Original Correspondence.

statement as to the simple compulsory registration of the Apprentice or Craftsman ' s Mark in Scotland is confirmed by the traditional testimony of a Scottish Operative Master Mason of my acquaintance , whose ancestors have been Operative and Speculative for eight generations , and he says " We have gone to the steeple of the Church ol Glasgow to select a mark . " The objection I take to the Mark ! Degree is that it

claims equal antiquity for its modern invention with the Craft , a degree which should embody researches such as those of which " W . E . N . " would be praiseworthy , if it omitted the puerility of an ancient legendary descent . I hope that this free expression of opinion will not offend "W . E . N ., " whom I respect for the learning and ability with which he has illustrated the subject , and I hope to read more of his letters upon the subjects of which they

treat . Yours ,, truly and fraternally , J ° YARKER .

IGNORA . NCE OF THE BOOK OF CONSTITUTIONS . To the Editor of the " Freemason . " Dear Sir and Brother , — It would almost seem that this ignorance ol the Book of Constitutions prevails amongst our rulers . If every W . M . elect should pass an examination , previous to installation before the Board of Past Masters , would it not be a

good thing in these days of examination ? Seriously is it pot strange , Dear Sir and Brother , that so few brethren study tbe Book of Constitutions ? I here beg leave to propose that on the entrance of a new brother every lodge should give him a copy of the Book of Constitutions . Might not this system make it more read ? ADEPT .

A RECENT INCIDENT IN PARIS . Dear Bro . Kenning , — The following extract from the Times of June 23 rd , gives us the conclusion of a very deplorable affair , and is the best reply to all remarks on the subject : — The appeal of M . Bonnet Duverdier , President of the Paris Municipality , against his condemnation to 15

months' imprisonment and 2000 L fine , for defaming Marshal MacMahon at a private meeting at St . Denis , came before the Correctional Tribunal to-day . As the accused offered no defence at the former hearing , this was the real trial of the case , and accordingly it excited much interest . The defendant , on being interrogated , disclaimed the expressions imputed to him , to the effect that the

imbecile Marshal would soon be brought to the bar of the people to atone for his crime ; that he , like a dastard , slipped from his horse at Sedan to make believe he was wounded ; that the manoeuvres of the Ministry would bring back the Prussians , but that the people would not fight under incompetent generals , or be lulled lor such people , but would first dispose of the Marshal and his

Government and then settle matters with the enemy ; that all means were good , and that after the ballot-box there was the legal means which the meeting knew of . What he really said , he maintained , was that the Marshal seemed resolved on not making a Coup iFElat , but his advisers , reckoning on his inaptitude , were capable of anything . The wound at Sedan prevented him from capitulating , and

a wit—M . Rochefort—had said he ought to recompense the doctor who cured him and enabled him afterwards to be President . He considered the Marshal a good soldier , if not a great general , but he did not call him a dastard . He might have spoken of his inaptitude , but he did not call him an imbecile or idiot . He certainly did not style him a capitulard , for he spoke of his wound preventing

him from capitulating . The defendant protested against remarks at private meetings being taken notice of , and asked what would be said if the police listened at the key . hole of M . Thiers' drawing-room and detected criminality in the conversation . To this the Judge replied that a

private domicile was inviolable , but a meeting of 200 people was a very different thing . Witnesses were then called on both sides , and at 7 p . m . the Court confirmed the judgnu nt , as also that passed on the three co-defendants . I am , yours fraternally , THE WRITER or THE LEADER .

A NEW DEFINITION OF FREEMASONRY . To the Editor of Ihe " Freemason . " Dear Sir and Brother , — In the Daily Telegraph ot the 1 ith inst . an article , written in a very unhappy frame of mind against the Order , alludes to the late case in the Court of Queen ' s Bench , wherein two brethren were the parties to the action ,

arid endeavours , in a flippant tone , to cast opp obnum up < n " those persons , the Freemasons , " because the unfortunate event was , undoubtedly , within the province of the Grand Master to fettle , and need not have found its way into a court of law . The animus of the writer in the Daily Telegraph is so apparently antagonistic to Freemasonry that the probability is he is a disappointed candidate , and ,

therefore , still one of the profane , else he could scarcely descend to the fanfarronade in which he indulges at the supposed expense of his " quondam brothers . " In a journal which , I believe , and am informed—for I am a stranger and a sojourner here— has the reputation of much clearness of discussion , and sagacity of reasoning , coupled with liberal sentiments of political government , I

am surprised to find such serious nonsense laid before the public , as the statement that Freemasonry is " a purely convivial and benevolent society , " inasmuch as conviviaMty has nothing whatever to do with the principles of the Order , and , although based \ ipon the ancient landmark of

charity , it is not a benevolent society , distributing alms to its members in accordance with any set rules , and can in no possible manner be likened with , or compared to the Odd Fellows , the Foresters , the Druids , or any other society whatever . If the remarks of the Daily Telegraph had been of a sentient nature , and calculated to bring Free-

