Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Approaching Festival Of The Royal Masonic Institution For Girls.
THE APPROACHING FESTIVAL OF THE ROYAL MASONIC INSTITUTION FOR GIRLS .
The Festival in behalf of the Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution having gone the way of all Festivals , it becomes our duty to call attention to that of the Royal Masonic Institution for Girls , which is appointed to take place on Tuesday , the 20 th
May next , and at which Bro . Sir FRANCIS BURDETT , Bart ., Provincial Grand Master of Middlesex , has kindly undertaken to preside . Of course , it would be mere waste of time on our part were we to devote any considerable portion of our space to
enlarging on the merits of a School which is so widely known throughout the Craft in this country , and which , where it is known , is so greatly admired and at the same time so generously supported . We had a taste of its quality as an educational
establishment only last week , when we had the satisfaction of announcing that all the 18 girls it sent up forthe last Cambridge local examinations were successful in passing the prescribed examination , and 10 of the number in honours , while 31 out of
its 37 candidates were successful at the College of Preceptors ' examination . As for the admiration it calls forth generally , and the ready support it obtains from the brethren , we had indisputable evidence of this two years ago , when it celebrated its
Centenary Festival in the Royal Albert Hall , under the presidency of no less illustrious a personage than his Royal Highness the GRAND MASTER , who is President of the Institution . All this is a matter of history , which is so well known that we need
not dwell on it here . But what it is desirable , and indeed most necessary , that we should keep constantly before our readers and the Craft generally is , that , though our Girls' School has been successful as an educational establishment from its earliest
infancy , and so generously supported , that it has undertaken to maintain , clothe , and educate 26 3 daughters of deceased or necessitous brethren , it is very far from being , as yet , in a position to fulfil its responsibilities without making a regular appeal
annually to the Craft for the necessary ways and means . Its permanent income is but little , if at all , in excess of £ 2000 , while its regular expenditure ranges from £ 11 , 000 to £ 12 , 000 . Therefore , in order to make its accounts balance from year to
year , it must obtain at least £ 9000 or £ 10 , 000 annually from the voluntary contributions of the brethren . The bulk of this money is subscribed at the recurring Anniversary Festivals , and for the most part the Returns on these occasions have maintained a fair
average , a falling off in any one year being generally met by an overplus a year or two afterwards . But the enormous sum contributed at the Centenary Festival—upwards of £ 51 , 600—has somewhat disturbed this average , and our chief desire now is to
see it restored , so that the Institution may be able to rely on the receipt of a sufficient sum , taking one year with the other , to carry on its splendid task of helping the daughters of our poor and deceased brethren with the same success as heretofore . Last year ' s
Festival yielded only one half—or somewhat less than one halfof the average of the 10 years preceding 1888 , and unless we would have the grand success of the Centenary neutralised by a
repetition at this and succeeding Festivals of the diminished total of 188 9 , we must put our shoulders to the wheel , and see how soon we can restore the total of the Festival
receipts to its old amount of from £ 11 , 000 to £ 13 , 000 . We must remind the brethren that the cost of the building , enlarging , and ventilating operations , which the Governors and subscribers have arranged to pay for out of the
Centenary Festival Receipts , will absorb £ 35 , 000 out of the £ 51 , 600 then _ contributed , so that the balance of £ 16 , 600 and the £ 5350 obtained from last year ' s Festival represent an annual receipt
towards the ordinary expenditure of these two years of only about £ 11 , 000 per annum , which , with the permanent income , leaves only a modest margin , after defrayingthe usual expendi-. ture . Then in April of last year , the School establishment was
The Approaching Festival Of The Royal Masonic Institution For Girls.
enlarged by the addition ot 20 to the roll of pupils , and this involves an increased permanent outlay of about £ 800 a year . Therefore , when the Centenary scheme is completed and paid for , our Girls' School , as far as funds go , will be in about the same position as before the great event of 1888 , but with 26 3
children to maintain , clothe , and educate instead of 243 . We earnestly hope , therefore , that Bro ! Sir F . BURDETT will be supported by a numerous Board of Stewards in May next , and that the brethren constituting it will be successful in obtaining an amount which shall raise the total as nearly as possible to what it was the year before the Centenary .
