The Approaching Festival Of The Girls' School.

We have had the gratification of recording the fact that in spite of the universal depression of trade , and the proverbially " bad times " experienced by men in all grades of

commerce and industry , the subscriptions sent up to these great Masonio meetings have been steadily and substantially maintained ; and we look forward hopefully that in the few days yet remaining before the Anniversary of the

Girls' Festival there will be such a rustle of activity amongst the brethren that , amidst the applause which will undoubtedly follow the principal speaker next Wednesday evening , the voice of Bro . Hedges may be heard in grateful acknowledgment of the amount of aid which the

brethren have by their united exertions sent up to enable the executive to carry on their grandly important work of the coming year . It not unfrequently happens

that when a supreme effort is called for , enforced almost upon us , afc the latest moment , such ia the result of active determination to surmount all obstacles that the result is

surprisingly gratifying ; aud from the depths of our wishes for the successful carryi ng on of the Girls' Institution , we trust to see that effect triumphantly exemplified on the occasion to which so many of our brethren are looking forward with expectant hopes on Wednesday evening next .

Hints To Bro. T. B. Whytehead.

HINTS TO BRO . T . B . WHYTEHEAD .

BY BRO . JACOB NORTON . EDITORS of Monkish chronicles are generally apt to ignore the superstitious beliefs of their authors . Mr . T .

Wright , however , in his preface to the works of Giraldus Cambrensis , did call attention to the credulity of his author . Giraldus possessed a " pound of learning , " but needed the " ounce of common sense ; " he believed that a wolf spoke

to a priest , that a wooden cross in Dublin spoke to the people , that there was a mill that would not grind on Sunday , nor grind corn that was stolen , and some hundred similar wonders besides ; among which is the following pretty story , viz .:

—" St . Keivin , during Lent , retired to a cabin in the wilderness , where be gave himself up to contemplation . . . reading and prayer . One morning , having raised his hand to heaven , as was his custom , through a

window , it chanced that a blackbird pitched upon it and laid her eggs in bis palm , treating it as her nest . The saint , taking pity on the bird , showed so much gentleness

and patience that he neither drew in nor closed his hand , but kept it extended and adapted it to the purpose of the nest , without wearying , until the young brood was entirely hatched . "

How the saint managed to reach his larder , and to perform the functions of nature during the required time , for laying all her eggs and hatching the birds , does not seem to have puzzled Giraldus at all . However , even in the

12 th century , his credulity was criticised . So , in the pre face to his second book , Giraldus gave his doubting critic an indignant lecture , and quoted St . Augustine and other high authorities , to prove that belief in miracles should not

be doubted nor questioned . Now , I may be wrong , but I cannot help suspecting that Giraldus was a Mason ; anyhow , his method of reasoning , when defending his belief in miracles , is precisely like the reasoning of our Masonic

writers when defending the antiquity of Masonry , & c . I also believe that if our Masonic degree fabricators had read the works of Giraldus , the blackbird story would have long since been dramatised into a Masonic degree , aud the

city of York would now have been blessed with an Irish Masonic degree , having St . Keivin for Grand Master , ancl Brothers Blackbird for Grand Officers . Lest , however , the reader should think that I am a little too sarcastic , I

herewith copy from Socrates' Ecclesiastical History a miracle just as absurd as the one above quoted , which is now incorporated into our Masonic degrees , and called " The Order of the Red Cross of Constantine , " which is as follows : —

but little by the Pagan deities , ... but that his own father , Constantius , who had renounced the idolatrous worship of the Greeks , had passed through life far more prosperously . In this state of uncertainty , a preternatural vision , which trancends all description , appeared as he

While his ( Constantine ' s ) mind was occupied on this subject ( the conquest of Rome ) , he was hesitating what divinity ' s aid he should invoke for successful conduct in the war ; ifc occurred to him that Diocletian had profited

Hints To Bro. T. B. Whytehead.

was marching at tho head of his troops . He saw . . a pillar of light in the heavens , in the form of a cross , on which were inscribed these words— " BY THIS CONQUER . " Struck with astonishment at the appearance of this sign ,

and scarcely believing his own eyes , the Emperor asked those around him if they beheld the same spectacle , and , they all declaring they did , the Emperor's mind was strengthened by this Divine aud extraordinary apparition .

