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TO OUR READERS . The FREEMASON is a Weekly Newspaper , price 2 Cl « It is published every Friday morning , and contains the most important , interesting , and useful information relating to Freemasonry in every degree . Subscription , in eluding postage : United America , India , India , China , Sec . Kingdom , the Continent , etc . Via Brindisi . Twelve Months ios . 6 d . 12 s . od . 17 s . 4 d . Six „ 5 s . 3 d . 6 s . 6 d . 8 s . 8 d . Three „ 2 s . 8 d . 3 s . 3 d . 4 s . 6 d . Su ' c ^ criptions may be paid for in stamps , but Post Office Orders or Cheques are preferred , the former payable to GEORGE KENNING , CHIEF OFFICE , LONDON , the latter crossed London Joint Stock Bank . Advertisements and other business communications should be addressed to the Publisher . Communications on literary subjects and books for review are to be forwarded to the Editor . Anonymous correspondence will be wholly disregarded , and the return of rejected MSS . cannot be guaranteed . Further inlormation will be supplied on application to the Publisher , 198 , Fleet-street , London . IMPORTANT NOTICE . COLONIAL and FOREIGN SUBSCRIBERS are informed that acknowledgments of remittances received are published in the first number of every month . It is very necessary for our readers 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 . Several P . O . O . ' s are now in hand , but having received no advice we cannot credit them .

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TO ADVERTISERS . The FUEEMASON has a large circulation in all parts of the Globe , its advantages as an advertising medium can therefore scarcely be overrated . ADVERTISEMENTS to ensure insertion 3 n current -week's Issue should reach the Office , 198 , Fleet-street , by 12 o ' clock on Wednesdays . SCALE OF CHARGES FOR ADVERTISEMENTS . "Whole of back page £ 12 12 o Half , „ d 10 c Inside pages ... ... ... ... 7 7 ° Half of ditto 400 Quarter fiitto ... ... ... ... 2100 Whole column ... ... ... 2100 Half „ 1 10 o Quarter „ 100 Per inch ... ... ... 050 These prices are for single insertions . A liberal reduction is matle for a scries of 13 , 26 , and . 1 * 2 insertions . Further particulars may be obtained of the Publisher , 198 , Fleet-street , London .

Answers To Correspondents.

Answers to Correspondents .

The following reports have been received , but star . tl over until next week for want of space . Sphinx Lodge , 109 , l . C . ; Metropolitan Lodge , No . 1507 ; United Military Lodge * , No . 153 6 ; Thc Nelson Lotlge , No . 700 ; Palatine Lodge , No . 97 ; Domatic , No . 177 ; St . Lukes , No .

225 ; Fortitude , No . 281 ; Faith , No . 5 81 ; Alexandra , No . 993 ; Rowley , No . 1051 ; Wentworth , No . 1239 ; Pelham , No . 1303 ; Duke of Lancaster , No . 1353 ; Prince Arthur , No . 1570 ; Crichton , No . 1641 ; Whitwell Mark Lotlge , No . 151 ; St . John ' s Chapter , No . 80 .

BOOKS e- vc , RECEIVED . " Croydon Guardian ; " " Bulletin du Grand Orient tie France ; " " North China Herald ; " " British and Colonial Printer ; " " Vine Leaves " ( a polka by Arthur Clinton ) "Hull Packet ; " " DieBauhutte -, " " Builder . "

Births , Marriages And Deaths.

Births , Marriages and Deaths .

BIRTHS . BROWNI . OW . —On the 17 th inst ., at Eastbourne , the wife of Captain C . C . Brownlow , ist Sikh Infantry , of a daughter . LOCK ii . —On the 19 th inst .. at Ash well , Herts , the wife of W . D . Locke , of a son , stillborn . SCOTT . —On the 1 Sth inst ., at Park-hill-rise , Croydon , the wile of James Scott , of a son .

MARRIAGE . SPENCF . II—GnovE . —On thc nth inst ., at St . Michael ' s , Stockwfcll , S . W ., by the Rev . W . H . Grove , B . A ., brother of the bride , Edward Spencer , of thc Hermitage , Wateringbury , Kent , to Kate Eliza , elder tlaughtcr of John Grove , of 22 , Sttockwell-park-cresccnt , S . W .

DEATH . BIIOWNINO . —On the 20 th inst ., at 21 , Kiltlare-gardens , George Browning , Esq ., M . D ., in his 65 th year .

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THEFREEMASONSATURDAY , DECEMBER 28 , 1878 .

Christmas, 1878.

CHRISTMAS , 1878 .

Christmas is here once more to greet us on our way , and his must be a very churlish or morose disposition which does not unbend a little , thaw a little , so to say , amid the genia ! scenes and pleasant associations of Christmastide . It is true that Christmas does not come to

us all , or greet us all alike . Christmas has not and cannot have the same voice of cheerful sympathy and festive pleasantness for the destitute , for the desolate , for the trouble-stricken , for the bereaved , for those on whom adverse circumstances or darker hours have laid a heavy and

chastening hand . To many , no doubt , this Christmas of 187 S can bring nothing but sad memories and mournful associations . For them its carols and its chants , its services and its anthems , its reunions of gladness , and its bri ght and glowing scenes can have no attraction . Their

thoughts and hearts are elsewhere , and tell of sorrow and are pressed down by care . We fear that Christmas to them will bring but dreary reminiscences instead of joyous felIowship , overwhelming anxieties instead of merry forgetfulness . And , therefore , in our estimate of Christmas we must

not overlook these possibilities and these contingencies , or else our view of the matter will be partial , onesided , incorrect , -rnd incomplete . Still Christmas has a charm for most of us , old and young , even the most busy , encumbered , unsentimental , and absorbed of our race . For