We must admit that the prospect of seeing this hope realised is by no means a brilliant one . As yet only some 135 brethren have g iven their services as Stewards , but there are still two months and more left to Bro . HEDGES in which he can bring the requirements of the Institution for Girls prominently before
the lodges and chapters in town and country , and we trust his appeals will be well and freely responded to . He is undoubtedly to be congratulated on having obtained the services of a Chairman so universally respected as Bro . Sir FRANCIS BURDETT , and more particularly from the fact of his promised Chairman being
Grand Master of a province which is so loyal in its support of all our Charities , and is sure to be exceedingly well disposed towards the Girls' School ; which has close on 40 lodges on its roll ; and which , as the Returns at successive Festivals for many years past have clearly demonstrated , is fortunate enough to
include among its members many zealous , hard-working brethren , who will leave no chance untried of making a " big" Return from the Province , and one that shall be in every way worthy of its estimable chief . We shall recur to the subject more than once between now and the day appointed for the celebration of
this important anniversary . In the meantime , however , we cannot too urgently press upon the lodges and chapters in all parts of the country and in London also , that very many more brethren are needed to act as Stewards , in order that the sum raised may be commensurate with the needs of the Institution .
The Festival Of The Emulation Lodge Of Improvement.
THE FESTIVAL OF THE EMULATION LODGE OF IMPROVEMENT .
Very great regret was felt by those who attended the Annual Festival of the Emulation Lodge of Improvement , on Friday , the 28 th ult ., at the absence from the chair of Bro . Lord Mayor ISAACS , and especially at the cause which had compelled him to
forego his promised pleasure of presiding at this important anniversary . But happily a most efficient representative of his lordship was found in Bro . Sir JOHN B , MONCKTON , P . G . W ., who , as our readers are well aware , is not only one of the
most distinguished Masons of our time , but also a most important functionary of the Corporation of London ; and under his auspices what one of the after-dinner speakers referred to as "the feast of reason and the flow of soul" passed off most successfully . The
number present was larger than at any previous festival of this Lodge of Improvement ; the work which hacl been exemplified in the lodge as a preparative for the festival , was splendidly donedone as would he possible in no other lodge of instruction , while the
speeches that followed the banquet were considerably above the average in this class of oratory . Compliments were justly paid to Bro . FENN and other leading spirits of the Emulation , while nothing could well be more gratifying than the evidence which
the meeting afforded that this , our chief school of instruction , to whose strict observance and strict teaching of our ritual the Craft in this country is so deeply indebted , is becoming stronger ancl stronger every year and exercising a correspondingly
increased measure of influence on the brethren , both in town and country , to bring rude matter in the shape of new ancl untrained Masons into due form as efficient workers . We congratulate all who had a hand in the preliminary arrangements on the great success which crowned their efforts .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Approaching Festival Of The Royal Masonic Institution For Girls.
THE APPROACHING FESTIVAL OF THE ROYAL MASONIC INSTITUTION FOR GIRLS .
The Festival in behalf of the Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution having gone the way of all Festivals , it becomes our duty to call attention to that of the Royal Masonic Institution for Girls , which is appointed to take place on Tuesday , the 20 th
May next , and at which Bro . Sir FRANCIS BURDETT , Bart ., Provincial Grand Master of Middlesex , has kindly undertaken to preside . Of course , it would be mere waste of time on our part were we to devote any considerable portion of our space to
enlarging on the merits of a School which is so widely known throughout the Craft in this country , and which , where it is known , is so greatly admired and at the same time so generously supported . We had a taste of its quality as an educational
establishment only last week , when we had the satisfaction of announcing that all the 18 girls it sent up forthe last Cambridge local examinations were successful in passing the prescribed examination , and 10 of the number in honours , while 31 out of
its 37 candidates were successful at the College of Preceptors ' examination . As for the admiration it calls forth generally , and the ready support it obtains from the brethren , we had indisputable evidence of this two years ago , when it celebrated its
Centenary Festival in the Royal Albert Hall , under the presidency of no less illustrious a personage than his Royal Highness the GRAND MASTER , who is President of the Institution . All this is a matter of history , which is so well known that we need
not dwell on it here . But what it is desirable , and indeed most necessary , that we should keep constantly before our readers and the Craft generally is , that , though our Girls' School has been successful as an educational establishment from its earliest
infancy , and so generously supported , that it has undertaken to maintain , clothe , and educate 26 3 daughters of deceased or necessitous brethren , it is very far from being , as yet , in a position to fulfil its responsibilities without making a regular appeal
annually to the Craft for the necessary ways and means . Its permanent income is but little , if at all , in excess of £ 2000 , while its regular expenditure ranges from £ 11 , 000 to £ 12 , 000 . Therefore , in order to make its accounts balance from year to
year , it must obtain at least £ 9000 or £ 10 , 000 annually from the voluntary contributions of the brethren . The bulk of this money is subscribed at the recurring Anniversary Festivals , and for the most part the Returns on these occasions have maintained a fair
average , a falling off in any one year being generally met by an overplus a year or two afterwards . But the enormous sum contributed at the Centenary Festival—upwards of £ 51 , 600—has somewhat disturbed this average , and our chief desire now is to
see it restored , so that the Institution may be able to rely on the receipt of a sufficient sum , taking one year with the other , to carry on its splendid task of helping the daughters of our poor and deceased brethren with the same success as heretofore . Last year ' s
Festival yielded only one half—or somewhat less than one halfof the average of the 10 years preceding 1888 , and unless we would have the grand success of the Centenary neutralised by a
repetition at this and succeeding Festivals of the diminished total of 188 9 , we must put our shoulders to the wheel , and see how soon we can restore the total of the Festival
receipts to its old amount of from £ 11 , 000 to £ 13 , 000 . We must remind the brethren that the cost of the building , enlarging , and ventilating operations , which the Governors and subscribers have arranged to pay for out of the
Centenary Festival Receipts , will absorb £ 35 , 000 out of the £ 51 , 600 then _ contributed , so that the balance of £ 16 , 600 and the £ 5350 obtained from last year ' s Festival represent an annual receipt
towards the ordinary expenditure of these two years of only about £ 11 , 000 per annum , which , with the permanent income , leaves only a modest margin , after defrayingthe usual expendi-. ture . Then in April of last year , the School establishment was
The Approaching Festival Of The Royal Masonic Institution For Girls.
