Contents.

CONTENTS .

EDITORIAL : GUARDING THE PORTALS " ., Front page " AN EXAMPLE FROM IRELAND " .. .. .. 156 MARK M ASONRY .. .. .. .. 156 THE MASONIC POET ' CORNER .. .. .. .. 157 NOTIFICATIONS .. .. .. .. .. 157 INVESTMENT OF P . O . SECRETARY , MIDDLESEX .. .. 157 OUR TRESTLE BOARD .. .. .. .. .. 158

FOREIGN NOTES—INDIA AND MALTA .. .. .. 158 C ORRESPONDENCE AND ANSWERS .. .. 159 & 160 REPORTS OF LODGES OF INSTRUCTION .. .. .. 160 REPORTS OF LODGE AND CHAPTER MEETINGS .. .. 160 METROPOLITAN LODGE , & C , MEETINGS FOR PRESENT WEEK 161 PROVINCIAL LODGE MEETINGS FORTHCOMING .. 162 & 163 ..METROPOLITAN LODGES OF INSTRUCTION FORTHCOMING 164 ADVERTISEMENTS Front cover , 154 , 165 , 166 , 167 , 168

Guarding The Portals.

Guarding the Portals .

" I wt > rc to nnanl the Portrih close Of the Masonic Temple !"—MASONS'Vows . HE Grand Lodge of Scotland lias set the

Craft throughout the world a splendid example of adherence to principle irrespective of the natural sympathy which the

occasion evoked and a strong desire to overlook a serious Masonic offence , in consideration of the standing of the offender , and the motives which , unfortunately , impelled

him to violate his obligations . It will be difficult to improve the opportunity which lias arisen for reflecting upon the loose manner in which , during recent years , our

portals have been guarded , and our very landmarks infringed upon , without an apparent want of gallantry to the fair sex , which Ave are very far from entertaining . "We

must face that difficulty as best we may , merely remarking , eu 2 > assant , that the code of Masonic law and custom is no respecter of either persons or sex when infraction of

secrets , the necessity of guarding which with the strictest privacy we are almost daily and hourly taught to preserve in our minds , is the point in question .

It appears that in May last a Funeral Lodge , or , as it is called elsewhere , a " lodge of sorrow " was held by the Celtic Lodge , Edinburgh and Leith , No . 291 , in the Masonic

Hall , in memory of a lately-deceased brother , and that two ladies were so placed by an Acting Past Master of the Lodge that they could see and hear , through the

partiallyopen glazed door of the organ-loft , some portion of the proceedings which were being conducted in the Third Degree . The subject was brought before the Grand

Lodge of Scotland , held at Edinburgh on the 1 st inst ., in connection with the minutes of the Grand Committee , which set forth the full particulars of the offence ; and

Guarding The Portals.

further reported that the Celtic Lodge itself adopted the irregular proceeding in direct opposition to the advice and protest of the Worshipful Master and a Past Master of

that lodge , who referred to the constitution and laws of Grand Lodge in support of their counsel . And the report advised and recommended that the acting Past Master ,

who was the principal offender , should be expelled from the Order , and the Senior Warden and the Secretary of the Lodge should be respectively and specially censured .

And this report , m so far as the principal offender was concerned , was adopted , and effect given to its

recommendations . In respect of the other parties implicated , wilful irregularity was denied and regret expressed , and as to them no steps were taken .

It should be stated that it was sought to justify the offence of the acting Past Master by representing that the ladies introduced , as above recorded , were the daughters

of the late brother in whose memory the services were being held , and naturally desired to see something ol that which was being done in honour of their deceased father . To them but small blame can be attached for

availing themselves of an opportunity so readily afforded them by the offending brother , for it cannot be supposed that they could have been acquainted with the serious

nature , from a masonic point of view , of the action of their friend on their behalf . It was his duty to have explained to them the nature of his obligation to the

Craft to hold sacred the trust which had been reposed in him , conjointly with others , and to have firmly resisted any persuasion to a violation thereof . The attempt to

justify the error was most righteously discarded ; and whilst we entertain a sincere regret for the individual , we rejoice that the principle of close tyling was so firmly upheld by the Grand Lodge of Scotland .

And now let us come home , and see if a little of this true regard for masonic secrecy would not be advantageous to ourselves if exhibited by the Grand Lodge of England .

Is it not a fact—and we can and do appeal to many of our contemporary brethren of some twenty-five or thirty years ' connection with the Order to answer the enquiry—that

of late years there has been a deplorable want of that caution in " guarding the portals " of our lodges which then and previously existed ? The instances are so

numerous that , it would occupy time and space beyond that we can spare even to enumerate them without comment . We shall refor to one or two as exemplars of

the rest . And , fihtce au . r domes , as there were ladies in the case above referred to , so there were on a late grand and . important occasion when , in obedience to an authority

which no loyal English Freemason would be disposed to