Our Holiday Jaunt.

OUR HOLIDAY JAUNT .

FROM THE M ASONIC MONTHLY .

rjlHAT it will do ns all good to have a holiday is an undoubted -L fact ; but whether we shall all get one is quite another question . Let us hope that we all may , and that , as the poet sings , it may do ns all good , and send us back to work and duty strong , cheery , and contented .

From meadows dappled o ' er with daisies , Or sweet with scent of new-mown hay , From woods amid whose tangled mazes Tho laughing sunbeams dart and play , From rippling brooks and river reaches , From haunts of heather and of fern , From giant cliffs and pebbly beaches , Glad-hearted wanderers return . '

The Summer holiday is over—The few short weeks , or days , or hours And homeward goes each happy rover Beside the sea , or ' mid the flowers . Once more for all the path ' of duty ;

But hand and brain are now made strong j And , steeped unconsciously in beauty , The heart retains its Summer song . Thns richly blessed , have we no pity For those whose lives are sad with care ,

Who herd in valleys in the city , And cry aloud for God ' s pure air ? Surely the Summer days will darken , Earth will not be one-half so fair , Unless with willing hearts we hearken , And of our pleasures yield a share .

Still there seems to be one or two warnings for ns all , which it may do us some little good to remember and to realise . If our holiday jaunt has led us abroad among the " parlez-vous " or " ausgezeichnets , " OB some one has said , let us hope that we have not been ashamed to speak a foreign language . There are many John Bulls who seem to dislike conversing in what they term " outlandish lingo . " But how

foolish , and worse than foolish , is such a feeling , such a prejudice . The acquisition of a foreign language increases not only the possibility of extending our own knowledge of things , men , bodies and countries , but raises ns in the scale of ruminating , thinking , and conversable beings . Formerly far too little attention was paid in our schools and colleges to the study of foreign languages j now , let us

trust , we are bent on removing this serious defect , and strengthening this patent week point in our general system of national education . But let none of us suppose that we can travel in foreign parts and rely on dictionaries , vocabularies , railway guides and books of conversations . All who do so sooner or later inevitably break down , and sometimes when it is most inconvenient for them to do so . And as

we may always be taught , even as the schoolmen say , " ex converso , we lighted the other day on a good little story of a German's confifidence in a dictionary which brought him to great grief , and which many of us , all who talk to foreigners from books and vade mecums , may well keep in memory and apply to our practice . A German , whose English education had been somewhat neglected

obtained an interview with an English lady , who , having recently lost ber hnsband , must ( as he in his single German condition took for granted ) be open to new offers , and accordingly opened his business thus : " High-born madame , since your husband have kicked de bucket—" " Sir , " said the lady , astonished and displeased .

" Oh , pardon , madam—nine , ten thousand pardons ! Now I make new beginning—quite oder beginning . Madame , since your husband have cut his stick—" It may be supposed that this did not mend matters , and , reading so much in the lady ' s countenance , the German drew out an actavo dictionary , wad , pevBpiriag vtith sh & tae at having a second time

missed fire : " Madam , since your hnsband have gone to kingdom come—" This he said beseechingly ; but the lady was past propitiation this time , and rapidly moved towards the door . Things had now reached a crisis , and , if something were not done quickly the game was up . Now , therefore , taking a last hurried look at his dictionary , the

German flew after the lady , crying out , in a voice of despair : " Madam , since your husband—your most respected husband—yonr never-enoff-to-be-worshipped husband—have hopped de twig , —" This was his sheet anchor , and as this also came home , of course the poor man was totally wrecked . It turned out that the dictionary he had used , a work of one hundred and fifty years back , had , from

mere German ignorance , given slang translations from Tom Brown , L'Estrange , and other jocular writers—has put down the verb sterbm { to die ) with the following worshipfnl series of equivalents : 1 . to kick the bucket ; 2 . To cut one ' s stick ; 3 . To go to kingdom come ; 4 . To hop the twig—to drop off the perch into Davy ' s locker . This was the only equivalent he had not been able to introduce .

Neither when we are on our holdiday jaunt should we forget the needful rules of caution and common sense . Many a pleasant journey has been a painful experience , and has left unwelcome memories , because we forget our habitual care in the selection of friends and acquaintances . Some of ns will recall Bro . Anthony Trollopo ' s amusing stories of a " Ride through Palestine , " and of " Tho Man

who kept his money in a Box , " and will fully grasp the point of the following amusing little bit of pleasant American satire : — A short time ago a Detroiter seated his dear wife in a car on the Michigan Central to make the journey to Chicago alone ; he took a look around him , and said to her : " Now , my love , if you should want the window raised , here arc a dozen gentlemen who will break their nooks to accommodate you . "

Our Holiday Jaunt.

" Yes , my dear , " she said . " If you feel lonesome , and want some one to talk to you about affairs in Egypt , Noah ' s Ark , or the ice period , don't hesitate to call upon any of these gentlemen . " " I understand you , my dear . " " You won't know enough to leave the oar at noon and get your

dinner , and you had better ask some of them to accompany you . If they offer to pay for your meal , don't be squeamish about it . " " Of course not , my dear . " " You may want to read to pass away the time . If so , any of these gentlemen will be only too happy to purchase you a half bushel of the latest books and magazines . Be careful to save ' em for me to

read when yon get home . They can pay for them . " I'll be certain , love , to attend to what you say . " " And yon can say to them that we have been married four years ; we do not live happily together ; I am a domestio tyrant ; you have strong thoughts of procuring a divorce ; you feel that you could love the right sort of a husband ; you like oranges and peanuts ; you are

innocent and confiding ; you have never travelled ; you are afraid of getting lost in Chicago , and you will be ever so muoh obliged to any one who will get you a hack , see to your trunk , and pay all expenses . Good-bye , love . " " Good-bye , my darling . " And wasn't it strange that not one single man in that car even

spoke to that lady in a ride of three hundred miles ? A few rules of common sense , a kindly and considerate temper , a good-humoured determination to put up with small inconveniences , and an avoidanco of grumbling , querulous and fidgetty temperament will do much and go far to make our holiday jaunt pleasant and ourselves agreeable to the company we meet , and the fellow-travel .

