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Article TO THE EDITOR. Page 1 of 1 Article TO THE EDITOR. Page 1 of 1
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To The Editor.
TO THE EDITOR .
SIR AND BROTHER , —A few years ago an individual , a resident housekeeper in this town , , anxious to become a Freemason , made application to a Lodge in another town to be admitted there ; he was proposed , balloted for , but blackbeaned . The same individual , a few weeks ago , made application to the Lodge in this town , and was proposed for admission by a Brother of the Lodge , who , at the same time , was informed by several of the Brethren , that the proposed candidate had been blackbeaned at some years
ago ; at the same time it was stated that there existed a strong feeling against the candidate , and , if persisted in for a ballot , that he would be blackbeaned . Notwithstanding these hints given , the candidate was proposed in full Lodge , balloted for , and , as was anticipated , he was blackbeaned bg five votes . This has caused dissension and unpleasant feelings amongst the Brethren , antl a breaking up or separation is talked of by some of the members in favour of the candidate .
Sir and Brother , will you be so good , and give your opinion in your next Quarterly Review , ( to " serve as a land mark" and guidance , in future , for a similar occurrence ) , whether it is constitutional to propose a blackbeaned individual ?—Whether that Brother who proposed him , having been warned of the result to issue , is justified in proposing a
rejected candidate ?—or can he have just cause to complain of want of respect or courtesy shown to him , or consider himself insulted by not admitting the individual he proposed ? . " A BROTHER . [ It is possible that the party desirous of entering the Order some years since , might have felt cognizant of the existence of some difference of opinion between himself and a member or members of the Lodge in the town wherein he resided , and that he therefore endeavoured to
enter the Masonic portal elsewhere . Should this idea be correct , we see nothing therein but deference to propriety . It is better that one person should be refused entrance , than that the peace and harmony of many should he disturbed . Well , many years elapsed , and inclination still existing , his amour propre , probably revolted from seeking entrance where rejection had once followed . The party then tried his own town , and was there rejected—the fornyer reasons possibly existing . The case
is , we believe , an isolated one . If the party be respectable in character and courteous in disposition , his rejection is unworthy of the Brethren ; if otherwise , while we still lament liis rejection , his own good sense will doubtless supply the moral . Should , however , his rejection have resulted from mere ill-nature , ( and Freemasons are but men ) , we can assure him that the door of Freemasonry will open freely to admit him . We have since heard that his first rejection arose from a most unworthy motive—ED . ]
To The Editor.
TO THE EDITOR .
DEAR SIR AND BROTHER , —I have much pleasure in informing you that the St . James' Lodge , No . 707 , at Handsworth , have unanimously voted the sum of One Guinea annuall y to each of the four Masonic charities ; a pattern this for the other Lodges under the English constitution . Let diem do likewise , and the treasurer of each charity would , at the end of every year , be enabled to make a flourishing report of 762 guineas from this source alone . Yours truly , A PROVINCIAL GRAND OFFICER .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
To The Editor.
TO THE EDITOR .
SIR AND BROTHER , —A few years ago an individual , a resident housekeeper in this town , , anxious to become a Freemason , made application to a Lodge in another town to be admitted there ; he was proposed , balloted for , but blackbeaned . The same individual , a few weeks ago , made application to the Lodge in this town , and was proposed for admission by a Brother of the Lodge , who , at the same time , was informed by several of the Brethren , that the proposed candidate had been blackbeaned at some years
ago ; at the same time it was stated that there existed a strong feeling against the candidate , and , if persisted in for a ballot , that he would be blackbeaned . Notwithstanding these hints given , the candidate was proposed in full Lodge , balloted for , and , as was anticipated , he was blackbeaned bg five votes . This has caused dissension and unpleasant feelings amongst the Brethren , antl a breaking up or separation is talked of by some of the members in favour of the candidate .
Sir and Brother , will you be so good , and give your opinion in your next Quarterly Review , ( to " serve as a land mark" and guidance , in future , for a similar occurrence ) , whether it is constitutional to propose a blackbeaned individual ?—Whether that Brother who proposed him , having been warned of the result to issue , is justified in proposing a
rejected candidate ?—or can he have just cause to complain of want of respect or courtesy shown to him , or consider himself insulted by not admitting the individual he proposed ? . " A BROTHER . [ It is possible that the party desirous of entering the Order some years since , might have felt cognizant of the existence of some difference of opinion between himself and a member or members of the Lodge in the town wherein he resided , and that he therefore endeavoured to
enter the Masonic portal elsewhere . Should this idea be correct , we see nothing therein but deference to propriety . It is better that one person should be refused entrance , than that the peace and harmony of many should he disturbed . Well , many years elapsed , and inclination still existing , his amour propre , probably revolted from seeking entrance where rejection had once followed . The party then tried his own town , and was there rejected—the fornyer reasons possibly existing . The case
is , we believe , an isolated one . If the party be respectable in character and courteous in disposition , his rejection is unworthy of the Brethren ; if otherwise , while we still lament liis rejection , his own good sense will doubtless supply the moral . Should , however , his rejection have resulted from mere ill-nature , ( and Freemasons are but men ) , we can assure him that the door of Freemasonry will open freely to admit him . We have since heard that his first rejection arose from a most unworthy motive—ED . ]
To The Editor.
TO THE EDITOR .
DEAR SIR AND BROTHER , —I have much pleasure in informing you that the St . James' Lodge , No . 707 , at Handsworth , have unanimously voted the sum of One Guinea annuall y to each of the four Masonic charities ; a pattern this for the other Lodges under the English constitution . Let diem do likewise , and the treasurer of each charity would , at the end of every year , be enabled to make a flourishing report of 762 guineas from this source alone . Yours truly , A PROVINCIAL GRAND OFFICER .