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NOTICE . In consequence of the heavy pressure of matter again this week , many reports , & c , are unavoidably crowded out . A Supplement will be given with the next number ( June 9 ) , which will contain reports of the Quarterly Communication of Grand Lodge and the Half-Yearly Meeting ofthe Grand Mark Lodge . The folloyving yvill also appear : — Letters from J . Strauss ; W . P . D . ; C . F . ; Alfred Waldhen , B . A . Reports of Lodges , 590 , 6 5 6 , 938 , 1000 , 1264 , 1326 , 1428 , 1476 , 14 S 9 , 1302 , 1609 , 1623 . Victoria Metropolitan Lodge of Instruction . Chapters , Tli 249 i 862 , 1000 , 1423 .

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TO ADVERTISERS . The FREEMASON has a large circulation in all parts of the Globe , its advantages as an advertising medium can therefore scarcely be overrated . ADVERTISEMENTS to ensure insertion in current -week ' s issue should reach the Office , 198 , Fleet-street , by 12 o ' clock on "Wednesdays .

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NOTICE . To prevent delay or miscarriage , it is particularly requested that ALL communications for the FREEMASON , may be add ressed to th Office , T 98 , Fleet-street , London . IMPORTANT NOTICE . . COLONIAL and FOREIGN SUBSCRIBERS are informed that acknowledgments of remittances received ara published in the first number of every month . It is vsr / necessary for our readers to advise us of Jill money orders they remit , more especially cnase from the United States of America and India ; otherwise we cannot tell where to credit them .

Answers To Correspondents.

Answers to Correspondents .

REMITTANCES RECEIVED . £ s . d . Abbott , G . H ., Canada ( P . O . O . ) 013 o Carter , A ., Ne-w York ( P . O . O . ) 01 * 2 o Fisher , H ., India ( P . O . O . ) o 17 4

Foster , C . H ., Ontario ( Draft ) o 12 o Graham , S ., California ( P . O . O . ) 0130 Hill , W ., Neyv Zealand ( P . O . O . ) o 13 o Laurie , G ., Constantinople ( P . O . O . ) 1 3 0 Lees , W ., Ontaria ( Draft ) o 12 o May . J . J ., Greymouth ( P . O . O . ) on o

WALTER HILI . ( Wellington , N . Z . )—Received your two letters , but , for obvious reasons , think it more prudent not to publish them . Thanks , also , for the " Australian Freemason . " A leader on thc Charity Voting yvill appear next week . We shall also publish a letter from an old Chairman of a Prov . Charity Committee on the same subject .

BOOKS , & c , RECEIVED . " Masonic Jewel , " " Michigan Journal '" " Keystone , " * ' New York Dispatch , " " II Risorgimento . "

Births ,Marriages, And Deaths.

Births , Marriages , and Deaths .

[ The charge is 2 s . 6 d . for announcements , not exceed ing four lines , under this heading . ]

BIRTHS . SMITH . —On the 29 th ult ., at Laurel Cottage , Lyndhurstgrove , S . E ., the wife of Bro . Ernest Smith , of a daughter . ( May Marguerite . ) ST . ALBANS . —On the 23 th ult ., at Grosvenor-gardens , S . W ., the Duchess of St . Albans , of a daughter . WonnsLL . —On the 23 rd ult ., at Knowle-road , Brixton , the wife of Bro . W . Worrell , of a daughter .

DEATHS . KAY-SiiUTTLEyvoRTii . —On the 26 th ult ., at Cromwellroad , Sir James Phillips Kay-Shuttleworth , Bart ., aged 72 . VIONE . —On the 25 th ult ., Bro . Charles John Vigne , of Westfield House , Bath , aged 70 .

The Irish Masonic Orphans' Schools.

THE IRISH MASONIC ORPHANS ' SCHOOLS .

We are glad to note that the report of these useful and valuable institutions is so satisfactory . The receipts for the Girls' School amounted , it is stated , to £ 5315 12 s . 3 d . This was made up of balance , £ 825 us . 2 d . ; sale of stock , £ 1772 17 s . 8 d ., the remaining amount being annual

subscriptions and donations—which exceeded the former year by £ 81 is . 6 d . ; the excess of thefgross income over last year being £ 7 $ 7 s . 3 d . The expenditure , including tbe purchase of a plot of ground , and the investment of £ sooo , amounted to £ 3746 ios . 3 d ., leaving on

December 31 , 1876 , a balance to account of ^ ijop 2 s ., out of which the further snm of ^ 046 2 s . 3 d . has been invested . There are now forty-five girls in the school , five have left , four having found the positions of governess , and one a situation in a business establishment . As

regards the boys , the receipts appear to have amounted , during 1876 , to £ 237 $ , being £ 493 5 s . 6 d . in excess of 1875 , there being twenty-one boys in the establishment of the Rev . S . S . Skeen , at Merrion . During 1876 six boys left the school , of whom two have obtained

clerkships in raihvay companies , three are studying for the medical profession , and one is pursuing his general education . We congratulate our good brethren in Ireland on the satisfactory state of their educational institutions , to which we wish all success and development .

Not Bad!

NOT BAD !

