Ar00600

IMPORTANT NOTICE .

COLONIAL and FOREIGN SUBSCRIBERS are nformed that acknowledgments of remittances received are published in the first number of every * month .

It is very necessary for our readers to advise us of all money orders they remit , more especially those from the United States of America and India ; otherwise we cannot tell where to credit them .

NEW POSTAL RATES . Owing to a reduction in the Postal Rates , the publisher is now enabled to send the " Freemason" to the following uarts abroad for One Year for Twelve Shillinsrs foavable in

advance ) : —Africa , Australia , Bombay , Canada , Cape of Good Hope , Ceylon , China , Constantinople , Demerara , France , Germany , Gibraltar , Jamaica , Malta , Newfoundland , New South Wales , New Zealand , Suez , Trinidad , United States of America . & c .

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 , interesting , and useful information relating to Freemasonry in every degree . Annual subscription in the United Kingdom , Post free , 10 / - P . O . O . ' s to be made payable at the chief oflice , London .

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 KENS-INO , 198 , Fleet-st .

Answers To Correspondents.

Answers to Correspondents .

AU Communications , Advertisements , & c , intended for insertion in the Number of the following Saturday , must reach the Office not later tnan 12 o ' clock on Wednesday morning . Thc following communications stand over : — " Rusticus Urte ; " Reports of Lodge of Truth , 1458 , Newton Heath ; Laying the Corner Stone cf Holy Trinity Church , Ashtonunder-Lyne .

Births, Marriages, And Deaths.

Births , Marriages , and Deaths .

£ ITie charge is 2 s . 6 d for announcements , not cxc-eding four lines , under this heading . ]

BIRTHS . BOURNE . —On the 1 st inst ., at Bcllcfield , Limerick , the Lady Marion Bourne , prematurely , of a son , stillborn . CUMMINS . —On the 27 th ult ., at Lar . herne , near St . Columb , Cornwall , the wife of Captain Turner Cummins , 4 th Cavaby , Hyderabad Contingent , of a son . ISAAC . —On the 2 nd inst ., at Gloucester-place , Portmansquarc , thc wife of Frederick S . Isaac , Est ) ., of a son .

MAIISHALL . —On the 30 th ult ., at Oak Bank , Lamberhurst , Kent , the wife of John J . Marshall , L . R . C . S ., of a son . Momiow . —August 29 th , at 5 , Walmer-tcrr . ice , Victoria-Road , Great Crosby , the wife of Bro . I . G . Morrow , Lodge 1380 , of a son . SIIHAI ' SKLL . —August 28 th , at 171 , Canning-street , Liverpool , the wife of Bro . P . Shrapnell , Lodge 1609 , of a son .

MARRIAGES . BACOE—Ouiti . 1 .. —On the 2 nd inst ., at St . Michael ' s andAll Angels , Notling-hill , John Henry Bagge , of Ardmore House , High Sheriff for the County Waterford , Ireland , to llarri tte Isabel Maria , younger daughter of thc late H . Odell . Kso .. of Carriplea . county Waterford .

BISHOP — DAVIS — . On the 2 nd inst ., at the British Consulate , Leghorn , George Bishop , Esq ., of Meadow-bank , Twickenham , to Caroline Felicite , second daughter of Dr . Davis , LL . D ., of Florence and Tunis . MARKHAM—PECKHAM . —On the 2 nd inst ., at Tottenham , William Markham , of Canonbury , to Alice , daughter of Robert Peckham , cf Tottenham and Doctors ' -com mons , solicitor .

DEATHS . BROWN . —On the ist inst ., suddenly , at Tenby , Edwin Brown , manager of the Union Bank , Burton-on-Trent , aged 57 . CORRY . —On the ist inst ,, at Shardeloes-road , New-cross , London , fames Robert , infant son of William

Loneman Corry , aged 3 months . DAV ins . —On the 3 rd inst ., at Llanwrtyd Wells , the Rev . Edward Reed Davies , rector of Cathcdine , Breconshire . DIXON . —On the 4 th inst ., at London Hospital , Mr . Perry B . Dixon . HALFORD . —On the ist Inst ., at Kensington , Ellen Halford , third daughter of thc late George Halford . Esq .

Cosmopolitan Masonic Calendar.

COSMOPOLITAN MASONIC CALENDAR .

W . Masteis and Secretaries are earnestly requested to forward to the publisher , at the Offices , 198 , Fleetstrect , E . G ., particulars of the place , days , and months , of meeting of their respective lodges , chapters , and other Masonic bodies , for njertion in the issue of the Calendar for 18 77 .

Ar00609

The Freemason , SATURDAY , SEP TEM BUR 9 , 1876 .

The Fluctuations Of Masonic Literature.

THE FLUCTUATIONS OF MASONIC LITERATURE .

In an article from a Transatlantic contemporary which we transferred to our pages last week , we had to listen to a melancholy tale of Masonic literary failures . Serial upon serial had appeared and vanished , we were told , and for some ereat or Brand reason , the anathv nf

the Craft in America , as regards Masonic journalism , is , to say the least of it , very remarkable and very inexplicable . But so it apparently is , and it is hopeless for us on this side of the "little duck pond , " to try and explain the cause and " raison d ' etre " of a state of things ,

no doubt most deplorable in itself , and which is permitted to exist among 600 , 000 Freemasons , but of which no American contemporary has so far , we believe , offered any satisfactiory explanation . It is so because it is so , seems to be the only solution offered of what appears to us in

