Masonic Halls.

MASONIC HALLS .

REPRfNTED FROiM THE MASONIC REVIEW . NEXT to the ability in the Officers to render the Ritual with force , beauty and propriety , nothing is so important to the dignity and oroflperity of Freemasonry as a Hall , handsomely fitted up with BroP appointments to give adequate expression to the beautiful cVgrees of the system . If we go into a town and find an elegant Masonic Hall , with handsome equipments , farniture and apparatus , we do not need to ask what kind of Masons meet there ; the fact speaks

for itself . But if we find a miserable Hall , with bare floors , dilapidated furniture , dirty walls and windows , we do not need to ask any thing here about Masonry ; we know it is in the last stages of dissolution , if it ever had any healthy existence at any time . We were onoe in an Ohio town of say 1000 inhabitants , and as we usually do we asked some of the brethren to show us their Hall . We noticed

some evident reluctance and trouble to find the key ; but at length the key waB found , and as we ascended the dirty staircase , the brother conducting us began to apologize for tbe condition of tbe Hall . When we were ushered into it , we found a large room with bare floor , white-washed walls defiled by tobacco juice that had been squirted against them , and had run down in rivulets npon them . The stations ,

east , west and south , were unpainted boxes ; the chairs around the walls were rush-bottomed chairs in every stage of degeneracy ! We beat a hasty retreat and thought to ourself , as we descended the staircase , that if we had lived in that town when a profane , the Masonic Institution would have been the very last Institution we wonld have wanted to unite with .

And so , feeling the importance of the subject , as Masonio Halls are being continually built and renovated , we purpose to give a few words as to the proper construction and equipments of a suitable Masonic Hall . If yon are about to build , or refit your Hall , by all means give heed to some recommendations like the following : 1 . Give yourselves plenty of room . Do not get into a little eight

by ten affair , where your enthusiasm will all be burnt out b y bad air and asphyxia . Be sure and give yourselves room to breathe and to work . It is true that a few brethren in a business meeting look almost lost in a large room , and it ii very well , if you can , to have a smaller room also where yon can occasionally meet ; but most Lodges can only afford one main room , and it is much better to have the

brethren in a small meeting look like a mouse under an umbrella , if thereby yon have room to render your work well , than to have a small room where you will be smothered and have no floor space for a suitable rendering of the Ritual . 2 . If possible have a stage with shifting side and baok scenes in your Bast . All of our best Masonio Halls are now being constructed

with these stages and scenery , the idea being borrowed , we think , mainly from the Scottish Rite Cathedral in Cincinnati . Since that Cathedral was constructed , some fifteen or twenty years ago , Chicago , Indianapolis , Colnmbus , Dayton , and other places have followed snit , and the fashion ought to be general . Those who want to see to how many uses a stage with scenio accompaniments can be put should go to the

Scottish Rite apartments at Chicago , where , with not half the amount of room that we have at Cincinnati , the very dramatic Ritual of the Scottish Rite is elaborately and handsomely rendered , very largely by the use of the stage alone . Almost everything in Masonic work in the degrees of the York and Scottish Rites ( which together constitute everything that is legitimate in Freemasonry ) can be ex . hibited

and worked out in a single room , if necessary , fitted up with a stage and proper scenic accompaniments ; and as Masonic work is so largel y dramatic in its character , a stage is almost a necessity in properly exhibiting it . 3 . In fitting up a Masonio Hall there should be a gallery or passage way around a part of it , and if possible a large part of it . Every

Mason knows that Masonic work requires " travelling , " and passage ways around the Lodge room are very desirable , if not absolutory necessary . We will undertake to render every degree in the York and Scottish systems by the aid of these three things we have mentioned : a large , well-furnished hall , a stage with scenic accom . Pamments , and a wide gallery or passage way around a good part of we Lodge room .

4 . Of course , there must be at least two ante-rooms : a preparation f °° 7 i' lur" * vis , tor ' waiting room . These are absolutely necessary ro all Masonio work , and no Lodge should have a charter unless prowed with these 5 other rooms are useful as property rooms , but two e ' ££ . mn always be conneoted with every Lodge room . M . ^ lighting apparatus is also qnite important in fitting up a hall

1 : „ 7 ° ? - The best arrangement is to have a central reflecting gnt big enough to light up the whole room , with a ventilating rrangement in connection with it . If you hare gas in yonr town , ol arse you will nse it in your Lodge , and by a " cnt-off" you can tho regulate the amount of light to suit the dramatic demands of work yon are engaged in , giving " more light" or " less light " / 0 P '? aae- If ycra have no S aait will not be so to

reenW ^ , ' easy of a , ? hght ' but bv the aid of curtains , moveable by a Mastei abonM ^ k ! 1163 ' yon can P roduce tolerably good effects ; and , talking valnnKT V Loclge tbafc can afford a atereopticon will find it a the rr u ry both in rendering the Ritual , and in entertaining g members and their families when gathered socially . P' -operti ' p ™ % t nothing as to dresses , regalia , fnrniture , and other ,

the m , J " more beautiful and extensive these can be furnished 'he mo ' oeanhtul and extensive these can be furnished , re » nuVLV If 8 s , Ve wil 1 tho Rit " be . Bab these thing must be 0 n bv tbe 'ands of the Lodge . to re l !? f 8 re iD Uncled chiefl y for Lodges about to construct or r e-construct new Masonic Halls .

