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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.

Ar00600

TO OUR READERS . Tne FREEMASON is a sixteen-page weekly newspaper ; price 2 d . It is published every Friday morning , and contains the most important , interesting , and useful infor - mation relating to Freemasonry in every degree . Annual subscription in the United Kingdom , Post free , 10 / 6 . P . O . O . ' s to be made payable at the Chief Office . London .

Ar00601

TO ADVERTISERS . The FREEMASON has a large circulation in all parts of the GJobe , 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 .

Ar00602

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

Ar00608

IMPORTANT NOTICE . COLONIAL and FOREIGN SUBSCRIBERS are informed that acknowledgments of remittances received are publish ed in he first number of every month . It is very necessary for our readers to advise us of all money orders they remit , more espe . cially those from the United States of America and India ; otherwise we cannot tell where to credit them .

Ar00609

NEW POSTAL RATES . Owing to a reduction in the Postal Rates , the publisher is now enabled to send the " Freemason " to the following parts abroad for One Year for Thirteen Shillings ( payable in advance ) : —Africa , Australia , Bombay , Canada , Cape of Good Hope , Ceylon , China , Constantinople , Demerara , France , Germany , Gibraltar , Jamaica , Malta , Newfound , ' and , New South Wales , New Zealand , Suez , Trinidad , United States of America , & c .

Answers To Correspondents.

Answers to Correspondents .

BOOKS , & c , RECEIVED . " Bulletin du Grand Orient , " " Craftsman , " " Hebrew Leader , " "Masonicjewel , " " Eclectic , " "Voiceof Masonry , " " Masonic Advocate , " " New York Dispatch , " " The Living Age . " The following stand over : —Provincial Grand Lodge of Northam | , tonshire * , Reports of Lodges j Imperial George , 78 * , Lebanon , 1326 ; Jordan Lodge of Instruction , 201 : Stuart Chapter , 540 j St . John ' s Chapter , Timaru , N . Z ., H 37-Had Bro . Pinaud given his address in London , we would have answered his letter , but it did not appear to be of any use to write to Bona in Algeiia .

Births ,Marriages And Deaths.

Births , Marriages and Deaths .

[ The charge is 2 s . 6 d . for announcements , not exceeding four lines , under this heading . ]

BIR / 1 HS . GHEENE . —On the 18 th inst ., at 218 , Old Kent-road , S ., the wife of W . T . Greene , M . A ., M . D ., of a son . LEAOER . —On the 17 th inst ., at The Lodge , Whittington , Worcester , the wife of B . W . Leader , Esq ., of a son . WRIGHT . —On the 18 th inst ., at Wooler Lodge , Brixton , Mary , the wife of F . R . Wright , of a son .

DEATHS . DODOSON . —On the 1 ; th inst ., Bro . R . Dodgson , of Brookstreet , Ulverston . FELLOWS . —On the 18 th inst ., at Rickmansworth , Marianne , wife of H . W . Fellows , Esq . WATSON . —On the 18 th inst ., William Patterson , infant son of the . Rev . H . C . Watson , of Clifton .

Ar00610

TheFreemason, SATURDAY , J 13 , 1877 .

Charity Voting.

CHARITY VOTING .

Our worthy Bro . R . J . Simpson , P . G . C ., says that we have done injustice to his views , and misrepresented his statement in respect of the powers of a central committee , ( not necessarily a London committee ) , and certainly we plead guilty at once to having so understood his

original suggestion and object . Curiously enough , Bro . Hughan , a not inattentive reader of the Freemason , "P . P . G . C , " and "An Old Chairman " all understood the matter in the same way . This misapprehension was based on the following words in the printed reports , to which our

attention was called by Bro . Simpson : — "It is further suggested that committees of charitable associations should intimate in their voting papers that subscribers who have no means of ascertaining the comparative merits of the candidates , or who for any other reason decline to exercize

their privilege of voting , should sign and send their proxies to the committee , to be distributed amongst the poorest and most deserving . " This is , practically , as we understand the words , to give the central committee the power of recommendation and allotment , and is the point which

has misled us all , for it seems that Bro . Simpson does not agree with that recommendation , and does not propose anything of the kind for our Masonic Charities , and we therefore ' acknowledge our misconception of his views , though it was one , we think , not altogether inexcusable under

