Increase Of Numbers In Masonry.

too lenient towards offenders against our laws . TJnmasonic conduct in far too many instances , not only escapes censure and punishment , but sits unrebuked on the floor—nay , even in the highest stations of the Lodge . The good will leave ns if

we do not punish the bad . Brethren , that is not Masonic charity to an erring brother which makes the immoral , the corrupt , and the traitorous the peer and equal of the good , the honest and the honourable Mason .

A custom , or fashion , rather , exists among us , which is innocent of itself , and would be harmless but for the use which unworthy Masons and those who are not Masons make of it . It is the wearing of Masonic jewelry . Masons , undoubtedly ,

often indulge in it because they love its beautiful symbolism ; but in these times , when cheats , swindlers , and thieves assume them as a means of obtaining the reputation and credit of Masons , it becomes us to inquire whether it is not a duty we owe the Craft to wholly abstain from the custom .

The Way To Do The Work

THE WAY TO DO THE WORK

BY BRO . ROUNSEVILLE . No officer can do his work well who does not thoroughly understand it ; hence the necessity of " studying" it . It is not enough that he can repeat it , parrot-like . We do not agree with those

who think that an uneducated man makes the best officer , because he is more likely to get it exact . It may readily be conceded that an ignorant man will be more likely to use the exact language of the work than one who is educated .

It is undoubtedly the fact , and for this reason : The man who does not think has no words but those he finds in the work to express the idea which that work contains . He gets the idea from the work , and expresses it in its own language ,

because he has no other . With the educated , thinking man , the case is different . He has half a dozen terms that express the same , or a similar idea , and he will frequently have one at hand , when the term that is orthodox escapes his memory .

Now it is doubtless desirable that there should be uniformity in the work , but we submit that there are other things more desirable . One of these is a forcible and impressive manner of delivering the lectures . The change of a single

word for one of the same , or a similar signification , mars the work less than the false pronunciation or accentuation of the word laid down in the ritual . Suppose the candidate is told in the true work that he has " exemplified" an event in history ,,

would it detract from the impression of the work should he use the word "illustrated" instead ? We give this as a specimen of the principle for which we contend , that there are worse errors than the substitution of a strange word of

similarmeaning . The sentence in which the word " exemplified ^ ' occurs , badly delivered , would be less forcible and impressive , and subserve the interest of Masonry less than the interpolation of "illustrated" in a well and forcibly spoken sentence . If

this be true , it is better to make the manner of delivering a study , as well as the text of the work . This brings us back to our starting-point , that a good officer will endeavour to understand—¦ thoroughly understand—the work . And by this

we do not mean that we should go through it without missing a word or misplacing a syllable * Some do that and yet know very little about the words . The ritual of Masonry will bear study . It is terse , simple and expressive , and in nine cases out of ten when an officer is at a loss to >

construe a passage in it , if he will express the idea in the most forcible , direct and simple language that he can command , he will get it correctly . There is no verbiage , no rhetorical periods , no high-sounding epithets , no rounded

sentences in Masonry . It is like the three pillars ; it combines wisdom , strength , amd beauty / without a display of tawdry finery . Then it follows that the officer who shall attempt to deliver his charges and lectures in grandeloquent , or what is generally called an eloquent manner , will most surely fail .

But this is not all . The officer must strive to accommodate his manner to the particular subject on which he is engaged . It would be simply and only ridiculous to assume the same bearing and manner in delivering the historical lectures that

would be proper and desirable in the most thrilling portions of the second section of the third degree . Should a man design to commit an outrage on a public highway , at mid-day , where persons would be constantly passing , he would

not likely be long or very noisy about it . If he said anything , it would not be in a loud tone of voice that might bring the neighbourhood upon