To Our Readers.

TO OUR READERS .

The FREEMASON is a Weekly Newspaper , price 2 J . It is published every Friday morning , and contains the most important , interesting , and useful information relating to Freemasonry in every degree . Subscription , including postage : United America , India .. In < lia , China , & c

Kingilom . ihe Continent , & c . Via Brinelisi . Twelve Months IOS . 6 d . 12 S . od . 17 s . 4 d . 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 t ,.

GEORGE KENNING , CHIEF OFFICE , LONDON , the latter crossed London Joint Stock Bank . Advertisements and oilier business communications should be aelelresseil to the Publisher . Communications on literary subjects and books f r

review are to be forwarded to the Editor . Anonymous i-rrrresponde-nce will he : wholly disregarded , and the return of rejected MSS . cannot be guaranteed . Further information will be supplied o » application to t * ie Publisher , 198 , Fleet-street , London .

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NOTICE . To prevent delay or miscarriage , it is particularly requested that ALL communications for the FREEMASON , may be addressed to the Office , 198 , Fleet-street , London .

To Advertisers.

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 currant week's issue should reach the Office , 198 , Fleet-street , by 12 o ' clock on Wednesdays .

IMPORTANT NOTICE . CIILOKUL anil FOREIGN SUBSCKIBKKS are informed that acknowledgments of remittances received are published in the lirs > t number of every IT onlh .

It is very necessary for our readers to a . Vise us of all money orders thev remit , more especially those from the United . States of America and India ; otherwise we cannot tell wheie to credit them . Several P . O . O . ' s are now iu hand , but having received no advice we cannot credit them .

Answers To Correspondents.

Answers to Correspondents .

BOOKS RECEIVED . " Keystone ; " " Night and Day ; " Voice of the People ;" "Canadian Craftsman ; " "Mull Packet ; " "Medical Examiner ; '' "Young Folk's Weekly Budget ; " I ' . road Arrow ; " •'Scottish Freemason ; " " West London Expr . ss ;" " Advocate ; " " Vaccination Tracts ; " " Hebrew Leader . "

The following communications stand over : — " Charity Reform , " by Bro . Jabr 7 . Hogg ; " Lodge of Benevolence , " hy the Rev . Bro . J . W . Tebbs ; " Freemasonry and Civilization , " Testimonial to Bro . J . D . Moore , P . G . S . IL ; Order of the Temple , Prov . Grand Chapter of Cornwall , Reports of Lodges 228 , 342 , 350 , 737 , 10 5 , 101 ) 4 . 1303 , 1382 , 153 6 ; Chapter 113 , and Mark Lodge 162 .

Births ,Marriages And Deaths.

Births , Marriages and Deaths .

[ The charge is 2 s . 6 d . for announcements , not exceeding four lines , under this heading . ] BIRTH . ANDREWS . —April 12 , at 13 , Tamar-terrace , Devon ; ort , the wife of Captain J . W . Andrews , nth Regimen ' , of a daughter .

MARRIAGE . Cii ; -K—WATTS . —April 11 , at the parish church , Dewsbury , by the Rev . I- . Whitmore Isaac , vicar , Henry Ht 1 ltC 1 . uk , of Dewsbury , to Mary Julia , daughtr r of the late Willhm Watts , solicitor , Dewsbury .

DEATHS . FAHI-. II . —Apiil 12 , at Llanstcph .-ui , Carniaithenslnre , Charle s Frederick Faber , eldest son of the late Rev . Join : Cooke Fabei , aged 31 J . L IT-II . K . —On tl-. e 1 21 I 1 inst ., at 7 , St . Maitin ' s-rnnd , Sl > .

ckwell , Robert YVentworih Little , D . G . M . Middlesex , and Secretary H . M . I , for Girls , aged 40 . J ' IIORS . —' . ) n the iSth inst ., at 41 , Grove-street , Live-ipeol , aged 52 , Philip R . Thorn , P . M . of the Duke of Ei ! inourgh Lodge , No . 1182 . 'I I e interment look place at the Toxttth-park Cemetery on the 10 th ins' . ,

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TheFreemason, SATURDAY , APRIL 20 , 1878

In Memoriam.

IN MEMORIAM .

We had lately to deplore the loss of our eminent provincial Bro . Bentley Shaw , whose services to Freemasonry had been many and great , but we have to-day to record our earnest sense of the mournful bereavement our Order

has sustained in the premature decease 01 our lamented and valued Bro . R . W . Little , whose work has been almost entirely metropolitan . Perhaps few brethren were ever more widely known or warmly regarded than Bro . R . W .

Little . His whole life , has been , so to say , spent in Masonic harness , and he has died at his post , worn out by heavy work , arid succumbing to a fatal disease at a comparatively early age . It is impossible for us to go into the lengthened narrative which Bro . Little ' s Masonic services

and career would justly demand , and we refer our readers to the obituary of our eminent and valued brother elsewhere , for fuller information and a more correct detail . It may suffice us , however , to observe that he is best known to Masons for his connection with the

revived Order of the Red Cross of Constantine , the Provincial Grand Lodge of Middlesex , and his admirable discharge of his duties as Secretary of the Royal Masonic Institution for Girls , though we may well bear in mind that he served his apprenticeship in Masonic work in the Grand

