Strawberry Hill Lodge, No. 946.

oilicers had in the kindest and most fraternal manner expressed their readiness to stand by if be would undertake the office . Hc felt then that a greater comyliment could hardly he paid to him , and under those circumstances he could not hesitate . It was his srraleful duty now to express his indebtedness to one and all of the ofiicers for having acted thus . He was very proud to be the Master of their rising and prosperous lodg . » , and to be brought into connection with men he had known for many years past . In afterwards proposing " The I . P . M ., " Bro . the Lord Mayor said he had never seen the work of installaticn performed more completely and ably than it had been by Bro . Drummond . .

, Bro . Drummond , in reply , said that throughout the year he had tried lo do his best and the work of that evenin ; hat been to him a labour of love . He had been actuated all through thc year by the conviction that what was worth doing at all was worth doing well . Other toasts followed .

Kirby Lodge , No . 2 SIS . INSTALLATION OF BRO . G . J . V . RANKIN . In July of last year we gave an account of the consecration of this lodge , when the Kecorderof London , Bro . Sir Forrest Fulton , was installed first VV . M . More than ordinary interest attached to the meeting of the ledge on Saturday , the sth instant ,

when Bro . G . J . V . Rankin was installed VV . M . for the ensuing year . Bro . Rankin is so well known as Preceptor of the biggest and most flourishing lodge of instruction in London , and Bro . Sir Forrest Fulton , the Installing Master , is so beautiful and impressive a wor leer lhat it was not surprising to lind quite a large and representative gathering of Freemasons celebrating the interesting event .

The following members were present : Bros . Sir Forrest Fulton , K . C ., P . D . G . Reg ., WM ; G . I . V . Rankin , S . VV . ; VV . H . Oldham , J . VV . ; VV . R . Bennett , P . M ., Treas . ; D . D . West , P . M ., Sec ; J . M . Payne , S . D . ; liy . Wakerell , J . D . ; Arthur Slee , I . G . ; A . G . Wcdmore , P . M ., and H . R . Appleton , Stwds . ; John Curran , Org . ; Charles Lewis , P . P . G . D . Essex , D . of C ; A . M . Barnard , P . M . ; 1 VV . Allsop , P . P . G . D . C Bucks ; M . B . Evans , P . G . Stwd . ; Percy Griffith , P . M . ; Reginald Hughes , P . M . ; R . Newton Crane , P . M . ; John Crouch j J . H . Jenks ,

P G . Stwd . j R . F . Bowmaker , F . G . Rimell , Allan Broman , Walter Glover , H . Barrett , and VV . A . H . Buller . Visitors : Bros . Sir John B . Monckton , P . G . W . j R . C . Sudlow , P . A . G . D . C . ; R . Clowes , P . G . Std . Br . ; J . Russell , P . G . Std . Br . ; F . W . Ward , VV . M . 250 S ; J . Tom Evans , W . M . 1641 ; T . F . G . Dexter , I . P . M . 2513 ; J . Bale , P . M . 1507 ; R . Greening , P . M . 1426 ; R . E . F . Lander , P . M . 2 <>; S . W . Shaw , P . M . 19 G 5 ; J . Whittingham , j . VV . 1415 ; L . Davis , S . VV . 1 S 1 S ; A . II . 11

Young , 15 G 3 ; | . B . Mann , 13 S 4 ; E . M . Owens , 24 (; S . Billinghurst , 230 S ; S . Barter , 957 ; L . E- Lyne , 2400 ; VV . G . Cleurdux , 2 j /> 7 ; and VVm . Biker , P . M . 2205 . The whele of the work in the lodge svas rendered in the most perfect manner , Bro . Owens giving a beautiful rendering of Mendelssohn ' s " Be thou faithful . The following biethien were appointed ollicers for the ensuing year : Bros . VV . II . Oldham , S . W . ; I ' M Payne , J . VV . ; VV . R . Bennett , Treas . ; 1 ) . D . West , Sec ; Hy . Wakerell S . D . ; A . Slee , J . D . ; T . VV . Allsop , D . C ; A . G . Wedmore , I . C ; J . Curran , Org . ; A . M . Barnard and M . B . Evans , Stwds . ; and J . VV . Freeman , Tyler .

