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Original Correspondence.
3 . The very fact of Truro Cathedral being what " T . W . M . " calls a " State Cathedral Church " makes it , apart from any denominational question , a national monument , and , therefore , an object of universal interest , which cannot be said of any Baptist , Weslcyan , Jewish , or Roman Catholic place of worship in this country . 4 . The precedents adduced by Bro . Holmes in his letter of last Saturday , and well known to every Mason , amply justify him , were any justification needed , in his present
course . I should just like to add , in reference to the remark of " Freemason " about " the numerous ban 1 of ladies and gentlemen who think tbey are praising God by subscribing so many thousand pounds to build a Cathedral , while scores , aye •hundreds , of their fellow creatures in the country ara wretched and almost starving , " that your correspondent ought to know very
well , if he does not , that those who are leaders in church work of all kinds in this land are far larger supporters of charity and relief funds than those who sneer at them , and that it is the indiscriminate distribution of relief so largely practised in England that has led to much of the improvidence , distress , and pauperism that are now the curses of our land . Yours fraternally ,
T . B . WHYTEHEAD York , August 23 .
PROVINCIAL GRAND LODGE OF HAMPSHIRE AND THE ISLE OF WIGHT . To the Editor ofthe" Freemason . " Dear Sir and Brother , — I find in your issue ofthe 2 ^ th inst . a letter signed "Consistency " animadverting on the appointment of some brethren to offue in the Grand Lodge of this
province who were not present at the recent meeting held in this town . Your correspondent has , however , omitted to state that shortly before that meeting it became necessary to alter the day for holding it , in consequence of the Naval Review at Spithead having been fixed for the same day ( the 13 th inst . ) , after the notice of meeting of Prov . Grand Lodge had been circulated amongst the lolges for some
time . No doubt several brethren who had made arrangements to attend on the 13 th were prevented from being present at the postponed meeting ; indeed I know such to have been the case , and 1 feel certain the Prov . Grind Master would give due weight to that circumstance in dealing with the absence of brethren whose names appeared on tbe returns as intending to be present .
In this province notice is forwarded to every lodge several weeks before a meeting of the l ' rov . Grand Lodge is held , and it contains ( on the occasion of the annual meeting ) the following intimation , viz .: " The Prov . Grand Master expressly requires a return of the names and the highest private lodge rank of every subscribing member who intends tobt present at the Provincial meeting , ' and
states the probability of brethren not so returned being passed over in the appointment of Prov . Grand Ollieers . From these returns a selection is made of the brethren who are tn be appointed to offi .-e in Provincial Grand Lodge , and this rule has always been adhered to as far as possible , but it is practi'ally impossible to ascertain before ProvincWl Giand Lodge meets whether
the brethren who have bien so selected will all be present , the Prov . Grand Master cin only rely upon the returns made from the lodges , and when Grand Lodge has met ( there being probably upwards of 203 brethren present ) it is also impossible to make a change . The first intimation probably tin Prov . Grand Master has of the absence of the selected brother is on his name
being proclaimed for the particular office to which he is to bc appointed , he docs not appear to be invested , and in most cases some brother of his lodge apologises for his absence on some unavoidable ground . It appears to mc the only course the Prov , Grand Master can pursue is cither to refuse to make any appointment to the office a ' that time , or to appoint the absent brother who has been
selected for it ; it is certainly too hte to make a change , and , moreover , considering that in many instances the appointment is intended as a compliment to a deserving lodge ejuite as much as to the brother selected from the lodge who is to receive lhe office , I think your correspondent will perceive there are some good reasons why the former course should not always be adopted .
I feel certain the l ' rov . G . Master is most desirous that all the lotlgcs should furnish strictly ru-curate returns of the brethren who will attend , and lhat no brother should authorise his name to appear who ii not evrlii'i ( as far as possible ) he will be able to be present , and that if any deviation from this rule should a rise tbe Prov . Grand Master will visit it with his marked disapproval . Yours fraternally , D . P . G . M .
