Correspondence.

Correspondence .

We i \ o not hold oin selves responsible for the opinions expressed hy our correspontlcuts , hut wc wish , in a spirit of lair play to all , to permit—within certain necessary limitsfree discussion .

SEASIDE CAMP FOR LONDON WORKING BOYS . To the Editor of the "Freemason . " Dear Sir , , London is empty is an oft quoted phrase and equally so the rejoinder that there are still some few millions left who are compelled to labour without intermission for their daily bread throughout the sultry days of summer .

It is for one section of this large army of workers that we wish to solicit the practical sympathy of your readers , namely , the London Working Boys . With all his faults , and the London working boy has many , those whose work specially brings them in close touch with him find much to like and to admire in his character .

He is fond of a holiday as his more fortunate brothers , but a goodly proportion of his earnings have to go week by week to the family exchequer , leaving but a small balance . Out of this he has to find clothing , and all amusements such as holidays , clubs for cricket , football , & c , and although he is often accused of undue fondness for cigarettes or the gallery of the music hall , he is keen enough to lay out his money to the very best advantage .

To get leave for a holiday is a comparatively easy matter . Employers are ready and willing to grant it , but in most cases there is no pay during absence from the workshop . Sometimes , when the father is dead , or ill , or out of work , the boy ' s earnings

cannot be spared even for a single week , and so , when the change would be of the greatest value as well as a welcome break to the monotony of the daily life , the temptation has to be resisted , the many excursion bills and vivid pictures of the country published by the railway companies have to be passed by uncomplainingly ( for the working lad seldom complains ) , but none the less with regret .

It is to help such boys that the Seaside Camp for London Working Bays was inaugurated some years ago , the subscribers enabling the boys to go at an almost nominal figure to the seaside for a week , with the added luxury of living under canvas a life of freedom which powerfully appeals to their imagination . Camped out in an unfrequented part of the coast , where bathing , cricket , and

football can be indulged in to their heart's content , what wonder that those who go down return much better for the change , lamenting the speed with which the days have passed . The boys have to assist in the daily work of the camp ; this , howerer , with the numbers who go , make but a small inroad on their time , and they are free the greater part of the day to do what they like .

There must be many of your readers who are at this moment enjoying their own annual escape from the cares and fatigue of work , or have their holiday before or behind them . I most earnestly appeal to all such fortunate folk to spare something—if but a trifle—towards providing for these tired lads who need it so badly—the change that they themselves have learnt how to value .

Contributions will be thankfully acknowledged by Mr . R . T . May , Assistant Secretary , Northumberland Chambers , Charing Cross , or may be paid direct to our bankers—Messrs . Cocks , Biddulph , and Co ., 43 , Charing Cross . —I am , Sir , your obedient servant , F . ABEL BLOXAM .

Commandant and Secretary . Northumberland Chambers , Charing Cross , W . C , August 16 th .

Reviews.

Reviews .

•' The Devon Masonic Directory for the Year 1901 . " { Exeter , Messrs . Besley and Dalgleish , South-street . Price One Shilling ) . —The Prov . G . M . of Devon authorises this Annual , and the Prov . G . L . makes a grant towards the expense , the cost of production exceeding the receipts . The printing is well done , and the Directory itself contains a mass of interesting and valuable information , which must have meant considerable labour to the Editor to compile and arrange . No word occurs as to the brother to whom we aro

indebted for such excellent service , but if we express our thanks to the Provincial Grand Secretary ( Bro . John Stocker , of Exeter ) we are not likely to be far wrong . The Province of Devon is one of the largest in England , having the . Right Hon . Lord Northcote , G . C . I . E ., Sic ., as Prov . G . M . As his Excellency is on duty at Bombay , Bro . Major G . C . Davie , D . Prov . G . M ., acts in a most efficient manner in his stead . There are 60 lodges , with a total of 4149 sub scribing membeis , being an average of 69 to each lodge , a very large average indeed . There are 30 Royal Arch chapters , 22 Mark lodges , five K . T .

preceptories , and four Rose Croix chapters ; about which many particulars are afforded , such as Roll ol Oflicers , Past Masters , & c . The llye-Laws of the I'rov . G . Lodne and Prov . G . Chapter are also given , as well as full particulars of thc Local and Central Mascnic Charities . A valuable Table , showing all the Pre-Union lodges in Devonshire , 1732 to 1813 , with their numbers , . tc ., from origin to 1901 , is also inserted , and is the work of Bro . W . J . Hughan , of Torquay , who is quite at home with such intricate details . They number 50 , and the same number have been chartered since . The Directory is one of the largest and most useful of the kind published .

