"I Am Too Old."

Freemasonry , shut themselves out from its benefits , through a mistaken notion that youth is a pre-requisite . Let our hoary-headed friends , provided ahvays that they are " found in the Avay of rig hteousness , " be informed that old age is no

barrier to the enjoyment of the advantages and pleasures that Freemasonry bestoAvs . They may not , indeed , become apt ritualists ; they may not g libly run through a ceremouy Avhich is too frequently neither understood by the intellect , felt in

the heart , nor potent as regards the life and conduct . We Avould not , of course , for one moment depreciate a thorough and efficient discharge of the ritualistic duties of the Order . But we all need , young and old , to be reminded that

Freemasonry is something more than a series of ceremonies , beautiful and touching though these may be . It is a system of morality ; it is a wondrous institution , to the elucidation of which

the most profound intellect , the ripest scholarship , and the most sanctified heart may be profitably brought . And , surely , these qualifications are to be looked for rather amongst the old than the youthful candidates for participation in our

mysteries . Let , then , no man say " I am too old . " A man is never too old to practise brotherly love , relief , and truth , never too old to bring a ripened judgment , a hol y ancl consistent life to bear upon

his younger brethren . In these days , when , so many are thronging into our ranks , it behoves us rather to stud y the quality than the number of those who present themselves for initiation ; and Ave cannot but express our regret that the " croAvn

of glory" is not more frequently worn hy those Avho knock for admission between the mystic p illars that guard the poitals of our noble , but misunderstood Order .

Masonic Notes And Queries.

MASONIC NOTES AND QUERIES .

SOLIDARITY . A brother writes that recent pastoral letters of Roman Catholic bishops , denouncing Freemasonry , at the same time denounce Solidarity , ancl he asks what is Solidarity . The following passage taken from the "Dictionnaire des Sciences Philophiques" furnishes the answer to our brother ' s question : " Tous

les systemes Socialistes [ les systemes des Communistes , des Phalanstcriens ou Fouvicristes , des Saint Simoniens , et de ceux qui , de uoa jours , continuent leurs traditions sous le nom des Philosophes Humamtaires ] , out ogalement pour devise le mot 'Solidarite . ' Tous ogalement , malgre les differences qui

les divisent , malgre la guerre aeharnee , qu'ils se livrent entre eux , se proposent de delivrer Phomme de sa rcspousabilite , en substituant a sa prevoyance , a son iudustrie , a son activite , cette de la societe tout entiere , comme si la societe etait en dehors des individus dous elle est formee , ou comme si chacun de ses membrestravaiilant uniquement pour elle

, , pouvait lui donner plus qu'il ne donne a sa fauiille et alui meme . "—CHAELES PUETON COOPEB . THE VOLTAIRIANS . The Senior Warden of a London lodge is mistaken in his notiou . The religion of the Voltairians is natural reliionaud natural religion is the reliion

g , g of Freemasonry , ' taken in what is not unfitly denominated its universality . That a candidate is a Voltairian is , therefore , no ground for his rejection . My brother should read Professor Bersot ' s hook " La Philosophic de Voltaire , avec une introduction et des notes , " published at Paris in 1848 . —CHAELES

PUBTON COOPEE . DOUBLE TBIANGLE . How early does this emblem appear on Mussulman edifices aud coins , and from Avhat people did the Mussulmans obtain it ? Did they adopt it from the Romans ?—E . A .

MASONIC CHAEITIES , Cau you inform me if there is any complete list of the Masonic schools , asylums , and charities in the various countries of the world ?—EXQUIEEE . MASONIC KNIGHTS . I have been much struck with a remark in your

columns on the inconsistency of assumed representatives of the chivalric orders being taken from individuals Avho have no chivalric pretensions , thereby tending to throw the character of imposture ou the credentials of many of these bodies . It mi ght have been added that the Avant of scholarship is an equal

bar to the recognition of many of the candidates . Indeed , it may be very shrewdly doubted whether mauy of these bodies , having their strongholds in Freemasonry , are not the offspring of kni ghts of the Moon , Gregorians , Gormagens , and other sham Masonic fraternities , Avhich in the last century liberally distributed mock decorations and niock titles . —K . T .

DEACONS AND STEAVABDS . The W . M . and Wardens are- recognised functionaries of English Crafts and Comjianies , hut whence came the Deacons—from the English or the Scotch Craftsmen ? I have not been able to learn that there were ever Deacons in the Masons' Company of Londonand I do not knov ? that there are such

, officers in any living Company . SteAvards are well knoAvn in some companies . —0 . ATHEISM . "The fool hath said in his heart—no God . " His head and heart are , therefore , both at fault ; his headbecause he is " a fool" his heartbecause

, , , it questions a self-evident truth . How , then , are we to deal with such a character ? Reason can never touch a fool , and argument is not likely to tell against inclination . Is not then Freemasonry wise iu excluding atheists—iu other words , fools—from admission into her lodges?—M . M .