The Rose Croix.

While on earth ordained to stay , Guide our footsteps in Thy way ; Mortals , raise your voices high , Till they reach the echoing sky . Men on earth and saints above

Sing the great Eedeemer ' s love . Lord , thy mercies never fail Hail , celestial goodness , hail !

A Banquet At " Ours."

A BANQUET AT " OURS . "

By J . A . H . Ours—what is " ours ? Charles Lever designated one of his novels " Tom Burke of Ours , " using the pronoun to represent a regiment in which his hero served . In Norfolk and Suffolk

the possessives have acquired a usage , which is very peculiar and prevails no where else in Great Britain . Thus , even educated people will say , " How is it you have not been to mine lately when I am so often at your ' s ; the pronouns meaning

respectively " my house " . and your house . " Again it will be remarked that " Tomkins said Smith had been at his , " meaning the residence or place of business of Tomkins . Thus , also the " word " ours" is employed to denote " our house , "

or " our office , " as the case may be . When , therefore , we head our article with "A Banquet at Ours , " we adopt Suffolk phraseology to refer to a lodge with which we have the honour to be connected by membership—the particular lodge in question being one of the most ancient on the Grand Roll

of England— 'the Unity Lodge Lowestoft , No . 71 , founded originally in 1747 . The Unity Lodge meets at the house of a worthy Mason and Past Master , Bro . Clarke , " mine host , " of the well-known Suffolk Hotel , Lowestoft . A

good dinner can always be had on reasonable terms at the " Suffolk" but on the occasion of initiating the W . M . on Thursday , June 17 th , 1869 , Bro . Clarke excelled himself and won encomiums on every hand by the abundance and superiority of

the viands he furnished . Rarely , even in London , have we dined from a bill of fare so recherche and and extensive . " The Art of Dining" has often been condemned as an injurious department of Masonic Science ; but for ourselves we cordially

endorse the remarks in this subject of our distinguished Bro . James Glaisber at the Inaugural Meeting of the Masonic Archaeological Institute , and are convinced that festive meetings are valuable as centres of union , friendship , and good feeling .

The Banquet at Bro . Clarke's was no ordinary occasion for it celebrated the accession to worshipful dignity of an esteemed Bro ., whose name is " a household word , " throughout the province , while his virtues are not unrecognised in more general

Masonic circles . Bro . Wo Oldham Chambers is emphatically " a good Mason , " and as such has exemplified his principles by successful labour in the fields of science and art . In the exercise of his profession as an architect he has already

achieved local fame for originality of design and practical genius . The profession which our whilom Grand Master , Sir Christopher Wren adorned , has a worthy representative in the W . M . of the Unity Lodge . At the Norwich meeting of

the British Association , Bro . Chambers was associated with Bros , the Duke of Bucclench , G . P . Bidder , C . Hutton Gregory , President of the Institution of Civil Engineers ; William Smith , C . E . ; and other eminent brethren in Section G ., which was devoted to Mechanical Science . On the

formation of the Masonic Archeological Institute Bro C . was one ofthe first to enrol himself among the members of that valuable association . Bro . Chambers also holds office in the Grand Conclave of Knights Templar for Suffolk , and Sir R . A .

Shafto Adair , the popular Grand Master of the Provincial Grand Lodge of Suffolk , has recently conferred upon Mm the well-merited distinction of Provincial Grand Director of Works . Bro . Chambers notwithstanding his activity in Craft

Masonry has steadily progressed in the higher degrees having become a Mark Master at Norwich , and a Soverign Prince Rose Croix at Ipswich . The Unity Lodge may therefore be congratulated on having placed in the chair of King Solomon a

brother in whose hands the Royal sceptre will be wielded with dignity and grace worthy of the long line of distinguished brethren who have

maintained the honour of the Ancient Graft in Lowestoft . The retiring W . M ., Bro . Day , under whose judicious rule the lodge most satisfactorily progressed in numbers , and influence left behind him a reputation , which would have

rendered the duties of the chair difficult to any brother who was not thoroughly up to the work ; but Bro . Day felt bound to express the pleasure with which he witnessed the workmanlike manner in which Bro . Chamber entered on

the discharge of his onerous and important position . From time to time there has been under con-