Christmas has a two-fold aspect , past and present , whicii seems to have a reflex action , in its double capacity , on us all alike . It takes us back to a serener past , it lightens up the gloomy present , it links us on to those who are passed away and gone from us , and carries us even to-dav in all

its glittering association and sustaining companionship to other days , and other Ohristmase s , in the long dim vista of the unforgotten and unforgettable past . Amid gay gatherings and cheery congregations , to-day , amid these laughing fairies , and merry lads , who

surround with their innocent and irresistible mirth the Christmas tree in airy and fantastic bowers , the mind perforce looks over their heads , to other deir fairies , and other blithe boys , some laying in their graves , or bowed down old men , suffering old women , who once were our

own dear "fairies' and " our own gallant boys" in the days of " Auld Lang Syne . " And in this sense Christmas is a good season for us all , it unlocks the memory , touches the heart , kindles up the fire of old affection , and making us young again , for the nonce ,

awakens in us a sympathy for others , and expands our feelings until they become more real , living , and human . At least , Christmas ought to do so , is meant to do so , and is not Christmas properly to us unless it does do so . If we onl y spend it in noisy excitement , or hurtful

" wassail , " if we care for nothing but its worldl y side , if we make it merely " of the earth , earthy , " perhaps very , very earthy indeed , then Christmas does us more harm than good : its rest has no benefit for us , its aggregation no charm , it degenerates into the licence of childish saturnalia ,

or the more sensuous license of hurtful prodigality and luxury . Far from us , as Masons , be any such unworthy or derogatory view of this good old Christmas season . While it reminds us of the past never to return , let it serve to moderate the mere earthliness of amusement

while it lightens up the present with its lawful enjoyment of good things . The Freemason begs once more to tender to all its readers , and to all true and loyal Freemasons " all the world over , " its sincere wishes for a very happy Christmas Dav . Though they

will read these lines after their Christmas feast is over , ( let us hope with no regretful memories or effects , ) they still will perhaps accept them in right brotherly good feelings , as an evidence , however weak , of the sincere good feeling which animates Publisher and Editor n these heartfelt aspirations , —that all and every

Christmas, 1878.

happiness may be theirs , alike in 1878 and in 1879 , for themselves and their families , one and all .

The End Of 1878.

THE END OF 1878 .

When we greet and meet our many good readers again , old Seventy-eight will have been gathered to its fathers , and young Seventy-nine will confront us in the way . It is , however , impossible , we think , to leave an old , or welcome a new year , without some little sentiment—a few

serious thoughts . When we take leave of old friends for ever , whom time has endeared and affection has rendered precious to us , we do not always feel quite sure that the new friends we make will either supply their places or satisfy our hearts . And so it is with that passage of Time , which

is marked by the flight of an old , the advent of a new year . The past is leaving us , the untried and unknown future is before us , and we can none of us forecast or forereckon what Seventynine , another twelve months , will bring to us and ours . What 1878 has been 1879 ma > ' he ,

or vice versa ; and the reflexion that each milestone we reach on our journey tells us of another space traversed , of another term achieved , and that , ere twelve-months have come round we , too , may haye reached our earthl y resting place and finished our journey , is alike- momentous and

sobering for each mortal brother and sister of the dust . As then we leave our old year , as we reach the end of 1878 , we think it well , while we wish our readers , one and all , ' •' A Happy New Year , " to remind them , that just as in Masonry , so in life , the rapid whirling away of time has a message

for us all . We must not merely commemorate the end of the old , the commencement o the new year , in gay excess or unreasonable merriment , ( as too many do ) , but we must allow some seasonable and solemn , ( yes , we repeat solemn ) , considerations to control our minds and animate

our aspirations . We leave 1878 most prosperously , as far as Freemasonry is concerned , bu t as patriots and Englishmen we close the page which tells us of the annals of 1878 with a sigh and a tear . A whole nation is mourning , ( most impressive sight ) , the beloved daughter of our

Queen , and who by her own life and actions has graced the diadem and exalted her own royal lineage . As Lord Beaconsfield has said , " No more pathetic incident marks the many episodes of this world , and this "Romance" of contemporary history , may and will leave a lasting impression on

all thoughtful persons . The loving daughter , the faithful wife , the devoted mother , the tender nurse , drew in the seeds of death while soothing with her maternal caress the grief of one of her children . " It is an incident of which few can hear unmoved , it is a glorious trait in the life and

death of one of the noblest and best of women . And so we end 1878 in sorrow , trusting that T . G . A . O . T . U . may send consolation to the mourners and peace to the survivors . We must all be anxious for our gallant soldiers , fighting so bravely and doing their duty so well abroad ;

we cannot shut our eyes to the drawbacks on prosperity and distresses of trade at home . But yet let us hope that the worst is over , jaud thafc 1879 may witness a revival of legitimate commerce and renewed confidence in all classes of the mercantile community , as well as a relief of suffering and distress . And , for ourselves , may the

passage of time remind us alike of our dutiesand our responsibilities , what we have to do , and what we have not to do . 1879 , which , let us hope , will dawn on all our readers in peace and happiness , may bring much in its , as yet to us , mysterious hours , of joy or sorrow , health and sickne ss , prosperity or adversity . And who of us are destined to see 1880 ? Ah ! who can say ?

Compensations.

COMPENSATIONS .

Those earl y Masters of our Craft , to whom were revealed some of the hidden mysteries of science , and by whom the learning of geometry has to us been handed down—Euclid and

Pythagoras—well knew that to every gnomon of a square there must be its complements . To those who carry on these mathematical studies until they can read the stories of other and distant worlds there stands confessed the