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TO OUR READERS . The FREEMASON is a Weekly News paper , price 2 d . It is published every Friday morning , and contains the most important , interesting , and useful information relating to Freemasonry in svery degree . Subscription , in eluding postage : United America , India , India , China , & C-. Kingdom , the Continent , & c . Via Brindesi . Twelve Months 10 s . 6 d . 12 s . od . 17 s . 4 < 1 . Six „ 5 s . 3 d . 6 s . 6 d . 8 s . 8 d . Three „ 2 s . 8 d . 3 s . 3 d . 4 s . 6 d . Subscriptions may be paid for in stamps , but Post Office Orders or Cheques are preferred , the former payable to GEORGE KENNING , CHIEF OFFICE , LONDON , the latter crossed London Joint Stock Bank . Advertisements and other business communications should be addressed to the Publisher . Communications on literary subjects and books for review are to be forwarded to thc Editor . Anonymous correspondence will be wholly disregarded , and the return of rejected MSS . cannot be £ uaranteed . Further inlormation will be supplied on application to the Publisher , ig 8 , Fleet-street , London . IMPORTANT NOTICE . COLONHL and FOREIGN SUBSCRIBERS are informed 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 . Several P . O . O . ' s are now in hand , but having received no advice we cannot credit them .

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TO ADVERTISERS . Ihe FREEMASON has a large circulation in all parts of the Globe , its advantages as an advertising medium can therefore scarcely be overrated . ADVERTISEMENTS to ensure insertion in current -week's issue should reach the Office , " 198 , Fleet-street , by 12 o ' clock on "Wednesdays . SCALE OF CHARGES FOR ADVERTISEMENTS . Whole of back page ... £ 12 n o Half , „ 6 10 o Inside pages 7 7 ° Half of ditto ... ... ... 400 Quarter ditto ... ... ... ... 2100 Whole column 2100 Half ,, 1 10 o Quarter „ 100 Per inch 040 These prices are for single insertions . A liberal reduction is made for a series of 13 , 26 , and c , z insertions . Further particulars may be obtained of thc Publisher , 198 , Fleet-street , London .

Answers To Correspondents.

Answers to Correspondents .

J . W . 156 3 received with thanks . T . F . —In our next . ERRATUM . —Bro . A . D . Renshaw ' s name was inadver tently included in the list of the Committee of the Emula tion Lodge of Improvement Festival , in our last .

BOOKS & c , RtCElVED . " Westminster Papers ; " "Tasmania : Information for Intending Emigrants ; " " Western Daily Mercury ;" " Western Morning News ; " " Pantiles Papers " ( Christmas Number ) ; " Keystone ; " " Eastern Star ; " " La Chaine d' Union j" " Hull Packet ; " " Citizen j" " Army and Navy Gazette ; " " London Express ; " " Our Young Folks '

Budget ; " "Broad Arrow ; " "City Diary for 18 79 ;" " Old Jonathan ; " "Weekly Times ; " "Freemasons ' Monthly ; " " Masonic Herald ; " " La Scmaine Francaise ;" "Sunday Times ; " " Dcr Triangcl ; " "New York Dis . patch ; " "Fr-emasons' Hepositoiy Kelct ; " "Galloway Gazette ; " " Hackney and Kingsland Gazette ; " " Irish Daily News ; " "Masonic Newspaper ; '' "Hebrew Leader ;" " Boletin Ofacial etc la Masoneiii Simbolica de Colon . "

Births ,Marriages And Deaths.

Births , Marriages and Deaths .

BIRTHS . LANE . —On the ; th inst ., at Witley House , Godlaiming , the wife of C . T . Lane , of a son .

MARRIAGES . GORDON—FLEMYNO . —On the 5 th inst ., at St . Stephen ' s , Dublin , Albert Gordon , Esq ., C . E ., son of the Rev . J . B . Gordon , sometime Prebendary of Doon , co . Limerick , to Charlotte Elizibeth , daughter of thc Rev . R . Flcmyng . TALBOT—LAWFOIIO—On tne 16 th ult ., at Bellary , Madras Presidency , Francis Arthur Bouverie Talbot , Lieut , and Adjt . 4 .- { rel . Light Infantry , to Alice Mary Beatrice , daughter of Co ) . E . M . Lawford .

DEATHS . ADLKII . —On the 4 th inst ., at Copenhagen , David Baruch Adler , aged 52 . BVKON . —On the fjth inst ., at Elmstonc Hardwick , Gloucestershire , the Rev . John Byron , M . A ,, aged 74 .

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THE FREEMASON , SATURDAY , DECEMBER 14 , 1878 .

The Charities Of Freemasonry.

THE CHARITIES OF FREEMASONRY .

The chanties of Freemasonry are many and remarkable , not the product of benefit society motives , or the result of childish and sensational and hap-hazard lottery-like proceedings , but governed by one great law , controlled by one true principle . Freemasons give to all poor and

distressed , and decayed and suffering brethren , their widows and children , who have a fair claim on their charity , and as we said before , such offerings are made in various ways and from different sources . Masonic charity begins first of all in the lodges , goes on in the provinces from

the Provincial Grand Lodge funds , and in the metropolis is continued , and concluded , as well for the metropolis and the provinces , in the General Lodge of Benevolence . Thus , in the first place , there is a three-fold system of charity giving and administration at work ,

very striking , and very praiseworthy , and let us trust , actuated always by the true and abiding persuasions of real charity , directed and developed in intelligence , in carefulness , and in discriminating good will . But not content with all this , great as it really is ,

when its totality , year by year is reckoned up and measured out , the Masonic mind seeks for further proofs of Masonic sympathy , and reaches unto further developments of Masonic zeal in the best of all causes . Accordingly , it seeks to aid and cheer the aged and infirm brother and widow

