At The Sign Of The Perfect Ashlar

The meeting of Freemasons at the Church Congress , which has now become an annual event , will be held this year at Barrow-in-Furness on Wednesday , Oct . 3 rd , at 7 . 30 p . m ., when the Earl of Lathom , Provincial Grand Master , hopes lo occupy the chair . The accommodation at

the local Masonic Hall is limited , and brethren desiring to be present are requested , to communicate without delay with Bro . R . Clark-Turner , "Gilts , " Barrow-in-Furness ; Bro . Francis Goodacre , " Low Wood , " Ormskirk , Lancashire ; or Bro . Alfred Holdsworth , Church House , Westminster , S . W .

© © © By the death recently of Bro . George Corbie , which occurred suddenly at his residence at Bridge House , Waltham Abbev , the Craft of Freemasonry , and the Essex division in particular , has lost a notable member . He entered the

service of the River Lea Trust in 1864 , and in 1870 . at the early age of twenty-one , was appointed clerk of the River Lea Conservancy Board , which important oflice he had since continued to hold . He was initiated into Freemasonry in the Chigwell Lodge , No . 453 in June 1871 , and was a most

, regular attendant thereat , missing but four of its meetings during the first twenty-eight years of his membership , filling its chair in 1876 , and subsequently discharging the duties of secretary for a period of twenty-six years . During his mastership he was honoured by the then Grand Master of

Essex—Bro . R . J . Bagshawe—with appointment as Provincial Junior Grand Warden , and was thus one of the oldest surviving officers of the Grand Lodge of Essex . Last year he was further honoured by the Duke of Connaught , M . W . Grand Master , with brevet rank as Assistant Director of

Ceremonies of the Grand Lodge of England . He acquired equal distinction in the Royal Arch degree the same year , having previously qualified as Past L ., founder and Scribe E . of the Chigwell Chapter , and Second Grand Principal of Essex ( in 1897 ) . Tne late Bro . G . Corbie was a staunch supporter of the Masonic Institutions .

© © © Bro . Dr . Julius F . Sachse has taken up his duties as librarian of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania . Bro . Dr . Sachse is well known as a writer on Masonic and historical subjects pertaining to Pennsylvania . Among his works are :

" Early Masonic History of Pennsylvania , " " Franklin ' s Masonic Career , " ' * Religious History of Pennsylvania , " and " Religious History of the Various Sectarians of Pennsylvania . "

© © © At the recent German Grand Lodge Conference , attended by representatives from all the German Grand Lodges , it was unanimously decided to recognise the Grand Lodge of France . This action is significant , in view of the fact that

for the past thirty-live years , in common wilh the Grand Lodge of England , there has been no fraternal intercourse between the Masonry of France and that of Germany .

© © © For the sake of the entente cordiale it could be wished that by some means a rapprochement could be effected with our French brethren , but we must confess that up to the present there is no appearance of such a

consummation . The Westminster Gazelle has the following note on the situation in a recent issue : — "At the moment when the Masonic Conference in Paris ( held under the auspices of the Grand Orient of France , from which some years ago the Grand Lodge of England formally and fully severed

communion ) is concentrating itself upon an attack on the Roman Catholic Church in its corporate capacity , it is of significance to note that the Freemasons of the United Kingdom are drawing more closely together for social purposes as a whole brotherhood . Two striking signs of this latter operation have

been made manifest within the present month—these being the invitation to attend a special function given by the Grand Lodge of Ireland to the British Masonic members of the Institute of Journalists assembled at their recent annual conference in Dublin , and the entertainment by the Jubilee Masters' Lodge in London of the Canongate-Kilwinning

Lodge of Edinburgh , one of the oldest of all Scotch lodges ,, once numbering among its members the Ettrick Shepherd and Burns . There are certain differences both of practice and policy between the English , Scotch , and Irish Grand Lodges , but these are understood to be of so unessential a

nature as not to prevent the establishment of such a Masonic cnlenle cordiale between the Freemasons of the three countries as is just now being made manifest . And the Grand Lodges themselves may be believed to have paved the way for this in an agreement arrived at not long since for the prevention of any clashing , either in our colonies or in foreign parts , between their various jurisdictions . "

© © © One of our American contemporaries reserves a page for the edification of those of its readers who are addicted to light literature , and heads it "Stories illustrative of Freemasonry . " We have read some of these through , and

whether we regard them from the Masonic or the literary point of view we are unable to congratulate the editor of our contemporary . The connection with the Craft is of the slenderest description , in one case Freemasonry being " illustrated " by the fact that the heroine ' s father caught cold

at a Masonic funeral , and in another , by the interesting circumstance that the lovers arranged to meet near the Masonic Hall . At the same time , that the Masonic Hall should come in as a trysting place , is a novelty , and to that extent perhaps congratulations are due .

It would be of considerable service to a very large number of members of the Craft if some brother possessing the requisite bibliographical knowledge would compile a list of some half dozen books of reasonable price , say costing a

couple of pounds all told , to form a Masonic library . Many such suggestions have been made in time past but they have failed to be of much practical value because they have presupposed the possession of considerable Masonic information to begin with . The great majority of Masons have very

little time to devote to a study of the Craft . When they have attended lodge meetings , and instructions , and practices , and the several committees , a good deal of spare time has been employed , and as to reading , the ordinary brother lacks the power and facility of concentration necessary to enter upon the study of a learned disquisition with profit .

© © © Reading is an art , and unless a brother is professionally studious , i . e . unless he be a barrister or a clergyman say , his literature must be of the easily digestible type . What the average brother would appreciate then is a small list of

works in popular style , which would furnish him with an intelligent grasp of our history , without too much detail , a short history of our Grand Lodge , and of our institutions , some explanation of the drift of our ritual , and a bird ' s eye view of the drift of our Constitutions and relations to other

Grand Lodges . A series of half-crown handbooks , half-adozen in number , in the hands of all Past Masters , would do much to raise the level of the whole Craft .

© © © Whilst most people . Freemasons included , know what the initials A . D . mean , there are a good many other dates from which eras have been computed , with which even Freemasons are not as widely acquainted as they should be . A . L . or Anno

Lucis , is the era of Craft Masonry , and according to Archbishop Usher ' s chronology it is obtained by adding 4 , 000 to the A . D ., thus A . D . 1906 is A . L . 5906 , that being popularly supposed to have been the date of the creation . A . L or Anno Inveulionis , the year of the discovery , is the Royal Arch era , and is obtained

by adding 530 to the vulgar era . The Scotch rite compute from the " year of the world , " Anno Mundi ( A . M . ) , which is obtained by adding 3 , 760 . The Knights Templars subtract 1 , 1 . 18 to get the year of the Order ( A . O . ) , and the Royal and Select Masters add 1 , 000 to make their era , Anno Dcposilionis ( A . D . ) .