Scotland.

patriarchal snuffer is an inexhaustible mine of quaint anecdote thrilling legend , and antiquated ballad . His nationality is unmistakable , " his sympathies broad , and his antipathy to suffering and oppression uncompromising . Your discourse may haply run on to the discussion of some knotty point , as difficult ofunravelment as the Gordian knot , but your mental giant here , the snuffer , grapples with the difficulty calmly and earnestly , and as atten

he unlooses fold after fold , and exposes it to your admiring - tion , following up every successful move with a well earned and eager snuff , ivhich seals the success of his progress , he at last , with the accompanying aid of a terrific double-barrelled pinch , and the snort of a grampus , lays the whole matter before you in such simple detail that it may reach the understanding of a child . " In addition to the members of the loclge , there was a large attendance of visiting brethren , whose loud and frequent plaudits fully testified to the merits of the lecture . —Glasgow Herald .

Ireland.

IRELAND .

MASONIC FEMALE ORPHAN SCHOOL . ( From the Dublin Express . ) Among the many noble works of charity and beneficence by which the society of Freemasons have carried into practice the maxims of their order , the Masonic Female Orphan School , in Burlington-place , Dublin , may justly be regarded as a striking

illustration . Interesting , however , as ifc must in a special degree appear to members of the Masonic body , it furnishes a less direct but not less useful lesson to the casual observer , as a training institution in which the soundest dictates of reason and common sense are carried out , a complete education , physical , moral , and intellectual , afforded , and a high cultivation both of the intellect and of the imagination shown to be nofc incompatible ivith a thorough training in the less shining but more

useful homely duties of life . It is noiv some 15 years since the governors of the Masonic Female Orphan School , ivhich hacl previously been in existence upon a smaller scale , obtained a grant from the late Lord Herbert of a site in Burlington-place , on wMch the present establishment ivas builfc by donations principally derived from members of the Masonic Order resident in this country , and anxious to provide a suitable refuge for the

destitute daughters of their poorer brethren . The exterior of the edifice is plain and unpretending : no expense has been lavished on decoration , but probably there are few buildings ivhich so thoroughly answer the object designed . In 1860 , in consequence of the increasing number of eligible candidates for admission , an additional Aving ivas erected , rendering the establishment capable of accomodating 40 girls . To accomplish this obiect , the funded property of the institution was reduced by

nearly £ 1000 , but this , ifc is hoped , will gradually he replaced by the increase of donations and annual subscriptions consequent on the augmentation of the number . of inmates . The wisdom of the governors , not alone iu the site adopted , but also in the construction of the edifice , is proved remarkably by the healthy condition of the inmates , and the almost total absence of sickness amongst them . In truth , the only part of the building that wears a deserted aspect is the hospitalwhich howeveris a model

, , of neatness and scrupulous cleanliness . The children have , of course , had their share of fche maladies incident to juveniles : they have run through the usual infantile disorders of measles , ¦ whooping cough , and scarlatina ; but no better demonstration can be afforded of the skill , care , ancl attention with which the medical officer , the matron , ancl her assistants perforin their duties , than the fact that for the past 14 years not a single

death has occurred in the establishment . This desirable result is attained by three important agencies—pure air , wholesome diet , and healthy and invigorating occupation . Every appartment in the building , from the kitchen to the dormitories , is spacious , clean , and well ventilated . Each girl is provided with a separate bed . The bedrooms are clean aud airy , communicating with and adjoining the apartments of . the matron and her assistant . The beddingthe wallsancl the very floor are

accu-, , rately neat and clean—a result obtained by the system of the establishment , by which each girl is required to make her own bed , take charge of and keep in repair her oivn clothes , and take her turn in washing and arranging the bedrooms . The lavatory ( a separate apartment ) is conveniently provided with the requisites with which each girl , even the youngest , is required not to " adore , with head uncovered , the cosmetic powers "but , what