PROVINCIAL GRAND LODGE OF HAMPSHIRB AND THE ISLE OK WIGHT . 7 Vi the Editor of the " Freemason " Dear Sir and Brother , — " Consistency " having referred in vour columns to the appointment of brethre 1 to office in this province who were not present to bc invested , I think might have added
that the meeting of the Intge having been announced for Tuesday the 13 th inst ., consequent upon the Naval Review being held at Spithead that day , was put off , at short nritirr , till Thursday the 15 th . This dnulitleiS prcventei some from attending who had arranged to be present on Tuesday and could not give up the fecond day for the pur .
pose . There wis also , it should bc remembered , one absentee who received honours under circumstances which seem to be justified by very high authority , even if any Mason w mid be so ungracious as to deprive a brother of a collar in view ot the interesting fact , as notified in open lodge , that on the morning of the day of investment he had
Original Correspondence.
" married a wife , and therefore could not come . " This , however , ought not to have prevented the most obvious precautions ag-ainst conferring honours on those not present , by appeal to the attendance book to see if the brethren selected were actuall y in lodge , and , should there seem to be special reason for appointing them in their absence , ascertaining of any brother present whether there
was reasonable cause for that absence . The subject of the selection of officers having , however , been raised in your columns , I should like to be allowed to make a few remarks on the system , or perhaps it should more properly be called ths want of system , in that selection , which appears to prevail in this province . I , for one , do not fail to recognise that a selection having been
made in private , a choice suddenly arrived at on finding the S . W . elect absent might have proved more unsatisfactory in tbe general interests of tbe Craft than abiding by the original selection . It has , however , always been understood that in this annual distribution of honours the officials of lodges in the town " where the gathering is held shall at least not
be omitted from consideration . The reasonableness of that presumed arrangement will be apparent when it is remembered that , there being nearly thirty lodges in the province , the meeting at which the appointments are to be made can scarcely be expected to bc held in any one town twice within ten years . Now , at Southampton there are four town lodges , and two others in tbe neighbourhood at
distances of about two miles from its centre , the bulk of their members being engaged professionally or otherwise in the town , practically making six lodges , to which the Prov . Grand Master has recommended the addition of a seventh , or exactly one fourth of the total of lodges in the province . The list , it will be seen , comprises twenty-forr appointments , every office included .
If , however , we exclude such appointments as Tyler , Chaplain , and the permanent officials , I venture respectfully to urge that the selection of two brethren from Southampton for lodge honours does not fairly represent what that town was justly entitled to and might reasonably have expected . Reckon the distribution as you will , of the lodges in Southampton proper the only one omitted from
honours on this occasion was the Royal Gloucester , the senior of the four receiving Grand Lodge . That omission , I most respectfully urge , is the more marked , seeing that whilst the senior , it is also the mother loilge of the Deputy Prov . Grand Master and Prov . Grand Sec ; it was , too , I believe , tin mother lo ^ gc of the last two Deputy Prov . Grand Masters before the brother who at present holds that
distinguished position—Bros . J . R . Stebbing and C . E . Deacon . If it be suggested by those unacquainted with the facts that the Royal Gloucester may , perchance , have lost its influence or prestige . I an only say that—ipirt from the reign of its present W . M ., who in so large a province scarcely , I should think , expects recognition before he has
put off his armour—the Immediate Pa » t Master has been appointed Prov . Grand Organist some five or six times within my knowledge , and after the specimens of Prov . Grand Organists one has seen and heard in various places , and may yet expect tn hear ( though , of course , this does not apply to Hampshire ) , that " honour" cannot be regarded as one to be coveted , or as recognising lodge
services ; he has also for some years been the life and soul of the excellent lodge of instruction in the town ; and his predecessor in the chair of tie Gloucester is the son of the Dep . Prov . Grind Master . This omission of the Southampton lodges in general , and of the Royal Gloucester in paiticular , from Grand Lodge honours is the more marked when the proportion of brethren receiving honours—say
from Portsmouth—is noticed . In saying this I cist blame on no one . The se'ection of brethren from anywhere and everywhere in the province , except those resilient at the pi ice when Grand Lodge is held , may be inevitable , as the many re ' erences to this subject at the banquet seemed to indicate was felt in high quarters . If it is , I , for one , am not disloyal or unreasonable enough to complain , especially as
having gone from one end of the county tn the other at the recent distribution—from Hivant and Portsmouth to Ringwood and Bournemouth—there will no doubt bc a chance by-and-bye for the recognition of some of those dwelling in the centre of the county ; bat without some such excuse recent proceedings do certainly seem somewhat strange to Yours fraternally ,
A SOUTHAMPTON MASON .
