A French Masonic Address In 1880.

LADIES , GENTLEMEN , AND BRETHREN , —AS informer years , I thank you again today in the name of the Lodge over which I have the honour to preside . Thanks to you for having responded to our invitation , despising the " thunders " of bitter adversaries , continuing the mysterioiisness with which they surround us , aud which is in no sense justifiable . It is with happiness that I thank you for having come in great numbersand iving to this " familre-union " all the

, g y " eclat " which we should have wanted had we been deprived of your visit . Continue to us your gracious sympathy in coming to honour us with your presence , in order to encourage the efforts we are making to reach the goal we are seeking , that goal which most of you know already , the perpetuation of the memory of a worthy man , Paul Vasselin , our master in everything . * * * * His inconsolable widowhis distinguished companionour sistercontinues to

, , , associate herself with us in the annual distribution of these prizes , as best realizing the idea of progress and of light of him whom we regret . It is also an imperious duty for Freemasons to encourage and spread instruction . This ought to be the greatest care of those who desire to labour for the progress of humanity . You have the right , my clear young friends , to be proud to-day when you receive the prizes offered to you , for they are the just recompense

of your efforts to instruct yourselves , of your ajiplication , of your assiduity in profiting by the benefits offered you by the authorities , anxious to spread abroad the benefits of instruction b y the masters charged to render you men and citizens , useful to our country , our much loved France . Permit me , ladies and gentlemen , and you also , my clear young friends , not to prolong my remarks on the blessings of instruction , for I shall leave

this duty to my friend and brother , Gustavo Duhamelet , the oldest orator of our lodge , and also to our dear brother , G . Nicole , who will demonstrate to you better than I can do the advantages of instruction . As president of this respectable lodge it is more particularly incumbent upon me to tell yon in- a

few words what we are , and what we are doing here . I shall be brief , and will not abuse your patient indulgence . I told you a year ago that Freemasonry ascended to the highest antiquity ; that Freemasonry is an association of worthy men of all countries ; that Freemasonry is the art of governing men by probity ; and that it subserves neither the ambition nor the cruelty of any one , bating vice and teaching virtue . Freemasonry moves on with the progress of timeand its disciples take part in the great works of every epoch .

, The Freemason is moderate in his discourse , and does not seek to impose his own opinions on others . He has not the ambition of asserting the pride of knowledge , and to over-reach his brethren in order to subjugate them ; but he has the noble desire of ascertaining the truth , and to reach its source he fears neither pains nor labours . Attached to his Order , he proves by his actions how much he respects it , and he ought always so to conduct himself

that so his practice may accord with his principles . He knows that friendship is only maintained by reciprocal sympathy , and he therefore anticipates that of his brethren ; he occupies himself with their happiness as much as with his own ; and if they have some failings , he makes allowance for hitman weakness , and jileases himself in pardoning them . He is not ignorant of the fact that the slavery of the senses is never truly happy , and that the pleasures

which they procure pass away like the shadows , and never satisfy ; to master himself is his first duty , and it is in virtue that he jilaces the highest enjoyments . Modest with his inferiors , honest with his equals , respectful without baseness to his superiors , he renders to all their due ; he loves , but he never flatters . The enemy of all affectation , he avoids all external pharasaism of sternnessand seeks to make virtue attractivebeing persuaded that in order

, , to make it loved we must know how to render it amiable . Lastly , he remembers ever that he is a man aud placed by T . G . A . O . T . U . iu whatsoever rank he is , to watch over and contribute to the happiness of all men , and that therefore nothing which can interest humanity ought to seem strange to him .