Address To Our Readers.

ADDRESS TO OUR READERS .

THE FREEMASONS' MAGAZINE

AND MASONIC MIRROR .

AT the conclusion of another volume of the FREEMASONS' MAGAZINE it becomes our duty , not less than our pleasure , to enter into a free and friendly council with our readers , to enable us to exchange mutual congratulations on what has been done in the past , and to express well-grounded hopes aud aspirations for the future . As regards the former , that which stands prominently before us , and has elicited the eulogies and praises of the highest authorities of our Order , beginning with the Most

Worshipful Grand Master , and following clown the stream of Masonic rank , is the complete happiness and unity of sentiment and feeling which exists amongst the members of our Graft , " wherever dispersed over earth or water , " at home or abroad , and the common and universal desire to carry out in " all their integrity the great principles upon which our Order is founded . There pervades the whole Craft an earnest desire to smooth any difficulties if they should unhappily arise , and a spirit of

forbearance in carrying out individual views when it is shown that the enforcement of them would tend to weaken , if not altogether disturb , the harmony of the general body . The cause of charity , in particular , has this year received special attention , and the Craft have just reason to congratulate themselves on the results that have followed the exertions of those brethren who at such pains and cost to themselves have served the office of stewards on those occasions . The whole of our

institutions have been well supported , and although the contributions to the Boys' School were rather below what they were in one rather exceptional year , yet they were very satisfactory ; and then , when we remember what was done at the festival for the Girls' School , which produced the largest sum ever contributed dn one evening during the whole history of our Craft , we think , as set forth in the commencement of this article , that we have reason to exchange mutual congratulations , at least , on

what has been done in the past . The subject , as we have said , has attracted the notice of the Most Worshipful the Grand Master , for at the Grand Festival he specially alluded to the subject of our charities , when he said that during the last twenty years they had succeeded in a most wonderful and astonishing manner , and their exertions did the greatest ' possible honour to the Craft . His lordship at that time reviewed what had been done , and he ventured , from what he had heard , to predict that

a large sum would be received at the coming festival for the Girls' School . Our Most Worshipful Grand Master ' s prophecy was fully realised , for the event produced the magnificent contribution of £ 6 , 000 . This event , if it stood alone , would afford us grounds of congratulation , but while it is honourable to the Craft , it ought not to induce us to rest on our oars , but , on the contrary , stimulate ns to greater exertions for the future . Long may our noble institutions stand as prominent landmarks

of our Order , studded with the brightest gems which can adorn our Masonic profession , gathered by the careful and fostering hand of Charity . Our esteemed Grand Master , the Earl of Zetland , has , by the unanimous voice of the Craft , again been placed in the chair as the head and ruler of English Freemasons , an honour conferred upon his Lordship for the twenty-fourth time , but as he was locum tenons one year for the Duke of Sussex , he