Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Contents.
CONTENTS .
LEADERS x Masonic Benevolence in 1882 2 English Masonry in Egpyt ¦ 2 New Year ' s Entertainment at Croydon 3 Mark Masonry 3
18 S 3 and 1 S 83 3 Presentations 3 Obituary 3 CORRESPONDENCEFreemasonry and Volunteering 4 Freemasonry in China 5 Remuneration of OHicers 5 A Visit to the Bovs' School S
CORRESPONDENCE —( Continued)—Candles in Craft Lodges S Masonic Rooms in the City 5 Reviews S Masonic Notes and Queries S REPORTS OF MASONIC
MEETINGSCraft Masonry 6 Instruction 8 Kuights Templar 8 The Theatres 9 Music 9 Science and Art 9 Masonic and General Tidings 10 Lodge Meetings for Next Week ... Page 3 Cover .
Ar00901
A NEW YEAR 1 Such is the fact with which we greet our numerous friends in all portions of the world , as we appear in this , the first issue for 1883 , of the Freemason . 1 SS 2 has passed away , and 1883 has put in its appearance . We have left behind us another milestone on our journey , and are moving on to-day amid all those doubts and uncertainties of a coming future , which
constitute our normal condition , rather so peculiar a characteristic , of our own limited knowledge here . And yet , though some affect to complain of their own ignorance of what advancing time has in store for us and ours ; though some , in all ages , have sought vainly and perversely to pry into the hidden realities of existence , and to forecast and foretell what is confessedly beyond
their ken , yet , on the whole , we are , and ought to be , satisfied , that this very condition of human ignorance and uncertainty has its good side , nay , its positive advantages for us all . What should any of us be the bettter or the worse , or the happier , for knowing the actual result of earthly strivings ? the disappointment of lawful hopes ? the overthrow of fair expectations' !
Should any of us , we make bold to ask , find happiness in realizing now the eventual reversal of early promise , or the utter annihilation of our golden dreams ? If any of our readers think that such actual and certain knowledge of what is now hidden from our view by the impenetrable veil which is cast by a kind Providence over all beyond our very present , would be good for
them , or do them service , or give them one iota of happiness , they are either self-deceived , we beg respectfully to observe , or profoundly ignorant of what , after all , constitutes the true secret and real meaning of life . It is this entirely imperfect acquaintance with what lies before us , on the contrary which constitutes the spur to exertion , the incentive to hope , which nerves us to
slrugglc , and forbids us to despair , and which serves above all to throw around the somewhat depressing shiftiness of mortal existence those brighter associations of faith , and trust , and duty , which offer such attractions to loyal hearts , and supply such unwavering confidence to thoughtful minds . Let us not then complain of what we know not and cannot know now , because we
do not know it ; but rather , as year follows upon year , and the great River of Time wends on its way , if sinuously here and there , to the still greater Ocean of Eternity , let us only look on the passing hour as our own , and seek to make provision for that more real and lasting epoch , when Time itself has passed away , and has ceased to influence the hopes and fears , the joys and sorrows . ., the lives and deaths of us poor children of the dust .
* - * ENGLISH Freemasonry begins in another year of the civil calendar with ils wonted efforts for charity , with its careful performance of those allotted duties which attend on the election of our officers and the installation of our Worshipful Masters . The Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution is now
specially before us again with its very many claims on our zeal , our sympathy , and our aid . The first meeting of the Board of Stewards took place this very week , and a fresh call is therefore made on our thoughtful and benevolent Order , to give their valuable and hearty support to that excellent , well-managed Charity of our English Craft . It is impossible to
overrate its need or its value ; it is beyond any one's power to exaggerate thc real good it seeks to do , and docs , in truth , so effectively accomplish . The thought has often occurred to us , as , perhaps , it has to others , how sad it is to realize the large number of necessarily disappointed candidates who seek for the availing , if modest , help this good Institution so
liberally yet unostentatiously bestows on our decayed brethren , and on their widows ? We venture to think that if at this season of thc year , when our hearts are open , the claims of this , the youngest , but not thc least necessary or beneficent in its results of our noble Institutions , were pressed by W . Ms , on the attention of their brethren , a large amount of
subscriptions generally would be remitted to the head office , and we should be able to try and reduce that long list of often weary and suffering applicants , which at present transcends the normal means of the Charity to meet or assist . If there is a successful festival , if the worthy Stewards bring up large returns , ( as we doubt not , so intrinsically good and patently urgent are the claims of the Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution , ) then there is
Ar00902
no doubt also but that the Managing Committee will recommend to the annual meeting to increase the number of candidates to be elected . We are not insensible to the possible danger of doing too much , of too
hastily increasing our benefits and our obligations , which may bring out still more numerous claims , but there can be no harm in urging on all our readers and brethren to put their " shoulders to the wheel , " and combine to make the anniversary of this admirable Charity another and a very signal success .
