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TO OUR READERS . The FREEMASON is a Weekly Newspaper , price ad . It is published every Friday morning , and contains the most important , interesting , and useful information relating to Freemasonry in every degree . Subscription , including postage : United America , India , India , China , & c

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BIRTHS . HEAU . —On the 26 th ult , at Wood-lane , Shepherd's-bush , the wife of G . Head , of a son . MOHTIMER . —On thc 24 th ult ., at Gainsborough-villas , Leytonstone , the wife of O . E . Mortimer , of a daughter . JOHNSON . —On the 21 st ult ., at 20 , Moira-street , Liverpool , the wife of Willam Johnstin , Merchants Lodge , No . 241 , ot a eiaughter .

MARRIAGE . GBAMSHAW—TALIIOT . —On the 23 rd inst ., at St . James's , Piccadilly , William I lenry Gramshaw , of Warlingham , to Harriet Cecil , daughter of the late C . A . Talbot .

DEATHS . DKNTON . —On thc 24 th ult ., at Acorn Lodge , Keswick , Cumberland , William Denton , Esq ., J . P . LocKwoon , —On Sunday evening , the 27 th ult ., Elizabeth , the beloved wife of Crosby Lockwood , of 139 , Highbury New Park , N ., and Stationers' Hall-court , E . C , aged 46 .

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The Freemason , S ATURDAY , F EBRUARY 2 , 1878 .

Provincial Educational Institutions.

PROVINCIAL EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS .

We have for some time been animated by the conviction that these valuable and useful Institutions have a great part to play in the future for the welfare of the orphan children of our brethren . It must , we think , have struck all our readers , that our great Metropolitan Masonic Charities , especially our Educational

Institutions , have nearly reached the limit of their capabilities and possible accommodation . Bv the autumn of 18 / 8 we shall be educating 500 orphans , 300 boys , 200 girls , and though it is possible , that we mi ght increase each Institution by another 100 inmates , at considerable expense , yet such increase must be final—on our present sites . What then are we to do ? Our

fraternity continues to expand , and we behold around us unmistakeable signs that the demands upon our charities augment " pari passu , " with the augmentation of out members . It seems to us that the

answer to this query is to be found in the developement of the " Provincial Educational Institutions . " Not that we think that such in their present form can ever be of much avail as true Educational Institution ? -, but we are of opinion that in an altered direction and with an

improved organization they may be rendered productive of great good and utility to our Order . What we mean is this . Let all such become subsidiary and preparatory Institutions for the Metropolitan Schoo's . We believe , and we feel sure , that Bro . Dr . Morris will agree

with us when we state , that by the use of similar primers and school books , by the adoption of a common "factor , " of education , the boys in the Provincial Institutions might be prepared on one uniform system throughout England , and thus graduall y drafted by election as at present ,

or by scholarships , into the larger central Institutes . We are convinced also that the system of the Girls' School can equally be adapted to and adopted in provincial preparatory schools . Thus we should have a network , so to say , of good preparatory schools in our provinces , ( two

or three provinces may support one ) , all sending up year by year , as now under one efficient system , prepared pupils for the central schools . An objection will be raised at once , ( as objections always are raised to any proposal of change ) , that this scheme seems to foreshadow

a still greater extension of our Metropolitan Schools . But that , we beg to remark , is not under the present suggestion a necessity for some years to come , at any rate , and the object of this proposal is to obviate the need of any very large immediate

further increase of our Metropolitan Schools . But we cannot and ought not to shut our eyes to the increasing demands upon the Schools , demands which if they continue at their present rate of increase , point unmistakeably to stiiraugmented accommodation , large as the present is ,

and far above any we should have contemplated as likely or needful a few years ago . We are disposed to think , on the contrary , that the education may be so good in our provincial schools , that only a small proportion of the pupils will go up to the Metropolitan Institutions , not

much larger , in fact , than at present comes yearly from the provinces ; but then we should not witness to us that always sad spectacle of so many orphans being disqualified by " over age , " as they would be educated at home . And even if our plan did eventually lead to enlarged schools in

the metropolis , that may well be left [ to the future , which often settles things better than we dream of in the present . But the plan we have hastily and roughly sketched out has this one merit in our eyes , that it will relieve the pressure on our central Institutions , and leave them as

they are for some years to come . We are aware that the financial question , as regards the provinces , comes in here , but if the present educational institutions can be made available , they are a " nucleus " of a greater and more perfect organization . And we are quite certain of this , that the energy of our provincial brethren would

