The Boys' School And Its Critic.

THE BOYS' SCHOOL AND ITS CRITIC .

IT is evident that " S . X . ' s" letter on the Boys' School has excited much indignation , not only among those officially connected with the School , but likewise among the Craft generally . That " S . X . " imagined what he tells the world he saw , is not improbable , but lie has yet to learn

the folly of attempting to convert the imaginary into the actual , as he would have us believe it to be . We publish elsewhere a letter written b y " AN OLD BOY , " and one who , from the fact of his having spent seven years and a half in the School , must be accepted as a competent witness for

the defence . Moreover , it is the letter of an ex-pupil , who can have no other object than to write impartially , and what he tells us of his personal experience during so many years must be looked npon as being far weightier evidence in favour of the system of training pursued at

Wood Green than " S . X . ' s " remarks , after a quarter of an hour ' s observation , ' can possibly be in condemnation of it . What says "AN OLD BOY" on the subject ? "I was educated there for a period of seven and a-half years , two or three years of which time I was taught by

Dr . Morris , and I can safely say that never during that time did I receive anything but kindness from either Masters or Matron , " and , he adds , with marked emphasis , " . If a boy was not happy , then he had only himself to thank . " He winds' up still more emphatically in his

apology for troubling us with his short letter , because , as he remarks , " I feel deeply the wrong that has been done Dr . Morris and all the masters under him , and I feel it a duty to protest against such false statements as ' S . X . ' brings forward . " Had this been written by a present pupil of

the School , it would have had less weight . Ill-natured people would have said perhaps thafc it was written to order . But " AN OLD BOY " has nothing either to gain or lose by describing his experiences—his connection with the school has ceased altogether . Thus , as between the

imag ination of " S . X . " and the direct evidence of our present correspondent , the School—as every one expected it would — comes off with flying colours . But shall we set down as of any value statements made , without any sense of responsibility , by an apparently

dyspeptic brother who , to judge from his one letter , would seem to belong to that class of persons who think criticism is only worth listening to when it assumes the form of fault-finding ? "S . X . " presumes too much on the

childlike simplicity of the rest of the world , if he thinks his single carping criticism will succeed in establishing the faults he imagines he has . discovered , especially when there is an overwhelming array of testimony that such faults have no existence whatever . Successive Festival

Chairmen , who , on the occasion of their visits to the School , must be held to have seen as much of its interior economy as " S . X ., " and a great deal more , have-spoken in the highest terms of its arrangements , and

the system of education in force . Their praise is the more acceptable because it has been bestowed with discrimination , the practical suggestions they have offered from time to time showing clearly enough that while , iu their opinion , the School was well managed and efficiently , there was

The Boys' School And Its Critic.

here and there room for improvement . We know what examiners and examining bodies think of it as a home of education . The reports of the former have been on the whole as satisfactory as any executive or any staff of masters could desire , while the latter have adjudged

honours to , or passed , the great majority of the candidates hailing from Wood Green who havo submitted themselves to their examination . It is also on record that the dietary is both wholesome and sufficient , that discipline is maintained , and , if testimonials to the Matron for tho efficiency

of her services have any value , that the domestic arrangements leave little , if anything , to be desired . In short , we have , as opposed to the one unfavourable critic , who writes anonymously , the testimony of " AN OLD BOY , " of successive Festival Chairmen , and of the examiners , as well as

of hundreds of brethren who , when they have visited the School at prize distributions and on other occasions , have been most favourably impressed with all they have seen and heard . However , it is an ill wind which blows nobody

any good , and in his uncompromising denunciation of the School , and all connected with it , it is not unlikely that " S . X . " may unintentionally have done ifc fche greatest possible service .

Crazy And Partizan Masonic Writers.

CRAZY AND PARTIZAN MASONIC WRITERS .

BY BROTHER JACOB NORTON . THAT Masons have written a great deal of rubbish , cannot be disputed or denied ; thafc some of these writers were mere crazy enthusiasts , I will readily admit . Others , however , have doubtless been prompted to pervert truth from mere partizan motives . Thus , it has pleased

some brethren to try and persuade the Craft that Masonry is a Christian , Institution , and others that it is a very ancient Institution ; and to prove their pet theories , they have not hesitated to invent legends , to garble quotations , and to quote authorities which do not exist .

Mr . George Long , the translator of a work called " The thoughts of the Emperor M . Aurelius Antoninus , " in the introduction to the said work , exposes the falsehoods of the early Christian martyrologists , and the sophistry and

unfairness of modern ecclesiastical historians ; thus , a letter on martyrology was preserved by Busebius , said to have been written in A . D . 177 , in which the following miracle is related : —

Sanctus was burnt with plates of hot iron till his body was one sore , and had lost all human form , but on being put to the rack he recovered his former appearance , and was thus cured instead of being punished . He was , however , afterwards torn by wild beasts , and then placed

on an iron chair and roasted , and of course he died afc lasfc . Now , ecclesiastical writers profess to believe in the martyrdom of Sanctus and Co ., but , strange to say , they

carefully omit the miracle , or deny its truth . As the evidence of the miracle , as well as of the martyrdom , rests upon the testimony furnished by the writer of the self-same letter , Mr . Long very justly renurrks that if the writer of

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