Secretary s office at P .-ecmason s Hall . To all who knew and mourn for Bro . Little , it is almost superfluous to remark , that few persons have been able to make themselves so generally agreeable and popular to their brethren , owing both to his pleasant address , his kindly

sympathies , or his friendly disposition , while his Masonic information and reading , which had been extensive , made him ati authority alike on matters of Masonic teaching , as of Masonic ritual . 'Ihe Freemason , at its outset , as many know , was much indebted to the able pen of Bro . Little . His services to the Girls' School

have been many and great . He has conducted the onerous duties of his important office * , not only with credit to himself and advantage to the Craft , but with a singular mixture of courtesy and forbearance , and consideration for all , which , fur a considerable period gave such effect to all

his efforts , and produced such signal results to the Gills' School . His lo ^ s to that Institution will be very great , his placa hard to till , and whoever follows Bro . Little will have a difficult task set before him , so well li 3 d he succeeded in winning the good will of his brethren , and by his

conciliatory manners and active interest obtaining and retaining the unceasing confidence of tlie executive authorities of the School . All zealous Masons , all friends of the charities , will lament sincerely , we know , the great loss to our Masonic Order , and one of the greatest and

most useful of our goodly Institutions , which has been brought about by his untimely death , while they bow reverently to the afflictive dispensations of T . G . A . O . T . U . Remembering all Bro . Little ' s good qualities and excelling merits , bringing to mind his kindness of disposition , the sincerity of his friendship , and his many social

and domestic virtues , while we shall be read y with heartfelt sorrow to exclaim " Alas , my Brother ! " We shall also , taught by our Masonic lore , be willing also to believe , that what is our loss may be our brother ' s gain , not merely for time , but we hope , fervently and religiously , for Eternity !

True Charity Reform.

TRUE CHARITY REFORM .

We said that we would deal with this subject in this impression of the Freemason , so we fulfil our promise to-day . It is a matter , however , which requires very careful and thoughtful treatment , for the issues are so many and so

important , that it would be idle , and worse than idle , to attempt to deal with such a very serious subject in any light or indifferent spirit . The " charitable question " divides itself into two great heads . — 1 st . the general treatment of the poor , and , secondly , the administration of piivate alms-

True Charity Reform.

giving . Itis well to observe that we use "charity " here in its narrower sense of actual money gifts , though there are countless ways in which true charity can be manifested , or practised , besides personal donations of this kind or that ; but it is more convenient for the general purposes of the

argument to use the word in its common if imperfect signification . As regards the general treatment of the poor , that is ostensibly provided for by the administration of poor law relief , but which administration , we venture to think , is faulty , alike in conception and development , and is

answerable for a great deal of that heavy burden of pauperism which presses upon the industry of our people , and taxes the incomes of our breadwinners . We feel quite certain of this , having carefull y studied the subject , and practically administered

poor law relief , that the so-called workhouse test , however it apparently reduces the rates , is the foundation of much habitual pauperism , and saps that disinclination to accept poor law relief and become permanent inmates of the workhouse , which is , in our opinion , most creditable to our

honest English people . We think , too , that we can say more than this , for we believe that we never shall essentially reduce the long roll of the great army of paupers , or strike a blow at the debasing principle of habitual relief , until we earnestl y seek , upon religious principles , to supplement the

official administration of poor law relief by countless accessories of utility and benevolence . We must bring into action a well-developed system of life annuities for the old and infirm on carefully graduated payments . We must increase almshouses and homes ; we must provide

orphanages , and put an end to that greatest ot all social blunders , a workhouse school , if we desire to ameliorate truly the condition of our poor , inculcate lasting habits of self-respect and independence , and break down that great bank of pauperism which , like a dark cloud , seems now to

hang over all the efforts of benevolence , and the active progress of civilization . No more important subject in its bearing on our national and general welfare can be conceived , than the careful and conscientious improvement of our present most imperfect system of poor

law relief . With respect to personal almsgiving the subject is confessedly surrounded with difficulty . If you listen to some , you should not give , except through an Organization Society ; if you believe others , you rob Charity of its very grace by so doing . But truth , as usual , here lies

between the two extremes . Charity Organization Societies are very good for their real purpose , detection of imposture , but they never were intended to be the only means of almsgiving . It is the great difficulty of discerning between "honest poverty" and " mendacious pretences" which

constitutes the " crux" of the whole matter . We are not unfavourable to Organization Societies when they act as useful enquiry agencies , carried on in a kindly moderate spirit , and are used as a means of temporary relief to shrinking but deserving poverty , but we do not believe in any mere

inquiry without assistance , if truly needed . We do not affect enquiry offices which enquire—and stop there . Charity , to be effectual , ought to be prompt and sure , and we can conceive a further development of the Charity Organization movement which would divide its operations into a

two-fold or three-fold channel , that of careful enquiry , and of actual relief . If the case is a good case , a ticket of relief should at once be given , and we will add this , that until the enquiry is made , temporary relief "in kind" should be offered by a third branch of this society , in a way by which the relief thus administered can be used

" ad hoc , and cannot be misused or thrown away . We want also a still larger development of needful lodging houses , under official poor law control , if you like , by which the honest poor may obtain a decent night ' s lodging at a reasonable price . Religious philanthropy mig ht well step in here , to carry on by a system

of " passes" the work of Charity Organization . We feel bound to add , though through no fault of the Boards of Guardians , that many of our vagrant wards which we have seen , are , a disgrace to our boasted civilization , and are more fitted for wild beasts than human beings . We say all this with an intense desire to economize poor law relie f , and to augment the