Contents.

CONTENTS .

LEADERS 53 Supreme firand Chapter 54 His Knynl Highness the Duke of Aliiany . it Durham 54 The Koynl Masonic llencvolent Institution ( CiiniiiiueJ ) 54

CoRKESI'OXllEXrEKlcction of firand Treasurer 57 Provincial Honours 57 Rnsicrucians 57 Thc Moon ' s Changes 57 Notes and Queries 57 Consecration of lhe Sincerity Mark Lodge , No . 32 , Nnrthwich 57 Smith Africa 57

Royai Masonic Institution for Ciirls 57 Celebration of thc Fiftieth Anniversary of the Surrey Lodge , No . 410 , Ueij ; ate .... 58 A Wry Curious MS 59 KEI ' £ OK MASONIC MEETIXUSCraft Masonry 60 Instruction ( 11

Royal Arch 6 4 Mark Masonry 6 4 Kniejits Tcm ] ilar 65 Presentation to a Northampton brother 05 Obituary 1 / 5 The Theatres 65 Masonic and General Tidings nil Lodge Meeting * for Next Week ... race j Cover

Ar00101

WK think it right to call attention once again to thc report of the Surrey Lodge , No . 416 , which was " crowded out" most unavoidably last week , much to our regret , and which we give elsewhere . We are inclined to think that thc episode there revealed is " unique" in our Masonic annals . A poor brother , dying from accident , commits to his brethren the care of

his widow and orphans . So readily do they accept the bequest , so cheerfully have they fulfilled his injunction , that they have invested £ 2500 for her and her children's benefit , and sent her thc other night £ 50 additional as a New Year ' s gift . We often hear of kind donations and genial relief afforded by lodges and brethren to poor and deserving applicants j but wc hardly

ever remember a similar case , ( and should be obliged by any correspondent reminding us of any ) , where , with . 1 large-hearted munificence and persevering beneficence worthy of all praise , a lodge thus nobly cares for and adopts thc widow and children of a deceased brother . This is indeed a

remarkable fulfilment in the concrete ] of Masonic teaching in thc abstract , and demands all commendation , just as it deserves a happy imitation . Wc hear , now and then , of similar cases in their measure in America , but in England even they are very rare , and in most foreign jurisdictions impossible .

# * AT this time of thc year Masonic mendicants arc many . They come to us in various guises , and under different dcvclopcmcnts of deliberate fraud , or perverse rascality . Mostly such applicants are well-known to the police , and theirs simply has been too often a career of successful profligacy and

prosperous criminality combined . We hold it to be a high Mauonie and moral offence for a brother to appear before a friendly lodge or a confiding Freemason , with a well-concocted but lying tale ; whether of persevering mendicancy or simulated distress . It is this tendency to imposture , this trading on Freemasonry which exists in some parts of Kngland more than others , and

which is not only a great hindrance to thc outflow of Masonic benevolence , but tries sorely the temper and Masonic sympathies of our brethren . In the north , especially in Lancashire and Yorkshire , thc brethren , in self defence , have Almoners for towns , and Committees , and even a Provincial Committee of Investigation and Relief . So far as the experiment has been tried it is

very successful in detecting fraud and imposture , and separating thc worthy from the unworthy applicant . Wc have not seen the most recent statistics , but the last we read suggested many sad and salutary thoughts as to the necessity for such guards and checks , and the mournful uses to which Freemasonry is sometimes put by the unprincipled and designing , by the

knave and the vagabond . 1 here arc some , it is to be feared , who live on Masonry , and on the alms of kindly brethren and the donations of always friendly lodges . To seek the explanation of such a discreditable state of things we have not to go far , nor is it difficult to realize . Our good neighbours across the border are mainly responsible for this untoward

and undesirable state of affairs . The low sum for which brethren can be initiated in Scotland , the absence of lodge subscriptions as •a rule , the fact that when once initiated many Masons never go near their mother lodge again , never contribute to its funds , or lake part in its proceedings , is a very serious blot on thc Scottish

