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NOTICE .

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United States of America . T HE F REEMASON is delivered free in any part of the United States for 12 s . per annum , payable in advance . The Freemason is published on Saturday Mornings in time for the early trains .

The price of the Freemason is Twopence per week j annual subscription , ios . ( payahle in advance . ) All communicatrons , letters , & c ., to be addressed to the Editor , 11 ) 8 , Fleet-street , E . C . The Editor will pay careful attention to all MSS . entrusted to him , but cannot undertake to return them unless accompanied by postage BtamDs .

Answers To Correspondents.

Answers to Correspondents .

The following communications stand over : — Hcpoitsof Lo . lge 2 ; 9 , Prov . G . Lodgeof . Jersey . St . l ' etei ' s Rose Croix Chapter , Bolton . Skelmersdale and Byzantine Hed Cross Conclaves . Chapters 50 , and 144 , Glasgow .

Cambusca . i Knights Templar tneampments . Letters from G . 1 ' . ( Leicester ) , W . C , K 13 . V ., W . J . M . NEIIIIO . —No name or address * sent . R . H . M . —The S . W . 's light represents the sun ( as the sun sets & c . ) and the J . W . ' s typilies the moon under whose soothing influence at night all nature rests .

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MASONIC MEETINGS AND LARGE AND SMALL DINNERS . AT The Freemasons' Tavern , Great Queen-streit , W . C . Apply toC . E . FltANCATKLLI .

Liverpool Theatres, &C.

LIVERPOOL THEATRES , & c .

Week ending October 2 *; . ROYA L ALEXANDRA THEATRE , Lime-street . —Lessee , liro . E . Saker . Carl Rosa's English Opera Coinp .-uiv ROYAL ^ AMIMIITTIEATRI-:, Great ( harlofu-slrcel . —iissiTi Hro . JL Leslie . " The Wandering 1 Kir . " F ' > R ' INCE O'l" WALES THEATRIC , Uayton-simare . —Proprietor Mr . I . II . Addison . Duckworth ' s Comedy "Alter All . '

THEATRE ROYAL Williamson-square . —Lessee , Hro . lie Freece . N ' cw Opera lloull ' e , " llalii , IImi . " ST . JAMES'S HALL , Lirne-slrect . —Proprietor , Hro . S . Hague . Special Artistes and Programme . NEW STAR MUSIC HALL , Wiiiiamsnn-s ^ iiare ^ lanagn-Bro . Sauudcis . Opera and Special Attractions . DOTUNUA " THEATRE and MUSIC HALL . —Proprietor , Mr " . - - * - II . 'irannel ! . Miscellaneous Entertainments . / -SuiCEN'S HALL—Mr . J . Story ' s Diorama .

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NOTICE . All Communications , Advertisements , t £ fc , intended for insertion i » the Number nf the fallowing

Saturday , must reach the Office not later than 6 o ' clock on IFcdnesdni / evening .

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The Freemason , SATURDAY , OCTOHKR 18 , i 8 j * .

Masonic Literature.

MASONIC LITERATURE .

It seems , as if almost everywhere there was at this moment in our good Order , not onl y a dearth but a difficulty of Masonic Literature . In the little kii g lorn of Portugal , indeed , with its 81

lodges , under tlu Lilsitani . in O .-ient , we hear of two Masonic papers , and it is just possible , that , our excellent Portuguese brethren give to those journals a warm and united support .

In the United States Masonic papers are many , but some no sooner appiar than they disappear , like fire-flies in some wuodl . ind glade , and even there , the complaints are many that the readers are feiv .

In France , as llie able editor of the Chaine de I ' Union says , Masonry does not pay ; it entails expenses , and from Germany we hear the ciy that more readers are wanted to encourage and suppuit their able Masonic Press .

Masonic Literature.

In our own free and favoured land our great and flourishing Craft patronize , —we can hardl y say support—two Masonic publications , the hebdomadal Freemason , and the Monthly Serial

the Masonic Magazine , but if we should seem to convey that either or both these publications received due and befitting encouragement from the Order at large , we should be greatly

misleading our readers . On the contrary , there is a large and needful margin due , on every ground of fraternal goodwill and literary encouragement , to be obtained from the Craft of liberal and

regular support ! Not that we wish to speak complainingl y or repiningly . AVe seek to do our duty to the Craft and by the Craft , and cheered and supported by the

fraternal goodwill of many zealous and enlightened brethren , in our always arduous , often unremunerative efforts , we shall persevere in these our endeavours , believing that we are , in our

humble measure , advancing the cause of Freemasonry amongst us , and paving the way for the eventual reward and recognition of such endeavours , in the dilliusive spread of a cultured

and enli ghtened stud y of our history , and teachings , and archaeology . But it mi ght be a curious enquiry why there should be this want of appreciation of our

Masonic Literature , why , here as elsewhere , though the Press is ready , the readers and subscribers are wanting , why in short , do what we will and labour as we may , the history of onr Masonic

literature is but the repetition of the old story of praiseworthy efforts , but little return , continued sacrifices , but no success . Since f / pj , when the first Masonic Magazine

appeared , there is nothing to recoid but a succession of appearances and disappearances of our Masonic serials ; all flourishing for a while , and then vanishing down the stream of time .

