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To ADVERTISERS . THE Circulation of THE FREEMASON being now at the rate of nearly Half-a-million per annum , it offers peculiar facilities to all who advertise . It is well known that the Fraternity of Freemasons is a large and constantly increasing body , mainly composed of the influential and educated classes of society ; and as The Freemason is now the accepted organ of the Brotherhood in the United Kingdom , and also enjoys an extensive sale in the colonies and foreign parts , its advantages as an advertising medium can scarcely be overrated . For terms apply to GEORGE KENNING , 2 , 3 , & 4 , LITTLE BRITAIN , LONDON , E . C .

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Jforap mxa <& alavmxl Agents , —?—AMERICA : Bro . J . FLETCHER BRENNAN , 114 , Mainstreet , Cincinnati , Ohio . „ Messrs . WOODRUFF & BLOCKER , Little Rock , Arkansas , U . S . CANADA : Messrs . DEVRIE & SON , Ottawa . CAPE OF GOOD HOPE : Bro . GEORGE BRITTAIN , Cape Town . CEYLON : Messrs . W . L . SKEENE & Co ., Colombo . CONSTANTINOPLE : Br . J . L . HANLV , Levant Times . EAST INDIES : Allahabad : Messrs . WYMAN BROS . Bombay : Bro . M . B . Co HEN . Syculla : Bro . GEO . BEASE . Central Provinces : Bro . F . J . JORDAN . Kurrackcc : Bro . G . C . BRAYSON . Madras : Mr . CALEB FOSTER . Mhow : Bro . COWASJEE NUSSERWANJEE . Ptona : Bro . W . WELLIS . GALATA : IPSICK KHAN , Perche-Bajar . IBERIA : Bro . HENRY D . BROWN , Monrovia . ARIS : M . DECHEVAUX-DUMESNIL , Rue de Harlaydu-Palais , 20 , near the Pont Neuf ; Editor Le Franc-Mafon . WEST INDIES : Jamaica : Bro . JOHN A . D . SOUZA , Falmouth . Trinidad : Bros . S . CARTER and J . LEWIS , 3 , Abercrombie-street , Port of Spain ; and Bro . W . A . KERNAHAN , San Fernando . And all Booksellers and Newsagents in England , Ireland , and Scotland .

Answers To Correspondents.

Answers to Correspondents .

All communications for THE FREEMASON should be written legibly , on one side of the paper only , and , if intended for insertion in the current number must be received not later than 10 o ' clock a . m . on Thursdays , unless in very special cases . The name and address of every writer must be sent to us in confidence .

BRO . TlIEVENOT , Chef du Secretariat , Grand Orient de France . —We thank you very sincerely for your obliging communication , and for the promised copy of your Calendar . We will send you the Cosmopolitan Masonic Calendar in return , the moment it appears . KNOW-NOTIII . NG . —The Zenda-vcsta , referred to in Bro .

Yarker s communication , are the sacred books of the Parsees , and they were originally twenty-one in number , of which , however , eighteen have been lost . The MSS . of the three now extant are said to have been preserved by certain Parsee priests who fled to Bombay in the 10 th century . You can see a French translation by Duperron at the British Museum .

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TheFreemason, SATURDAY , J 25 1870 .

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THE FREEMASON is published on Saturday Mornings in time Tor tat early trains . The price of THE FREEMASON is Twopence per week ; quarterly f ubscription ( including postage ) 3 s . 3 d . Annual Subscription , 12 s . Subscriptions payable in advance . All communications , letters , & c , to be addressed to the EDITOR , t , 3 , and 4 . Little Britain , E . C . The Editor will pay careful attention to all MSS . entrusted to him but cannot undertake to return them unless accompanied by postage ¦ tamps .

Temperance.

TEMPERANCE .

" WlNE , " says the wise son of Sirach , " wine is as good as life to a man if it be drunk moderately . " Aye , therein lies the rub ;

therein is concealed the problem which agitates the mind of the social reformer , and kindles the ire of the tented Rechabite . On the other hand , we have the saying of

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the fool , " Let us eat , drink and be merry , for to-morrow we die . " The truth obviously lies between , in medio tutissimus ibis . Now , we are not about to assume the

black cap , and to pronounce judgment oracularly against those brethren who occasionally follow the fool into the regions of

intemperance , but it is none the less our duty to warn them that they are playing with a fire which may eventually consume them .

