The " Michigan Freemason."

THE " MICHIGAN FREEMASON . "

« Two more numbers only are necessary to complete the seventh volume of this journal , and it is quite time , ve draw our designs for future work . All things considered , the present year has been the most unpromising al ) Cl unremunerative of any of the seven since the enterprise of publishing the Michigan "Freemason" was commenced . rememberhowever

\ Ve , , that it has been a year of great monetary depression , and many a business man who has laboured hard , lived economically , and managed with « onted shrewdness , finds himself without profits , while some have suffered loss , or been compelled to close busies entirely . But a business cannot long be continued which does not yield a living compensation . And as this

enterprise has not compensated either publisher or editor for the past two years , the grave question has forced itself upon us : shall the journal be continued ? Never before , since it was issued , did we entertain for a single moment the idea of discontinuing it . Even when otner Masonic journals of much merit were going to the wall , ns for instance , "The Masonic Trowel , " '' The National

Freemason , " "The Masonic Miiror , " "The American freemason , " "The Masonic Monthly , " "The Mystic Star , " " The Freemason , " of St . Louis , " The New Eng land Freemason , " and " The Masonic News , "—all these , and others , have gone down since this journal was commenced ; and yet , amidst such a mortality of Masonic publications , we have not entertained the thought of

discontinuing ours , until the present unpropitious season . And even now we do not choose to entertain such a ihought . Our most intelligent brethren say that such a step must not be taken—that ' . ' our ' Michigan Freemason ' must be sustained at all hazards . " The assurances of co-operation from such brethren give us courage , and we shall continue to battle for the journal , with the hope

of better times at no great distance in the future . Within a short time we shall issue our prospectus for the ei ghth volume , with the hope that Masters of lodges will either take the matter of raising clubs in hand personally , or else see that reliable brothers are appointed agents , and that they have the needed co-operation . If proper efforts are put forth in the lodges , we have no doubt that a

patronage may be obtained which will place this journal , not only on a living basis , but to give to its managers Masonic wages for their labour . We do not ask that a dollar besentin for the eighth volume till the first number shall be issued and received by the subscribers . What we desire is this : Raise clubs and report them to us , if possible , by the last of September , so that we may know thus

early about what number of subscribers we may rely on for the next volume . If possible continue the effort till twenty be obtained in each club . Of course all lodges cannot give us so large a club , but if we could have an average of twenty to each lodge we can greatly improve the journal , and expend iooo dols . in th : compensation of the best Masonic writers in Europe and America for

acceptable original articles written expressly for the ' Freemason . ' With such a patronage—and it amounts to less than one-quarter ol the Masons in Michigan—with such a patronage we shall be enabled to send out a journal which would be second to none in the country . Brethren , is not an end so desirable , worthy of a zealous , persistent effort ? We shall make one mote effort on our part , and

hope for success . But if a home Masonic journal is a thing desirable to have our brethren shoulel support it without begging on our part . Much less should it be expected that the editor or publisher should be forced to inter the field and beseech the brotherhood for a support which should come promptly and voluntarily . The time of the editor should all be given to the work of his office ,

that his work may be done promptly and well . " [ We have published the foregoing extract from our able contemporary , the " Michigan Freemason , " on account of ihe facts it contains and the considerations it suggests . The progress of Masonic literature is in it cleverly

depicted and forcibly illustrated . We trust that the manly appeal of our contemporary will be Masonically answered and warmly responded to . But we wish to call our readers ' special attention , that amid a brotherhood 600 , 000 strong in round numbers , greater far than any we know here , are the fluctuations of Masonic literary prosperity arid the ups and downs of Masonic literary efforts . —ED . ]

My Brother.

MY BROTHER .

