Correspondence.

CORRESPONDENCE .

We do not hold ourselves responsible for the opinions of our Correspondents . We cannot undertake to return rejected communications . All Letters must hear the name anl address of the Writer , not necessarily for pi'Mication , but as a guarantee of good faith .

PUPILS' ASSISTANCE FUND ,

To the Editor of THE FREEMASON ' S CHRONICLE . DEAK SIR AND BROTHER , —The Royal Masonic Pupils' Assistance Fund , to which your columns have lately given duo prominence , is one which I am sure has only to be widely known to enlist the usual hearty support of the Craft to so deserving an undertaking . And

whilst the subject is being fully discussed , allow me to furnish one grain of fact , which may , I trust , cany tho weight which the old proverb ascribes to ifc . I know of one of the pupils of the Girls' School , who , having completed her term of instruction in the Institution , now finds herself ,

for want of a suitable situation where she could do herself and hor training full justice , compelled to rely for support upon her widowed mother , until sho can ( failing anything better ) obtain a situation as a domestic servant . Now I think , Sir , that this is ono of tho instances , occasionally recurring , where a little assistance from the proposed fund , judiciously applied at the outset of an ex-pupil ' s career , and

when the gifts and attainments of tho pupil are best understood , that could not fail of being most beneficial , and would be productive of results in consonance with the loyal support previously given to our deceased brethren ' s children , and gratifying to thoso who have the welfare of our Masonic pupils afc heart . I enclose card , and shall be happy to furnish full particulars .

I remain , Dear Sir and Brother , Fraternally yours , VEUAX ,

A PROMINENT MEMBER AT INSTRUCTION LODGES .

To the Editor of the FBEEMASON ' S CHRONICLE . DEAR SIR AND BROTHER , —I think a very good opportunity now presents itself to pay a well merited compliment to a brother who has for some years devoted a great part of his leisure to the advancement of Masonic knowledge ; and if you , Brother Editor , will

kindly insert this letter , I hope some practical result may follow . It is , doubtless , known to many London Masons that Bro . C . H . Webb , whoso services are so often in request at the various Lodges of Instruction , of which he is either Preceptor or member , has taken iu hand tho case of Mary Ann Amelia AVyatt , who is a candidate for the Girls' School ; and I think if those brethren

who havo votes to spare would send them to him , he would look upon ifc as a most gratifying testimonial . I am afraid to detail the merits of the case , as I know you are averse , and justly so , fco any display of partiality in your columns ; but I think the fact of this child being left , together with three others , without either parent , is sufficient to warrant tho interest Bro . AVebb has shown in the

case . Thanking you in anticipation , I remain , Yours , & c . A PUPIL

[ AVe are pleased to accede to the wish of our brother , and hope , as he suggests , that his remarks will be followed by a hearty response . We will gladly forward any votes sent to us for the child of our deceased Bro . AVyatt . —ED , F . C . I

FREEMASONS PAINTED BY ONE OF THEMSELVES .

To the Editor of Tin : FREEMASON ' S CHRONICLE . DEAR SIR AND BROTHER , —I am glad to seo that tho attention of the Craft has been called by your correspondent " P . M . " to the uncharitable sentiments contained in an editorial article in yonr contemporary of tho 20 th ultimo . "P . M . " is not the only brother who has perceived this want of charitable feeling , aud whether the

article was or was not written by the editor himself , ho is , at all events , answerable for having allowed it to pass into t ype . I hope that under the very heavy pressure of literary matter which falls on that brother ' s shoulders the evil influence of such an article accidentally escaped his attention , for I can hardly believe that such an experienced Mason would wilfully have desired to advertise any

foibles which Masons in common with tho outer world possess . And with this remark I dismiss consideration of the article referred to . But I would remind the Craffc to whom it is addressed that , whether Masons or not , the great human family seem naturally to lose sin-fat of the fact that they themselves have the weaknesses which they

discover iu others . To-day is published The Masonic Magazine for October , and in it I find an article entitled , " Notes on Literature , Science , and Art , " with the author ' s name in full , and a list of five works of which ho is also the author , and an " & c ., & c . " appended to that list , winding up with what is virtually a condemnation of tlie pleasure Masons experience at seeing their names in print . Referring

Correspondence.