Consecration Of A New Lodge-Room At Tavistock.

CONSECRATION OF A NEW LODGE-ROOM AT TAVISTOCK .

A new building for the use of Lodge Bedford , No . 2 S 2 , was consecrated Mi the 13 th instant . The building takes the place of some old collages in Barley Market-street , and is a nice-looking stucco erection of two stories . The doorway is flanked by two Corinthian pilisters , and surmounted by a keystone , upon which is cut the seal and motto of thelodge . Inside , the vestibule is tiled , and the hall has a wood-block lloor . To the left is a kitchen , caretaker ' s room , and lavatory . To the right is a large room , which may

serve the purpose of a refectory or club-room . At the end of the hall is a fine staircase of pitchpine and mahogany , leading first to an anteroom and then to ihe lodge room , which is . ^ ( t . by 24 ft . and has a fine panelled pitchpine ceiling . It is lighted in daytime by windows of obscured tinted glass , and at night by an intensified Welsbach lamp . Some of the furniture of the lodge dates from the time of its foundation in 1791 , including some fine old Chippendale chairs . Three more old chairs of the same design have 1

Consecration Of A New Lodge-Room At Tavistock.

been presented to the lodge by the present W . M ., Bro . George Williams . The building has cost approximately ^ 1000 , and has been erscted by Bro . Kerslake , the Secretary of the lodge , with a Committee consisting of Bros . Major J . Matthews , Chairman ; G . Williams , W . M . ; T . H . Cranch , I . P . M . ; J . Hill , J . W . ; J . Morris , C . F . Green , H . Skinner , P . M ., Treasurer ; J . A . Dennis , S . W ., Secretary ; and J . A . Orchard , Hon . Solicitor .

The consecration ceremony took place at half-past three . The Prov . G . Officers officiating were Bros . G . C . Davie , P . G D . Eng ., Dep . and Acting Prov . G . Master , in the chair ; Lieut .-Col . Edyvean , Prov . S . G . W . ; J . R . Wilson , P . J . G . W . ; the Rev . E . A . Donaldson , P . G . Chap . ; J . R . Lord , P . G . D . C . ; and W . Willoughby , P . P . G . Org . Others present were

Bros . T . Russell , 250 , P . P . J . G . W . ; Geo . Dunsterville , 1 S 9 , P . P . S . G . D . ; C . G . Withell , 70 , P . P . G . D . ; W . Allsford , 202 , P . P . G . Treas . ; W . Sweet , 1212 , P . G . Stwd . ; J . C . Pierce , 1753 , P . P . D . G . D . C ; R . P . Coath , 2166 , P . P . G . Std . Br . ; Charles Piper , 1753 , P . P . D . G . D . C . ; W . L . Lavers , 1255 , P . P . G . Stwd . ; G . H . Littleton , 250 , P . P . J . G . D . ; A . Bowhay , P . G . Stwd . Cornwall •H . Down , 252 , P . P . G . Supt . of Works Cornwall ; J . A . Orchard , 164 , P . P . G . D . C . ; J . Clift ,

666 , P . P . G . Std . Br . ; H . Shooter , 112 , P . G . Tyler ; Major Joseph Matthews , P . P . G . Supt . of Works ; Harry Skinner , P . G . Stwd . ; W . R . Northway , P . P . J . G . D . ; J . Wonnacott ; Isaac Rosekilly , P . P . G . Supt . of Works ; J . B . Chapman ; T . Chapman , P . P . A . G . D . C ; R . M . W . Webb , P . M . 282 ; John Squire , P . M . 2 S 2 ; John Gill , P . P . G . D . C . Somerset ; H . Y . B . Lopes , the Rev . T . Ward Brown ,

G . H . Clark , Percy Pearce , T . T . Bowhay , A . Piper , F . J . Prout , F . E . Sach , A . Trout , R . L . Drake , W . Harvey , J . E . Bone , W . G . Johns , W . H . Gray , W . L . Gray , W . L . Palmer , W . T . Stephens , A . Rowe , W . H . Treasure , J . H . Orchard , W . Pollard , T . G . Taylor , W . H . Bird , A . Cann , S . Hitchcock , J . W . Buckner , Frank Mabin , G . W . Radford , C . B . Sweet , A . G . Mabin , A . Jewells , and J . H . Annear .