To the Edit a- of the " Frecmat . n . " Dear Sir and Brother , — In the report of the meeting of the above on tbe 15 U 1 instant , a member cf one of the entertaining lodges favoured us with some information anent the banqueting arrangements ; and I quite agree with this brother that it is impossible tn please every one '; hence
the grumbling of a Alasonic Shylock who was short of his pint of wine ; but the Committee may rest assured that their efforts to make the Annual Provincial Festival a success were duly appreciated by the majority of the brethren who altend » d j but there is one part of this brother ' s statement—viz ., that ' 50 bottles of champagne were placid tin the table gratuitous by the four entertiming lolges , to which attention should be directed , as it
is too gre-at a burden to inflict on any Masonic district , it encourages the present waste in our banqueting and violates tin : professed principle " that no pottion of our funds shall be thus applied save and except as hospitality to visiting brethren , " and 1 presume no one will argue lhat the wine was given in this sense . The Committee are not blameable for doing what they thought , and which really was , a kind act , but it is quite time the P . G . M ., who was present at this meeting , stopped this
Original Correspondence.
wasteful expenditure , as the money could bc better applied to charitable purposes . Not long since Lord Skelmersdale called attention to the excesses in Masonic banqueting , and more recently one of our luminaries ventured tha assertion that ( ( , ' , 000 was annually spent in Masonic banquets . The efforts of these large , hearted brethren are intended
to reduce the waste at these dinners by restricting the menu and so much wine drinking , and not to prevent brethren meeting socially and enjoying the pleasure of fraternal Masonic intercourse in a more inexpens-ive man . ner . I may say that all these good intentions will never bc carried out whilst brethren oi high authority countenance lodges in spending their funds in this manner . I am , Sir and Brother , yours faithfully . PYTHAGORAS .
THE ADMISSION OF MEMBERS . To the Editor of the " Freemason . " Dear Sir and Brother , — Assuming the facts to be correctly stated byyour correspondent " Caution , " it seems to me a more truly important subject than that on which he has addressed you could not be brought be r ore the attention of the Craft . I
cordially join with him in the expression of a hope that such circumstances are rare , and I would add that the matter ought" not to he allowed to rest where it now is . " The power of blackballing , especially where one ball may reject , is , no doubt , liable to abuse—as , indeed , what power dependent upon the frailties of our common humanity is not?—especially in small towns , where there is but
one lodge , and a man in every way worthy may be shut out from our Order through personal pique or prejudice . But such prejudice surely can hardly find au opportunity of exerting itself wherethere are six lodges amidst a population , as I gather fiom " Caution , " of only eighty thousand . It is but fair to presume , under such circumstances , that if one lodge will not accept a man who is worthy of
joining the Order , and whose circumstances warrant his so doing , another will do so . It appears to me a loilge at a distance undertakes a grave responsibility in initiating members from such a tewn and neighbourhood , and the officials of the province a still graver resp msibility in recommending that the brethren so initi ited may be permitted to open a lodge in the very mi 1 st of those who may
have blackballed or rejected some cf them , while , with regard to other . :, they have not so much as enjoyed an opportunity of passing their opinion on the point whether or not thf-y are such persons as it is desirable should be received into the Order . Even iu deprecating a possible a ") use of privilege by a brother in a tov . n when a single lodge is held , it is but fair to remember that iu
such cases the choice of the members has to be made between a novice , utterly untried , and it may be a brother who has been a member many years and has done goo : ! service for Masonry ; nor , in any case , ars oar laws so strin gent as thns : of the Grand Orient of France , where 1 am 10 I 1 Itill a recent date , at all events , if it does not now previil — not e nly the members of a lodge but any visiting brethren
are called upon to ballot respecting the admission of a candidate , on the ground that the person votel for woull become not merely a member of a particular lodge but of the Order generally . 1 have heard this principle condemned as being farfetched , but there arc . I suspect , few who have held responsible lodge offices in our large towns who could not testify
