Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Banquets.
to obtain a seat after a struggle , you have not sufficient elbow-room to handle your knife and fork ; but there ' s that consolation , you don't run the risk of using much such implements , happy if you can get a bone to pick . The truth is , there were more tickets sold to Brethren than the room can hold or who can be at all properly accommodated .
Dinner—for you a misnomer—over , the dessert is placed on the table . It were by far better for you to desert now , for a three or four hours' penance awaits you . Now is the time that the Brethren develope and display all the noblest Masonic virtues—charity , endurance , gentlemindedness , forbearance , etc . ; for what other mortal but a well tried
and proven M . M . can stand or sit and listen to a list of toasts measured by the yard , and dished up with speeches of miles and miles long ; indeed , the less we speak about them the better , but for the hope that our turn may come one day , and we shall be able to take ample revenge , —but no , that is not Masonic . NoAve will go and
, do likewise . You are longing for a smoke , but you must be patient , until the lights have all been toasted , to light your humble weed . However much progress science and art have made during the last fifty years , one thing is certain , could all the P . Ms , and M . Ms , of the last century for once return to our banquets and listen to most of
our speeches , I am afraid they all would be unanimous in declaring to having heard the same set of speeches , the same parlance , a hundred years ago .
" Brethren , you see the g in my hand , and you all know what that means . " "We all know that he is a most excellent , and Ave only pity that we don't see him oftener , or that Ave see him never—or hardly ever . "
It would be a great blessing if all such speeches could be cut short , except where a clever Brother has actually something to say what we all do not hnoiv , and can say it too , and more time be allowed for a general conversation , music and singing . At the end of the banquet , after four or five hours' sitting in one position , as if you
wanted your photo taken , hemmed in on all sides , you begin to feel your position most acutel y , and you imagine yourself to be a Avild beast in a cage or chained up , r-a-th-e-r uncomfortable ; and Avhen the time comes for your deliverance , Avhen the last toast—the Tyler ' s toast—is given , you think it refers to you , for what with the 6 s . or 7 s .
dinner ( waiter included , of course ) , it is questionable if you Avere not meant to be the " poor and distressed Brother , " with the high and excessive price you have had to pay for the inferior dry wine to wash incessantly down the abundance of dry toast you have had to swallow , you feel involutarily in your pockets , which are by this time dry
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Banquets.
to obtain a seat after a struggle , you have not sufficient elbow-room to handle your knife and fork ; but there ' s that consolation , you don't run the risk of using much such implements , happy if you can get a bone to pick . The truth is , there were more tickets sold to Brethren than the room can hold or who can be at all properly accommodated .
Dinner—for you a misnomer—over , the dessert is placed on the table . It were by far better for you to desert now , for a three or four hours' penance awaits you . Now is the time that the Brethren develope and display all the noblest Masonic virtues—charity , endurance , gentlemindedness , forbearance , etc . ; for what other mortal but a well tried
and proven M . M . can stand or sit and listen to a list of toasts measured by the yard , and dished up with speeches of miles and miles long ; indeed , the less we speak about them the better , but for the hope that our turn may come one day , and we shall be able to take ample revenge , —but no , that is not Masonic . NoAve will go and
, do likewise . You are longing for a smoke , but you must be patient , until the lights have all been toasted , to light your humble weed . However much progress science and art have made during the last fifty years , one thing is certain , could all the P . Ms , and M . Ms , of the last century for once return to our banquets and listen to most of
our speeches , I am afraid they all would be unanimous in declaring to having heard the same set of speeches , the same parlance , a hundred years ago .
" Brethren , you see the g in my hand , and you all know what that means . " "We all know that he is a most excellent , and Ave only pity that we don't see him oftener , or that Ave see him never—or hardly ever . "
It would be a great blessing if all such speeches could be cut short , except where a clever Brother has actually something to say what we all do not hnoiv , and can say it too , and more time be allowed for a general conversation , music and singing . At the end of the banquet , after four or five hours' sitting in one position , as if you
wanted your photo taken , hemmed in on all sides , you begin to feel your position most acutel y , and you imagine yourself to be a Avild beast in a cage or chained up , r-a-th-e-r uncomfortable ; and Avhen the time comes for your deliverance , Avhen the last toast—the Tyler ' s toast—is given , you think it refers to you , for what with the 6 s . or 7 s .
dinner ( waiter included , of course ) , it is questionable if you Avere not meant to be the " poor and distressed Brother , " with the high and excessive price you have had to pay for the inferior dry wine to wash incessantly down the abundance of dry toast you have had to swallow , you feel involutarily in your pockets , which are by this time dry