to Bro . Fabien s account in your contemporary of the initiation of a Frenchman in tho basket of the great balloon of Paris , he says , "Bro . Fabien's commnnieation is much more interesting than the dull and dreary lists of names of members present at a Lodgo , with which so many reports aro sadly overloaded . If it be necessary , as I confess I fear it is , to minister a little to the vanity of Masons to

entice them to read a Masonic periodical , I , for one , had rather risk my neck in a balloon than herd safely on the solid earth with those un-Masonic Masons . " Every month this brother ' s " Notes " appear in tho Masoni : Magazine , with his name , literary achievements , and residence fully advertised . Now I do not blame him at all for so placing himself before the public ; but I think that he , as much as any one , should not discover vanity in other brethren who like their

Masonio friends to see that they have been attending to their Masonic duties . I have no reason to be ashamed of my own name , and I am nofc ashamed of having passed the chair , but as I might if I signed tho former be identified , and consequently come within our brother ' s condemnation , I shall avoid tho possibility of being identified by subscribing myself , ANOTHER P . M . 1 st Octoher ISId .

To the Editor of the FREEMASON s CHRONICLE . DEAR SIK AND BROTHER , —Although I agree with the principle of the letter by P . M . in your last week's issue , about the bad taste of a Masonic paper publishing to tho outside world a rather unfortunate but true fact thafc brethren often do not act up to tho tenets of

Freemasonry outside the Lodge , and often occupy exalted positions therein , where , had their proper characters been known , they should never have been admitted into tho Craft , still we aro taught in such a case to observe silence , and perhaps it would have been better had this been done in this instance . At the same time there is a great

deal of truth in the writer ' s remarks , and if they have tho effect of moving some of our brethren to be more particular iu the admission of members , it would be of vast benefit to the fair character of Freemasonry in general . In some parts of the Continent a candidate is obliged to send his photograph , which is exhibited in the

outer room of the Lodge , for a long period , so as to give every member a chance to fully recognise the person wishing to join ; besides , a full inquiry into his character is made by the proposer and seconder . AVore a similar plan adopted here , we should not be in the too frequent position of having Members and Officers , even W . M . ' s , whose presence in a Lodge is objectionable and anomalous .

I remain , Dear Sir and Brother , Yours fraternally , A PAST MASTER AND P . Z

Bro. Patrick And The Stingy Lodge.

BRO . PATRICK AND THE STINGY LODGE .

rpHERE was once upon a timo an exceedingly mean and stingy J- Lodge , that was scarce ever known to do any thing for charity . All its money was either expended for banquets aud for the various paraphernalia of conferring the degrees , or was loaned around to various members of the Lodge , somo of whom paid neither principal nor interest .

Ono evening Bro . Patrick Fitzsimmons brought in an appeal for two widows , both in great distress . One was the widow of a Mason , who had died suspended for non-payment of dues ; the other the widow of a very worthy citizen who was not a Mason at all . After Pat had stated his case , and the matter had been argued both pro and con , but principally con , the case of each was put to vote . The first

case was voted down , on the plea that the woman ' s husband was not a Mason iu good standing ; the other was next voted down , on the ground that tho woman ' s husband was not not a Mason , though a very worthy man . This aroused the Irish of Bro . Pat , who was a warm-hearted son of old Erin , and who knew very well that the

reason why the Lodge voted down each appeal was because it was stingy , and had no true Masonic charity . Boiling over with feeling , Pat arose and addressed the AVorshipful Master in the following strain : " AVorshipful Blaster , this Lodge puts me very much in mind of an old Irish anecdote :

" Thero was a Bishop in Dublin who engaged a paiuther to make a large picture for the Cathaydral . The subject chosen was tho crossing of the Red Say by the Israelites . After a shuteable time the picture was complayted and hung in the Cathadral , covered with a broad and heavy curtain . A great crowd of people had collected to see tbe picture unvceled . The priests entered in procession , the

organ sounded and the singers sung . All faces were tinned in anxious expectation to the great curtain . AVhen it was drawn aside nothing could be seen but a vast expanse of wather—reddish-green wather . Tho Bishop in great rage turned to the painther and said : ' I thought I asked you to paint a picture of the Israelites crossing the Red Say ?'

Thrue for you ! that s just it , ' said the painther . ' Bnfc where are the Israelites ? ' asked the indignant Bishop ' They ' re gone over , ' said the painther . ' Well , but where are the pursuing Egyptians ?' ' They ' re gone under , ' said the painther .

'And now A \ orshipful and brethren , it sames about so wid ye here . If I ax ye to help a Mason ' s widow ye say : ' he ' s gone over , ' nnd if I ax ye to help a widow of another man , ye say : ' he ' s gone under , ' and betwixt them ye jist give nothing ct all ! ' " Masonic Review .