To Our Readers.

TO OUR READERS .

The Freemason is a sixteen-page weekly newspaper , f rice 2 d . It is published every Friday morning , and contains the most important , interesting , and useful information relating to Freemasonry in every degree . Annual subscription in the United Kingdom , Post free , 10 / -

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 Twelve Shillings ( payable in advance ) : —Africa , Australia , Bombay , Canada , Cape of

Good Hope , Ceylon , China , Constantinople , Demerara , France , Germany , Gibraltar , Jamaica , Malta , Newfoundland , New South Wales , New Zealand , Suez , Trinidad , United States of America , & c . P . O . O . ' s to be made payable at the chief office , London .

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

To Advertisers.

TO ADVERTISERS .

The Freemason has a large circulation in all parts of the Globe , its advantages as an advertising medium can therefore scarcely be overrated . For terms , position , & c , apply to GEORGE KENNING , 198 , Fleet-st .

NOW READY . Reading Covers , to take 52 numbers of the " Free mason , " price 2 / 6 , may be had at the office , 198 , Fleet street .

Answers To Correspondents.

Answers to Correspondents .

AU Communications , Advertisements , & c , intended for insertion in the Number of the following Saturday , must reach the Office not later tha . r . 12 o ' clock on Wednesday morning . ERRATUM . —In the report of the Grand Conclave Red Cross on the nth inst ., for " Capt . Bartlett " read "Capt . Barnes . " NOTICE . —We do not find it necessary to issue a supplement this week .

Births, Marriages, And Deaths.

Births , Marriages , and Deaths .

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

BIRTHS . WATSON . —On the 20 th inst ., at Holland-road , W ., the wife of Gerald T . Watson , of a son . ANOUS , Mrs . Joseph , at Eton-villas , Haverstock-hill , March 21 st , of a son . HEATHCOTE , the wife of Lieut .-Col . C T ., Bombay Staff Corps , at Belvedere-road , Upper Norwood , March 20 th , of daughter .

MARRIAGE . VANDER BYL—MvBtinGii . —On the 17 th ult ., by special licence , at Stellenbosch , Cape of Good Hope , by the Rev . Dr . Faure , assisted by his son , the Rev . Philip Faure , cf Claa William , P . G . Van dcr-Byl , Esq ., of 102 , Harl « -ystreet , London , to Johanna , youngest daughter of the late Ryk Myburgh , Esq ., of Elsenburgh , Cape of Good Hope .

DEATHS . COBB . —On the 19 th inst ., Stanley Rhodes , son of R . Cobb , Esq ., of Surbiton Lodge , Kingston-on-Thames , aged 10 . DURANT , lucinda , relict of Mr . George , of Tong Castle , Shropshire , at St . Romans , St . Leonard ' s-on-Sea , aged 67 , March 1 ith .

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TheFreemason, SATURDAY , MAR . 25 , 1876 .

Our Royal Grand Master's Return.

OUR ROYAL GRAND MASTER'S RETURN .

The "Times" informs us that the Serapis arrived at Aden , March 20 tb , with the Raleigh in ' . company . All are well . Will leave after coaling . The Osborne was sent ahead on the 17 th at noon to have all in readiness for her consort . From Bombay it has been very fine

weather . The thermometer was 80 deg . in the shade , and the sea quite smooth . The menagerie is quite comfortable . It contains 80 animals of all sorts . The elephants walk about the deck j the deer are very tame , and the tigers are domesticated , though they exhibit tendencies to

relapse . Thursday the calm continued , and the temperature was the same . The sea was as smooth as glass ; no ships , nor fish , nor birds were to be seen . Friday the sea and temperature remained the same as before . The

squadron has been averaging 272 miles in 24 hours . The Osborne ran under the quarter of the Serapis to exhibit her two elephants , which salaamed to the Prince as she passed ahead . We shall be next hearing of the Prince at Suez and at Malta .

Masonic Old Women.

MASONIC OLD WOMEN .

Some people do not like to be called old , and a great many persons we kno , v do not relish being termed " old women . " But yet the clearness of truth compels us to say , that old women do exist and are many , and that we meet with them and confront them in various scenes and in

different walks of life . To suppose that we can be always young is alas a great fallacy ; to believe that youth , with its halcyon smiles , and living hopes , and active hours , is ever to wait upon us here , is but the baseless fabric of a deceiving dream . No , youth has to give way to

middle age , and middle age to old age , day-byday , and the weakness and perversity and querulousness of old age , often seem to tinge with dulness and gloominess , the early promise and the maturer excellence . Old age is then inevitable , and old men and old women have to

share with youth the pageant of the hour . But we are talking of old women . They sometimes unpolitely say , that old wom ° n , as the young Frenchman once gravely observed , are "de trop , " though we protest against any attack on real good old women . But we confess , as we

say this , that we have a dreadful souvenir of some Masonic old women who have been a heavy drawback on our lodges , a great stumbling block in the way of Freemasonry , and mournful obstacles to all improvement and progress . As a general rule the Masonic old woman is a

brother who has rot done a great deal for Freemasonry really and truly , though he thinks he has , and always tells young Masons that " things were better managed in his days . " He is very fond of hearing himself talk , and what he says is generally what a reporting brother

and friend of ours once ventured to term "didactic twaddle . " But where he most distinguishes himself is in his opposition to any movement for improvement , for progress , for light . Is it a library ?— ' * Books are expensive , " " Masons have no time for reading , "

