Scotland.

SCOTLAND .

GLASGOAV . SPECIAL MEETING OE THE GLASGOW KILWI -VN IK - LODGE ( NO . 4 . ) A special meeting of this olcl and influential lodge was held on the evening of Monday , the 1 st inst ., in their Hall , 170 , Buchanan-street , for the purpose of testifying to their esteem for their late Proxy Master , Bro . John G . Houstoun , and their

appreciation of the valuable services rendered by him to the lodge during the last quarter of a century , ancl their sympathy with his bereaved widow and family . Bro . H . M . Sinclair , R . AV . M ., presided , Bros . Broom and Russell being in their respective chairs of Senior ancl Junior Wardens . The important occasion having brought together a good attendance of the brethren of the lodge , as also several of the Masters and brethren of the sister lodges in the province , who were anxious

to unite with the brethren of No . 4 in testifying to the worth of Bro . Houstoun , and the loss the Order had sustained by his untimely death . After the loclge had been duty constituted , and several letters from olcl and influential brethren had been read expressing the great regret at not being able to be present , The R . W . MASTEI- rose and said—Worshipful Senior ancl Junior AVartlens , and Worshipful Brethren , you are aware that

the cause of our meeting to-night is a melancholy one , viz ., to mourn tlie loss of a dear and valued friend and brother Mason ; one who for the long period of twenty-four years has been a leading ancl influential Freemason in the West of Scotland , and who , from the date of his initiation into the Order , was an enthusiastic Mason , ancl who loved his mother lodge with an unconquerable and enduring love , and who , for a series of years , filled the chair of the loclge—the hihest distinction that the

g lodge can confer on one of her members ; ancl latterly , down to the period of his untimely death , filled the high ancl important office of Proxy Master to this lodge in the Grand Lodge of Scotland , the duties of which he discharged with so much satisfaction and benefit to the lodge , and with so much credit and honour to himself . I regret deeply , as I am sure you all do , the absence to-night of Bro . Binnie , P . M ., who , hacl he not been unavoidably prevented , would , from bis long and intimate

acquaintance with Bro . Houstoun , both as a friend and fellowworker , been a much more fit exponent of the feelings of the brethren in the great loss they have sustained ; but in Bro . Binnie's absence , I have thought ifc not unbecoming , from the position that your partiality has placed me in , to attempt —however feebly and inadequately—to express some of the feelings with which we as a loclge are penetrated by the loss of such an invaluable member as he whom we are this night met

to mourn . Bro . Houstoun , as I have already stated to you , has been for the long period of twenty-four years a Freemason , and during the whole of that period he has been unceasing in his endeavours to advance the interests of this his mother lodge , and the services he has rendered her have been neither few nor small . Possessed as he was of rare talents , ancl cultivated ancl enhanced as they were by a most liberal education , his assistance and advice in any little difficulty was invaluable ancl always

warmly and cheerfully given ; and although possibly the greatest of bis services were rendered to the lodge before I or many whom I now see around me had seen the " light "—yet although these services were forgotten ancl buried in oblivion , which they can never be so long as the Kilwinning No . 4 has an existence and a name—yet within these last few years he has clone enough to entitle him to a nicfie in the Masonic Temple of Fameenough to draw from us enduring gratitudeand to make his

, deeds live in our hearts with lasting remembrance—enough to warrant us in handing down his name in the records of our lodge as one that had served the Kilwinning long , faithfully , and well—one that in life we esteemed and honoured , and whose death we sincerely mourned . I am sure it is quite unnecessary for me to make one word of observation as to the nature of these more recent services rendered by Bro . Houstoun to the loclgethey being so well known—and I doubt not as much