Masonic organization . We believe that all the leading Freemasons in Scotland are sensible of this grave inconvenience and the necessity of amendment . The Scottish lodges so far have with very few exceptions shewn no sign of wishfulness to alter their system , and thc consequence is , that this dire mistake reacts on Scottish Masonry in a most deplorable

degree . Warmhearted , genial , tolerant , hospitable as our good brethren in Scotland are , with their hearts in the right place , owing to this most defective leading principle of Masonicaction and Masonic life amongst them , any dcvelopement of Masonic charity as before the Craft and the world is a parody on their profession . They have no Masonic charitable institution worthy of being named , and the amount they give away is on a par with that voted

Ar00102

by the Grand Orient of France , a conjunction and assimilation not , as we apprehend , if fully understood , agreeable to the feelings and practice of warmhearted Scotchmen . Hardly . in evening passes at the Lodge of Benevolence but what a Scottish brothcrasks for relief . " I Live you obtained relief from Scotland ? Do you subscribe to your mother lodge ? " are questions

nearly always replied to in the negative , and the amount of initiation fees , < 7 payment made once for all , seems to us "Southrons " unduly small . We trust that with 1 SS 4 a movement may lake place among our Scottish brethren to remedy an admitted evil , and to strengthen their whole system ,

Wc arc quite certain such a change would act beneficially on Scottish Masonry itself , which now shews great signs of "rcrupcralivc power , " of financial prosperity , ami progressive popularity .

* •* Tim Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution has now we believe 24 S Stewards . Many more are wanted . Our brethren will , we feel sure , answer the mute appeal of so many distressed claimants for the important benefits of one of our most admirable Masonic Charities . Indeed on one point we feel that

a strong appeal may be fairly made to all our brethren . Let it not be rumoured or even whispered that the attraction of the double voting has been so great , that a sort of charitable selfishness ( forbid the thought !) has supervened , and that one or two other Charities , most valuable , most needed , and most striking , arc to suffer , because they can only offer the normal value for value

received . We wish intensely well for the Boys' School and l ! ro . BIXOKES , but we desiderate equally satisfactory results for the Royal Masonic Benevolent and Bro . TERRY , and the Girls' School and Bro . MI : DI ; . Before us at ibis moment are solely however thc predominant merits and absolute needs of the Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution . It appears to us that wc are

called upon by every sentiment of Masonic goodwill , Iargohcartcdncss , and sympathy to spare no efforts to make thc Festival of February 26 th a signal success , and to extend the priceless benefits ol a most well managed Charity to many a deserving old brother of ours , to many a poor and needy widow . We have ourselves the greatest faith in thc unchanging liberality and the living charity of our Craft .

•* # WE beg to call thc attention of our brethren specially to the patent deficiency in the number of Stewards for the Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution Festival , as above staled . Two hundred and forty-eight Stewards are greatly in defect of thc number last year at this time . It is most

important that all brethren intending to be Stewards should send in their names to Bro . TERRY , and , we will add , without any delay . Wc need hardly impress upon our readers the importance and the duty of supporting the Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution , and of showing their sympathy with it , and their approval of its programme and results by becoming

Stewards . It is a mistake to suppose that the Institution is a rich one , and that its funded capital dispenses with the necessity of a large annual return to keep it in full working order . On the contrary , it has to meet a very

large margin of unsuccessful candidates and painful penury beyond its power to aid or relieve . Wc repeat , no time is to be lost if the gathering is to be a successful one , and let some worthy readers of ours kindly attend to this appeal , and transmit their names to Bro . TERRY at once .

* * THERE arc a great many lodges and chapters which have , as yet , done nothing for the Charities . Let them make a fresh start , so to say , and begin in 1884 with thc Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution . All lodges in this charity have official votes . There are some lodges which have , as yet , sent

nothing to the Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution as lodges , though they use habitually and legally these official votes . This surely is not right , and never was intended to be so by Grand Lodge . The support of this most needful Charity seems to bo almost imperative on every lodge and chapter .

It provides for those whom we have ourselves consorted with in lodge or chapter in happier and more prosperous days ; it provides for their often helpless widows , and always appears to us to have a special claim on our tenacious memories , our Masonic sympathies , and our kindly hearts .

# * # Is THE time not come when we should seek to encourage a system of Masonic Insurance and Deferred Annuities ? We must all be struck with a sort of general improvidence which marks loo many applicants for relief .

Is there no room for an association on business principles , to grant small Insurances and Annuities for death and sickness , helplessness and widowhood , and so inculcate the lessons of thrift and self-help in our numerous brotherhood ?