Ar00607

NOTICE . The Subscription to THE FREEMASON is now 10 s . per annum , post-free , payable in advance . Vol . I ., bound in cloth 4 s . 6 d . Vol . II ., cftto 7 s . 6 d . Vol . s III ., IV ., V . and VI each 15 s . od . Reading Cases to hold 52 numbers ... 25 . 6 d . Ditto ditto 4 do . ... is . oil . United States of America . THE FhSEMASON is delivered free in any part of the United States for 12 s . per annum , payable in advance . The Freemason is published on Saturday Mornings in time for the early trains . The price of the Freemason is Twopence per week ; annual subscttp ^ on , 10 s . ( payable in advance . ) All communications , letter-. & c , to be addressed to the Editor , 198 , Fleet-street , E . C . 1 he Editorwh . pay carctul attention to all MSS . entrusted tohim , but cannot undertake to return them nnlessaccompanied bypostags stamps .

Ad00603

MADAME TUSSAUD'S EXHIBITION BAKER STREET . Special Attractions for the Christmas Holidays Now added , PORTRAIT MODELS of Dr . KENEALY ( from sittings ) , the Duke and Duchess of Edinbuigh , the Czar of Russia , Sir Garnet Wolseley , the Shah of Persia , Marshal Bazaine , Marshal MacMahon , Mr . Charles Dickens , Air . II . M . Stanley , Dr . Livingstone ( some valuable relics belonging to the great African explorer ) , Sir Samuel Baker . Also new , superb , and costly Court Dresses . Admission is . Children under Twelve , Gd . Extra Rooms , 6 d . Open from ten a . m . till ten p . m .

Ad00604

§ irt ()! 3 , Ulatriagcs nub geatrjs . MARRIAGE . Jiissisfis—UIIASIKH . —Dec . 22 nd ., 1874 , at St . Peter's , Thanet , by the Itev . Aug . F . Tullcninchc , Thos . K . Jennings , of 2 , Cray ' s Inn Square , London , to Elizabeth Martha , eldest daughter of Hro . W . C . Brasicr , P . M . and Treas ., Union Lodge ( Xo . 127 ) , . Margate .

Ad00605

gnsfocrs to dlovvcspiibcnts . All Communications , Advertisements , & c , intended for insertion in the Number of the following Saturday , must reach the Office not later than 6 o ' clock 011 Wednesday evening . All Communications should be sent to 198 , Fleet Street , 1 he following ccmniunlcations stand over and will appear next week : — Letters fr < m W . W . S . ; P . M . iS 6 ; M . M . 12 , ? , ?; 1 I . M . G . ; Reports of Lodges , 114 , I . il , , 57 6 , 1 . } . ?<) , 1423 , E . C ; 8 7 . 354- 3 » ° . 4 . 17- 5 ° . ?> 54 . ? . 55 . ? . S . C . Mark Lodge , St . John ' s , Chapter 41 , E . C , 50 , S . C . Hose Croix Chapter , Victoria . Obituary—tiro . (" apt . W . II . Lee .

Ar00606

The Freemason , SATURDAY , DECEMBER 26 , 1874 .

Christmas.

CHRISTMAS .

" Christmas comes but once a year , " says an old rural saw , and though often made use of in a perverted sense , and for a spurious plea , yet there is , we feel bound to say , a good deal of

truth and meaning in the ancient adage . For Christmas seems always to draw near with a special greeting-a peculiar presence of friendliness and pleasantness to us all . There are very few

to whom it is not given on Christmas Day to form part of a Christmas gathering , and many have been looking forward through months of hard work to the Christmas holiday , and the

Christmas merry meeting . Were we a very serious , or professedly religious journal , we should feel bound to say something on the reli . gious side and teaching of Christmas ; but , as

we are only a Masonic paper , we will content ourselves , " for the nonce , " with looking at Christmas from a mundane point of view , not

indeed , forgetting , its leligious aspect or truth , but leaving them to abler teachers and specia * exponents . Charles Dickens , in the inimitable pages of " Pickwick , " saw long ago the touching

Christmas.

