Social Problems And Their Peaceful Solution.

led the dance . It was this bond of common interest and good will , that made Lord and Tenant of the estate , Master and Retainer of the house , regard the community as a family compacted and bound together by ties of fellow-feeling and mutual dependance .

It is this fellow-feeling that is wanting now ! Everything has changed or passed away with the good old times . Estates have new lords , manor-houses new masters ; old families have died out and new ones sprung

up ; old servants scattered , and none are here to take their p lace ; now instead of each for other it is each for self , and ' ere the spirit of the good old days can be revived , this gentle fellow-feeling must be kindled anew . Yours , gentle readers , and ours , be the grateful task , to do each our little share towards this glorious

consummation . If , then , we would elevate our poorer friends from the selfish degradation that but too many of them now regard as pleasure , we must apply this long lost principle of participation ; and if we would wish to interest our working men in the recreations that we have here described

we must show them that we use and like them too . Whether then the amusement be outdoors or within , whether it be Cricket and Hockey , or Reading and Bagatelle , let us not only found the club and open the room , but let us make use of them ourselves ; for we shall do more by

showing our fellow-feeling than by all the preaching and subscribing in the world . Yet one word before this piper , like the good old days , become sa thing of the past—Is the elevation of the masses , as well in the lighter as in the more serious business

of their lives , our object ? Then let us remember that " example is better than precept , " and that we may lead with a silken thread where we could not drive with a rod of iron .

Is it our Man ' s habit of frequenting the taproom that we would eradicate 1 Then , my Masters , remember that you have your Clubs for which he has no equivalent , and provide him one ! Is it the cruel sport , so-called , that you would lead him to relinquish ? Then pause before you fire at the poor blind bird dazed by the falling trail , and show

Social Problems And Their Peaceful Solution.

our workman that you possess an Englishman ' s sport-loving heart without a taint of cruelty ! Is it the gambling with the tattered greasy cards , or the low " shove-ha ' penny " that you would wean friend Hodge from %

Give up first that ' quiet' Hazard , my young Master , and that small ' Book ' with its mystic , and often fatal , figures ! In short , remember the old saying , as applicable now as in the day that it was first utteredabout a certain " mote and

, beam ! " and never forget , that the stone maliciously thrown does not work half as much mischief in the mud wall of the poor man ' s cottage , as it does in the crystal sides of the house of one of the Masters of Societv .

To Saint Bride's Church, Douglas, Lanarkshire, N. B.

TO SAINT BRIDE'S CHURCH , DOUGLAS , LANARKSHIRE , N . B .

Dedicated to the R . W . M ., S . IF ., and J . IF ., of St Bride ' s Lodge of Freemasons , No . 118 , by a newly initiated Brother . BY BRO . J . GLAISTEK . SOME hundred years have now rolled on

, Since you were built by jilurnb , and 3 'ule , and square , A monument of g ifted masons' skill ; Their marks are everywhere .

You ve witnessed many a pageantry , And heard the white-robed choir chant the song , The clang of heavy armoured men These holv aisles among .

Fair ladies often in that olden time Have met within thy sacred , sculptured walls , Have asked a blessing as they praying , knelt , On lovers fond , that lived in stately halls ,

Thy old stone pavement , wet with human gore , Could tell of many a gallant soldier ' s death , Far from their home and English hearths , They here give up their failing breath , Oh ! could you but your history relate And tell the story of your earlier days ,