Anstr V ^ ° * Manchester , who has been travelling abou t the P „ , a i * ! he last year > is expected to return home in course of this month .

Masonic Halls.

The Provincial Grand Lodge of Hertfordshire will be holden at the Town Hall , Hitchin , this day ( Saturday ) . The Right Wor . Bro . Thomas Frederick Halsey , M . P ., & o ., Provincial Grand Master , will open the Prov . G . Lodge at three o ' clock precisely . The following proposed motions will be considered : —

1 . By Bro . T . S . Carter P . P . J . G . W . P . M . Hertford Lodge 403 : — "That the som of twenty guineas be voted from the funds of Provincial Grand Lodge to the Royal Masonio Institution for Boys . " 2 . By Bro . James Terry Prov . G . D . C . P . M . King Harold Lodga 1327 : —

" That the sum of ten pounds be voted to tbe Ceoil Lodge towards defraying the expenses of entertaining Provincial Grand Lodge . " 3 . By Bro . Edgar Bowyer Prov . G . S . W . P . M . Cranbourne Lodge 1580 : —

" That the sum of ten guineas bo voted from the fands of Provincial Grand Lodge to the Hitchin Infirmary . " 4 . By Bro . F . H . Wilson Ile 3 Dep . Prov . Grand Master : — "That the sum of fifty guineas be voted from Provincial

Grand Lodge towards a fund being raised for the benefit of Bro . Thomas Thomas , the Prov . G . Tyler . " 5 . By Bro . John B . Dawson Prov . Grand Sec . P . M . Watford Lodge 404 : —

"That the publication of the Provincial Calendar be con * tinned . " A banquet willl take place at the Sun Hotel , Hitchin , at five o ' clock precisely . Tickets 21 s each .

Bro . T . S . Parvin , Grand Secretary of the Grand Lodge of Iowa , TJ . S . A ., in his Thirty-seventh Report of the Proceedings quotes the following extracts from tbe address of

a respected Grand Master on the evils resulting from too great a multiplication of Lodges . They so entirely harmonise with onr own views on the subject that we make free to quote them .

I Every Lodge for whioh there was not a pressing necessity was an instrument pregnant with danger to the Craft . When Lodges are created , there must be something for them to do , and the natural consequence is ( ihafc they seek for material , instead of leaving the material ( as the law requires ) to seek them ; and when the number of

candidates is not sufficient to provide a sufficiency of revenue to meet the expenses , it becomes a prime necessity that they should be secured . There are instances ( many of them , everywhere throughout the west ) where this has been done , regardless of consequences , and

it is believed that many men have found their way into the Lodges , who never would have entered but for the fact that the members have stifled their scrnples in order to replenish a depleted treasurya most serious charge , yet as true as serious .

And again : — Still another evil results from this inordinate increase of Lodges , which is , that candidates receiving degrees in such Lodges are never properly impressed with the dignity and importance of the lessona sought to he communicated . They fail to have their interest excited ,

or quickly lose whatever interest is stimulated , and either withdraw or follow in the footsteps of that vast array of Masons whose names are upon our rolls , but who are never seen in our Halls or known to contribute to the support of the Lodges or the charitable work en . trusted to their keeping .

We have often been amused as well as amazed at the extraordinary names which are occasionally bestowed on Masonic Lodges , but in the course of our reading we do not remember ever to have come across such strangely-formidable titles as the following , quoted by Bro . Parvin , G .

Secretary Iowa , as belonging to one of the American jurisdictions , to wit : " Ma-sho-la-tub-by , " "Lo-a-cha-po-ka , " " Ki-a-lig-hee , " " Salt River . " These rival our own "United Manawatu , " " Heretaunga , " " Umvoti , " " Remuera , " " Amatole , " & c . & c .

We have been requested to state that the Kin g ' s Cross Lodge of Instruction will hold its meetings dnri » g the rebuilding of Brother Devine ' s premises , at the "Adam ' s Arms , " Hampstead Street , Fitzroy Square . The first assembly at the temporary quarters will be held on 17 th July 1881 , -when it is hoped a goodly number of brethren will make it convenient to attend .

HottowAi ' s PiiiLs . —Indigestion , Stomach , and Liver Complaints . —Persons suflVring from any derangements of the liver , stomach , or the organs of dio-es-; should have recourse to HpLloway ' s Pills , as there ia no medicine known that acts on these particular- complaints with such certain success . Its peculiar properties pnrify ami regulate the circulation , strengthen the stomach , increase ihs ncd the ? ish liverIt

appetite , rouse slug . is invaluable to dyspeptics , restoring the patient to the soundest health and strength . These preparations ¦ nay ' be used at all times and in all climates by persons affected by biliousness , latalency , colic , nausea , or disordered liver ; for heartburn , water-pangs and sick-headache 3 they are specifics . Indeed , no ailment of the digestive oreani an long resist their purifying and corrective powers ,