Tips At Masonic Meetings.

if it also were complicated by the question , " What is the least I can give without looking mean ? " The above remarks , from the " National Eeview , " attack a

practice we have often condemned in our pages , but it does not go nearly far enough , probably because it refers more particularly to private " dining out" instead of the more public system which prevails iu connection with English Freemasonry .

As wo recently observed in our pages some of the Tylers of our Lodges have come to regard the " hats and coats " as their especial perquisite , and so the " tipping" trouble commences as

soon as one sets foot at the door of the Lodge , as the regular attendants at some of the establishments are not backward in showing their resentment at what they consider an invasion of their rights , and a drain on their resources .

Next one has to run the gauntlet of the waiters at the banquet table , often in pairs and with no apparent arrangement as to the division of tips ; but the climax is reached when the visitor asks for his belongings , and is supplied by an attendant who hands them to yet another , who " puts the guest into his

great coat , ' neither being at all modest in bringing the contribution plate under the notice of the visitor , while in some cases a third attendant , more in the form of a supervisor , looks on and appears to divide his attention between noting that the guest pays something before he leaves , and seeing that the other

two attendants touch no part of it . We are convinced it would be a good thing for modern Masonry—and if for that then for all other dining parties—if the tipping system was abolished , and such a fair price included in the House bills as would render it unnecessary for servants to dodge the guests for gratuities three or four times during each attendance at a Lodge meeting .

Church Services.

CHURCH SERVICES .

ON Sunday afternoon a Masonic service took place in St . Giles ' Cathedral , Edinburgh , and , like previous services of the kind , it was very largely attended , not only by members of the Order , but by the general public . The arrangements were practically the same as those that obtained three years ago ,

when , to obviate the undue crowding of the church , the public were asked to pay a small charge for admission , the sum thus raised , as well as the collection taken at the close of the service , being applied to the Annuity Branch of the Fund of Scottish Masonic Benevolence .

By request of the Grand Master Mason Brother Sir Charles Dalrymple of Newhailes , M . P ., the Lodge Dramatic and Arts , Edinburgh , undertook the organisation and the management of the choral service , which was under the immediate charge of Bro .

James A . Moonie Past Grand Director of Music and Musical Director of the Lodge Dramatic and Arts , who himself conducted . Mr . Moonie had succeeded in bringing together a first-class orchestra ancl choir , numbering upwards of 140 in all , and by them the choral part of the service was admirably performed .

For the occasion the Parliament Hall was put at the disposal of the Crafsmen , and there they robed , marched across the Square in processional order , and entered the Cathedral by the west door . The officiating clergymen , the Eight Eev . Professor Story , Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of

Scotland , Past Grand Chaplain , and the Eev . John Glasse Past Grand Chaplain preceded by the mace bearer , entered the building ; and soon after they had taken their places—the Eev . Mr . Glasse first occupying the pulpit in order to conduct the

devotional services—the members of the Order , headed by the Grand Master and the office-bearers of Grand Lodge , filed into the Church , presenting in their regalia , and by the reason of their numbers , an imposing appearance .

The Grand Master read the lessons , and Professor Story having succeeded Mr . Glasse in the occupancy of the pulpit , took his text from I . Kings viii . 18 , and vi . 7 . The thoughts , he said , suggested by the text were those of a great idea and a great work , and the passages he had read dealt with the

building of the magnificient Temple , the memory of which was so closely connected with their Masonic ritual . The idea of the Temple had originated with David , but it was left to Solomon to carry the idea out . Now-a-days we were inclined to think that the test of any idea was whether it could be carried out-and

whether it would pay . In David ' s case , however , his idea built the Temple , though it was the hands of Solomon that carried it out . The possession of one great idea—one great principle , one great affection—lifted up the heart and mind of him in whom it dwelt above the sordidity ancl the selfish aims and the littlenesses of the world . The effort after infinite

attainment was pointed to when Christ said to His disciples , " Be perfect as your Father in Heaven is perfect . " There was no walk of life in which the keeping in view of that high idea might be of more use for their guidance than in the Masonic Craft . If they simply went into the Craft carelessly , if they carried through the ritual slovenly , if they regarded the Craft

