Elections.

ELECTIONS .

The time is now rapidly approaching when the brethren will be called to select their officebearers for the coming year , and while they very naturally and properly feel a present interest in the matter , they will , we feel certain , kindly permit a few words from us on a matter so

vitually affecting the welfare of their respective organizations . It cannot well be denied that the annual election is , to a great many , a sort of pepper sauce to their meat—merely aa additional zest to the ordinary routine , approached without much thought as to its real bearings ,

and laid aside when concluded like anything else out of which all the present enjoyment has been extracted . To others , and , fortunately , a minority , the election is a season of excitement which raises the blood to fever heat and makes the contestants feel as if on their success the

very existence of the Institution is staked . Neither of these two classes is ri ght , because neither fully considers the grave importance attaching to the selection of proper officers to govern and represent our respective lod ges ; both , in a great measure , overlook the Masonic

theory that preferment in the brotherhood should follow personal merit , personal labour , and personal qualities for discharging the oflice to be conferred , which , instead of being given to , ought rather to be withheld from those who seek their own promotion . When , therefore ,

the time for election arrives , thinking brethren , desirous of consolidating aud more firmly establishing their lodges , will scrutinize the quality of those most likely to he presented for official station , and endeavour to judge by their past career whether tbey are likely to accept

office merely for the sake of the temporary distinction , or whether , if elected , they will devote themselves to the discharge of duty , to the maintenance of discipline , to the promotion of harmony and brotherly feeling , and thus making secure the foundations , and plumb and

workmanlike the walls of our mystic building . It is \ juit _ possible that , at the time of choosing , two or more candidates may be presented , all of whom stand well with the brethren , and between whom it is difficult to make a choice . In all such cases let the conditions above cited decide

and as but one can be Master at the samo time , the unselected will have an excellent opportunity to succeed to the high station in future by earnest and faithful support of the successful brother in the responsible and delicate duties he will have to perform .

But , when the officers have been duly elected and installed , the work is by no means completed . The office-bearers ought to feel the obligation upon them well and truly to discharge their duty by a prompt and regular attendance on the communications and committees of the

lodge , by thorough preparation in the ritual and laws , and by unfailing courtesy and kindness ol demeanour tovvard all who are brought Masonically in contact with them . There is still another matter for thought in this connection , which is that the work of the lodge

ought not in fairness be made to rest entirely upon the officers ; on the contrary , every member should realise the fact that to a certain extent he i . s as much responsible for the proper march of affairs as the Master himself . The first step toward a practical exemplification of this idea

is the personal appearance of the members at the communications , and the silent but eloquent testimony they thus give of their interest in the lodge , and their desire to promote its welfare and prosperity . In offering this proposition we do not for a moment entertain nor do we . wish to

advocate extreme views . "The good die young , ' and those who commence too fervently are apt to get short of material long before the work is completed . The steady , plodding men are the ones to last , and those most likely to be found on deck at the end of the voyage . Many things may occur to justify an occasional absence from lodge

meetings , but scarcely any to prevent a reasonable amount of attention to Masonic duty . This is all that is needed or can be expected , but this ought to be given in justice , not only to the covenants of the institution , but with a due regard to that courtesy due to those chosen by our own suffrages to rule over us . It would be

Elections.

difficult to imagine a more discouraging state of facts than the persistent absence of the members from the usual communications , nor anything more depressing than being obliged to preach to empty benches ; and hence the mere presence of the members is of itself an

encouragement to the woikmen and the guarantee of success . Will the brethren think of ' these suggestions as th _ y deposit their ballots , and , by acting on them , prepare for their lodges a more prosperous aud harmonious future ? Speaking on this subject at a recent

consecration of a new lodge , R . W . Bro . Hervey , Grand Secretary of England , said : — The W . M . designate , as a brother , had all the moral advantages resulting from the practice of Freemasonry ; but he would recommend to his officers that they should , if they undertook

to perform the duties of an office , prepare themselves for the efficient discharge of those duties . If an office was worth accepting , its was worth filling properly . Officers should be punctual in their attendance , so that the W . M . might not be inconvenienced at any time when a ceremony

was about to be performed by the officers not being present . The duties should not only be performed as a duty , but from a desire to show those who were present that they were able to perform what they had undertaken . Nothing could be more painful than to see an officer

placed in a lodge , and when a candidate was introduced to the J . D ., that the J . D . did not know what to do with him , or the J . W . that he did not remember what to say to him . What could be a greater disgrace to an officer , or a

greater disgust to the candidate about to enter into the Order ? He ( Bro . Hervey ) trusted this would not be the case in this lodge , but that the orficers to be appointed would look upon themselves as the different wheels of a great machine without which the machine could not act . If

one of the wheels of a locomotive on the line close by was out of order the engine stopped dead . If a wheel of a watch had a cog broken the watch would not go , and the officers of a lodge ought to feel that it was a machine , that they were portions of the machine , that they

ought to render themselves competent to carry out their duties so as to prevent any hitch . Then everything would go on right and properly , and conduce to the honour of themselves , to the credit of the lodge in particular , and to the wellbeing of the Craft generally . —New York Dispatch .

