Our Banquet.

efficiency and zeal , and that , so long as they continue to hold office , there need be no fear as to tho stability and progress of our Ancient and Honourable Institution—( cheers ) . With this toast is associated the namo of some Grand

Officer who may be present—some ornamental personage , who is invited in order to give colour to the event , and that the toast may be responded to in some sort of fashion . This worthy brother invariably makes the same speech in returning thanks . He is delighted to

have seen the admirable working of the Lodge , and tbe manner in which the Immediate Past Master has acquitted himself whilst installing his successor into the chair of K . S . He has this day proved his interest in , and devotion to , the Craft in general , ancl this Lodge in particular , and

set an example which he hopes all those who follow him will emulate , of installing those who come after him as rulers of the Lodge . To which the Past Masters , who have gone through the same kind of thing before , and who feel

a little of the honour now showered upon the Immediate Past Master reflected upon themselves , murmur " hear , hear , " and raise their glasses amidst respectful smirks , as the Grand Officer resumes his seat .

Then up rises the Immediate Past Master , who has been the subject of such honeyed flattery , and who deems it scarcely necessary to hint even the toast he is now about to submit to the acceptance of the brethren . It is no less than the health of our newly-installed Worshipful Master

( cheers ) , who , having proved himself a true and zealous Mason in all the minor offices through which he has passed , has now reached the summit of his ambition , and has received at the hands of the brethren the highest honour which it is in their power to bestow upon him . He ( the

Immediate Past Master ) feels conscious of his many shortcomings and imperfections in his rendering of the Installation ceremony ( No , no ); but though he has passed from that proud eminence to which—though undeserving of it ( No)—he was " raised a year ago , by the kindness of the

brethren , his interest in the welfare of the Lodge remains unabated , and he can only wish for his successor a happy and prosperous year of office ( cheers ) . There are responsibilities connected with that dignity which—had he only known beforehand—would have made him hesitate before

accepting it at their hands ( Hear , hear , and cheers ) ; but , by the kind assistance of his Officers—and none more so than his worthy brother whose health he now proposes ( cheers)—he has succeeded , he hopes , in upholding the prestige of the Lodge , and in handing down to his

successor the insignia of the office untarnished , and with its lustre undimmed . Whereupon there are loud cheers and exclamations from all points of the compass , " Worshipful Master , " whilst a brother favours with a song or recitation , so as to give the W . Master breathing time

before replying to all the pretty things that have been said respecting him . As soon as the chorus is finished , the toastmaster exclaims , " Silence for the Worshipful Master , " who rises slowly , and under a sense of the ponderous responsibility

which has just been placed upon him , and which evidently oppresses him weightily . He can scarcely find language adequately to express his sense of the distinguished honour which the brethren have conferred upon him , for he feels he has done little or nothing to entitle him to such a mark

of their favour ( Yes , yes ) . Indeed , bnt for the bashfulness of some brother who is more eminently deserving of it , but who has magnanimously stepped aside to make room for him—unworth y as he is—he should have had to wait another year , and probably longer . But , having attained

the position at which he has aimed ever since his initiation into the mysteries and privileges of the Order , he pledges himself to devote his utmost energies to the study of those duties which the brethren naturally expect from him , and with which he is as yet but imperfectly acquainted . He is

also deeply impressed with the ineffectual attempts he has made to perform even the preliminary functions with which he has just been entrusted ( no ); but he shall be jealous of the prestige of the Lodge into which it was his happy fortune to have been admitted ( cheers ) , and he hopes that at

the end cf his year of office he shall have gained the approbation so ungrudgingly bestowed upon his predecessor , upon whose breast he now begs leave to affix a jewel , which

has been subscribed for by the whole of the brethren , as a mark of their esteem , and in recognition of the able and efficient manner in which ho has discharged his duties during the year . Might their excellent Immediate Past

Our Banquet.

Master live long to wear that memento of the iv-teom in which he is held by the brethren , and to add lo tlio illustrious roll of Past Masters who have preceded him , anil whom he is glad to see around him in such numbers as ho does this evening . He need hardly say lie shall do his

utmost to emulate the example they have set him , and to follow in the footsteps of thoso who havo shed lustre and dignity upon the annals of the Lodge ( cheers ) . Tho Immediate Past Master , as the mouthpiece of thoso distinguished brethren whose names have been associated

with the toast , couched in snch flattering terms by their Worshipful Master , must first thank the brethren for the magnificent token they have presented him of their fraternal regard , which he accepts as an expression of thoir kindness and generosity , rather than any deserved

recognition of his humble and inefficient services to tho Lodgo ( No ) . This is an honour which cannot bo purchased with gold , but must be earned by somo service—however humble—to the Craffc ; aud he shall hand ifc down to his posterity as an heirloom of the esteem and regard which

havo been so glowingly described by tho Worshipful Master , and some little of which he hopes ho may havo deserved ( cheers ) . He can assure the W . Master that , with his brother Past Masters , he shall bo most happy to

render what little assistance he can during that worthy brother ' s year of office , as he himself has been grateful for the counsel and aid which have been extended to him by his predecessors ( cheers ) .

The other Past Masters reply seriatim , each expressing the same sentiments , and assuring tho Worshipful Master of their fatherly interest , and promising the benefit of what little aid they can give him as tho result of thoir experience . Then follows the health of the Initiates—a toast of vast

importance on all occasions , not so much for any now light those brethren can shed upon the subject — from the simple fact that as yefc they know very little about it—but from an itching desire to pick up a few sentences which fall like childish innocence upon the ear of tho initiated .

These replies possess , at all events , the charm of originality , for gentlemen who have cultivated the faculty of speaking at length in other assemblies , in which they have gained greater experience , being hero so overawed by their new surroundings , and the solemnities throngh

which they have passed , are merely able to stammer out a word or two of thanks for the high honour conferred upon them by having been admitted into such distinguished company , and to assure the brethren thafc they hope to become apt students of the Art , and to rise at some time

to the height and stature of good Masons . At which sentiments there is always applause , while nofc unfrequently a ripple of laughter is caused by the youngest and most incipient of the initiates proposing " the Worshipful Master's good health in return . "

But of all the toasts that come with genial warmth perhaps the greatest is thafc of the Visitors , invariably proposed with pardonable pride and gusto by the Worshipful Master . Hospitality is one of the distinguishing characteristics of a Freemason ' s heart , and in all Lodges Visitors

are welcomed with the heartiest good feeling . But in this Lodge in particular the welcome is surpassing , ancl as often as Visitors come—and the oftener the better ( cheers ) —they will find the same open-handed and open-hearted hospitality extended to them ( cheers ) .

Whereupon , after the toast has been drunk with a full charge , and all the honours , the Visitors' names are read over with emphatic pride , each being received with audible expressions of welcome . The Visitors rise in a row , amidst loud applause , and

they also are generally unanimous in the sentiments they express . They are all delighted with the excellent working they have witnessed iu the Lodge , and congratulate the Worshipful Master upon his wise discretion in tho selection of his Officers , and upon the faultless precision with

which the installation ceremony was performed by tho Immediate Past Master . In fact , having visited many Lodges , they must confess they never saw better , if such good , working ( Hear , hear ) . They are pleased beyond measure with the lavish hospitality and truly Masonic

greeting with which they have been welcomed ; and although this is the first time they have had the gratification of meeting the brethren at the festive board , they sincerely hope it may not be the last . This heroic sentiment is followed by a succession of " hear , hears , " which are as exuberant as they are well-