Lights And Shadows Of Scottish Freemasonry.

LIGHTS AND SHADOWS OF SCOTTISH FREEMASONRY .

ARTICLE THIRD . ¦ ' I believe Sir I can say what feAv of those present can : I received my three degrees in one evening . " Such Avere the AVOKIS " spoken by a friend of ours Avhen replying to " Visiting Brethren" at a banquet in the

Masonic Club Room in Belfast . We felt the blush deepening on our cheeks , ancl Ave pulled bis coat tail and Avhispered : " Don't say any more about that , " but he went on expatiating upon the matter as if it Avere something to be proud

of instead of something a knowledge of which ought to have been very carefully concealed . A smile played upon the lips of our Irish brethren and Ave could easily see that there was one feature at all events in

our Scottish system which Avas held in very little esteem . The giving of three degrees in one evening is a subject Avhich has been pretty freelydiscussed , more particularly in private , and there are many , Avhowhen the Grand

, Lodge sees fit to move in the matter , are fully prepared to support the party working for the abolition of this most unnecessary proceeding . The present backwardness of the Craft in Scotland is attributable to a

variety of causes , and this ' ' three degrees practice is , in our opinion not by any means the least of them . If AA'e want to make good Masons there must be no more than one degree given in one evening . It is imperative that the initiate ' s first impressions of our Craft ' s usages should be good

, and this , we maintain , cannot be the case if he be hurried through from the Entered Apprentice to the Master Mason in little more than a couple of hours . In the pursuit of our Masonic studies Ave have often felt pained at seeing our

beautiful ritual , which is calculated to impress a candidate Avith ideas of the solemn and sublime , turned into a something Avhich very closely bordered upon the comic and ridiculous . We have a very distinct recollection of haA-ing been one evening

present at a meeting of a lodge in a flourishing seaport toAvn on the Avest coast , and in our company a distinguished brother hailin g from the Grand Lodge of England . The chair Avas taken at S . * iO by the Master , a magistrate of the toAvn , and the lodge

opened in due form . At 8 . 40 prepared candidates were announced , and the door having been opened there entered nine men ready for initiation . Our English brother Avas thunderstruck . It was his

first experience of Scottish Freemasonry and he Avas unaware of the fact that Ave can initiate more than one at once . The ceremony Avas ludicrous in the extreme . Everybody in the place seemed to be talking and laughing to everybody elseyet

, still the degree Avent on , and at nine o ' clock the men passed to the door supposed to be fulll-fledged Entered Apprentices . They Avere about to leave the room when we drew attention to the fact that a most vital

part of the ceremony bad been omitted , namely the penalty of the obligation , and thereupon they Avere marched back ancl the penalty explained to them . Within the next half hour they Avere Fellow Crafts and at 10 . 15 Avere ready to sign any roll book in the world as Master Masons . Can

you fancy nine 1 elloAv Crafts being made Master Masons at once ? We are by no means exaggerating , Nay , so far from that we can say that Ave are putting it very mildly , for Ave haA'e seen in the most fashionable lodge in the city of GlasgOAv no

feAver than thirteen receiving their degree at once . When they are properly Avorkec ! Ave do not knoAV of anything Avhich is more beautiful or impressive than the first and third degrees of St , John ' s Masonry , aud Ave see no reason why they should not

abvays be so . It is a Avell-knoAvn fact that such things in Scotland as Lodges of Instruction are very rare indeed , and knowing this Ave cannot feel surprised that so little is known about our rituals and the proper method of working them , Previous

to his departure from Scotland one of our most distinguished ancl most esteemed brethren issued circulars inviting those concerned to three Lodges of Instruction to be held in the lodge OA'er which he then presided . It was announced that the

services of three able exponents of the ritual bad been received and that there Avas a candidate in readiness . At the first meeting there was an excellent attendance , ancl from the commencement of the anthem to the singing of the Gloria it Avas evident

that those present Avere deeply interested . At the next meeting there Avas even a better attendance , and there Avere many AVIIO left ; with a knoAvleclge of the beauties