the circumstances . We , however , object to the suggestion of the Charity Reform Association , for this reason . If the candidates are carefully selected , it is fat- better , in our opinion , for the subscribers to vote for the cases they consider the most deserving . It is all very

well to blame the Committees for letting in candidates too easily , or receiving improper cases , but the fault in this rather rests with the subscribers than with the committee . But any attempt to enable the committee to ' support special cases will aggravate the evil instead of lessen

it . And here we may observe that we do not think that we have much more to say upon the general question , for we do not know ' of any real abuses , and we cannot conceive what there is to reform . Canvassing cards have a good side to them in the shape of public notice and local

interest , and the polling day is , in our opinion , absolutely indispensable to purity of election and fair play to all the candidates . We note that Bro . Simpson repeats the words " certain wellknown abuses , " as being rampant in our midst , and " to a fair and pure system of election , " as

if such did not now exist . We reall y do not profess to understand what these " well-known abuses " are , and as regards the present system of election , it is as fair as fair can be , in our humble opinion , and after some special experience of the matter , we do not realize in any way in

what it is susceptible of improvement . For these and many other / like reasons we say , let well alone . One abuse we shall be very happy to aid Bro . Simpson or any one in mitigating , the admission of doubtful or improper cases , though the matter is a very difficult one , for many reasons . And , as

we said before , it is not so much the committees , as ourselves who are to blame . The candidates conform to the rules of the institution , and without new rules , there is no power in the committee to reject them . But wh y do the brethren support such a case as the following , one among

many similar ?—A brother who has only subscribed the actual sum of qualification , leaves the Order , and after some years , never having again subscribed to a lodge or the charities at all , dies . After his death the friends of the orphan claim , in virtue of his qualification , that the child be placed on the list of candidates . Now is it fair

that the orphan of one who left the Order living , and died out of it , should be elected over the head of an orphan of a brother who lived and died in Masonry , and supported our charities ? We say , then , increase the minimum of subscription and make it imperative that a brother shall not have died out of Masonry . We do not say , exclude the orphans of such altogether , but

Charity Voting.

give a preference to the orphans of all who have lived and died as subscribing brethren of a lodge ? This is the most needed of all reforms , and would remed y manv prevalent evils and reform many serious abuses .

Fair Play Is A Jewel.

FAIR PLAY IS A JEWEL .

This old axiom of Anglo-Saxon moralit y is Masonic in the highest degree , and will be ac knowledged and acceded to by all Freemasons " more Masonico , " under the benign princi ples of Anglo-Saxon Freemasonry . The great truth involved in that proverbial expression is realized

by them in theory and developed in practice . \ V wish we could equally say that it was always so abroad . But we cannot shut our eyes to the fact that , without for one moment denying the absurd and wicked intolerance of ths Roman Catholic Church , of the Ultramontane faction

many of the words of foreign Freemasons are very unwise , and many of their acts very unmasonic . We take up our good contemporary , the Monde Maconnique of June , for instance , and at page 332 , we read as follows , from a correspondent at Milan : — " By the information which

the Commission ( of the Lodge La Ragione ) has acquired , it results that the Roman Catholic oratories in Milan are , for the most part , attended by youths directed by the priests , and some attended by girls , directed by the sisters of charity , These oratories are found in the different

quarters of the town , and especially in those localities which are mostly peopled by the working classes . They are frequented by about 6000 young people of the two sexes , recruited among the less well-to-do families from earliest youth , and it is remarkable that these young people

continued to frequent the oratory until the age of enlistment . Almost all the oratories are alike , according to their general idea . The schools are large , altogether clerical in character , the direction is always in the hands of the curate . The interior government is confided to priests , assisted

by the prefets , councillors , elected or nominated among the oldest pupils . In some of these oratories they pay from three to four francs annually for each scholar * the others , and they form the majority , are completely free schools . . . . The instruction is catechical , based

on religious exercises , which are repeated in the morning and evening . ... By their 6000 ' eleves' the priests exercise a great influence over 6000 families of the town , and these enfanls can be employed to serve as a chain of union between the Church and the family , against this continual struggle for the development of

the civil life . The Commission ( of the lodge ) proposes two remedies . 1 . To erect , in opposition to the Roman Catholic oratories , civil institutes , asylums , clubs or recreation halls , with a purely liberal basis , destined to gather in , to educate , and amuse the young people on the days of fete . 2 . To subject the Roman Catholic oratories to the intervention and surveillance of