'The members and visitors then adjourned to Freemasons' Tavern , next door , and sat down to an excellent and admirably-served banquet under the personal supervision

of Bro . Blanchelte . At the close of the banquet the VV . M . said : The toast always placed lirst at all our meetings requires no single word to recommend it . 1 give you ' ¦ The King and the Craft . " 1 he toast was duly honoured . The VV . M . then said : There is one other toast immediately following that can well stand without an added word— "The Chief , Head , and Governor of the Craft , ths M . W . G . M ., H . R . H . Duke of Connaught and Strathearn . This was also duly honoured .

In giving the toast of " The Grand Oilicers , " the VV . M . said : W 2 are honoured to-night in having with us many Grand Ollicers , and to all of them we are personally attached . Our distinguished I . P . M . and our Bro . Sadler are both founders of this ledge . Our Bro . Sudlow , who is known the woild ov ; r as the ul-. imate authority on English Craft ritual , is the personal fiiend of many of us . Bro . Jos . Russell , who has been recenlly honoured for his gieat service to the Emulation Lodge of Improvement , is

also a dear friend of curs , and we were as delighttd with his elevation as if the honour had been our own . Bro . Cbwes was first Treasurer of the Thomas Railing Lodge , ot which many of us are members , and Sir John Monckton has consented to be our President on the occasion of the fesiivalof the Kirby Lodge of Instruction on November 19 th next . For these reasons there will be a quite unusual peisonal and affectionate note in the response you will give to the toast of the Grand Ollicers . 'The toast was received with cheers .

Bto . Sir John Monckton , P . G . Warden , in replying , said : Your W . M . has certainly given more point to this toast than is usual , and he has fitted it out of ths perfunctory category . He has referred most happily to each of the Grand Ollicers present , and he has said lhat 1 have consented to act as President at your festival in November . What I really said was that I wou'd if I could . Your VVorshipfuI Master has had an

unusual 1 jqierier . ei- in being installed by the Recorder of London , and 1 must tell yuu a litlle joke I made when I congratulated him on the event . 1 want to tell it before he gets the chance himself to tell you . 1 said 1 hoped Sir Fo .-rest Fultonhad to-night sentenced the VV . M . to 12 months'hard labour . This is the third time in this week I have respcr . ded tu the toast of the Grand Ollicers , and very many times before , but I have never spent a more pleasant evening than this .

'Ihe Installing Master , U 10 . Sir Forrest Fulton , in giving thetoastof "The Worst ipful Master , " spoke of the admirable services rendered to Freemasonry by Bro . Rankin in the Kilby LoJge of Instruction , and said that he thought the mysterious powers that controlled Grand Lodge honouis m i ght more ; often take into account those Liethien who did so much valuable woik in teaching the beautiful ritual . The VV . M . was rot 1 r . ly sn neimiitble teacher cf the ceremonies , but also of those beautiful lectuies ; and , perhaps , at some future time even higher honour might be done him thin he had had tu-night . He would give them the toast of " The VV . M ., Bru . George Rankin . "

Ihe least was icceived with acclamation by the biethren . Replying to the toast , Bro . Rankin said : As you may all well believe this is a very great nii ;! , t in my life . You know what a great interest I have taken in the working of our beautiful ceremonies , and I have been eager , of course , to have the right to work them in loelge . I was initiated 10 years ago in the Crichton Lodge—a very big lodge , where every brother aspires to be a good worker , and where , consequently , it takes over 20 years alter initiation to leach the Master's chair . You will understand how

gratiheel 1 am lhat you have sboitened my probationary period by one half . I hough I haye not reached ollice in my mother lodg :, 1 have done suit and service as a junior ollicer in oilier lodges to which I belong . Four years' service in Tn-om is Railing Lodge —one as LG ., three as Deacon ; ever three years' service in Columbia Lodge—iwo as Deacon , over a year as Warden . Four years 1 have acted as Preceptor at Kirby Lodge of Instruction . Hut ycu have made me Master of the lodge alter little mare than a year ' s service heie . Sir Forrest Fulton did me the honour to make me first S . W ., and you have endorsed his action by electing me his succe-sor in the Master ' s chair . I

Strawberry Hill Lodge, No. 946.

thank you very sincerely for this high honour . I speak in the presence of the W . M . of the Thomas Railing Lodge , whose Deacon I am , in the presence of very many members of the Kirby Lodge of Instruction , and I shall be accepted as speaking no idle word when I say I shall not spare myself in working for the welfare and prosperity of the Kirby Lodge . I thank Sir Forrest Fulton for the extremely kind terms in which he has given you this toast , [ and I thank you , brethren , for your very cordial and heaity reception of it . "

