The Girls' School Election.

THE GIRLS' SCHOOL ELECTION .

THE ballot paper for the October Election of the Eoyal Masonic Institution for Girls , which has just been issued to the subscribers , gives evidence of the continued prosperity and success of the charity , inasmuch as there are twenty-one vacancies available for twenty-six approved candidates . For some time past we have seen the Girls' School able to provide

for nearly all the claims made upon it , and although we do not for one moment suppose that every case of distress among the daughters of deceased Craftsmen is brought forward in competition for its benefits , we know that a large proportion of the most deserving

ones are , with the most satisfactory results ; and so long as the supply can keep pace so well with the demand as is the case this half-year the Freemasons of England will have additional cause to be proud of their oldest Charitable Institution .

Of the 26 candidates on the present list two only are last applications , No . 7 , Elsie Helen Kilpin , who was a candidate in April last , and then secured 1917 votes , the highest number brought forward for this election ; and No . 17 , Agnes Minnie Anthony ,

who now comes forward lor the hrst time . The former is an Essex case , her father having been initiated in the True Friendship Lodge , No . 160 , where he rose to the office of Junior Warden ; she is one

of seven children now dependent on a widowed mother . The other last applicant comes from Kent , where her father was initiated in the Gundulph Lodge , No . 1050 , and of which he was a Past Master ; she is one of four children dependent on her mother .

Two of the candidates will make their third application next month ; five others will then apply for the second time , and the remaining nineteen are first applications . London Lodges are answerable for nine of the candidates , and share responsibility with Provinces in two others . Hampshire and the Isle of "Wight has three independent cases on the list ,

and is . associated with West Lancashire in one , and with Kent in another ; while the Essex Lodges have three cases of their own . Beyond this there is no Province primarily interested in two candidates , although both Kent and East Lancashire have independent cases of their own in addition to sharing responsibility with one case with some

other district . Sussex and Oxfordshire each have a case , as also has the Foreign Stations , represented by Madras ; and the military division , through the 2 nd Battalion 1 st Royal Begimont .. The other divisions interested are Gloucestershire , West Lancashire , Warwickshire and West Yorkshire , each of which share with other districts

responsibility in regard to individual cases . Altogether , then , it will be recognised that the record is a particularly light one and with so large a proportion of vacancies available in proportion to

The Girls' School Election.

the number of applicants there is no reason why all the most deserving cases should not be relieved . It will no doubt seem hard to the five ultimately left over that they should not have been successful , but let

us hope that their time will come ere long , and that however much they may regret their own failure they will never envy the success of their more fortunate sisters .

We do not make a rule of singling out any of the candidates for special mention , because with the information before us it is so very difficult to give all the credit due in special cases , but occasions do arise when we depart from the rule , and say an extra word or two on behalf of one or other of the candidates . Such a case presents itself to-day , when

we see the name of a dear old Inend on the list , in the person of the late Bro . F . Rath . He was a thorough Mason , true to his obligation—aye , perhaps too true , for we have known him render services to his brethren which would have borne the designation of injudicious were he not ready to defend them on the

plea ol Fraternity . Unfortunately he died without making that preparation for his family which he might have done had he studied his own interests alone , and as a consequence his daughter is a candidate for our Girls' School . We wish it was in our

power to guarantee her election , but as it is not we can only ask our friends to spare us a few votes for the case , which we know to be thoroughly deserving of all the assistance one brother can render to another . Our friends will see the candidate is No . 15 on the list , and we hope many voters will be able to support her .

One Alone Is Supreme.

ONE ALONE IS SUPREME .

WHAT is time ? Let us see if we can explain that . What is time ? and what is the passage of time ? It has been said tbat there is no past or f atnre , that there is nothing but the present . It has also been said that there is no present , that there is nothing bnt past and fntare ;

and both propositions have been equally well demonstrated by the metaphysicians . There is no present , because the present is infinitesimal ; it is less than an assignable quantity ; it is less than nothing ; the two sides look out to infinity and are lost . On the other hand , it is just as well

to demonstrate the other way , and say that there is nothing bat tbe present , because the past exists only in the memory of one whole in the present , and that the future exists only in the imaginative anticipation of one who is living in the

present . Past and future are two mental consorts , which can exist or live only in the present mind—that is , in the living ; so that the present is all that there is , and the present is nothing ; therefore time does not exist and there is no time .

We will improve upon that now and turn the tables on that school of thought entirely , and instead of nihilism we will have a sort of universality of substantial reality . Now , let ns see about the present . The present is infinitesimal ,