, appreciated—by all the brethren as they are known and appreciated by myself . Suffice it to remind you , however , that on more than one occasion has the tk'iiks of the loclge been given to Bro . Houstoun in open lodge for bis valuable services , and the same engrossed in the minutes as a testimony to those who may succeed us of-the worth of these services and our appreciation of them . A short time since the loclge was called on to mourn the

loss of a distinguished member ( Dr . Nichol ) , ancl more recently another distinguished Mason , who had long gone in and out amongst us ( Rev . Dr . Graham ) , and now we are called on to mourn the friend and fellow-worker of these distinguished Masons . Certainly three great leaders , not only of the Kilwinning Lodge , but of Freemasonry in the AA ' est of Scotland have fallen ! But unlike the two former , the latter has fallen in the very vigour of manhood , in the fullness of his strength , and in

the midst ot his usefulness . The blow has been no less heavy than it was sudden and unexpected ; but such is life ! Oh ! let us therefore now live , and let us now so strive and labour that , when we are called hence , our brethren may have cause as sincerely to mourn our loss , as we now clo him who is tlie object of our meeting . I am sure that out of our own lodge nowhere will he be more sincerely mourned than in the Grand Lodge of Scotlandin which he was long a distinguished and influential

, member , adorning their debates no less with the force of his reasoning ' fchan his thrilling eloquence . He was , as you are doubtless aware , long and intimately known to the late Grand Master Mason of Scotland , the Duke of Athole , and he it was thafc first introduced into Glasgow Masonic balls . The ball given some years ago by tliis lodge , while Bro . Houstoun was Master , having , I believe , been the first and most influential

Masonic ball ever held in the west of Scotland—the late Duke of Athole , and many other distinguished noblemen ancl gentlemen having been present on the occasion ; bufc I feel ifc is unnecessary to say more on Bro . Houstoun ' s services to the Kilwinning and to Masonry . I would now speak of him for a moment on his character as a man , and a friend ; and here I must again repeat my regret that Bro . Binnie , his intimate friend and fellow worker for so many years , was not here to tell you of his

qualities in those relations . My own knowledge , however , of Bro . Houstoun is sufficient to warrant me in testifying to his many admirable qualities both as a man and as a friend , ancl that in order to respect and esteem him , it was only necessary to know him ; ancl I am sure I should be doing the greatest injustice to the brethren of the lodge if I did not here give expression to the feelings of sympathy which penetrates the breast of every brother of the loclge here , or absent for the widow and family—the one in having lost a kind loving

husband , ancl the other an affectionate father and protector . That He who is tlie stay of tbe widow and the father of the fatherless may keep them ever under the shadow of His wing , and that He may sustain and guide them safely through this life , ancl afterwards conduct them into ' glory , is tlie sincere ancl ardent prayer of us all . Imbued as we are with these feelings which I have so imperfectly given expression to , I beg to move , " Thafc this loclge appoint a small committee to prepare a minute ,

giving a short account of the services rendered by Bro . Houston to the lodge , the esteem in which he was held , the regret felt at his death , andsympathy , tlielotlge hacl for his widowandhis family , and that the same be engrossed in the minute book , and a copy « ent to the family . " The SENIOR AVAEDES seconded the motion of the E . AV . Master , which was agreed to with the greatest unanimity of feeling .

Bro . J . R . SWAX , in support of the motion , rose and said—It was only a short time since that I met the deceased Bro . Houstoun , ' in this loclge enjoying the best of health and high spirits , and it is a melancholy thing that I should have to stand here this evening on my next visit to the lodge to give you a narrative of his decease four hundred miles away from those whom ho loved so well . It is a melancholy consolation to me whofor the last ten years , fought side by side with him for the

, benefit ^ of the Glasgow Kilwinning Lodge and the Craft in general , that I should have been by his side at his last moments to assist in closing his eyes in death . He took ill about ten days ago , but notwithstanding being far away from home , he received all the filial attention of his two sons and the best medical advice that could be procured . During his illness he often spoke to me of the Craft and his mother loclge , the Glasgow Kilwinning Loclge , which he loved so well . He departed in

peace in the faith and hope of a true Christian . It is natural that we should mourn for the dead . Possessing talents of the highest order , he- was invariably looked to as one of the great shields of the lodge . In his official capacity he was high-toned and independent in his principles , and from his natural temperament often had to make foes as well as friends , but his ambition knew no bounds in seeing his mother lodge stand high among the sister lodges , and secure that respect which was clue to her . He was a warm and true friend , ancl although peculiar