Enjoyment After Labour.

ENJOYMENT AFTER LABOUR .

IT has long been recognised that not the least agreeable part of our Masonic system is the custom of holding a convivial meeting after the labours of the day have been completed , and it is well known that some of the most successful Lodges owe their good fortune , to a very great extent , to the ability of their members to maintain a continuous round of harmony during the hour or two which is devoted to * toast , song or recitation . There is ample scope for variety in this direction , as no two Lodges

may be said to take their pleasures m the same way . In one the Worshipful Master for the time being is the life of the company , in another two or three of the old Past Masters appear to make it their special business to keep up the spirits of those assembled , \ while in yet another quarter an efficient Organist has been appointed , and he possesses the happy accomplishment of bringing out the vocal abilities of the members , who , more often than not , can give a very

good account ol tnemselves 11 properly organised . In any one of these cases there is not much difficulty for the members of a Lodge and their friends to enjoy themselves , while the absence of all these features will , more often than not , cause the whole entertainment to fall flat , and the company will leave the meeting with the feeling that their time has been wasted , that they bave spent a most miserable evening , and that Freemasonry does not possess the charm it used to in their younger days .

While we recognise the advantage of having an efficient Master to preside over the proceedings at the social board , his power of causing enjoyment must be relegated to a secondary place in favour of a really efficient Organist , a brother who can preside at the piano and adapt himself to the requirements of those members of the company who are willing to do their best to afford enjoyment to their fellows . Those who have the welfare of their Lodge and its members

at heart would do well to endeavour to appoint an efficient brother to this post . The growing custom of employing prefessional artists at the more important meetings of the Craft has not improved matters in a general way . The efforts of amateur vocalists are generally appreciated , and more often than not catise greater enjoyment than follows from the employment of a professional , but those who know sufficient of music to be aware that they cannot give the same

effect to a song as some well known artist , who has previously rendered it at one of their meetings , hold aloof from attempting anything , so that while we may hear one or two good pieces on the occasion of the Installation meeting , the rest of the year we have no songs , simply because the singing members do not care to hear their efforts compared with those of the brother who has devoted his lifetime to the practice of music . It may be we are wrong , and that we are simply dreaming of the " good old times , " but we

Enjoyment After Labour.

have an idea all this was different in the days of long ago , when , so far as memory serves us , the majority of those assembled around a festive board could do something in the way of a song or a recitation ; indeed , how else would it have been possible to pass the song round as was usually done a matter of

twenty or thirty years ago , when each one at tne table had to take his share in providing the harmony of the meeting , or was penalised in some way or other for his inability . Is it that we were easier pleased then than now , or is ifc that the growth of education has made us more fastidious in our tastes ? It is very certain that very little short of professional vocalism is now appreciated by a section at least of those who attend our Masonic gatherings , but there is one

feature in the case which has struck us , and has probably been noticed by others . Those who are loudest in their criticism of others never make an attempt to sing a song themselves , they can follow those who clo sing , and can tell when this or-that note is wrong , and generally air their knowledge of music , not , as should be their aim , for the amusement of their fellows , but rather to the annoyance of those around them , who , if not perhaps quite so capable themselves , can at

least appreciate the efforts of those who do their very best in the hope of amusing a company . There is ample room for improvement in this matter of Lodge entertainment at the present time , and one of the first steps to be taken towards securing it should be to discourage the efforts of amateur critics —those who find fault with every effort put forward by their fellow members , not on account of their actual demerits so much as because they are the efforts of amateurs .

A Mystery Solved.

A MYSTERY SOLVED .

AN EXPLANATION OF THE THIRD DEGREE . IP we wero concerned with a rite which had for its mystery a death , or the representation of a death , after an inquiry into the reality of snch an occurrence , wo should be forcibly led into an examination of the purpose of its commemoration . It is also noteworthy that the

reality of a tradition is of no matter , where the tradition is symbolical , and , therefore , arriving at the thing signified would be the highest object of investigation . It wero singular to remark that every ritnal has somewhere in its celebrations a mortnary representation : whether in classic

antiquity , tho repeated mysteries , each with its awful pageantry of the universal end of life ; or in the sombro rites of Egypt ; or in the typical sacrifice of tho synagogue and temple ; or in tho one graud oblation borne up to tho throne of God by the great High Priest of Christianity . In

every land , iu every age , in every worship , in tho contemplation of the soul communing with itself , and in tho multitudinous voice of nations , kindred and tongues , thero has been this motive of religion , theme of universal prayor aud expiation—Deatb . The subject is too comprehensive for a complete analysis