Cheshire.

CHESHIRE .

THE annual meeting of this Provincial Grand Lodge is to be held on Wednesday next , iSth inst , at West Kirby , practically a suburb of Liverpool , and will no doubt be well attended . ******************

Our old friend " The Merrie Villager , " of the " Islington Gazette , " says the first ( local ) sign of the Masonic season will be the Consecration , on the 25 th inst , of the Borough of Islington Lodge , at Beale ' s Restaurant . The ceremony will be performed by Bro . Letchworth Grand Secretary of

England . " This is to be the Lodge of purple arid fine linen , for it is exclusively for members of the Borough Council , and His Worship the Mayor will be the first Master . " The Lodge will be opened at half-past four , and a banquet will follow at seven . Bro . " Merrie Villager , " you omit to refer to the fact

that you are—we believe—to be the first Treasurer of the new Lodge , a position we regard as equally responsible as that of first Master , for the reason that members of new Lodges are very apt to be led to excesses , when applause falls fast upon them as a consequence of the successful

launching of their bantling . In such a case it is well to have an experienced Brother to draw the purse strings tightly , and thereby perhaps prevent an adverse balance at the outset . Masters are not always proof against the excitement which results from applause .

The All-Seeing Eye.

THE ALL - SEEING EYE .

IF , as positive religions assert , the God of Creation lives incessantly in his own work , watching human actions , in no better place could he reside than the seat of our consciences ,

where the dazzling rays irradiates that divine light which is called understanding ; where the sweet sentiment of charity throbs perennially ; where . every love is born and has play . Man has no accuser more constant nor judge more severe than his own conscience : It is it which gives him suffocative

and racking insomnia when he has performed an evil action . When it sees him on the road to perdition it shouts and detains him . It tenders him the most noble counsels and yields him ineffable satisfaction when he has known how to fulfil his duties on earth . Who is the man so depraved that

he has never repented , not even once in his life , the evil he has done ? When the soul is completely honest and the intention sufficiently pure , we do not take one step irn the world without consulting that judge who at all hours observes us , is disposed to reproach us if we transgress and to reward

us with inward rejoicing if we act rightly . This judge is the divine spirit , Jesus or Mohammed , Brahma or Confucius , the reprobation of other men or the judgment of history , according to the religious beliefs of the judged . And that brilliant Eye , which inundates the East of the Lodge with

resplendency , always alive , ever alert , attentive to our actions , so . that we may never stray from the paths of goodness , surrounds the abyss where all evil passions , like insatiable vultures , rend honour and destroy human greatness . You , neophyte , who now tread for the first time these holy precincts , where

you will have to battle against crime and realise apostolic sacrifices on behalf of humanity , must not forget for one moment that this imposing look is fixed on you , to demand of you a strict account of your actions whilst you preserve in your soul the remains of honest sentiments . Remember that

you carry it infallibly above you ; that it forms part of your own living , as it dwells in the chambers of your cerebrum . That it reserves for you days of repentance and nights of sleeplessness should you become a load for the humanity to which you belong . Ah ! But be sure , on the other hand ,

that if you are always honest and good it will afford you sweetest satisfaction in the sanctity of the domestic hearth , in the loving estimation of your fellow citizens and even in the fervent applause of history . —J . N . Aramburu , in "La Gran Logia" ( Cuba ) , translated by Bro . Eli Broad .

****************** As Englishmen invariably say , Masonry in America is conducted upon a wonderful scale . There is some possibility that the magnitude of this scale works some detriment to the

Fraternity . There are so many Orders and branches to the Craft that even for a man of comparative leisure to do his whole duty by every body to which he belongs , or to be thoroughly active in all branches , is a task to make the most industrious hesitate , The result is that some body must of

The All-Seeing Eye.

necessity be slighted . The Fraternal Editor of the " Brooklyn Times " thinks that it is not to be wondered at that so- large a percentage of Masons in the upper branches fall by the wayside and are dropped out of sight . The reason , he says , is that ordinarily as soon as a candidate is made a third

degree Mason he instantly becomes a target of attack , and is importuned by day and by night to join this or that branch of the Order , and when he rounds up and takes a moment ' s reflection , he finds that he belongs to almost' everything but his family , and that there are not nights enough in a month

to meet the demands that are made upon him to attend the organisations that he has been made a member of . The desire to advance should be allowed to grow on the novitiate , as where he is importuned and cajoled into going into other

bodies his Masonic growth is of a mushroom character , and will be void of results . The cause of withdrawals , suspensions , and tire generation of a feeling of indifference may be directly chargeable to this forced growth . — " Tyler . "

********** Our late Bro . Samuel N . Amsbury , of Providence , R . I ., bequeathed to his Lodge a gift of between $ 25 , 000 and $ 30 , 000 , " as a trust fund to be known as ' the Amsbury Trust Fund' as a memorial of his father and mother , the principal

to accumulate until it amounted to $ 50 , 000 or shall have increased twenty-five per cent , of itself , thereafter the fund to be expended annually for the relief of needy members of the Lodge , including now and then if desired an appropriation for the entertainment of the members of the Lodge . " The

Supreme Court of Rhode Island has lately declared this bequest invalid and unenforcable . The question raised was whether it created a valid trust . " The provision for entertainments to be paid for out of this fund , " said the justice ,

' cannot be considered a charitable use , and since the testator inseparately mingled with his gift for charitable uses a gift for uses clearly not charitable , the . Court was obliged to hold the entire bequest invalid . — "' Keystone . "

********** The benefits of Masonry are not confined to its own adherents . When the Fraternity makes a man more righteous , more gentle , more Brotherly , how can he curtail his influence for good by the bounds of the membership of his Order ?— " Tyler . "

********** An excluded or dismembered Mason is totally unlike a dimitted non-affiliate , because he is under a cloud and cannot petition any Lodge for membership , but only the Lodge which excludes him , for restoration . —Committee on Jurisprudence , North Carolina .

! F ********* A man is made a Mason but once , and the old rule that " what is worth doing is worth doing well" is all the more applicable when the conferring of degrees is concerned . — Ex .

General Steam Navigation Co.

GENERAL STEAM NAVIGATION Co .

LONDON AND EDINBURGH . ¦ WEDNESDAY AND SATURDAY FROM EACH END .

FARES—Chief Cabin , 22 s ; Return , 34 s . Fore Cabin , 16 s ; Return , 24 s 6 d . The "Seamcw , " one of the finest and fastest steamers on the Coast , is now on the route .

Cheap Tours in the Highlands of Scotland . Including 1 st class passage to Edinburgh and back , carriage of bicycle , full table d'hote meals on board , hotel accommodation ( with board ) in the Highlands , and Tri p , 1 st class , via Loch Fyne and the Kyles of Bute , from Inverary to Glasgow , bv the

magnificent Royal Mail steamer "Lord of the Isles , " with dinner on board , and carriage of bicycle . These tours have been designed primarily to meet the wants of cyclists , but are equally suitable to the ordinary tourist and holiday maker . 6 day Tour / 3 14 6 \

9 y > 5 o o or 6 s . less if 12 „ 6 5 6 I "Lord of the 1 3 j > 6 12 6 f Isles" coupon 6 , j 7 19 6 not required . 17 » 8 s o '

NOTE , —These inclusive fares are at the rate of about 10 s 6 d per day , or less than the cost of simply staying at a fairly good hotel . For itineraries , route map , and all information apply to General Steam Navigation Co ., 55 Great Tower Street , E . G . Company ' s Illustrated Guide free on application ; by post , 2 d ,