The Masonic Charities.

oug ht to do , though as Freemasons Ave may Avithout any-conceit or flattery be justly proud of them one and all . So we will beg in on the good old principle—" Place aux Dames , " Avith that excellent and

admirable Institution the Girls' School . The Royal Masonic Institution for Girls , such is its present name , was founded March 25 th , 1788 , at the suggestion of our benevolent brother , the Chevalier Ruspini ,

for the purpose of educating , clothing , ancl maintaining the orphan daughters of our brethren , or of those Avhose reduced means prevented them from affording their children a suitable education . From the first

this institution has received much of royal patronage , and has been most warmly supported hy the Craft . It was for a long time called the "Royal Cumberland Female School , " after its first Patroness , H . R . H . the

Duchess of Cumberland , wife of the Grand Master in 1788 . The Girls' School , in contradistinction to the Boys' School , Avas started , so to say , under the auspices of the Grand Lodge of 1715 , and found its first " local habitation

and name" inl 793 , inaschool-houseerected near the Obelisk , St . George ' s in the Fields . But in 1851 , the lease having expired , the scho . d Avas removed to a site of three acres of freehold land , on the high ground of

Batter .-ea Rise , adjoining WandsAvorth Common , and Avhere it has since continued to increase in efficiency ancl utility year by year . It is interesting to remember that while its receipts for the first year amounted to 664 guineas , the amount realized at

the Festival of 1873 was over £ 7 , 500 , £ 2 , 000 over any preceding year ; as in 1871 when H . R . H ., our brother , the Prince of Walespresided , £ 5 , 500 Avere collected , Avhich was the highest amount so far .

From its foundation the school has educated 981 girls , ancl has IIOAV 120 scholars . In April , five out of twenty-eight candidates were elected , about one-sixth but it is hoped that in October fifteen on '

of thirty Avdl be admitted—exactly onehalf . The Committee are noAv extending the Avings of the main building so as to provide additional dining hall , schoolroom and dormitory accommodation , and they

will then be able to receive 140 girls , if only tho school continues to receive , as there is no doubt it Avill do , the continued cordial and liberal support of the Craft . The Girls'Sehool possesses about £ 28 , 000

of funded property , and its usual annual expenditure beyond that amount seems to average about £ 3 , 500 , which is raised from the annual subscriptions and contributions of the brethren . During the last year ,

£ 4 , 872 have been paid for the new buildings Avhich Avill naturally augment the accommodation ancl improve tho efficiency of the school . The Girls' School is an institution of Avhich our Order may justly be proud , " as not only has it earned the

repeated encomiums of examiners and ins 2 iectors , but it successfully carries out an education for children of various and often contrasted classes in society . It is easy enough to educate a given number of children , Avho are all pretty much on a level ; but it is a difficult matter where various

classes meet together to direct an education equally suitable to all . In our Order Ave have the remarkable contrasts of Avealth ancl indigence , of affluence and humbler circumstances , and hi the case of orphans , our Order stands to them "in loco parentis , "

and seeks to give them the same education they Avould have received had their parents ' lives been happily preserved . Hence the peculiar difficulty of such an education as is supplied in our Girl ' s School . But by the skill of the Governess , Avhose labours

are incessant and most praiscAvorthy , ancl the excellent arrangements of the House Committee , our Girls' School alike in its domestic details as in its educational Avork , has received , as it deserves , the highest approval from all competent judges ; and probably there is no institution hi this country ,