New Masonic Hall.

NEW MASONIC HALL .

ON the 16 th inst ., fche ceremony was performed of laying the corner stone of a new Masonic Hall , which is about to be erected in Hendford , at a cost of about £ 1 , 000 , by Lodge No . 329 .

The ceremony was performed by Bro . B . Whitby , in the presence of a large number of members of the Lodge , as well as of the general public .

The ceremony was not of the nature of a full Masonic function ; but Bro . Cox , on behalf of the Lodge , presented Bro . Whitby with a silver trowel , with which the Worshipful Master laid the stone . He congratulated

the members of the Lodge on having at length overcome the difficulties which had impeded the carrying out of the scheme for the past 30 years . The corner stone bears the following inscription : —

This stone was laid by Bro . BENJAMIN WHITBY , Worshipful Master of the Lodge Brotherly Love , No . 529

on the 16 th of May A . L . 5894 , A . D . 1894 . After the laying of the stone a banquet was held at the Three Choughs Hotel .

"As Others See Us."

"AS OTHERS SEE US . "

"THE GOSPEL OF FRENCH ANGLOPHOBES . " ( From the " Daily News " Paris Correspondent . ) ' * " "TJlNGLAND and Freemasonry " is a book which , with a littlo P more talent in it , would deserve to be the gospel of French Anglophobes . Perhaps , however , it is good enough for this class of readers .

According to its sub-title , it professes to be an account of English manners and customs . The author's purpose is set forth in a review supplied ready-made to the Press by the publishers . " The book , " this crib says , " is a study of tho life of our neighbours , whom we know so little in their true light . " As the author shows , it is not owing to qualites which superficial minds have wrongly ascribed to

the English , but owing to Freemasonry that this artful nation has succeeded in domineering the world , and in ruling our own country , where they are just as all-powerful as the Jews . One of tho opening chapters points out the similarity generally overlooked between tho English and the Jews—lack of all honourable feeling , stolid countenance , underhand ways , an exclusive ambition to make

money , absence of creative genius , & c . Tho author , M . Louis Martin , who says he has lived in England , America , and China , divides the English family into three branches—tho Irish , Scotch , and English . The Irishman is the poor Jew . Ho is an encumbrance to the family , but the Englishman reckons that he swells the population of the islands , a point which is not to be disdained in a

nation of 30 millions only . It is true there arc the Colonials , but one cannot place much reliance upon them . The Scotsman is the wealthy Jew . He generally takes the leading place in business , but he dislikes the Englishman who puts on too many airs . The Englishman is jealous of Sandy , but he thinks the latter so smart a partner he forgives him . What astonishes the Englishman is that

Sandy is an even greater hypocrite than he . He cannot get over this . When will people leave off pitying the Irish ? They certainly differ from the English proper , but less than a Breton differs from a Provengal . England and Ireland spend their time in quarreling like fish-wives , after which the Irish send their sons into the English army . The Irish are as cowardly as their oppressors . They will

not be a bit grateful to France for all she has done for them . They are quite right . They understand that the French do not put themselves out for their sakes , but merely in order to annoy the English . They think the landlords are wrong to unthatch a tenant ' s house . Anybody acting like this in France would rightly be boycotted , but French farmers aro of an infinitely better blood

than the Irish . There is no comparison between the two . If the French were landlords in Ireland they would probably be driven into imitating tho present landlords . The French alternately love and dislike other nations , but the English nurse an immutable hatred toward all other races . They shake hands with you in the most friendly way , and the next minute fire at you from behind

your back . The French were not beaten by the Germans in 1870 , but by the English , Bazaine being their tool . They sent , it is true , a few boxes of preserves to Paris to save appearances . France is ideal , warm-hearted , disciplined , ready for every self-sacrifice . England is afraid that united France and Russia will say to Germany ; " Give back Alsace-Lorraine ; we will give you a

