The Provincial Contributions To The Girls' School.

with sundry odd amounts , a sum of £ 170 5 s was added to the total for the year . The " sundries" formed the largest total , the figures being £ 68 5 s , and then , in order , came Bro . W . Hardcastle , of the Albert Victor Lodge , No . 1773 , with an even £ 60 . The other four Stewards from this district contributed totals of ten guineas each .

Hampshire and the Isle of Wight had four brethren working in its midst on behalf of the Festival , and among them they secured £ 164 2 s 6 d . Bro . John W . Gieve , of the Harmony Lodge , No . 309 , had the largest total , his list being £ 71 4 s 3 d . Bro . W . T . Way-Buckell , of No . 151 , brought np £ 48 16 s 3 d , and Bro . R . White , of No . 1331 , £ 33 12 s .

Each of the remaining Provinces had totals of less than £ 150 . We here give the respective totals , and in addition

Dorsetshire 2 142 16 0 S . Wales ( East Division ) 1 140 0 0 Devonshire 1 136 19 0 Bedfordshire 3 134 13 0 Somersetshire 1 133 1 0 Suffolk 2 126 10 6

Hertfordshire 2 125 16 0 Oxfordshire 4 105 19 6 Warwickshire 3 102 18 0 North Wales 2 97 2 6 Yorkshire ( N . and E . ) 2 82 0 0

Cheshire 5 18 15 0 Herefordshire 1 74 11 0 Durham 2 68 5 0 Norfolk 2 61 4 0 Channel Islands 1 63 0 0

Derbyshire 2 37 10 6 Worcestershire 3 36 15 0 Cornwall 1 31 10 0 Leicestershire 1 10 10 0 Pnnjanb 1 No return .

The above figures , and the splendid sum to which they total , are sufficient evidence of the desire of Freemasons throughout the country to do their best on behalf of those whose station in life is such as to call for outside aid . If such disinterested charity as is here evidenced can only be maintained , Freemasonry will never lack a strong advocate

the number of brethren of each district who acted as Steward : — Province . Stewards , Total . £ a d Bristol 1 145 19 0

m support of its principles of Brotherly Love and Relief . We hope that not only may similar success attend all Festivals of the future , but as year by year the blessings of Freemasonry become more extended , that additional support may be forthcoming and that the , contributions may some

day be sumcient to meet all the calls made upon them . In conclusion , we again heartily congratulate all who had a hand in the Girls' School Festival of 1886 , and the Institution itself on being able to secure so large a list of supporters , which will enable it to continue its good work amongst the orphan daughters of Freemasonry .

Lessons Taught By Freemasonry.

LESSONS TAUGHT BY FREEMASONRY .

An Oration delivered by Dr . Branch , W . M . Mount Olive Lodge , St . Kitts , W . I ., at the unveiling of the memorial to Dr . Dinzey P . M ., on 13 th March 1886 , at the Springfield Cemetery , St . Kitts .

IT is , alas , only too true that the roses of friendship , as a poet has said , fall only on the turf that covers the dead . The grave has no ear for the sweet words of love , no eye for the proofs of esteem and the tribute of affection . Yet the ceremonial of to-day is not an unmeaning and

useless pageant . It has given us an opportunity of expressing , to the relief of onr own hearts , our grief for the loss that we have sustained , and has caused ns to meditate on excellencies of character which we would fain emulate .

To us , my Brethren in Freemasonry , tbe labours of the day are fraught with special significance . Once again has the great lesson been taught us that virtue triumphs even over death . Once again have we raised our eyes to the Star of Hope whose rays penetrate even beyond the dark veil that shrouds the unknown land .

But what more profitable subject of meditation is there to any one than the finished story of a good man ' s life ? It matters nothing to a philosophical mind that the drama was enacted on a small and lowly stage . External circumstances cannot add to nor diminish the intrinsic grandeur

Lessons Taught By Freemasonry.

of the theme . The perfect circle is as beautiful and as full of meaning when traced with contracted as with widespread compass-points . None of you will be likely to construe these remarks as

an undervaluing of the career of our deceased friend and brother . Second to no other in usefulness and nobility is the work of the practical physician , whether his lot be cast among the rich and powerful or the poorest and meanest of

his fellow-men , in an obscure islet or some mighty centre of civilisation . The talents and energies which are faithfullv expended in applying the resources of Science to the

necessities of suffering Humanity may not gain fame or rank or wealth , but can scarcely fail to be held in high estimation and to win a rich guerdon of love .

Such were the labours and such the reward of John Keightley Dinzey . The elegant and appropriate memorial before us is the gift chiefly of those who benefited by his services . I take this opportunity of remarking , en passant ,

that the credit of originating the idea of its erection is due to Solomon Shelford , Esquire . It , this Lodge of Sorrow , and the immense concourse here assembled to do honour to the memory of our departed brother are tokens of the

exalted opinion of his merits entertained by this community and of the large place which he filled in our hearts . Ay , and ever will fill . Surely the poor of Cayou and Nichola Town Parishes will long miss the generous hand and sympathetic heart buried here . Can the patients

whose lives he has redeemed from death forget the self sacrificing devotion which assuaged their sufferings ? Often will the colleagues by whose side he has loyally stood in many a hard fight yearn for his helpful presence . Can the memory of the genial companion , the disinterested adviser , the faithful friend ever fade ? Many of us have reached or overstepped the prime of life . Time will not give back " The golden days and fairy flowers To these wearied hearts of ours . " We cannot hope to replace the broken link of an early

friendship by any newly-made companionship . One by one the friends of a lifetime glide from the clasp of our loving arms into the grave ' s cold embrace , carrying with them our own hopes and joys , ambitions and energies , the

bloom of our youth and the vigour of our manhood . " Ah me ! What hidden occult science Can from the ashes in onr hearts once more The Eose of Youth restore ? What craft of Alchemy can bid defiance To Time and Change , and for a single hour Eenew the phantom flower ?"

But , my Masonic Brethren , have we no hope of a reunion with the companions of our former toils ? Yes , for not in vain have we passed , guided by the beacons of Conscience and Reason , through the dark and rough road of Life and the pathway of Science to the sombre portals

of Death , Even thus and there have we seen the dawn of an eternal morn silvering , though but with faint and flickering beam , the sable cloud that rests on the prospect of Futurity . Our noble and ancient mysteries have nerved our hearts to face with calm courage the King of Terrors and to tread with firm step around the good man ' s grave . Even he , who though a Master in our Israel , has not

advanced beyond the ritualistic lessons of the Order , knows the sublime truths that Nature herself has instilled into our inmost souls a reasonable hope of a hereafter and an instinctive belief , founded on that hope , that heroic

devotion to duty even at the cost of life is infinitely

preferable to life itself purchased with the loss of honour . But the humble and ardent students of esoteric Masonry find in it more authoritative and direct teaching on this all-important subject . By esoteric Masonry I do not mean the alleged possession of occult science by the

so-called theosophists and such-like mystics . Still less do I allude to the tenets of certain philologists who claim to have found the genesis of the Masonic as well as of all

other theological or ethico-religions systems in a " Solar Myth " or a " Naturalistic Theory . " It would be idle to deny , in the presence of those who have advanced to the East in due form , that Astronomy has in all ages

constituted an important part of Masonic Science . It would be equally absurd to tell you , who understand the use of the square , the level , and the plumb , that Masonry was not an

ethical system . Our ancient Brethren who watched the skies from the lofty temples of Belus , or those who from the banks of the rising Nile saw in the Southern sky the calls to labour and refreshment in the ascending Sinus