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Article A FEW MORE WORDS ON REFRESHMENT. ← Page 2 of 2 Article ALICE, OR THE FREEMASON'S CHILD. Page 1 of 2 →
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A Few More Words On Refreshment.
alleviating pain—in succouring misery—in freeing the mind of youth from the trammels of sin and ignorance—in obeying the sacred dictates of charity . Would the pleasure of such actions be thus transient ? Would it be a mere ebullition of pleasurable emotion , to pass in an instant , ancl leave the mind listless and unsatisfied ? No ! the pleasure of such deeds is eternal ; it would hallow our happiness , and lighten the load of our afflictionGod forbid that I should wish to do
. away with our festive gatherings ! but I would have the value of them estimated , not by the length of the tavern bill , but by the usefulness of the men composing them . We may be equally happy without washing down our repast with wine , at the rate of sixpence a mouthful , and we should be better fulfilling the duties of our calling . Wine , before the cloth is cleared , is a lavish waste of those means which Providence has placed in our hands for doing good . We will suppose , to
illustrate our views , that a Lodge of twenty-four have sat down to refreshment ; the wine is sent round , and right merrily doth it sparkle in the clear , pellucid glass . We shall not be accused of exaggeration if we say they woulcl drink half-a-dozen of wine at supper at least ; the cost of which , at six shillings per bottle , is thirty-six shillings . The average number of meetings during the year is eight , so that we shall have a sum of £ 14 8 sunnecessarily t in winein one Loel
. spen , ge , during the year . We will speak of the Metropolis alone . It contains , I believe , about 100 Lodges ; we will take the average waste of funds at less than one-third of the above sum , say £ 4 , and we shall have thus squandered in London alone 400 £ , a-year . Is this an exaggerated picture ? No ! Oh , my Brethren , think of the good we might do with this 400 / . a-year ! Cato ( No . 25 . )
Alice, Or The Freemason's Child.
ALICE , OR THE FREEMASON'S CHILD .
Many have been the poets who have sung of the transient , but allinspiring glories of the summer—many have been the romantic writers , too , who have eulogised the refreshing sweetness of a July evening , beneath the rich twilight of which the heroes of their tale have breathed the undying attachment of some young and unsuspecting passion ! And , in very truth , it is a theme worthy of any genuine worshipper of " the Nine" or of the keepers with whom restsas though it were part
, many , of their very existence , the richness of legendary lore . It was on such a night—all nature appeared redolent with its multiplied blessings and attractions , that a gentleman , known to the writer of this simple narrative—a sketch of life in one of those scenes of reality which are occasionally enacted in sublunary spheres—met with one on whom the fullness of female charms seemed to have shed their loveliness in a degree far beyond the commonality of her sex . She was
youngscarcely had seen the eighteenth return of her advent to this world of mingled joy and sorrow ; yet was there something in her bearing—the beaming of her intellectual countenance , which at once told the lofty towering of her thoughts , and her capability to feel—to cherish—the intensity of human passion . The spot on which they met was calculated to draw forth a rich estimate of this world ' s brightest possessions . The charm of antiquity attached itself to a country mansion—the simplest of its many adorn-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
A Few More Words On Refreshment.
alleviating pain—in succouring misery—in freeing the mind of youth from the trammels of sin and ignorance—in obeying the sacred dictates of charity . Would the pleasure of such actions be thus transient ? Would it be a mere ebullition of pleasurable emotion , to pass in an instant , ancl leave the mind listless and unsatisfied ? No ! the pleasure of such deeds is eternal ; it would hallow our happiness , and lighten the load of our afflictionGod forbid that I should wish to do
. away with our festive gatherings ! but I would have the value of them estimated , not by the length of the tavern bill , but by the usefulness of the men composing them . We may be equally happy without washing down our repast with wine , at the rate of sixpence a mouthful , and we should be better fulfilling the duties of our calling . Wine , before the cloth is cleared , is a lavish waste of those means which Providence has placed in our hands for doing good . We will suppose , to
illustrate our views , that a Lodge of twenty-four have sat down to refreshment ; the wine is sent round , and right merrily doth it sparkle in the clear , pellucid glass . We shall not be accused of exaggeration if we say they woulcl drink half-a-dozen of wine at supper at least ; the cost of which , at six shillings per bottle , is thirty-six shillings . The average number of meetings during the year is eight , so that we shall have a sum of £ 14 8 sunnecessarily t in winein one Loel
. spen , ge , during the year . We will speak of the Metropolis alone . It contains , I believe , about 100 Lodges ; we will take the average waste of funds at less than one-third of the above sum , say £ 4 , and we shall have thus squandered in London alone 400 £ , a-year . Is this an exaggerated picture ? No ! Oh , my Brethren , think of the good we might do with this 400 / . a-year ! Cato ( No . 25 . )
Alice, Or The Freemason's Child.
ALICE , OR THE FREEMASON'S CHILD .
Many have been the poets who have sung of the transient , but allinspiring glories of the summer—many have been the romantic writers , too , who have eulogised the refreshing sweetness of a July evening , beneath the rich twilight of which the heroes of their tale have breathed the undying attachment of some young and unsuspecting passion ! And , in very truth , it is a theme worthy of any genuine worshipper of " the Nine" or of the keepers with whom restsas though it were part
, many , of their very existence , the richness of legendary lore . It was on such a night—all nature appeared redolent with its multiplied blessings and attractions , that a gentleman , known to the writer of this simple narrative—a sketch of life in one of those scenes of reality which are occasionally enacted in sublunary spheres—met with one on whom the fullness of female charms seemed to have shed their loveliness in a degree far beyond the commonality of her sex . She was
youngscarcely had seen the eighteenth return of her advent to this world of mingled joy and sorrow ; yet was there something in her bearing—the beaming of her intellectual countenance , which at once told the lofty towering of her thoughts , and her capability to feel—to cherish—the intensity of human passion . The spot on which they met was calculated to draw forth a rich estimate of this world ' s brightest possessions . The charm of antiquity attached itself to a country mansion—the simplest of its many adorn-