The ceremony was impressively performed , the lodge room being consecrated in due form to the glory of the Great Architect of the Universe and the -uses of Freemasonry . At the conclusion , an oration was delivered by the PROV . G . CHAPLAIN . In days gone by , he said , their brethren were operative , and the results of Iheir work were the public texts of their time . Beauty and religion had

ever gone hand in hand . The early Masons drew their inspirations from nature . Their first efforts were on horizontal lines , teaching man his duty to the world around him ; and afterwards , by arch and spire , they led the •mind up to God . There were few of them now who were operative Masons ; they were speculative Masons , and as such were pledged to erect the temple of God in their own souls , and to assist in building up the whole

brotherhood into a vast building meet for the habitation of God . They had that day consecrated a building worthy for such a purpose ; but he reminded them that true Masonry did not begin and end in the lodge . People judged them by their doings without a lodge . Might their ritual fit them to take their places as living stones in the great building of God ! The Prov . Grand Lodge was then closed , and the Master , Wardens , and

officers of Bedford Lodge resumed their chairs . The W . M ., Bro . G . WILLIAMS , then proposed a vote of thanks to Bro . Davie and the Prov . Grand Officers who had assisted in the ceremony . This was seconded by Bro . Major MATTHEWS , the senior Past Master of- the lodge , who said that was the fifth lodge room their lodge had met in since he had belonged to it .

The ACTING PROV . G . MASTER , in reply , said it was a pleasure for them all to be there , because they did feel it almost essential that a lodge should possess its own room . There was no better sign of the progress of Freemasonry than the number of lodges who now had buildings of their

own . Since 1 SS 7 he had been intimately connected with that province ; broadly speaking , before that time the rule was that lodges did not meet in their own habitations ; now the rule was that they did . He was glad to think the lodge had so much confidence in its future that it had erected its own building .

Votes of thanks were also given to Bro . Orchard for his services as hon . solicitor , and to Bro . Annear for a tablet recording the founding of the lodge in 1791 and the consecration of the lodge room . The lodge was then closed . At a banquet afterwards , held at the Bedford Hotel , Bro . G . Williams , W . M ., presided over a large company .

The toasts of "The King" and "The M . W . the Grand Master of England , H . R . H . the Duke of Connaught , and the Grand Lodge of England , " were proposed by the WORSHIPFUL AIASTER , who alluded to the impressive scene he and many of those present recently witnessed at the Royal Albert Hall . Bro . DAVIE , P . G . D . Eng ., was called upon to respond . He took

occasion to allude to the lamented death of Bro . W . W . B . Beach , M . P ., who , he reminded them , a year or two ago came to Plymouth to instal Lord Northcote as Grand Superintendent of the Royal Arch . Bro . Bsach , he said , was one of the most useful workers in English Freemasonry . Bro . Davie also regretted the unavoidable absence of Bros . Westlake and John Stocker , the other members of the Grand Lodge in the province .

The toast of " The Provincial Grand Master and the Prov . Grand Lodge" was also proposed by the W . M . He regretted the absence of Lord Noithcote , but they were happy in the thought that his lordship was doine his duty in other climes , and that they were very glad of the presence of his Deputy on that red-letter day in the annals of Tavistock

Freemasonry . Bro . DAVIE , in reply , said when lie took over the rule of the province he told Bro . Stocker that he would be glad to consecrate any building such as theirs on one condition , and that was that the lodge room should henceforth be used solely for Masonic purposes . If they wtre let for other purposes they had no right to use over them such solemn words as they had used that

day . He felt very strongly that buildings over which those words were uttered should not afterwards be desecrated by being used as music halls or auction-rooms , which uses he was sorry to say in some places Masonic halls had bt en put to . He could only consecrate lodge rooms on the understanding thai Ihey were consecrated to the purpose lor which they were to be used . He reserved to himself the right to refuse to use such solemn language over

a building which was to be otherwise used . Their new building was a credit to Freemasonry and to the town . He trusted that that event would serve to remind them , as the Prov . G . Chaplain had reminded them in the lodge , that as Masons they had a solemn duty outside the lodge as well as inside it . Inside the lodge they knew what they were and what they oug ht to be , but outside the world could only judge by what they saw . If they saw Masons act up to their profession it could not but be that a powerful body like theirs would be a great factor for good in thc world .