On The Operative Applications Of The Working Tools Of Craft Masonry.

Craft Masonry as a polished , instead of a rough ashlar , and the E . A . P . is entrusted with another implement for that purpose , viz .: the chisel Avhich Ave are told is to further smooth and prepare the stone and render it fit for the

hands of the expert Craftsmen . This brings us forward to the second degree , in which it is our duty to trace the prepared blocks of material until they have been duly placed in their respective positions in the intended

building , and the Craftsmen in order to thoroughly carry out this indication is entrusted Avith a triad of Avorking tools Avhich have in their application great resemblance to each other . I refer to those tools Avhich are specially

distinguished iu our craft as holding an important position as moveable jewels of the lodge , viz .: the square , level , and plumb rule . Without dwelling at length upon any of these tools specially , Ave can see at once Avhat Avould be the

residt if their teaching Avere disregarded , apart from the awkard and inartistic appearance of a building Avhose angles Avere out of square , and irregular , whose facade and courses of stone were not placed Avith due relation to the

horizontal , and Avhose pillars , pillasters , doorways and AvindoAvs Avere out of the perpendicular , it must be . evident that the safet y of the structure itself Avould be considerabl y endangered . Hence their operative licationsthe to try

app , square and adjust all rectangular corners of buildings , the level to lay levels and prove horizontals , and the plum rule to toy and to adjust all uprights Avhilst fixing on their proper bases . We are taught that Freemasonry is

a progressive science , so Ave noAV arrive at the third degree , or that of a Master Mason , this highly important position , as I pointed out in a former lecture Avas formerl y a very exclusive one , the term Master Mason in past times evidently

referred solely to the office position of Master of a lodge , for in the earlier editions of the Book of Constitutions the term , M . M . is never employed except when the Lodge Master is clearly

indicated . The master being placed above all others , to him appertains the high office not only of draAA ing plans and designs , the better to enable the workman to cany on the intended building Avith regularity and precision , but also of

attending to other important matters in connection Avith the site and position Avhich it is designed to occupy . For this purpose he is pro-vided with the appropriate instruments ; the skirret , AvhereAvith to mark out the ground for the foundation of the intended

structure ; the pencil in order that he as a skilful artist , may deliniate the building in a draught or plan , for the guidance and instruction of the Avorkman , and the compasses Avhich Avould enable him to ascertain and determine the limits

and proportions of its several parts . In thus passing in brief revieAV the operative applications of the working tools of Craft Masonry , we are led to enquire Avhat are the relative positions occupied by the several degrees of

Freemasonry as compared with the positions occupied by those employed in the actual business of the erection of buildings , and in so doing we find' that the working tools of the E . A . P . evidently point to the preparation of the

stone , those of the F . C . to their proper adjustment in the building , and those of the M . M . to the duty of providing suitable plans and designs , and selecting the most advantageous site and position for the building about to be

erected . Or in other words the degree of Entered , Apprentice corresponds Avith the position of an operative Stone Mason , the Fellow Graft -with that of the actual Builder , and the Master Mason Avith that of the Architect or designer of the whole .

THE POPULATION OF FRANCS . —In an article in the Debats upon the prospects of the new year , M . Leroy Beaulieu , remarks upon the decrease in the population of France . By the Census of 1866 it was shown that the Empire , as then constituted , possessed 88 , 067 , 094 inhabitants . Of these 1 , 597 , 238 belonged to Alsace-Lorraine , now ceded to Germany . The population of France within its present limits was therefore , in 1866 , 36 , 469 , 856 , while in 1872 the number had fallen to 36 , 102 , 921 , or a decrease of 366 , 935 .