The Lifeboat Endowment Fund.

abroad that the Lifeboat Association can always obtain any amount of money •, that it has only to appeal to the public when it is in need of funds to find a golden stream pouring into its treasury . Members of the press , who see a little behind the scenes of most of the benevolent schemes which

engross a share of public attention , know how idle these dreams are . They are constantly receiving requests of one kind or another , and the admirable secretary of the Lifeboat Association constantly appeals , and never , we are happy to say , in vain , to our journalistic brethren for assistance in

bringing the operations of the Society before the world . The Association is greatly indebted to the press of the country for continuous and powerful aid in the furtherance of its benevolent intentions , but it is anxious to inspire organised bodies like the Masonic Fraternity with a desire to afford substantial assistance from funds which are

subscribed for the purposes of charity . If the various corporate institutions which abound in England were to make an effort it might be possible to relieve the Association of all anxiety with regard to its future operations . We are certain that our brethren will be anxious to lead the way

m this good work . They -will be proud to give a new and thoroughly practical turn to the overflowing charity of Englishmen , and if they succeed in endowing their own boat , tho London Mercantile world , the Civil Service , and other bodies will assuredly follow so good an example .

With regai'd to our own . past or prospective share in this work we desire to say little . We shall be prepared to fall in with the views of any Committee which may be formed for the purpose of making the Endowment idea a fact . We shall be willing to set forth the views of the Committee , to

support its policy , and to publish any appeals it may desire to make , free of charge . If it should be thought necessary , we will readily receive contributions , which will be paid over to the account we have already provisionally opened with the London and County Bank . We do not , however ,

desire to force ourselves unduly upon the attention of the Order in this matter . The idea of an Endowment Fund did indeed originate in our columns , and we shall be proud , as its sponsors , to take an active share in the work of the Committee , but if it should be thought wise to dispense with

our suggestions , and to adopt an entirely independent line of action , we shall still be ready to watch the agitation , and render such assistance as it is in our power to afford . All we desire is , to see the scheme successfully carried out . Wide publicity has already been given to the report of the

debate in Grand Lodge , and if it should go forth to the world that the Masons as a body are indifferent to the claims of one of the noblest institutions of this country , the Order will be certain to suffer more or less in prestige . We venture , in conclusion , to urge Brother Constable and his friends to set about the formation of a Committee

immediately . The ninety-nine gentlemen who supported the motion have given a tacit pledge that they will do all in their power to further tho cause in their respective

districts . There is nothing like striking while the iron is hot . We feel assured that an appeal from a Committee of Brethren will meet with a hearty and enthusiastic response from every Lodge in the Kingdom .

The Freemason At Home.

THE FREEMASON AT HOME .

THE Roman Catholic Church ignores Freemasonry , because it is a secret society . The Pope , the Cardinals , and the Priests , go on the assumption that secrecy must necessarily be an evil thing , and that if it were a gospel of truth it would be a gospel for all men , and not

for a chosen few . This opinion is shared by many men of the world , who arrive at a similar result by a different process of reasoning , and who , ignorant of the basis on which our Order rests , argue from a false premiss , and so arrive at a mistaken conclusion . We need not be surprised ,

therefore , when a great institution like the Roman Catholic Church , supplemented by the cold intellect called worldly , arrives at a given mental conclusion to find that such opinion should be not uncommon with the sisters , and more especially with the wives of Masons . We , who are

acquainted with the principles which guide our conduct , might easily afford to smile at what appears but as the confusion and blind wandering of a traveller lost in a forest . We might easily afford to smile , it is true , but this practice of ^ the sneerer , who sits serenely aloft , and laughs

The Freemason At Home.

at the intellectual gropings of his less taught brethren , can never be the way with , good Masons . Powerful for good and evil , as the Roman Catholic Church undoubtedly is , and knowing , as we do know , that the Pope himself , as a young man , was initiated into Freemasonry , we could bear

its censure calmly enough . So with the men of the world who deride our Order , we may comfort ourselves with the knowledge that very few great things have ever been accomplished by what are called men of the world . That the very faculty of enthusiasm , which they lack , is the

quality above all others which keeps the ball of this world rolling , and that , instead of being called men of the world , they should be called men outside the world . They hold the same relation to true progress as the critics do to the stage , ov the press to the legislature . Of themselves they

originate nothing ; self elected fault finders , they are tiseful as poppies in the corn are useful , to show where the soil is poorest , to flaunt a brilliant scarlet , and perish almost as soon as plucked . Presuming that we have , at least , to

our own satisfaction , confounded the Pope and the cynic , there yet remains the wife to conciliate . And wives , as we most of us know , have distinct opinions , or , shall we say prejudices , on the subject of Freemasonry .

To make the matter clear let us take a case from

the middle ranks of life . Tom Robinson , the suppositious Tom , is a young man of fair ability , a good digestion and a nice little business , what might he called , indeed , a going concern . Jn process of time Tom marries

a charming girl—all girls are charming , it is a mere question of degree—and , for a while , Tom is as happy as the days are long . The little wife is a matron sure enough , but as surely the local tradesman and the polite omnibus conductor insist on addressino- Madam as

Miss . This natural error is duly reported to Tom , who is as proud of the mistake as the little wife herself—prouder he cannot be . Time goes on , and presently a little Tom makes his appearance , a fragile curly headed lump of humanity , that somehow lightens up Tom ' s heart

whenever he looks that way , late at night or early in the morning , or , best of all , on Sundays . Presently the little wife gives Tom a miniature of herself in the shape of the most preternaturally beautiful little girl child that was ever seen in the wide , wide world . Now , Tom is the father of two

children , the husband of a little wife , a little wife broadened out about the shoulders , and with just a line or two in her dear forehead , but not a whit less handsome in Tom ' s eyes than when long ago they two made love under the trees in the green summer time . Besides the little wife and the

children , Tom has a going concern in the shape of a business , which thrift adds to year by year , and altogether Tom is in a good way , as many are at this present time , thank God ! It so happens that among Tom ' s friends is one Avho , small blame to him , sees in Tom the very man

for a Freemason—a sober , steady , kind hearted fellow , honest to the backbone , and withal fond of eating and drinking , and of the little wife at home . How the friend managed it , without asking Tom outright , will never be

known—that is a secret as profound as the identity of the man with , the Iron Mask , or the place where the cheap champagne comes from—but the friend did , somehow or other , have an influence over Tom , who in clue course became a Mason .

( At first the little wife , as she lay beside Tom in their nice white bed , had her misgivings that this new fancy might lead Tom away from his home , where they had all been so happy together , might take him into strange company , even bad company . So the little wife now and

again moistened her pillow with tears , all the while that Tom , big and broad of shoulder , slept calmly and peacefully , dreaming of a white kid apron , trimmed with blue silk , filling itself with golden sovereigns and levitating towards the girls' school , as a handsome donation from

Tom himself . Nor were the waking hours of the little wife quite free from care , for while Tom was busy with the books of the going concern—she , left at home , somewhat solitarily , as the way with Englishwomen is , could not hide from herself that a secret was hidden from her , and that

she had not all Tom s heart , as she was wont to have . It happened , moreover , as time went on , that love itself changed , that Tom was even a little less attentive , apparently somewhat less fond than in the times the little

wife could remember so well , when Tom ' s knock at the door , and his tread on the stairs , had set her own foolish little heart all of a flutter . This , likewise , which was no more than growth and use , was set down to Freemasonry