lers we stumble upon . The writer of this little paper has travelled as much as most people , and he has always found this , that , except in very rare cases indeed , the troubles and worries travellers suffer are more or less imaginary , and can easily be home or even avoided by pleasant and unfailing courtesy . Some good folks seem to revel in difficulties and vexations ; to be always unfortunate , ill-treated , and oppressed . In nine cases out of ten such disturbances of the

situation spring from our great insular weakness , a forgetfulness that other people have ideas , tastes , and customs of their own , and that though English normal life and views are very good for England , they do not always suit France or Belgium , Switzerland or Germany , Holland or Italy ; and that we must always be on our guard against that vulgar tendency to depreciate or ridicule everything foreign , all that does not exactly tally with our home ways and habits , our insular tastes and notions . We have to be " oitizens of the world "

if we wish to enjoy our holiday jaunt , especially abroad ; and if nothing will satisfy us but English food and English hours , if we are unsociable and miserable because the dinners we eat , the language we hear , the life we lead , because all these things , I say , are different from our own at home in our " tight little island , " then , in the name

of all that is sensible and reasonable , let us put by Baedeker and the Continental Bradshaw , onr Murray and our travelling maps , and let us make no further or longer expedition than that whioh will land us at Heme Bay or Eichmond , Erith or Broadstairs , the Isle of Thanet , or the Isle of Dogs !

Masonic Welcome To The Members Of The British Association.

MASONIC WELCOME TO THE MEMBERS OF THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION .

ON Monday evening , 28 th August , a special assembly of the Prov . Grand Lodge of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight was held at the Masonic Hall , Albion-place , Southampton , for the purpose of tendering the right hand of fellowship from the Province to the Masonic members of the British Association , and , as will be seen below , was attended by brethren from all parts of the kingdom , as

well as by some beyond its borders . The chair was taken by Won Bro . W . W . B . Beach , M . P ., the Provincial Grand Master , who was supported on his right by W . Bro . W . Hickman , his Deputy , and the atteedence of members of Prov . Grand Lodge and visitors included Bros . J . Druitt inn . P . M . 195 P . G . S . W ., A . Miller P . M . 394 P . G . J . W .,

J . E . Le Fenvre P . M . 130 T . Q . Sec , J . E . Hayman W . M . 309 P . G , Keg ., H . W . Townaend P . M . 1903 P . G . S . D ., C . W . A . Jellicoe P . M 130 P . G . J . D ., W . Gamou 76 and 1883 P . G . Steward , Rev . H . Adair Pickard P . G . Chaplain England , A . Tate P . P . G . S . W . P . P . G . S Antrim , P . Braham P . Provincial Grand Organist Somerset , J

L . Knowles , BA ., Oxford , J . Westrope 951 , H . Unwin P . M . 699 , J . Rhodes P . M . 925 , J . Cole P . M . 130 , E . Waters D . C . 1461 , Hyde Clarke M . W . G . M . Columbia 10 , R . Capper J . W . 1323 , T . Kingston P . M . 862 , 1612 , E . C . Patchett J . W . 47 , G . Davies W . M . 130 , J . Broster W . M . 785 , E . F . Bamber 1615 , J . Clark P . M . 359 ,

T . P . Payne P . M . 130 and 394 , A . Paris W . M . 394 , Henry Lashmore S . W . 494 , J . D . Barford ( Sheriff of Southampton ) P . M . 359 J . W . 394 , E . T . Howell P . M . Sec . 394 , A . L'Argent Bell Chaplain 394 , W . Roebuck P . P . G . S . W . Middlesex , W . Brunnin S . W . 903 , G . B . Irons J . W-903 , J . S . Pearco P . M . 1780 , R . Beale W . M . 437 , T . Page 1903 , Silas

Dore 389 , W . Baird S . D . 130 , Hamilton Storey 10 , G . Grant S . W . 1780 , J . Adams P . M . Sec . 359 , 1 . Harle P . M . 1780 , C . Marshall J . W . 130 , C . A . Dyer P . M . 359 , J . O'Connor P . M . 257 , W . J . Hickman P . M . 130 , E . F . Vansittart I . G . 115 , C . W . Bomister I . G . 130 , G . 1 . Tilling P . M . 130 146 P . P . G . Supt . Works , E . Glasspool S . W . 723 , C . J . Phillips P . M . 130 P . P . G . S . D ., W . H . Chapman , C . E . Scanlan ,

W . Berry W . M . 1780 , W . Terrill 1573 , H . Eance P . M . 366 , Kyshe Mauritius , H . C . Davis 73 , H . A . Williams J . D . 950 , C . Cox P . M . 394 , S . Mayer Immediate Past Master 130 , Rev . H . H . Pereira , G . Dymotc Past Master 394 Past Provincial Grand Registrar , H . E . Arthur W . M . 359 , J . E . Aldis J . D . 359 , James Bissie St . Anthony Inverane , A . Barfield P . M . 35 P . P . G . D ., W . Bone P . M . 394 , J . Stevens Treasurer 1780 , E . T . Budden P . M . 195 , T , P . Futcher P- » - 586 and 1112 P . P . G . D . C . and P . G . D . Wilts , T . Mackenzie 1 *» ,