Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Freemasons' Quarterly Magazine And Review.
the ceremony , was a great mistake . What ought to have been done was to have permitted those of the fair sex , who so liberally contributed £ 5 . 5 s . each to the objects ofthe Charity , to have been conducted after the ceremony to the M . W . the G . M ., to have presented their gifts to him , and then to have
retired , as was done at the dedication of the Old Man ' s Asylum at Croydon . If , however , it was a blunder to have filled the room with ladies , it was a much greater inconsistency to have admitted persons , who were not Masons at all . But this was permitted , we believe , in several other instances ,
besides allowing reporters , who were not Masons , to be present . The crushing and squeezing to get into the room , we are told , was something awful . At the most , it could not accommodate more than sixty beyond those actually engaged in the ceremony , and yet many hundreds were charged for admission ,
under the idea that they most assuredly woulcl be admitted to witness this part of the day ' s proceedings . When something like silence could be restored , the ceremony of dedication was solemnly performed , and the Grancl Lodge at once retired to the room in which it hacl been opened , where , being tyled , it was closed with the usual formularies .
The next part of the day ' s transactions deserves the most unqualified censure—the dejeuner , which , with the slightest preparation , might have been of the most joyous character . The arrangements , it is said , were entirely left to two Brethren , who had made no arrangements at all ; one of whom ,
when appealed to , immediately lost his temper , and , evidently flurried by the rush of persons , and the want of accommodation , quite forgot himself , and fairly gave lip in despair all notion of attempting to make the hundreds of ladies and gentlemen comfortable . All this confusion might have been
prevented , had the Stewards , who had paid their guinea , and introduced many friends , been consulted ; bxit — it will scarcely be credited—although a very considerable number of highly influential Brethren had most liberally responded to the appeal in behalf of the Institution to take the office of Stewards , they were never once called together to make
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Freemasons' Quarterly Magazine And Review.
the ceremony , was a great mistake . What ought to have been done was to have permitted those of the fair sex , who so liberally contributed £ 5 . 5 s . each to the objects ofthe Charity , to have been conducted after the ceremony to the M . W . the G . M ., to have presented their gifts to him , and then to have
retired , as was done at the dedication of the Old Man ' s Asylum at Croydon . If , however , it was a blunder to have filled the room with ladies , it was a much greater inconsistency to have admitted persons , who were not Masons at all . But this was permitted , we believe , in several other instances ,
besides allowing reporters , who were not Masons , to be present . The crushing and squeezing to get into the room , we are told , was something awful . At the most , it could not accommodate more than sixty beyond those actually engaged in the ceremony , and yet many hundreds were charged for admission ,
under the idea that they most assuredly woulcl be admitted to witness this part of the day ' s proceedings . When something like silence could be restored , the ceremony of dedication was solemnly performed , and the Grancl Lodge at once retired to the room in which it hacl been opened , where , being tyled , it was closed with the usual formularies .
The next part of the day ' s transactions deserves the most unqualified censure—the dejeuner , which , with the slightest preparation , might have been of the most joyous character . The arrangements , it is said , were entirely left to two Brethren , who had made no arrangements at all ; one of whom ,
when appealed to , immediately lost his temper , and , evidently flurried by the rush of persons , and the want of accommodation , quite forgot himself , and fairly gave lip in despair all notion of attempting to make the hundreds of ladies and gentlemen comfortable . All this confusion might have been
prevented , had the Stewards , who had paid their guinea , and introduced many friends , been consulted ; bxit — it will scarcely be credited—although a very considerable number of highly influential Brethren had most liberally responded to the appeal in behalf of the Institution to take the office of Stewards , they were never once called together to make