Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Should Ladies Be Banished From Our Recreation Banquets ?
At present we meet and have a very comfortable dinner , and no doubt enjoy the good things of life "in moderation . " But we all know each other well , we see each other often ; there is little fresh we can tell each other , not much of what is new or diverting beyond the normal gossip of the hour have we , or care Ave , to impart to our
Avellknown " chums , " perhaps of years . Great , no doubt , are the claims of friendship , tender the ties it creates and strengthens ; pleasant the associations it cherishes and consecrates , as we look back to-day through a long vista of laughing and happy years , and see how T . G . A . O . T . U . has spared us and our friends to meet together so long and so often in gay contentment and sympathetic conviviality . True , most true ! But yet have we not , after all , been rather dull
and rather stupid ? Time , as it has passed on , has rather jaalled on us with its wonted , its invariable custom of our valued Recreation Banquet , the appetizing Menu at Greenwich , the Avell-arranged table at Richmond . Times change and we change with them . Why should we not yield a little
to the shifting tastes of the hour , and consider whether this exclusion and banishment of ladies from all our meetings is either wise or tenable , prudent or of common sense ? As is well-known , the Recreation Banquets do not attract all the members of our lodges ; sometimes they are sparsely attended , nay , even we have heard of half-a-dozen
members of a numerous body surveying the busy river from a window at GreeiiAvich , being themselves the recreation banquet , and , no doubt , enjoying that reality fully and graciously .
But what a change might come o ' er the spirit of our dreams ,-what a charm mi ght be lent to the meeting and the gathering , if only by a wise innovation we were bold enough to burst through the formalities of red tape , and the childish chains of a stereotyped routine , and invite our fair sisters to grace the banquet , to enliven
the scene ? We feel persuaded , ourselves , such a little genial , gentle revolution would be of infinite good to contemporary Freemasonry . And we base our conviction on the following facts and results , Avhich cannot be denied , which cannot be invalidated by any , that wherever the ladies are invited , and many lodges now most wisely and seasonably
, despite all prejudice , do invite them , the pleasure of such festive hours is immeasurabl y increased , and all attend and all depart equally gratified and grateful for so reasonable an adaptation of the enjoyable sociality , of the innocent festivities of Freemasonry . And it could not well be otherwise . While it is proper , most proper for many
reasons , to exclude and banish our ladies from the normal routine of Freemasonry , it is equally rightful and seasonable to admit them to its special gatherings of friendship and harmony . Wherever they
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Should Ladies Be Banished From Our Recreation Banquets ?
At present we meet and have a very comfortable dinner , and no doubt enjoy the good things of life "in moderation . " But we all know each other well , we see each other often ; there is little fresh we can tell each other , not much of what is new or diverting beyond the normal gossip of the hour have we , or care Ave , to impart to our
Avellknown " chums , " perhaps of years . Great , no doubt , are the claims of friendship , tender the ties it creates and strengthens ; pleasant the associations it cherishes and consecrates , as we look back to-day through a long vista of laughing and happy years , and see how T . G . A . O . T . U . has spared us and our friends to meet together so long and so often in gay contentment and sympathetic conviviality . True , most true ! But yet have we not , after all , been rather dull
and rather stupid ? Time , as it has passed on , has rather jaalled on us with its wonted , its invariable custom of our valued Recreation Banquet , the appetizing Menu at Greenwich , the Avell-arranged table at Richmond . Times change and we change with them . Why should we not yield a little
to the shifting tastes of the hour , and consider whether this exclusion and banishment of ladies from all our meetings is either wise or tenable , prudent or of common sense ? As is well-known , the Recreation Banquets do not attract all the members of our lodges ; sometimes they are sparsely attended , nay , even we have heard of half-a-dozen
members of a numerous body surveying the busy river from a window at GreeiiAvich , being themselves the recreation banquet , and , no doubt , enjoying that reality fully and graciously .
But what a change might come o ' er the spirit of our dreams ,-what a charm mi ght be lent to the meeting and the gathering , if only by a wise innovation we were bold enough to burst through the formalities of red tape , and the childish chains of a stereotyped routine , and invite our fair sisters to grace the banquet , to enliven
the scene ? We feel persuaded , ourselves , such a little genial , gentle revolution would be of infinite good to contemporary Freemasonry . And we base our conviction on the following facts and results , Avhich cannot be denied , which cannot be invalidated by any , that wherever the ladies are invited , and many lodges now most wisely and seasonably
, despite all prejudice , do invite them , the pleasure of such festive hours is immeasurabl y increased , and all attend and all depart equally gratified and grateful for so reasonable an adaptation of the enjoyable sociality , of the innocent festivities of Freemasonry . And it could not well be otherwise . While it is proper , most proper for many
reasons , to exclude and banish our ladies from the normal routine of Freemasonry , it is equally rightful and seasonable to admit them to its special gatherings of friendship and harmony . Wherever they