The distinguishing practical feature of Freemasanry is 'tat it is a true brotherhood . The endearing appellation of brother is bestowed upon the initiate the moment he is "" de a Mason , and it remains his throughout his Masonic life until when the lamb-skin and evergreen are in

^ posited grave , it is regretfully used for the last '" h e . It expresses the very wholeness of Masonry . The ™ rd brother is as forceful in the Craft as the word m ° Uier is in the world—no other is so expressive . An eminent modern writer , Prof . Blackie , of the University of

""' nourgh , has said : "' Honour all men ' is one ot the niany texts of combined sanctity and wisdom with which tn ,: Holy Bible abounds ; but this you cannot do unless > ° u try to know all men ; and you know no man till you , ' ve looked with the eye of a brother into the best that is '" him . "

' his is precisely what Freemasonry enables a man to ' . " — -it enlarges the circle of his acquaintance ; it brings . ! " } into contact , not only with many men , but with in-. ! < luals of different professions and occupations , thus Wening the scooe of his intellectual outlook and

know-C , and when in such companionship he scans every su V !' ' " S entle and considerate eye of a brother , conntl y looking for the best that is in him . bah y truly said ' "There is nothing more proud or anri , a man ' " U is selfishness that thus belittles , Se lf-sacrifice that ennobles him . Freemasonry strikes

My Brother.

at the very foundation of selfishness , and seeks to root it out , and in its place to plant the noble seed of charity , thence to develope , until , like the wide-spreading light of heaven , it shall embrace both the Craft and the world . Whatever is paltry in a brother it seeks to eliminate , whatever in him is noble ( of which it feels proud ) it

fosters . Many of the profane are generous ; many Christians , Jews , and Mohammedans are benevolent ; but only Freemasons are truly charitable—in thought , word and deed , not only willing , but anxious to rejoice with a brother in prosperity , and to kelp him in distress . The Freemason ' s life is a living sermon upon the text :

" Chief of the blessed three , ' Heaven born Charity . " We are a band of brothers . In each other ' s society we are always at home , whether we be in an Arabian , an Indian , or an American Lodge . The fraternity spans all space and annihilates all distance . Abernethy , the eminent physician , was wont to say , that the two great

killing powers in the world were stuff and fret . Masons will surely never be killed by fretting , for the social customs of the Craft are effectual in driving away dull care ; and as for stuffing , neither will it kill us , for now-a-days the Craft is not called off frequently enough from labour to refreshment—since we do not , as a rule , indulge in lodge suppsrs as an appendix to each meeting , but

consider ourselves fortunate if we are regularly invited to an annual banquet . The two » continuing needs of a brother are more light and more charity . The great philosopher and Mason , Goethe , when dying , exclaimed , " More light ! " and doubtless he received it as he was translated from eaith to heaven . We need it on earth—and the lodge is a school

of instruction where it is dispensed ; but the lodge is not the only place of light . There is " more light" in the literature of the Craft . Every Masonic journal reflects the wisdom of the past and the best thoughts of the profoundest thinkers of the present , and bears its precious burthen of truth to the homes of the Craft . Those brethren who are not receiving this light are rejecting an inestimable

source of enjoyment . More charity 1 Much as we have of it , who does not need more ? It makes the man , but more emphatically the brother , kind and genial in sympathy , and , in everincreasing measure , will perpetually enrich our natures , here and hereafter . It is the corner-stone and cope-stone of Masonry . Without it , our moral architecture is a

hideous ruin ; with it , our spiritual temple is noble to behold , —a living edifice that shall endure through eternity as well as through time . Solomon ' s Temple and Herod's Temple are in dust , but the great souls of those that reterently reared them are now rejoicing in the presence of the Grand Master of the Universe . They were our brethren . More " light" may be assuredly found by the

