A Masonic Calendar For The Province Of Herts.

recognise the force of his other argument . There are places of great interest to the Craftsman in tho Province of Herts , and Cheshnnt Great House , so kindly placed at the service of the Gresham and King Harold Lodges by Bro . tho Rev . C . Mayo , and where Prov . Grand Lodge met

on the 8 th mstant , is one of them . This , indeed , is a reason worthy alike of the Craft and the brother who suggests it . Bro . Halsey , too , spoke very sensibly when he urged that the Province was becoming more important , while the Lodges were scattered over a wider surface . But Bro .

Taylor has evidently formed a somewhat low estimate of mankind generally , and Hertfordshire Masons in particular . He is in fear and trembling for the future if a harmless Calendar is instituted . In the days to como ho thinks

it possible that some evil-minded brother , some Masonic impostor , may abuse the purpose for which the proposed Calendarwasinstituted . This class of persons , hethinks , will be going about the Province seeking whom they may dupe , and the Calendar , whose information enables them to

discover tho whereabouts of their dupes , will be at the root of the evil . We do not possess the gift of prescience . We cannot say if Bro . Taylor ' s anticipations will be realised . We think it very likely there will be impostors in the future as in the past . Wedo not doubtthey will turn to account all useful

information they may be able to obtain , in order to effect their evil purposes . We do not anticipate , however , that imposture will be the order of the day , tho rule instead of the exception . We think it will exist to no appreciable extent . We say , then , that to object to what the majority of

Craftsmen will make proper use of , because a very few may be found who will abuse it , is contrary to the dictates of common sense . No doubt Bro . Taylor means well . With him , we should like to see all Masons the perfection—the very pink of humanity , but as humanity never can be void

of all evil , our duty clearly is to promote the welfare of the greater number . It is only here and there we shall find a brother or an impostor who will abuse a Masonic Calendar , or rather the information it contains . We do not see why the wellrdisposed should be deprived of an undoubted benefit ,

because a stray black sheep or two may occasionally be found in our midst . We hope the Province of Herts will not be led aside from tho path of progress by such weak arguments as Bro . Taylor appears to have urged against the publication of a Masonic Calendar .

Odds And Ends.

ODDS AND ENDS .

BY WALTER SPEXCER , F . R . G . S ., & C .

AT the last meeting of the Royal Geographical Society a telegram was read , announcing the successful navigation of the Albert N'Yanza , and the establishment of a chain of regular military stations which would assure the safety of travellers to its shores . The President humorously remarked that the Lake would doubtless be included next year in the routine of Cook ' s tours .

It might be suggested to that enterprising firm to engage the services of Mr . Stanley as cicerone , and boldly to advertise the formation of a Grand African Caravan , equipped with portable steamers , tents , freezing apparatus , and every luxury ; provided with suitable beasts of burden , and

guarded by Sir Samuel Baker ' s " forty thieves , " whose services might perhaps be secured by judicious promises of pay and buclcsheesh . By Lakes Victoria and Albert , across country to Ujiji on the Tanganyika , thence after an excursion on its waters , along the Luktiga to Lake Lanii . Here

the party might advantageously be divided ; one detachment proceeding north westward , in boats and Boyton ' s apparatus , t 'rough Lake Sankorra ( keeping a look out for traces of the Count di Brazza ' s expedition ) clown the Congo to the coast ; whilst the other might pass southward to Kilemba ,

for an introduction to King Kasongo , from whence , by Cameron ' s track overland , they might traverse Ussambi and Lovalc , emerging into Benguela in Latitude 12 ° . Plenty of writing and sketching materials should be taken , to the end that each tourist on his return might write a

book , the publication of which would doubtless go far towards defraying the expenses of the trip . This expectation might , however , prove presumptuous , in view of the cost of Cameron ' s little journey , £ 11 , 000 , a large proportion of which was found by the Royal Geographical Society . The services of a travelling chaplain coulcl not be dispensed

Odds And Ends.

with , in view of the tourists' natural desire for Christian burial . A joint-stock company , entitled " The Society for Trips round the World , " has lately issued its prospectus , under

distinguished auspices . It undertakes to have a large steamer , ready to start from Havre in tho month of May every year , for a voyage round this little globe that we live on . The vessel is to be specially constructed , fitted in the smallest details with reference to the comfort of its

passengers and to the pursuit of scientific studies , furnished with library , instruments , and a competent staff of savants . Passengers will bo supplied by the influential " Patronage Committee , " with letters of recommendation to tho places they may visit , which will afford them an

entree to foreign society . It is the philanthropic aim of this Association to smooth all asperities from the path of those who are ambitious of seeing the world ; by reducing the inconveniences of travel to a minimum . This is what we have lost by being born

before our time , say fifty years too soon . Instead of peril and privation , we should have had ample opportunity for study and exploration in a state of greater positive security than wo enjoy at homo . Ensconced in a luxurious saloon , with iced-cream-sodas and obliging professors at their

elbow , skimming along the world ' s highway from port to port and from island to island , travellers may laugh at the horrors of the rail and the perils of tho streets , smile at suburban burglaries and pleasantly commiserate tho myriad troubles of a luckless householder on shore . Prying into

a changing kaleidoscope of society as they skip from colony to colony , unrestrained by the trammels of conventionality , they may suck science with every breath , whilst they rejoice in emancipation from our social treadmill ; and finally , on returning after a short ten months , they will

have acquired a crushing authority upon all manner of topics , feeling that they have trod in the footsteps of Humboldt , and that iced-cream-sodas were not invented in vain . The scheme deserves wide commendation . To the glib but shallow curate ; to the amiable but dogmatic Philistine ;

above all , to the bore—our dear deserving friend who buttonholes us when we are in a hurry , whose bewildering notions upon the opium-traffic , oceanic-currents , abiogenesis and the Eastern question , so often have streamed into our ears till we have collapsed saturated with nonsense . Now

is the time for him , the chance to make his mind expand , his ideas concrete themselves ; the strain of novel observation on the cerebral organs may tighten the lax chords of speech . He might return to us an altered being : most cordially we would wish him " Bon Voyage . "

The Society ' s capital is £ 80 , 000 , in 4 , 000 shares of £ 20 . Amongst the founders' names are MM . the Due d'Abrantes , Bischoffsheim , Drouyn de Lhuys , Ronciere le Noury , Louis Wolowski , and Ferdinand de Lesseps . Its London office , 20 King William-street , Strand .

The Legend Of Adjigarta.

THE LEGEND OF ADJIGARTA .

REMARKABLE coincidences have been pointed out between numerous oriental legends and the Bible narratives , indicating a certain plagiarism one from the other , or derivation from a common source . One of the most interesting is found in the pages of the Hindoo

theologian , Ramatsariar , who relates a story similar to that of the patriarch Abraham on Mount Moriah , with the addition of interesting particulars , which would seem even to promote the consistency of the narrative . His work is ,

we believe , of undoubtedly later production than the Pentateuch . It can thus afford no ground for criticism of the sacred writings ; even did we not bear in mind an elaborate calculation of primitive civilisation in Egypt .

which was grounded upon soundings of a well driven successively deeper into the Nile mud , until the too confident explorer fished up—from the very bottom of ita Roman brick ; but it is sufficiently remarkable for us shortly to reproduce .

" As the child ( corresponding to Isaac ) approached its twelfth year , his father resolved to proceed with him to offer commemorative sacrifice on the mountain where

Brahma had granted his prayer . After having , as before , selected a young goat without spot , Adjigarta went thither with his son . On their way through a forest they came on an unfledged dove , which had fallen from its nest , and was