* * THE presentation of his portrait to Bro . J AMES TERRY , together with Masonic clothing , and a bracelet to Mrs . TERRY , fully recorded in our last issue , deserves an editorial allusion in the first pages of the-Freemason for 18 S 3 . Bro . TAMES TERRY is well known to a wide circle of friends and
brethren as the indefatigable and successful Secretary of the Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution , and as a very effective worker in the ceremonial of Freemasonry , and we know how ready he is to help his brethren , and how admirably he does his work . The proceedings of the presentation seem to have been most propitious and pleasant , and marked by all
true Masonic feeling and hearty good will , from first to last . Some of the facts mentioned by Bro . TERRY in his effective and modest reply call , it seems to us , for special attention and notice . In twenty years the annuities have increased very nearly five-fold . They amounted then to £ 2600 , they are now £ 11 , 600 . Twenty years ago , the annuitants numbered ninety-one ,
they are now 325 . And , whereas the annuities then wcre on a sort of- *' sliding scale , the highest man receiving £ " 36 , thc lowest £ 15 , and the highest widow £ 25 , and thc lowest £ 15 , all thc men now receive £ 40 , and all the widows £ 32 , per annum . " Then , " to use Bro . TERRY ' S own remarkable words , * ' the investments amounted to something like £ 32 , 000 , they are now
£ 64 , 000 ; so , whilst we have widened thc basis of our operations , we have doubled our reserve fund , and have still gone on and been able lo increase the number of recipients . " Surely , these are notable results , and for them Bro . J AMES TERRY must fairly and honestly be credited with a very large
share indeed , in respect of such able and enlightened management , such striking and satisfactory figures . We shall all echo Bro .. RAYNHAM STEWART ' S words , —that Bro . TERRY may long live to witness the result of his meritorious exertions , and enjoy the honest approval of all his brethren and the kindly congratulations of his many friends .
* * AN esteemed Provincial Correspondent has called attention to a paragraph in some recent correspondence respecting provincial promotion , which he thinks is an improper one to have been inserted . Had our Correspondent as much experience as we have , he would have known that there
is nothing so difficult to control as Masonic correspondence . We are inclined ourselves to think that such paragraphs are innocuous , in that they find , like water , their own level , and while it may be a matter of regret that some brethren should condescend to use them , it is far better policy to allow
comp lainants to state their own case , and then ignore evident exaggeration . Our own experience of provincial promotion , which is not a limited one , is quite contrary to that of recent correspondence . We feel certain that all such patronage is fairly dispensed , with a desire to do full justice to all legitimate claims . * 1 » 1 C 11 U 13 > , 1 ;
* ± As WE remarked in the last Freemason , the tolals ' of Masonic Charity for 1882 , when summed up at the close of the year , far exceed the festival receipts . During 1 SS 2 they amount to the large sum of £ 47 , 444 iSs . 1 id ., the highest year so far being 1880 , when the amount raised was only £ 237
short of £ 50 , 000 , or £ 49 , 763- I" 1882 , the Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution raised from all sources £ 16 , 595 7 S- 7 d ., though this sum includes , it it fair to observe , a donation from Grand Lodge of £ 1200 . The Girls ' School collected £ 15 , 9 6 9 15 s . 8 d ., and the Boys' School is credited with
£ 14 , 879 15 s . 8 d ., in all , as we said before , £ 47 , 444 iSs . 1 id . This isa fact worth a great many fine speeches , which the most perverse impugner of Freemasonry cannot deny , which the most snarling cynic cannot controvert . It fitly closes thc year 1 SS 2 . It has fitly begun for our good English Craft the New Year of 1 S 83 .
* * THE death of M . LEON GAMBETTA , with . the expiring old year , has filled thc columns of our contemporaries both in England and France ,
indeed , in all lands , with lengthy articles of praise or blame , admiration or depreciation . The general tone of these notices is laudatory of the deceased . Some , however , of these posthumous memoirs , especiall y by extreme writers , are sad to read , as in the very worst possible taste , and as
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Contents.