side of Christmas , even as a family episode in the onward and hurrying years of life . Some of our readers will remember at once , we doubt not , those indescribably graceful sentences

in which he summons up the vision of the old past Christmas of our human experience , with its gracious memories and bettering sympathies . And his words still are most

true in all their ring of genuine eloquence , and pathos , and can still be read and thought over with equal profit and pleasure . Yes , Christmas is indeed a happy time to many an assembled

family party , a sort of decking of the home shrine with all the most fragrant flowers of household affection and domestic peace . Old and young are gathered in the old "homestead , "

round the one "hearthstone . " The elders are there with their tales of wise warning , their counsels of experience ; youth is there with its quips and pranks , and " wreathed smiles , " and

overflowing spirits , and undimmed mirth All meet at last , who have not met for months , and perchance for years , all assemble together , and rally around the old " home banner , " torn and faded

though it be , if only for a few short hours , perhaps not to meet for months , or even years again . Many a Christmas meeting in our happy land manages to bring together all that is

truest in age , all that is pleasantest in youth , all that is tenderest in life . We who are getting on in the world , we who are either grown weary or woebegone , or cold or

callous , we shall not again listen to such joyous strains of innocent mirth and softest harmony as we heard in that Christmas family party , many a long year ago ' . No ' , to-day , as we are greeted

once again with the shouts of merriment and the uproar of " misrule , " when we are listeners perforce once more to the " carols " of Christmas , the songs of innocence and the voices of

melody , we are carried back inevitably , in the spirit of our minds , to another day and a far off scene . We recall a happy gathering in " Old Lang Syne , " of all that was dear and tender , and

fond and true , and we remember a happy Christmas , a very happy Christmas time , when we were young and gay , and when those laughing boys and prattling maidens—now very old boys

and very old girls indeed , were beginning to tread with us the daisy-spangled meadows of life ' s young morn . But we must not get sentimental . Christmas has no need of sentimentality , as it

oilers to us all thatjistrue and healthy , all that is gracious and most sympathetic , alike in present associations , and byegone memories , Christmas has a charm and affection for | us all , what "

ever our age may be , and well it is , we think , that it is so . Without moralizing too much , or in any way " preaching , " so to say , we are of opinion that we all may

discern what a wise and good national institution it is , which makes our Christmas festival annually a season of family reunion , and home geniality . Once a year amid the dark

hours of a closing December , after the yule log is duly burned according to ancient and mystic precedent , our whole English domestic life seems to assume , if it be possible , a deeper hue than

ever of personal affection , unity , and association . Before that the old year has faded utterly away —before that a new year has dawned upon us all , our Christmas festivities have brought

Christmas.

together relations and friends , old folks and young folks , the little girls and the little boys , a large and most important element in our floating population , to keep their Christmas holiday .

And if at this season of general pleasantness and contentment , of open-heartedness and affection , if amid the tokens of plenty and the sounds of gaiety , the good things of earth , our hearts are

open to the woes and the wants of others—then whatever our own gratification may be , in our own Christmas famil y circle , that gratification will assurely be augmented , in proportion as

we have put oft our ingrained selfishness , and have thought of and cared for others . For it seems to be a necessary

accompaniment of extending civilization , though why we know not , that we too often witness still marked contrasts between wealth and

poverty , abundance and want . When our Christmas trees are li ghted , when our comfortable board is spread , when the stately sirloin , or the golden turkey , or the steaming mince pie , or the

capacious plum pudding , are hailed one and all with the outburst of childhood ' s welcome ; there are some sad sights to be seen and remembered , in this world and metropolis of ours . Dives is

still here , and Lazarus is still at his gate . There are haunts where the light never enters , rooms , overcrowded rooms , on which the sun never shines . There are pestilential fever , and

depressing ague , and contagious maladies , stalking among densely populated alleys and localities , and amid our own plenty and ease to-day , the evidence of splendour , the luxury of wealth ,

there may still be beheld the wasted face of hunger , the pallid form of sickness , the foul pallet on which the fever-stricken patient is lying , or that sad scene where the feeble bod y is slowly

yielding to the insidious advances of fatal disease , amidst sights of shame , and sounds of misery . Christmas then ever seems to whisper to us all amidst our own festivities and our home happiness

to think of others who have none of these things , and know of none of these rejoicings . Christmas seems to tell us all , whether old or young , that our best Christmas feast will be that

which is sweetened by the memory that we have ourselves personally , if humbly , endeavoured to lig hten one load of sorrow , to smooth one brow of care , to aid one . suffering and afflicted

fellowcreature . Never at a time , probably , was there more doing , by good and praiseworthy persons , and in refuges , and homes , and hospitals , and asylums , to mitigate snff ' ering , and to befriend

the friendless than now , but still we think that it is , and ever will be , a very seasonable reminder which Christmas brings to us all alike , year by year , amid the cries and clamour of our poor

common suffering humanity , " Go and do thou likewise . " Amid the echoes of our Christmas rejoicings , amid the carols of this festive and rejoicing season , amid the pure and pleasant flow

of friendship and goodwill , the best and the truest of all associations will be those which tell us of kindly labours of love done in the true and unostentatious spirit of loving charily , and which

are doubly blessed by the thanks and happiness of those whom our solicitude has tended , whom our fraternal benevolence has relieved . May Christmas be indeed a happy Christmas to all our readers and to their families ; to all , old or