The Girls' School Election.

applications . She has been more successful than either of the others , having secured 665 votes at tho election in October ; another snch a total and sho will bo on the register of the Institution as a pupil . Let us hope that the votes will be forthcoming . No . 26 , Jessie Louisa Beilby ,

the last of the seven dependent fatherless children series , is a new case . Her father was a member of ono of the Newcastle-on-Tyne Lodges , and subscribed for some few years , up to the time of his death . No . 1 , Minnie Woodward , one of a family of six who are dependent on the

exertions of their mother , now comes forward , for tho fourth time , with a total of 758 votes to her credit . Her father wns P . M . of the Inhabitants Lodge , No . 153 , Gibraltar , and has a record of twenty-two years Masonic membership , a fact which should carry some weight with those who have

a voice in the selection of the candidates most deserving of support . No . 8 , May Amelia Wheeler , now appears for the second time , with 410 votes to her credit . She and five other children are left to a mother ' s care , who , let us hope , may ere long he relieved of all anxiety so far as the one

now seeking election is concerned . No . 15 , Beatrice Mary High , similarly circumstanced to the last referred to , as regards number of applications and family , is much bettor off with respect votes to already polled ; her total now standing at 1395 , a number which , although insufficient to

secure her election in October last , when only eight girls were admitted , should be ample now , when twenty-three are to be chosen out of thirty-five approved . No . 13 , Amy M . Owen , has seventeen votes to her credit from one previous election . Her case is accredited to the Province of

North Wales and Shropshire , the brethren of which may be relied upon for doing as much as is possible for her . She is a member of a family of six children , five of whom are wholly and one partially dependent on a widowed mother . There remain five cases in which there are

families of five dependent children . No . 10 , Eleanor Alice Johnstone is the first of these , and her admission is , we may say , quite certain , as she brings forward a total of 1429 recorded votes from last election . No . 1 * 7 , Emily Pinder , a West Yorkshire candidate , is very

differently circumstanced , as she has but one vote to her credit , still her chances are almost equally good , provided the Province take the case in hand , for at such an election as that coming on it is almost certain they will carry their nomination . It may be a strange proceeding to argue that a candidate who has but one vote to her credit is

almost as sure of success as she who has sufficient for a place , but past experiences lead us to adopt such an argument as a good one , and we have no doubt but that tho result will confirm our surmise . No . 20 , Edith Daisy Capon , has both parents living , but her father is described

as insane , an affliction which we have often deseribed as being almost worse than death itself . Most certainly such a case should call for more sympathy than one in which the father is dead , for the mother not only has the anxiety of her children , but likewise that of her husband .

No . 28 , Kate Irene Gooch , and No . 34 , Fanny Margaret White , are the other two who are members of families of five dependent ; they are both first application cases , the former from Hants and Isle of Wight , the latter from the Eastern Diviison of South Wales . Four children entirely

dependent , and one partially so , are the particulars given in the case of No . 12 , Edith Ellen Betts , who now comes forward for the second time , with a total of five votes to her credit . Her father was initiated many years ago , and was at one time Master of his Lodge . We hope his

membership was not so far back as to leave him forgotten by his brethren , or that the twenty years which have elapsed since . his active membership of the Craft ceased has witnessed the death of those to whom he mi ght look for support . No . 2 , Jane Wheeler Hutchings , is one of four

fatherless children . She now appears for the third time , and brings forward 431 votes . No . 5 , Mary Tanner , also one of four dependent children , has 1233 votes to her credit from October last , and will doubtless secure a place among the fortunate ones at the coming contest . No . 6

Florence Ann Motion , similarly circumstanced as to family dependent and number of elections in which she has already taken part , has 858 votes to her credit , while No . 30 , Louisa Kate Pincombe , the last of the " fours , " is

a first application case . There are five cases in which the number of dependent children is returned as three , and of these No . 11 , Fanny Heath , stands the best chance , as she has 141 votes already polled . No . 4 , Mabel Harriet Godfrey , has five votes to her credit , while No . 22 ,

The Girls' School Election.

Florence Wilson Bush ; No . 24 , Marion Bloomfield ; and No . 29 , Rose Lancaster Haworth , are new cases . No . 19 , Lucy Harrison , one of two children left to a mother ' s cave , has i \ o less than 1664 votes already polled on her behalf , a number which without doubt will carry her in at

tho ensuing contest . No . 27 , Lilian Caroline Fruh ; No . 31 , Florence Eleanor Relph ; and No . 35 , Mabel Kathleen Wood , are the other cases in which two dependent children are left , and these three are all first appli . cations . No . 7 , Florence Alice Weber , brings us to a

name well known to those associated with the Girls' School , our late Bro . Weber having been for some time clerk in the office of the Institution . His only child is a candidate for the benefits of the School , and will no doubt secure

admission at the coming election , she having already a credit of 1486 votes . No . 25 , Olive Ann Hurst , another " single " dependent child , concludes our review ; hers is a first application , and she has a brother in the Boy ' s School .

On the whole , we can but be struck with the seeming want of Masonic service on the part of the parents which pervades the list . There are , of course , one or two exceptions , but the majority of the cases are those resulting from comparatively young brethren , while in a very

small minority only is any reference to be found of Stewardships , & c , undertaken for our Charities . One argument is , that the benefits of the Schools should be bestowed not in proportion to what a father has done , but in all cases alike , but can this principle be carried too far ?

We think it can , and we think that those whose fathers do nothing for the benefit of the Institutions are hardly worthy of being placed on the same footing as those whose parents have worked hard for their profit , more especially when the applicants are Masons of but three or four years ' standing .

The History Of Freemasonry.

THE HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY .

( Continued from page 162 . ) THE Chapter on "Masons' Marks" will be found interesting , but as regards its successor , we think , with all due deference to Bro . Gould , that the story as told by him of " the Quatuor Coronati" is much too overlaid with detail . It is quite true , as he says , that " the history ,

legendary or otherwise , of the four patron saints of the mediaeval building trades must always possess a peculiar interest for the Masonic body , even though it be impossible fairly to deduce those arguments which some have sought to derive from it . " But the subject is not one on which

we hold it was necessary " to give every possible authority at length , " in order to arrive at what is described as a " tolerably safe conclusion . " The second paragraph of the chapter gives the story in the following " very few words . " Writes Bro . Gould : " Four officers of the Roman Imperial

Court and five sculptors were martyred for their faith in Christianity , in the reign , and apparently by the direct orders of Diocletian , and were interred in the same spot on the Via Labicana , a little outside Rome , on the road to Prseneste . The names of the five having in process of

time become forgotten , it was ordered that the entire nine should bear the appellation of the Four Crowned or Hol y Martyrs ( although it was always known that there were two distinct sets of martyrs ) . The names of the five were subsequently recovered , but the whole nine still retained

the original title , and the Church , built over their relics , and to which the bodies of other saints were subsequentl y removed , thus forming a kind of Christian Pantheon , after having been more than once destroyed , subsists to the present day . Hence has arisen a certain amount of confusion ,

the names of the martyrs and the priority of the respective martyrdoms having been occasionally mistaken the one for the other , while it happens strangely enough that the four officers of the Imperial Court have become the patron saints of the building trades instead of the ike

sculptors as in strict propriety it should have been , while the trade or profession of the five has survived under the name of the four . This confusion has , as we shall see in the sequel , been somewhat further increased b y the

fact of the names of one or two of them having been common to other martyrs with whom they had no real connection . " Here we have the story with one or two obvious comments . Whether we are assisted to a clearer understanding of it , so far as the history of Freemasonry