is far better , to keep her person perfectly clean , her hair and dress neat , and to acquire those habits of tidiness and order without which personal beauty and intellectual accomplishments lose half their attractions . The refectory is a spacious ancl comfortable apartment , adjoining the kitchen , and communicating therewith by an aperture through ivhich viands and dishes may be removed with great saving both of time and trouble . Every

part of the building is thus kept with the most careful attention to order and system . The schoolrooms , of which there are two , one for the elder girls and fche other for the younger , might well furnish examples worthy of imitation in many a fashionable academy . From their entrance into the institution , habits of order , neatness , and self-dependence are inculcated and enforced . Even the youngest girl is required to make her oivn bed , to

keep aud repair her own clothes and lvait on herself at all times . As soon as she is of sufficient strength , she is required to assist in kitchen ancl laundry , and even to wash out the rooms , and to discharge those various domestic duties , the performance of which is essential to the comfort of a household . No excuse save that of illness is alloAi'ed ; nor is the least difference made between one child and another . The daughter of the quondam ivealthy merchant who had been ruined by over

speculationthe child of fche aristocratic couniry gentleman , AVIIO perhaps had been stripped of his possessions by an adverse lawsuit—is given the same education of heart , head , and hand , as the offspring of the humblest individual who ever Avore a masonic apron , To make any difference between one child and another in this respect would not only be a manifest injustice , but would render it impossible to preserve either the discipline of the school or the equality and affection which subsist among the girls . Some

time since , the parents of a girl , once affluent , but reduced by a series of reverses to poverty , died , leaving their daughter utterly destitute . Having been admitted into the institution , she for ¦ the first feiv days positively refused to make her oivn bed , or to perform for herself those offices which during her parents' lifetime , had been discharged for her by servants . The poor girl had yet to learn that the truest independence is that of selfdependence , and that the surest way both to acquire and to

enjoy prosperity is learned from the lessons ivhich adversity teaches . For three days she remained stubborn , but eventually the firmness , patience , and gentleness of the matron prevailed , and she ultimately became one of the most tractable and best conducted girls in the school . It may here be observed that corporal punishment is never resorted to in the institution , yet the perfection with which discipline is maintained and obedience enforced ivould be inexplicable to those ivho do not understand

what Chalmers has so well described as " the omnipotence of loviug-kindnes . " These details , and the recital of such homely occupations as those in which the inmates are engaged , may excite a smile ; but their importance , as conducive to the usefulness , and consequent happiness of the girls in after life , is not to he appreciated lightly , for precisely in these qualifications , girls brought up in charitable institutions are usually mosfc

deficient . AVho , that has observed the inmates of the female wards of some workhouses , can avoid perceiving IIOAV lamentably ignorant they are of the commonest domestic duties ? Nor is the case much better at the opposite extremity of the social scale , for even in the fashionable boarding-school it will be often found that habits of self-dependence , neatness , and the "household virtues " which give every-day life its charm , cheer the

domestic hearth , and shed lighfc on the path of the obscure , are too much neglected . In this institution not only is the performance of domestic offices enforced , but the culture of the intellect and the tastes is not neglected . Besides the rudiments of English education they are taught singing , ancl even the pianoforte . Their household work over , each girl , before afternoon , is ready to take her place in the schoolroom . AA'hat a contrast do they present to the inmates of the workhouse ! Neat and clean in

appearance , plainly , but not ungracefully attired , ivith happy countenances and cheerful tones , they are , ranged , nos in silent , listless groups , nor with pale and stunted forms , evincing , hi their prematurely aged countenances , the seeds of scrofula ancl consumption ; their rosy faces and happy looks bespeak the care and attention bestowed upon them . They exhibit neither the stolid stupidity nor the meanness and cunning so often found in children who have been supported in charitable institutions .

They car . sing a few snatches of song and play an air or two upon the piano with correctness and melody . The visitor can hardly help asking could these be the same girls who in the morning were on their knees bnsy with scrubbing-brush and dust-pan , and when answered , as he assuredly must be , in the affirmative , it furnishes a proof of the possibility of a girl ' s