In our entirely reliable contemporary the Keystone , whose weekly pages we carefully peruse , we find the following paragraph , which has naturally startled and affected us very deeply : — " A tramp was arrested in New Jersey last week , taken before a magistrate , and sentenced to three

months . The justice , in explaining the sentence , remarked that yvhile there was no evidence that the prisoner had been guilty of any crime , he thought it prudent to commit him , as he had the wild , haggard look of a man about to start a Masonic periodical . " How far , for once , our

sagacious contemporary has been taken in by some slipshod exchange , or hoyv much of truth lies at the bottom ( not of the well ) , but of this little story , we do not profess to say or attempt to realize , but we feel strongly that if it be based on any particle of verity . it has much to commend it

to the serious attention of all grave and laughing philosophers amongst us . Alas ! at the outset we all must feel , we think , what a remarkable commentary is thus offered , both on the value of Masonic" publications , and the success of Masonic publishers . The joke is too pointed

and too true . Those of us who have had much to do with Masonic literature , know well , that the difficulty of offering to a fastidious body like ours palatable and tempting literary wares is very great indeed . Some like one thing , some another ; some prefer reports of lodge meetings , some

dislike reports of lodge meetings , * some look for archaeology , others for addresses , and a large portion of the Order rather doubt whether there is much of use or good in a Masonic publication at all . Hence come constantly the accounts to us , and mainly across the Atlantic , of periodicals

started only apparently to vanish away ; of prosperous ventures rapidly defunct ; of the obstacles which , even amid 600 , 000 brethren , Masonic publishers , and editors find in securing an audience or establishing a Masonic journal on a permanent basis and with a margin of fair profit .

The Freemason makes no complaints , because , thanks to the liberality of its publisher and the friendliness of its large circle of readers , it has assumed a position at home and abroad which no other Masonic journal has ever been privileged

to assert or to maintain in this country . But we should not be doing our duty to our Craft , if we did not point out , ( yes , for selfish motives if you like , good Brother Growler ) , that the support of the Masonic press generally , is capable of large extension and more fraternal consideration .

Not Bad!

For many , like the brother humorously described in a letter a little time back , read the Freemason not at their own expense , others have it at their club , others look at it in their lodge , others don ' t see it afc all . Were all to act so , nothing in the shape of Masonic literature , we beg respectfull y

to observe , could stand , as Masonic literature save the Freemason never has stood in England , mainly owing to the great apathy of thousands of intelligent Masons . Luckily , the Fi-eemason , \ as we said before , is now so well established that it pursues the even tenour of its way , both independent

and fearless , asking for no support , bidding for no popularity , offering good value for money received , and simply appealing , on its own merits , to the best of all courts , after all , the great public court of Masonic approval and criticism . But it is not insensible to the sufferings and

lamentations of others . If it be successful itself it owes its onward march of prosperity , augmenting year by year , to the manly efforts and straightforward course of its publisher alone . He has had no one to " back him up , " or " run with him . " He has had no purse to fall back on

except his own 5 he has looked for no support , beyond what a Masonically conducted paper can fairly ask for , from a kindly and considerate Craft . And , therefore , when to-day we hear of one Masonic journal failing , another falling—when we listen to the outspoken complaints of those whose best hopes have been disappointed—the

Freemason takes jest and faultfinding , the skit and the grumble , quite complacently and calmly , as knowing that its friends are many and its circulation large , and feeling sure that in future , as in past and present , it will zealously uphold the fair fame of Masonic journalism , and earnestly labour for the best interests of the Craft .

The Intolerance Of The Roman Catholic Church.

THE INTOLERANCE OF THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH .

We take from the Monde Maconnique for May the following story , which appeared originally in the Indc [ iendance Beige , and which we allow to speak for itself , in the language of the Monde Maconnique -. " Un medecin de Mens devait epouser une jeune fille appartenant a Tune

des families les plus honorables de Frameries , et il avait consent ! , quoique libre penseur , il sacrifier au prejuge mondain et a passer par l ' eglise . A Ia date fixee pour la publication des bans , aucune annonce n ' est cependant faite au prone .

Le pere de Ia fiancee de courir chez le cure , qui le rassure : —Soyez sans crainte , M . M ..., il n ' y a eu qu ' un oubli , le cas s ' est deja presente , et le mariage pourra avoir lieu & la date arretee par vous ; mon vicaire se rendra il Tournai et reviendra avec l ' autorisation necessaire . Et M . j

M ... d ' attendre en toute quietude la celebre du I mariage . Mais , le jour de la noce , au moment 011 la fiancee donnait les derniers soins a sa toilette , arrive une lettre de M . le cure notifant a M . M ... qu'il ne pourra y avoir benediction religieuse ' que si le futur ' abjure sa foi

maconnique . ' Le futur de s ' ecrier qu'il n ' abjure rien , et la fiancee de s ' en rapporter , en femme intelligente , il la decision de Thorn me qui , dans quelques instants , doit devenir son epoux . Les parents hesitent un pen , —hesitation comprehensible , le prejuge est lil . .., —puis enfin nn bonne

resolution est prise : pas de benediction religieuse . L'intolerance clericale sert admirablement , on le voit , la cause de la libre pensee . " By this it will be seen that the Roman Catholic Church in Belgium not only refuses to bury the dead , but to . bless ' any living Freemasons . It is most

lamentable , indeed , in 1877 to peruse such a record of rampant bigotry , to realize such a state of things , defended too on the grounds of religion and , proh pudor , Christianity . The Roman Catholic church need not feel astonished that " libres penseurs

abound , when such proceedings , so repugnant to right , reason , and common sense , take p lace openly , when such fanaticism prevails , whichcondemned by all liberal and uprig ht minds , must shock all deeply who are not

hopelessly prejudiced by the irrelig ious outrage of a semi-pagan teaching . We say nothing of the young lady , of the story herself , whose sensitive feelings at that most serious moment were so unaccountably injured , but who was psoowi