History Of The Emulation Lod Ge Of Improvement, No . 256.——(Continued).

teachers could not but seriously advance the Order . He only wished that opportunity could be given for these lectures to be delivered more frequently than they were , and that arrangements could be made for London brethren to deliver them in the country . In his own province he knew very many exceedingly regretted they

hacl not an opportunity of obtaining the instruction and information he had listened to that night . Personally he congratulated the working brethren on their skill and ability . He did not think it necessary to say more at present , but he moved a very hearty vote of thanks to all the brethren

who had been good enough to enlighten the company in the very excellent way that had been witnessed . R . W . Bro . George Richards , D . G . M . Transvaal , seconded , and the motion was carried amidst universal applause . Bro . Sudlow responded on behalf of the working brethren ,

THE EARL OF WARWICK , DEP . C . MASTKR , ChilirumII ufllie Eer / iml in lSllll . and concluded his remarks by inviting those who were not already members to avail themselves of the present

opportunity for so doing . Before the Lodge was closed , 93 new members , including the noble chairman of the Festival , were proposed for ballot at the next meeting . The Banquet in the adjoining hall was attended by about 250 brethren , including many distinguished Grand Officers .

The first two toasts on the list having been given by Lord Barnard , Bro . Charles Lewis proposed that of " The Grand Officers , " to which the R . W . Bro . George Richards , Dist . Grand Master of the Transvaal , responded . Bro . Sir E . Letchworth said it was his privilege , as

Treasurer of the Emulation Loclge of Improvement , to propose the next toast , and it was a privilege of which he availed himself with the very greatest pleasure ; in the first

place , because it was one which required no speech to secure for the toast a favourable reception , and , in the next place , because the subject of it was one which could not fail to receive the heartiest welcome . The toast was " The Health of the distinguished brother who had done them the honour of presiding over their festival that evening . " They

were all probably aware that Lord Barnard was not only a Past Grand Warden in the Grand Loclge of England , but that he presided over one of the most important provinces in the North of England , the members of every lodge of which were most devoted to him . His lordship had

discharged his duties that evening with that geniality and ability which were so characteristic of him , and on behalf of the Committee of this loclge he begged to tender his warmest thank ' s to Lord Barnard for the great honour he had clone the brethren by presiding over them .

Lord Barnard , in reply , said : No thanks , he considered , were due to him for presiding that evening ; on the contrary , the gratitude ought to be on his part to the Grand Secretary and the brethren for giving him the opportunity of attending the most interesting among the many interesting Masonic

functions he had ever been at . When the invitation came to him he determined , if it was possible , to use every effort to avail himself of the opportunity which every Mason ought to avail himself of if he got the chance , because he felt very strongly—and he knew a great many other brethren in the Craft felt it too—that the primary object to be aimed at by

all true Masons was perfection of ritual . He attached the greatest importance to that object , and in the exalted position in the Craft he had the honour to hold in the important Province of Durham , he had always done his best to insist on the ritual being carried out in the best possible manner . After this visit , he should go back to his district and try

more than ever before to encourage his brethren as much as he could to emulate the example he had had set before him that evening . He regretted , as he had already intimated in the Lodge , that those opportunities were not more common than they were Living , as he and

some others did , some 250 miles from London , it was impossible that they should take that part in London ceremonial that they would like ; but now and then , in some of the districts slight variations of ritual did creep in . Some said that provided the sense was maintained the actual form of

words was not important , but he did not altogether agree with that , because he felt it might lead to a deviation from the ancient land-marks of the Order , and , therefore , it was of the utmost use to the Craft in general that an institution like the Emulation Lodge of Improvement should exist . He

only wished there were many others in different parts of the country . His own Masonic career had been an uneventful one , but it had been a long one ; he had been initiated in the Apollo University Loclge , Oxford , No . 357 , when he was eighteen years of age ; his father having been a Mason before him was an inducement . Since then he had been some

time in and out of the Craft . When he went to the North of England , he took it up more keenly than ever , and he did not regret it . Not only himself , but two brothers , both University men , were in Masonry , one in the Isaac Newton Loclge , No . 859 , Cambridge , the other in the Apollo , Oxford . His son would come of age this year , and he hoped he would

become a Mason . He believed the continuity of Masonry in families was of great value , and to keep up Masonic traditions in a family prevented the clanger of their being lost or changed . Also it tended to consolidate local and family feeling in a way that nothing else could do . He was perfectly confident

that the Mason who began his Masonic career as a Lewis was a more enthusiastic Mason than a brother who had not had that opportunity . He was permitted now , before he sat down , to propose , on behalf of himself and all others who had the great privilege of attending , " Success to the

Emulation Lodge of Improvement , " and most heartily and cordially did he present it to the notice of the brethren . He coupled with the toast the name of their most capable and esteemed Master , Bro . Sudlow .

( To be Continued ) .