that the privilege " once a Mason always a Mison , "is much more extensively claimed and cuerciseil than many of us conceive it was ever intended lo be—a fact of no slight bearing on another point raised by yojr corresp indent ' s letter . Leaving aside for the moment the question how far Lodges arc justified in habitually receiving men from a
distant town offering facilities to all for joining the Order , it is obvious that the grant e > f a warrant to those so received , including , it may reasonably be presumed , some who would not be admitted into the Order by those who know better than strangers can , thrir habits , social position , tec , can have no other effect than that of nullifying and rendering practically void the power of rejection and , what is
worse still , lowering the socul standard of Masonry . In saying this , I desire lo bc clearly understood as holding that Masonry was never intended to embrace artizans and the class for whom O Idfellowship , Forestry , and the like societies were designed ; had it been otherwise , nothing is to my mind more clear than that some direct pecuniary benefit would have been offered our members , if not from
the moment of joining , at some deferred date . In some circles , however , I regret to sec the feeling growing that every man earning something weekly beyond the wages of a mere labourer , and who can spare five pounds for his initiation fee , is entitled to be made a Mason . I may be exclusive in my tastes , but I repudiate sympathy with a feeling which I regard , so far from reflecting credit on the
Order , as its most threatening symptom . Ojr chanties , I hold it , were designed and are conducted mainly as reserves , to meet thos-e cases of emergency which will always arise in a country like ours , and not as the one principal object , end , and aim of the Order . Were ojr schools and benevolent institutions carried on for the purpose of providing assistance or a refuge to every Mason ' s widow or
children , or even every Mason himself after reaching old age , a certain defined proportion—and that necessarily a very large one—ol our yearly * subscriptions would , of course , bc set apart by the Constitutions for the express purpose of maintaining our charities , which to meet even the most
urgent and deserving cases must be very much larger than they now are . As it is , these charities are simply the out-growth of our Order , the outward and visible sign of our principles and tenets , and I hold that no man should be received into the Order unless his social position at the time of his joining is such
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Original Correspondence.
3 . The very fact of Truro Cathedral being what " T . W . M . " calls a " State Cathedral Church " makes it , apart from any denominational question , a national monument , and , therefore , an object of universal interest , which cannot be said of any Baptist , Weslcyan , Jewish , or Roman Catholic place of worship in this country . 4 . The precedents adduced by Bro . Holmes in his letter of last Saturday , and well known to every Mason , amply justify him , were any justification needed , in his present
course . I should just like to add , in reference to the remark of " Freemason " about " the numerous ban 1 of ladies and gentlemen who think tbey are praising God by subscribing so many thousand pounds to build a Cathedral , while scores , aye •hundreds , of their fellow creatures in the country ara wretched and almost starving , " that your correspondent ought to know very
well , if he does not , that those who are leaders in church work of all kinds in this land are far larger supporters of charity and relief funds than those who sneer at them , and that it is the indiscriminate distribution of relief so largely practised in England that has led to much of the improvidence , distress , and pauperism that are now the curses of our land . Yours fraternally ,
T . B . WHYTEHEAD York , August 23 .
PROVINCIAL GRAND LODGE OF HAMPSHIRE AND THE ISLE OF WIGHT . To the Editor ofthe" Freemason . " Dear Sir and Brother , — I find in your issue ofthe 2 ^ th inst . a letter signed "Consistency " animadverting on the appointment of some brethren to offue in the Grand Lodge of this
province who were not present at the recent meeting held in this town . Your correspondent has , however , omitted to state that shortly before that meeting it became necessary to alter the day for holding it , in consequence of the Naval Review at Spithead having been fixed for the same day ( the 13 th inst . ) , after the notice of meeting of Prov . Grand Lodge had been circulated amongst the lolges for some
time . No doubt several brethren who had made arrangements to attend on the 13 th were prevented from being present at the postponed meeting ; indeed I know such to have been the case , and 1 feel certain the Prov . Grind Master would give due weight to that circumstance in dealing with the absence of brethren whose names appeared on tbe returns as intending to be present .