it endeavours to educate the forlorn and friendless orphans of our Order . Fcr these great metropolitan charities are the living proofs of Masonic charity and energy , which never seem to " wax faint , " though we must not forget a number of useful provincial subsidiary institutions , which

are very hel pful in their measure to the good cause of Masonic charity or youthful education . Our body , not a wealthy body in its great entirety , raises something like ^ 40 , 000 annually , in round numbers , or the interest on a million of money at 4 per cent ., to keep up these

remarkable and needful metropolitan Institutions , whose real value and lasting need each year , as it passes over « ur heads , seems to attest more and more , in words and facts , which we should be obtuse to neglect to realize , and unworthy of our name as Masons

if we did not heartily endeavour ourselves to make to prosper and to promote . But we cannot shut our eyes if we would , nor should we be acting right to do so if we could , to certain " signs and tokens" which seem to point just now to hesitating support and dubious returns .

Not that we show the distrust of others , or endorse the views of others , who think our appeals are too frequent , and the strain too heavy upon us . On the contrary , we are of opinion that in some respects much remains to be done by our Order , and therefore it is that we dwell on the

subject to-day . If trade is bad , if the prospects of 1879 are clouded over , if the claims and calls on all are very many j ' ust now , yet we cannot see that that is any reason why our Charities should suffer any diminution of their wonted returns , any

withdrawal of their untold benefits . Let us bear in mind , as it has often been pointed out , for the last few years , in the pages of the Freemason , that six-tenths of our lodges and chapters have , as yet , done nothing for our great Charities , and that the same remark equally applies to

forty per cent of our brethren , if not positively fifty per cent . In our opinion , every lodge and chapter should , at the least , be a Life Governor of all the Charities , and were this coni se to be followed by even a small proportion of our noncontributing lodges and chapters , so far , in 1879 not only would our charitable returns , not by any

possibility be reduced , but probably , nay positively , would shew a substantial increase . When we consider to-day the balance sheets of lodges and chapters , and when we remember how very little , except a rare exception , is there done for charity , we feel bound to ask with the really " immortal William , " what " all this rjuantity of

The Charities Of Freemasonry.

sack , " and , alas ! so little charit y > Bro . Terry opens the ball in 1879 , with the anniversary festival of the Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution , and we desiderate for that very active and hard-working brother a goodly

and substantial return . We hear that the other two Charities are "up and doing , " and we are especially glad to learn that the promises of

support for the next Girls' School festival are very numerous and energetic . May our charity returns for 1879 attest once again , what we doubt not , the zeal and vitality of English Freemasons .

Masonic Testimonials.

MASONIC TESTIMONIALS .

It is , perhaps , a trite observation , that testimonials of all kinds , though not uncommon , are , by the majority of us all , ' * more honoured in the breach than the observance , " that is to say , testimonials are , though we often see them and hear of them , not the most popular things in the world

with very many , both men and brethren . We do not wonder at such a feeling in the abstract , and for the best of all reasons . Too often the testimonial to one constitutes an injustice to another , and there is very frequently an excess of sentimentalism about testimonials , which

distresses the thoughtful , and annoys the fastidious . For we fear , it must be conceded to our dear Bros . Caustic and Critic , that in our efforts to "testimonialize" somebody , we most frequentl y ignore those who have a prior claim on our consideration , whose work , long continued as

it has been , and first-rate as it has been , has found no convenient friend openly to laud and proclaim , which adulation has not patronized , and interest has not "brought to the fore , " and which , therefore , passes by unheeded and unnoticed , amid a thoughtless crowd of

contemporaries , or a too excited assembly of comp 2 titors for honours and for favours . For these reasons , and many might be adduced if the subject were worth it , or time allowed , there is a common-sense objection to testimonials in general , which we shall do well to note and even

to commend . For it is a protest against exaggeration of sentiment , against all "hi gh falutin" of personal interest , against the forward pretentiousness of self-satisfied mortals , against that tendency to * ' flatter and to feign , " which is one of the most painful evidences to the thinking , of the moral

decadence of humanity , and from which no earthly society , not even Freemasonry , is absolutely free . But there are " testimonials and testimonials " always , and if some are dubious , and more despairing , others are seasonable and satisfactory in the highest degree . And among these

may be fairly and properly classed that one which the warmth of sincere friends , and the sympathy of affectionate comrades are seeking to raise to the memory and virtues of Bro . R . W . Little . Bro . Little ' s services to Freemasonry , and the Girls ' School , are too well known to need anything but

a partial mention in the pages of the Freemason , the pages of which in earlier days , he aided to embellish and uphold b y his effective and interesting contributions on many topics . There can be no doubt , honestly speaking , that by the assiduous discharge of his Masonic duties , and the

sedulous attention he paid to the intere > ts of the Girls' School , Bro . Little impaired a constitution not the strongest of the strong , and shortened prematurel y a very valuable life , and one most necessary to a large and loving family circle . Nothing more becomes his public career

or private history , than the manly endeavours he ever made , even when ailing , to minister to the ease and comfort of those nearest and dearest to him , and with him many have lost their most necessary helpmate and their most devoted friend . To perpetuate his memory ,

to proclaim his faithful virtues , his friends are endeavouring to raise a sum of one thousand pounds , the interest of which will be given to his widow during her widowhood , and at her decease will revert , as capital and interest , to the Girls' School , probably as a " Little Scholarship . "

This seems to us to be a most judicious and seasonable proposal , and weareglad , remembering gratefully Bro . Little ' s valuable services to Freemasonry and to Charity , to commend it warmly to the kindly attention and sympathy of our many readers .