Summer Festival Of The Percy Lodge, No. 198.

infirmity to respond , he would couple with the toast the name 0 f Brother Shoppee . That brother trusted the Huguenot Lodge would be as successful as tho Percy had been . Prosperity to the Percy Lodge was next proposed by the Chairman , who spoke of the work which had been done by the Lodge , and those

associated with it . The Percy had been one of the pioneers of Lodges of Instruction , and had had one attached to it nearly a hundred years since . He was pleased that even at that early date its members thought it wise to teach others , and spread the knowledge they themselves possessed . Bro . Carr P . M . of the Lodge

acknowledged the toast , which was followed by that of the Worshipful Master of the Percy Lodge , Bro . George Lambert . Bro . J . Glaisher P . G . D . submitted this toast with great pleasure . He had known Bro . Lambert for many years , and had found him to be a Mason in act as well as in deed . Those present knew him to be of most liberal

disposition , and that if there was ever any good work to be done for his fellow men , Bro . Lambert was ready to undertake it . He trusted their host might be spared for many years to be amongst them . Bro . Lambert returned thanks . He felt that in tho present age of progression they ought to do all the good they possibly could . He next

proposed prosperity to tho Queen s Westminster Lodge , feeling it would be unnatural not to drink this toast as there wore so many members of the Lodge present . He was the father of that Lodge , which ho thought had made a very good beginning . Capt . Herbert

Lambert responded , and then the toast of the Visitors was given . This was acknowledged by Bro . Barron , and the health of Bro . Motion a member of tho Grand Lodge of Scotland , having been drunk , tho proceedings were shortly afterwards brought to a conclu . 8 ion .

Alexandra Palace Lodge, No. 1541.

ALEXANDRA PALACE LODGE , No . 1541 .

rnilE installation meeting of this Lodge was held on Saturday , tho JL 26 th nit ., at the Imperial Hotel , Holborn Viaduct , when there was a goodly attendance , under the presidency of the retiring W . M . Bro . R . J . Ward , who was supported by Bros . J . E . Ward S . W . and W . M . elect , and many other officers and brethren . There was a

rather imposing agenda , and it was therefore necessary to open Lodge soon after half-past two o ' clock . The usual preliminaries having been observed , Lodge was advanced to the third , when Bros . Wear , Lee , Crossley , Brockmann , and Forest were raised to the sublime degree . On resuming in the second , Bros . Rodyk , Etberington

Watkins , and Purton were passed ; and subsequently Bro . C . D . Browning , of the Athenaeum Lodge , No . 1491 , who had been proposed by the Worshipful Master , and seconded by Bro . J . R . Stacey P . M . Secretary , was admitted as a joining member . All the ceremonies were performed in masterly manner , and elicited the genuine

approbation of tho brethren present . Bro . J . E . Ward was then presented as the W . M . olect ., and having accepted the responsibilities of office , a Board of Installed Masters was constituted , and Bro . Ward was duly installed into the chair of K . S . for the ensniog year . Ou the re-admission of the brethren , the newly-installed Master was

saluted with the customary honours , and he appointed and invested his Officers , as follow : —Bros . R . J . Ward I . P . M ., Kearney S . W ., Snelling J . W ., Larchin P . M . Treasurer , J . R . Stacey P . M . Secretary , Wildray S . D ., Shirley J . D ., Richardson I . G . Tho report of the Audit Committee , which showed the Lodge to be iu a satisfactory condition

both numerically and financially , was received aud adopted ; and on the motion of Bro . Snolling S . D ., it was resolved that a Benevolent Fund should be formed , for the assistance of past or present members of the Lodge , with conditions stated , to be called tho Benevolent Fund Trustees . Some discussion took place on the question , and

a satisfactory conclusion having been arrived at , the Lodge was closed amidst the customary hurmony and good feeling . A banquet followed , under the presidency of the newly-installed Worshipfnl Master , when the Loyal and Masonic toasts wero followed by others of a complimentary nature , and amidst an abundance of singing and music a really enjoyable evening was passed .

Social Enjoyment In Masonry.

SOCIAL ENJOYMENT IN MASONRY .