In this province notice is forwarded to every lodge several weeks before a meeting of the l ' rov . Grand Lodge is held , and it contains ( on the occasion of the annual meeting ) the following intimation , viz .: " The Prov . Grand Master expressly requires a return of the names and the highest private lodge rank of every subscribing member who intends tobt present at the Provincial meeting , ' and
states the probability of brethren not so returned being passed over in the appointment of Prov . Grand Ollieers . From these returns a selection is made of the brethren who are tn be appointed to offi .-e in Provincial Grand Lodge , and this rule has always been adhered to as far as possible , but it is practi'ally impossible to ascertain before ProvincWl Giand Lodge meets whether
the brethren who have bien so selected will all be present , the Prov . Grand Master cin only rely upon the returns made from the lodges , and when Grand Lodge has met ( there being probably upwards of 203 brethren present ) it is also impossible to make a change . The first intimation probably tin Prov . Grand Master has of the absence of the selected brother is on his name
being proclaimed for the particular office to which he is to bc appointed , he docs not appear to be invested , and in most cases some brother of his lodge apologises for his absence on some unavoidable ground . It appears to mc the only course the Prov , Grand Master can pursue is cither to refuse to make any appointment to the office a ' that time , or to appoint the absent brother who has been
selected for it ; it is certainly too hte to make a change , and , moreover , considering that in many instances the appointment is intended as a compliment to a deserving lodge ejuite as much as to the brother selected from the lodge who is to receive lhe office , I think your correspondent will perceive there are some good reasons why the former course should not always be adopted .
I feel certain the l ' rov . G . Master is most desirous that all the lotlgcs should furnish strictly ru-curate returns of the brethren who will attend , and lhat no brother should authorise his name to appear who ii not evrlii'i ( as far as possible ) he will be able to be present , and that if any deviation from this rule should a rise tbe Prov . Grand Master will visit it with his marked disapproval . Yours fraternally , D . P . G . M .
PROVINCIAL GRAND LODGE OF HAMPSHIRB AND THE ISLE OK WIGHT . 7 Vi the Editor of the " Freemason " Dear Sir and Brother , — " Consistency " having referred in vour columns to the appointment of brethre 1 to office in this province who were not present to bc invested , I think might have added
that the meeting of the Intge having been announced for Tuesday the 13 th inst ., consequent upon the Naval Review being held at Spithead that day , was put off , at short nritirr , till Thursday the 15 th . This dnulitleiS prcventei some from attending who had arranged to be present on Tuesday and could not give up the fecond day for the pur .
pose . There wis also , it should bc remembered , one absentee who received honours under circumstances which seem to be justified by very high authority , even if any Mason w mid be so ungracious as to deprive a brother of a collar in view ot the interesting fact , as notified in open lodge , that on the morning of the day of investment he had
Original Correspondence.
" married a wife , and therefore could not come . " This , however , ought not to have prevented the most obvious precautions ag-ainst conferring honours on those not present , by appeal to the attendance book to see if the brethren selected were actuall y in lodge , and , should there seem to be special reason for appointing them in their absence , ascertaining of any brother present whether there
was reasonable cause for that absence . The subject of the selection of officers having , however , been raised in your columns , I should like to be allowed to make a few remarks on the system , or perhaps it should more properly be called ths want of system , in that selection , which appears to prevail in this province . I , for one , do not fail to recognise that a selection having been
made in private , a choice suddenly arrived at on finding the S . W . elect absent might have proved more unsatisfactory in tbe general interests of tbe Craft than abiding by the original selection . It has , however , always been understood that in this annual distribution of honours the officials of lodges in the town " where the gathering is held shall at least not
be omitted from consideration . The reasonableness of that presumed arrangement will be apparent when it is remembered that , there being nearly thirty lodges in the province , the meeting at which the appointments are to be made can scarcely be expected to bc held in any one town twice within ten years . Now , at Southampton there are four town lodges , and two others in tbe neighbourhood at
distances of about two miles from its centre , the bulk of their members being engaged professionally or otherwise in the town , practically making six lodges , to which the Prov . Grand Master has recommended the addition of a seventh , or exactly one fourth of the total of lodges in the province . The list , it will be seen , comprises twenty-forr appointments , every office included .
