Board Of Benevolence.

BOARD OF BENEVOLENCE .

THE President , Bro . James Henry Matthews was not able to occupy his chair at the meeting on Wednesday , being away on holiday , and Bro . David Dixon Mercer Senior Vice President took his place , Bro . Henry Garrod Junior V . P . acting as Senior , and Bro " . Felix Kite G . P . occupying the seat usually held by Bro . Garrod .

The Assistant Grand Secretary , and Bros . W . Dodd and G . S . Recknell attended from Grand Secretary ' s Office , and a very large number of Masters and Past Masters of Lodges , and the elected members of the Board and present and past Grand Officers also attended . With the coming of the winter

season the lightness of the list of petitioners usual in the holiday period disappeared , and a terribly long array of unfortunate persons , to the number of forty-five , sought assistance . Considering their claims the Brethren sat for more than four hours , when it was found they had adjourned three

petitions and dismissed four . The remaining thirty-eight were awarded a total sum of £ 1 , 015 . Three petitions were sent to Grand Lodge , recommended , one for a grant of £ 75 , and

two for £$ 0 each . The Grand Master ' s sanction was asked for five gifts of £ 40 each , and eleven of £ 30 each . Thirteen cases received immediate relief of ^" 20 each , four of £ 10 each , and two of £ 5 each .

A Worthy Mason.

A WORTHY MASON .

THE sudden death of Colonel Francis Cornwallis Maude , one of the Military Knights of Windsor , has brought to a close what in its prime was a brilliant military career . It is not forgotten among soldiers that Colonel Maude took a prominent part in the suppression of the Indian Mutiny ,

and commanded the Royal Artillery throughout the operations with General Havelock ' s column in 1857 , including the relief and defence of the Residency at Lucknow . He was with Outram ' s force at the Alumbagh from January till March 1858 , as well as at the siege and capture of Lucknow ,

and was' repeatedly mentioned in despatches ; and having been awarded the brevets of major and lieutenant-colonel and the Victoria Cross , he was also made a C . B ., and received a medal with clasps and a year ' s service . I remember meeting Colonel Maude at a gathering held under the auspices of the

Gallery Lodge of Freemasons some seven years since , when he was the guest of Mr . J . C . Manning , a veteran journalist , who was then the newly-installed Worshipful Master ; and no one who heard him will forget the thrill that passed through all as , in proof of the universality of the benevolence fostered

by Freemasonry , he instanced cases where , during the Mutiny , Brotherhood in the Craft had saved lives , the mutineer sparing even the hated Feringhee when the mystic sign passed which told that the wounded man was a Mason . His modesty did not enable him to tell , however , what the great Havelock

stated in his field force orders , of how he won the Victoria Cross ; but these were the words : — " This Officer steadily and cheerily pushed on with his men and bore down the desperate opposition of the enemy , though with the loss of one-third of his artillerymen . Sir James Outram adds that

this attack appeared to him to indicate no reckless or foolhardy daring , but the calm heroism of a true soldier who fully appreciates the difficulties and dangers of the task he had undertaken , and that but for Captain Maude ' s nerve and coolness on this trying occasion the army could not have advanced . "—London Correspondent "Birmingham Post . "

n ^ rz Bro . Lieutenant-Colonel Gerald Ricardo , writing on 5 th September , from South Africa to the Loyal Berkshire Lodge of Hope , of which he is the Master , says : " We have been with Methuen all the time , and have , I believe , done wonders

for he has had no other cavalry since he began his wanderings on 9 th April , and Lord Chesham ' s Brigade of Yeomanrythe Yorkshires , the Northumberland , Shropshire , Worcester , and our lot ( Berks ., Bucks ., and Oxon)—have never allowed the division to be surprised yet . We marched 199 miles in

nine days and had four fights—every one on half rations . We have lost four or five men in my lot—an extraordinary low percentage considering what we have been through . All the Yeomen are exactly alike—the best stuff going—and have gained praise from all . They do not care for either shell fire or bullets . "

Laying Up For The Future.

LAYING UP FOR THE FUTURE .