Freemason in the first great Light in Masonry—the Holy Bible . It is not merely a book ; it is a library . It has a galaxy of authors—the prophets and kings , the apostles and evangelists of the world—living , some of them , two thousand years apart , but all testifying to the truth . Their books are all bound in a single volume : if a brother be a man of but one book , and that book the Bible , he knows

the best that is in all books . He has been illumined by the central Sun of the literary universe . He emphatically has " more light , " which will unfailingly direct him amid " the eternal whirl of life " to the eloor of the Grand Lodge above . My brother , physically , you are but dust — imitate it . The earth is charitable—it receives only to give . Sunlight

and shower penetrate it , but not to be imprisoned . 1 hey feed the springs , and enrich the soil , that in turn produces the plenteous harvest . According to the Stoics , the chief end of man is Spectare ct imitari mundum—See to it that you imitate nature . The

sun gives light—gives , mark you , not sells or trades . Be a sun yourself , to the fraternity and humanity . Oh , if you cannot be a sun , be a moon , reflecting the light of your brother Mason . Or , if neither sun nor moon , be a clod of earth , giving as well as receiving . —C . P . Mac Calla .

THE GERMAN ARMY . —The following manoeuvres and military practices of the German Army are to be held in the presence of the Emperor William : —September 1 . — Grand Parade of the Corps of the Guard in the Templehofer Field , near Berlin . September 6 . —Grand parade of the 12 th ( Royal Saxon ) Army Corps in the plain of Pulgar , west of Rotha . September 7 . —Corps manoeuvres of

the same Army Corps near Magdeborn , on the Gdsselbach . September 8 . —Grand parade of the 4 th Army Corps south of Morseburg , between Lower Beuna and the high road Morseburg , Weissennfels . September 9 . —Corps manoeuvres of the same Army Corps to the south of Kotschau and Beuna . September 11 , 12 , and 13 . —Field manoeuvres of the 4 th and 12 th ( Royal Saxon ) Army Corps in the

district between Old Rannstiidt , Morsebury , Quersurt , and Weissenfels . September 14 . —Corps manoeuvres of the Corps of the Guard near Gross-Kreutz . September 15 . — Grand Parade of the 3 rd Army Corps in the Templehofer Field , near Berlin . September 16 . —Corps manoeuvres of the same to the South of Berlin , in the neighbourhood of Mariendorf , Britz , and Buckow . September 18 , 10 , and

20 . —Field manoeuvres of the Corps of the Guards and the 3 rd Army Corps , to the south of Berlin . All arms will participate in these manoeuvres . One would imagine the Emperor feeling fatigued after all these exertions ; but His Majesty proceeds next to Wurtemburg to attend the manoeuvres of the Wiirtemberg Army Corps , and afterwards to Alsace for a like purpose . — " Whitehall Review . "

ACTS or PARLIAMENT . —From an official document it appears that in the late Session , 81 public , 234 local , and 2 private acts were passed . In the Session of 1875 the numbers were respectively 9 6 , 215 , and 7 .

Obituary.

Obituary .

BRO . THOMAS HANDFORD , P . M . 742 . It is with feelings of the deepest regret , as well as of sympathy with his mourning relatives and friends , that we announce the death of Bro . Handford on Monday last at his residence , Crouch Hill , Hornsey , after a long and painful illness , borne with unflinch . ng patience and

resignation . Our lamented brother was initiated in the Beadon Lodge , and was one of the founders , and J . W . designate of the Crystal Palace Lodge , where he served the office of W . M . in 1860-61 . His genial and benevolent disposition could not fail to endear him to a large circle of friends , in whose memories his warm-hearted amiability will long live .

Masonic And General Tidings.

Masonic and General Tidings .

The forthcoming volume of Mr . Emra Holmes ' tales , poems , and Masonic papers appears likely to be very successful , judging by the large number of subscribers' names already received by the publishers . The price , 2 s . 6 d ., no doubt , has a good deal to do with this , but the author is so well-known in Suffolk and Essex , and also in the North of England , where he resided for many years , that

a collection of his miscellaneous papers would be sure to have a large sale . In addition to the names of distinguished noblemen mentioned in our paragraph last week , Earl Stanhope , to whom the book is dedicated , and who takes six copies , Lord Henniker , who takes two , the Earl of Carnarvon , and the Earl of Limerick , we hear that Lord Skelmersdale and Lord John Hervey subscribe for two copies each , Earl