enlarged by the addition ot 20 to the roll of pupils , and this involves an increased permanent outlay of about £ 800 a year . Therefore , when the Centenary scheme is completed and paid for , our Girls' School , as far as funds go , will be in about the same position as before the great event of 1888 , but with 26 3
children to maintain , clothe , and educate instead of 243 . We earnestly hope , therefore , that Bro ! Sir F . BURDETT will be supported by a numerous Board of Stewards in May next , and that the brethren constituting it will be successful in obtaining an amount which shall raise the total as nearly as possible to what it was the year before the Centenary .
We must admit that the prospect of seeing this hope realised is by no means a brilliant one . As yet only some 135 brethren have g iven their services as Stewards , but there are still two months and more left to Bro . HEDGES in which he can bring the requirements of the Institution for Girls prominently before
the lodges and chapters in town and country , and we trust his appeals will be well and freely responded to . He is undoubtedly to be congratulated on having obtained the services of a Chairman so universally respected as Bro . Sir FRANCIS BURDETT , and more particularly from the fact of his promised Chairman being
Grand Master of a province which is so loyal in its support of all our Charities , and is sure to be exceedingly well disposed towards the Girls' School ; which has close on 40 lodges on its roll ; and which , as the Returns at successive Festivals for many years past have clearly demonstrated , is fortunate enough to
include among its members many zealous , hard-working brethren , who will leave no chance untried of making a " big" Return from the Province , and one that shall be in every way worthy of its estimable chief . We shall recur to the subject more than once between now and the day appointed for the celebration of
this important anniversary . In the meantime , however , we cannot too urgently press upon the lodges and chapters in all parts of the country and in London also , that very many more brethren are needed to act as Stewards , in order that the sum raised may be commensurate with the needs of the Institution .
The Festival Of The Emulation Lodge Of Improvement.
THE FESTIVAL OF THE EMULATION LODGE OF IMPROVEMENT .
Very great regret was felt by those who attended the Annual Festival of the Emulation Lodge of Improvement , on Friday , the 28 th ult ., at the absence from the chair of Bro . Lord Mayor ISAACS , and especially at the cause which had compelled him to
forego his promised pleasure of presiding at this important anniversary . But happily a most efficient representative of his lordship was found in Bro . Sir JOHN B , MONCKTON , P . G . W ., who , as our readers are well aware , is not only one of the
most distinguished Masons of our time , but also a most important functionary of the Corporation of London ; and under his auspices what one of the after-dinner speakers referred to as "the feast of reason and the flow of soul" passed off most successfully . The
number present was larger than at any previous festival of this Lodge of Improvement ; the work which hacl been exemplified in the lodge as a preparative for the festival , was splendidly donedone as would he possible in no other lodge of instruction , while the
speeches that followed the banquet were considerably above the average in this class of oratory . Compliments were justly paid to Bro . FENN and other leading spirits of the Emulation , while nothing could well be more gratifying than the evidence which
the meeting afforded that this , our chief school of instruction , to whose strict observance and strict teaching of our ritual the Craft in this country is so deeply indebted , is becoming stronger ancl stronger every year and exercising a correspondingly
increased measure of influence on the brethren , both in town and country , to bring rude matter in the shape of new ancl untrained Masons into due form as efficient workers . We congratulate all who had a hand in the preliminary arrangements on the great success which crowned their efforts .