Our Trestle Board

OUR TRESTLE BOARD

" For the Master to lay lines and draw designs upon . "

We have communications from several brethren in favour of the proposal for opening a " Sale and Exchange Column" for Masonic students and collectors , and shall arrange for commencing same in an early number .

We shall be greatly obliged to the compilers or publishers of Provincial Calendars for the current year if they will be good enough to favour us with a copy of their respective w orks .

Masonic Notes And Memoranda.

Masonic Notes and Memoranda .

A duel's amang yctakin' notes , and , faith , he'll prentit . " — Bito'rnmi Bunxs " The bearings of this obsorwation lays in the application on it . " — Jack Bun shy—DICKEXS

The New York Correspondent of the Daily Telegraph says : — Saratoga Springs is being treated to a " sensation" by George Law , an eccentric New York millionaire , who has given all his club friends presents of expensive jewels to the amount of many

thousands of pounds . His passion has been to make a gift to every friend he met of a ring of the value of £ 100 . He has an income of £ 50 , 000 per annum , one-half of which he expends in presents at his annual visits to Saratoga .

^ w w w If George Law should come this way , it is just possible that a recent precedent might be followed , and a new Lodge constituted bearing his name , and affording him an opportunity of indulging

his passion for making gifts to friends , and perhaps founders . If objection were to be taken to his name , there need be none to the place he came from . Indeed , it is better known than some names we wot of , and , in advertisement language , "distance is no object . "

Bro . Ellman , a P . M . of Lodge No . 1303 . completed his fiftieth year of Masonry on the 7 th May last , and the South Saxon Lodge , No . 211 , Lewes , with which Bro . Ellman is now connected , has forwarded to him a congratulatory vote , which we feel sure will not be one of the least of our veteran brother ' s highly cherished possessions .

* * * * * The members of the St . Clair Lodge , No . 2074 . Landport . have presented Bro . Harry Kimber , P . M ., with a silver inkstand and fittings , in recognition of the valuable services rendered by him as

Treasurer of the Lodge . He had been a former guarantor for £ 100 in respect of expenses connected with the establishment of the Lodge , and the above grateful return is alike honourable to the givers and the recipient .

The Excelsior Lodge , No . 1155 , H . G . Pett , W . M ., will hold its last meeting for the year this day (( 5 th Sept . ) at 5 p . m ., at the White Swan Hotel . High Street , Deptford . * # * * #

The Provincial Grand Lodge of West Yorkshire will hold its next meeting at Keighley in October , under the banner of the Royal Yorkshire Lodge . No . 2 ( 55 . the centenary warrant for which Lodge has been lately granted .

A Provincial Grand Lodge of Cheshire will be held at Stockport to-morrow , when the Lord Mayor of London will lay one of the foundation stones of the New Technical Schools with masonic honours . The 17 th inst . is the date appointed for the Annual Meeting of this Provincial Grand Lodge , which is to be held at Knutsf ' ord .

The World pays the following compliment to our Bro ., the Lord Mayor : — "There will be no further f estivity at the | Mansion House till the Lord Mayor Elect is entertained on Michaelmas Day . Mr . de Keyser has had numerous difficulties to contend with during his term of oilice : but he has amply merited Lord Salisbury ' s felicitous words

of commendation . He has undoubtedly ' mingled judgment with benevolence , and pursued the duties of his position with untiring industiw . ' The Lady Mayoress has shown herself to be an

admirable hostess ; and Mr . Soulsby s activity and experience have once more proved an invaluable aid to the hereditary dispensers of that civic hospitality which has almost come to be regarded as part and parcel of the constitution . "

The Krcuzzeitviuj appeals to " the officers of the German army , " and to " all gentlemen of Christian and national principles . " to resign their membership of Freemasonry . There are two parties growing up in Germany , those who honour and those who hate

Freemasonry . The former will eventually conquer ; but meanwhile bitterness will ensue , and , contrary to the designs of Freemasonry , political feud will be created . The Emperor is opposed to Freemasonry ; his father was a strong partisan of it .

Masonic Notes And Memoranda.

The Installation Meeting of the Graystone Lodge . No . 1915 , Bro . S . W . Graystone , W . M ., will be held at the Forester ' s Hall , Whitstable , on Thursday next , the 13 th inst . Bro . Saunders , S . W ., is the W . M . elect . * * * * ¦ % The Cator Lodge , No . 222 ( 5 , Beckenham , is stated to be rapidly

growing in numbers and in a manner almost unprecedented in a place of the size of Beckenham . Let us venture to express the hope that the brethren of this lodge will study quality before quantity and not be too ready and eager to accept whomsoever may seek the honour of Masonic connection with them .

