Refreshment After Labour.

REFRESHMENT AFTER LABOUR .

A CONTEMPORARY has lately busied itself with the extravagant expel diture by some Lodges of Now South Wales on banquets - . So sumptuous have been the entertainments , that bnthren , on entering tho supperroom , must have fancied thomsolves at the Tempter ' s feast , and beheld : —

A tablo richly spread , in regal mode , With dishes piled , and meata of noblest sort And savour . Onr esteemed contemporary records " an emphatic protest against profusion in the shape of soups , poultry , choice

hams , entrees , sweetmeats , and jollies . The menu reads so appetisirigly that wo envy the editor the self-denying spirit which enabled him to mortify his flesh and pen his

protest . " Soups , " quoth he—such delicacies remind us of dinners at " rich men ' s tables , with tho savoury soup and messes steaming up the nostrils , and moistening tho lips of tho fuosts with desire and a distracted choice . " Has it not

also been truly written of roast porkling : — " Tho strong man may fatten on him , and tho weakling rofusoth not his mild juices r" Even so , of those " choice hams" may we not reverently indite that a Graud Master might wax portly on the toothsome morsels , aud a newly initiated

brother suffer no indigestion from tho tenuous slices steeped in dry champagne ? But Masonic Lodges cannot escape tho fate which attends individuals ; extravagance entails bankruptcy . Lodges , noted for thoir unbounded hospitality , havo suffered occulation , and been obliged to practice for

years " self-denial and rigid economy '; and their disasters point the moral on which tho writer enlarges . Our contemporary , while deprecating luxury , has no desire to substitute a Lenten fast . He only advocates judicious reform , ar . d suggests that frugal Buppers afford as much

real enjoyment as Sybaritic repasts . "But sociability , " he writes , " need not infer profusion . A pleasant time may bo passed over a slight and moderate refection" ; and he tvvitte » with suvo and steady finger tho vice , which ho condemns , up to its true source—payment of tho cost , out of

tho Lodge funds , instead of the pockets of tho revellers . "Tho humiliating truth . . . is simply this : —A large proportion of our members havo become so inured aud habituated to be regaled free of cost , that they , at length , consider it an absolute injustice to be called upon to expend

any sum , however trifling , for entertainment . It is not by any means that they despise tho banquet , supper , or whatever form the celebration may assume , but they belicvo in tho bottom of their hearts thai they our / lit lo have it free . . . . It would be in tho very best interests of the

Order if all suppers -wore made self-supporting , and no refreshments , except those of the very simplest character , were paid for out of tho Lodge chest . " Wo agree , save as to tho writer ' s exception , in favour of paying for even simple refreshments out of the Lodge chest ; and , save as

to tho seat which he assigns to the brethren ' s creed , that they ought to sup freo of personal expense . We hold a robust opinion , which earthquakes cannot shake , that the belief mentioned resides , not in the lowest abyss of the brethren ' s hearts—for fatty degeneration has long since

expelled it thence—but in tho more sensitive region of their stomachs , where gout , indigestion , and dyspepsia reign supreme , and consecrate their best energies to avenging the disregard of Masonic principles . The South Australian Lodges cannot justly bo accused of banqueting

luxuriously . Their suppers are usually characterised by that " Spartan style of simplicity " to which our contemporary aspires . Neither in quantity nor quality do the viands leave anything to be desired , and yet the average cost per head is not excessive . We feel proudly certain

that no Lodge in South Australia has courted financial ruin by the costliness of its entertainments , and wo share our contemporary ' s opinion that entertainments of some kind there must be . " The pleasures of social intercourse at the supper-table cannot bo foregone , and . . . within

certain limits such entertainments are reasonable and justifiable . ... It is impossible to burk recognition of tho circumstance that the refreshment-room is a large I ' ac ' or in the eveniug ' s enjoyment , and a lever of the very

first magnitude in promoting a numerous and punctual attendance . " We go further , and think that these meetings afford unique opportunities for intei'changing opinions and discussing subjects possessing an interest in common for all Lodges . The facilities for friendly chat and the