W HILE it is plainly the duty of the Masonic Lodge to give for charity and to be open-handed in its giving , it must not be prodigal or wasteful . It is well enough to say that posterity should be left to bear its own burdens , but that is a rule too easily carried to extremes . If we never strove to accumulate wealth how many Masonic homes would

we have ? Let us hearken cheerfully to every request of the widow and orphan , but let us be thrifty and industrious . A Lodge which does not save when it may , never will save , and posterity will never attain to greater works in chirity than does the present generation . It goes without saying that a

surplus should not be hoarded up for the future at the expense of forgetting present duties . We should always be o-enerous and relieve every worthy claim , but we must also be businesslike . If we can little by little accumulate a fund which shall

some day result in a well-established Charitable Institution , how much better to do so than to be unnecessarily lavish with our monies and leave coming generations to follow our example and be as free and careless with their incomes . — " Tyler . "

Entertainment Notes.

Entertainment Notes .

Lyric . —By the addition of Miss Florence St . John to the cast of " Florodora , " that lively little comic opera has been rendered still more sprightly and entertaining . The methods of this popular actress are well suited to the part of Dolores , while her flexible voice is heard to great advantage in the bright pleasing ballads of Mr . Leslie Stuart , as well as in the extra songs specially written for her . Miss Reeve ' s impersonation of Lady Hoiyrood , so excellent

at the first performance , has gained considerably during the time , now nearly twelve months , that has elapsed , and her delivery of the smart but scathing skits , upon society are among the best things in the piece . Miss Decima Moore now plays the part of Angela , and Mr . Harry Monkhouse replaces Mr . Willie Edouin this evening . Other changes are made that materially strengthen the cast . So far as the public are concerned , there appears no reason why the play should be withdrawn for many months to come .

Criterion . —Bro . Col . Newnham Davis has written a pleasing little comedietta , entitled "A Charitable Bequest , " which is now being played in front of " The Noble Lord " at this Theatre . SaVoy . —The tuneful Gilbert and Sullivan opera "Patience " will be revived

on Wednesday , 7 th November ; the "Pirates of Penzance" being withdrawn on the 3 rd prox . / Estheticism , which forms the subject of the opera , is now as dead as the traditional door-nail , but the present generation will doubtless be pleased to witness that which amused their elders twenty years ago .

Lyceum . — Sir Henry Irvmg ' s matinee performance for the benefit of the Galveston Fund realised the handsome sum of £ 1 200 . The American Ambassador , who contributed , £ 50 , has written a letter of thanks to Sir Henry and the actors and actresses who co-operated with him in obtaining so excellent a result .

Drury Lane . —The success of " The Price of Peace " is so great that eight performances a week do not suffice for Mr . Arthur Collins' patrons , so he has arranged for two extra matinees on Thursdays , 1 st and 15 th November . At the evening performances the doors are now opened at 7 . 15 , and the curtain rises punctually at 7 . 45 . l y

Books Of The Day.

Books of the Day .

Books , Music , ' & c . intended for review , should be addressed to the Editor of the Freemason ' s Chronicle , at Fleet Works , New Barnet .

Henry Knox . A soldier of the revolution , Major-General in the continental army , Washington's chief of artillery , first Secretary of War under the Constitution , founder of the Society of the Cincinnati ( 1750-1806 ) . By Noah Brooks , illustrated ( American Men of Energy series ) . ( 6 s ) . —G . P . Putnam ' s Sons .

WE have sometimes wondered why the struggle for American Independence has not been more fully portrayed by biographers and historians . Much has been written , but not so much as might be supposed . The cause was a great one , the strife was prolonged and of varying fortune , the daily happenings full of brave exploits and hazardous ventures— " hairbreadth escapes in

the imminent deadly breach . " We lean to the opinion that so large and complex a narrative isi best told in a series of biographies such as the one before us , for after all , as Carlyle has said , history is really neither more nor less than biography . The lives of such " men of energy" as Washington , Knox , or Schuyler , conciselbut sufficientl

y y told , give a more satisfactory account of the struggle that robbed us of our largest possession than any one work written more strictly on " historical" lines . This life of Knox has been carefully" planned and ably written . The author is endowed with that rare gift , a sense of true historic proportion and perspective . He does not occupy ten pages with matter