Mother Kilwinning.

" 5 . That although the above laws are declared binding upon the foresaid brethren , yet they are at full liberty to make such laws and regulations as they shall deem necessary and requisite for establishing good order and preserving peace and concord amongst them . That the members , as soon as they have elected their office-bearers , shall without delay cause their Secretary to transmit the wholof their

e proceedings , together with the names of . the office-bearers , to this lodge , in order that they may he inserted in the dispensation , and also a list of the attendant members , aud particularly to specify the names and numbers of the . lodges which the brethren not members of this lodge belong to . Notwithstanding it is the general custom with those who grant dispensations to exact the half

of their entry-money , Ayr St . Paul ' s , from a wish to indulge her brethren in the Ayrshire Militia , will ask no more than 3 s . for each intrant , 2 s . 9 d . of which falls to the Grand Lodge , and the remaining 3 d . will be retained to defray any necessary expense that may he incurred . A list of tbe members entered must be forwarded regularl quarter to

y every this lodge , so that she may have it in her power to transmit the same to the Grand Lodge . "St . _ Paul ' s shall be happy to hear what is hero set forth- is approved of ; and she wishes the brethren to expressly mention whether the dispensation is to be wrote on parchment or paper . "

Although " temperance , harmony , and brotherly love " ought ever to be ehai-acteristic features of Masonic communications , the Craft are subject at times to have their equanimity disturbed b y the ebullitions of drunken brawlers . One such case

we find engrossing the attention of the Kilwinning bi-ethren on the same day in which they had disposed of the petition we have already noticed as having been presented by the Lodge Operative , Ayr , against their earing representative in Eenfrewshire ; and the decision with which the

R . W . M . acted in pi'eserving the lodge from being made the arena for inebriates carrying themselves , as they would , within the precincts of a pothouse , presents an example worthy of closer imitation than by the hisfcoiy of some lodges is shown to obtain among their mystic rulers . On the evening in qoestion , when the social cup was being

quaffed , J . W . joined the happy cn-cle , and by and bye , from the depth of his potations , becoming somewhat excited , " conducted himself in a very disorderly manner , cursing and swearing , and using other language unbecoming a brother of the

Ci'aft , "—so much so , indeed , as to lead to his forcible expulsion from the aneeting , and to the adoption by the another lodge of the following addenda to its pi-evionsly-recorded delivei'ance in the case of complaint arising out of his Masonic

delinquencies : "The Mother Kilwinning Lodge have great forbeai'ance to brethren on the evenings of mirth and festivity , and are much inclined to draw a veil over the misconduct of a brother ; but in this case J . W . 's behaviour was very

aggravated , aud unlike a worthy brother ; therefore the Provincial Grand Master requires the Operative Lodge , Ayi' , to take such steps with him as they in their wisdom think he deseiwes , and procure a satisfactory apology from him for

his improper conduct in Mother Kilwinning Lodge . If not , this business cannot be passed over in silence , but will be laid before and be decided

upon by the Grand Lodge of Scotland . " Among other questions of Masonic jurisprudence adjudicated upon by Mother Kilwinning ( 1811-12 ) , we notice one in which the decision differs from the Masonic usage in our own day ,

when it is almost univea'sally held that aiothing short of expulsion , after regular trial , can sever a ba-other ' s connection with his mother lod ° 'e . D Two lodges in the province of Ayr , working in the same town , fall out with each other ; and certain

members of the younger of the two , originally belonging to the older lodge , " facetiously interfere with the management , " of their mother lodge , the officer-bearers of which resist such

interference , and exclude from their business meetings those of their number who had become members of what was looked upon as a l'ival sister . By petition and complaint the matter comes before the mother lodge ( held in these days , though

improperly so , to be the Provincial Grand Lodge of Ayrshire ) when by a majority it is decided that " any brother leaving his mother lodge and joining another , by that act relinquishes the rights of membership in his mother lodge , and can have no

right to vote or in any shape interfere in its management . " Which decision is qualified , however , by the acknowledgment , on the part of Mother Kilwinning , that the question is a " delicate one , and worth consideration by the Grand Lodge . "