Post Prandial Speeches.

mighty strange but I never can answer a faymale , she shuts me up complately . It must be the eyes . " And so in the lodge of Geniality , 1690 , our Avorthy Bro . Stokes , is the orator " par excellence . " Of course Brother

Stokes rises at once and proposes the W . M ., expatiating on his merits personal and Masonic , and producing long continued plaudits . Probably Brother Stokes dilates " more suo " on the A alue of . Freemasonry , and resumes his seat amid loud and repeated cheers . NOAV and then one hears a remarkable

chmax and anti-climax . A brother was " discoursing " excellently Avell on Freemasonry at a lodge banquet I attended in " auld lang syne , " and had made Avhat you may call a good hit . It is not given to many speakers to be able to make more than one good hit on the same occasion and the Avisest course

for any speaker is kaAang brought in his point to sit doAvn . But my brother of old went on , and at at last he travelled far aAvay , and landed us and himself under the shadoAvs of the pyramids of Egypt . "Amid the temples

of the East , amid the pyramids of Egypt , amid the Avails of Jerusalem , amid the climes " and here the orator paused and Avho could prompt him ? Nothing Avas left for him but "ferre gradus retrorsum "—to "hark back "—

and so he did , but Avhen having repeated the same passage he reached the fatal " climes " again , he again pulled up , and as a young and thoughtless brother then observed to me " he ' s staked , " after an unconnected sentence or two he sat down

having spoilt an admirable speech by not knowing that best of all knoAvledge in a speaker—Avhere to "halt . " Of course the W . M . replies assuring the brethren that he ICUOAVS he is not Avorth y to be compared Avith the P . M .,

or Bro . Stokes—here there is a loud cry of no , no—hut he does his duty , & c , and hopes to hand over his lodge , & c , and trust for a continuance of the support of his brethren & c . Then Bro . Jones proposes Bro . DaAvkins , and Bro . DaAvkins proposes

Bro . Tickle , all shining lights in the lodge and out of it , and then the AV . M . proposes the visiting brethren . This is generally the infliction of the evening . If Bro . Tollemache , Avho has orders enough for three earthly potentates ,

would alone reply , all Avould he well , but the Bro . Tollemache of the evening almost invariably says , " I leave the rest of the \ dsiting brethren to return thanks for themselves , " and hence Ave are too often doomed to a succession of hopeless platitudes , and of " feeble forcibles .

One of the best replies I ever remember in its Avay , Avas made years ago by a brother Avho was the last to return thanks of a long list of visiting brethren . Having once been a serving brother he Avas not expected to make

much of a speech , but looking at us he said , in a Avay I can see still , "W . M . and brethren one and all , I return you my hearty thanks , I drink all your good healths , I empties my glass , and I looks toAvard you . " The shout of

merriment I can almost still hear , Avhich arose from that genial gathering in a good old lodge , but Avhere alas , " sic transit gloria mimdi , " many of its members are no longer "to the fore , " or are " got married" or have given up

, Masonry , or are like the Avriter Availing fast into the " sere and yellow leaf . " I am bound to confess , that I have heard more nonsense talked about the

indispensable toast " the Ladies , ' than on any other subject . Why should it be so ? Surely it is a subject on Avhich all that is true and touching , all that is Avarmhearted and effective might be said at a meeting of us male bipeds . But yet such is not the case . I have heard ladies

termed " etherial habitants of another hemisphere , " those "fairy emanations Avhose smile is blessing , Avhose froAvn is destruction , " " the charmers of our homes , the sharers of our fortunes , " " and the spenders" said a young

bachelor brother aloud , " the greatest ornamentof the hall , the mansion , and the cottage , " and the " ball room " remarked a young officer Mason . They have