compensation in the flanks of Albion . You will have splendid harbours there . Both of ns will also take a slice of England . You have a surplus population . Do to the English as they did to tho Acadians—turn them out . " There is certainly more diversity among dogs than among the English . The houses , streets , cemeteries , are as uniform as cells in a honeycomb . Sunday drunkenness is also universal . You get tired of this sameness . An Englishman

meeting you , if he is a stranger , says : " Fine weather . " If he is a friend , he says : " I am more virtuous than last week . " You may meet a thousand Englishmen ; they are all alike . This is why temperance societies have been invented . At a club you will meet a venerable gentleman staggering along . His friends prop him up ; the English are very motherly under such circumstances . He replies " All right , all right , " in a thick voice . His friends at length haul him off to bed . He is the chairman of the Local Temperance

"As Others See Us."

Society . You turn aside in disgust , but the English think his CDnduct quite natural . Temperance societies have never been founded to reduce drunkenness , but to give temperance certificates * These idiots are playing a comedy for each other , and know they are insincere all round . The much vaunted English education will not stand being looked into . Tho continental mother is aware

what a tremendous task it is to educate a soul . It is otherwise with an English mother . Like a hen that has hatched a brood , she knows that her young ones will hereafter cackle whenever they lay eggs . The English mother cannot make her son less false , hypocritical , irreligious , and immoral . The English soul never

changes . All the English are treacherous . This cannot be seriously denied any longer . An Englishman will often tell you the truth . He captures your confidence , and at the right moment betrays you in the most perfidious manner . It is the effect of instinct . Every Englishwoman is a drunkard and the author believes there are no exceptions to this rule .

The above are some choice extracts from a few chapters , but the whole book runs on in the same tone for 400 pages . The conclusion is all Continental races should unite to stamp out the Jews , Chinese , and particularly the English , who are an even more loathsome race than the Chinese . Unfortunately , English gold is able to sow discord in Europe , and French statesmen and editors are mere flunkeys of Britain .

o o o The Berlin " Das Echo " states that the Anti-Semite battle is fought as fiercely in that city upon the soil of Freemasonry as it is in the pulpits of the Church , on the political platform , and in tho Press . The notion of Pius IX . and Leo XIII . that every Mason is as such an atheist is as false as it can be out of Italy , andis

probably untrue there . In all the Masonic Lodges of Berlin the profession of Christianity is so far necessary that no non-Christian is admissible , and this excludes all the wealthy Berlin Jews . The purely " Humanist" Lodges in other parts of Germany make no such distinction between Christian and Jew . A literary champion of this principle of the undenominational character of Freemasonry

has published a pamphlet in which he describes the Grand Lodges of Berlin as " the Schools of Hierarchy and of Absolutism . " Steps are now being taken to start a " Humanist" Grand Lodge in Berlin , which is to be named after the Emperor ' s father , " Kaiser Friedrich zur Bundestreue , " and appeals havo been sent to the Grand Lodges of Hamburg , Frankfort , Darmstadt , Bayreuth , and

Saxony for tho acknowledgment of tho Humanist Lodge as a " right , complete , and perfect Lodge . " Tho decision is to be known at Whitsuntide , and it is awaited with great anxiety by tho Kreuzzeitung , the organ of the old Orthodox Lutherans ana the aristocracy . The Grand Lodges of Hungary and Holland , it seems

have already expressed their " Brotherly welcome " to the proposed new Lodge . But as the old Adam of nationality is as strong iu Freemasons as it is in most other international societies , this will be no comfort to the " Humanists , " if they are refused a " Brotherly welcome" by their own German fellow-citizens . — " Echo . "

Ad00503

CRITERIONRESTAURANT. EASTROOM FOR -Ev J ± 3 O Jr 3 L _ E . ex * O -Ex -E DINNERS&SUPPERS ALACARTE. THE WESTEOOM, DINNER,5/;SUPPER,4/-Instrumental Music 11 . 0 to 12 . 30 . GrandHall3/6Dinner, AT SEPARATE TABLES , 6 TO 9 . Accompanied by the Celebrated "SPIERPON"ORCHESTRA. Academy Luncheon in West Room , 2 / 9 .