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Article THE CANDIDATES FOR THE GIRLS' SCHOOL. ← Page 2 of 2 Article TRADITIONS OF FREEMASONRY. Page 1 of 2 Article TRADITIONS OF FREEMASONRY. Page 1 of 2 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Candidates For The Girls' School.
to her credit . She also is one of five children left to a mother ' s care . Her father was initiated in the Prince of Wales' Lodge , No . 959 , Suffolk , and subscribed thereto until dentil . During his membership he qualified as a Life Subscriber of the Institution for which his
daughter is now a candidate , and on this account he stands out conspicuously as one of the few on the present ballot paper who did anything for the Charities beyond what they contributed through their Lodges . No . 52 , Ada Lilian Smith , is a first application case . Both her parents are living , and they havo seven children dependent on them , one only being partially provided for . The father is an old member ol" the Whittington Lodge , No . 862 , to which
he subscribed eleven years . It will thus be seen that the last application eases are remarkably few on the present occasion , but it must not be forgotten that to elect them all it would monopolise nearly one-half of the vacancies . Still , as we said last week , it would be better to strain a point on their behalf rather than run the risk of excluding them for ever from benefits
for which all the remaining candidates have other chances of competing . There are several cases still unnoticed , for which we should like to say a word , but with so many to choose from it is really impossible to guess as to the most deserving . All we can do is to express a hope
that the four last applications may be among the successful at the end of the present month , and that the remaining candidates may one and all in their turn secure a home in the Institution .
Traditions Of Freemasonry.
TRADITIONS OF FREEMASONRY .
rT , HE traditions of Freemasonry form a precious heritage . JL Rightly interpreted they are as beneficent as they are authoritative . Ono of them floating down the stream of time , through so many centuries that antiquity obscures
its source , is that when tho ancient society hero represented appears in public to perform ceremonies such as now calls us together , an eulogy upon the institution of Masonry itself shall invariably be included . This venerable Order
performs its ceremonials , ordinarily , removed from the public eye ; but when invited by the authorities iu charge of the erection of public buildings to lay the corner stone
of such edifices , it comes forth from its seclusion , aud throwing oft its habitual reticence and reserve , enacts its allotted part in no spirit of misery , but boldly avows its aims and purposes , aud indeed requires an exposition of its principles .
Freemasonry rests on a foundation of broad human sympathies . Its objects are , by precept and practice , to foster virtue , to inculcate charity , and to bind its members together in enduring bonds of brotherly love . He is the
best exponent of the Order whose life is most luminous with good works ; who can most tenderly feel for his fellow man in trial and affliction ; who never breaks the laws of the land , but most loyally upholds constituted authority :
and who loves virtue and frowns on . vice . Indeed , he only can be an ideal Mason who is also an ideal citizen . If tho - members of our Order in their daily lives do not
attain to this lofty standard , it must be borne in mind that precept is easier than practice , and theory than example ; and that even the Christian Church whose divine founder
points to heaveu and led the way , is filled with those who strive to adequately exemplify its exalted doctrines , but strive in vain , because poor , weak erring humanity can never fully realize its ideals , and all terrestrial things must
be imperfect so long as mankind exists under its present limitations . The institution of Masonry had its founda-. tions deeply and securely laid in the hopes , aspirations and affections of men , or it never could have come down to us
through the ages , evolving and developing with the lapse of time , adapting itself through revolving centuries to the changes of religion , civilisation and enlightenment , and ever retaining its hold upon the human heart .
Man is a sympathetic creature by nature and is prone to look to his fellow man for aid and counsel and for sympathy and companionship . The earliest assoc atioos or societies
Traditions Of Freemasonry.
of which we have knowledge were occasioned by the community of interests existing among those engaged in the great building operations of the past—the artisans employed in erecting the temples whose ruins , like
monuments to departed greatness , strew the lands of Asia , Africa and Southern Europe . Famous among these relics of antiquity was the Temple at Jerusalem , though no trace of it is known to exist in our day . The craft of those remote
periods are supposed to have been the earliest societies in existence , and as the structures of those days were uniformly built of stone , it is believed that the Masons formed the most powerful of those organisations , and thus
is explained the name and the adoption of many of the forms that characterise our present Order . When and how Masonry began—that august institution that has
developed into what is now termed speculative Freemasonryno man can tell ; and it matters not , for the tree is known by its fruit whatever may havo been its germ .
