Notes On American Freemasonry.

of the working of Masonry abroad , as well as at home . There can be no good reason why we should stand as a single exception to a practice that has so long and so universally prevailed . There seems to me to be a selfishness , a coldness , and an almost want of courtesy in this exclusiveness . Ours is one of the largest Grand Lodges in this country , and we like to be remembered as members of the great masonic family . Let us cultivate

the social virtues and strengthen the bond of our union by reciprocating this fraternal intercourse . A large family of children , in the changes incident to human life , becomes separated at points remote from each other . Through the medium of a regular correspondence the natural feelings of affection , sympathy , and love that unite them are preserved and strengthened . AVe will suppose that one brother does not reciprocate those favoursbut reading his letterslays them away

, , unanswered . How long a time do you suppose will elapse before they become less frequent , and he will be almost forgotten P Are we not occupying a position very similar to his ? I have made this digression , deeming the subject worthy your serious consideration . "

Dispensations were granted fo . i 17 new lodges . S > The consideration of the prayer of the Lodge of Quebec was pastponed for a year . Number of lodges . 421 members , 29 , 333 . KAHKAS . The Grand Master reports , dispensations for the formation of

12 new lodges , on this subject he says : — " In the matter of names for new lodges , I have departed from the rule followed by my predecessors . The names by mo given have heen suggesstive of some Masonic virtue , a principle , character , or place ; aud in every case my course has met the approval of the brethren composing the new lodge . I hope this rule , in future will be followed strictly . "

He says of Masonic schools of instruction : — " One thing is quite certain , that these Masonic schools are , as a means for spreading the work among the lodges , invaluable . Ho man can doubt this for a moment who has had any experience eithei in imparting or acquiring the work and lectures of the various degrees . Although we have met with some impediments—not in the way of oppositionfor wo havo bad none

, of that from the beginning—but through the want of a sufficient number of competent teachers to go out and reproduce the work and lecture in the lodges . Yet the good work of uniformity is surely making its way slowly , and soon the earnest wishes of its founders will be fully realised . " Humber of ledges , 84 ; members , 3 , 122 .

KEHTUCKY . The Grand lodge of Kentucky met on Monday , October 17 th , 1870 . M . W . Chas . Egintou , Grand Master ; R . W-. J . M . S . McCorkle , Grand Secretary . The Grand Master ' s address is full of good , wholesome truths , and presented in good shape , too . He says : — " The Grand Master ' s gavelon the lGth day of October

, , in tbe year 1 S 00 , called to order the representatives of the live , subordinate lodges then in Kentucky , and they laboured in the spirit of love aud harmony to make their temple impenetrable to discord—where the pure light of Faith , Hopo , and Charity should subordinate self to brotherhood , and reflect sentiments akin to Sinai and Calvary . "The four hundred and sixty-seven subordinate lodges

represented here to-day find the temple of those hardy pioneers to be of ufficient geometrical proportions and dimensions to entertain all who ar e united in the common heritage of fraternity—the craftsmen / from the valleys of Tyre , and the burden-bearers from the mountains of Lebanon : —

" ' From quarry , hill , and shore , AVith emblems true and bright , AA'ho come to toil as oft before , And thus obtain more light . ' " The increase in numbers and organization has made no variance ; peace , concord , and unity continue . The Grand Master of to-day is neither more or ' . less in supreme com . uit . nd than was his first predecessor . The Grand lodge now is in every particular what it was when your predecessors met in the first year of the present century . Misinformed

zealots , under the influence of ignorance . and prejudice , lme exerted the utmost of their power against the Order in vain ; it remains the same"Unchanged in its noble workings upon the human heart ; " In harmonising all the better and more elevated thoughts of its members ; " In its opposition to the earthly antagonism of party , and

the confusing conflicts of the world ; " In its great design , and in the universality which adapts it to all climes and nations of the earth ; " It still finds members among all sects aud parties who revere God and love humanity ; "Still speaks to all classes of men in a sweet , low voice , whispering of peace and love ; " Awakens the spirit of the aged , and brings into active being

the minds ofthe young ; " Continues to fortify against the temptations ofthe world ; "The same mystic rites and ceremonies that were in the beginning , and as they will be to the end of time ; " Throughout the long , lengthened line of years bigotry has hurled its deadliest shafts against the outer walls , and the fires of the inquisition have been heaped upon the heads of our members ;

" Edicts have been fulminated without injury ; " Jealous scrutiny has put it on trial , and in vain endeavoured to penetrate its bidden mysteries ; " Prison doors have opened and taken in unoffending members and learned no secrets ; " Parties formed to destroy Masonry , found to their sorrow that

' Her towers ancl monuments fade not away , Her truth and social love do not decay ; Her actions , tending all to one great plan , Have taught mankind what man should be to man . ' " The objects and purposes are the same everywhere , and every member , however much he may differ in language or nationality , sectarian attachment or political preference , has

the same rights and duties , aud is in thorough unity with every Freemason throughout the world . "Ho other mere moral organization possesses the power of which Masonry can boast ; none other can effect as much as the craft is disseminating sunshine and dispelling gloom . " Meddling not with politics , interfering not with the affairs of Church or State , it has not suffered the instability of other human institutions .

" The foregoing are truths well known to the unprejudiced world , by the fruit which the mystic tree has budded aud brought forth . The results are undeniable ; the usefulness of the order was not stayed by persecution in the olden time ; and the fires kindled by bigotry did not destroy the masonic temple , but only forced the proscribed into the caverns of tbe earth ancl shades of night , where tho moral institution was preserved , and its high duties cultivated . The poor success of

those futile efforts should have satisfied those of modern times , who kuow nothing of the progressive science of Freemasonry , that there is to them an unseen charm , a mystic brotherhood of soul , an infallibility which they can neither comprehend nor destroy , ancl they might as well unite in the lamentation of a foreign ecclesiastic ' that the masonic sect , composed of all religions ancl of every creed , cannot be vanquished or overthrown . He shows he means business too : —

" I havo been under the unpleasant necessity , in more than forty answers , many of them to intimate friends , to decline granting dispensations to confer degrees out of time ; and while willing to properly exercise every inherent right of the Grand Master , yet I could not conscientiously disregard the plain aud positive clause of the constitution that' no degree shall be conferred in less than one lunar month after the previous degree has been conferred on the same person . '"

Reports issuing eight dispensations for new lodges , and closes as follows : — " The castle-building days of childhood are gone , and , whether possessed of the bright anticipations , of youth , or with the blossoms of spring-tide glory , changed into the sere and yellow leaf of life , we must all remember that even if a man was not more frail than tbe rose , yet the cold winter of age will come , and the history that each has written for himself will disclose whether he triumphed over every temptation aud persevered in