" For his part he does not approve of publication , " " Money had better be spent in charity , " are the stereotype objections , the stock phrases of fogey ism , which fall from the lips of that respectable old woman . Is it a soiree ?— " Well , he prefers a lodge meeting , and his pipe and

glass of toddy afterwards . * ' He does not see why brethren are to come in evening dress . " "All this chopping and changing don ' t suit him . " " He never remembers such a proposal before ;" and so he damps the enthusiasm of the ardent , the zeal of the cultured , does this mischievous old

woman . Is it the admission of ladies r' He is "aghast at the idea . What would Bro . P . M . Popkins have said , or old ' Dont / or Bro . Jenks , or Bro . somebody else : And the lodge , accustomed to dictation , and Conservative in its respect for years and authority , goes with the old woman ,

and floors the young man . Now , we have cited no imaginary cases , we have drawn no ideal individual , though without any personal reflection ; but all lodges , we fancy , in a greater or lesser degree , are suffering from the infliction and pre - sence of Masonic old women at the present

time . Can nothing be done for remonstrant and despondent Masonic youth ? Is there no possibility of inducing these worthy and otherwise amiable old women to take a kindlier view of things and persons ? Alas ! we fear not ! Such as they are , such they

will be to the end of the story , and though the moralist may deprecate , and the cynic may scoff , and the young Mason may cry oat , the genus Masonic old woman is very flourishing amongst us , and is not , we fear , for a very long time indeed likely to leave that lodge life of ours , which its presence enfeebles and its perversity mars .

Anti-Masonic Impertinences.

ANTI-MASONIC IMPERTINENCES .

We have been much struck with the tendency of our opponents just now to assail our peaceful and useful Order with a plethora of mingled impertinence and falsehood . Indeed , nothing is

too hard or too bad to say of Freemasons , without a shadow of justification , without even the pretence of truth . It is simply , as fast young men say to-day , " calm lying , " nothing more and nothing less . These are serious words , and we

Anti-Masonic Impertinences.

are bound to prove them . In the " Weekly Examiner and Ulster Observer , " sent to us by a kind Hibernian brother , and which is , we may observe , a Roman Catholic paper , of date March nth , 1876 , published at Belfast , two letters are to be reid , unsigned , and apparently editorial ,

judging by their place and type , which constitute in themselves some very impertinent and untruthful charges against Freemasonry and Freemasons in that district . We mi ght , indeed , say to all our brethren there , " Risum teneatis fratres ; " we might bid them laugh

with Archdeacon Denison , " aslesto yeloli , " at such a mixture of balderdash and vulgarity . The weak and foolish person who penned these letters—we have grave doubts of his sanitymakes Freemasonry responsible , in his Ultramontane perspicuity , for recent commercial

embarrassments in Belfast , in " flax spinning , " principally , as it seems , because the " brethren monopolize one half of the alphabet in mere initial indication of the cacophonous Craft honours . " Now this , we beg to observe , is meant for wit and also sarcasm—Ultramontane wit and

Ultramontane sarcasm . Well , to say the truth , amid laughter-loving Paddies we never met with a " duller dog " than the writer of these childish invectives , and as for the sarcasm— "Heaven save the mark . '' If this is all the Ultramontanes can do , they must ba in a verv bad case ,

and the Freemasons in Belfast and the district will simply treat such an attack as we do , as another beautiful specimen of Ultramontane ignorance , impertinence , ' and mendacity . It is sad to have to use such words , but they are both , in our opinion , necessary and just , and ,

remembering that the Roman Catholic mot d'Ordre just now seems to be everywhere , at home and abroad , as regards Freemasonry without rhyme or reason , " Delendam esse Carthaginem , " we see no use in being mealymouthed , the more so as we are simply upholding the interests and

honour of our cruelly maligned Order . Our able contemporary , the " Masonic Advocate , " published at Indianapolis , Indiana , United States , tells us as follows : — " We have before us the prospectus for an anti-Masonic newspaper , to be published at Cincinnati , O ., by one J . H . H .

Woodward , accompanied by a circular letter , which says , ' We want you for a good , permanent , cash-paying subscriber , and solicit your money , your aid , and your influence . ' It is safe to presume that this was not intended for us , and as safe to wager that we will give nothing

of this sort . We think a great deal of Masonry . We love it for the good it has already done , and we want to perpetuate it for the good it will do in the future . The greatest fears we have ever had for the institution were in its popularity and too rapid growth . VVe want no more recruiting

agents in the shape of anti-Masonic papers and crusaders against Masonry , for they are sure to create a more favourable opinion of the Order , and greatly increase the number of those seeking admission . When renegades unite with rejected applicants in defaming the institution of

Freemasonry , which is uphold by the reputation of more than half a million of the best citizens of this country , they soon succeed in convincing intelligent , honest people that they themselves are liars and slanderers of the worst character . The documents before us establish the fact that the author of them is no exception to the rule .

We give a short extract from them , that those who know anything of Masonry may be able to judge for themselves : — ' Masonry is aggressive , and interferes with every one . The fearfully depressing times we now experience is her handywork , the result of her counsels , machinations , and plots . The

confidence of man in man can never be restored so long as Masonic principles prevail . Every Mason imbued with the principles of his Order feels that every other Mason is a rascal , and that the entire race of man is an institution of perverse wickedness , and carries his idea into the daily walks of his life , and thus Masonry , from

the number of her votaries , acting upon this principle , has sown the seeds of universal distrust broadcast over the whole land . Good times can never again prevail in this country until the heresies of Masonry are destroyed , and a general and neig hbourly confidence is restored among the people . Masonry forbids neig hbourly