To Our Readers.

TO OUR READERS .

The Freemason is a sixteen page weekly newspaper , price 2 d . It is published every Friday morning , and contains the most important and useful information relating to Freemasonry in every degree . Annual subscription in the United Kingdom , Post free , 10 / . Brethren in foreign parts , wishing to have this newspaper sent them regularly from the office of publication , should , in sending their remittances , add to the 2 d . per week the postage on 2 oz .

newspapers . The Freemason may be procured through any newsagent in the United Kingdom by giving ( if needed ) the publisher ' s address , 198 , Fleet-st . All communications , correspondence , reports , etc ., must be addressed to the Editor . Advertisements , change in address , complaints of difficulties in procuring Freemason , & c ., to the Publisher , 198 , Fleet-st ., London , E . C

To Advertisers.

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 . For terms , position , & c , apply to GEORGE KENNING , 198 , Fleet-st .

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NOTICE .

Many complaints having been received of the difficulty experienced in procuring the Freemason ia the City , the publisher begs to append the following list , being a selected few of the appointed agents : — Abbott , Wm ., East-cheap . Bates , Pilgrim-street , Ludgate-hill . Born , H ., 113 , London-wall . Dawson , Wm ., 121 , Cannon-street .

Gilbert , Jas ., 18 , Gracechurch-street . Guest , Wm ., 34 , Paternoster-row . Phillpott Bros ., 65 , King William-street . Pottle , R ., 14 , Royal Exchange . May also be obtained at W . H . Smith & Son ' s Bookstalls at the following City Stations : — Broad-street . I Holborn Viaduct . Cannon-street . | London Bridge . Ludgate Hill .

Answers To Correspondents.

Answers to Correspondents .

All Communioatious , Advertisements , etc ., intended for insertion in the Number of the following Saturday , must reach the Office not later than 12 o ' clock on Wednesday morning . Careful attention will be paid to all MSS . entrusted to the Editor , but he cannot undertake to return them unless accompanied by stamp directed covers .

WISDOM , STRENGTH , AND BEAUTV . —Which columns correspond with these respectively , and where are they respectively placed in the lodge ?—BETA . [ We have always understood that they represent " nominatim , " as they stand the Master ' s light , flic S . Warden ' s light , and the J . Warden ' s light , respectively . —ED . ] Will you or some of your numerous readers kindly

answer me the following questions . —SUNDIKOS . CRAFT MASONRY . —Should a P . M . visiting a strange lodge take his seat with the P . M . 's of the lodge , or take a lower seat and wait till he is asked to take it ? [ A visiting P . M . will be invited by the W . M . to take his seat on tlie dais ; unless he does so the P . M . cannot claim

it out of his own lodge ] ROYAL ARCH . —Should the companions wear their sash on the right or left shoulders ? [ The sash is worn from right to left . ] Bno . BUHHETT F . YEOMAN . —Poetry received—thanks . Part next week , Several other Communications and Reports stand over .

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TheFreemason, SATURDAY , J UNE C , 1875 .

Masonic Finance.

MASONIC FINANCE .

The two balance-sheets we published last week are both most satisfactory . First with regard to Grand Lodge . By that balance-sheet it appears the whole receipts of the Fund of Benevolence , including balance for 1873 , and repayment of loan , dividends , & c , amounted to

£ 12 , 913 5 s . 6 d . Per contra , £ 4020 were voted to petitioners , £ 800 were voted to the Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution ; small expenses amounted to £ 16 ; £ 6 , 95 . 3 3 s . were invested in the purchase of ^ 7500 3 Per Cent , stock ; while a balance remains of £ 1124 . This balance is

less again than last year , and demonstrates the absolute necessity of not in any way forestalling further our funds for benevolent purposes . The whole amount of the Fund for General Purposes reached to £ 12 , 040 14 s . 8 d . The outgoings

included the repayment of £ . 509 1 17 s . 6 d . to Fund of Benevolence , and the balance at the end of the year amounted to £ 1195 us . 7 d . Thus the two accounts put together amounted in receipts to £ 24 , 954 os . 2 d ., and the payments to £ 22 , 6 32 7 s- 7 < i ., leaving a balance on both

Masonic Finance.

accounts of £ 2321 14 s . 8 d . This is , we think , a very satisfactory state of affairs . As regards the Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution , the accounts are equally flourishing . To the 31 st of March , ig / 5 , the receipts for th ? Male Fund amounted to £ io . oji 16 s . iod ., and the payments

to £ 7822 2 s . j ; d . These payments included a purchase of £ 1500 3 Per Cent . Bank Annuities , and £ 1500 placed at deposit . The balance on this amount is £ 2219 14 s . jd . For the Female Fund the receipts are £ 6785 7 s . 4 d ., and the disbursements £ 5227 13 s . id . This amount

includes a purchase of £ 1500 3 Per Cents . The balance to the good is on this account £ 1557 14 s . 3 d . We observe that the actual income for the two Funds is £ 2162 17 s . 3 d ., while the present payment to annuitants amounts for the two Funds to £ 6728 . Hence , though the balancesheet is very good , there remains a large margin

to be supplied annually by the zeal and energy of our Order . Financial statistics are generally dry , and it is said you can prove anything by them ; these , however , we think do prove at any rate that , even taken by themselves , our English Freemasonry is materially most prosperous .

The Masonic Press.

THE MASONIC PRESS .

On looking over some bygone Masonic journals we have been struck with the greatly improved tone of the Masonic Press at the present hour . To the Freemason of a wellregulated mind it is almost depressing to-day to note the personalities of happily forgotten pages .

