Progress And Innovation.

PROGRESS AND INNOVATION .

37 VREEMASONRY seems to suffer at times from an epidemic , if we may so term it , of progress and innovation , and the present may be regarded as an

instance in point . Improvements are being introduced in various parts of tbe country which must , ere long , prove of material advantage to the Order throughout the world . In Sussex , where the Right

Hon . Sir W . T . Marriott , M . P ., Q . C ., has just been invested as Deputy Provincial Grand Master , a movement has been started to provide a museum for Masonic art relics , books , engravings , & c , and an

influential committee has been appointed to carry out the work . It is hoped that one of the Masonic rooms at this Royal Pavilion , Brighton , will be set anart for the exhibition , which should have inanv

supporters , and become both useful and interesting to the local Craftsmen . A somewhat similar project has been inaugurated

in West Lancashire , a Liverpool Masonic Literary Society having been formed , under the patronage of the Rt . Hon . the Earl of Lathom , Deputy Grand

Master of England , Provincial Grand Master . To show the feeling that is entertained as to the usefulnes & of such organizations , we may quote the words of the Deputy Grand Master , which he wrote in

accepting the first honorary presidency of this Liverpool Society , and which were as follow : — " I think that such a society will prove of great use to the Masonic body generally , and tend to the

enlightenment and instruction of younger Masons . The formation of a Library , will , I hope , give opportunities for the collection and preservation of Masonic works that are now scattered about and comparatively

unknown . " This opinion , from one of the heads and most respected members of the Craft should set at rest what little opposition has hitherto existed in regard to the establishment of Local Masonic libraries

and literary ventures . Yorks * - '' re presents another instance of the growth of a desire for knowledge among Freemasons , somewhat outside the actual ceremonies of the Order . In that county several of

the principal towns now have their literary organization , and the feeling which actuates them seems to point to a friendly rivalry that should lead to important results .

As a further instance of progress we have pleasure in pointing to the formation of the Clemency Lodge , No . 2341 , which will be consecrated in the Province of East Lancashire , at Oldham , early next month .

This will make the roll of Lodges in that Province number one hundred and one , and with such a record it is but natural that we should often be called upon to record the good deeds of the local Craftsmen .

Turning to the second portion of our heading-Innovations—we may refer to a meeting that is to take place on Tuesday next , when the installation of a private Lodge will be held , by special dispensation ,

Progress And Innovation.

at the residence of the W . M . elect . It is hardly necessary for us to mention that the brother who is honoured by being thus distinguished is the Lord Mayor of London , for it is now pretty well known

throughout Masonic circles that the annual meeting of the Drury Lane Lodge ( of which Sir Henry Isaacs is to be installed Worshipful Master ) is to be held this year at the Mansion House , and there are few ,

we think , who will oner even a word of disapproval at the peculiar honour thus conferred on our civic magnate . The Drury Lane Lodge has had a short , but eminently brilliant career , and its action on the

present occasion is not the first innovation practised by its members , which include several names of distinction both in Freemasonry and general affairs .

Another Lodge that has won distinction from the energy it has displayed is that associated with the Savage Club , its roll of honorary members including the Most Worshipful the Grand Master of England

and his son Prince Albert Victor . The installation meeting of this Lodge was held on Tuesday , and , as has been the case in former years , a most brilliant gathering resulted . The innovation we have to record

in connection with this meeting was the receipt of a telegram from Her Majesty the Queen , at Osborne , acknowledging one sent by the Worshipful Master , announcing that the Savage Club Lodge had heartily

drank the health ot Her Majesty . We may perhaps be wrong in saying it is , unusual for Lodges to thus address the ruler of the Empire , but we think there is no question as to the telegraphic reply being an

innovation , and we think it well to warn other Worshipful Masters not to feel slighted if , should they send similar messages , no such gracious recognition be forthcoming , for if Her Majesty was to reply on every such occasion it would be fair to

reckon on at least fifty telegrams being required each week for Masonic installation meetings alone , without taking into account the off meetings held six or seven times each year , or the many other

societies that would expect similar attention to that bestowed . on Freemasonry . A writer in one of the provincial papers refers to this instance of Her Majesty's favour as proof of her regard for the

Masonic Order , and especially as a recognition of the hearty sympathy that has long existed between the Prince of Wales and the famous rendezvous of Bohemian life in the metropolis with which this

Lodge is associated , coupled with the fact—of which Her Majesty is known to be proud—that the Prince is Grand Master of English Freemasons .-

These minor events in the inner working of Freemasonry may in themselves appear of small moment , but they point , when taken unitedly , to an advancement which is general and continuous in the Craft ,

and which we hope will proceed at all times , as we have little doubt it will do , so long as the Order is conducted on the same princijnes as at present govern it .