The convivial meetings in which Freemasons , and especially British Freemasons , indulge at certain periods are undoubtedly calculated to cement and preserve that

harmony amongst the brethrenwhichissomuch to be desired . The principle of refreshment after labour is interwoven into the very system of theCraft , and it is one to which no

sensible man can object , but the abuse of this necessary relaxation is the evil against which we have to guard , and respecting which our American brethren are already

sounding the tocsin of alarm . It must be owned that there is some reason to fear that from the evil example of a few old members , some of the younger and weaker brethren are led into habits which ill accord

with tne precepts of the Craft . From facts witnessed in our own experience we grieve to say that grey-headed men , who ought to know better , are first and foremost in the paths

of vice . Some are , unfortunately , Past Masters who presume upon the services they are supposed to have rendered in some remote period of antiquity , although if the truth

were published on the house-tops , it would be found that most of them can better open a bottle of champagne than a Lodge of Freemasons , and that few belong to

the " early closing movement , " especially as regards the gin-shops and taverns . It is these men who are ever ready to deaden the solemn effect which initiation into

Freemasonry ought to have upon an earnest candidate , by quip and jest , and inane mockeries of those precepts which they cannot comprehend . It is these men who

are always on the look-out at the social board to " set the table in a roar " by the recital of some obscene tale , or double

entendre ; much to the disgust of brethren who meet to enjoy themselves rationally , and not to revel , like satyrs , in filth .

All such excesses should be firmly reprehended , at the time , by the Master or other Presiding Officer , and the apparent popularity of the hoary offender should not

be permitted to shield him from the just censure of the chair . A want of decision on this head has caused many a respectable lodge to deteriorate permanently in character and influence .

Freemasonry can do without the support of these antiquated topers , whose ideas are limited to an undue appreciation of the pleasures of the table or a disgusting n-

chauffd of folly and vice . We have happily progressed since the last century , when bacchanalian feats were so common as to excite little notice , when three-bottle men were the rule , and when the humorous

Temperance.

pencil of Hogarth—himself a brotherfound employment in depicting the excesses of Masonic inebriates . But there is still some room for improvement : enjoyment

must not be suffered to degenerate into riot , nor the primary objects of the institution be forgotten in the selfish sociality of the hour .

It will be observed that some of our Scottish brethren also complain grievously of the convivial doings of some lodges in Scotland ; and in America , as we have said ,

the subject is receiving great attention . But it is not only temperance at the table that is required , but temperance in speech and action , so that none may reasonably take

offence at our conduct as men and Masons . In New York , a young brother states , that immediately after his initiation , with which he was deeply impressed , and while

meditating in the ante-room on the lessons he had received , all his newly-awakeiied ideas of the principles of the Order were rudely disturbed by the unseemly conversation of

certain brethren who came out of the lodge , and rivalled each other in the use of a vocabulary which was anything but choice or delicate .

Now all this must be put down with a firm hand ; we cannot have the minds of our candidates demoralised by these old satellites of Satan , who , we scruple not to say ,

ought to be summarily expelled from the Craft . What is the use of our wondrous symbolism , our elaborate ceremonial , our lofty moral teachings , if all are

to be rendered nugatory by the misconduct of a few "chartered libertines" ? The mass of the Fraternity will at once repudiate these men , who for all we know , may

be the paid agents of our enemies , and hired to bring Freemasonry , if possible , into disrepute . With a moderate convivality we have no

fault to find , but there are higher Masonic duties to be performed then mere eating and drinking , and it would be well if some of the funds devoted to the latter purpose

were applied to the maintenance and development of our charities , so that none may knock at our gates in vain for that assistance which they have a right to expect .

Without making the Craft a benefit society , we are strenuous advocates for the principle that it is our duty to help those who have laboured for the good of the Order in their

youthful days , and upon whom the weight of adversity has fallen in their declining years ; and if more care were taken in the selection of candidates , we should soon be

able to provide permanently for ALL who have a just claim on our sympathy and support . It is by our deeds that we are judged in the profane world , and when Masons are

found intemperate in language , and intemperate in habits , outsiders regard the Order with some degree of dislike and contempt . A reformation in this respect is urgently

needed , and it behoves each of us to assist in purging our lodges of all profanity and excess , so that the great aims of Freemasonry may be not only better under ?