In his slumbers on the following night he saw Christ , who directed him to prepare a standard , according to the pattern of that which had been seen , and to use it against the enemy as an assured trophy of victory . In obedience

to this Divine oracle , he caused the standard , iu the form of a cross , to be prepared ( which is preserved in the palace even to the present time ) , and , proceeding in his measures with greater confidence , he attacked the enemy and vanquished him before the gates of Rome . "

This story is treated generally with contempt . Even the orthodox Mosheim could not swallow it . I confess to

be unacquainted with the arguments used by the first doubters of that story . I shall , however , give my own reasons for disbelieving it . First , because ifc is very absurd ; second , if Constantino had seen the vision in the

sky , and Christ in a dream , in the year 308 , it seems to me that he would have sought baptism there ancl then ; but the truth is he could not be prevailed on to submit to that necessary Christian rite before 337 , or just before he

died ; and third , this story was unknown until about one hundred or moro years after Constantino died . Now , Eusebius , " the father of ecclesiastical history , " as he is called , was a favourite of Constantino , and wrote a shorfc

biography of his patron in 337 . No one will be surprised at his omitting the cruelties and vices of the subject of his memoir , nor of his overloading him with praise for the

good he had done . If , therefore , the Constantino vision was true , surely Eusebius would have known ifc , and , if he had known about it , I can see no reason why he omitted it from his life of Constantino . The fact that Eusebius did

not mention the Constantino miracle is very pretty conclusive evidence that the said story was unknown during the lifetime of Constantino , even to his most intimate friend , and thafc ifc was , therefore , an invention from first

to last . As already said , rational , as well as religious , writers , disbelieve in the Constantino vision , but our foppish Masons , who want to play Knights and Emperors , have made the Constantine story into a Masonic degree , and are ready to swear that it is all " true as Gospel . "

Again , in the Middle Ages , some men imagined they could make gold out of certain compounds , and were called Alchemists . Some of theso really believed in the possibility of what tbey were seeking , but many of them

were mere pretenders . These Alchemists , sincere or pretended , looked very mysterious , and pretended to know the hidden secrets of Nature . In 1616 a wag wrote an imaginary history of a society of Rosicrucians , who were

adepts in the mysteries of science . This history was at first believed , and hence people took it for granted that the Alchemists were Rosicrucians , and were , and have been an organised society . Now , it is very easy to persuade

some of our Masons that every society in olden times that had a mystery or secret were Masons , and that their mysteries were preserved among Masons to this day . Accordingly , there is a Masonic Rosicrucian concern in

Tork , in which Bro . Whytehead figures as the " Great Adepfc , " and for some years past he annually repeated his belief in the antiquity of the Rosicrucian Order . To be sure , it is generally known that the very word "Rosicrucian "

was unknown before 1616 , and that no Rosicrucian Society existed before the Masonic mania for high degrees broke out . Bufc what of it ? Reason or no reason , Bro . Whytehead is determined to believe it . In his last address he

said" As far as we know , this singular mediteval brotherhood was banded together for the purpose of investigating the hidden mysteries of Nature and Science . Ifc met but seldom ; ifc was said to have drawn its members from

every quarter of the globe , and its ostensible objects were fche amelioration of the condition of mankind , and the judicious communication of knowledge . . . We know that in the latter clays , at any rate , of the renowned society its members became subject to derision , " & c .

The above quotation proves that when once a story is Masonised , it is defended through thick and thin by those whose interests it is to keep the concern alive ; and , as our good but deluded Bro . Whytehead imagines thafc we