The Approaching Festival Of The Boys' School.

THE APPROACHING FESTIVAL OF THE BOYS' SCHOOL .

rilHB very success which has attended the two Festivals JL of the Masonic Charitable Institutions held during the current year affords cause for increased anxioty as to what may be the result of the one that is yet to take

place—the Festival in aid of the Eoyal Masonic Institution for Boys , which , is to be held on Wednesday , the 24 th . of June next , at the Crystal Palace , Sydenham . The

Freemasons of England liave been most liberal in the support they have this year given to the Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution , and the Royal Masonic Institution for Girls ; and we do not for one moment doubt there is any less

desire to stand nobly by the Royal Masonic Institution for Boys , in its turn . We do not question the desire to do equally well , nor do we care to entertain the idea that the desire cannot be as readily carried out as was the case with

the other two Institutions , yet it is reasonable to suppose there is a limit to the means , if not the will , of the Masons of England . How long or short a time we shall have to wait for practical demonstration of this surmise we cannot

of course say , all we can hope is , that it may not be soon , indeed that it may be postponed indefinitely ; but at the same time we fear , even for the immediate future . The Royal Masonic Institution for Boys stands in many

respects in an unenviable . position among the Charitable Institutions of English Freemasonry . Its Annual Festival is always the last of the three , and falls too at a time when a very large majority of the Lodges are closed for the summer recess . The brethren who undertake the duties of

Steward on its behalf have often to make their appeals at the same time as others in the Lodges are canvassing for the Benevolent Institution or the Girls' School , otherwise they find their turn does not come until the Lodge is

closed for the summer , thus shutting them out from all participation in the benefits which are usually supposed to be associated with the banquet table as a field of operation in securing promises of support and

assistance . Not only is this the case , hut the closing of the Lodge months before the holding of the Festival , often deprives a Steward of all chance of personally soliciting the co-operation of his fellow members , and we all

kLow the value of personal interviews in such matters . Coming last of the three , and at a time when Masonry is , so to speak , slumbering , the Festival of the Boys' School must then be naturally shorn of many of the benefits

which are associated with activity and its consequent enthusiasm , but it is not only in this respect that it compares somewhat unfavourably with the other Institutions .

The Girls' School is its senior in the matter of age , and for this reason is supposed in some quarters to have a prior claim on the Order , but there is a far stronger feeling which works for the benefit of the Girls' School as

compared with that of the Boys '—the sympathy which always surrounds the weaker sex ; the feeling that girls are so much more helpless than boys to battle with the world , "when calamity or misfortune has deprived them of their

natural protectors , or the means of securing a fair start m life . This opinion that boys are better able to rough it , to fight their own way in the world , and to help

themselves far more than girls can do , is a very old one , and it must be admitted its influence is strong in regulating the amount of support given to distinct Institutions , founded

The Approaching Festival Of The Boys' School.

for the relief and support of the opposite sexes . Then asrain tho Benevolent Institution undoubtedly receives at the present time more sympathy than the Boys' Schoo 7 , nnd it is not perhaps strange that such should be the

case ; Englishmen are proverbially respectful to old age . It appears to he part of an Englishman ' s nature to show respect to those in the decline of life , and more particularly so when misfortune accompanies the old age of those of

one ' s own class . The Girls on the one hand , and the Aged on the other , it must then be admitted , receive more sympathy than is accorded to the Boys ' . Should this be the case ? Are the boys better able to take care of themselves

than the girls , or are they less deserving of support than the aged ? The only answer it is consistent for the Craft to give is , to afford assistance to the Institution which , provides for the Boys equal to that given

to the other two during the current year , thereby demonstrating to the world at large that in the eyes of Freemasons at least , all are equally deserving of support . We could give many and strong reasons why the Boys' School

should receive the first attention , but we refrain from doing so because we think that the best appeal we can at nresent make is that all should be treated alike , feeling that if the Boys' Festival is as great a success this year as the

two which have preceded it have been , there will he no cause for regret , much less grumbling . We must , however , point to one feature which should specially enlist support

for the Bovs—they will be the men of the future ; it is on them will depend the maintenance in years to come , not only of the Charitable Institutions of Freemasonry , but of the Order itself . We should therefore render all the aid

possible to those lads who from causes beyond their own control are compelled to look for aid outside their own family circle , as it is only by giving them the means of earning that we can reasonably expect them to subscribe .

As a charitable Institution , pure and simple , the Royal Masonic Institution for Boys presents all that can be required by the most exacting . It has done good work in the past , is doing good work now , aud , above all , is making

preparation to do even more in the future . As regards the past , we can look back on eighty-seven years working of the Institution , and may reasonably feel proud of what has been done under its auspices . Since its foundation SIXTEEN HUNDRED AND FIFTY - SEVEN sons of Freemasons

have received its benefits , while at the present time two hundred and fifteen are being clothed , fed and educated in the buildings at Wood Green . Who shall estimate the amount of benefit to the world generally , and to the

recipients particularly , which has resulted from the assistance rendered by the Institution to these 1657 lads ? Is it too much to say that the world at large has been benefited by the Institution ? We think not , for however

small a proportion of the total number of helpless children these 1657 may be , it is but fair to suppose that their removal from the paths of ignorance and want to the ranks of knowledge and comfort must have had some beneficial results . It can at least be said the Institution has in the

past brought , and now brings up , the lads in such a manw r , educating them with such care , and training them with such efficiency , as to fit them for any position they may he called upon to fill , and all this has been and is now being

done by the liberality of the Freemasons of England . At the present time , as we have already said , there are two hundred and fifteen lads on the establishment at Wood Green , of whom nine are admitted by virtue of purchased