Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Freemasons' Quarterly Magazine And Review.
The Grand Festival of 1852 has , however , at length brought the matter to a crisis . The confusion , which , we understand , equally prevailed at the Festival of the Girls ' School— 'to which our report refers—has added to the accumulated necessity of something being done to remove a blot and stigma from the character of the Craft . The task would doubtless have been a difficult one for tho Board of Stewards
to have effectually fulfilled , had they done their duty ; but , as they did not seem even inclined to make the slightest effort to do so , the time has clearly come when the Board of General Purposes must take the matter up , and make such provision , both for the musical arrangements and for the
comfort of the Brethren , as shall preclude the possibility ot a repetition of scenes like these , to which we have , most painfully , felt it our duty to allude in the strongest terms of censure .
Such discreditable conduct would not , and could not by any possibility , occur in any similar gathering in the popular world . Even could it , however , once occur , it would not for a moment be tolerated , much less be permitted to be perpetuated year after year . We have attended many public
dinners , unconnected with Freemasonry , at which a far greater crowd has been assembled than were present at Freemasons ' Hall , on the 28 th April ; but never have we found any but Masons— -whose profession of obedience to authority is so loud—not only not attending to the speakers or vocalists ,
but utterly disregarding the Chairman ' s appeals for order . If such a state of things is to be perpetuated , —if noise and uproar are to be continued , —and if Freemasonry is to be converted—as it is too often supposed to be , chiefly through the faults of a few of its members—into a mere convivial society ,
at least let the invitations given to the members of the fairer sex to come to witness such scenes cease ; for at such indecency they cannot but express contempt and loathing . But proceedings , so utterly unworthy of the character ot men and Masons , which took place at the last Grand Festival , cannot go on . Something must , —something WILL , forthwith
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Freemasons' Quarterly Magazine And Review.
The Grand Festival of 1852 has , however , at length brought the matter to a crisis . The confusion , which , we understand , equally prevailed at the Festival of the Girls ' School— 'to which our report refers—has added to the accumulated necessity of something being done to remove a blot and stigma from the character of the Craft . The task would doubtless have been a difficult one for tho Board of Stewards
to have effectually fulfilled , had they done their duty ; but , as they did not seem even inclined to make the slightest effort to do so , the time has clearly come when the Board of General Purposes must take the matter up , and make such provision , both for the musical arrangements and for the
comfort of the Brethren , as shall preclude the possibility ot a repetition of scenes like these , to which we have , most painfully , felt it our duty to allude in the strongest terms of censure .
Such discreditable conduct would not , and could not by any possibility , occur in any similar gathering in the popular world . Even could it , however , once occur , it would not for a moment be tolerated , much less be permitted to be perpetuated year after year . We have attended many public
dinners , unconnected with Freemasonry , at which a far greater crowd has been assembled than were present at Freemasons ' Hall , on the 28 th April ; but never have we found any but Masons— -whose profession of obedience to authority is so loud—not only not attending to the speakers or vocalists ,
but utterly disregarding the Chairman ' s appeals for order . If such a state of things is to be perpetuated , —if noise and uproar are to be continued , —and if Freemasonry is to be converted—as it is too often supposed to be , chiefly through the faults of a few of its members—into a mere convivial society ,
at least let the invitations given to the members of the fairer sex to come to witness such scenes cease ; for at such indecency they cannot but express contempt and loathing . But proceedings , so utterly unworthy of the character ot men and Masons , which took place at the last Grand Festival , cannot go on . Something must , —something WILL , forthwith