What Our Lodges Do For The Charities.

WHAT OUR LODGES DO FOR THE CHARITIES .

There is one point on which I am anxious to say a few Avords to my brethren , that is concerning our lodge contributions to our great charities . This seems to me to be a very weak point in the present practical Avorldng

of our lodge system . Individual brethren do a great deal , particular lodges make remarkable efforts , for the best of all causes and the truest of all work , but if any of us will read over the subscription list of charities will

our ' they soon find that our lodges are " generaliter " ¦ very badly represented in that otherwise goodly list . Indeed Ave soon discover that a large proportion of bur lod do not

ges , qua lodgesgive any thing to any of the charities habitually and regularly . It is true that brethren of most lodges qualify as SteAvards of the charities at the various

anniversaries , individual members of numberless lodges are life governors or vice-presidents , but the lodge itself does not contribute from its corporate funds , ¦ and does not appear in that yearly record of our charitable efforts , which

our energetic brethren , F . Binckes , or E . W . Little , or J . Terry , as the case may send forth , annually to all subscribers to our four great and admirable Metropolitan Masonic Charities . And when I say Metropolitan , I must

guard myself against being misunderstood by any ; that these charities are Metropolitan , is an accident of locality and arrangement , Avhich in no Avay interferes with , and ought never to affect the zeal Sud sympathy of our Provincial brethren . For the charities are in one

sense . universal and cosmopolitan , and appeal to the fraternal good will and interest of the entire Craft . Wherever our lodges may be situated , wherever our brethren are

assembled ^ in the " good old Avays" of English Freemasonry , the silver link of brotherly love seems to bind those , perhaps the most distant and scattered branches , toourgreatParentTreeathome ,

and to unite their sympathies Avith ours , and to draAV their fraternal memories homewards to our best manifestation of true-hearted kindness and active benevolence , in these our great institutions of relieij and aidand

educa-, tion . And , therefore , I am anxious today to press upon all my brethren , what is in my humble opinion , a very serious drawback on our present Masonic system , both of general and local practice .

We make efforts from time to time , most laudable efforts in themselves , both in London and the Provinces , for this or that particular charity . In this past year these efforts have culminated in the munificent result of £ 21000 a

,, fact Avhich redounds greatly to the credit of our Order . But in these special and striking efforts the lodges only partially assist .

NOAV , I am going to lay down a proposition , perhaps a little startling to some of my readers , namely , that each lodge in our > Order ought to possess a life-governorship in all our Masonic Charities . There isI make bold to

, say , no lodge so weak in numbers or so limited in funds , as not to be able to manage such a contribution to the Masonic Charities , and if any lodge finds that its funds are insufficient to

meet such an amount , let them at once retrench other and far less needful expenditure . It is just possible that it will be too much for any lodge to pay the qualification necessary to obtain a

life-governorship in all the charities at once , but surely it can be done gradually , say by yearly payments . For instance , a lodge may qualify this year for the Masonic Benevolent Annuity Fund for Males , and next year for Widows , and if

evenit takes fouryearsto pay the amount and to obtain the equivalent of a life governorsMp in all the charities , that is two votes for ever , the good that will accrue to the charities is almost incalculable . In the first place , a very large amount of capital Avould thus be raised for the