Advancement And Extension Of Our Schools.

ADVANCEMENT AND EXTENSION OF OUR SCHOOLS .

THE extension of the Masonic Educational Institutions , a subject at all times of interest to the hearts of English F reemasons , is one which can be approached only with a considerable amount of anxiety ; it is not merely the

actual enlargement for the time being that has to be considered , butf the effect any extension will have on the future , and tbe additional annual outlay it must entail for all time . The enlargement of one of the Schools , and the

increase in the number of pupils who can be accommodated therein means a permanent addition to the expenditure of the Institution which there is no fund to provide for ;

indeed the permanent income of the Schools—arising from interest on invested funds , & c . —is so trivial , as compared with the permanent culls upon them , as to render them all but dependent on voluntary contributions for their maintenance vear bv vear . Under these circumstances , then .

it becomes necessary to make special appeals to the Craft as often as any extension is contemplated or arranged for , and to follow this up with special appeals for continued or extended help from thoso who sanctioned the original ex tension . We have often said that our Institutions are

supported by a comparatively few ; that tbe same names appear year after year among the list of Stewards and Subscribers , and that the Charities are supported by a moiety only of the English Craft . Of course it would be better if each brother on the roll of Lodges in the kingdom could be induced to undertake a part of the work "which

comes under the head of Masonic assistance , but failing this it follows that the same men must labour year after year rather than a radical change should take place . Brethren subscribe to one or other of the Institutions

because they deem them worthy of support ; they urge their claims because they consider they are deserving of encouragement , and later on they propose and approve their enlargement , because claims on them are both urgent

and pressing . They commit the Craft to a certain annnal expenditure , and when it comes to the question who shall find the money , they prove the sincerity of their previous actions by taking a large share of the work upon themselves .

Thus it is we find the same men working again and again in the cause of Masonic Charity ; they have lent their approval to extended operations , and they have the honesty to take a share in the extended labour they have created .

But these old and tried workers should not be expected to do all the work . The Craft in its corporate capacity does not wish this , and nobly provides numbers of new supporters , who in turn become permanent workers in the good cause . That this will long be the case is not only the wish , but

the hope of English Craftsmen . At the present time two matters of extension of the Masonic Educational Institutions are before the Craft , and each of them call for warm support from the Brotherhood . The Boys' School has been enlarged by the addition of a

Preparatory School and other buildings , and the Girls ' School by the purchase of a piece of land which borders two sides of the previously acquired property of the Institution .

The Preparatory School of the Boys' Institution has been so often referred to , and its claims are so generally recognized , that little need be said now , except to point out the special privileges which accrue to subscribers who , before

the close of tbe present year , contribute funds especially for it . These " special privileges " consist of double votes for duly qualified Life Governors of the General Fund , Individual Donors , Lodges , Chapters , & c , for contributions of

not less than Five Guineas to the " Special Building Fund , " up to the 31 st December 1885 , and should be sufficient to yet secure a very large amount of money in aid of the special cause referred to .

The addition to the property of the Girls' School , which has recently been sanctioned by the General Court , is the acquisition of a belt of land bounding two sides of the property of the Institution , at a cost of £ 5 , 700 . This

large , but absolutely necessary expenditure , which has been decided upon in defence and protection of the most vital interests of the School will entail a very heavy strain

upon the finances of the Charity , It is hoped that the correspondingly urgent appeal for the continuance of the liberal support hitherto so generously accorded by the Craft may not be made in vain , but that at no very distant date the Craft will have subscribed the amount just spent ,

Advancement And Extension Of Our Schools.

m addition to its usual contributions . There are several matters in connection with the Girls' School which may also be referred to when urging special support for it at the present time , and these may , perhaps , be best enumerated

by a brief survey of the history of the Institution . The School was founded on the 25 th March 1788 , at the suggestion of the Chevalier Bartholomeo Rnspini , Surgeon Dentist to His Majesty King George the Fourth , then

Prince of Wales . Since its foundation 1413 girls have been provided with education , clothing , ancl maintenance in the School , which has now 242 pupils , as compared with 100 in December 1872 , or an increase of 142 in thirteen

years . A swimming bath has recently been completed , and it is confidently anticipated that , besides gaining the invaluable knowledge of the art of natation , the health also of the

girls will be greatly promoted by that most healthful and invigorating exercise , while it may justly be said that the heavy outlay recently incurred by the re-organising of the drainage system and other sanitary arrangements of the

Institution Buildings has been fully justified by results . The girls on election are firsfc admitted into the Junior School , where they receive all the special care ancl

attention which are so necessary for children of tender years , and are afterwards drafted into the Senior School , where they remain until they attain the age of sixteen ;

Dney receive a sound Hingusn Jkaucation , ana are employed by turns in all the Domestic Duties of the house , great pains are also being taken to render them skilful in Plain Needlework . At the Cambridge Local Examination , in December last , the names of fonrteen Girls were entered ,

every one of whom , it is most gratifying to note , passed , four being in the Honours List , besides several other distinctions . At the Science Examinations connected with the Science

and Art Department , South Kensington , of the 57 girls presented in Physiography , 49 passed ( 9 of these being presented in the advanced stage , all of whom passed ) ; in Geology , 32 were presented , of whom 30 passed . It may

be well to note that these Science Classes , which have proved of so much use ancl interest to the pupils , are conducted without cost to the Institution . The girls are also educated in Practical Cookery by an ex-pupil , who holds a first-class certificate from South Kensington .

These are among the features to which we may to-day refer in advocating special consideration of the merits of the Masonic Educational Institutions . At the present time

funds are much needed for both of them , and the members of the Craft are urgently appealed to to provide the sums required .

Correction Of Errors.

CORRECTION OF ERRORS .

BY BBO . JACOB NORTON .

EIRST—In my paper printed 22 nd August I ventm * ed to differ with Bro . Schultz as to whom Stapleton , in his letter of 1827 , applied the title of " distinguished chief . " Now a Bro . Eckel gave Jeremy L . Cross a warrant

in 1817 to confer the select degree on a certain number of Royal Arch Masons in a Royal Arch Chapter , and when the number was full Cross was empowered to " grant them a warrant to open a Council of Select , and confer the

degree , " & c . This seemed to me to mean that the Council should then be independent of the R . A . Chapter . Stapleton , however , censured somebody for abuse of authority in establishing Councils independent of R . A . Chapters . And

as Bro . Schultz brought to light a document signed by Eckel and Niles , which described a Bro . Wilmans of 1792 as possessing about a score of " magnificent high degree Masonic titles , " from whom they received the power of

conferring the . select degree , I concluded that the " distinguished chief" was designed for the great Wilmans , while the censure against the violator of the " chief ' s " injunction referred to Eckel , and not to Cross , as Bro .

Schultz supposed . I then wrote my views to Bro . Schultz , who frankly conceded that I was right . Subsequently , however , I sent another letter of Stapleton to Bro . Schultz , written about 1850 , which seemed to indicate that Eckel

was Stapleton ' s '* chief , and not Wilmans . Bro . Schultz , however , still thought thafc the " chief" was intended for Wilmans . But later on Bro . Schultz wrote to me that he bad discovered still another of Stapleton ' s letters , which satisfied him that his first opinion was right . So far we