In giving the next toast , Bro . Rankin said the toast of "The I . P . M ., " or as it is here put , of Installing Master , has a peculiar interest to-night , from the eminent position of my predecessor , as a distinguished lawyer and Judge , as well as a distinguished Freemason . We may as well be honest and confess that when Sir F . Fulton consented to accept the office of first W . M ., some among the founders who did not know him well did not expect him to take a very active or prominent part in the working ; those of us who knew him better were not at all surprised to find him an enthusiastic worker ; and to-night he has crowned a memorable year ' s work by rendering that beautiful installation ceremony in a manner that must have impressed all who

heard it , and that made so deep an impression on me that I can never forget it . I have already spoken the thanks of the lodge in another place , and it only remains for me personally to express my own obligation to Sir F . Fulton for his long continued kindness to me and the honour he has done me in himself installing me to-night . He is himself to be installed Master of the Norfolk Lodge shortly , and we shall wish him as busy , and I will say as happy a year of office as he has had here . We shall also congratulate Noifolk Lodge in getting so well graced , so well practised a Master . It may be that many years must elapse before the toast of I . P . M . in this lodge will be associated with the name of a distinguished Grand Officer , but you will , for his own sake , and quite apart from his distinguished position , toast most heartily Sir Forrest Fulton .

In replying , Bro . Sir Forrest Fulton said : I have certainly taken a very great interest in Freemasonry in recent years . I was initiated in the British Lodge in 1 S 74 , and I had attained to the honourable position of l . G . when the claims of my profession upon my time compelled me to give up Freemasonry for many years . However , when I had got into smoother water , my friend , Sir John Monckton , suggested that 1 should go into it again and see if I could not make something of it . I did go into it and I have mad ; something of it . I attended the Kirby Lodge of Instruction , then under the direction of

Bro . Chas . Lewis , and I did some work there ; and I alsoattended the Emu ' a'iin Loige of Improvement , but only to look on , I did not there attempt to do anything , and what I learnt in that way has enabled me to get through somehow with the work to-night . I have attended all the meetings of the lodge and initiated and passed I don't know how many , but I have had to ask Bro . Chas . Lewis to assist me by taking the third ceremony . I have counted it a great honour to be first VV . M . of this lodge and to have the privilege of installing so distinguished a Mason as Bro . Rankin in the chair .

In giving the toast of "The Emulation Lodgeof Improvement , " the W . M . said : I am responsible for the addition of the next toast to our list , and I hops that so Ion ; as this lodge shall flourish some acknowledgment shall be made from this chair of our great debt to the Emulation Lodge of Improvement . I have occasionally bsen told bv Masons that their system is older than the Emulation system of workm- * , or that their system is an improvement on the Emulation system . VVe are content to believe that when the Lodge of Reconciliation was formed , over So years ago . the Grand Officers ot both Grand Ledges tcgether were quite able to decide which was the best , the most ancient ,

the most authentic litual at that time . VVe all know that what was then adopted by United Grand Lodge has been handed down to us by the Emulation Lodge of Improvement , and with little possibility of vaiiation , seeing how few lives separate us from the original woikers . Peter Gilkes , S . 1 $ . Wilson , Thos . Fenn , R . C Sudlow—these are the chiefs that have carried on this great institution . Gilkes was a member of the Lodge of Reconciliation , and Thos . Fenn died but yesterday , his mantle fallinga few years before

he died upon Bro . Sudlow . With so short a line of succession we are certainly nearer to the accepted true woikers than any other known system , and for this reason Emulation working is accepted the world all over as the recognised standard of English working . Many of us here are proud to be called personal friend , as well as loyal follower , of Bro . Sudlow , and there will be no lack of warmth in your reception of tho toast— " R . C . Sudlow and the Emulation Lodge of Improvement . "

