Mother Kilwinning.

Masons , as the case may be ; but in 175 b' it is " enacted that in future no person but an operative mason , or the son of one , shall be entered as an Operative Mason , but as a Gentleman Mason . By operative is meant working mason or builder . " The second volume of the Kilwinning Eecords ( 1758-1807 ) shows other statutes to have been adopted by the lodge in

favour of operative masons joining the society , to which we may have occasion hereafter to advert . The convivial element is now so closely identified with meetings of the Scottish Craft as to form in by far too many cases the chief if not the only inducement to members attending the lodge ; and so

tenaciously do the Freemasons of North Britain adhere to the letter of the ancient statute regarding the holding of banquets within the lodge , that unless the labour of congregated masons can be rendered more attractive by being weeded of its incongruities ancl entrusted to brethren qualified to instruct in the

mysteries of the Order and aid in the development of its exalted principles , refreshment will continue to be the summum ionum of the Masonry of too great , a proportion of its professed votaries , Avhose excesses will be laid to the charge of a fraternity inculcating temjierance as one of the cardinal virtues . Our readers

will have marked the prominence which the ordinance issued by the "Warden General in 1598 gave to the "banketfto which , in certain defined proportions , both apprentices and fellows had to contribute ere ever they could be admitted into either grade ; and as the statutes of which this one forms a part profess to be in some measure but a recapitulation or confirmation of the " acts and statuttis maid of before , " there

is every reason to believe that the convivialities of the Order would not suffer neglect at the hands of the primitive craftsmen of Mother Kilwinning . Indeed , the purchase of the lodge in 1735 of "a stone [ punch ] boAvle , spoon , and three stone candlesticks "—taken in conjunction Avith their acceptance in March , 1730 , of

the " present from the Cannongate Kilwinning of a sett of songs " for the use of the lodge—strengthens the presumption that the gatherings of the Mother Lodge were in the olden time characterised by the greatest hilarity . Not , however , till a few years later do the minutes of the lodge directlindicate the

existy ence of any such custom as that referred to ; although the curtain being drawn aside by the LinlithgOAvshire brethren petitioning in 1737 for a confirmation of their original constitution , exhibits the Lodge of Kilwinning seated at the festive board as the guests of the two delegates Avho in 1728 appeared before the

" honourable society" at Kilwinning to urge the suit of the Lodge of Torphichen for a power of constitution to the suppressing of the " immoralities and licentiousness" which had crept into their community . The nest entertainment Ave have any note of is that given in December , 1742 , by Alexander , tenth Earl

ofEglington , on the occasion of his being " entered , past , and raised " by the Jacobite Earl of Kilmarnock as Master of the Mother Lodge . After paying his dues , his lordship of Eglington , in honour of hisinitiation , contributed five guineas to the poor , besides " clearing the expenses of the day . " "We hear

nothing again iiertaining to " refreshment" till the disbursements of the lodge for 1754 show 80 s . to have been paid for " five dozen Mason Glasses and a box to hold them in , " " and as they are now ( the

minute proceeds to set forth ) the property of the lodge , any brother that breaks one of them shall pay into the box Gd . " Two years after this enactment Ave find the lodge deliberating on the breakages having reduced their stock of glasses to three dozen and eight , while only some three or four had been paid for

by the parties breaking them ; and at the annual meeting of 1757 one of the brethren , probably from overindulgence , having smashed two glasses , is recorded as having paid 1 * . for the same , and others are amerced in the statutory sum for a similar offence . These entries , trivial in themselves , indicate the close

connection subsisting in the last century "between the labour of the lodge and their refreshment . We have already alluded to the frequent entries appearing in the records of Mother Kilwinning of felloivs of craft receiving their " mark , " for Avhich they were charged a fee of one m . erk each ( 13 f < i sterling ) .

This conferring of marks obtained in the 'Mother Lodge till the middle of the 18 th century ( although the custom had for a long time previously been gradually declining ) , after which period no further record is made of marks being given or paid for . The fact that , in accordance wifeli ancient statute , the F . C . mark was formerly given by Mother Kilwinning , identifies the "Mark ' s" connection Avith St . John ' s

Masonry , and shows also that , as recognising it as a step in the Order , the Grand Lodge of Scotland has but returned to what was an acknowledged usage of the Scottish Craft centuries before the establishment of that Grand Body was thought of . Such fact , too , must go far to controvert the dogma of brethz'en both at home and in America who stamp as erroneous the

opinion that the Mark originally constituted a portion of the F . C . degree . It is worthy of remark , relative to the degrees formerly conferred by Mother Kilwinning , that while Entered Apprentice , Fellow of Craft , and Master are the grand grades , soto speak , into whichduringthe 17 th

and early part of the 18 th century , the members of that ancientlodge are classified—subdivided again into Deaconrie ancl "Wardanrie , i . e ., those AVIIO had served in either of the offices of deacon or Avarden—not till 1741 is thereany record of a Master ' s reception . Onthe 24 th June , 1736 , hoAvever , Ave find the lodge enacting " that such as are found duly qualified , after their entry as

an Apprentice and passing as a Fellow Craft , shall be raised to the dignity of a , Master gratis . " The total absence from the records of Mother Kilwinning ( up to the date already quoted ) of any degree being conferred beyond that of Fellow Craft , is apt to raise in one ' s mind the doubt whether there was any ceremony

at the reception of a M aster , who in a purely 0 perative lodge would necessarily require to be the employer of labour ere he could be reckoned of the higher grade . But then the statutes of the lodge , of date December , 1643 , militates against this doubt , for therein is fixed the constitutional number of masters and apprentices

required , to be present at the " reception" of Fellows of Craft and Masters . On the other hand , again , the oldest existing of the , Kilwinning charters—that of the Cannongate Kilwinning—expiresses the privilege conferred by it to consist of the " poAver and liberty to them to enter , receive , and pass any qualified persons that they thought fit ; " in 1729 , the same privilege , similarly expressed , is referred to as having , many years before , been granted to the Lodge of Torphichen ;