The Benefits Of Freemasonry.

be found some black sheep—and whether she would condemn tbe mass for a few ? To the charge that Masons occasionally enjoy a good dinner at " about three times the amount a good dinner would cost at home , " we are afraid we are bound to

plead guilty but is that a habit confined to Ereemasons ? do not gentlemen who are not members of our Order , sometimes dine at the Ship at Greenwich , tbe Plough at Blackwall , or tbe Star and Garter at Eichmond ? and do not these dinners cost three times as much as would provide the family dinner at home ; do not ladies

sometimes partake of these little treats , and do they count tbe cost ? Has otir fair correspondent never been taken to any of the places we have mentioned , either before or since the unhappy day when sbe became a Mason ' s wife ; and did she then count the cost of tbe whitebait , the lobster salad , or the sparkling champagne , and that

how many families the cost would have provided witb an equally nutritious , if less luxurious meal ? "Was she ever the lelle of the ball-room , and did she then calculate the cost of tbe supper and other leetle refreshments against the family bread and butter ? Has she we may ask , in all gallantry , ever unnecessarily placed

ber husband to the expense of a " duck of a bonnet , " or a " love of a shawl , " without counting how many dinners the money would purchase ? or has she always , in a spirit of self-abnegation , gone about as an example to her sex

in the humblest of attire , and spent tbe whole of her spare cash in providing good dinners for her familydependents and humble neighbours . In truth , dining out is a part of the social system of Englishmen , and whether they be Ereemasons or not , it is indulged in from the hig hest to the lowest . The charitable institutions of

England would never be sustained but for the dinners in which their merits are set forth by noble and distinguished chairmen , and guineas flow from the pocket under the exhiliration of generous food and thc friendly g lass of wine ; a public compau 3 cannot hope for success

without it has been inaugurated by a dinner ; the Ministers cannot close a session of Parliament without their whitebait dinner ; and both ministers and the leaders of the opposition well know that nothing keeps their party together so well as a few good dinners for the men , or matinees and soirees for the ladies . And it '

we descend in the social scale , do we not find that every village club , every benefit society , almost , in the kingdom , must have its annual festival , its dinner or its supper , which invariably costs three times as much as a plain dinner might be provided for the family at home . In this respect , then , Ereemasons clo not materially differ

from the habits of their fellow men—though there may be a few model men who never quit their famil y fireside —and a Ereemason ' s Wife cannot expect ber husband , more than those of other ladies , to be always tied to her . apron-strings .

Our correspondent says that if Masonry be ' a good thing one must be able , considering the large numbers who are Masons , to see some good resulting" —that , we

shortly propose to show , may be seen if a Ereemason ' s Wife will but look for it—but we must first come to a further portion of her letter , in which she states that sbe had been candidly told by one of the Craft " that Tie hieiu it had " been the ruin of many , " and that she herself has " seen much of the misery it has caused , " that she has

" seen a once happy home made miserable , the husband estranged from the wife , and the wife from the husband ;" and this she attributes to Ereemasonry as " the whole and sole cause , " further informing us that she believes " it to be a curse ( a very pretty word when coming from a lady ' s lips ) to every house it enters . " Now the lady

has here so completely prejudged the whole , case that we feel it almost unnecessary for us to attempt to reason with her ; but we would remind her that bare assertions are not proof , and that she fails to show us that the unhapipiness in the families to which she alludes—we hope our that of correspondent is not one—has been

wholly ancl solely caused by Ereemasonry ; or even that there have been no faults on the part of the wife as well as the husband . We would inquire with all humility whether she has ever beeu found from home when her husband returned from his daily labours in his trade or profession ? has she always met him with a kindly face

ancl a hearty kiss , no matter what little annoyance he may have g iven her ? has she ever failed to have his dinner done at the appointed time ? has she sought

amusement other than in her husband's society ? has she advanced to cheer him in all his trials and difficulties , and kept out of his sig ht all the little annoyances of domestic life ? or has she frowned when he came home a little late , placed only the cold shoulder of mutton before him when he brought home a friend , and that

not even witb a good grace , annoyed him with every petty grievance to which she has been subjected by her servants and children , and objected to his smoking a cigar at home ? When our correspondent has candidl y answered all these questions , we may endeavour to see how far Ereemasonry has been the sole cause of

the unhappiness to which she alludes ; but she may rest assured of this that the same charges are brought against the west-end clubs , the yacht clubs , the cricketing societies , and indeed every societ y in which men seek recreation from their daily labours ; and

that if her home is not made more attractive than any other place , the husband will seek for recreation elsewhere , ancl that even if it is so attractive , still men must ancl will occasionally have a little change . We are happy to state that we enjoy the privilege of a pretty large Masonic acquaintance , and know

Masons to be as affectionate husbands , as considerate fathers , as good sons , as any body of men and their families , the very centres of domestic happiness ; the ladies being as enthusiastic in their praise of Masonry as their husbands , fathers , or brother .

Our correspondent next states that our motto ouo-fit to be ' We live in darkness rather than li ght , because our deeds are evil" —the nature of those evil deeds we