-
Articles/Ads
Article CORRESPONDENCE. ← Page 2 of 5 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Correspondence.
five Brethren with their coats off , and one ( shame on him !) had his Avaistcoat off , his braces throAvn back , and his shirt unbuttoned . Every one was furnished with a cigar or pipe , and also with spirits and water , & c , according to his taste . One of the Brethren was acting as serving Brother ( I suppose he was a waiter of the house where the Lodge met ) , and Avent out from time to time to supply the various wants of the Brethren .
Can you , Sir , imagine anything worse than this ? Is it not giving an opponent just reason to say that Freemasons make their Lodge meetings an excuse for drinking and smoking ? Aud this takes place , not Avhen the Lodge is closed , or called to refreshment , but while actual business is being transacted , " Avhile the Lodge is engaged in what is serious and solemn . " I cannot see upon Avhat ground such proceedings can be for an instant defended they ive real cause for
; g scandal against the Order , loAver the character of Freemasonry to the level of a boozing club , and are undoubtedly in themselves injurious habits . " Some may say that such customs induce Brethren to ' attend Lodge , who would otherwise stay away ;—let them stay away rather than act thus .
Such habits , moreover , are enough to make the ladies completel y set their faces against the Craft ; for it is not very likely that an evening so begun will end with the closing of the Lodge ; and Avhat wife can he expected to entertain a friendl y feeling towards a society , which she regards merely as a club , which keeps her husband out late at night , ancl returns him to her reeking with spirits and tobacco ? What a contrast does the Emulation Lodof Improvement presentthe
ge , members of which always disperse by ten o ' clock at the latest , after an hour or two of innocent and intellectual recreation , unpolluted by such practices as I have mentioned . To take no hi gher ground , it is a mere act of policy to act up to our own
declaration" JNo mortal can more The Ladies adore , Than a free and accepted Mason , " by P aying some deference to their feelings , and to endeavour to secure then- good offices and kindly sympathy , by abandoning such practices , and closing our Lodges and returning home at a seeml y hour . Thenand not till then we expect the large portion of the fair
, , may sex , who at present look with suspicion on the Craft , to look upon it with a favourable and friendly eA e . Many of your readers have , I doubt not , felt indignant on reading the description of the Scotch Lodges in " Fellow-craft ' s" letters in some former numbers of the Freemasons' Quarterly Magazine ; hut those BrethrenAvho have not visited the London Lod ' of
Instruc-, ges tion , have yet to learn that the same thing described in " Fellowcraft ' s" letters occur almost nightly in England , —nightly ! Yes ; and even on Sunday night!—even tbe Sabbath is not respected—for there are eight Lodges of Instruction which meet on Sunday , the names of which I subjoin , as taken from the calendar for this year : — The Albion Lodge of Instruction , No . 9 ; tbe Eoyal Athelstan ditto ,
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Correspondence.
five Brethren with their coats off , and one ( shame on him !) had his Avaistcoat off , his braces throAvn back , and his shirt unbuttoned . Every one was furnished with a cigar or pipe , and also with spirits and water , & c , according to his taste . One of the Brethren was acting as serving Brother ( I suppose he was a waiter of the house where the Lodge met ) , and Avent out from time to time to supply the various wants of the Brethren .
Can you , Sir , imagine anything worse than this ? Is it not giving an opponent just reason to say that Freemasons make their Lodge meetings an excuse for drinking and smoking ? Aud this takes place , not Avhen the Lodge is closed , or called to refreshment , but while actual business is being transacted , " Avhile the Lodge is engaged in what is serious and solemn . " I cannot see upon Avhat ground such proceedings can be for an instant defended they ive real cause for
; g scandal against the Order , loAver the character of Freemasonry to the level of a boozing club , and are undoubtedly in themselves injurious habits . " Some may say that such customs induce Brethren to ' attend Lodge , who would otherwise stay away ;—let them stay away rather than act thus .
Such habits , moreover , are enough to make the ladies completel y set their faces against the Craft ; for it is not very likely that an evening so begun will end with the closing of the Lodge ; and Avhat wife can he expected to entertain a friendl y feeling towards a society , which she regards merely as a club , which keeps her husband out late at night , ancl returns him to her reeking with spirits and tobacco ? What a contrast does the Emulation Lodof Improvement presentthe
ge , members of which always disperse by ten o ' clock at the latest , after an hour or two of innocent and intellectual recreation , unpolluted by such practices as I have mentioned . To take no hi gher ground , it is a mere act of policy to act up to our own
declaration" JNo mortal can more The Ladies adore , Than a free and accepted Mason , " by P aying some deference to their feelings , and to endeavour to secure then- good offices and kindly sympathy , by abandoning such practices , and closing our Lodges and returning home at a seeml y hour . Thenand not till then we expect the large portion of the fair
, , may sex , who at present look with suspicion on the Craft , to look upon it with a favourable and friendly eA e . Many of your readers have , I doubt not , felt indignant on reading the description of the Scotch Lodges in " Fellow-craft ' s" letters in some former numbers of the Freemasons' Quarterly Magazine ; hut those BrethrenAvho have not visited the London Lod ' of
Instruc-, ges tion , have yet to learn that the same thing described in " Fellowcraft ' s" letters occur almost nightly in England , —nightly ! Yes ; and even on Sunday night!—even tbe Sabbath is not respected—for there are eight Lodges of Instruction which meet on Sunday , the names of which I subjoin , as taken from the calendar for this year : — The Albion Lodge of Instruction , No . 9 ; tbe Eoyal Athelstan ditto ,