Brother Ellis's Sketch Of Paradise R.A. Chapter , Sheffield.

the titles of the Officers and of the Chapter , and the interesting records of the Sheffield Chapter , evidently form no exception to the rule . We should like to knoAV exceedingly if it appears from the records , by what authority the Mark Masons were advanced

on Nov . 18 th , 1810 . Certainly not by the R . A . Avarrant ; but from about 1770 lodges Avorked the Mark Masters frequently by their own authority , any legitimate number of Mark Masons , apparently doing so under the adopted wing of a Craft warrant ,

We reserve any further remarks on the subject , until the second portion of the extracts has appeared , and Ave again desire to express our hearty approval of the careful manner in Avhich Brother Ellis has transcribed the Records , and to thank him

most warmly for his services on behalf of Masonic Archseology . The history of Royal Arch Masonry in England has yet to be Avritten , and if other Brethren having similar opportunities , will oidy do as Brother Ellis has done so Avell , we shall not long be in Avant of materials to . compose a history of that modern Society .

Sonnet

SONNET

On reading the Minutes of some old Lodges in the " Masonic Magazine . " BY BRO . REV . M . GORBON . 0 BRAA'E old woodextending many a rood ;

, Oft in thine aged precincts have I stroll'd , While wav'd thy venerable arms full bold , In green old age , high o ' er a pebbly flood . 1 love to trace the age—in thee , ag'd

wood—Of each particular gnarled oak , and old ; Though oaks , like kindred growths , irom days untold In many a sylvan home , like thine , have stood ;

Oaks fair as thine . So do I love , as well , To penetrate the dark antiquity Of Lodges old as thine , old oaks ; although For periods , whose duration none can tell , Lodges , ' ere these , were broadcast sown and free , And in all lands as mig htily did grow .

Social Problems And Their Peaceful Solution.

SOCIAL PROBLEMS AND THEIR PEACEFUL SOLUTION .

BY BRO . REV . W . TEBBS . " A good man , .... that ruleth well his own house will guide his affairs with discretion . " EVEN in the days of our Avise Grand Master it Avas a well-knoAvn fact that it was the

unconsidered " dead flies that caused the ointment of the apothecary to give a stinking savour , " rendering Avorthless by their unwelcome presence the product of all his care and skill . So now-a-days though the ship of the State may be under

an able commander , safely piloted amidst the breakers of war or the sunken rocks of intestine commotion , yet in many a cabin there may be anything but peace and contentment . Now this is exactly our present position ; we are at peace with -all the

world ; happy and prosperous to a degree ; but in the more private affairs of the country—indeed within our very homesthere seems to be some hidden process at work , by which . our very lives , thusfavoured though they beseem to be so harassed as

, hardly to be worth the living . Ours be it , in the course of our investigations , to dive into these inner recesses of our national household , and to see Avhether to the social problems of the day , which seem to be putting the times altogether out of

joint , we cannot find some solution to offer . The question that first occurs to us , as affecting us all directly or indirectly , is that of

CREATION AND RECREATION . " Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do , do it with thy might , " Showed the value that the Royal Solomon put upon thoroughness ; and it is a want of this very quality-thoroughness ( a quality which it has ever been our boast that we

possessed , but Avhich now , alas , but too often finds its perfection only in the boast , ) which is at the root of half the mischief that we have started to consider . Work is the normal condition of mankind , and since the sentence of hard labour

passed on Adam , everyone of his descendants has his allotted task , if he will but apply himself to it . None need , or ought , to be idle , for in whatever position of life a man be placed , there is certainly some