An Oration

must rally and close up our ranks to face the enemy AVIIO menaces modern civilization , and , in consequence , our French Freemasonry , oti whose standard are emblazoned the Avords of humanity and progress . Liberty , Equality , Fraternity—sacred triad ,

magical formula , Avhich freed our forefathers from oppression and despotism , be always present to our minds , direct our actions and our thoughts , illumine our souls , give us the necessary strength , and by thee , in a future near at hand , we shall be victorious ,

less for our own glory , than for the Avelfiu-e of humanity . [ Note by the Translator and Editor . ] 1 have thought it Avell , and , to say the truth , but fair , to our eloquent Bro . Piuchiuatto give his words " iu exteuso , "

, but f need hardly say to Anglo-Saxon Freemasons that in so doing I do not associate myself Avith all his sentiments . It is impossible for an English Freemason to do so , and I much regret that the French and other continental Freemasons weaken

themselves , as it appears to me , by their use of a political motto as tho watchword of their Freemasonry . Brotherly Love , Relief , and Truth , are , in my humble opinion , a far better rallying cry for universal Freemasonry , than Liberty , Equality and Fraternity , which ha \ e a

lugubrious sound for many , and Avhich recent events have shown may still serve as a pretext for heartless wrong and fearful iniquity . Bro . Pinchinat ' s address is , however , in itself a very able production , and I think just now may be read , with due allowance for continental vieAvs and language , not without some profit by us all .

The Three R.'S.

THE THREE R . 'S .

TIME was Avhen even good persons used to say , ' You can over-educate the people . " Indeed , here and there some very respectable representatives of ancient wisdom still shake their heads mournfully Avhen they road the daily papers , and say that all our

present criminalit y is owing to overeducation , and lifting people out of their proper places . Now , AVO always am curious when Ave hear excellent people _ making use of this lugubrious complaint , this morbid comment , Avith

respect to the things Avhich be , to knoAv what they mean by " proper places . " We fear that such a remark implies that a certain number of human beings , gifted Avith intellect and reason , blessed with energy of will and force of character , are to remain " hewers of wood and drawers of

water" for successive generations . We do not believe in such theories or such expectations . They are altogether unsound and unjust . All nature , for instance , is a system of groAvth , development , expansion , ripening , and you may add even elevation . The entire character of social life is of

advance , industry , intellect , energy , probity , honesty , and steadiness , moving on and moving up . Why , then , should we doubt that such is the proper law of our human probation and struggles ? Why should Ave expect that any class of the body politic is to remain stationary , and neither to advance

or improve ? It is in truth a chimera and a grievous blunder . While , then , Ave properly teach all people , old and young , " to do their duty in that state of life where it shall please God to place them , " ( a very Avide descriptionlet us note ) , Ave ought always ,

, it appears to us , to hold out the hand of undoubting friendliness and unquestioning sympathy toall efforts to instruct , to i mprove , to educate our felloAv-creatures ; Ave ought sedulously to support every proper effort to spread on all sides of us the all but

unspeakable blessings of a sound and useful education . Some persons are fond of repeating the old fallacy , " a little learning is a dangerous thing . " The possession of learning may result in dangerous consequences to the perverse , shalloAv-pated ,

aud unstable ; but as a general proposition , the familiar saying involves a fallacy . A little learning is not and cannot be as dangerous as no learning at all , and feAV there are except in a vein of poetry who would endorse the poetic axiom , " where ignorance is bliss , ' tAvere folly to be Avise . " Let us believe that our " modern instances "

of the mistaken policy of such VIOAVS , and of such words or truisms " per se , " have long outAveighed those " ancient saws . " It was even said , as Ave knoAv , by some of old , that "ignorance is the mother of devotion , " and so perhaps in one sense it may bethat

, is , of unlettered devotion . But it is far more true to say that ignorance is , and must be , humanly speaking , the mother of superstition . As Freemasons , Avithout