Hasty Conclusions.

HASTY CONCLUSIONS .

THE great danger of hasty judgment , based upon the evidence affordecl by a brief period of observation , is , says the Grand Master of one of the American Jurisdictions , in his annual address > the great stumbling-block which besets the path of the superficial observer . This danger , we may add , is by no means confined to American Masonry , rather , it may be said to be as universal as the mystic Graft itself . There are many Lodges in this country

indeed which have suffered , and are now suffering , from the hasty conclusions of some of their members , although it is not always fair to regard those members as " superficial observers . " The best of us are occasionally deceived , even after carefully considering the many points which long and careful observation provides , and it behoves us all to be particularly

careful before committing ourselves to any dehnite line of action . But if the careful among us are liable to err in this respect , how much more likely is it for the casual observer , who does not take the trouble to inquire whether his first impressions are justified or not , to go astray , and , it may be , upset not only himself , but all who are associated with him in a Lodee or other combination .

o It is very difficult to form a fair opinion as to the merits or capabilities of a Mason without knowing his peculiarities outside the Lodge of which he is a member , and on that account it would appear all but impossible for the ordinary Craftsman to be able to judge his fellows . Still there is much which time and careful observation will supply , and if we look back and compare our present ideas of men and

matters around us with what they were years ago , after our first impressions , we shall be surprised to see how much our hasty conclusions were at fault . Men we once regarded as anything but desirable companions have since proved themselves the staunchest and truest of friends ; while , on the other hand , some who at first seemed perfection , or approaching thereto , have turned out to be false and deceitful , if not even much worse .

On the other hand there is much to be said in favour of first impressions , or hasty conclusions , or whatever else we ' may term them ; and there are many about us who boast they are never wrong in the first opinion they form . We imagine that in many cases the members of this particular class have forgotten what was actually their first impression—they have grown to regard a man with favour or disfavour , and

really believe their opinion has not altered during the years or months they have been acquainted with him , but in reality their first impressions are as unreliable as those of others who confess to alteration and change in their opinions . Masonry presents a wide field for the exercise of the faculty of forming hasty conclusions . Its members are spread over all parts of the world , and no

Hasty Conclusions.

matter what part one may visit he is sure there to find brother members of the Masonic Order , and this membership is alone sufficient to ensure an introduction . In most cases of casual meeting , or even where a Mason pays a visit to a Lodge , new faces are met with , and with some it is usual to form an

opinion as to the character and other capabilities of those to whom one is introduced . Thus hasty conclusions appear to be inseparable from a Society which enjoins on its members the practice of visiting , and which , by its peculiar organisation brings so manv strangers in close commune with each other .

In the words of the American ruler quoted at the head of our remarks , hasty judgment , based upon brief observation , is undoubtedly a stumbling block to the superficial observer , but in Masonry hasty judgments are so essential that it is quite impossible to wholly abolish them . What we should aim at is ,

to be careful in acting upon first impressions , to be as just as possible to our subjects , and , above all , not too severe one way or the other until we have had ample opportunity of judging whether the first hasty conclusions will bear the test of more mature consideration .

Corn, Wine And Oil.

CORN , WINE AND OIL .

An Oration Delivered by Bro . G . H . Carr , of Emmetsburg , at the Laying of the Corner-Stone of the . Temple Block , at Ksthervillc , Iowa , 22 nd Jxdi ) 1889 .

rjPHE custom of laying tbe corner-stones of substantial JL edifices with appropriate ceremonials is universal and time-honoured . Just , when and under what peculiar circumstance it had its origin , I am unable to state . But certain it is that the custom has long been in voguo , for we have accounts of the first or corner-stones of buildings

of a public character being laid , by eminent men , amid large concourses of people , and with groat ceremony , in very early times . It is probable that the only significance

which attached to the ceremony , originally , was to give to the begining of great enterprises a striking effect , celebrity , or applause , or to invoke the favourable disposition of the

mythological deities towards the undertaking . This accords with the almost universal habits of the ancients to begin their long voyages , their war-like incursions , and all their great enterprises , with libations and sacrificial offerings to the particular deity or deities

who were supposed to take an interest in human affairs of the nature then in hand . In one feature of these ceremonials , as now conducted , we find an innovation upon the ancient usage , and one which to my mind gives to the custom its greatest charm , and from which the greatest

benefit to mankind is likely to be derived . I refer to the

casket and its contents , and the act of placing it away in the cavity cut into the time-defying granite . The modes of living , the habits of thought , the manners , customs and characters of people of past generation !* , have a deep interest for all men . The antiquarian and the historian devote their lives to