Church Services.

only as a means of social fellowship , what a poor thing Masonry was . How different it was if they kept in view its history and its traditions , and strove to act up to its great { principles of charity and Brotherhood . If they were all to do that , Masonry might become a power in the land second to none on the side

of social order , and the spreading of the message of goodwill to men . And that power would be none the less potent because the work was done silently , as the building of the Temple was . Performed in silence as the great work was , it possessed this characteristic , specially interesting to the Masonic Craft , that it

must have been a harmonious work—work in which perfect order ruled , in which no wrangling prevailed , and in which under the Great Master Builder ' s -eye each workman did faithfully his allotted part in the realisation of the great idea . The builders of the Temple must have worked like people guided by one will ,

with one purpose in view , and cheered in their toil by sympathy . The Temple as a visible structure had passed away , and but the broken remnants of Israel mourned its desolation ; but the great idea of men preparing a house for tho Most High still remained ,

and the spirit of the builders of the Temple lived in the higher idea of man making himself a living Temple of the Lord . The smoke of the sacrifice no longer arose from the altar , but the spirit of sacrifice lived still and moved men to lay their offerings on the altar of the needs and sorrows of their Brethren .

After the sermon , the eighteenth Paraphrase was sung , after which prayer was offered . The collection in aid of the Masonic Annuity Fund was then taken , and the service was brought to a close by the singing by the choir of the " Hallelujah" chorus , and the pronouncement of the Benediction . — " Scotsman . "

THE Eev . Dr . Norman M'Leod , who officiated on Sunday , 30 th ult ., in presence of a very large congregation , at the first Masonic church gathering in Inverness for a quarter of a century , said there was nothing in the Order which could provoke

the suspicion of the most tender or most critical of individuals . The Order inculcated the high ideals of benevolence , piety , and truth , and having as their religious principle that of charity , it ought to commend itself to all men .

Exclusion For Unmasonic Conduct.

EXCLUSION FOR UNMASONIC CONDUCT .

THIS subject comes under notice very much oftener than it should do , and the only method of causing a decrease in the number of exclusions is for Lodges to be more careful in the selection of candidates , and by not letting the benefits derivable from the admission of a new member make them blind

to apparent or probable deficiencies . "Where an exclusion results from injudicious selection of members the Lodge is to blame and deserves no sympathy in the painful duty it has to perform ; there are cases where such undesirable Brethren are more difficult to

turn out than to secure , who keep a constant stain on their cable tow , but never put more weight on than it can safely support ; they become a source of great anxiety to the well wishers of the Lodge and should act as a warning in all subsequently admissions .

But in such a case as came under our notice at a New South Wales Metropolitan Lodge lately , the Brother in question had to all external appearances been judiciously chosen and had so impressed the Brethren as a worker and a good Mason that they elected him to the position of S . W . ; then unhappily the

blow came , his employers brought several charges against him , one amongst the number being embezzlement , he was tried , convicted and sentenced to 5 years imprisonment . On these facts being brought before the members of the Lodge they could

not allow him to remain a member , and consequently followed the painful course of having him excluded , returning his name to Grand Lodge for expulsion at its discretion , which will of course debar him from future participation in the rites and privileges of our antient and honourable Fraternity ,

A Mason has a two-fold membership , a membership in the whole Fraternity , and a membership in a local Lodge that is a constituent of a regular and lawfully constituted Grand Lodge . The first membership is the higher and paramount onethat embraces all there is of the mystic tie , and of friendship ,

morality , and brotherly love . The second membership is one of organisation and association , and is local in name , in character , in rights and privileges . To sustain such as organisation there must be a requisite fund , and that fund must be provided by the members by voluntary contributions or by the payment of fixed annual dues .

The great majority of Lodges have chosen the latter plan , and the need of money has made many of them too zealous for dues—so over-zealous that they have prevailed on their Grand Lodges to legislate that a non-affiliate of a few months' standing has no Masonic right or privilege but that of applying for reinstatement or affiliation . They admit that he is guilty of no