Love And Loyalty.

He was greatly surprised when she related to him her strange and exciting adventures . He pleaded , and that successfully , that ihe safest course for both to adopt would be lo wed , and to leave Britain ( ill ihe unfortunate rising and its results were forgotten . The happy couple resided in Paris for many years , till the news came of the death of ' * The Butcher Duke . "

AVith his demise , Constance ' s obligations lo remain abroad , came to an cud . She and her husband therefore returned lo England , and wilh tlieir family settled down in p leasant Surrey to lead quiet uneventful lives . FIXIS .

My Grand Lodge Certificate.

My Grand Lodge Certificate .

BY A COSMOPOLITAN BROTHER . Jl ^^^ -Zpl ) AM very proud of it . It is not much to look at , in ' •' ral ¦ wl'l ^ ^ s scen vcr } ' nian y y l " s' hard service . It ' ¦ Ma i H ^ SJ-j ! bears the marks of honourable conflict upon il . It •w || My ^| - | i has been inspected by numberless officials in ' ¦ Lj ^^ r ^ Jlii various lodges where I have exercised my right of visitation , and who , in a last attempt to keep me out , have asked for it . Needless to say , they have always

been discomfited by its instant production . My signature runs down one side of it nc varietur , but it is almost illegible by this time and quite useless for purposes of identification . The back of it I have divided into sections , in one of which my Alasonic biography has been steadily increasing in length . In another—or several others 1 should sav—I have noted all the

lodges I have at various times visited . I am sadly afraid its working days are at end . It has been , like myself , a great traveller , and bears evidence of the onslaught of cockroaches and white ants . I , therefore , carry about with me a " no dues " certificate which I persuaded Brolher Secretary to give me

As I lay out the faded piece of parchment before me and smooth out its creases , I seem to hear once more the voice ol the Worshipful Master of my mother lodge , bidding nre to prize it as my most treasured Masonic possession and never be

without it on my person ready lor immediate production when required . 1 might mention in passing , that the Worshipful Master in question had had his own Grand Lodge certificate framed , and it had been hanging in his sanctum lor nearly 20

years . Let us look at it as a work of art for a while . It is not very pretty . The most ardent Mason could not claim thai lor it . The legend on it is of the baldest description . It is in English

on one side and Latin on the other . Why Latin 1 have nevei been able to lind out . Personally , I should have thought that Hebrew , or something in cuneiform characters , would have been more appropriate .

Nor have I ever been able to understand why , when the English legend gives the dates of my admission into the Order ; md of my Third Degree , the Latin version gives the date of the First Degree only , and records the bare fact of my admission to

the Second and Third , without dale . The term " Ltitomus " is used lo describe the Craft . It means simply a stone-cutter . A belter word would have been " lapicida , '' whicli is actually defined by Ainsworth as " a stone-cutter , a Ereemason . "

It is profusely adorned with Masonic emblems , which seem fo have been shaken over it from a pepper-castor . Most prominent are the three columns of Wisdom , Strength , and Beauty . lhen there are two globes representing—or intended lo

represent , 1 suppose—the heavens and the earth . \\ hat rreemasonry has to do with celestial science I have never been able to make out , and I have always explained to my friends who have manifested any curiosity , that they represent the two

hemispheres , it being a well-known fact that if is impossible lo see more than one half of a globe at one time . Then there are the rough and perfect ashlars—both most appropriate . The emblems ° ' the three principal oflicers are also there , and also the three Mreat lights

Next , we . discern lhc mallet and chisel . What the mallet mis to do with Craft Masonry 1 do not know . Probably it was intended to delineate a gavel , but , if so , it is quite clear the engraver was not a Ereemason . Then there is lhe 24-inch

My Grand Lodge Certificate.

guage , resting upon what looks uncommonly like a cribbage board . It is worth noting , however , that there are only 23 divisions shown . This is worth remembering when the steel plate goes to be touched up . It can scarcely be intentional .

There -is a pencil lying about , but I cannot discern the skirret anywhere , unless what I have described as looking like a cribbage board is intended to represent it . If so , this completes the whole set of working tools . The Royal Arms ,

denoting that the ( Jueen is Patroness of the Order , and the name and style of thc Most Worshipful Grand Master crown the edilice ; ancl it is finished off , at the foot , with the signature of the Grand Secretary .

There is a statement in the body of the certificate which is lull of

significance" This certificate shall not entitle a brother to admission into any lodge without due examination . " The Latin version is somewhat more peremptory , and instead of being mildly permissive it is strictly prohibitory . Roughly translated it

says" Take notice that no one shall visit any lodge whatever unless after due trial and approval . " This brings us to the constitutional nature of the certificate which , up to the present , wc have viewed only as a work of art . Turning to the Book of Constitutions , we find no less than

nine separate articles concerned with it . These are as follows : in . A District Grand Master may issue it , and for that purpose

112 . he is provided with forms 111 blank . 187 . it must be produced by a candidate wishing to join a lodge . 19 G . Every registered brother is to be furnished with

one . 197 . A duplicate may be issued in case of loss . 198 . It must be signed by the recipient , in the margin .

199 . lt shall not be issued to any brother who has obtained Degrees irregularly . 200 . A certificate may be exchanged by a brother who has taken a higher Degree than that already certified .

201 . The registration fee must be paid before issue . All the above rules deal only with the circumstances under which a Grand Lodge certificate is issued . They unfortunately say very little about its future treatment . There are , however , decisions of Grand Lodge on the subject , to which we shall refer

subsequently . A brother is legally entitled to a certificate at each stage of his Masonic career , but in practice very few are issued to entered apprentices or fellow Crafts . When can its

reproduction be legitimately demanded i Article 189 says that when a brother proposes to join a lodge , his Grand Lodge certificate must be exhibited in lodge when the ballot is intended to be taken .

lt has alrfo been definitely laid down by Grand Lodge that a brother who proposes to visit a strange lodge , must be prepared to produce his Grand Lodge certificate when desired to do so , and can be refused admission without it .

lt is astonishing what an amount of irritation the working of this rule causes . Somehow or another , brethren conceive it to be the last insult that can be offered , to bc asked to produce evidence of their bona fides , and especially after an examination has been reluctantly submitted to .

1 thought much about this during my occupancy of the chair and eventually came to the conclusion , which seemed to me to be an eminently common sense one , that the production of the cerliliate soukl come first , and then such production entitled the brother to be examined .

I tided on this principle , with the untoward result that a vote of thanks in very qualified terms was passed in my favour at the end of my year and no mention was made of a jewel . The fact was that one evening six visiting brethren turned up , each accompanied by a well-known member of the Iodge willing

to vouch for him . 'i'he instructions on my Grand Lodge certificate being very precise , I declined to make any exception in their favour and put them through the usual routine . Two of tbe number had no certificates with them and the other four were so lamentably ignorant ofthe very elements ofthe science

that I found it necessary to rebuke the brethren who had so rashly offered to vouch I ' or them . In the course of the un-Masonic conversation which engaged those of us who sat round the festive board afterwards , it transpired thai not one of the

vouching brethren had ever sat in lodge with his vouchee , and , iu fact , only had his bare word on the subject . Why , [ would not admit my own father into my lodge on such terms , but , never theless , I became a martyr to my stern sense of duty .