The Cheshire Fund Of Benevolence.

newly-organised Committee of Benevolence , the Province of Cheshire has made great and commendable progress during the past year ; and that , in addition to raising a larger sum than ever it has raised before in support of its local Educational Institution , it has contributed to our Central Girls' and Boys' Schools

the very handsome sum of £ i 163 . We congratulate our Cheshire brethren on the result of their Committee ' s labours , which , we feel sure , will be learned with satisfaction by their respected Provincial Grand Master when he meets them next week in

Provincial Grand Lodge at Runcorn . It will also undoubtedly gratify his lordship to know that the advice he so earnestly tendered them at the annual meeting at Stockport in September last has been taken to heart , and already borne good fruit , both locally and generally .

Freemasonry In South Australia.

FREEMASONRY IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA .

There are now 3 8 lodges enrolled under the banner of the Grand Lodge of South Australia , with a total of 2242 members , the largest having 132 subscribers ( St . Andrew , No . 19 ) , and the average per lodge being exactly 59 , which is higher than the average membership in England .

The senior , Friendship , No . 1 , was warranted in 18 34 by the Grand Lodge of England , 19 others being of the same Constitution , the junior of these , of A . D . 1882 ( Princess Royal )

ranking as No . 29 . At the formation of the Grand Lodge on April 16 th , 188 4 , there were seven of Irish Constitution in the colony , all of which , excepting the senior , No . 363 , are now on the South Australian register .

One cannot help sympathising with the feelings of this lodge , named the "Duke of Leinster , " in clinging so closely to its venerable " mother , " but mere sentiment alone does not justify isolation and independence . For the welfare of its own members , Masonically , and for the good of the Craft , I trust that

ere long the lodge will " fall into line , " and , being of the year 18 55 origin , doubtless the authorities would agree to the number 8 bis being allotted to it . Surely the brethren will not much longer keep aloof from one of the most successful and united modern Grand Lodges in existence .

The whole of the six Scottish lodges have joined the new organisation , as with all the English ones , a unanimity which says much for the future prosperity of the Craft . Any soreness created in the minds of a few will assuredly disappear amidst so much that is hearty and united .

The first M . W . G . M . was the Hon . Chief Justice Way , D . C . L ., the respected Lieutenant-Governor of the colony , well knovvn and esteemed in this country , and now the Pro G . M . under his successor , the Earl of Kintore , K . C . M . G ., the distinguished Craftsman , whose rule as Grand Master and Governor will long be memorable .

The Grand Lodge recognises the Mark and Royal Arch Degrees . The sole Mark Lodge of English origin is the Adelaide , No . 4 r , but there is another of Irish Constitution working in connection with the Duke of Leinster Lodge , No . 363 , which also has a Royal Arch chapter .

The only chapter under the Grand Chapter of South Australia is No . 4 ( originally 5 83 ) , which was on the English register with the lodge , but on the latter leaving our jurisdiction the chapter was bound to follow . I am disappointed there are not more chapters .

Many of these particulars are to be found in Bro . Sansom ' s excellent " Masonic Guide to South Australia , " which is brimful of information , and is , beyond question , one of the best of the kind in the world . It deserves a circulation much beyond its

own locality , and the Craft in that colony is to be congratulated on having such a handy and useful guide , circulating side by side with the South Australian Freemason , which deserves all the success it has achieved . W . J . HUGHAN .

Activity.

ACTIVITY .

It is the continual action going on in nature that upholds and keeps it in working order . Stop the motion , activity of created matter , and stagnation is produced . The earth upon which we tread is one mass of living activity . Thc springing grass , the soil with root branches working and everextending—the rocks , that seem silent and unmoved , are continually changino * . Activity is life , the absence of it is death . Activity is subtle in many instances , and often we cannot see its working , but in creation it is the mi ghty force of God .

In human affairs the same rule holds good . In everything there is activity . The human body must be active in the use of the powers given to it . The lungs must inhale the pure oxygen that gives thc body power to move . The limbs must be used or the joints become stiffened and thc active work of disintegration sets in . Activity in the human body means health , success , and happiness . It is also onc of the most beautiful things in all nature . The unrest of progress , tlie accretion from moment to moment of

Activity.

ncw forces , ncw strength , greater power , more symmetry , more naturalness . Man in his fully developed physical nature is the crowning act ofthe Creator . Nothing is more beautiful , nothing more to be admired . A developed body is a strong foundation upon which to build the moral and mental faculties of our being . Vigorous manhood is the handmaiden of vigorous mentality . This activity in individuals , so healthful and productive , ought to become

greater when grouped into societies . If one man can do a good work , how much more ought a hundred do ! It is the united activity that moves the machinery of the commercial world . United activity builds railroads and steamships ; circles thc globe with lightning , and carries on all of the multitudinous affairs of life . United indolence never accomplished anything . It is a great , towering iceberg , useless and destructive . And yet there is action even here , but it is the action of destruction .