Provincial Educational Institutions.

soon raise sufficient funds for the purpose of carrying on such needful institutions . Our present provincial institutions , though good as far as they go , do not go far enough , and if they become the " start , " so to say , of our provincial

organizations , ( saving , of course , the rights of subscribers to them in their present shape ) , they would eventually become a real blessing to many a poor orphan child in Masonry . The Leeds Educational Benevolent Institution has been in

existence twelve months . It has already accumulated £ __ 6 7 s . 8 d ., and has aided to educate six children . Its income is £ _ i . This may seem a small beginning , but we look on it as the omen of better things , and greater things yet to be accomplished . It is a good step in the

right direction , but can well go a step further . If then our educational institutions in Lancashire , Cheshire , Devonshire , Leeds , and elsewhere , can become the initial levers of a great provincial movement , we think that we can give our central Institutions rest for a few years to come

as regards building expenditure , and confine our efforts to raise the large sums required for their maintenance , and so prepare for the future . And if in the meantime our provincial brethren will connect their provincial Institutions with the

centra ! ones , a great and goodly work of Masonic education might be inaugurated and developed , alike for the credit of the Craft and the welfare and happ i ness of those poor orphans to whom as Freemasons we stand " in loco parentis . "

Another Side To The Picture.

ANOTHER SIDE TO THE PICTURE .

We said in our last , that we should call attention to another side of the picture , which a careful contemplation of the subject of rapid increa se of numbers had suggested to our minds , and so we proceed to fulfil our promise to-day . It is a great mistake ever to take a too gloomy or morbid view of things , of events , of persons . Time has few " hard lines " which cannot be

amel iorated , few dark days which are not followed by sunshine , no possible evils without a possible counterbalancing good . That there is a compensatory process always going on we , in the good , Providence of T . G . A . O . T . U ., firmly hold , and it is unwise in any of us ever to

believe or to teach , that there is any heavy cloud without a " silver lining , " any actual contingency of life , which has not some consolation for us When then we lately denounced the too rapid increase of our numbers , and extended demands inevitably upon our charities in consequence , we

felt , as we feel now , that having manfully protested against a great evil , we might find that with care and patience there was a brighter side yet to it all . If , fcr instance , increasing members led up to enlarged exertions for our Charities , what

then ? The very material prosperity of our great Order was a witness to us , that more would be demanded of us all in the best of all causes , Masonic Charity . Let us suppose that with new members come vastly increased demands on our charitable resources . Well ! we must rise

to the occasion , we must act up to the level of our duty and our privileges . It is a good thing for us all to bear in mind , that there is hardly anything on earth which cannot be mended if wrong—no gloomy situation which cannot be lightened up , no crooked path which cannot be

made straig ht . Our mission here seems to be always to work on , and never to despair of anything , trying to improve , to amplify , to perfect , and to "leave the world belter than we found it . " If we may naturally regret , as regret we may and must , that our lodges are weakened by the

admission of any incongruous element , if too many new mernb 2 rs are " rushing in" to please us , yet as it is useless to " cry over spilt milk , " let us seek to " make the best of a bad bargain , " and increase our efforts to keep our Charity as nearly as we can up to the level of the wants of our fraternity . If some ideas thrown out in another

column meet with approval , we have in them , perhaps , a means of obviating undue pressure upon and needless extension of our great Metropolitan Educational Institutions , and at any * rate we may console ourselves with the recollection and the belief , that , if things are not going well , according to our net notions ,