England to be a Masonic riddle . We trust that better days are in store for Masonic literature in the United States , and that a fair return may yet be made to the efforts of the literary aspirant , and the laborious endeavours of the Masonic editor , though the history of English Masonic literature

is not on the whole a prosperous one , and many have been its fluctuations in past years , the " Freemason" has no cause to complain of either the apathy of the Craft , or the lukewarmness of its friends . From first to last it has been cheered by the active sympathy and support of a

constantly increasing circle of subscribers , and though in the best interests of Masonic literature we might wish that a larger proportion of our numerous Order favoured us with their kind patronage , we feel how much we gratefully owe to a support which has never wavered , and to

a friendly feeling which has never grown cold . At this moment ours is a weekly increase , alike of direct subscribers and of public patronage , and we have every reason to believe and to know , that we represent in all we say week by week the bona-fide sentiments of a large

portion of our educated and cultivated fraternity , VVe always seek to speak plainly , and to uphold the leading principles of Freemasonry , to which a long apprenticeship has endeared us , and with which some Masonic services have bound us with enduring ties of affection and interest . To

suppose that we can please every-one is impossible , but as we seek to be straightforward and sincere , considerate and courteous to all , we have never appealed , and we never shall appeal , we know , in vain to the fraternal feelings of a large circle of readers , to credit us with honest

intentions , and to believe in the reality of our public professions . We are pleased to note how often our leaders are reproduced in the Transatlantic Masonic papers and magazines , and as we always write to Freemasons , and for Freemasons alone , and we have the satisfaction of

possessing the confident assurance , that the views we venture to express from time to time commend themselves alike to the sympathies of the most thoughtful , and the approval of the most intelligent amongst us . Never at any time , we have reason to know , did the "

Freemason " stand higher in the opinions of reading Masons , of Masonic students and archaeologists at home and abroad , and we shall endeavour to keep it up lo its high mark as a Masonic paper of true Masonic teaching and fair literary merit . No efforts on our part will be spared to make it

worthy of the support and approval of our ancient ar . d honourable Craft , and , judging from its past history and its present success , our labours will not be difficult , since the generous confidence of an Order makes every duty light , and all responsibility a pleasure . Our worthy publisher has a right to feel not a

little proud , both of his own sacrifices , and the growth of the " Freemason . " A good deal of the success of the " Freemason ' is owing to the singularly straightforward way in which he has conducted it , from its ori gin to this hour . It is his own paper , remember , paid for by his own purse , dependent on no committee .

The Fluctuations Of Masonic Literature.

subsidized by no real or suppositious company , Its shares have all been taken up , as they are alj held by himself alone . From the first , he has opened the pages of the " Freemason " to free discussion , to archaeological research , to earnest communications and honourable criticism ! A

" fair field and no favour , " he has advocated for himself and for all alike . But one thing the " Freemason " has been remarkable for , the absence of that detestable system of vulgar personality which is a disgrace to any public paper , but above all to a Masonic journal . The "

Freemason " has always held itself above those grovelling considerations of personal enmity , which so debase and so destroy the true character of every Freemason , and never has , and never will , allow its pages to be prostituted to the

purposes of faction , the baneful scurrility of open personal attack or cowardly inuendo . It is most sad to note at times into what abysses of twaddle , sheer twaddle , bad grammar , low abuse , and too evident vulgarity of tone , temper , and sentiment , the hateful and un-Masonic

tendency to personality will lead some writers , especially those who are unable to pen anything really worth reading . Personality is always a proof of weakness and of a bad cause , not unfrequently of a base disposition and a vulgar mind . No good end that we

can see has ever yet been gained , nor do we believe will be gained , by personality , because , as a general rule , it is the " refuge of the destitute , " and onl y resorted to either when things are looking desperate , or when some personal feelings or private concerns have stirred up the hidden

malignancy of humanity . From all such debasements of journalism the " Freemason " will studiously in the future as in the past and present hold itself aloof . Commercially speaking , we feel sure that no paper or peiiodical can be successful which is carried on , whether for trade purposes

or individual animosity , and whose only aim appears to be blatantly stupid and vulgarly personal . No doubt still as of old , as in Mr . Slurk ' s days , the " ungrammatical twaddler " is to the fore , and it is a painful infliction on the human patience and the human intellect to have

sometimes the mournful necessity imposed on it of wading through a composition which is characterized from first to last by everything which is offensive to good taste , to grammatical construction , and common courtesy , to say nothing of the higher considerations of good

feeling , morality , and truth . But we do not wish to prolong these remarks , as we are only anxious to point out that tho "Freemason" will always be free from such gross blemishes in respect of the true character of Masonic journalism , and such a violent burlesque

on the principles of Freemasonry . We do not believe in the profession of the man whose practice is the very reverse of his profession . Why should we believe in that of the Freemason who outrages in the full swing of his vindictive violence , every principle of Masonic justice ,

fairness , decency , and duty . The " Freemason " never has condescended to take notice , and never will , of the open assailant , just as it disregards and despises the surreptitious traducer . It goes on its way regardless whether it pleases or displeases , is popular or unpopular , is agreeable or

disagreeable , inasmuch as it seeks to " do the right and speak the true , " it asks for no consideration , and deprecates no criticism , but simply commends itself to the public opinion of the Order , and relies on the consistent and conscientious support of its great fraternity and its many friendly readers .

The Irish Masonic Orphan Institutions.

THE IRISH MASONIC ORPHAN INSTITUTIONS .

We have received and read with p leasure the reports of the " Masonic Female Orphan School , Dublin , " and of the " Masonic Orphan Bojs ' School , Dublin . " On the principle of' * p lace aux dames" always , we will begin with the

former of these two most useful and well managed institutions . The Female Orphan School has now 44 inmates , who appear to be progressing very well indeed in all the departments ol a good , sound , useful , and valuable education . The financial position of the school is very satisfac-