It has been objected by some that Masonry is a secret society , and therefore not entitled to public confidence and esteem . In any dangerous or obnoxious sense this charge is utterly groundless . While it is true that the initiation
of members , and the proceedings of most of its meetings are removed from the public eye , as are the concerns of a family , a business corporation and an infinite variety of other associations , yet its list of membership is as open as
the day ; its aims , its motives and its principles are heralded in print , and proclaimed in public places , as they are now being on this occasion . All politics and political agitation are sedulously excluded from its action and
consideration . The very character of its membership is a guarantee , not only of its freedom from aught that is harmful , but also of its possession of much that is laudable and desirable . The names of some of the most illustrious
citizens of this and other nations illumine its rolls . In America , Presidents , Governors , Senators , Judges , and other high officials have taken pride and pleasure in their connection with it . George Washington , whose name is
synonymous with all that is truest , most loyal , and most highly honoured in this republic , officiated as the Grand Master of Masons 95 years ago when the corner stono of our National Capitol was laid with the same ceremonies , save
in elaborateness , as those which are being performed on this occasion . His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales , the representative man of the British Empire , counts it as not the least of his honours that he is the Grand Master of
British Masons . The late German Emperor , old Kaiser William , whose name will echo through the corridors of time as the founder of one of the most phenomenal Empires of this age , thought it detracted not from his august dignity
to preside over the Grand Lodge of United Germany . If such men , who , of all others , would be jealous of aught that would interfere with legally constituted authority , could discern no danger in the harmless privacy
surround-Many ministers of God , likewise , belong to the Masonic
Fraternity . Not only is Masonry not antagonist to the precept and example of the meek and lowly Jesus of Nazareth , but no atheist can become a member of the
Order . No Masonic meeting can be opened , and no business in a Masonic body can be transacted , unless a copy of the Holy Scriptures is there present ; and the more staunch aud loyal the citizen , the purer and truer the
Christian , the more worthy and acceptable will be the
Mason . But the beat of summer , and the limitations of human endurance , admonish me not to linger too long , even on so grateful a theme as extolling thy virtues , 0 venerable and
august institution of Masonry ! During a membership of thirty years , in peace and in war , have I beheld thy beneficence . On the bloody field of Gettysburg have I witnessed Masonic soldiers of our own Rhode Island , clad in loyal
blue , tenderly raise the prostrate form of a Masonic Georgia colonel , robed in Confederate gray , and at the peril of their lives bear their inanimate burden to an appropriate place and there inter it and mark the spot , with all the gentleness of
brothers ; though their conceptions of duty in life had forced the parties to that fraternal burial to engage in deadly strife . I have listened to the recital of exchanged
prisoners how Masonry has softened the rigours of their grim experience , though it would not interfere with the performance of duty to the cause espoused by its members .
ing some Masonic observances , surely the most timid conservatism may safely cast aside its apprehensions that the secrets of the Order are in any way a menace to the public weal .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Candidates For The Girls' School.
to her credit . She also is one of five children left to a mother ' s care . Her father was initiated in the Prince of Wales' Lodge , No . 959 , Suffolk , and subscribed thereto until dentil . During his membership he qualified as a Life Subscriber of the Institution for which his
daughter is now a candidate , and on this account he stands out conspicuously as one of the few on the present ballot paper who did anything for the Charities beyond what they contributed through their Lodges . No . 52 , Ada Lilian Smith , is a first application case . Both her parents are living , and they havo seven children dependent on them , one only being partially provided for . The father is an old member ol" the Whittington Lodge , No . 862 , to which
he subscribed eleven years . It will thus be seen that the last application eases are remarkably few on the present occasion , but it must not be forgotten that to elect them all it would monopolise nearly one-half of the vacancies . Still , as we said last week , it would be better to strain a point on their behalf rather than run the risk of excluding them for ever from benefits
for which all the remaining candidates have other chances of competing . There are several cases still unnoticed , for which we should like to say a word , but with so many to choose from it is really impossible to guess as to the most deserving . All we can do is to express a hope
that the four last applications may be among the successful at the end of the present month , and that the remaining candidates may one and all in their turn secure a home in the Institution .
Traditions Of Freemasonry.
TRADITIONS OF FREEMASONRY .
rT , HE traditions of Freemasonry form a precious heritage . JL Rightly interpreted they are as beneficent as they are authoritative . Ono of them floating down the stream of time , through so many centuries that antiquity obscures
its source , is that when tho ancient society hero represented appears in public to perform ceremonies such as now calls us together , an eulogy upon the institution of Masonry itself shall invariably be included . This venerable Order
performs its ceremonials , ordinarily , removed from the public eye ; but when invited by the authorities iu charge of the erection of public buildings to lay the corner stone
of such edifices , it comes forth from its seclusion , aud throwing oft its habitual reticence and reserve , enacts its allotted part in no spirit of misery , but boldly avows its aims and purposes , aud indeed requires an exposition of its principles .
