The Masonic "Poet's Corner."

The Masonic "Poet's Corner . "

{ Original and Selected . ) SONG .

A MASON ' life ' s the life for me , With joy we meet each other , We pass our time with mirth and glee . And hail each friendly brother : In lodge no party-feuds are seen , But careful we in this agree . To banish care or spleen .

The Master ' s call , we one and all With pleasure soon obey ; With heart and hand , we ready stand , Our duty still to pay . See in the East the Master stands ,

The Wardens South and West , Sir , Both ready to obey command . Find work or give us rest Sir ; The signal given , we all prepare . With one accord obey the word ,

To work by rule or square : Or if they please the ladder raise , Or plum the level line ; Thus we employ our time with joy , Attending every sign .

Th' Almighty said , " let there be light , " Effulgent rays appearing , Dispell'd the gloom , the glory bright To this new world was cheering ; But unto Masonry alone Another light , so clear and bright ,

In mystic rays then shone ; From east to west it spread so fast That , Faith and Hope unfmTd , We hail with joy sweet Charity , The darling of the world .

Then while the toast goes round Let mirth and glee abound , Let ' s be happy to a man : We'll laugh a little , and drink a little , We'll work a little and play a little .

Chorus . —We'll laugh , & c . We'll sing a little , be merry a little , And swig the flowing can .

OUR WORK . WHEN a Freemasons' Lodge is fully at work , If a Cowan should dare to draw near , He would meet with a welcome he fain would regret ,

And then promptly retire in fear . Though our actions are harmless , we secretly try All our plans and designs to pursue ; A Master to guide , and instruct us , and prove All the workers united and true .

Truth , Charity , Justice , are models that wo Try to copy and mould by our skill : Great Hiram ' s designs are our well spring of life . And our duty we strive to fulfil . After labour , with Wisdom to guide us we stroll . Through rectitude ' s path , to the road That leads to the Temple where Friendship and Love , Peace and Concord take up their abode . J . H . JEWELL . P . M . 1223 . P . P . G . R . Kent .

Our Trestle Board

OUR TRESTLE BOARD

" For the Master to lay lines and draw designs upon .

Whilst again renewing our thanks to the brethren who have accorded us generous support , and by the renewal of their subscriptions , have testified to their appreciation of our efforts , we desire to urge upon them that they can materially aid us by calling the attention of other masonic friends to the paper .

A correspondent—Past Prov . Grand Chaplain of Oxfordshire , and Past Prov . Grand Junior Warden of Devon—writing to us in reference to a recent occurrence , remarks . " I am quite with you as to the benefit resulting to the craft from discreet and judicious Eublicity . The fraternity has nothing to fear from discussion . I ave been a mason now for thirty-five years , and I have never

witnessed anything in our lodges or the working of our ceremonies which need fear the light . As you know , there are many points of detail which I think capable of improvement , and I long for the establishment of some central 'Congregation of Masonic Rites' to which we may refer when in doubt . I am still' pegging away , ' and

have , I hope , got rid hero of the Valley of Jehosophat and the Stu r and Garter , & c , & c . I feel more and more that there ought to be some living voice , an 'Ecclesia docens , ' which can speak with authority . As it is , every one says ' My Book 1 ! says so-and-so , ' and so ' Roma locuta est , causa finita est . ' "

Our Trestle Board

We congratulate our revered friend and the brethren in the locality which has the advantage of his ministrations as a Clergyman , and his teachings as a Freemason , that he has so far succeeded in breaking down prejudice , and adherence to such solecisms as still—and whilst ignorance prevails " will continue to—affect the

purity of our ritual . It is true that his efforts are made in a province which is recognised for the general intelligence of its population , and for the quality and ability of its prominent Freemasons . Devon will learn and apply where , we regret to say , other of our provinces will not listen to the words of understanding .

» Have our brethren in certain lodges ever reflected upon that departure from one of the Grand Principles of the Order which is involved in the expression , ' Very well auswered . W . M . " . ' We need not waste many words in calling attention to this , and suggesting a little consideration before committing oneself to such untruth on certain occasions . What can b > i more ridiculous—it is really more than

that , for it is an offence—than to hear outbursts of approval of proficiency which does not exist , although it is declared by our tenets that it shall before advancement , and when what is neeessary has been dictated , and frequently very badly dictated , from beginn ing to end / Is this matter not worth attention . ' Worshipful Masters , insist that it is ! and do the craft an essential service .