Original Correspondence.

masonry into disrepute , I should have been disposed to recommend a little study of Masonic jurisprudence , or the quiet reading of the " Freemasons' Manual , " an 1 it would not again fall into the egregious error of asserting that Freemasonry is a convivial society . What Freemasonry teaches is charity to all mankind , and the brother who so deports himself with morality and brotherly love , as to be

entitled to be reckoned a worthy corner stone , is typically rewarded by such convivial things as " corn , wine , and oil , " when called from " labour to refreshment , " and this is the extent of its conviviality . It is time that the odium of a man returning to his home in a high state of excitement from imbibing , because " he has been to his lodge , " should be refuted for ever , as the dignity and importance

of Masonry would not bc recognised if the lodge was merely a p ' ace for convivial meeting and social enjoyment . Belonging , as I do , to a foreign jurisdiction , I indignantly resent the gratuitous aspersion , and think that the Da'l y Telegraph would do well to employ better informed writers on Masonic subjects for the future . I am , dear Sir and Brother , yours fraternally , ALFRED WELDHEN .

CHARITY VOTING . To the Editor of the " Freemason . " Dear Sir nnd Brother , — Notwithstanding your courteous rejoinder , and the quotation from our " Charity Voting Reform Association " paper , I must still say you and Bro . Hughan have been under a great misapprehension as to my

meaning . Numbers of our brethren , and myself amongst them , have understood you to imply that I advocated the abolition of voting and the appointment of a " central committee" of selection in its stead . This I did not do , nor did I ever intend to do . The passage you quote refers to a very different thing .

This suggestion was merely thrown out to meet many enquiries made at our office , and to fill a void that is not unfrequently to be found . For instance , a subscriber has " no candidate of his own , " as the phrase goes , ncr has he even a " friend to ob'ige , " nay more , he finds great difficulty in discriminating the most urgent case or cases amongst a long list , with a veiy brief

account of each . It is suggested in such a case that he send his proxy paper to the Committee of the charity , who probably have the best means of judging of the comparative merits of the candidates ( or ought to have ) , and allow them to allot the vote or votes as they may deem most just . I still contend that" canvassing " by cards and circulars

and " polling days " are well known abuses , both out of and in Masonry . I am thankful to say the Royal Medical Benevolent College and tVie Clergy OipVian Corporation have done away with the latter , to the great satisfaction of the subscribers , and they are in rapid progress towards prohibiting the former . Most happy shall I be , dear Sir and brother to aid in

my humble measure in preventing as far as possible " the admission of doubtful or improper cases . " This , no doubt , lies at the root of the matter . Let us then get to work at the root and we may hope to have branches which shall not only be more graceful , but more productive of fruit , and more calculated to afford shelter to the poorest and most

deserving cases . I am , dear Sir and Brother , fraternally yours , R . J . SIMPSON- . [ We publish Bro . Simpson ' s letter with pleasure , but we think the discussioi had Letter now cease , the more so as our good brother a d ourselves are not likely to agree as to the main points cf his letter . —Ei > . ]

Roman Catholic Intolerance.

ROMAN CATHOLIC INTOLERANCE .

Nearly two yeais ago a young and thriving merchant of Batavia , in the Island of Java , resolved to take unto himself a wife . He applied for the hand of a young lady of his acquaintance , and bis application was received by her fanvly with every mark of favour . The [ future husband became a welcome guest at his fiancee ' s home . The

( ormal betrothal took place , and " all went merry as a marriage bell . " Soon the young lover hoped to be made the happiest of men . But he was reckoning without his host . A difficulty arose . The Romish clergy had discovered that our young friend was the son of a man who had been a staunch Freemason in his day , who had in Belgium , been a prominent antagonist of the clerical party

there . Of course , the son would follow in his father ' s footsteps unless some wise and friendly hand interfered . The interference tcok place . The parents of the young lady were charged to withdraw their consent to the union unless they could obtain their intended son-in-law's promise that he would never become a . Freemason . To everybody ' s surprise , the young merchant avowed

respect and veneration for his late father ; refused to make any promise of the kind demanded ,- and had the cool audacity to declare that he fully intended to propose himself as a candidate for initiation in the mysteries of Freemasonry . He alleged as his reason for this determination that he desired to remain free both in his religious and political opinions . Bigotry prevailed . The parents

revoked their consent . The marriage was broken off . Two young lives were severed . But , after all , the object of the Romanists was nnt attained . The young man hastened to apply for initiation—was elected a Mason . Nor is this all ; many other gentleman of high

standing , in Batavia , were induced , by the noise which the event made , to enquire for themselves , and in a short time to follow our hero ' s example . We need not add any comments . The world ' s history affords instances enough to emphasize the moral that " persecution fails to coerce any but the weak and the unworthy . "— Craftsman ,

Reviews.

