Contents.

CONTENTS .

L EADERS— PAGE . Masonic ' Progress in the United States ... ... ... .. 459 The Lodge of Scoon and Perth ... ... ... ... 459 Samuel D'Assigny ... ... ... ... ••• 4 < 5 i

Knight Templary in the United States of America ... ... ... 4 ° i Provincial Grand Lodge of Cheshire ... ... ... »¦ ... 4 Provincial Grand Lodge of Durham ... ... ... ... 4 C 2 Light on Masoniy ... ... ... ... ... ¦•• 4 Masonic Visiting ... ... ... ... ... ... 4 S 3

MASONIC NOTESCjuarteily Courts of the Royal Masonic Institutions for Girls and Boys ... 4 ( 15 Annual Convocation of Prov . Grand Chapter of Hertfordshire ... ... 465 Installation of Bro . Lord Wantage as Prov . Grand Master of Berkshire ... 465 Masonic Service in St . Martin ' s Church , Gospel Oak ... ... 4 6 5

Correspondence ... ... ... ... ... ... 466 Review of "An Old English View of American Freemasonry " ... .. 4 66 Rifle Match—South Middlesex Volunteer Rifles ... ... ... 4 6 7 Craft Masonry ... ... ... ... ... ... 4 6 7 Royal Arch ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 469 Royal Masonic Institution for Boys ... ... ... ... 470 Provincial Grand Lodge of Warwickshire ... ... ... ... 470 Instruction ... ... ... ... .,. ... ... 47 ° Masonic and General Tidings ... ... ... ... ... 471

Masonic Progress In The United States.

MASONIC PROGRESS IN THE UNITED STATES .

We are justly proud of the progress which Freemasonry lias made in the United Kingdom during the last quarter of a century . Not only is the Craft in the three Kingdoms numerically far stronger than it was 25 years ago , but its organisation is more

perfect , ancl the institutions which have been established under its protection are now more capable of fulfilling the purposes for which they were started . But if the progress we have made is of the character we have described , our American brethren have

perhaps even greater reason to be proud of the strides which Masonry has made under the Stars and Stripes . Theirs is an immense country , with a capacity for increasing and multiplying its population which , for at all events a few centuries to come ,

may be looked upon as practically illimitable . And Masonry , which has taken a firm hold on the affections of the people , has its part in this rapid and astounding increase . VVe judge so at

least from a summary of the statistics which , according to the 1 otce of Masonry , were contained in the Report on Correspondence presented by Bro . J OSIAH H . DRUMMOND , Past G . Master , to the Grand Lodge of Maine at its 70 th annual

communication in May last . Bro . DRUMMOND , as our readers know full well , is the greatest authority in the United States on Masonic-Statistics , and hc tells us that , at the date he compiled ' •' latest tables of Craft Masonry there were -in North

America 57 Grand Lodges , with an aggregate of subscribing members which reaches the enormous figure of 817 , 009 . From " ¦ ¦ •" . must be deducted the seven Grand Lodges in British North America , with an array of subscribing members numbering some

3 o , ooo , more or less . But this leaves 50 Grand Lodges in the United States with an aggregate membership of 777 , 000 . Some of these Grand Lodges , including those of Ncw York , Pennsylvania , and Massachusettsdate their establishment from the

, '"l * or the earliest decades of the present century , but the majorit y of them are of more recent creation , and it is among lesc latter that the progress we arc calling attention to appears I ] r--0 t > - ** ** *" " uj /^ v . ai-1 1 C

more remarkable . Perhaps the most formidable instance is > ai of the Grand Lodge of Illinois , which , though founded less tU - 60 years ago , has already a total subscribing membershi p of "P ^ ards of 50 , 000 brethren . The Grand Lodge of Iowa , which a Cs from the year 1843 , had , according to the returns appended

Masonic Progress In The United States.

to the Report of its 55 th annual Communication , in June last hot far short of 28 , 000 members . The Grand Lodge of Oregon was founded in 1850 , and , though its numerical strength does not appear to have increased by leaps and bounds , as in the cases

already cited of Illinois and Iowa , it had at the date of its 48 th annual Communication in June , a roll of 100 lodges , with nearly 5000 subscribing members . The Grand Lodge of South Dakota held its 24 th annual meeting in the same month of June , when

the Returns showed 93 lodges , with nearly 4500 members , while its Grand Chapter , which has only been nine years in existence , has already a muster-roll of 25 chapters arid 1456 subscribing companions . Even the Grand Lodge of Oklahama ,

which is the youngest of the 50 Grand Lodges in the United States , had 33 lodges and nearly 1500 members in February , when it held its sixth annual communication . The strongest in point of numbers of the American Grand Lodges is that

of New York , which , according to the Returns presented in June at the 117 th annual meeting , had 743 lodges and 95 , 480 subscribing members . With such figures as these before us , what else can we do than exclaim with our old friend DOMINIE SIMPSON— " Prodigious ! "

The Lodge Of Scoon And Perth.*

THE LODGE OF SCOON AND PERTH . *

That during the period from 1658 , the date of the Mutual Contract or Agreement which is reverently held to be the charter of the lodge thc proceedings must have been more or less regularly recorded is clear from a statement made in the minutes of a meeting held on thc 14 th January , 1729 , when the Master , " the

Honourable the Master of ROLLO , " his Wardens and other officers and members present "taking to consideration that the old Authentick Records of the Lodge arc become Ilegible , and . severall of the Laws , by the visisitude of time would again require to be amended and calculated to the present Junture of affairs "

proceeded " to statue and enact" a new code of laws forthe government of the lodge ; but though these " old Authentick * Records" were in existence at this date , they are not forthcoming now , the oldest minute book in the possession of the lodge , which has thc first 20 pages wanting , commencing from 1725 and

carrying us on to December , I 777 . The earliest minute bears date the 17 th December , 1725 , and has reference to a meeting at which there were present ANDREW NORIE , whose signature as Master is affixed to each of tlie three clauses of the record ,

25 others , including three who were entered apprentices on the day , being enumerated in the second clause , while from the first we learn the financial position in which the lodge was at the time . The clause reads thus : "December 17 th , 1725 .

" The which day the members of the Lodge of Perth , having conveened according to their yearly meeting annent the managing of all affairs concerning the said Lodge , and after reckoning with the Boxmaster , there w *> found to be Thirty-five Pounds Scotts in the chest , and Sixteen Pound money forsaid resting by him to said Lodge as the Ballance of his Accounts , vvhich together

with the money received , made up an hundred merks , which money was lent upon Bill to David Rae , Deacon of the Wrights , including the Interest in the Bill , so the Boxmaster hath nothing to count for bygones but what follows this date . As witness my hand . " ( Signed ) ANDREW NORIE . " The second clause contains the names of those present , and the third records the entrance as Apprentices of "Mr . Patrick