The Benevolent Institution And Its Candidates.

on theWidows' side the numbers are 81 and 12 respectively ' giving a total of 147 applicant *? , for whom only 26 annuities were available at the time the ballot papers were prepared , and even six of that number are for deferred annuities , only payable on tho death of ono or other of those already

on tlie funds . But it is nofc only tho large number of candidates that musfc appeal to tho benevolent sympathies of the Grift at the present time , there is another consideration , the long period during which somo of tbo candidates bate been striving to secure tho coveted annuity of the

Benevolent Institution . There are two aged widows who were accepted as eligible for the Fund as far back as 1880 , and although ono of them is in the happy position of having 2782 votes to her credit , even that number is far short of what will be required to give her the much

desired pension . The other widow who has been before the subscribers of the Institution for this long period has bufc 110 votes to her oredifc , so that hor chances of ultimate success may be described as being very remote indeed . Other candidates come forward for tho tenth , ninth , eighth ,

or less times , and when we bear in mind that each successive application means an interval of twelve months , we can form soma idea of fche weary period of waiting

these distressed Craftsmen or their widows havo passed through , and yet , wifch all these considerations , it seems impossible for the Craft to render any further assistance than what is already being done .

Were wo not brought face to face with the actual facts of the case , ono could hardly believe tbat so many candidates wonld bo able to comply with the very stringent regulations now in force in connection wifch this Institution . Considerations of long years of association with

tbe Graft , "very old age and actual necessity , are strictly enforced , and yefc the list of approved candidates increases year by year beyond tho possibilities of tho Institution ,

notwithstanding the handsome amounts annually contribnfced on its behalf by the members of the Order . Surely no better argument than this can be used in favour of extended support for this most deserving Institution .

The Blue Lodge.

THE BLUE LODGE .

An Installation Address by the Bev . Bro . Howard Duffield , D . D .

A RAY of encouragement beams upon mo in the discovery that this evening ' s installation is conducted according to the style of the Blue Lodge . This fact creates a tie of fellowship . I am a presb yterian . Tho Presbyterian Church in tho popular expression of ifc is a Blue Institution . Blue Lodge Masonry and blue creed

theology are surely suggestive of affinity . Ono whose blazon is the blue banner of Presbytery and he who is invested with the Blue degrees of tbe Freemason , must find certain points at which they lap shields in their battle with the ovil there is in the world , and clasp hands in their

coming endeavour to be beloved by their fellow men . I make bold , therefore , to outline a set of ideas not drawn from your ritual , nor derived from any creed , but springing naturally from this bond of contact which may be regarded as characteristic of all who either in the Lodge or in the Church are true blue .

Blue is the colour of the sky . Its majestic dome , overarching all nature , pictures the universality of our Masonry . The sky knows no geography , no chronology , no binding lines in society . Its starry arch is upreared over every meridian . The lustre of its azure beauty gleams with as

bright a radiance npon this soiled and age-worn world as ifc did upon the groves of Eden in the golden morning hour of time . Its splendours are enrolled with impartial hand before the gaze of prince and pauper . It sheds its dews upon the evil and the good . It rains its sunbeams upon

the just and upon the unjust . So universal and so impartial is the spirit of our ministry for the well-being of men . It is a ministry which recognises none as lofty , none as lowly , but all as members of humanity . It is a ministry which estimates none at what they are , which

asks of none what they are , or what they may have been , bufc always looks at what fchey may become . It ig a ministry which marks none as worthless and brands none as outcasts , but perceives the possibilities of good that lie latent in every human breast . It is a ministry thafc recognises the fire that is hidden in the wood , the statue of loveliness that lurks concealed in the unhewn stone , that

The Blue Lodge.

detects the subtle forces stored in the heart of the coal and needing but a friendly warmth for their liberation . A minister upon one occasion while announcing a collection to his congregation remarked , that he wished they would remember that philanthropy was a love of their species ,

ancl added that ho hoped they would nofc mistake ifc and say thafc philanthropy was a love of their specie . Too many fail to make this distinction . Their philanthropise efforts are of this spurious sort and they mako tlie discovery afc the end of life which was recorded in the ¦

homely epitaph over one of their brotherhood : ** What I kept I lost , and I only have what I gave away . " Said one of these self-sufficient persons , " As for me , I live within myself . " A friend who overheard the remark observed , "Do I understand you , that you have taken

apartments in a flat ? " Unfortunately suoh apartments never lack tenants . The world is overstocked with selfishness ; crippled characters abound ; those who are without hands , who have never given a sympathetic grasp to ono in need ; those who are blind to the sight of

want ; those who are tongue-tied and who have uttered no syllable of friendship and cheer to encourage the lowly and down-trodden ; those who are without feet , who have turned no step aside from their own way to assist a fellow-man . "With what , sir , do you mix your

colours ? " said one to Sir Joshua Reynolds , as he sat before the glowing canvas of the master . " With brains , sir , " was the significant reply . When you are asked , " With what do you mix the speech and , action of your life ? " Let the answer ever be , " With heart , sir , "

Thatwizard of the pen , Sir Walter Scott , never wrote a sweeter or truer word than that which he puts into tho month of Jeanie Deans when she is pleading for hor sister ' s life . Addressing the queen , sho says , " Alas ! it is nofc when we sleep soft and wake merrily ourselves thafc we think on

other's sufferings . Our hearts are waxed light within ns then , and we are all for righting our own wrongs and fighting onr own battles ; but when the hour of trouble comes to the mind or to the body , and seldom may it

visit your ladyship , and when the hour of death comes that comes to high and low , long and late may it be yours , oh ! mighty lady , then it is nofc what we have done for ourselves , but what we have dono for others thafc we think on most pleasantly . "

Blue is the colour of the ocean . The mantle of mystery with which it is enveloped symbolizes the nnostentafcion of our ministry . The sea is nature ' s hieroglyph of Mystery . No eye can sweep its farthest bounds . No fathom line can sound its uttermost depths . No heart can fully

interpret the weird message which its surges are ceaselessly sounding . Its mighty work of purifying and refreshing the world is wrought in silence . Its beneficent vapours

steal along the viewless highways of the air and descend in gracious rains to feed spring and fountain upon the far off mountain sides . They pour their gracious waters o ' er the earth and cause it to bud and bloom so thafc flower and

leaf , tree and plant are only sea foam transformed wondrously and secretly . All great works court privacy . The alchemy of nature is wrought in secret . There is no sound of the shuttle as she weaves the garments of beauty with whioh the earth is arrayed . The planet turns npon

its axis withont a jar . Ships cross the equator with no grating of fche keel . The sunbeams sound no trumpet before them . Violets send no herald to proclaim their coming . " The feet of the gods" says the ancient proverb , " are shod with wool and the array of the earth's true

helpers march withont band or banner . " This is a principle that may be fitly emphasized at the present day . This is an age of advertising . The most conspicuous monuments of our day are hill boards . The century has gone statistic crazy . The benevolent spirit thafc prevails is

largely tinctured with the desire to experience what Charles Lamb said was the greatest delight of his life , " to do a good deed by stealth , and have ifc found out by accident . " Tho accidental discovery of our good deeds , however , is largely of the sort illustrated by Artemns Ward

when he hired a band to come and serenade him by surprise . None so willing nowadays to lay a single eggot benevolence without clucking until the whole community has been notified of the event . But the flower that

humanity cherishes in its bosom is not fche bloom of flaunting but that which itself is unseen , is discovered only by its fragrance . The Te Tfeum is anonymous . The Temple of Solomon arose without sound of axe , hammer or any other tool of iron .