If , however , we exclude such appointments as Tyler , Chaplain , and the permanent officials , I venture respectfully to urge that the selection of two brethren from Southampton for lodge honours does not fairly represent what that town was justly entitled to and might reasonably have expected . Reckon the distribution as you will , of the lodges in Southampton proper the only one omitted from
honours on this occasion was the Royal Gloucester , the senior of the four receiving Grand Lodge . That omission , I most respectfully urge , is the more marked , seeing that whilst the senior , it is also the mother loilge of the Deputy Prov . Grand Master and Prov . Grand Sec ; it was , too , I believe , tin mother lo ^ gc of the last two Deputy Prov . Grand Masters before the brother who at present holds that
distinguished position—Bros . J . R . Stebbing and C . E . Deacon . If it be suggested by those unacquainted with the facts that the Royal Gloucester may , perchance , have lost its influence or prestige . I an only say that—ipirt from the reign of its present W . M ., who in so large a province scarcely , I should think , expects recognition before he has
put off his armour—the Immediate Pa » t Master has been appointed Prov . Grand Organist some five or six times within my knowledge , and after the specimens of Prov . Grand Organists one has seen and heard in various places , and may yet expect tn hear ( though , of course , this does not apply to Hampshire ) , that " honour" cannot be regarded as one to be coveted , or as recognising lodge
services ; he has also for some years been the life and soul of the excellent lodge of instruction in the town ; and his predecessor in the chair of tie Gloucester is the son of the Dep . Prov . Grind Master . This omission of the Southampton lodges in general , and of the Royal Gloucester in paiticular , from Grand Lodge honours is the more marked when the proportion of brethren receiving honours—say
from Portsmouth—is noticed . In saying this I cist blame on no one . The se'ection of brethren from anywhere and everywhere in the province , except those resilient at the pi ice when Grand Lodge is held , may be inevitable , as the many re ' erences to this subject at the banquet seemed to indicate was felt in high quarters . If it is , I , for one , am not disloyal or unreasonable enough to complain , especially as
having gone from one end of the county tn the other at the recent distribution—from Hivant and Portsmouth to Ringwood and Bournemouth—there will no doubt bc a chance by-and-bye for the recognition of some of those dwelling in the centre of the county ; bat without some such excuse recent proceedings do certainly seem somewhat strange to Yours fraternally ,
A SOUTHAMPTON MASON .
To the Edit a- of the " Frecmat . n . " Dear Sir and Brother , — In the report of the meeting of the above on tbe 15 U 1 instant , a member cf one of the entertaining lodges favoured us with some information anent the banqueting arrangements ; and I quite agree with this brother that it is impossible tn please every one '; hence
the grumbling of a Alasonic Shylock who was short of his pint of wine ; but the Committee may rest assured that their efforts to make the Annual Provincial Festival a success were duly appreciated by the majority of the brethren who altend » d j but there is one part of this brother ' s statement—viz ., that ' 50 bottles of champagne were placid tin the table gratuitous by the four entertiming lolges , to which attention should be directed , as it
is too gre-at a burden to inflict on any Masonic district , it encourages the present waste in our banqueting and violates tin : professed principle " that no pottion of our funds shall be thus applied save and except as hospitality to visiting brethren , " and 1 presume no one will argue lhat the wine was given in this sense . The Committee are not blameable for doing what they thought , and which really was , a kind act , but it is quite time the P . G . M ., who was present at this meeting , stopped this
Original Correspondence.
wasteful expenditure , as the money could bc better applied to charitable purposes . Not long since Lord Skelmersdale called attention to the excesses in Masonic banqueting , and more recently one of our luminaries ventured tha assertion that ( ( , ' , 000 was annually spent in Masonic banquets . The efforts of these large , hearted brethren are intended
to reduce the waste at these dinners by restricting the menu and so much wine drinking , and not to prevent brethren meeting socially and enjoying the pleasure of fraternal Masonic intercourse in a more inexpens-ive man . ner . I may say that all these good intentions will never bc carried out whilst brethren oi high authority countenance lodges in spending their funds in this manner . I am , Sir and Brother , yours faithfully . PYTHAGORAS .
