Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Ad01001
PERRIER = JOUET & Cos . CHAMPAGNES . FINEST VINTAGE RESERVE-CUVEES . THE FAVOURITE MASONIC BRAND . Agent—A . BOURSOT , 9 , Hart Street , Hark Lane , London .
Ad01002
ASSURANCE . EXCHANGE ROYAL I . VCOUI'OK'ATKl ) A . I ) . \"/ 20 . Funds in Hand Exceed - - £ 5 , 000 , 000 Claims Paid Exceed - - JQ 42 , 000 , 000 FIRE , LIFE , SEA , ANNUITIES , ACCIDENTS , BURGLARY , EMPLOYERS' LIABILITY . New and Special Concession to Private House Insurers . Apply for full Prospectus lo the Secretary . Head Office : —EOYAL EXCHANGE , LONDON , E . C .
The Purple.
The Purple .
lIEjWSMiC
BngmMBBtIT is the hope of reward that sweetens labour , both inside Masonry as well as outside of it . In Masonry in particular , the brother who is not anxious for distinction has not conceived as yet any very high opinion of the Order
The first goal of his ambition should , of course , be the chair of his lodge , and then he should so comport himself as to " catch the eye " of the Provincial Grand Master . The latter distinction is , in the generality of cases dependent upon the former , and very rightly . There is this
difference between them whicli ought to console the large numbers of brethren who will never find their way to Grand or Provincial Grand Office . The latter can be conferred by the will of a single brother , whose judgment may not impossibly be at fault , and the past rank may be conferred
upon a brother who has never held the office . But the chair of the lodge cannot be attained in this way , nor can the rank of Past Master be earned in any other way than by actual work in the chair . So long , however , as it is a question of the purple as compared with the levels , there will be many
who will only consider the summit of their Masonic ambition reached when they have arrived at the former . Now there are under the English Constitution forty-six provinces and twenty-eight districts abroad , and there are besides 352 lodges within metropolitan limits which send
returns directly to Grand Lodge . Adding to these forty-two lodges abroad which are not under local government , we have a total of 2499 lodges , and , of course , that number of
Past Masters accruing every year . Let us see how much purple there is to go round among these brethren . Where the lodges in a province number less than thirty , twenty provincial officers may be appointed annually . From that number up to forty , twenty-three . From forty to seventy , twenty-live . From seventy to a hundred ,
twentyseven ; and , over a hundred , twenty-nine . In districts abroad there may be one additional , inasmuch as a President of the District Board may be appointed . In the provinces there are in the respective classes twenty-nine , live , nine , one and two lodges . The smallest is Hereford with live lodges ,
and those possessing more than a hundred are the two divisions of Lancashire . In Hereford , probably the Provincial Grand Master finds it not easy to fill up his full tale of officers . In the districts abroad the numbers are twentythree , three and two . Summing up there are the following
collars vacant every year . In the provinces 1105 collars and 1439 brethren anxious to wear them . In the districts 613 to be allotted to 4 66 aspirants . London and the unattached lodges abroad can only look to Grand Lodge to recognize their meritorious brethren , and the supply is obviously unequal to the demand . Nor is it in any way equal to the number worthy of such recognition .
The brethren who reside abroad have therefore no reason to complain of lack of opportunities of distinction , nor on the whole have the smaller provinces . There are twentynine of these which number 4 68 lodges , and no less than 580 provincial grand collars are available annually for them . We have assumed that all the offices fall vacant every
year , but in practice this is not so . The Deputy is more or less permanent , and the Secretary is generally a fixture , and so is the Tyler . Then there are other offices which are open only to a limited number of peculiarly qualified brethren .
The Chaplains must , of course , possess a ministerial qualification , the Organist must be a practical musician , the Registrar ought to be a brother of legal attainments , and in Grand Lodge at least the Grand Master is too conscious of the value of a good Director of Ceremonies to let him go
out of harness readily when one has been secured . And , further , the Provincial Grand Master may very rightly consider that good work in a subordinate office merits promotion to a higher . These considerations limit his patronage very considerably .
Appointment to the purple is entirely a matter of selection , and seniority confers no claim . The only admissible claim is that of merit . This may be estimated in many ways . It is noticeable that when a brother is nominated for election to the office of Grand Treasurer , his proposer in
every case lays emphasis upon what his nominee has done for the Masonic Charities , and if the Provincial Grand Master should also take that fact into consideration no one can blame him . Work clone for the Order , whether it be literary or in the way of organizing , or even if it be but assiduous attention to Masonic duties , are all points taken
into cognizance . In such large Provinces as East and West Lanes , and the West Riding , the annual appointment to office in Provincial Grand Lodge is a difficult and harassing matter . Deserving brethren must of necessity be left out ; in the two former cases at the rate of more than a hundred per annum .
The appointment under such circumstances carries with it much more moral weight than when the Provincial Grand Master is compelled to appoint every brother who is not actually disqualified . It carries with it also greater moral obligations . We have described it as the summit of a
Freemason ' s ambition , but the more correct thing to say would be that it is but one of a series of summits . It is necessary to insist upon this , for many brethren seem to think that once clothed with the purple their obligations as private members sink to a lower plane . Whereas , on the
other hand , the private lodge is in need of these distinguished brethren to give it ballast and to steer it safely within the landmarks . In order to correct in some little measure the difficulties we have spoken of , the Grand Master frequently exercises one of his prerogatives and confers upon his provincial
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Ad01001
PERRIER = JOUET & Cos . CHAMPAGNES . FINEST VINTAGE RESERVE-CUVEES . THE FAVOURITE MASONIC BRAND . Agent—A . BOURSOT , 9 , Hart Street , Hark Lane , London .