the public authority , exercised in a manner to transform their tendencies and to direct along the road of the necessities of tha country and the spirit of the times the young people confide " to them , entirely infusing the charters of foundation and private rights . A copy of this report

has been sent to all the members of the Chamber of Deputies , all the members and Secretaries , anil and I have the happiness to tell you that we shall not wait long to see the fruits of this famous campaign which the Milaneae Masons by the means of the lodge ( ' la Ragione ' ) has begun

against the priests . " Now , we have no hesitation in saying that such a position is , according to our view , utterly unsound and unmasomc . As Freemasons , we have nothing to do wit " education , perse , and we have no business whatever to attack this or that particular relig ion- institution . If the Milanese Freemasons like to

set up Masonic schools , a la bonne heure , let their do so by all means , and way they succeed . But to set up Masonic schools , simply to attack the clerical schools , and then to ask the aid of the State to interfere with the ordinary Roman Catnol schools , which are necessary and usei "' and , according to their own account , very sucessful , is a parody on the princip les of Jta "

“The Freemason: 1877-06-23, Page 6” Masonic Periodicals Online, Library and Museum of Freemasonry, 24 July 2025, django:8000/periodicals/fvl/issues/fvl_23061877/page/6/.
  • List
  • Grid
Title Category Page
CONTENTS. Article 1
REPORTS OF MASONIC MEETINGS. Article 1
Royal Arch. Article 3
Red Cross of Constantine. Article 3
PROVINCIAL GRAND LODGE OF WORCESTERSHIRE. Article 4
Obituary. Article 4
LODGE OF BENEVOLENCE. Article 4
ROYAL MASONIC INSTITUTION FOR GIRLS. Article 5
Masonic and General Tidings. Article 5
Untitled Article 6
Untitled Article 6
Untitled Article 6
Untitled Article 6
Untitled Article 6
Answers to Correspondents. Article 6
Births ,Marriages and Deaths. Article 6
Untitled Article 6
CHARITY VOTING. Article 6
FAIR PLAY IS A JEWEL. Article 6
THE RECENT STRUGGLE IN FRANCE. Article 7
THE ADMITTANCE OF NONMASONS TO THE BOYS' SCHOOL FESTIVAL. Article 7
Original Correspondence. Article 7
THE STRUGGLE IN FRANCE. Article 8
CONSECRATION OF THE CRUSADERS' LODGE (No. 1677). Article 9
Royal Order of Scotland. Article 9
ROYAL, MASONIC INSTITUTION FOR BOYS. Article 9
METROPOLITAN MASONIC MEETINGS. Article 9
MASONIC MEETINGS IN WEST LANCASHIRE AND CHESHIRE. Article 10
Untitled Article 10
Untitled Ad 10
Untitled Ad 10
Untitled Ad 10
Untitled Ad 10
Untitled Ad 10
Untitled Ad 10
Untitled Ad 10
Untitled Ad 10
Untitled Ad 10
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.

Ar00600

TO OUR READERS . Tne FREEMASON is a sixteen-page weekly newspaper ; price 2 d . It is published every Friday morning , and contains the most important , interesting , and useful infor - mation relating to Freemasonry in every degree . Annual subscription in the United Kingdom , Post free , 10 / 6 . P . O . O . ' s to be made payable at the Chief Office . London .

Ar00601

TO ADVERTISERS . The FREEMASON has a large circulation in all parts of the GJobe , 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 .

Ar00602

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

Ar00608

IMPORTANT NOTICE . COLONIAL and FOREIGN SUBSCRIBERS are informed that acknowledgments of remittances received are publish ed in he first number of every month . It is very necessary for our readers to advise us of all money orders they remit , more espe . cially those from the United States of America and India ; otherwise we cannot tell where to credit them .

Ar00609

NEW POSTAL RATES . Owing to a reduction in the Postal Rates , the publisher is now enabled to send the " Freemason " to the following parts abroad for One Year for Thirteen Shillings ( payable in advance ) : —Africa , Australia , Bombay , Canada , Cape of Good Hope , Ceylon , China , Constantinople , Demerara , France , Germany , Gibraltar , Jamaica , Malta , Newfound , ' and , New South Wales , New Zealand , Suez , Trinidad , United States of America , & c .

