The Cost Of Masonry.

THE COST OF MASONRY .

" Is Masonry expensive ? " is a question that is often asked , but seldom answered satisfactorily , not because the respondent is in any way anxious lo conceal the truth , or to exaggerate or underestimate the charges which a Mason incurs , but from the inherent difficulty under which every one must labour when he seeks to draw general conclusions from individual cases .

Perhaps the safest answer that can be given is that which is conveyed in the oracular form of " All depends . " No brother who replied in these terms would expose himself to any more serious charge than that of having answered vaguely , while for ourselves we should be—indeed , we are—inclined to think that in its vagueness lies the chief merit of the answer . " All

depends—" on what ? Aye , there ' s the rub . To furnish anything like an acceptable answer to this further question a man need possess the analytical powers which have in many instances been exhibited by the German professor of philosophy or theology , or , better still , perhaps , by the German annotator on a Greek play . The latter in the case of

those plays in which there is a fair number of difficult or obscure passages , or where the hiatus valde dejlendi occur with exceptional frequency , has exhibited so much ingenuity in furnishing a variety of both possible and impossible interpretations of the former and in filling the latter with lines which a Greek poet in his senses

would never have dreamt of writing , that the difficulty which the student experiences who is for the first time called upon to interpret , say , the "Agamemnon" of / Ticchylus in classic English , is not so much to appreciate the beauties of the play as to explain why the German annotator should have expended so much of his undoubted analytical power in betraying his absolute

insensibility lo all noetic beauty . Thus when a friend or casual acquaintance propounds to us the question , " Is Masonry expensive ? " we reply with all the solemn dignity of an ancient oracle , " All depends , " and when the further query is put to us , " Depends on what , " we answer with an equal amount of solemnity—" on an infinite variety of circumstances , " which the querist

would do well to consider in the first place separately and then in concatenation . Thus , the question whether Masonry is or is not expensive may be assumed to depend , in the first instance , on the further question , what does the querist mean by the term Masonry ? Does he mean Craft Masonry pure and simple , or Craft and Arch Masonry ;

Craft , Arch , and Mark Masonry ; Craft , Arch , Mark , and Templar Masonry ; and so on , singly or in conjunction in parties of two , three , or more , throughout the whole category of all the various rites that were ever invented by the Ramsays , the Cagliostros , the Zinnendorfs , and other experts and impostors that have lived to vex the world wilh

annotations and emendations of the grand old Craft of Masonry . However , having at length and after the utmost patience completed this , which is only the first stage in the inquiry , we find ourselves under the necessity of calling upon our querist to state further what particular kind of Craft or other Masonry he is desirous of ascertaining the cost of . Is it Craft Masonry as it is

understood , and practised in England , Ireland , Scotland ; in such European countries as Germany , Sweden , Denmark , orin such other European Countries as France , Italy , Spain ; in the United States of North America ; or where not ? Having completed this stage and determined which particular kind of Craft or other Masonry it is we are inquiring about , we find that the

l > articularcost of ( say ) Craft Masonry depends on the lodge we join , which , in its turn , depends on the class of men who constitute its members . These again are dependent on the characters they severally possess , while the characters have been variously formed according to the surroundings among which their respective owners have been trained and educated . Having

gratified our couriosity in respect of all these several points , in all their several stages and classes , the next duty which will devolve upon our querist will be to define the meaning which he attaches to the term " expensive , " m order that we may so far frame our answer as not to find ourselves in conflict wilh other people , whose ideas about cxpcnsivcncss more or less differ

fro m our querist ' s and our own . But not to exhaust the patience of our readers , the question— "Is Masonry Expensive ? " —is one that cannot be answered directly . We have had a fairly long and varied experience of the ' -raft . We have seen it under favourable and unfavourable conditions , in lod ges that arc known to be exclusive , and in those into which admission is

the reverse of difficult , and the only answer we arc able to formulate to ¦ he question which forms part of the opening sentence of this article , is that 'no cost of Freemasonry depends principally upon what a man makes it . It may prove expensive even to the rich member ; it may be found very inexpensive even by the man of moderate means . Freemasonry , in the guise it nns worn during the greater part of the last two centuries , has been a

The Cost Of Masonry.

