Monthly Masonic Summary.

Monthly Masonic Summary .

THE principal event we have to record is the successful result of our third great Masonic Charitable Festival , which took place on tlie 19 th . Then the Girls' School kept its

annual gathering of friends and sympathizers , and under the presidency of the Earl of Skewsbury and Talbot held "high festival . "

The assembly was most satisfactory and well arranged in every respect , whether as regards the numbers who attended , the straightforward addresses of the speakers , and the hearty and encouraging reception accorded by the

audience , to every toast and sentiment . The House Committee and Bro . E . W . Little , may well be equally congratulated with , at the result so remarkable in itself , namely , the announcement of donations and subscriptions exceeding £ 8 , 000 .

Thus our three great and fraternal gatherings have brought into the charities the noble sum of over £ 21 , 000 . And when we remember what , a few years ago , was considered a satisfactory amount for the FestivalAve cannot fail

, to be struck with the evidence which each succeeding year supplies , of the zeal and energy , and warm-heartedness and large-heartedness of our kindly brotherhood . It is true , it is to be wished that the support of our charities

were more universally spread throughout our Order , but what we do do is a credit to those who do it , and what we do give in the best of all causes , is truly a matter of simple fact and reality , of which as Freemasons we may feel not a little proud .

As an illustration of the remarkable progress in our charitable offerings , let us take the year of grace 1856 . In that year the sixty-eighth anniversary of the Royal Freemasons School for Female Orphans was celebrated on

May the 21 st , under the presidency of the G . M . Bro . The Earl of Zetland , who was supported by a large number of leading Freemasons , The amount of subscriptions announced was £ 1 , 800 .

THE Boys' School Festival was' held that year , March 12 th , also under the presidency of Bro . The Earl of Zetland , G . M ., owing to Bro . Lord Londesboimtgli ' s illness . The amount an

nounced was £ 1 , 500 . In the'volume for 1856 , there is no Anniversary Festival of the Eoyal Masonic Benevolent Institution recorded , as its Festivals then were triennial , but a committee was formed in that to

year improve the rules and develop the resources of the Institution , and the anniversary Festival was fixed in that year by the G . M . for June 17 th , 1857 . Then the Avhole amount raised by the Festivals in 1856 was £ 3 , 100 . In

1857 the Girls' School realised what Lord Dalhousie termed the munificent subscription of nearly £ 1 , 900 .

The Boys' School Festival produced £ 1 , 200 , and at the Royal Benevolent Institution , our well-known and much respected Bro . W . Farnlield " read a long series of lists of subscriptions , the grand total of which formed the

munificent sum of £ 1 . 558 6 s . 6 d . "' As the little French boy said at the play when some sentiment' was expressed which his matured intelligence did not approve— "Mais nous avons ohangd tout cela , " sowe can repeat to-day in all fraternal complacency , the well-A A