Our Masonic Charities.

that , in this respect , the old system might be continued wherever preferred , thus obviating any difficulty arising from difference of religious creed . The additions , alterations , and improvements rendered necessary , were not effected without a very considerable outlay ; to meet which , in the year 1860 , £ 1 , 000 of the

funded property was sold . Still greater improvements were from time to time carried out , by means of which the comfort and well-being of those in the Institution were better cared for , and the requisite attention to order and discipline more thoroughly secured , than formerly could possibly be the case .

Further to increase the value of the benefits of the Institution , the committee , in 1862—with the sanction of the governors in Quarterly General Court assembledextended the age to which boys could be retained from 14 to 15 years , and this extension of time has been productive of the best results .

In the same year , owing to the growing demands for admission , which the General Committee ¦ were unable to comply with , and the evident insufficiency of the then existing buildings for the purposes of the Institution , the committee determined , with the general approval of the Order , to erect an entirely

new building on the site at Wood Green , which should be distinguished not only for its architectural excellencies and striking external appearance , but for its internal accomodation , and thorough adaptation for the great end and object of such a school , in its educational appliances and sanitary arrangements . The Committee

were encouraged in this their great undertaking , involving as it did a very large and serious outlay , by the conviction that the Order in England is yearly increasing , and very Tcma ? kably so , both in numbers and social elevation ; and that there could be but little doubt , humanly speaking , that in their efforts to render the school deserving of the approval and support of the

Craft , and thoroughly efficient as an educational Institution , those efforts would not fail for want of funds or large-hearted liberality in furtherance of so good and so desirable an object . Neither were their anticipations disappointed ; but in 1865 , having received substantial proofs of tho interest

and sympathy felt by tho entire Order in their labours , the School was opened—a noble building in itself , and admirably adapted for tho purpose of an educational establishment—for the reception of SO pupils . In 1866 the number was raised to 100 , and in 1869 to 110 . This large increase has , however , altogether failed to supply

tho still growing wants of the Order . The large expenditure incurred in tho erection substantially and satisfactorily of tho new buildings for an increased number of pupils and resident masters , and to meet the educational requirements of the day , necessitated recourse to a loan , and £ 10 , 000 was borrowed on

mortgage in 1867 . The success attending the special efforts of brethren in West Yorkshire . East Lancashire , and other provinces in connection with the Anniversary Festival in March , 1869 , and tho kindness of friends , have enabled the committee to pay off one moiety of that amount , leaving £ 5 , 000 still duo , the interest upon

Our Masonic Charities.

which continues to weigh as an annual burden on the funds of the Institution . In all great building undertakings it is impossible but that questions will fairly ariso as to the propriety of the expenditure on the one hand , and the value of the result achieved on the other . Looking at the general tendency

to improve school buildings and school arrangements , can it be safely affirmed that the committee of this school were unwise in erecting the building they have happily succeeded in raising , or that the expenditure , however large , can be deemed inexpedient , which has provided a permanent and fitting shelter to meet the

pressing claims of our yearly multiplying brotherhood . Much could be said iu respect of the cost of building and materials which especially marked the years in which the contracts for the new school were executed , the unavoidable excess in some items , the unforeseen expenses of others ; which , as very often happens in similar buildings , exceed the amount of the original estimates . { To he Continued . )

Masonic Jottings.—No. 37.

MASONIC JOTTINGS . —No . 37 .

BY A PAST PKOVINCIAL GBAND MASTER . CERTAIN SPECULATIVE MASONRIES . A learned Brother thinks that Roman Speculative Masonry , Anglo-Saxon Speculative Masonry ,

Norman Speculative Masonry , the old English Speculative Masonry that flourished before the Reformation , each in its turn disappeared ; and that the modern English Speculative Masonry arose , either in the days of Ashmole and the Rosicrucians , or in the days of Desaguliers and Anderson .

JUDAISM AND CHRISTIANITY . At the union 1813 , Judaism seems to have been looked upon by Doctor Hemming and others as approaching nearer than Christianity to the desired universality of Freemasonry * . —MS . 1814 s .

BUILDING OP A LARGE EDIFICE . In ancient times there could not be a more apt occasion for bringing together the priest , the ethical philosopher , and the man of science , than the building of a large edifice . —Old MS .

CHARGES OF 1723 . The "Religion in which all men agree , of which those charges speak [ See Charge I ., concerning God and Religion ] is said by some to be Christianity , by others to be goodness and truth .

KILWINNING GRAND LODGE-YORK GRAND LODGE . Although the old Kilwinnin g Lodge and the old York Lodge were what we now call Grand