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Article ASYLUM FOR THE AGED AND DECAYED FREEMASON. ← Page 4 of 10 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Asylum For The Aged And Decayed Freemason.
my address to you , I must freely acknowledge , that although cheered and dispirited by the presence of such kind friends , I am necessarily prevented from touching upon some explanatory subjects connected with our Order , from a wish to avoid giving the slightest possible ground of offence . Ancl I must further add , on the part of all who are engaged in support of what we consider from our hearts to be a laudable object , that \> ur past arrangements are merely of a provisional nature ; that
however zealously we may have associated , however confident we may have felt in the honest justice of our cause , we have carefully avoided any course that can tend to compromise the honour , the dignity , or the prerogative of our Illustrious and Paternal Ruler . It will be our pleasing duty ' to continue tins Masonic course , as the surest and ^ best means to disarm prejudice and ultimately to ensure success . There is no one with particlof emotion who does not feel for the hapless
, a e generous condition of tbe aged ancl unprotected man , who does not pity grey hairs sinking into the grave beneath the undeserved accumulation of the ills that follow in the train of dreary poverty . Other societies have been impressed with this sympathy—it has been a reproach to ours , that until latelv we have not been so . It is true that the measure of our monthly
benevolence lias ever been dealt out with a liberal hand ; but it has often heen riven to those who did not really merit it . This is , too , but a transient measure of relief , which the aged man cannot depend upon as a certainty ; it leaves him , during the last remnant of his wretched existence , a dependent pensioner , and an unsatisfied mendicant of the casual bounty of those amongst whom in happier days he moved , an acquaintance ancl an ornament . He should have a home wherein to not be condemnedwhen
shelter his a » -ed head . —( Hear ) . He should , his means and his strength have departed , to crave from adventitious charity , his scant ancl daily sustenance . To him who has pursued an honoured career amidst the beauties of our mysteries , whose life , m adherence to our laws , has been one of practical benevolence , so hard , so partial , so undeserved a fate should not arrive . The tear of sorrow which he had often wi from the soft cheek of han infancy
ped away orp , should not fall heavily along the furrows which time ancl time ' s precursor , care , had made . His dwelling should be the temple of peace , and not the cheerless home of penury and despair . But the good work has i „ m , „ —( Cheers ! . It has at length been acknowledged , almost
universally , through our Order , that an asylum for aged and decayed Masons would not interfere with our other chanties . The aged and distressed Mason has , as I have already stated , continued irregularly to receive relief from the fund of monthly benevolence ; but it is one thing to <* ive a temporary alms , and another to afford certain and permanent rehef —( Hear , hear , hear ) . In fact , this temporary charity is m most instances no real relief whatever . The aged man who has once enjoyed comforts of lifeis of too proud
the "oods of fortune ancl the , generally a spirit to ask for bread from those with whom he has associated m his prosperity—he suffers the extreme of wretchedness ancl privation beiore he consents to do so—then you relieve him when relief is almost too late —the same ordeal , heartless on the one hand , ancl humiliating on the other is again to be gone through ; it cannot last—fresh claimants pour in many of them unworthy ones—hope , too often disappointed , is succeeded by despair—despair is followed by death ; ancl the poor , old , and deserving Mason , descends to his grave unhonourcd and unrcmcinbered ! —( Hear , hear ) . I do not appeal to your pity—I appeal to your justice .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Asylum For The Aged And Decayed Freemason.
my address to you , I must freely acknowledge , that although cheered and dispirited by the presence of such kind friends , I am necessarily prevented from touching upon some explanatory subjects connected with our Order , from a wish to avoid giving the slightest possible ground of offence . Ancl I must further add , on the part of all who are engaged in support of what we consider from our hearts to be a laudable object , that \> ur past arrangements are merely of a provisional nature ; that
however zealously we may have associated , however confident we may have felt in the honest justice of our cause , we have carefully avoided any course that can tend to compromise the honour , the dignity , or the prerogative of our Illustrious and Paternal Ruler . It will be our pleasing duty ' to continue tins Masonic course , as the surest and ^ best means to disarm prejudice and ultimately to ensure success . There is no one with particlof emotion who does not feel for the hapless
, a e generous condition of tbe aged ancl unprotected man , who does not pity grey hairs sinking into the grave beneath the undeserved accumulation of the ills that follow in the train of dreary poverty . Other societies have been impressed with this sympathy—it has been a reproach to ours , that until latelv we have not been so . It is true that the measure of our monthly
benevolence lias ever been dealt out with a liberal hand ; but it has often heen riven to those who did not really merit it . This is , too , but a transient measure of relief , which the aged man cannot depend upon as a certainty ; it leaves him , during the last remnant of his wretched existence , a dependent pensioner , and an unsatisfied mendicant of the casual bounty of those amongst whom in happier days he moved , an acquaintance ancl an ornament . He should have a home wherein to not be condemnedwhen
shelter his a » -ed head . —( Hear ) . He should , his means and his strength have departed , to crave from adventitious charity , his scant ancl daily sustenance . To him who has pursued an honoured career amidst the beauties of our mysteries , whose life , m adherence to our laws , has been one of practical benevolence , so hard , so partial , so undeserved a fate should not arrive . The tear of sorrow which he had often wi from the soft cheek of han infancy
ped away orp , should not fall heavily along the furrows which time ancl time ' s precursor , care , had made . His dwelling should be the temple of peace , and not the cheerless home of penury and despair . But the good work has i „ m , „ —( Cheers ! . It has at length been acknowledged , almost
universally , through our Order , that an asylum for aged and decayed Masons would not interfere with our other chanties . The aged and distressed Mason has , as I have already stated , continued irregularly to receive relief from the fund of monthly benevolence ; but it is one thing to <* ive a temporary alms , and another to afford certain and permanent rehef —( Hear , hear , hear ) . In fact , this temporary charity is m most instances no real relief whatever . The aged man who has once enjoyed comforts of lifeis of too proud
the "oods of fortune ancl the , generally a spirit to ask for bread from those with whom he has associated m his prosperity—he suffers the extreme of wretchedness ancl privation beiore he consents to do so—then you relieve him when relief is almost too late —the same ordeal , heartless on the one hand , ancl humiliating on the other is again to be gone through ; it cannot last—fresh claimants pour in many of them unworthy ones—hope , too often disappointed , is succeeded by despair—despair is followed by death ; ancl the poor , old , and deserving Mason , descends to his grave unhonourcd and unrcmcinbered ! —( Hear , hear ) . I do not appeal to your pity—I appeal to your justice .