The Benefits Of Freemasonry.

This then , is another of the benefits derivable from Ereemasonry , and cannot , we believe , be deemed , even hy a Ereemason's Wife , as an " evil" work . As a practical example may , however , be more convincing than a thousand arguments , we will proceed

briefly to point out by a recent case how our system of benevolence acts . A short time since a lady arrived in this country from Calcutta , with her children , her object being to make arrangements for their education , the father being a junior partner in a large mercantile

firm , to which he had been but recently admitted . after long years of faithful service . The first information , however , that the unfortunate lady received ¦ on her arrival was that her husband had died from Cholera after a very few days illness , leaving her and

• her family unprovided for , and almost destitute in a foreign country . In this emergency , to whom could she look ? Luckily she recollected that her husband was a Ereemason . The requisite introductions ancl proofs were obtained , and one , if not two , children were received into

tbe Masonic schools , and the widow was granted £ 50 to assist ber to return to Calcutta , where she had every prospect of providing for herself . Even at the approaching election for the Boys' School , there is a case of a candidate which peculiarly shows

the advantages of the Order , and we quote it not for tbe purpose of advocating the claims of one candidate over another , but to show to a Ereemason ' s Wife that Masonry is something more than a pleasant pastime and does not consist wholly in good dinners . The ease we allude to is that of Harry Jenkin , an orphan , aged ten

years , whose father , Eichard Jenkin , was initiated in the Lodge of Industry ( No . 219 ) , of v / hicb he continued a ¦ subscribing member for twelve years , having served the office of W . M . in 1852 . He was engaged for nearly twenty years in Her Majesty ' s office of Woods and

Works , and was much respected . His death took place in October , 1860 , leaving the candidate an orphan , the mother having died a few years previously . The only surviving , relative is an uncle , who having administered to the effects of his late brother , decamped with the

proceeds , leaving the boy utterly destitute , with no haven in view but the parish workhouse , from which he was providentially rescued by the exertions of two or three brethren , who knew the father in his prosperity , and have taken on themselves the charge of his orphan child

until he can obtain admission into our school , and the names of which brethren we would publish did we not feel that they do not desire to take any merit to themselves for having rescued a brother ' s child from misery and want .

We could go on enumerating cases where Masonry has done good rather than " evil , " until our pages were more than filled , but feel it unnecessary to do so ; ancl therefore will content ourselves by directing the attention of a Ereemason ' s Wife to only one other case , which created considerable attention at the time . A few years since a Eev . Bro . Huett , the Prov . G . Chaplain of Essex ,

who possessed one of those so-called livings on which a man can barely do more than starve , but who was just beginning to make a literary reputation , died , leaving five or six children literally destitute , the furniture being seized for rent almost before the body of the deceased

was out of the house . The brethren of Essex took up the case , and by the aid of a letter from the M . W . G . Master , an appeal was made to the various lodges throughout the kingdom , which resulted in the collection of something like £ 2000 , which was placed in the bands

of trustees , ancl hy which the whole of the children were not only brought up in respectability , but a handsome residue left for division amongst them when they arrived of age .

In enumerating what is done by Ereemasons , we should do wrong were we to omit to mention that , irrespective of all the various funds we have alluded to , that the majority of Prov . Grand Lodges , and also private lodges , possess funds of their own through which large sums are dispensed , not only for the relief of the

brethren , but also in assisting local charities—and that West Lancashire posseses an excellent educational institution of its own , the rules of which , however , we clo not possess .

Neither does Ereemasonry confine its charity to its own members—for , at the time of the Crimean War , Grand Lodge voted £ 1000 to the Patriotic Eund , and a like amount was granted in aid of the fund to relieve the distress caused by the mutiny in India , sums which represent but a small portion of what was absolutely

subscribed by Ereemasons , either through their private lodges or in their individual character as citizens—and . we cannot take up the list of any of the principal Charities which do such honour to our kingdom without recognising the names of many of our most distinguished Masons .

We have now , we trust , given a satisfactory reply to a Ereemason ' s Wife why we deem it " respectable" to be a Mason , and the benefits to be derived from a connection with the Order , though no one would more strongly deprecate than we should , the introduction into Masonry of men who looked upon it as a benefit society , or one under

which they were to take any advantage . Masonry has far higher and more enobling objects—and throughout our ceremonies , which our correspondent appears to regard as mere " trash , " and in our lectures nothing is breathed but the purest of piety and morality , and nothing taught

but the practice of every virtue which can elevate and dignify mankind . We do not mean to say that every Ereemason acts up to his profession—we wish we could —neither can we claim for the clergy , or any other class of her Majesty ' s subjects an exemption from

being leavened with men who cast disgrace by their actions upon the professions , of which they are unworth y members . At the same time we fear that much of the obloquy occasionally cast upon our Order by those who know nothing of us , excepting by name , is due to Ereemasons themselves in the practice of admitting members