Our Masonic Charities. Royal Masonic Institution For Boys.

Ave shall be surprised if the Freeemasons themselves are not disposed to question the allegation that their benevolent institutions are inadequately knoAvn to them , and if they do not point to their noble subscription lists , their successful annual

festivals , their long and increasing array of Vice-Presidents and Life Governros to prove the erroneous character of the charge . But statistics are on our side , and if a return Avere furnished of the members Avho have paid personal visits to the

Boys' School , the Girls' School , or the Institution for Aged Freemasons and their WidoAvs , in any given year , the return Avould be surprisingly small . Deduct the several house Committees and their friends , and the number of annual visitors

would be reduced to an insignificant percentage of the Craft . But there is another and simpler way of proving hoAV little the Masonic Charities are knoAvn , so far , that is , as domestic arrangements aud internal economy and discipline are

concerned . Let the reader , be he Mason or non-Mason , ask those of the Order whom he happens to meet , Avhat they knoAv of its charities , and ninety-aine times out of a hundred he will find that

their personal inspection has never extended to all three Institutions , and that in a majority of cases they have seen none . This should not be . The men Avho give these unsatisfactory ansAveis will most of them brighten up Avonderfully Avhen the

question of subscription comes on , for they have given liberally , and will give liberally again ; but they take for granted that their money will be Avell applied , and have not visited these places , only because it has not been urged on them with

authority . We believe that no greater fillip could be given to the Order of Avhich His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales has just been made a Grand Master , than inducing every one admitted to visit the charities themselves . There need be no

appeal for subscriptions , nothing to swell the cost of initiation , nothing absolutely compulsory . But if the masters and officers of Metropolitan Lodges thought fit , a visit to the Girls' School mi ght easily be made a regular preliminary to passing

from one degree to another . A visit to the Boys ' School mi ght be made at a corresponding stage , while the Asylum for the Aged could be inspected as a matter of course at a period it ivould be easy to defiue .

" The Boys' School is a fair illustration of the difference betAveen the interest Avhich impels men

to subscribe , and the interest which leads them to inspect . It lies at the very core of modern Freemasonry . It has been made the subject of more eloquent and heart-stirring appeals than any other institution connected Avith the Craft ; it has been

" pushed " energetically and unceasingly for years , and its building-funds , its festivals , its foundationstones , its needs , and its successes have been in the mind of every Freemason who has interested himself in the charities of the order , or has even

been a regular attendant at the banquets of his lodge . You could , in either case , never get away from the Boys' School for long . It Avould not be laid . Its wants were always asserting themselves , the benefits it was eager to confer

were ever coming to the front , and the Masonic world has thus been called upon to " give , give , " with a persistency and effect highly creditable to all concerned . Everybody knew what a certain pleasant presence at their meetings meant ; and that the

geniality , humour , and good fellowship of one guest would be subordinated before the evening was out to the purpose of- procuring subscriptions or donations of marking a brother down as steward , or of whipping up the langiud , or stimulating the benevolent among that steward ' s friends . It has been recorded of

Colonel Sockdolliger , the American blacksmith with a mania for whipping ministers , that he with ferocious playfulness , gave his victims their choice as to their mode of taking the licking he was bound to administer . " Some takes it fightin ' , some talkin , ' some lyin '

down , " said he aloud , as he oiled his terrible strap } and the sentiment has perhaps occurred to Freemasons , when by an infallible and agreeable token , they saw they would have to open their hearts and pockets to the claims of the Boys' School before they

went away . So far as our observation goes , they have always taken it talking , and taken it well , but as a rule have never seen the establishment they have heard so much of .

" This is at Wood Green , a feAV minutes' railway ride from King ' s Cross , and is from first to last one of the most perfect institutions in the United Kingdom . The only possible plea against it might be that it is too sumptuous , that its

domestic arrangements are on a scale Avhich its pupils never saAV before they came , and can never hope to taste after they leave ; but to such objectors the committee have a ready and , as it seems to us , a sufficient answer . No boy is to

feel himself in the slightest degree the recipient of charity . As high a standard of honour shall be upheld here as at the public schools ; and in all