Ad01002
ASSURANCE . EXCHANGE ROYAL I . VCOUI'OK'ATKl ) A . I ) . \"/ 20 . Funds in Hand Exceed - - £ 5 , 000 , 000 Claims Paid Exceed - - JQ 42 , 000 , 000 FIRE , LIFE , SEA , ANNUITIES , ACCIDENTS , BURGLARY , EMPLOYERS' LIABILITY . New and Special Concession to Private House Insurers . Apply for full Prospectus lo the Secretary . Head Office : —EOYAL EXCHANGE , LONDON , E . C .
The Purple.
The Purple .
lIEjWSMiC
BngmMBBtIT is the hope of reward that sweetens labour , both inside Masonry as well as outside of it . In Masonry in particular , the brother who is not anxious for distinction has not conceived as yet any very high opinion of the Order
The first goal of his ambition should , of course , be the chair of his lodge , and then he should so comport himself as to " catch the eye " of the Provincial Grand Master . The latter distinction is , in the generality of cases dependent upon the former , and very rightly . There is this
difference between them whicli ought to console the large numbers of brethren who will never find their way to Grand or Provincial Grand Office . The latter can be conferred by the will of a single brother , whose judgment may not impossibly be at fault , and the past rank may be conferred
upon a brother who has never held the office . But the chair of the lodge cannot be attained in this way , nor can the rank of Past Master be earned in any other way than by actual work in the chair . So long , however , as it is a question of the purple as compared with the levels , there will be many
who will only consider the summit of their Masonic ambition reached when they have arrived at the former . Now there are under the English Constitution forty-six provinces and twenty-eight districts abroad , and there are besides 352 lodges within metropolitan limits which send
returns directly to Grand Lodge . Adding to these forty-two lodges abroad which are not under local government , we have a total of 2499 lodges , and , of course , that number of
Past Masters accruing every year . Let us see how much purple there is to go round among these brethren . Where the lodges in a province number less than thirty , twenty provincial officers may be appointed annually . From that number up to forty , twenty-three . From forty to seventy , twenty-live . From seventy to a hundred ,
twentyseven ; and , over a hundred , twenty-nine . In districts abroad there may be one additional , inasmuch as a President of the District Board may be appointed . In the provinces there are in the respective classes twenty-nine , live , nine , one and two lodges . The smallest is Hereford with live lodges ,
and those possessing more than a hundred are the two divisions of Lancashire . In Hereford , probably the Provincial Grand Master finds it not easy to fill up his full tale of officers . In the districts abroad the numbers are twentythree , three and two . Summing up there are the following
collars vacant every year . In the provinces 1105 collars and 1439 brethren anxious to wear them . In the districts 613 to be allotted to 4 66 aspirants . London and the unattached lodges abroad can only look to Grand Lodge to recognize their meritorious brethren , and the supply is obviously unequal to the demand . Nor is it in any way equal to the number worthy of such recognition .
The brethren who reside abroad have therefore no reason to complain of lack of opportunities of distinction , nor on the whole have the smaller provinces . There are twentynine of these which number 4 68 lodges , and no less than 580 provincial grand collars are available annually for them . We have assumed that all the offices fall vacant every
year , but in practice this is not so . The Deputy is more or less permanent , and the Secretary is generally a fixture , and so is the Tyler . Then there are other offices which are open only to a limited number of peculiarly qualified brethren .
The Chaplains must , of course , possess a ministerial qualification , the Organist must be a practical musician , the Registrar ought to be a brother of legal attainments , and in Grand Lodge at least the Grand Master is too conscious of the value of a good Director of Ceremonies to let him go
out of harness readily when one has been secured . And , further , the Provincial Grand Master may very rightly consider that good work in a subordinate office merits promotion to a higher . These considerations limit his patronage very considerably .
Appointment to the purple is entirely a matter of selection , and seniority confers no claim . The only admissible claim is that of merit . This may be estimated in many ways . It is noticeable that when a brother is nominated for election to the office of Grand Treasurer , his proposer in
every case lays emphasis upon what his nominee has done for the Masonic Charities , and if the Provincial Grand Master should also take that fact into consideration no one can blame him . Work clone for the Order , whether it be literary or in the way of organizing , or even if it be but assiduous attention to Masonic duties , are all points taken
into cognizance . In such large Provinces as East and West Lanes , and the West Riding , the annual appointment to office in Provincial Grand Lodge is a difficult and harassing matter . Deserving brethren must of necessity be left out ; in the two former cases at the rate of more than a hundred per annum .
The appointment under such circumstances carries with it much more moral weight than when the Provincial Grand Master is compelled to appoint every brother who is not actually disqualified . It carries with it also greater moral obligations . We have described it as the summit of a
Freemason ' s ambition , but the more correct thing to say would be that it is but one of a series of summits . It is necessary to insist upon this , for many brethren seem to think that once clothed with the purple their obligations as private members sink to a lower plane . Whereas , on the
other hand , the private lodge is in need of these distinguished brethren to give it ballast and to steer it safely within the landmarks . In order to correct in some little measure the difficulties we have spoken of , the Grand Master frequently exercises one of his prerogatives and confers upon his provincial