Reviews .

Wonders of O perative Masonry . " By P . McCALLA P . A ., B . M ., and Editor of the Keystone , Philadel phia ' '

U . S . ' We have received from our kind and able confere this little work , being sketches of the ancient Abbies and Cathedrals of Great Britain . We have read it with great interest , though much of its contents have alread y appeared in the Masonic Magazine , reprinted from that excellent paper the Keystone . Like all that Bro . McCalla

writes , the little work is marked by singular clearness of detail and power of expression , and it is in itself a very valuable contribution to Masonic and archaeological literature . And yet the perusal of Bro . McCalla's striking words only serves to convince us , what some Masonio students have long known in England , that we are even now hut at the beginning , so to say , of Masonic

antiquarian investigation , and before us lies a wide field yet of study and research . VVe have to bring out yet more forcibly and lucidl y than has yet been achieved the condition of operative Masonic Guild Life in England , and we have to lay down the precise conditions under which tbe operative became entirely absorbed by the speculative element .

Until that be done , Masonic history assumes only the appearance of the ¦ ' disjecta membra " of incoherent legends and unconnected traditions , and we are still as far as ever from a clear and critical history of our great Order . We hail Bro . McCalla ' s " opus culum " as we greeted Bro . Fort ' s " magnum opus , " as happy offerings

sent across the wide Atlantic towards the study and realization of Masonic archteology , and we congratulate our excellent Confrere on a compilation both skilful and intelligent in the highest degree , reflecting equal credit on its writer , and the Craft , of which he is so zealous and promising a member .

( Communique ' . ) SOME ACCOUNT OF MASONIC CHARITY , AND A

PROPOSAL FOR EXTENSION , BY EDWIN HAIIDON , P . M . Second edition . This is a remarkable pamphlet , and was originally intended for circulation among East Lancashire Masons ; hut the subject and the mode of its treatment render Bro . Hardon ' s brochure most valuable not only to the fraternity , but to all who are earnestly interested in the

administration and extension of charities of the kind for which Masonry is conspicuous . There is hardly a line of our brother ' s pamphlet which is not interesting and worthy of study , but . to us , the most sensible and attractive suggestion is ( see page 12 ) that our charities should take a home form -, that is , the children to live at home , and be clothed and educated at the expense of a Provincial Grand

Lodge chanty . Bro . Hardon puts the scheme so powerfully , that lest we should fail to give the necessary pith and point to his proposal , we quote his own most forcible language" The £ 40 or £ 50 now spent in the entire care of one child might be made more useful to a family—the one child taken in hand , so far as the rest of the family are

concerned , is but a saving of the food and clothes of one of them -, and in a family—say of four children—left unprovided for , this sum of £ 40 or £ 50 would materially contribute to educate and clothe the whole of these four children . Whilst you take but one now out of them for a term of years to clothe , feed , and educate well , what are the rest of these children doing ? Who clothes them ?

Who pays for their education ? and what is their daily bread whilst the favoured one of the family is enjoying the comparative luxuries of a grand institution ? And when his term has run , and at sixteen years of age his steps are to be directed homeward . What strange recollections home must recall ! Childhood and its associations arc long passed away , followed by years of comfort and

plenty enjoyed in the fellowship of equal associates in the adopted paternity of a benevolent establishment . You have educated him out of and above the level and equality of his normal home , and you can now only return him to his family , presumably furnished and fitted to enter upon the duties of active life , and to help to assist in sustaining the household . Thus you weight him with a responsibility

far beyond his age , for he is but on the mere threshold of business life , and can only enter upon its activities in a subordinate capacity , and with the beginning of an income little if any better a beginning than other boys of the family will have been compelled to enter upon at a much younger age , though they have been kept al home , unnoticed and uncared for by us . But worse for the

family , this young gentleman of sixteen is likely to be impatient of parental influences , now so very necessary to control and restrain the dangerous over-enthusiasm engendered by the feeling of independence his comp leted training will have inspired . But as this epoch ends our care of him—his after history is untold . What of the family struggles during his absence ? At a younger age

some will have had to be put out , and bring their contributions to the family stock , and in the race of life have thus had a few years' start of this educated one . How glaring the contrast ! and in families how fatal for peace such a contrast must be . " . All our readers will , we think , admit the force and go " sense of the above citation , and we take it that other than

Masonic charities most advantageously consider ou brother Hardon ' s very practical suggestions . Weare per * suaded that he propounds a plan which would render a such charities more extensively useful , and we cordially nay , anxiously , commend the consideration of this m ° useful publication to all who are concerned in the 1 J x £ a - ' sion and administration of charities . J- M . L- _ * i