Nelson for four , and Lord Waveney , oir ratnek Lolquhoun , Q .. C , LL . D . ( late Chief Justice of the Ionian Islands ) , Sir Francis Doyle , Bart . ( Commissioner of H . M . Customs and Professor of Poetry at Oxford ) , and other distinguished persons , express themselves as pleased to enrol their names as subscribers . Mr . Holmes derives no pecuniary benefit from the publication , having given the copyright to a literary brother Mason in distress . — " Woodbridge Reporter . "

PRINTED BOOKS . —There has this year been a decrease in the weight and value of literature exported . The weight was 43 , 116 cwt ., against 44 , 518 , and the value £ 4 64 , 421 , against £ 488 , 678 . CAPTURE OF A STURGEON . —The " Eastbourne Chronicle " reports that a large sturgeon was captured in a small tributary river of the Ouse , near Glynde ,

in about eighteen inches of water , by bargemen , who killed it with a barge hook . It was conveyed to Lewes and sold to a fishmonger . From snout to tip of tail it measures 5 ft . 1 iin ., and weighed 481 b . It must have got into shallow water during recent very high

tides . The Prince of Wales has presented a handsome gold watch and chain to Mr . John Nicholls , sen ., pilot , of Southampton , who sailed the schooner Hildegarde , His Royal Highness ' s yacht , when she won the Town Cup at Cowes .

Bro . H . R . H . Prince Leopold , R . W . P . G . M . Oxford , is to be at St . Andrew ' s during the competition week of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club . Bro . His Grace the Duke of Abercorn , M . W . G . M ., and Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland , with Lady Georgina Hamilton , visited the Royal Dublin ' s Society ' s Horse Show on Wednesday .

Bro . Francis Knollys , Private Secretary to his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales , has been appointed a Companion of the Order of the Rath . The next meeting of the Provincial Grand Lodge of West Lancashire will probably beheld in October at the Pomona Gardens , Manchester .

THE PRINCE OF WALES . —His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales will be the guest of Mr Christopher Sykes , M . P ., at Brantinghamthorpe , Yorkshire , during Doncaster race week . It is understood that His Royal Highness will travel to Doncaster each day by special train , and drive to the course .

The session of the Stability Lodge of Instruction , held at the Guildhall Tavern , for 1876-7 , commenced on Friday , the 1 st inst ., and will be continued every Friday evening , from 6 till 8 p . m ., at the above address , till April , 1877 . H . R . H . the Prince of Wales , M . W . G . M ., has

been pleased to grant a warrant for the constitution of the Stuart Lodge , No . 1632 , to be held at the Surrey Masonic Hall . The date for the consecration ceremony has not yet been fixed , but it will take place on an early day . The officers designate are Bro . C . Stuart Barker , jun ., W . M . ; Bro . Walmsley , S . W . ; and Bro . S . Brown , J . W .

Bro . Sir Gilbert Greenall , M . P ., and Captain Egerton Wilbraham , M . P ., assisted at the foundation-stoue laying of a new church at Little Leigh , on Wednesday . Lady Leigh performed the duty of well and truly laying the stone , and Lord Leigh and the Hon . Miss Leigh were present .

HOLLOWAY ' S OINTMENT \ Nu PILLS . — Dangerous disease * would not present themselves very often if timely attention were bestowed on the first feelings which betray a departure from health . How many life-long maladies spring from neglecting trilling symptoms ? The pimple rea-lilv curable in the nursery becomes , through carelessness , the irremediat le torment of alter

e . u Knowledge powers or nouoway Ointment and Pills , and the facility and safety of their application , those who fail to use them for extirpating the first seeds of hereditary ailments will have to bear the punishment resulting from their folly . Holloway ' s remedy will remove eruptions of the skin , scorbutic disease , znd screfula , and heal every description of ulcer , sore , wound , » r abrasion , — ADVT .