CONTENTS .
LEADERS x Masonic Benevolence in 1882 2 English Masonry in Egpyt ¦ 2 New Year ' s Entertainment at Croydon 3 Mark Masonry 3
18 S 3 and 1 S 83 3 Presentations 3 Obituary 3 CORRESPONDENCEFreemasonry and Volunteering 4 Freemasonry in China 5 Remuneration of OHicers 5 A Visit to the Bovs' School S
CORRESPONDENCE —( Continued)—Candles in Craft Lodges S Masonic Rooms in the City 5 Reviews S Masonic Notes and Queries S REPORTS OF MASONIC
MEETINGSCraft Masonry 6 Instruction 8 Kuights Templar 8 The Theatres 9 Music 9 Science and Art 9 Masonic and General Tidings 10 Lodge Meetings for Next Week ... Page 3 Cover .
Ar00901
A NEW YEAR 1 Such is the fact with which we greet our numerous friends in all portions of the world , as we appear in this , the first issue for 1883 , of the Freemason . 1 SS 2 has passed away , and 1883 has put in its appearance . We have left behind us another milestone on our journey , and are moving on to-day amid all those doubts and uncertainties of a coming future , which
constitute our normal condition , rather so peculiar a characteristic , of our own limited knowledge here . And yet , though some affect to complain of their own ignorance of what advancing time has in store for us and ours ; though some , in all ages , have sought vainly and perversely to pry into the hidden realities of existence , and to forecast and foretell what is confessedly beyond
their ken , yet , on the whole , we are , and ought to be , satisfied , that this very condition of human ignorance and uncertainty has its good side , nay , its positive advantages for us all . What should any of us be the bettter or the worse , or the happier , for knowing the actual result of earthly strivings ? the disappointment of lawful hopes ? the overthrow of fair expectations' !
Should any of us , we make bold to ask , find happiness in realizing now the eventual reversal of early promise , or the utter annihilation of our golden dreams ? If any of our readers think that such actual and certain knowledge of what is now hidden from our view by the impenetrable veil which is cast by a kind Providence over all beyond our very present , would be good for
them , or do them service , or give them one iota of happiness , they are either self-deceived , we beg respectfully to observe , or profoundly ignorant of what , after all , constitutes the true secret and real meaning of life . It is this entirely imperfect acquaintance with what lies before us , on the contrary which constitutes the spur to exertion , the incentive to hope , which nerves us to
slrugglc , and forbids us to despair , and which serves above all to throw around the somewhat depressing shiftiness of mortal existence those brighter associations of faith , and trust , and duty , which offer such attractions to loyal hearts , and supply such unwavering confidence to thoughtful minds . Let us not then complain of what we know not and cannot know now , because we
do not know it ; but rather , as year follows upon year , and the great River of Time wends on its way , if sinuously here and there , to the still greater Ocean of Eternity , let us only look on the passing hour as our own , and seek to make provision for that more real and lasting epoch , when Time itself has passed away , and has ceased to influence the hopes and fears , the joys and sorrows . ., the lives and deaths of us poor children of the dust .
* - * ENGLISH Freemasonry begins in another year of the civil calendar with ils wonted efforts for charity , with its careful performance of those allotted duties which attend on the election of our officers and the installation of our Worshipful Masters . The Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution is now
specially before us again with its very many claims on our zeal , our sympathy , and our aid . The first meeting of the Board of Stewards took place this very week , and a fresh call is therefore made on our thoughtful and benevolent Order , to give their valuable and hearty support to that excellent , well-managed Charity of our English Craft . It is impossible to
overrate its need or its value ; it is beyond any one's power to exaggerate thc real good it seeks to do , and docs , in truth , so effectively accomplish . The thought has often occurred to us , as , perhaps , it has to others , how sad it is to realize the large number of necessarily disappointed candidates who seek for the availing , if modest , help this good Institution so
liberally yet unostentatiously bestows on our decayed brethren , and on their widows ? We venture to think that if at this season of thc year , when our hearts are open , the claims of this , the youngest , but not thc least necessary or beneficent in its results of our noble Institutions , were pressed by W . Ms , on the attention of their brethren , a large amount of
subscriptions generally would be remitted to the head office , and we should be able to try and reduce that long list of often weary and suffering applicants , which at present transcends the normal means of the Charity to meet or assist . If there is a successful festival , if the worthy Stewards bring up large returns , ( as we doubt not , so intrinsically good and patently urgent are the claims of the Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution , ) then there is
Ar00902
no doubt also but that the Managing Committee will recommend to the annual meeting to increase the number of candidates to be elected . We are not insensible to the possible danger of doing too much , of too
hastily increasing our benefits and our obligations , which may bring out still more numerous claims , but there can be no harm in urging on all our readers and brethren to put their " shoulders to the wheel , " and combine to make the anniversary of this admirable Charity another and a very signal success .