With the return of cooler days there is a return to lodge work . All over the country the gavels sound in the East , calling the Craft from refreshment . The greetings and hand-shakings will be a proof of the activity of affection . There still remains the germ of social pleasure , which needs but the fructifying touch of hand to hand to start it afresh . They are pleasant , and thc

oft-repeated dreamy memories of the strolls in the great fields of God ' s creation recalls the scenes where nature taught us that its beauties were ever freshened by the activity of the changing seasons . Ancl so we may learn that the beauties of friendshi p and social intercourse are renewed with every recall to labour .

The duties that lie before us in Masonry call for individual as well as collective activity . The activity of each member makes the whole lodge a working body . Activity is contagious . We should be active in doing good , active in attendance upon the meetings , active in our thoughts of the work to be done , active in extending the good influences of our moral teachings , active

in our own individual morality . " Action is but coarsened thought , thought become concrete , obscure and unconscious . " Let our thoughts for the good of thc lodge and of our fellow men be lost in the action performed . " No act , however long , is safe , that docs not match a thought that is still longer . "

Activity is cementing . It binds together in effort , and the united effort is what is now needed . The work before us is great , and there is greater need of activity . The applicant for Masonic lig ht stands at every lodge door . Will thc light , when turned on , reveal a character worthy of membership in the Fraternity ? Let there be active inquiry into the quality of the material at this time offered . There is danger in the very popularity of

Masonry , danger to the Institution . Active , vig ilant sentiments are needed , that will guard well the avenues of approach to the great lights of Masonry , that in thc success now crowning our work , nothing be admitted that will in the future prove injurious . Let there be a united activity in keeping the pcrsonnal of the Fraternity what it should be . Then will the activity work thc good results of building up and strengthening . —New York Dispatch .

Masonic Courtesy.

MASONIC COURTESY .

No one of the beautiful outgrowths of Masonic covenants is more attractive and satisfying in its development , than is the virtue whose title we make the text of our leader this month . Masonic Courtesy : It is the eldest born of those graces which have proceeded out of the marriage , long ago consummated , between brotherly love and friendship . Masonic courtesy : It is the grandchild of the " golden

rule , " ancl meets out to another that measure of cordial recognition , the which we look to receive from him whenever time , place , and occasion reverse our relative positions of g iver and receiver . No travelled Mason , who has visited lodges in different jurisdictions , and has been the recipient of the delightful manifestations of this virtue , will fail heartily to concur in what we

say in its honour . A stranger Mason , who visits a lodge where Masonic courtesy has " free course , " never fails to carry away from that checkered floor enduring remembrances of those who so well obey the command of John , the Evangelist— " Little children , love one another ! " In the gallery of his memory the picture of that scene , which hangs upon the roseate wall , is ever enhaloed , and often is perused by the mind's eye , and he

Longs upon that level To renew the happy scene . That lodge is to be envied which is the source of such memories , and its fame becomes wide-spread . It may not be precise in its ritualism , its officers may not " put on much style ; " it may be ( as no lodge should be ) totally unadorned , and its membership small ; but the exposition of Masonic courtesy given habitually by its officers and Craftsmen , will make it

observable , and will "cover a multitude of ( ritualistic ) sins . " On the contrary , a lodge which has a morose Master , self-important officers , a surly Tyler , and a membership whose manners are repellant , will never be visited more than once by a sojourner , nor will he carry away with him those pleasant memories , the which are a part of the " wages " that are morally and Masonically his due . Such a lodge is generally shunned , and left to its own devices , sooner or later dies of Masonic inanition . And it ought .

That oft repeated and seldom pondered response of the Senior Deacon , which lays down the proposition that it is a Masonic duty to " welcome and accommodate visiting brethren , " every lodge is bound by its covenants to put into its deed . In that response only another expression is given to the axiom we herein announce ; that Masonic courtesy is the eldest born of the numerous progeny of brotherly love and friendship , and is the happy and demonstrative grandchild of the golden rule .

Let us then cultivate this virtue wisely and fully , and let it be " deeply impressed upon the mind of every Mason , not only in the government of his conduct while in the lodge , but also while abroad in the world " of Masonic associations . —E . A . Gnilbert , Iowa .

FREDERICK WILLIAM III . —King of Prussia , born 1770 , died in 1840 . He is said to have been made a Mason in a Russian Military Field Lodge , 14 days after Easter , 1814 . In this lodge the Emperor Alexander I ., of Russia , is said to have presided . Lieutenant Count Lottum and Staff Colonel von Brehmer acted as Wardens , and the Prince of Hardenberg , and many other Prussian and Russian oflicers . Borck , a Prussian official , states that Prince Metternich and

Field-Marshal Prince Blucher were the two Wardens . The reception is said to have been kept secret by order of the King during his life , but to be preserved in the archives of the Russian lodges , taken possession of by the Government in 1822 , and still at Moscow . We confess that we do not believe it . In 179 8 the King issued an order against secret societies , but exempted from its operation the three Grand Lodges at Berlin . All other lodges not under them were to be closed . —Kenning ' s Cyclopcedia of Freemasonry .