An Old, Old Story.

I don t like babies , Sir , " says Colonel Mackintosh to an old friend of his , a general officer , at the United Service , — " I think them nearly the greatest nuisance in creation ; but this little girl of ours has Lucy ' s eyes , and Lucy ' s hair , and Lucy ' s dimplesand by JoveSirshe does not

, , , squall , and promises to be as dear and as good a girl as poor old Longhurst ' s child has been , ever since I saw her christened at Bangalore , a long , long time ago ! Alas ! how time does desert us all and break us all up !"

Most true are the words of our good old friend . Yes , indeed , as the Latin has it , "Tempus fugit ! " Friends and relations , and hopes and fancies , and green leaves and summer breezes flit aivay , leaving us in that desolate moorland of life , on which the Avhistling winds alone proclaim the

decay of earth ' s best ; gifts , the passing away of each fond and fairy dream ! And so the curtain falls ! Oil ! kindly readers who haA'e had the patience and perseverance to wade to the end of the " Old , Old Story , " I trust that

you will give the writer credit for having kept his faith with you , one and all . But I hope you will not say to yourselves when you fay the magazine down , "What an ancient bore the writer is , and Avhat a lot of rubbish he has put together . " FAKEWELL !

Notes On The Old Minute Books Of The British Union Lodge, No 114, Ipswich. A.D, 1762.

NOTES ON THE OLD MINUTE BOOKS OF THE BRITISH UNION LODGE , NO 114 , IPSWICH . A . D , 1762 .

BY CHO . E . AI 11 A IJOL . AIES , 31 . P . M ., P . Z ., P . MM . , P . E . C , P . P . P ., P . M . W . S . , Past Provincial Grand Registrar of Suffolk , Past Grand Inspector of "~ Works ( Mark ) , Past Grand Provost , Order of the Temple , P . P . G , Banner-Bearer , Royal Order of Scotland , & c ., &* c .

( Continuedfrom page 578 . ) IN the course of these notes we have regretted that there has been no record kept of the various avocations of the brethren , so as to give some notion of the status of

the Lodge and the social position of its members . AVe are enabled , however , at this date , Sept . 1811 , to give the trades and'professions of the whole of the brotherhood ; and AVO think it will be of interest to our Suffolk brethren to know what sort of a

Lodge the British Union Avas at this date , a Lodge which at the present moment is certainly the Premier Lodge in the Province as regards its exclusiveness and the social standing of its members . We often hear old Masons declaim

upon the class of men AVIIO are now admitted to our Order—speaking as though Masonry is not now ivhat it Avas in thenyounger days , when social status and moral excellence were thought so much of , and when such men Avere not admitted

as are frequentl y seen now Avithin the portals of the Lodge . AA ' e never have believed in the nil admiruri School , and Ave have often doubted when some aged Mason has talked of the olden times of harmony and concordthe wonderful way

, in which the Lodge was worked , aud so forth , and bewailed the great falling off in these days from the times that are now alas no more .

Well , we suppose -the British Union was a fair type of the Lodges of the time just before the Union of the two Grand Lodges in 1813 , and if so , then undoubtedly Masonry has advanced rather than retrograded . The record of the Minutes is often at

this period ungrammatical , the spelling bad , aud the writing execrable , Avhich speaks for the educational acquirements of the Secretary , who Avas or who ought to have been the Clerk or learned person of the Lodge ; and the record of the trades

to Avhich the members belonged at this time shows that candidates for our mysteries , in the first decade of the century at all events and before that time , were chiefly drawn from Avhat we should call the loiver middle-class , if not from the

Avorking classes themselves . They were in fact such men as now form the bulk of the members of such benefit societies as the Odd Fellows , Foresters , and the like ; and there is little doubt that the raising of the fee for admission generally , and the free use of the ballot , has nearly eliminated the working class element , and done much