W HILE Freemasonry is kaleidoscopic in the aspects it presents to a brother who views ifc from various standpoints , when one practically inquires and considers what is the supreme magnetic power which continuously holds , if it does not first attract , the attention of its

initiates , unless we are greatly mistaken he will find that the Majority vote will be given in favour of the social and paternal intercourse which distinguishes the Fraternity of

* i'oemasons from and above all other societies in the world . -Masonic sociability is the strongest mystic tie . Freemasons are actuated by the sentiment which has been so well Phased in " Hamlet : "

" The friends thou hast , and their adoption tried , Grapple them to thy soul with hooks of steal . " . -there is perfect community of feeling amongst brethren * a Masonic Lod We meet the levelWe have

ge . upon . . I same faith , the same hope , the same love . We assemble around the same altar , upon which perennially rest the sarac great lights in Masonry . We all are more or less

"fcrent individually , in origin , in business connections , ' j ln social relations , but we are all one in Masonry . In c outside world wo may move in different circles , but

Social Enjoyment In Masonry.

around the Masonic altar and the festive board we are all brethren , members of one family , which knows no

distinctions save in Masouic achievement . General Washington outside the Lodge was "Brother Washington within it . Even a prince or potentate is raised to the level of a brother , and there is no higher level iu Masonry , save that

which pertains to official rank in Lodge or Grand Lodge . Our rulers in both are entitled to our respect and love , which gladly are accorded them , and we give our respect and love the more gladly because in honouring them we are honouring ourselves—they and we are one .

Enjoyable as is the communion in the Lodge-room between initiates who have become kindred through

Masonry , elevating as are all the lessons taught therein , instructive as is the morality , and attractive as is the symbolism , it must be confessed that after all the place for the truest and most unconstrained sociability is around

the Masonic festive board , when labour is ended , and refreshment begun . As a French philosopher once said , we are more sociable and get on better with people by the heart , than the intellect . True , there aro intellectual as

well as heart manifestations around the social

board;scintillations of wit and humour , apt repartees , harmless badinage , happy thoughts , and sometimes bursts of eloquence , but all enjoy unrestrainedly what is styled , par excellence , the good time which Masons have when they go

from labour to refreshment . There is something in the atmosphere of the banqnet hall which is unusually exhilarating . Each brother is at his best . We have all things in common , and all our talents , whatever they may be , are

exercised for the common good . The brother who sings has not to be asked twice ; the brother who can tell a good story tells it con amove ; the brother who can talk anywhere talks there , and talks better there than anywhere

else . We are each at the disposition of all ; we are a baad of brothers , and there is nothing that a brother can do that he will not do for his brethren . Yes , the heart ranks the intellect—Faith , Hope , Love , these three , but the greatest of these is Love .

Did it never occur to you that it is this supreme distinguishing trait of Masonic sociability , this Mystic Tie of brotherly love , which has kept alive the Masonic Fraternity through the ages of the past ? Had

Freemasons been only builders of material temples , the Fraternity might have perished with the temples which they erected . But it was ever more than a society of builders .

It had through the ages of the past its esoteric teaching , its mystic symbolism , its fraternal ties , its community of interest and friendship and brotherly love . It is this characteristic that has caused it to outlast Solomon ' s

Temple , and that will make it outlast the Great Pyramid itself . A temple represents intellect , dry intellect , but the Masonic Fraternity represents intellect and heart . As it is the heart that vivifies the physical man , making its warm

pulsations felt alike in the lobes of the brain and in the hands and the feet , so it is the intense social instinct , which has full play given it in Masonry , which vivifies onr glorious Fraternity , and makes its greatness perennial .

What is good for the individual brother is good for the individual Lodge . Social intercourse between different Lodges is promotive of the truest harmony and the greatest pleasure . The right of visit is an esteemed privilege ,

than which there is none more highly valued or more frequently exercised . As the brethren are unified in a Lodge , so different Lodges are unified when they meet together , when their Brethren visit each other . And we

may go still further * , that Grand Lodge , those Grand Officers that do not take occasion to visit as often as may be the subordinate Lodges under their jurisdiction , fail to give enjoymeut to others , and likewise to enjoy themselves , that heart-communion which comes from the familiar

meeting of Brethren ordinarily separated by distance from each other , but who are separated by nothing else in the world . Every Grand Visitation accomplishes a twofold good ; it disseminates the true work , and it strengthens the

Mystic Tie of brotherly love , not only among the brethren , but throughout the Lodges . It cultivates the intellect and it strengthens the affections , and with these two

co-ordinately dominant in Masonry , securing a firm faith and a fraternal practice , what has our Graft to fear in the future ? —Keystone .

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