If now and then a non-proficient were requested to delay progress for a month , and it became known that Masters would accept nothing less than the jiroficiency our landmarks require , there would soon be an end of the existing practice . We would certainly italicise such a sentence as the following in any lodge report in these pages : — "The W . M . very properly requested the candidate

to retire , m order that he might , on the next occasion of meeting , prove that he had made the requisite small extent of progress in the science necessary before advancement . " * # # # i-f We are pleased to see the commencement of a magnificent response to the appeal of the Rev . Alfred Whitehead . Vicar of

St . Peter ' s Kent , on behalf of the widow and family of the late W . Bro . the Rev . J . G . Wood , as acknowledged in the columns of The Telegraph on Monday last . It is an indisputable testimony to the worth and ability of our deceased brother , and should leave no doubt in the minds of craftsmen that he was in life a bright

exemplar of the principles of our Order . It would be most satisfactory to find the response we refer to supplemented by similar assistance from Freemasons , as such . Wo recognize the names of some brethren in the list of donations , but not as connected with the craft .

* * # * * Our recent remarks on the proper opening and closing of Boards of Installed Masters as part of the original ritual of craft masonry , and the correspondence which has appeared on the subject in our columns , have been the means of placing before us a waistcoatpocket edition of a manual called the " Installing Master ' s Companion , " from the preface of which we extract the following : —

'' For the interest of the brethren I also insert in its place the impressive ceremony of opening and closing a Board of Installed Masters ; but it is only fair to add that this has been declared by the Grand Registrar to be ' irregular' ; though the context obviously shows that there must have been , and should be , some such ceremony . " Can any of our readers inform us what Grand Registrar expressed such opinion , and when , and upon what grounds . '

We would at once give more particulars about the little book we mention in preceding paragraph , for it is certainly—excepting for a little bit of bathos about a ' bleak mountain "—a capital guide for any brother desirous of installing his successor ; but . unfortunately .

the portion which relates to the Board of Installed Masters is not so full and correct as it should be . AVe have a MS . of many years ago purporting to be the " ceremony as used in the North of England instead of the practice in the South of merely declaring it . " The two do not agree , and the disadvantage is with the publication we mention . ^ S . . V . . V . . V . . V .

Says the Daily Telegraph : —Female aversion to Freemasonry lias , for the last fifteen or twenty years , been a gradually diminishing quantity , ami the cause is not far to seek . During that time the lodges that have given periodical entertainments to ladies have ; become more numerous , and at present there are many which commit the enormity every year of either a banquet or a ball , or a summer outing , participated in by the gentler sex . Lodge La

Tolerance has just given one of these ladi . s' banquets , followed by a ball . The Gallery Lodge ( named after the Reporters ' Galleries of the Houses of Parliament ) is another lodge prone to the same heresy . From the time when it was consecrated by the Grand Secretary of England in 1 SS 1 , it has annually permitted itself a ball every winter and a picnic every summer , and for the last two seasons has added to its questionable innovations by giving a series of enjoyable Cinderella dances .

Attention is called in several of our contemporaries to the efforts which are being made in the masonic world to obtain votes for the Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution on behalf of Mrs . Mary Cooke , the widow of the late Bro . C . J . Cooke , who . many years ago , was connected with the Maidstone , / ouriia i . In IS . I'S , Bro . Cooke joined the Belvidere Lodge , No . 503 . at Maidstone , of which lodge

he was afterwards secretary and W M . In IK . Ui he was ( i . K . W . of the Province of Kent . Bro . Cooke subsequently joined the reporting staff of the Standard in London , and died about eight years ago . His widow , in whose behalf the appeal to the R . M . IJ . F . is being made , is Go years of age , and the case is strongly

recommended by many of the leading masons of the metropolis and elsewhere , among the latter being Bro . the Rev . CV . Dormer Pagden , M . A ., W . M .. of the Invicta Lodge . Deal ; Bro . F . Hall , . [ . P . M . Invicta , Folkestone ; and Bro . John Brothers , P . M . of the Ashford Lodge . Last May Mrs . Cooke polled some 1 , 200 votes , and it is hoped that she will receive more this year to ensure her election .