Society into which men of large and men of moderate means have been equally eligible to be admitted , but it is not , nor has it ever been contemplated , that men without visible means of subsistence should be received into our ranks . Thus , as the doors of our Society are opened indifferently to the men of rank and opulence , and

the honest tradesman and mechanic or artisan of moderate means , who live in reputable circumstances , it is not necessarily expensive , though —• using the word in an unfavourable sense—it may undoubtedly be made so by indulgence in expenditure which , as it is not called for by any of the absolute requirements of Masonry , can have no other effect than to lower it in the

world s estimation . Thus it is in Masonry as in other organisations—the cost depends chiefly upon what the members , singularly or collectively , may choose to make it , not upon an ) ' special rules or prescriptions pertaining to it . What is necessary in connection with Masonry is not costly , neither does it furnish occasion for needless extravagant outlay . As to what is to be found outside this limit , we say again , as oracularly as ever— " All depends . "

Grand Lodge Calendar, 1894.

GRAND LODGE CALENDAR , 1894 .

" The Freemasons' Calendar and Pocket Book for the year 1894 " is a most welcome sight to me , and doubtless so also to many other Craftsmen . There is no Masonic annual more carefully prepared , more deserving of support , or more exhaustive as to information , published anywhere throughout the " wide , wide world , " and its compact arrangement adds much to its

usefulness and acceptability . The printer is Bro . George Kenning , who is l he official publisher of Grand Lodge , and is also the printer and publisher of the " Cosmopolitan Masonic Calendar , '' which completes the information as lo the foreign Grand Lodges , and Degrees of all kinds , other than the fii'Sf three and the Royal Arch .

I . ast year s issue appeared to be complete and as near perfection as possible , but 1 S 94 contains a new feature , which will be appreciated by those as fond of statistical information as the writer , viz ., the total of the chapters under each Prov . Grand Chapter . The last lodge number in 1 S 93 Calendar was 2455 , now it is 2492 , so that 37 new lodges have been warranted in the interim . As the roll is given to a few weeks prior to the end of the year 1 S 93 , Bro . John Lane , the authority on such matters , has kindly furnished me wilh the figures to the 31 st December last . Six more charters were

granted than the list exhibits , 2493 , Westmorland ; 2494 , North and East Yorkshire ; 2495 , West Lancashire ; 2496 , Cheshire ; 2497 , Northumberland ; and 2498 , Transvaal . These raise the new warrants to 43 since the publication of the Calendar for 1893 , and make the totals as follow :

In the Metropolitan district there 403 lodges , 122 3 in the Provinces , 463 in the Colonies and Abroad and three in Military Corps , making 2092011 the roll at the present ' . ime . The grand total includes 22 lodges removed in error from the Calendar of 1 S 93 and duly reinstated in the one for 1894 , Many of the Provincial Grand Lodges in England contain a much larger number of lodges than several foreign Grand Lodges rolled into one . West

Lancashire has now 10 S lodges , presided over by the M . W . Pro Grand Master of England , the Earl of Lathom , and East Lancashire makes a close second with only one less , thus making 215 in that count ) ' . West Yorkshire follows as the third in size wilh ils 7 6 , having the Right Hon . W . L . Jackson as its chief , the R . W . Bro . Thomas W . Tew , J . P ., having resigned owing to ill-health , to the regret of every member . Kent is fourth with 59 ,

( he Ear ! of Amherst , Prov . G . M . irom 1 S 60 ; Devon is fifth with 52 , over which Lord Ebrington presides ; Hampshire and the Isle of Wight sixth , with 48 , the R . W . Bro . " W . W . B . Beach , M . P ., being the Prov . G . M . ; Cheshire making a good seventh , with its 45 lodges , and has the Lord Egc'ton of Tatton as its Ruler . The oilier big Provinces are Middlesex , 39 Surrey , 38 ; Durham , 3 6 ; Essex , 34 ; Warwickshire , 31 ; North and East ; Yorkshire , 31 ; Staffordshire , 31 ; Cornwall , 30 ; and Sussex , 30 .

Some of the District Grand Lodges are also very large and prosperous , such as Bengal , 43 lodges ; Bombay , 24 ; Punjab , 23 ; Madras , 22 ; and with eight for Burma , making a total for East India of 120 , being an increase of 12 since 1889 . For South Africa there are St lodges , the largest District being that for the eastern part , numbering 30 . In Queensland the Grand Lodge of England has 40 lodges , one in Victoria , 12 in Western Australia , and one at Albany . The JNfew . Zealand brethren still muster largely for

English rule , there being 85 on our roll , but possibly a quarter of that number are in a dormant state . There are now only three military lodges , situated in the 1 st Royal Regiment , the 31 st and S 91 I 1 Regiments of Fool . Time was when they might be reckoned almost by hundreds under the Grand Lodges of England , Ireland , and Scotland , but the need for them , under existing circumstances , has passed away . As pioneers of "Masonic Light" in the " days long ago , "_ thcy were always to the front and did " yeoman service , " especially in foreign parts .