied with general accep ' ance by his Honour Judge Lloyd , the popular and genial Deputy Prov . Grand Master . The banquet , under difficulties of lateness aud uncertainties , was well attended , and effectually catered for by Mr . and Mrs . Hopkins . The ever kind and genial Sir Wiljiam C . Brooks , Be t ., had

Prov. Grand Lodge Of Cheshire.

presented the brethren for the occasion with a fine haunch of red deer venison , which was much appreciated . Tho most was made of the scanty time allowed for the repast , and tho glee singing , interspersed by songs by Brothers Blackshaw , Head , and Cockayne , added much to the general enjoyment .

Masons At Revels-Toke

MASONS AT REVELS-TOKE

SOME of the brethren of Lodge Charity , No . 223 , had reckoned on a wet morning , for they had not taken their tickets and had left their wives and sweethearts at home ! Sorry miscalculation , for the day broke lovely , and there was not room for more if they had turned out later than we did , whioh is saying something . There was a soft September freshness about the morn , but the sun shone ont with all the fervour of the glorious first of

Junewhen it does not happen to bo wet or blizzardy , as has occasionally been the case of recent years . Princess Square , Plymouth , is very select and silent , so that we had no tempestous crowd to witness our departure , gorgeous as we were as to state , and perfect as to trappings , for everything waa on tha square .

We were in charge of Harry Membrey—he loves to be called Harry , it is so brotherly like . Harry has been throngh it , and is none the worse for it . And we took our faithful fox with us—our Brother Fox—who left Plymouth with the stern determination to treat us all alike , and to see that we were treated f T we liked , for its a way we have in the Order .

Spooner s shop girls lcjkei out in a veiy wistful way aa we whirled past the corner , where they were daintily dressing the windows . But thero was not room to carry them all , and no good Mason—down to the youngest apprentice—ever makes an invidious distinction after he has once taken the mystic plunge . So ws gave them the go-by , much to their , and still more to onr bitter

disappointment . Most enjoyable the ride , bnt Bro . Lavers bad not swallowed his motning paper . It did not take him long to do ao , for it was fall of nothing . So unlike the Western Independent , he observed . Thanks , awfully , yon cannot finish that in five minutes . Nice little railway bridge over the Laira , leading to Pamphlete .

No necessity soon to engage the wagonettes . But where will Brother Harry be then ? It does not matter . He will have made his pile , and invested it in rails , with a loving memory of the past . Ontrageons ! Not so bad as some we heard in the ooursa ofthe day . Past Brixton , with its charming villas , and the dear little hamlets ,

until wo arrive at Yealmpton . The fame of our visit has penetrated to the furthest barn , and the delicate little dumplings in petticoats were smiling tho whole width of the doorways upon us . Now that's too bad , for they have rosebud months at Yealmpton . "Whose got a rosebud month ? Where dois sho live ! Nonsense , you must ask tho Yealmpton brethren , and , if they do not know , we will give it

np . Did yon over visit thoso caves just inside tho ontranoo to Kitley ? Not particularly well known aro thoy ? We went there by special invitation . Under an immense rock , so overgrown with moss , and fern , and wild flower , with trees sprouting from boulders , and with streams thrilling soft musio down tbo broken course , that you aro

commanded by the guide to take your candle and see how oavts are made . Nothing very wonderfal about the door mind yon . Prosaic and nineteenth century like , the work of man—and not so much of a man , mind you , that is judging from appearances . Bnt , once inside tho cavo , what an interesting sight ! Damp even

nnto dripping , so that we have to pull at our skirts and trousers—* for we are sisters aud brethren by this time , and nothing on earth shall part us . The way is so narrow and uncertain that we should stnmblo if we did not hang together . Now we dive Lere and now we 'dive there . Look oufc for your head . Mind your eye . Be careful of your nob ! Here a rook ,

thore a pool , oh , what a gloomy ham t for pixies and snakes and nn * canny creatures . How we lost ono another I havo not the slightest idea . There were so many ways in which the feat could be accomplished . Yon found yourselves by yourselves before you knew were you were , and

you camo upon tho other brethren and sistern before yon could realize that they were witnesses to those tender interchanges which have gone on since tho world began , and which no donbt were duly com . memorated when tho first stones of the temple of Solomon were well and truly deposited !

But , here we are at last , all in a . crowd , in a huge cave , with over , hanging stalactite , glistening like silver , amid the candled illumination ! 1 . Such a cave , with monstrous shapes of crawling horrora , of thoso dreaJlfnl animals who most havo been swept in here by tho floods thousands of years ago , before our ancestors had acquired the faculty of adapting the fig tree to the exacting claims of civilisation .

There they all were , congealed with tho eternal leakage of centuries , reminding us of that awful chapter of Eider HaggardV , in which ho records the petrifying etfeot of the dreary desolate drip upon tho heads and belies of the kings of Egypt . Ugh ! But it waa a wonderful sight—as of an amphitheatre underground , so large , so spacious , with its low roof , and thoso thousands of fine pointed stalactites , as of the ribs of fish , sharp and

pointed , whioh had taken years to form , tho tips of which no earthly fingers would ever snap , to find them crumbling like frozen snow , if the modern tourist did not violate tho sanctity of the chamber from time to time by testing their durability . Just the place for a Lodge meeting ! Close tyled by nature , for no lady would dare to lurk in one of those mystic recesses , less some ossified leviathan should return to life aud claim her for its own .