THE ADMISSION OF MEMBERS . To the Editor of the " Freemason . " Dear Sir and Brother , — Assuming the facts to be correctly stated byyour correspondent " Caution , " it seems to me a more truly important subject than that on which he has addressed you could not be brought be r ore the attention of the Craft . I
cordially join with him in the expression of a hope that such circumstances are rare , and I would add that the matter ought" not to he allowed to rest where it now is . " The power of blackballing , especially where one ball may reject , is , no doubt , liable to abuse—as , indeed , what power dependent upon the frailties of our common humanity is not?—especially in small towns , where there is but
one lodge , and a man in every way worthy may be shut out from our Order through personal pique or prejudice . But such prejudice surely can hardly find au opportunity of exerting itself wherethere are six lodges amidst a population , as I gather fiom " Caution , " of only eighty thousand . It is but fair to presume , under such circumstances , that if one lodge will not accept a man who is worthy of
joining the Order , and whose circumstances warrant his so doing , another will do so . It appears to me a loilge at a distance undertakes a grave responsibility in initiating members from such a tewn and neighbourhood , and the officials of the province a still graver resp msibility in recommending that the brethren so initi ited may be permitted to open a lodge in the very mi 1 st of those who may
have blackballed or rejected some cf them , while , with regard to other . :, they have not so much as enjoyed an opportunity of passing their opinion on the point whether or not thf-y are such persons as it is desirable should be received into the Order . Even iu deprecating a possible a ") use of privilege by a brother in a tov . n when a single lodge is held , it is but fair to remember that iu
such cases the choice of the members has to be made between a novice , utterly untried , and it may be a brother who has been a member many years and has done goo : ! service for Masonry ; nor , in any case , ars oar laws so strin gent as thns : of the Grand Orient of France , where 1 am 10 I 1 Itill a recent date , at all events , if it does not now previil — not e nly the members of a lodge but any visiting brethren
are called upon to ballot respecting the admission of a candidate , on the ground that the person votel for woull become not merely a member of a particular lodge but of the Order generally . 1 have heard this principle condemned as being farfetched , but there arc . I suspect , few who have held responsible lodge offices in our large towns who could not testify
that the privilege " once a Mason always a Mison , "is much more extensively claimed and cuerciseil than many of us conceive it was ever intended lo be—a fact of no slight bearing on another point raised by yojr corresp indent ' s letter . Leaving aside for the moment the question how far Lodges arc justified in habitually receiving men from a
distant town offering facilities to all for joining the Order , it is obvious that the grant e > f a warrant to those so received , including , it may reasonably be presumed , some who would not be admitted into the Order by those who know better than strangers can , thrir habits , social position , tec , can have no other effect than that of nullifying and rendering practically void the power of rejection and , what is
worse still , lowering the socul standard of Masonry . In saying this , I desire lo bc clearly understood as holding that Masonry was never intended to embrace artizans and the class for whom O Idfellowship , Forestry , and the like societies were designed ; had it been otherwise , nothing is to my mind more clear than that some direct pecuniary benefit would have been offered our members , if not from
the moment of joining , at some deferred date . In some circles , however , I regret to sec the feeling growing that every man earning something weekly beyond the wages of a mere labourer , and who can spare five pounds for his initiation fee , is entitled to be made a Mason . I may be exclusive in my tastes , but I repudiate sympathy with a feeling which I regard , so far from reflecting credit on the
Order , as its most threatening symptom . Ojr chanties , I hold it , were designed and are conducted mainly as reserves , to meet thos-e cases of emergency which will always arise in a country like ours , and not as the one principal object , end , and aim of the Order . Were ojr schools and benevolent institutions carried on for the purpose of providing assistance or a refuge to every Mason ' s widow or
children , or even every Mason himself after reaching old age , a certain defined proportion—and that necessarily a very large one—ol our yearly * subscriptions would , of course , bc set apart by the Constitutions for the express purpose of maintaining our charities , which to meet even the most
urgent and deserving cases must be very much larger than they now are . As it is , these charities are simply the out-growth of our Order , the outward and visible sign of our principles and tenets , and I hold that no man should be received into the Order unless his social position at the time of his joining is such