The Approaching Festival Of The Boys' School.

THE APPROACHING FESTIVAL OF THE BOYS' SCHOOL .

THE closing Festival of the year is at hand , and this day fortnight we shall be in a position to announce to our readers the result of the efforts made by our Bro . the Lord Mayor , Sir J . Whittaker Ellis , Barb ., and the Board

of Stewards that supports htm , in aid of the Funds of the Royal Masonic Institution for Boys , now in the eightyfourth year of its existence . Under these circumstances we feet it our duty , in accordance with our annual custom ,

to set forth in terms that are clear , if brief , the claims which the younger of tbe Masonic Schools has upon the Craft , and the reasons why , in our opinion , we have the right to hope that the Festival at Brighton , on Wednesday , 28 th inst ., will be nnprecedentedly fruitful of good to

this noble Charity . In doing this we shall be under the necessity of travelling over much old ground ; indeed , it is more than probable we shall experience considerable difficulty in laying before onr readers anything that can be

considered in the light of a novelty . What the School is now , it was last year and the year before , and will be next year . Yet , at the risk of being thought tautologous—not in words , so much as in ideas—as between one Festival

and another , we must pursue the course that has been followed on all previous occasions , at the same time , availing ourselves , to the best of our ability , of such slight changes as time , place , and circumstances may suggest . It will be in the recollection of our readers that Bro .

Binckes , who is as eager in making fresh experiments as ever was the most enthusiastic alchemist of ages long gone by in his search after the elixir vitee , resolved on seeing how it would fare with the Boys' School Festival , if—far be it from us to speak " disrespectably "—he packed up

the Marquis of Londonderry , K . P ., Prov . G . M . Durham , the Chairman of the day , and his Board of Stewards , and took them by train all the way to Brighton , where in the building known as the Royal Pavilion , they might dine and subscribe to their hearts' content . " Our Hercules , "

unlike those who are only wise after the event , is generally pretty accurate in forming an estimate of the probabilities of success , and his experiment of celebrating an anniversary of " Our Boys " in a hall by the sea resulted in the collection of a most acceptable sum of money , a sum which ,

though by no means the largest that has rewarded his efforts , was large enough to cover a year ' s expenditure and a little over . This seems to have been considered sufficiently satisfactory to justify him in carrying the Lord Mayor and his Board of Stewards to the same locality , and we can

onl y say here , that we trust the result of 1881 will be more than repeated on the 28 th instant . As we have said before , the chair will be taken by the Jjght Hon . the Lord Mayor of London , Bro . Sir j . W . f ^ 'lis , Bart ., who is Grand Junior Warden of England , a £ ast Grand Steward , and W . Master of the Grand Master ' s page , No . 1 . The last occasion on which the chair at one

L ° ?\ f estivals was similarly filled was in 1875 , when Bro . f ° W a ^ Stone signalised his appointment by the Prince , /[ es * ° * he office of Grand Junior Warden bv presiding f the Festival of the Girls' School . Of course , when a

dr £ ^ rofc ^ talce 3 * he chair , there is always one slight m-ilr * ' * ms no ^> r 0 v ' especially interested in sac *" ^ airmanship a more than ordinarily brilliant „ , . ' back him , while every chairman may count for ' am 0 Q ^ liberal support of the Metropolitan District ,

The Approaching Festival Of The Boys' School.

On this , as on the last occasion , however , we may take it for granted thafc Sussex will exert herself with more than her wonted zeal , so that Lord Mayor Ellis , unlike Lord Mayor Stone , will have , as it were , a Province specially committed to the task of making the anniversary at which

he presides something more than an ordinary celebration . We may state farther , that the Board of Stewards , of which Bro . Captain Woi'dsworth , Trustee and Vice-Patron of the Institution , is the President , already numbers over 250 members , and thero is ample time in the course of the next

ten days , in which to enlist the sympathy and services of other brethren . However , even with the Board as now constituted , and putting clown the average amount per list

at -650 , there is no harm looking for a total of at least £ 12 , 500 . Let us hope , for the sake of the School , the Chairman , the Stewards , aud Bro . Binckes , that thia amount will be largely exceeded .

Turn we now to the claims of the School itself , not only on the good wishes , but also upon the liberal support of the Craft . The amount of good it does is incalculable , in which respect it differs nothing from the other Institutions . It does , however , differ from them in certain

particulars . For example , it has but a very small amount of invested funds—not more , at all events , than would suffice to keep it going at its present standard for more than a year and a half , while the other Institutions are , in thia respect , very much better circumstanced . Then the claims

upon its resources are overwhelmingly numerous as compared with its sister Institution , the Girls' School . The latter was able to elect all its candidates in April last , while the Boys' School list of candidates was out of all proportion to the number of vacancies . Then there is a Preparatory

School in contemplation , and as soon as a given , sum has been gathered together , the building will be commenced . This , of course , means the incurrence of additional annual liabilities , and will necessitate an increased annual subscription lisfc . There are now considerably over two

hundred pupils in the School , and this number will be largely increased when the Preparatory School is well on its way . These circumstances combined—the small amount of

invested moneys , the disproportion of candidates to vacancies , and the intended , and we may add , necessary , Preparatory School—make it a point of honour with the Craft that the Festival of fche present should turn out a " big " success .

We have now run cursorily through the most pressing necessities which it is onr duty to take into consideration in respect of the approaching Festival of the 28 th instant . One other point remains to be noted . Bro . Binckes thia year attains his majority as Secretary to the Boys' School .

His zeal is beyond question , and so likewise is the success which has invariably resulted from his zealous efforts . When he first entered upon his official duties a subscription list on these occasions of £ 2 , 000 was looked upon with a feeling akin to astonishment , and was made the subject

of infinite congratulation among members of the Craft . Now the £ 2 , 000 has been displaced for many years past by lists ranging from £ 10 , 000 to £ 14 , 000 , while the stock that was sold in order to erect the new School buildings has been more than replaced . Thus Bro . Binckes has the

right to expect that the Festival which is celebrated in the year of his majority as Secretary should turn out to be an exceptionally productive one . Two objects will thus be

satisfied . The School will be benefited , and honour will be worthily bestowed on one oi fche most honourable members of the English Craft . M : iy our just anticipations be more than realised !