Notes On The Old Minute Books Of The British Union Lodge, No. 114, Ipswich. A.D. 1762.

study . We have known drapers appointed to such offices who did not know what archeology Avas . The restoration of churches ancl cathedrals and the preservation of castles and other places of historical interest ought to be a matter of the greatest

possible interest to the three great Masonic bodies we ha \ -e named ; ancl Freemasons at large , if they are worthy of their descent , and believe at all in the traditions of the Order , should surely show as keen a delight in these records of the past—these

monuments of history—as do the outer world , Avho are not Masons . But do they ? That is the question .

Sea-Side Dreamings.

SEA-SIDE DREAMINGS .

SfiA , in its calmest ripple , breaking Soft on the sandy shore ; Air , in its sultry stillness , breathing Of peace for evermore . . Rocky cliffs in the distance , tow ' ring Majestic , bold , and free ;

Boats , Avith their white sails , idly floating Out on the glassy sea . Sun , in its fiery splendour , pouring O ' er all its burnished light ; Nature itself , like a giant , reposing After a Aveary fight .

Who that has watched a battle ra ^ ino- — . A battle fought and won—Has not noted the stillness reignino-After the fight was done ?

So this picture of peace before us , Is but the calm that comes After the storm—embleming to us The rest beyond the tomb . Who that looks on such scene enchanting Peacefulsleepingand mild

, , , Could picture the mi ghty elements battlin a In aAvful chaos wild . ° * * * i-A blacken'd piece of wood has drifted In Avith the rising Avave

Sacred to the niem ' ry of those buried Deep in that ocean grave . Bro . G . H . WYATT , 106 . . Kowloongh Sands , Hong Kong , after the Typhoon of September , 1874 . -

The Women Of Our Time.

THE WOMEN OF OUR TIME .

BY CELEBS . OUR YOUXG Wo :. tE _ y . I AM approaching a very delicate subject , ancl yet it is one Avhich I hope to handle with due discretion . In the first placeit

, is a somewhat- difficult matter for an old boy like myself to deal Avith at all ; ancl iu the next place , I somewhat fear that what I am going to say is hardly Avorth the saying . —Still here goes , andAvhether I please , or Avhether I displease , or Avhether

I do neither , I shall hope to speak the truth . I think then , imprimis , that there is far too much undeserved censure cast upon the girls of the period . In my humble opinion , much that is said about them , is altogether sensational , most

unfair , uncritical , and I Avill add , most untrue . The general idea of some of our older folks as well as of our younger men—to say nothing of decayed middle-aged old boys—is that our young unmarried women areveryfast and forward , restless and insubordinate . I do not , for one , believe the averment . As I have pointed out in my last paper , the present age is marked by much

less restraint and formality , than when some of us were young , and that state of things has inevitably reacted on our young unmarried women , and the girls , as they call them , of the period . Girls to-day read much more of the current news of the hour than they did in

my younger years , and much is discussed before them which ought never to be discussed at all , so that the AA'hole conversation of society is more free , less restrained , more peivonal , and less reticent than was the custom in the days of my youth .

The Avhole tendency of the age in everything is to encourage individualism , the assertion of the individual opinion , though such opinion has often to give way to the domineering of Avhat is falsely called public opinion , In former days our girls kneiv

nothing of Avhat Avas going on in the world , at least if they did they only heard it through their brothers and cousins , but now our young ladies know as much as we do , ancl often even a good deal more , and it is this freedom of general discussion , and openness of private conversation Avhich have tendered in my humble