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Class Lodges.

Class Lodges .

A CLASS Lodge is one which practically restricts the qualifications of membership within limits narrower than those laid down in the Constitutions . It is true that no bye-laws of a lodge , as far as we are aware , contain any rule so limiting its membership , and it is more than doubtful if such a clause would receive the approval of the

M . W . Grand Master , but the ballot places the election of candidates in the hands of the members , and in practice the object is as easily attained as it would be by laws formally sanctioning the limitation . Up to about thirty years ago there were very few such . Lodges attached to various

regiments and holding under special warrants were , of course , Class Lodges in the strictest sense , and besides these there were less than a dozen . The oldest and most influential are the Grand Stewards' Lodge , which has no number , and which was warranted in 173 *; . Its

members must have served the office of Steward at the Grand Festival . Then there is the Royal Alpha , No . 16 ( 1722 ) , whose members are the personal friends and advisers of the Grand Master . The Pilgrims' Lodge , No . 23 8 , was founded for the German community in London , and it works in that

language . Of late years the travelling military or regimental lodges have decreased in number , and the three on the register were all founded more titan half a century ago .

Their Avarrants have either been surrendered , or the lodges concerned have become stationary . To them have succeeded a host of lodges , both at home and abroad , which exist exclusively for the benefit of persons engaged in the Ring ' s service , whether civil , naval or military . The Fitzroy , Ubique , and Ordnance are for the artillery , and the united

services meet in the Army and Navy , No . 273 8 . Lodges connected with various volunteer battalions are very numerous . His Majesty ' s service is , of course , distinguished by the esprit de corps of those who form it , and Ave can quite understand that this influences even their Masonry . The modern tendency of the various trades and professions to form exclusive Masonic coteries is very marked and

appears to meet with every official encouragement . Thus barristers meet in the Northern Bar , the Midland and Oxford Bar , and the Chancery Bar Lodges . The Telegraph Cable Lodge is for employees of the Eastern Telegraph Extension Company . The Sir Walter Raleigh provides a Masonic home for the tobacco trade , but we

should have thought that this particular industry would have found itself at home at any social board . Doctors are admitted to the JEsculapius and the Rahere , named very happily after the founder of St . Bartholomew ' s Hospital , as well as the London Hospital , the Middlesex Hospital ,

the Sancta Maria , St . Mary's Hospital , and the Cheselden , named after the great surgeon , and attached to St . Thomas ' s Hospital . Equally appropriate is the name ( Galen ) of the lodge Avhere chemists and druggists congregate . Lodge Hiram is meant for architects , the Britannic for engineers , the Chough , Mozart , Orpheus , the Guildhall

School of Music and the Incorporated Society of Musicians for musicians . Now the musician is welcome at any lodge , and one wonders why he Avants to segregate himself . Actors are allowed to join the Asaph and the Drury Lane . Rowing men go to the Argonauts , London University Graduates meet in a lodge of that name , Avhilst

various public schools , notably the Royal Masonic Institution for Boys , have lodges named after them for the benefit of old boys . The London Stock Exchange has its own lodge , happily named Prudence , and journalists find Masonic companionship in the Gallery Lodge , composed of

Parliamentary reporters . Evening Star is the Avell chosen name of the lodge , Avhere employees of the Gas Light and Coke Company may see light of another kind . Then the London School Board has its own lodge . The Guardians of the Poor meet in the Guardians' Lodge . Commercial travellers have lodges for their exclusive enjoyment , and also the Roval Warrant Holders .

Many Class Lodges have a geographical or racial qualification . Such are Israel for Hebrews , La France , L'Entente Cordiale , Italia , as Avell as the Pilgrims , already mentioned . The Cornish , Northern Counties , Lancastrian , De \* onian , Norfolk , and London Welsh explain themselves , as also do the Scots and the Anglo-American . The colonial brother

AVIIO has returned to England may join the Empire . The great majority of these lodges meet in London , and the reason is fairly obvious . In the provinces , Class Lodges come into existence owing to accidental circumstances , for which the ballot-box , rather than the intentions of the

founders , is responsible . There are ( AVO other Class Lodges to which we must refer , inasmuch as they reflect much credit on the Order . There are the lodge of Ouatuor Coronati and the lodge of Research . One of these meets in London , the other at Leicester . They

are the homes of Masonic learning and have rendered the Craft incalculable good . Papers are read at their meetings on Masonic history and arclneology and kindred Masonic subjects . Lodge Qiuduor Coronati numbers its members in every part of the globe , in fact it is the only lodge upon which the sun

never sets . It is limited in membership to forty , and none are admitted Avithout a high literary , artistic , or scientific qualification . The late Bro . Speth , however , formed what he called an outer circle , whose members enjoy all the literary privileges of the lodge , but being Avithout votes and ineligible for office . Members of the inner circle seldom exceed thirty in number .