* * THE presentation of his portrait to Bro . J AMES TERRY , together with Masonic clothing , and a bracelet to Mrs . TERRY , fully recorded in our last issue , deserves an editorial allusion in the first pages of the-Freemason for 18 S 3 . Bro . TAMES TERRY is well known to a wide circle of friends and
brethren as the indefatigable and successful Secretary of the Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution , and as a very effective worker in the ceremonial of Freemasonry , and we know how ready he is to help his brethren , and how admirably he does his work . The proceedings of the presentation seem to have been most propitious and pleasant , and marked by all
true Masonic feeling and hearty good will , from first to last . Some of the facts mentioned by Bro . TERRY in his effective and modest reply call , it seems to us , for special attention and notice . In twenty years the annuities have increased very nearly five-fold . They amounted then to £ 2600 , they are now £ 11 , 600 . Twenty years ago , the annuitants numbered ninety-one ,
they are now 325 . And , whereas the annuities then wcre on a sort of- *' sliding scale , the highest man receiving £ " 36 , thc lowest £ 15 , and the highest widow £ 25 , and thc lowest £ 15 , all thc men now receive £ 40 , and all the widows £ 32 , per annum . " Then , " to use Bro . TERRY ' S own remarkable words , * ' the investments amounted to something like £ 32 , 000 , they are now
£ 64 , 000 ; so , whilst we have widened thc basis of our operations , we have doubled our reserve fund , and have still gone on and been able lo increase the number of recipients . " Surely , these are notable results , and for them Bro . J AMES TERRY must fairly and honestly be credited with a very large
share indeed , in respect of such able and enlightened management , such striking and satisfactory figures . We shall all echo Bro .. RAYNHAM STEWART ' S words , —that Bro . TERRY may long live to witness the result of his meritorious exertions , and enjoy the honest approval of all his brethren and the kindly congratulations of his many friends .
* * AN esteemed Provincial Correspondent has called attention to a paragraph in some recent correspondence respecting provincial promotion , which he thinks is an improper one to have been inserted . Had our Correspondent as much experience as we have , he would have known that there
is nothing so difficult to control as Masonic correspondence . We are inclined ourselves to think that such paragraphs are innocuous , in that they find , like water , their own level , and while it may be a matter of regret that some brethren should condescend to use them , it is far better policy to allow
comp lainants to state their own case , and then ignore evident exaggeration . Our own experience of provincial promotion , which is not a limited one , is quite contrary to that of recent correspondence . We feel certain that all such patronage is fairly dispensed , with a desire to do full justice to all legitimate claims . * 1 » 1 C 11 U 13 > , 1 ;
* ± As WE remarked in the last Freemason , the tolals ' of Masonic Charity for 1882 , when summed up at the close of the year , far exceed the festival receipts . During 1 SS 2 they amount to the large sum of £ 47 , 444 iSs . 1 id ., the highest year so far being 1880 , when the amount raised was only £ 237
short of £ 50 , 000 , or £ 49 , 763- I" 1882 , the Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution raised from all sources £ 16 , 595 7 S- 7 d ., though this sum includes , it it fair to observe , a donation from Grand Lodge of £ 1200 . The Girls ' School collected £ 15 , 9 6 9 15 s . 8 d ., and the Boys' School is credited with
£ 14 , 879 15 s . 8 d ., in all , as we said before , £ 47 , 444 iSs . 1 id . This isa fact worth a great many fine speeches , which the most perverse impugner of Freemasonry cannot deny , which the most snarling cynic cannot controvert . It fitly closes thc year 1 SS 2 . It has fitly begun for our good English Craft the New Year of 1 S 83 .
* * THE death of M . LEON GAMBETTA , with . the expiring old year , has filled thc columns of our contemporaries both in England and France ,
indeed , in all lands , with lengthy articles of praise or blame , admiration or depreciation . The general tone of these notices is laudatory of the deceased . Some , however , of these posthumous memoirs , especiall y by extreme writers , are sad to read , as in the very worst possible taste , and as