Freemasonry rests on a foundation of broad human sympathies . Its objects are , by precept and practice , to foster virtue , to inculcate charity , and to bind its members together in enduring bonds of brotherly love . He is the
best exponent of the Order whose life is most luminous with good works ; who can most tenderly feel for his fellow man in trial and affliction ; who never breaks the laws of the land , but most loyally upholds constituted authority :
and who loves virtue and frowns on . vice . Indeed , he only can be an ideal Mason who is also an ideal citizen . If tho - members of our Order in their daily lives do not
attain to this lofty standard , it must be borne in mind that precept is easier than practice , and theory than example ; and that even the Christian Church whose divine founder
points to heaveu and led the way , is filled with those who strive to adequately exemplify its exalted doctrines , but strive in vain , because poor , weak erring humanity can never fully realize its ideals , and all terrestrial things must
be imperfect so long as mankind exists under its present limitations . The institution of Masonry had its founda-. tions deeply and securely laid in the hopes , aspirations and affections of men , or it never could have come down to us
through the ages , evolving and developing with the lapse of time , adapting itself through revolving centuries to the changes of religion , civilisation and enlightenment , and ever retaining its hold upon the human heart .
Man is a sympathetic creature by nature and is prone to look to his fellow man for aid and counsel and for sympathy and companionship . The earliest assoc atioos or societies
Traditions Of Freemasonry.
of which we have knowledge were occasioned by the community of interests existing among those engaged in the great building operations of the past—the artisans employed in erecting the temples whose ruins , like
monuments to departed greatness , strew the lands of Asia , Africa and Southern Europe . Famous among these relics of antiquity was the Temple at Jerusalem , though no trace of it is known to exist in our day . The craft of those remote
periods are supposed to have been the earliest societies in existence , and as the structures of those days were uniformly built of stone , it is believed that the Masons formed the most powerful of those organisations , and thus
is explained the name and the adoption of many of the forms that characterise our present Order . When and how Masonry began—that august institution that has
developed into what is now termed speculative Freemasonryno man can tell ; and it matters not , for the tree is known by its fruit whatever may havo been its germ .
It has been objected by some that Masonry is a secret society , and therefore not entitled to public confidence and esteem . In any dangerous or obnoxious sense this charge is utterly groundless . While it is true that the initiation
of members , and the proceedings of most of its meetings are removed from the public eye , as are the concerns of a family , a business corporation and an infinite variety of other associations , yet its list of membership is as open as
the day ; its aims , its motives and its principles are heralded in print , and proclaimed in public places , as they are now being on this occasion . All politics and political agitation are sedulously excluded from its action and
consideration . The very character of its membership is a guarantee , not only of its freedom from aught that is harmful , but also of its possession of much that is laudable and desirable . The names of some of the most illustrious
citizens of this and other nations illumine its rolls . In America , Presidents , Governors , Senators , Judges , and other high officials have taken pride and pleasure in their connection with it . George Washington , whose name is
synonymous with all that is truest , most loyal , and most highly honoured in this republic , officiated as the Grand Master of Masons 95 years ago when the corner stono of our National Capitol was laid with the same ceremonies , save
in elaborateness , as those which are being performed on this occasion . His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales , the representative man of the British Empire , counts it as not the least of his honours that he is the Grand Master of
British Masons . The late German Emperor , old Kaiser William , whose name will echo through the corridors of time as the founder of one of the most phenomenal Empires of this age , thought it detracted not from his august dignity
to preside over the Grand Lodge of United Germany . If such men , who , of all others , would be jealous of aught that would interfere with legally constituted authority , could discern no danger in the harmless privacy
surround-Many ministers of God , likewise , belong to the Masonic
Fraternity . Not only is Masonry not antagonist to the precept and example of the meek and lowly Jesus of Nazareth , but no atheist can become a member of the
Order . No Masonic meeting can be opened , and no business in a Masonic body can be transacted , unless a copy of the Holy Scriptures is there present ; and the more staunch aud loyal the citizen , the purer and truer the
Christian , the more worthy and acceptable will be the
Mason . But the beat of summer , and the limitations of human endurance , admonish me not to linger too long , even on so grateful a theme as extolling thy virtues , 0 venerable and
august institution of Masonry ! During a membership of thirty years , in peace and in war , have I beheld thy beneficence . On the bloody field of Gettysburg have I witnessed Masonic soldiers of our own Rhode Island , clad in loyal
blue , tenderly raise the prostrate form of a Masonic Georgia colonel , robed in Confederate gray , and at the peril of their lives bear their inanimate burden to an appropriate place and there inter it and mark the spot , with all the gentleness of
brothers ; though their conceptions of duty in life had forced the parties to that fraternal burial to engage in deadly strife . I have listened to the recital of exchanged
prisoners how Masonry has softened the rigours of their grim experience , though it would not interfere with the performance of duty to the cause espoused by its members .
ing some Masonic observances , surely the most timid conservatism may safely cast aside its apprehensions that the secrets of the Order are in any way a menace to the public weal .