Masonic Welcome And Farewell To Bro. Edward Terry In South Africa.

Masonic Welcome and Farewell to Bro . Edward Terry in South Africa .

IN our July issue we reported the welcome accorded to Bro . Edward Terry on his return from South Africa by the lodge which bears his name , and we have since been favoured by a correspondent with an interesting account of a special meeting of Lodge Good Hope at Port Elizabeth ,

IlllO . HOWARD TKHMY . which was convened to welcome and bid farewell to our distinguished brother , at which meeting not only were all the sister lodges represented , but Past Masters and others were present from England and Australia , while there was

an exceptional attendance of local brethren . Bro . Roger Ascham , as Worshipful Master , spared no pains to make the occasion a notable one in the history of his lodge , and the evening's proceedings will long be remembered by those present .

The working within the temple was performed in such an excellent manner by Bro . Ascham , assisted by Bros . McAdam and Forbes and his officers , that it evoked the keenest interest and warmest appreciation . The music , specially composed for the ceremonies by Bro . Ascham , added greatly to their impressiveness , and was rendered most effectively by Bros . Griffiths and Sinclair .

The brethren afterwards entertained Bro . Terry to a banquet . The customary toasts having been proposed by the Worshipful Master and pledged by the brethren , Bro . Ascham proposed "Our Distinguished Guest . " He said it was with feelings of great pride that he had the honour to propose tlie toast of their distinguished guest

Bro . Edward Terry . It was indeed a red-letter day in the annals of Lodge Good Hope that the )' , as a lodge , were privileged to welcome and meet on the level so eminent a brother , and to offer him their heartfelt and most cordial greetings . It would be presumption on his part

to attempt to extol Bro . Terry as an actor . All the world knew there was but one Edward Terry . Many of them had enjoyed witnessing his unique creations in years gone by in the clear Motherland , but they all knew him by repute as one resting on the top-most rung of the ladder of fame in his art ; of the high esteem in which he was held by all , from His Majesty the King downwards , not only for his

exceptional gilts as an actor , but for his sterling qualities as a man . His advent in their town had been a recovered joy to most of them . They had been enabled to renew those memories—to laugh again—yes ! and cry , too—over his incomparable presentment of lovable Dick Phenyl , a study of a pathetic and noble character which he had inseparably

linked with his name . But although they could not dissociate the fact from their feelings that they had with them the greatest English comedian of their time , it was as a Mason , a brother , that they particularly rejoiced to welcome him that night . The Masonic attainments of Bro . Terry were common

knowledge to the Brotherhood universally—that being blest with a goodly portion of this world ' s riches he contributed largely in support of Masonic charities and in doing good to others . During Bro . Terry ' s short stay in Port Elizabeth he had permitted him ( the speaker ) to see

much of him , and in that limited time he had seen somewhat of his nobility of character , had had practical evidence of his kindly disposition , of his constant thought for others , and he knew he lived the life of a Mason , that he was a living example of what a Mason should be , that he daily carried

out the principles and tenets of their Order . The occasion of their meeting would never be forgotten by the lodge and the brethren assembled there that night . They were proud to have him in that remote corner of his Majesty's dominions , and when he was at home again , separated by so many

miles of ocean , they hoped he would sometimes think of them with pleasant recollections . The toast was drunk most enthusiastically , and on rising to reply Bro . Terry was greeted with an outburst of applause , and during the course of his speech , the brethren were fairly

convulsed with laughter . He said that in the words of a gentlemen who , in the early clays of his dramatic career gave him many sleepless nights , he meant one William Shakespeare , " 1 am not an orator as Brutus was . " In fact , as Artemus Ward says , " I am best pleased when I am silent , and so are my

1 ) 110 . ROGKR ASCHAM . friends . " He felt so intensely the position he occupied that evening , that he was like the gentleman , who , when paying his addresses to his lady love , said , " She speaks , yet she says nothing , " then he added , " But what of that , her eye