Refreshment After Labour.

pleasure of tho evening would be much enhanced if speechifying ( save on Installation nights ) was summarily suppressed . Every Past Mastor who glances back on his oaieer marvels that he ever survived his term of office . A brother who has not yet filled tho chair cannot form tho

least notion of tho misery of being compelled , perhaps twelve times in tho year , to utter platitudes which , if embodied in a school-boy ' s themo , would have caused tho writer ' s dull conception to be quickened by a weal-raising process applied below his dorsal vertebra . And yet the

subjects of a W . Master ' s discourses do not afford a chance of introducing a change ; be might as well try to vary . a constant quantity . Tho Queen—God bless her—has reigned so long and so perfectly that tho most original Master cannot find any r . ew virtuo to ascribe to her . The

Graud Officers are so uniformly and monotonously good that a startling crime or two committed , not in their individual but in their official characters , by a few of them , would impart an unknown piquancy to the addresses at the supper-tables , and relieve many worthy Masters from

the embarrassment of having nothing to say . So wearisome has becomo the necessity of iteration , and so insuperable the difficulty of avoiding it , that—Jiorresco referenSmany-tougued rumour whispers that , on a pedestal behind the Master ' s chair in tho refreshment-room , there is to bo

placed a phonograph , into which will be spoken tho series of well-known speeches used in proppsing toasts , and which the automaton will deliver with inimitable grace and freshness at proper intervals during the evening , to tho infinite comfort of the Masters . Though such vital reforms ,

however , as tho conversion of tho Grand Officers into criminals , for tho benefit of tho Worshipful Masters , can scarcely be achieved on the hither side of tho millennium , improvements in minor matters may perchance be accomplished . While wo beliovo that tho average cost per head

of Lodgo suppers in South Australia is not excessive , wo also think that the aggregate amount spent in entertainments is too great , and we feel suro that such expenditure cripples the power of Lodges to promote the serious work of the Craft . Appeals for charity often pass unheeded

when tho supper bills havo to be paid , and not many Lodges would care to expose to public examination their accounts because they would reveal that the sums contributed to the succour of distress contrast too sharply with tho cost of eatinp ; and drinkinp ; . In truth , as our

Contemporary urges , suppers should bo made self-supporting , or nearly so . We understand that , in the best Lodges within the jurisdiction of the United Kingdom , every member of tho Lodge who attends a banquet pays a considerable sum for

himself , and a still larger sum for evory guest whom ho invites . Lodge guests , as distinguished from those invited by individual members , may bo paid for out of tho coffers of the Lodge ; but Lodge guests are few , and the promiscuous invitations to all and

sundry—Nay , gentlemen , prepare not to be gone ; We havo a trifling foolish banquet towardswhich are universal in South Australia are elsewhere aliko unexpected and unknown . If in New South Wales tho members of Lodges claim free suppers as a right , in

Adelaide many of the visiting brethren also appear to claim tho same right . Masters of Lodges , fearing to givo umbrage , invite all brethren who happen to be present when labour ends , and nearly all visitors accept the invitation as cordially as it is given . Hence supper-tables aro

crowded with guests ( sometimes more numerous than tho hosts ) whom a vicious custom has coerced the Masters to invite , and the finances of Lodges are burdened with the costs of entertaining guests whose numbers can never bo foreseen . Banquets cannot be well arranged while such a

system prevails . If provision is made for a large number , and so many do not attend , there is wasteful extravagance , for the caterer must be paid for the full number . If , on the contrary , a moderate number only are provided for , and the attendance happens to be numerous , the hapless

stewards are suddenly required to perform a miracle . In a graver sense , too , the prevailing practice of promiscuous invitations operates injuriously . Wo are persuaded that many brethren of delicate feeling abstain from visiting sister Lodges , bocause they dread to give offence by not

accepting the hospitality which they know will be proffered , and dread yet more the humiliation of being suspected of coming for the sake of the refreshment . If it were once thoroughly understood that Worshipful Masters would not violate any inter-Lodge comity if they omitted