Is Noise An Essential To Enjoyment ?

IS NOISE AN ESSENTIAL TO ENJOYMENT ?

DURING the last few days the British roughs have been trying to demonstrate , in various centres of civilisation , that noise is essential for their enjoyment , or at all events that they can find some amusement in

creating disturbances , and making themselves a nuisance to their fellow creatures . It is true a few of them have gone much farther than this , and have committed outrages which have called forth the strongest condemnation , and

which , it is to be hoped , will be severely punished . But a large number—by far the majority—have contented themselves with shouting , and creating as much noise as is possible , to the annoyance of all who heard them , and with

no good result to themselves . Yet , in a measure , we can excuse all this noise considering the source from whence it has come . Many of those who have been loudest in creating the uproar have hardly known better , while they have

been led astray by popular agitators ; men who are for ever urging the masses to excesses against good order and regularity . Bat what can we say of almost similar conduct among educated men ; men who have been taught ,

and who know better ; men who are moving in good spheres of life , and who are well acquainted with the laws —unwritten though they may be—which govern properly

organised society ? Such behaviour from these is disgraceful , and calls for the strongest condemnation , even if it should not be carried beyond actual reproof .

There are some Masons to whom noise appears to be an essential to enjoyment , especially at the banquet table , and to such as are so circumstanced we commend the above paragraph . If they could see themselves as others see

them , could realise the fact that their frequent shouts for a glass of wine with Bro . So-and-so was the greatest of nuisances to their more peaceable neighbom * s , they would perhaps see they wet ^ e quite as great offenders against good

order as the loudest of the shouters who , during the past few weeks , have proved such an annoyance to the peaceable citizens of London and other towns , and considering they stand much higher in the social scale they are deserving of

stronger reproof than the poor ignorant masses , who have gone wild in response to the rabid utterances of practised agitators . Is it necessary for these brethren to make themselves a nuisance to all around them before they can say

they have enjoyed their evening ? If so , the sooner it becomes generally known the better , as we may then be able to set apart two or three Lodges for these over " enthusiastic " brethren , and let them shout among

themselves , to their heart ' s content—on condition tbey do not annoy their fellows whenever they may find themselves outside one of their reserved centres . We can appreciate enthusiasm in a good cause , or hearty enjoyment at the festive

board , as well as any one , but the excess to which some brethren go is far beyond the one or the other , and is , we again say , deserving of the strongest condemnation . We have known a few of these lively spirits to monopolise an

evening , to call down upon themselves the censure of the Worshipful Master , to bear the criticisms of Past Masters and Visitors alike , and to go away feeling they had had a

good time of it , and really believing they had contributed to the harmony of the meeting . How can we hope to convert such offenders as these ? We should be sorry to suggest anything un-Masonic , but really they deserve to have

Is Noise An Essential To Enjoyment ?

their own weapons turned upon themselves . Let ua go again , to the popular agitators , and take example from them ; in short , let us " boycott" thoso who annoy us , and when they shout for a toast let all who desire to maintain

peace and comfort decline to acknowledge it . There aro plenty of methods by which one friend can attract tho notice of another , without continually shouting across tho tables , to the annoyance of thoso around , and the sooner

this is generally recognised the better it will be for all concerned .

Why Am I A Freemason ?

WHY AM I A FREEMASON ?

A TRAVELLER on a long journey gets weary sometimes , and finds it necessary to pause for rest

and refreshment . While resting and meditating , be naturally takes a retrospective view of the way already travelled , the place whence he came , the rough and rugged places , it may be , over which he has passed , the running

brook where ho has slaked his thirst with its limpid water and plucked vernal flowers from its green and fertile banks . He then takes a prospective view of the road yet to be travelled . It may be he is going home to see his

loved ones , either on this side of the "dark river" or beyond . In either case the object is delightful and the thought transporting . Supposing it to be a road he has

never before travelled , the following questions cannot fail to engage his earnest attention : Am I in the right way ? and is it a safe route to travel ?

The writer of this article , having " travelled East" for many years , is inclined to mediate on the spot where he is now resting , and inquire : Why am la Freemason ? and is that route a safe one to travel ? " To me the answer is not difficult nor embarrass .

ing . It is because Freemasonry is a social organization , instituted by virtuous men , and based upon the broad , liberal and sublime principles of morality and religion . Its first

grand principle , underlying it , and interwoven with all of its ceremonies , is the belief in one true and living God , tho Supreme , intelligent First Cause of all thingi . Hence , no

atheist can be made a Mason ; and any Mason who may become an atheist cannot remain a member without being guilty of the greatest hypocrisy . The second -n * eat truth inculcated is the belief in a

resurrection to eternal life . Nothing can ever efface from the mind of a Mason the doctrine of immortality , so beautifully and forcibly taught by the legend in which tho

sprig of acacia is found blooming at the head of the gravo of the departed , and which doctrine is symbolized when the evergreen is depo 3 ited upon the remains of a departed Brother .

In addition to these fundamental truths , the Fraternity lays down as moral axioms the four cardinal virtues of Temperance , Fortitude , Prudence and Justice , the practice of which makes a man an upright and honourable citizen .

Bub it does not stop there , for justice without chari ty is as cold as an iceberg . The social virtues of Brotherly Love , Relief and Truth , which are the " tenets of a Mason ' s profession , " must be added to give symmetry to moral character ; and which will make a man what his Maker intended he should be , namely , a social being—the deposi-