Even as wc write , the g hosts of departed e . liters seem to remind us that our labours , like theirs , are onl y temporary , and that , in a little time , we shall probably say , as they did . —

" Yet all these tilings are onl y transient , And with this fleeting age expire a Alike forget the precept sage , The historian ' s tale , the poets lyre . "

Now it has been said that one of the reasons tt'hy our good brethren have little time , either for poetry or prose , for AVeekly Journal or Monthly Magazine , is that they are too bu >' . y .

No doubt a large proportion of our good Craft , are "bread-winners , " in all of honest industry and legitimate toil , for their families and themselves . To some , no doubt , the opportunities of literary

recreation are few , and to others far between . But yet there is a large class of Freemasons , to whom the perusal uf our Masonic literature could be a matter of no doubt or difficulty , and

that is just the ciass which has not yet accorded a warm , a full , a sympathetic support to Masonic literature . F ' or though the most expect to have some Masonic seiial or journal provided for

them , they often forge t that , as Bro . Hubert says in La Chaine de I ' Union , and as Henri Quatre said before him , " il faut vivre , " and that those who

provide the literature deserve to be supported and encouraged . AV e believe , as we said before , that the gnat

Masonic Literature.

hindrance to the encouragement and support of Masonic Literature amongst , us lies in the fact that our lodges make little—rather , no provision for literary studies or Masonic libraries .

If every lodge had attached to it a good reading-room , the library would soon be forthcoming by donations of books or money , and the taste

for literature once encouraged , it would soon increase , and we should , by reading the Masonic literature of other countries besides our own , e meres from that insular contentedness of

knowing little or nothing of intellectual Freemasonry , and which we , good Freemasons as we are in England in other respects , seem rather to esteem a credit to ourselves than otherwise .

Now we , on the contrary , hold that if we are thoroughl y to realize the truths and teachings of our benevolent Order , we must endeavour , by an intellectual study of our records and our

antiquities , to remove from us that unjust aspersion which the outer world are often so good as to cast upon us , that we read nothing but our own historians , and that we don ' t believe them .

AVe trust , however , that a movement is beginning amongst us to introduce and encourage reading-rooms and libraries in our lodges , whenever it is possible so to do . We feel sure that nothing will so tend to advance a scientific

Freemasonry amongst us , or to increase our own ap preciation and support of Masonic Literature , AVe almost feel tempted , like our eloquent Bro Hubert , to say to our many friends to day : —

" Loges , Chapitres , Macons , reveillez ! Sortez de votre indifference a l ' egard de la Presse . " Lodges Companions , Masons , at last awake . Come out of your indifference as regards the Press .

Or as the Irishman said , when he saw his wife in a bad humour , " Come out of that ! " Come out , we would say , like genial Paddy , to our good brethren , of that indifference to the interests and

progress of Masonic Literature which has marked us far too long in England , and aid those who seek perscveringl y and patiently to offer to to the Brotherhood the valuable and improving influences of a sound and wholesome Literature .

Royal Masonic Institution For Girls.

ROYAL MASONIC INSTITUTION FOR GIRLS .

The Quarterl y General Court of the Masonic Girls' School was held on Saturday last , at Freemasons' Hall , when there wfs a very large attendance of brethren . Bro . Major J . Creaton , V . P ., took the chair .

The usual long list of minutes of previous committees was read b y Bro . R . AVentworth Little , the Secretary , and unanimously confirmed by the brethren , who then proceeded to elect Trustees of the General and Sustentation Funds . Dr . Ramsay proposed , and Bro . John Symonds

seconded , Bro . Major Creaton as the Trustee of the General Fund . to which of course there was no opposition , and Major Creaton was dul y elected , Major Creaton , in returning thanks , said he would not allow a moment to pass without offering his best acknowledgments for such a compliment . However light the duties might be which

were imposed upon him b y the brethren , he could not but feel hi ghly flattered by such a mark of their confidence . It was almost unnecessary for him lo tell them , as they knew him so well , that he should always be at his p . ist , but he could add that whatever was required of him i 1 his character as Trustee of the General Fund , he should do as well as it w . i- in his

power . He concluded by thanking them again for their confidence . Bro . John Symonds proposed and Bro .