The Good It Can Do.

THE GOOD IT CAN DO .

Jt has been said that if we take pains to observe , we find the number of persons suffering in this world very small until you yourself begin to suffer , and then it . is astonishing how many we find that are suffering in the same way . To make the thought practical , if a man has an

acute attack of the gout he will think that about every other man has it , although before it scarcely occurred to him that there was such a thing in the world ; and so , when you suffer trouble and infirmity yourself , your sympathy leads you to detect many others that suffer in a similar way .

And yet there is an immense amount of suffering in this world that we are apt to pass over . Masonry steps in and says , Help your overburdened brother , and appeals specially to those that aro strong , to those that have attainments , to those that are wise and circumspect , to thoso

that in benevolence are round and red like the setting sun . to those that are strong in virtue , taste , and refinement , to those that are good , and knew it , and are proud of it . To such men as these it says , make it your business to help carry the burdens and infirmities of those who are

overburdened . Men and women sometimes are born into life with physical infirmities which they cannot rid themselves of , while sympathy and kindness may help them to bear these burdens . An old maxim—and a truthful one it is—says , Never

ridicule or neglect those who are unfortunate without any fault of their own , and yet how often we observe , in a promiscuous gathering of persons , upon a picnic or a holiday , how few men there are who feel it their duty to pay especial attention to those who are the least fa-

The Good It Can Do.

voured ! How rarely do you see such a fulfilment of Christian duty . On the contrary , more often do you see the love of art manifested by men in the picking out of the handsome face , the fair complexion , the comely form , the dazzling eye , while the poor half-crippled girl , pale

of cheek , from whom all traces of beauty have passed away , sits in the corner , with no one to do her reverence . Masonry teaches its votaries to honour by sympathy and kindness those who have such an unequal lot in life , and make piety something else beside a mere sentimental

experience . Again , it is a burden to be out of work and not know where to find anything to do . It is an easy way of getting rid of men that are out of work to say " Go West "—as if a man could fly there . We meet men following pursuits

they are not adapted to , men endowed with sensibility and taste and power to carry out ideas , and are obliged to drudge and perform menial services for which they are not fitted . They are subjected to heavy trials ; and yet we often hear people remind them that " they ought not to

feel above their work ; they ought to know their place . " Masonry says that to taunt men thus is adding injury to misfortune ; on the contrary , give them your sympathy and encouragement , and by the power of the goodness which is in your heart lift them up and strengthen them .

We often hear the remark , " Blessed are the poor , " and yet if there is one blessing we would prefer not to have more than another it is poverty . The destruction of the poor is their poverty . How seldom is this fully realised I We are to throw money into a man ' s hand

not so much because we desire to serve him but because it is the cheapest way of getting rid of him . How seldom do we find a man who takes a poor outcast into his heart , and lives by him in such a way that on the Judgment Day ( hat poor man can turn to the Great Architect and

say , I never should have been here if that man had not helped me to bear my afflictions . Sometimes we see a man stripped ofthe things that are congenial to life , a man who has walked in the places of prosperity and done wrong . He is thrown into the prison van ,

hurried to the Penitentiary . and herded with criminals . People say , "Served him right , and many more ought to be with him . " Is it not enough that such a man has to live with himself , and take the consequences of his own actions ? And if he lives to serve out his term society often refuses to have anything to do with him . If he

is seen coming down one side of the street some people quietly go over to their butcher ' s on the other side , with no pity , no sympathy . What a literature will one day be deciphered from the stony hearts of unmerciful men , who have lived to condemn , without pity or remorse , their fellow men !

Practical thoughts are these , not inopportune to the present hard times . The condition of society demands that trouble and affliction shall be cured by the medicinal power of goodness ; that where there is more fellowship and sympathy between the top and bottom of society thc bottom is more

accessible and not so much neglected . But if wc make cream cf one side and skimmed milk of the other , the millenium for which we are hoping will never arrive . Make such discrimination as you please , but we shall not be in the right path if our discrimination leaves us nothing to do ; for if our goodness

does not rouse up goodness in some one else , if our courage is not a hel p to some discouraged man , if our taste does not refine some coarse nature , if our life is not a blessing to those who are less favoured than we are , we are not exemplifying in all its details the teachings of Freemasonry . —! I . CANTLOI . in New York Dis patch .

Ar01704

GOOD BUT DOUBTFUL . —An absurd incident is reported to have occurred at the late dinner given by the Lord Mayor to the blue jackets of the Arctic Expedition , Thc loving cup was sent round in accordance with time-honoured civic custom , and all went well up to a certain point . It had , however , to travel over a very

rough piece of ground , for , on arrival at a certain point , one tar said to his left-hand neighbour , " I say , Bill , let ' s two keep this ere between us . " " No , no , " said Bill , who was not to be beat , " this ere liquor is too good to waste , " and to the astonishment of the attendants he drained the loving cup .- — -City Press .