Bro . R . C Sudlow , in reply , said how happy he was to be present and see Bro . Rankin installed , and he asked the brethren to join in wishing the VV . M . many happy returns of the day , the previous day having been Bro . Rankin ' s birthday . 'The VV . M . then gave the toast of " The Ollicers . " 1 le said : It is customary on these occasions for the Master , in speaking to this toast , to greatly praise the capabilities of his ollicers , and the amount of praise bestowed seems to be in inverse proportion to ihe quality of the wo : k in the lodge . But in Kirby Lodge we are all keen critics of one another's woiking , _ and we are ejuite happy and cheerful in the consciousness that the faults and errors in cur work will attract more notice—or shall I say

noticesthan any excellences we may possess . It is our earnest desire to work to the high standard of that great school where Bro . Sudlow rules so ably , and , though we give ungrudgingly a nordof praise to the brother who strenuously aims at that standard , yet we shall , for his own gcod as well as for the good of the lodge , criticise his work as sharply as we ca n . Wc do drop a tear of sympathy over the failings of a brother , but we take care to rrcnticn to him the failings , and we direct his earnest attention to the tear . With this healthy and wholesome spirit in the lodge , an officers' lot is not an easy one , and so to encourage the officers in their trying position , I ask you to join mo in giving them a send off by heartily drinking their hsaltn .

Bros . Oldham , S . VV ., and Payne , J . W ., suitably replied , and th ; Tyler ' s toast closed a very memorable evening . Ihe evening was made more pleasant by the singing of Bros . Bennett , Davis , O . vens , and VVood , and the happily-chosen recitals of Bro . Walter Churcher .

Tu . wi-. i . i . i . vo l'KKK . u . iSDNsy Were those who left Ital y at thc revival of art and the development of church building , and spread all over the world , estab < lishing guilds of Freemasons , and erecting those genii of architectural grace and strength on whicii non-Masonic writers have agreed as to their existence , and asserted Iheir association ; but it was not until recentl y that this tru ; r theory of Masonic history was either realised or welcomed . But when we seek to connect our Speculative Order with those travelling Masons , who have left their tracks

on many a monastery wall and many an enduring stone , we feel that WJ have still a chasm to pass which it may be doubtful if wa shall ever bridge over with certiin and incontestable evidence . Still , sich a viejV seems to us the most rational and the most historical , inasmuch as their constitutions are ours , their marks are ours , their emblems are ours . But we must not lose sight that the lapse of time has nude grjit changes in any such condition of

affairs , and thai it is perhaps after all the safest to say , that while the speculative Grand Lodgeof 1717 is the continuation of the operative Grand Ass . -mbl y , the mighty change from an operative to a speculative Brotherhood has necessitated alterations and additions on the ori ginal plan , many and great . Oor Free rusonry to-day is an improved version of the improved Freemasonry of the Revival of 1717 , -Keuniiig ' s Oycolopccdia of FccciiiustiuiT .

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'S . TO CiaAR COMBJOISSEURS . « = ; ;« c / j - < = J ft cj THE MAJOR in '' TO-DAY , " Mavuh 7 th , 1901 , Hays ¦¦ - li . li-voii .,-sin < . i- < Miiiii < -iilt . < . \< . | -yy < .: « i-t < . l , ii < . « wl « -, v io .. w-., ; ,, „ ,, -, „„( Hlm , | i () " " * ft - ( ; , i ; i n-ii .-oii . ililc- pn ' i o . Tlio ,-.- u lio < - \| iri i .-n .-.- I Lis ililtii-iili v nun lil . - i' ( o I . 110 W u In'iv I l » -v c .-tn "I'lriiii : i rem vunl ('' or . ir : it 28 " POT 100 j jjjj £ Thr .-.. mv Id .- 'MANUJi ' L MUitlAS , ' fold by 1 )»• ' IJoii . vi :. * A . M . II . UANA L ' I . IAII Co . . M ;(|< ,- :, no .,- „| ' 11 „ - ' | , ii-,.,. s . " ' ' 5 ^ dQ rj A SUII . KUH . Y BI . L 1 NOHD dlGAR . J S : imnlc » 1 « . 6 rt . 1 JO « t freo . || in " PELICAN , " Jan . 12 th , 1901 , says - "Tho ll . mxm . AM . HAVANA CIOAK COMPANY ' ' MANUEL MURIAS' m-o rxcdi .-nl : tho ^ 2 " cij l"' ' ' ' ' . '' : " ' "Iv 28 , " POr 100 . It . would U- w .-ll to not .- tho A . l . hv ^ , ; iS n 1 Vnlly g . mil Uignr i .-s in . lcrd worth liuvimr . " ' c / 3 6 Address—BORNEO & HAVANA CIGAR CO ,, 13 , Billiter Buildings , Billiter St ., E . C . 3