Answers To Correspondents.

Answers to Correspondents .

BOOKS , & c , RECEIVED . " Bulletin du Grand Orient , " " Craftsman , " " Hebrew Leader , " "Masonicjewel , " " Eclectic , " "Voiceof Masonry , " " Masonic Advocate , " " New York Dispatch , " " The Living Age . " The following stand over : —Provincial Grand Lodge of Northam | , tonshire * , Reports of Lodges j Imperial George , 78 * , Lebanon , 1326 ; Jordan Lodge of Instruction , 201 : Stuart Chapter , 540 j St . John ' s Chapter , Timaru , N . Z ., H 37-Had Bro . Pinaud given his address in London , we would have answered his letter , but it did not appear to be of any use to write to Bona in Algeiia .

Births ,Marriages And Deaths.

Births , Marriages and Deaths .

[ The charge is 2 s . 6 d . for announcements , not exceeding four lines , under this heading . ]

BIR / 1 HS . GHEENE . —On the 18 th inst ., at 218 , Old Kent-road , S ., the wife of W . T . Greene , M . A ., M . D ., of a son . LEAOER . —On the 17 th inst ., at The Lodge , Whittington , Worcester , the wife of B . W . Leader , Esq ., of a son . WRIGHT . —On the 18 th inst ., at Wooler Lodge , Brixton , Mary , the wife of F . R . Wright , of a son .

DEATHS . DODOSON . —On the 1 ; th inst ., Bro . R . Dodgson , of Brookstreet , Ulverston . FELLOWS . —On the 18 th inst ., at Rickmansworth , Marianne , wife of H . W . Fellows , Esq . WATSON . —On the 18 th inst ., William Patterson , infant son of the . Rev . H . C . Watson , of Clifton .

Ar00610

TheFreemason, SATURDAY , J 13 , 1877 .

Charity Voting.

CHARITY VOTING .

Our worthy Bro . R . J . Simpson , P . G . C ., says that we have done injustice to his views , and misrepresented his statement in respect of the powers of a central committee , ( not necessarily a London committee ) , and certainly we plead guilty at once to having so understood his

original suggestion and object . Curiously enough , Bro . Hughan , a not inattentive reader of the Freemason , "P . P . G . C , " and "An Old Chairman " all understood the matter in the same way . This misapprehension was based on the following words in the printed reports , to which our

attention was called by Bro . Simpson : — "It is further suggested that committees of charitable associations should intimate in their voting papers that subscribers who have no means of ascertaining the comparative merits of the candidates , or who for any other reason decline to exercize

their privilege of voting , should sign and send their proxies to the committee , to be distributed amongst the poorest and most deserving . " This is , practically , as we understand the words , to give the central committee the power of recommendation and allotment , and is the point which

has misled us all , for it seems that Bro . Simpson does not agree with that recommendation , and does not propose anything of the kind for our Masonic Charities , and we therefore ' acknowledge our misconception of his views , though it was one , we think , not altogether inexcusable under

the circumstances . We , however , object to the suggestion of the Charity Reform Association , for this reason . If the candidates are carefully selected , it is fat- better , in our opinion , for the subscribers to vote for the cases they consider the most deserving . It is all very

well to blame the Committees for letting in candidates too easily , or receiving improper cases , but the fault in this rather rests with the subscribers than with the committee . But any attempt to enable the committee to ' support special cases will aggravate the evil instead of lessen

it . And here we may observe that we do not think that we have much more to say upon the general question , for we do not know ' of any real abuses , and we cannot conceive what there is to reform . Canvassing cards have a good side to them in the shape of public notice and local

interest , and the polling day is , in our opinion , absolutely indispensable to purity of election and fair play to all the candidates . We note that Bro . Simpson repeats the words " certain wellknown abuses , " as being rampant in our midst , and " to a fair and pure system of election , " as

if such did not now exist . We reall y do not profess to understand what these " well-known abuses " are , and as regards the present system of election , it is as fair as fair can be , in our humble opinion , and after some special experience of the matter , we do not realize in any way in

what it is susceptible of improvement . For these and many other / like reasons we say , let well alone . One abuse we shall be very happy to aid Bro . Simpson or any one in mitigating , the admission of doubtful or improper cases , though the matter is a very difficult one , for many reasons . And , as

