Our Masonic Institutions.

OUR MASONIC INSTITUTIONS .

WERE some of our ancient Brethren to revisit this sublunary scene they would be affected and startled , in respect of the now wonderful outcome of English Masonic Charity . Faithful and availing as their labours and

efforts were in their own time and generation , the present position of our great Masonic Charities is in truth marvellous and unprecedented . Whether we look at their general effect or special characteristics , whether we have

regard to the form they take or the good they effect , the sight and the realisation are before us , both very pleasant to contemplate and very good indeed to comment and meditate upon .

In saying this we should not forget what is going on elsewhere in the same good cause . For instance , in America much is doing , and more will yet be accomplished in the active development of Masonic

Relief , whatever form it may take , whatever semblance it may assume . In , San Francisco , for instance , we read how the Masonic Board of Relief in thirty years has disbursed

200 , 000 dollars in Masonic relief and comfort , of which eighty per cent , has been for brethren outside the Californian jurisdiction

The little jurisdiction of Idaho , with twelve Lodges and five hundred Brethren , has set up an Orphans' Fund , with such praiseworthy zeal and energy , that , as Bro . Clifford

MacCalla says , in the Keystone , if this example were generally followed in America , a sum of twelve millions of dollars might speedily be raised .

It has been said , that often in the hour of victory we forget those to whose availing courage , skill and heroism we owe alike the full blaze of present triumph , the long hours of after peace . As Freemasons we should remember to-day the debt we owe to those good brethren of ours who , in season and out of season , have advocated the

extension and expansion of the Charity movement , those persistent supporters and those distinguished patrons whose charitable zeal has never flagged , and whose material hel p has been in many well-known cases most striking and

most munificent . And , therefore , it seems to be our bounden duty , and a grateful appreciation of past labours , to recall to our memories to-day those who , like Brother Binckes , first ploughed with untiring energy and

such signal success an often arid soil , and permanently raised the Boys' School to what it undoubtedly is . Brother ¦ Terry , under whose able and devoted management , the & oyal Masonic Benevolent Institution has witnessed such

progressive expansion and such palmy days . Bro . Hedges , to whose steady and successful administration of the wirls * School we should not be doing right if we did uot tender to-day a humble note of fraternal commendation .

•the Grand Master , with that thorough knowledge of the traffc which he possesses , at the Jubilee meeting displayed his entire appreciation of the charitable efforts of late years in respect of our great Metropolitan Institutions .

a "d has , to mark further his sense of their devotional zeal aQ d energy , honoured these three well-known brethren of 0 nrs with the often much coveted Purple of our Order , "here are many charitable Institutions in the metropolis ,

aa We all know , which claim our best support , and merit ° ^ . mest approbation on every ground of special titUit y , personal help and feeling , and the public weal Q t to our mind the Masonic Charities can claim the

Our Masonic Institutions.

fullest equality with the most valued and the most valu ^ able , the most needed and tho most practical . For they appeal to tho best feelings of the Mason , and

the warmest sympathies of the man . They bring home relief and solace to the old , the weary , the forlorn , and the unfortunate .

Old and young alike indeed come under their discriminating comprehension , and are materially and personally relieved by their ample largesse . They seek to bring up those little children whom death has deprived of

parental care , or to whom disease in its inevitable assaults has closed the possibility of befitting education , whether as little girls or little boys , within the control , the instruction , the comfort , the shelter of a home . For them , God knows , life often begins roughly and sadly enough .

Those who bask in the sunshine of domestic brightness and happiness , those who share in the comforts and luxuries of a well-appointed family circle , those whose infant steps are superintended and guided by the concern

and reality of parental vigilance , often little know indeed what are the sorrows , the trials , the temptations , which beset the young , especially when fallen from a better

estate , and often surrounded necessarily , from their earliest hours , with the sounds and sights of vice and even depravity .

The warm heartedness and liberality of English Freemasons have rescued , humanly speaking , many poor Masons' daughters from ignorance , from danger , and from disgrace .

How many old Masonians will gladly recall in after hours , let us hope of unfailing prosperity , the for them happy , peaceful , aud improving hours spent by them in

our Masonic Boys School , whence they made their start in this uneven world , and began the often hard battle of life , with the kindly help , the sound instruction , and the warmest sympathies of the good Brotherhood of

Freemasonry . The old men we aid in decay of powers , and in the wants of declining years , are very often the comrades of happy years of bygone Lodge work and Lodge

association . For them our fraternal efforts are justly made ; for them our truest sympathy is properly invoked . Their widows they seem to leave to us as a legacy for brotherly sympathy . and care to watch over . "As widow ' s sons "

ourselves , we are bound on every ground of humanity and Fraternity , to give our mite ever and anon for the poor widows of Brother Freemasons . Can Freemasons then spend their money more wisely ?

or compass a truer result r or carry out a better work than is exemplified and developed by these great Institutions ? We trow not ! And therefore to-day , remembering gladly the labours of the past , and looking with pride on the

efforts of the present , let us continue to anticipate with hope and assurance that the progress and prosperity of theso remarkable and praiseworthy Charities of our great

Order will yet receive commensurate support , encouragement , and hearty maintenance in the future of English Freemasonry .

Masonic Sociality.

MASONIC SOCIALITY .

A WORD upon this subject may not be out of place , in view of what seems to be an increasing tendency of our more thickly settled communities to gather in social