There are some unfortunate Masons in the world who never can write without attacking others ; be the subject what it may , they will lug in their hateful pettiness of thought and feeling , their bad taste , their perverted sympathies , and their rancorous animosities . Hence to them even the

peaceful arena of a Masonic journal becomes a battle field ; the tone they give to all Masonic discussion is as bad as bad can be , because , based on low personal grounds , it is ever marked by vulgarity , and tainted by unbrotherly uncharitableness . The polished and educated Freemason

shrinks from these tirades of inflated egotism , or these childish vapotirings of a hopeless selfsufficiency , these maunderings of an ill-regulated intellect , or this wordy warfare of a Masonic Ishmaelite . Nothing has done Freemasonry so much harm in the past as the personalities of its

journalism , because these weekly evidences of irrepressible and unbrotherly utterance gave a simple if practical lie to every Masonic profession of fraternal love or fraternal consideration . We rejoice in an altered condition of affairs , and , as far as the Freemason is concerned , we do not

intend to allow the older character to be revived amongst us . If now and then tokens of the ancient leaven peep out , if now and then " sputterings , " so to say , of the old animus crop up , if the fire is only smothered not put out , we yet now are happily on our guard , and

for whatever else the pages of the Freemason may be blamed , they will not be blamed for personality . But we must say one word more . Everything is not personality which some angry correspondents may consider personality . There are times when the honest writer has to speak

plainly . If you have to deal with a professed begging letter writer you hand him over , "pro bono publico , " to that useful personage , Mr . Horsford . If you have to encounter a nocturnal visitor , or some agreeable swindler , you invoke the aid of one ofthe experienced gentlemen from Scotland

"i ard . And so in literary work you may often have to speak plainly and act decidedly . Some impostor comes forward , for instance , and tries to impose on the credulity of your contemporaries ; are you not justified in telling him that he is an impostor ? Some charlatan seeks b y his

pretentious ignorance to claim an honour for himself which is due to others , or endeavours to palm himself oft" on the public as the great discoverer , or the greater light of the hour ! Are you not to tell him that he is a charlatan , and

that those who heed him are dupes ? If some vulgar overbearing individual seeks with a plethora of ill-digested sentences to make you credit his utterances of infallibility , and to accept his many assertions , are you not at liberty to tell him that he is both overbearing and

The Masonic Press.

ignorant , vulgar and incompetent , and that you deny his assertions and reject his conclusion ? Surely , in all these cases , and many more mi ght be adduced if needed , there is , and can be , no personality , even in the plainest speaking ! What we consider personality proper we will

now venture to put before our readers . When some feeble writer of the press finds he cannot meet argument , he always has recourse to "cheek" and to abuse . He will tell you , though you may have devoted a lifetime to the study of the question , that you know nothing

whatever about it . He will assert that you are animated , in your dissent from his views only by personal feelings ; that you are no wiser or better than you should be ; that , in short , you yourself are " no great shakes ; " and that your ignorance is only equalled by your

audacity . Whenever you see , in the writing of these hopeless personaiists , any imputation of bad motives to their opponents , which almost always immediatel y is alleged , you know at once with whom you have to do , and you shun that writer , or you had better do so , as you would

the plague . None of his contributions can do any good , either to Freemasonry or to truth ; they are not written honestly ; they are simply intended to promote personality , and to praise Number One . When Dr . Johnson said that he who wanted to write the English language well

must give his " days and nights to the study of Addison , "he meant to encourage a style of writing , equally clear and correct . But some there are who take part of his advice and devote themselves on all occasions to personalities . Nooccasion is too great , no matter too trivial , for

that angry , that intemperate , that low-minded spirit . We know nothing more melancholy , or more unmasonic . For Freemasonry would teach us at a holier and a better lore . It would bid us give up our own personal selfishness and littlenesses , our love of display , our egotism , our

overbearing tendencies , our quarrelsome disposition , and would invite us to be kind and considerate , temperate of speech , and thoughtful of others , never even imputing bad motives , never condescending to low personalities , never forgetting that every Freemason is a gentleman in tone

and mnnnners alike , in outward decorum , and in inward feelings . Let us hope that the age of personality is over for Freemasonry , and that we may show to the world that our professions are true which declare our great characteristic to be Brotherly Love .

The Derby Day.

THE DERBY DAY .

The great meeting on Epsom Downs for 1875 has past and gone , amid the exultation of the winners and the depression of the losers . " Galopin " has galloped to the fore , and Prince Batthyany ' s colours have received a well deserved ovation . Seldom , probably , did a Derb y Day

witness finer weather , or a more enthusiastic and orderly assembly . The presence of that goodly musterof our Royal Family added alike prestige and grace to the wonderful spectacle , and augmented in a remarkable measure the gratification of sightseers and the pleasurable reminiscences

of a popular holiday . How childish and perverse it is for cynics and puritans to rail at the annual Derby Day . For though moralists may moralize , and preachers may preach , and the jester may jest , the fact remains indisputable , that this annual gathering is a great annual " outing " for a large

section of our English people . And we are inclined to think that not only long will it continue so to be , humanly speaking , but that it is very well that it should be so . For despite the opposition and even denunciations of well - meaning enthusiasts , if somewhat weak and very wordy ,

we confess to have no little liking for that annual celebration ofthe English " Hippodrome '' which is so cherished by our people , and is so attractive to foreigners . Look at it which way you will , it is a very great sight in itself , unequalled actually in the world , and affords a great

deal of enjoyment and healthy recreation for aa almost overwhelming mass of holiday seekers . If Mawworm comes in with a very sour look and says "people mig ht better amuse themselves , " if true in theory probably , yet practically the same thing may be actually said >