we said before , it is not so much the committees , as ourselves who are to blame . The candidates conform to the rules of the institution , and without new rules , there is no power in the committee to reject them . But wh y do the brethren support such a case as the following , one among

many similar ?—A brother who has only subscribed the actual sum of qualification , leaves the Order , and after some years , never having again subscribed to a lodge or the charities at all , dies . After his death the friends of the orphan claim , in virtue of his qualification , that the child be placed on the list of candidates . Now is it fair

that the orphan of one who left the Order living , and died out of it , should be elected over the head of an orphan of a brother who lived and died in Masonry , and supported our charities ? We say , then , increase the minimum of subscription and make it imperative that a brother shall not have died out of Masonry . We do not say , exclude the orphans of such altogether , but

Charity Voting.

give a preference to the orphans of all who have lived and died as subscribing brethren of a lodge ? This is the most needed of all reforms , and would remed y manv prevalent evils and reform many serious abuses .

Fair Play Is A Jewel.

FAIR PLAY IS A JEWEL .

This old axiom of Anglo-Saxon moralit y is Masonic in the highest degree , and will be ac knowledged and acceded to by all Freemasons " more Masonico , " under the benign princi ples of Anglo-Saxon Freemasonry . The great truth involved in that proverbial expression is realized

by them in theory and developed in practice . \ V wish we could equally say that it was always so abroad . But we cannot shut our eyes to the fact that , without for one moment denying the absurd and wicked intolerance of ths Roman Catholic Church , of the Ultramontane faction

many of the words of foreign Freemasons are very unwise , and many of their acts very unmasonic . We take up our good contemporary , the Monde Maconnique of June , for instance , and at page 332 , we read as follows , from a correspondent at Milan : — " By the information which

the Commission ( of the Lodge La Ragione ) has acquired , it results that the Roman Catholic oratories in Milan are , for the most part , attended by youths directed by the priests , and some attended by girls , directed by the sisters of charity , These oratories are found in the different

quarters of the town , and especially in those localities which are mostly peopled by the working classes . They are frequented by about 6000 young people of the two sexes , recruited among the less well-to-do families from earliest youth , and it is remarkable that these young people

continued to frequent the oratory until the age of enlistment . Almost all the oratories are alike , according to their general idea . The schools are large , altogether clerical in character , the direction is always in the hands of the curate . The interior government is confided to priests , assisted

by the prefets , councillors , elected or nominated among the oldest pupils . In some of these oratories they pay from three to four francs annually for each scholar * the others , and they form the majority , are completely free schools . . . . The instruction is catechical , based

on religious exercises , which are repeated in the morning and evening . ... By their 6000 ' eleves' the priests exercise a great influence over 6000 families of the town , and these enfanls can be employed to serve as a chain of union between the Church and the family , against this continual struggle for the development of

the civil life . The Commission ( of the lodge ) proposes two remedies . 1 . To erect , in opposition to the Roman Catholic oratories , civil institutes , asylums , clubs or recreation halls , with a purely liberal basis , destined to gather in , to educate , and amuse the young people on the days of fete . 2 . To subject the Roman Catholic oratories to the intervention and surveillance of

the public authority , exercised in a manner to transform their tendencies and to direct along the road of the necessities of tha country and the spirit of the times the young people confide " to them , entirely infusing the charters of foundation and private rights . A copy of this report

has been sent to all the members of the Chamber of Deputies , all the members and Secretaries , anil and I have the happiness to tell you that we shall not wait long to see the fruits of this famous campaign which the Milaneae Masons by the means of the lodge ( ' la Ragione ' ) has begun

against the priests . " Now , we have no hesitation in saying that such a position is , according to our view , utterly unsound and unmasomc . As Freemasons , we have nothing to do wit " education , perse , and we have no business whatever to attack this or that particular relig ion- institution . If the Milanese Freemasons like to

set up Masonic schools , a la bonne heure , let their do so by all means , and way they succeed . But to set up Masonic schools , simply to attack the clerical schools , and then to ask the aid of the State to interfere with the ordinary Roman Catnol schools , which are necessary and usei "' and , according to their own account , very sucessful , is a parody on the princip les of Jta "

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