The Model Master.

position , leading the lodge to acts of charity , rather than excessive adornment of the lodge room , or a parsimonious husbandry of the lodge funds to the exclusion of that relief , which is one of the boasted landmarks of our noble institution ,

when we live up to our grandest principles of Brotherly Love , Relief and Truth . Iu speaking of these several principles of action , whicli should be found in the Model Master , we « an hardly hope to see them embodied in one man ,

and yet it is by no means difficult to find a man who will closely approximate to each and all of them , if the lodge will be guided by good judgment in its selection of a Master , and not seek to < oromote any brother to the office because of his

wealth , and influence in the outside world , which is often too much the case in this most important appointment . As we have often intimated we do not think the exact knowledge of tlie ritual the best and highest qualification to the office . We

would far rather prefer that the Master should require a little prompting in the obligations , if he be otherwise the best man , in all other respects to govern and represent his lodge in the Council of the Grand Lodge , at its annual communication .

Refering , however , to the 1 st , 2 d , and 3 d of the qualifications here mentioned , no one will doubt that the Master should possess them in order to govern wisely and well- As regards the 4 th of these , it is more or less difficult to know before

trial how far a judicious selection may be made , but aside from the possible mistake in the selection , no one can doubt that the Master possessing a " skill to devise means to interest the lodge and secure a full attendance , " is a most desirable

Master . Our Sth proposition will be approved ; but , as we have already intimated , not strict accuracy at the expense . of other and higher qualifications . The other qualifications which we have enumeiated as the 6 th ,

7 th and Sth , will not require any debate to approve , and the man who is in possession of them , is , including the others , a Model Master , and well aadpted , to not only perform the work of the Order in the liodge-Moom , to lead the

membership up into a higher plane of fellowship , brotherly love , and benevolence , but into a dignity of membership , that shall make the •area of the Lodge Room one of sublimity , grandeur , efficiency and cordiality , which shall have a prevailing influence in the world , and enhance the regard in

which it shall be held , outside the pale of the order . We might very properly dwell a little upon our last proposition as the most essential qualification , that should strongly pervade , not only the Master ,

but every member of the Order and every Lodge of Freemasons in existence ; and , indeed , if it did not , the Institution must perish , as it will deserve , unless we quickly return to its proper foundation , upon which it is built , or should be , and if

departed from , the building must deservedly fall by its own departure from that deep foundation , upon which in theory it is built , and on which doubtless in most instances , the superstructure has been reared : " Relief and Truth .- "

It must , however , be admitted , that of late years , there has been growing amongst us a desire to erect , not-only good buildings and well and properly furnished ; but in many instances a gorgeous display of furniture and fittings ,

involving the lodge in heavy debts , and worst of all , depleting its treasury , leaving nothing for the widows and orphans , or comparatively little , making the contrast painful and almost contemptible . Edinburgh , in delivering him from the castle in

which he was kept a prisoner , and paying a debt of 6 , 000 marks , renewed to the craftsmen their favourite banner of "the Blue Blanket . " The King decreed that in all coming time this banner should be the standard of the crafts within

Edinburgh , and that it should be unfurled in defence of their own rights , and in protection of their sovereign . The privilege of displaying it at the

Masonic procession was granted in consequence of the journeymen's original connection with the Masons of Mary ' s Chapel , one of the incorporated trades of the town . On the Masonic occasion to whicli we have referred , it was inspected by the

Duke of Athol and other ^ notable brethren ,, who expressed their high gratification at seeing a Masonic relic so famous in the annals of : the city . The blue sky of heaven is not an object that we look at . Some painters fall into this mistake ,

of making their skies as tangible as their- ,. trees , or hills , or valleys . Now the sky is not . a flat , dead colour , but a deep , quivering , transparent body of penetrable air ; it has depths that cannot be measured ; it is immaterial , the fit residence

for those spirits of the air that there is reason to believe inhabit space . Nature ' s sky we always look through , not at . Dickens , in his American