* # # * * THE PROVINCIAL GRAND LODGE OF WORCESTERSHIRE . —The Rt . Wors . Bro . Sir Edmund A . H . Lechmere , Bart ., M . P ., Prov . G . Master , The Wors . Bro . Augustus Frederick Godson , M . P .. P . P . S . G . W ., Dep . Prov . G . Master , Bro . George Taylor . P . P . S . G . W .

Prov . G . Sec , will hold its next annual meeting at the Moseley and Balsall Heath Institute , Moseley , on Wednesday , the 12 th instant , at twelve o ' clock at noon ( see our Adrcrtisemcnt columns ' ) . The business on the Agenda is of great importance , and there will doubtless be a very considerable muster of the Worcestershire brethren .

The Royal Masonic Institutions for Girls and Boys respectively benefit to the extent of £ 100 each under the will of the late Bro . Colonel Edward Robert King-Harman , Parliamentary Secretary for Ireland , who died on the 10 th of June last , and whose will has been

proved during the past week . The personalty is sworn over £ 14 , 000 . Miss King-Harman has left to her the Rockingham estates for life , with proviso that any one she may marry should take the name of King-Harman .

On Friday last the beautiful specimen of silversmith ' s work , in the shape of a wreath , which was presented to Bro . Charles Wyndham by his fellow artists from the Residenz Theatre , Berlin , was stolen from the vestibule of the Criterion Theatre , where it has been on exhibition for some months past .

Many of our brethren who have had of late years to attend Freemasons' Hall , and particularly the lodges and election meetings at the adjoining Freemasons' Tavern , will remember the smiling face of Bro . H . C . Knill , the Hall Porter , whose civility and readiness on all occasions gave general satisfaction . We are sorry to say that the

result of a severe accident has rendered him permanently unable to do anything to earn his living , and he is now compelled to become a candidate for the benefits of the Royal Masonic Benevolent

Institution . Our brother was a member of the Jordan Lodge . No . 201 , and the "tongue of good report" has always been heard in his favour . Any proxies sent to us for Bro . Knill shall be faithfully applied .

The Candidate.

THE CANDIDATE .

|| 0 | j T the present day . when so much has been said and written IfffiH concennn _ ' Freemasonry , to become a member of the great 1 F _ S _« fraternity is a matter of no inconsiderable moment ; yet __ j _§ l there is a touch of sadness in the thought that , out of the large number continually joining our ranks , so many are satisfied by merely coming into possession of the esoteric or secret portion of the ritual , without an endeavour , or even apparent desire , to penetrate further and discover the symbolism and true meaning that lies beneath the surface .

We see the candidate urjon the threshold of our mystic temple , of his own free will , seeking admission to a society that has laboured for centuries in promoting the welfare of his fellow-men . There he stands , a man , free born , in total darkness concerning the trials he is to undergo , as weak and helpless as a babe , wholly dependent

upon that Supreme Being in whom he expresses his belief . He enters into a new world , and receives a knowledge of all the virtues that expand the heart and dignify the soul . He discovers that the aim of Masonry is to introduce him to new views of life and its duties .

In due time he takes upon himself new duties and increased obligations , and by directing his attention to the wonders of nature and art he is taught that man is not to devote himself solely to physical labour . The cultivation of the mind and intellect , with which he has been endowed by his Creator , is impressed upon him , that he may be able to occupy with honour his

proper station in society . At length he attains the summit of sublime knowledge ; he learns that man is born to die , and that beyond the grave there is hope of a blessed immortality . He has now passed through our solemn ceremonies and obtained possession of all the ritualistic secrets of the Craft . He has been instructed in all the details of

that universal language by which he is enabled to converse with his brethren in every nation under the sun . He may to-day express his wonder and surprise that so much is contained in so small a compass ; to-morrow it is forgotten . Yi'hat a theme for contemplation has been opened up before him . The ceremonies of initiation are but ripples upon the surface . Beneath

lie the hidden mysteries , and to understand them requires deep and serious study . Volumes have been written upon these hidden things , yet it is a lamentable fact that few care to peruse them , or even give them a momentary thought . It is a duty the candidate owes to himself to investigate the ceremonies through which he has

passed , and not content himself with the meagre explanation as given within the tyled precincts of the Lodge . Unless he does this , Masonry will soon lose its charms for him , and a few years hence he will wonder what such and such a brother , more zealous than himself , can find in Masonry to cause him to take so deep an interest in it . —Loom in Musical and Masonic Journal .