At The Sign Of The Perfect Ashlar

R . W . Bro . his Grace the Duke of Portland , Provincial 'Grand Master for Nottinghamshire , has recently presented a site in Sherwood Forest for the establishment of a fullyequipped sanatorium for combatting the disease of consumption . The interest taken in this subject by His Majesty ( he King is well known , and it is a matter for congratulation

that he should be well supported by distinguished members of our Order .

The departure for South Africa of R . W . Bro . George Richards , District Grand Master for the Transvaal , on the ist February , cannot but be regarded as a happy omen in connection with the resuscitation of Freemasonry in the affected districts in that country . Although none but the most optimistic will care to predict that the Craft can for a

considerable time to come resume its normal aspect there , Bro . George Richards ' s presence will do not a little to assist the turn for the better which affairs are taking in South Africa . We learn that he will be ( he bearer of warrants for two new lodges in the Transvaal , which have been granted by the M . W . " Grand Master .

W W ¦' v '' Bro . Hermann Klein , P . G . Org ., whose trip to America was referred to in our last issue , has lost no time in transmitting home an account of his experiences . It is interesting 1 o learn that our worthy brother was fortunate enough to

have as his travelling companions Bro . J . P . Sousa , " the March King , " and his band , and that his experiences Avere of a decidedly pleasant kind . " The bond of sympathy , " Avrites Bro . Klein , " between Britain and America is stronger 1 han it was when I visited this country six years ago , and for ¦ every man who then thought of an Englishman as a brother , "there are now a hundred . "

• 3 a ¦<§¦ . ¦; - > Imitation , it is said , is the sincerest form of flattery , and "the " New Woman" of the United States may be congratulated on the tribute paid in this sense to the " mere man " by the establishment of the Order of the Eastern Star ,

Avhich , as our readers are aware , is founded on Masonic lines , and is composed entirely of the gentler sex . Much ¦ encouragement and , in some cases , recognition is accorded to them , but our American brethren do not appear to be all of one mind in this matter , and the Grand Lodge of Kentucky has taken a firm stand in connection with the relations of the Eastern Star to Masonry .

The American Tyler is pleased to notice that the Grand Lodge of Kentucky , at its recent session , took a very sensible view of the relations of the Eastern Star to Masonry . A resolution was submitted providing that each subordinate lodge be requested by the Grand Lodge to establish within its jurisdiction a chapter of the Eastern Star of the ladies of

Masonry . The resolution called forth a long discussion , and was finally referred to the Committee on Jurisprudence . Past Grand Master J . Soule Smith , Chairman of this Committee , reported against the resolution . The Committee took the ground that the Grand Lodge could not assume jurisdiction

over the Order of the Eastern Star . A sharp debate followed and when the vote was finally put , the report of the Committee was adopted and the resolution defeated by an overwhelming majority .

• s » ¦«> «& Our contemporary remarks that ( he action of the Grand Lodge was just what it should have been . No matter how friendly a grand body of Masonry may feel towards the Eastern Star , no matter how much it

wishes to encourage it , it certainly has no right to seek to extend it by its official action , or to assume any jurisdiction over it whatever . The Eastern Star may be a very desirable auxiliary to Masonry , but it forms no part of it . Zealous brothers are sometimes apt to forget this , but it is , nevertheless , an unavoidable fact .

We imagine it will be a very long time before any supreme or subordinate body in this country will arrive at the stage of suggesting even that the Eastern Star " maybe a desirable auxiliary to Masonry , " but then we move so slowly in the old world and are apt to regard the injunction to suffer no innovation in ( lie body ot" Masonry as a binding obligation on all loyal members of the Craft .

We have received several communications in response to our invitations to Secretaries of lodges to furnish us with items of Masonic interest for insertion in our columns , but not in time for the present number . In future issues we hope to devote a page or two to these matters , and in the

meantime desire to point out that preference will be given to such communications as lend themselves to pictorial illustrations .

Bro . T . Harrison Roberts , P . M . 2502 , whose notice of motion was , so to say , swallowed up in the general discussion on the subject of the Warden ' s service at the last meeting of Grand Lodge , is well known to the outside world as the editor and proprietor of Il / nslraled Bils , the popular penny weekly . His philanthropic services in the organisation of his

Balaclava Fund are proofs of his benevolent spirit , and it is not unsafe to predict that the Craft has not yet seen the conclusion of Bro . Roberts' Masonic activities .

« 2 » ¦ £ » « £ > The inaugural meeting of the All Saints' Chapter of Improvement will take place at the Bow Vestry Hall , Bow Road , E ., on Monday , the 3 rd of February , at 6 . 30 p . m . The ceremony of exaltation will be rehearsed by E . Comp .

T . Griffiths , P . Z ., after which the companions will dine together at the " Bow Bells . " Comp . F . Thornton , of 4 , Park Terrace , Devons Road , E ., has undertaken the duties of Secretary .

Bro . A . Smith , S . D . of the Coborn Lodge , No . 1804 , who is leaving England to take up an important appointment in New Zealand in connection with the All British Pacific Telegraph Company , was the recipient of a gift from his brethren of a solid gold combination match and sovereign box at a meeting held on Wednesday , the 15 th of January .

The presentation was made by the Worshipful Master , Bro . J . Butcher , who , in the name of the lodge , conveyed the hearty good wishes of the brethren for his success in his new sphere .

The manner in which the events of the moment are occasionally crystalized in the names of newly-warranted Freemasons' lodges ( says the Westminster Budget ) , has escaped the notice of the historian , but it is curiously interesting nevertheless . In the course of 1900 , for instance , among the many fresh lodges established under the warrant

of the Grand Lodge of England , one called after Lord Roberts , was founded at Somerset , as well as the Alfred Milner Lodge at Muizenberg , both in South Africa , while the Cecil Rhodes Lodge at Bulawayo was a fruit of the previous year , as was the Lord Kitchener Lodge , at

Greenwich . Victorious generals have been recognised in this fashion , indeed , for a century and a half . The Marquis of Granby so distinguished himself at the Battle of Minden in 1759 , that he was made Commander-in-Chief , and in 1763 , a Marquis of Granby Lodge was founded , which still exists .

Later in the eighteenth century a Nelson of the Nile Lodge attested at Batley the popular admiration for a naval hero , as a Wellington , warranted at Rye in 1814 , did for that Military victor , while the Wolseley Lodge at Manchester in 188 3 , carried out the tradition , and honoured the late Commander-in-Chief very speedily after his success at Tel-el-Kebir . And not the least interesting of such crystalization is the Prince Frederick William Lodge , founded in