The Masonic Elections.

THE MASONIC ELECTIONS .

IN the Masonic as in the profane world the largest throngs of individuals are congregated at an election season . It would seem , at first thought , as though in Masonry it ought to be otherwise ; that the current business of the Craft , and the frequent specially interesting

proceedings , should attract a large proportion of the membership at the various meetings prior to " election night "; bnt when we reflect that , after all , the most weighty consideration is , Who shall rule the Fraternity , in its various Masonic bodies ? it seems right and proper

But , supposing a new J . W . is to be selected , whom shall he be ? He should be a brother who not only promises well , but has been seen to perform well . He should have

already served his Lodge in a subordinate capacity . While exercising the duties of his place , he should have displayed that manliness , energy , whole-heartedness , and manifest ability to do something better in a more responsible position ,

it will be a fortunate one for Freemasonry , when the rule shall be tbat the officers of a subordinate Lodge shall be re-elected , where they have proved efficient in their respective stations . Rotation in office when pushed to an extreme becomes injudicious . At an early period , in this

jurisdiction , and generally also in other jurisdictions , all the officers of a Lodge were elected twice a year , prior to each St . John ' s Day . How absurd was this paltry six months service ! How little did the practice thus attained qualify the officers for the best service of the Craft ! A year ' s

service does but little more , while two years service , in meritorious cases , would redound in every way to the benefit of the Fraternity . Brethren , make a break in the present custom , for it is more honoured in the breach than in the observance .

should never be lost si ght of that the Lodge is a microcosm —a little world , imperitim in imperio ; and most , important of all is tbat it should be wisely and ably governed . The Master should have a governing head and a governing hand , be able to think , decide , and act promptly , be skilled

m ruling men as well as making Masons . If such a brother has been presiding over you during the present Masonic year , you cannot do better , nor so well , as to reelect him for the succeeding term . In the Grand Lodge it has long been customary to have the Grand Officers each

serve for two terms in their respective stations , and it would be well for subordinate Lodges to adopt the custom in every case in which their officers have served them diligently , faithfully and skilfully . Ordinarily a W . M . goes out of office just as he has become thoroughly fitted

for exercising the prerogatives of his station for the best advantage of the Fraternity . The practised worker and presiding officer must step down , as soon as he has qualified himself for the most skilful performance of his dnties . This ought not to be . We trust to see the day come , and

very careful how they vote . Some of them go ab the request of personal friends , who expect their votes ; others go on general principles , to observe once a year what is doing in the Lodge , and to vote for " the best man " for Junior Warden . After all , to the majority , this is tbe

vital question " Who shall be Junior Warden ? ' Here , we submit , they beg the question . The most important consideration is , " who shall be W . M . ? " The J . W . is only a prospective W . M ,, and until he becomes such , rarely takes part in the government of the Lodge . The fact

For better or worse , " election night " is one that draws out many of the stay-at-homes . They come in throngs . Sometimes they are so little known as to require introduction all around—the Secretary and a few of the older members only knowing them . These brethren should bo

should not so much be , will my friend be elected ? as , will one be elected who will be an honmir to the Lodge , a credit to the Fraternity , a capable worker , and a generally efficient officer .

is measured by their ability . If the W . M . bo a thoroughly competent and estimable Freemason , he ensures for the Lodge over which he presides a year of concord and prosperity . Brethren should remember this before they determine how they shall cast their votes . The question

that the December meeting should draw together the largest number of members . There is no reason , of course , why they should remain away in January , and thereafter , but there is every reason why they should be present in December . The officers of a Masonic body to a large degree stand for the body itself ; it is judged by their conduct , it

The Masonic Elections.

so as to at once indicate to his brethren that he is worthy of promotion . Then again it sometimes happens that an old member , who has often served tho Lodge , in and out of season , but who modestly has kept himself always iu the background at tho election season , deserves to be

honoured . Whoever it is , let his merit speak for him , let his manifest ability command your votes . Above all , sec to it that you do not elevate ono whose electioneering skill is his predominant ability . Of course every brother may acquaint his personal friends with his willingness to serve

as an officer , but this is a very different matter from making a canvass of all the voters , by himself or his friends . Again and again has electioneering been decided to bo nn-masonic . The most competent , high-minded brethren will not resort

to it . When a comparative stranger solicits your vote , it is always safe to say no , and vote against htm . He has yet to learn a radical truth in Masonry , that merit is the only passport to official station . We trust that such care will be exercised in the choice of officers in all our Masonic bodies at this season , that the ensuing year shall prove one of unalloyed prosperity . —Keystone .

The Old And New.

THE OLD AND NEW .

ONE of the divinest qualities in man is his ability to love the old and the new . The Athenians whom Paul met , and who spent their time in nothing else but either to tell or hear some now thing , lived in the days of Athenian decay and ruin , and do not stand as fair specimens of the human family . That marvellous pageant of learning

and art which passes before us at the mention of the name of that city , had marched along and had disappeared almost five hundred years before the Apostle walked the streets , which had once rumbled with the chariots of heroes , or had been marked with the steps of orators and philosophers .

Paul knew Athens in its faded age . It had groups of idlers on each corner , and on the steps of each temple , and they loved to say and hear nothing except the sensation of the day . Had the Apostle lived when

Socrates and Pericles and Xenophon , and thousands of great men and great women were living for every form of knowledge and for every art , he would have left us a different estimate of Athenian taste and customs . Perhaps in other lands and other times the desire to hear and to

tell only some new thing may be a sign of a decaying country . But was it not , and is it not , a mental merit to be eager for something new ? Is not progress itself the fruit of this anxiety to meet with a new fact , or a new idea , or a new

emotion ? The negative answer is the better one to bo given to such inquiries , for that is only a half-mind or a half-heart which looks to the new alone . All narrowness of thought and sentiment must be reckoned among the defects of man rather than among his virtues . To watch

for only new appearances is to leave half of the spiritual sky unseen . It is as though one had hope and no memory . To seek ever to hear , or see , or possess some new thing is to make the soul undergo a great reduction of resources and happiness . The evil of the last days of Athens is the

evil of onr country , as truly , but not as widely . We have a limited number of citizens and strangers always who demand that each day bring them some new excitement . Not some new good or new duty , but the delight of something that had not hitherto come to pass . To these a

day would be heavy as lead should it come only in the quiet dress of remembrance , or in the common toilet of simple time—time destitute of conflagration , or murder , or romance , or war , or calamity , public or private . Existence alone is not sweet—they ask for something startling . Could we reach some correct conviction as to this chase

after the new , how ardent that chase should be ; we should , beyond doubt , be able to lead lives of more scope and of less vicissitude . It is a rather dreadful thing to have our happiness or activity dependent upon a procession of startling events ! ' This is a form of intemperance . Each

year more novelties are demanded by this kind of demoralized soul . As the glutton , by his long devotion to his low appetite , increases his capacity and his hunger , and becomes at last as voracious as a carnivorous beast , so

the mind can seek and love the new until half tho days in the year are made dead clays by the absence of amazing events . The gluttonous soul almost wishes some calamit y would come , to somebody else , so as to disturb the becalmed