District Grand Lodge Of Bombay.

i 88 g , the District Grand Lodge held at credit in cash over 11 , 716 rupees , of which some 10 , 581 rupees belonged to the Fund of Benevolence , while there was also a sum of 33 > i 3 2 rupees to the credit of the Bombay Masonic Association . These figures , as the Deputy District Grand Master , who p '

resided on this occasion , pointed out in his address to the brethren , indicate that during the year 188 9 there was an increase in the Fund of Benevolence amounting to 1288 rupees , and in the fund of the Bombay Masonic Association of 2758 rupees . Again , as regards the Hall Account , the Report of the Joint Hall

Committee shows the revenue for the past year to have exceeded the expenditure by 1047 rupees , the credit balance carried forward to the current year being only a fraction short of 6226 rupees . Add to this that the official visitations to sundry lodges ,

the deputations from sundry other lodges to his Royal Highness , and the reports of the District Grand Secretary , & c , all tend in the same gratifying direction , and our readers will be in a position to form some idea of the beneficial results of the Duke of

CONNAUGHT ' S rule as Dist . G . Master of Bombay . He appears also to have been equally popular with the brethren of the Scotch as well as of the English Constitutions , his policy having been to bind and strengthen the ties by which the brethren of the two Constitutions were knit together . The only regret we

have reason to feel after perusing this Report is that we must henceforth speak of Bro . HAROLD KING , Past Grand Deacon of England , not as Deputy District Grand Master , but as Past Deputy , of Bombay . Bro . KING has retired from an important

and responsible office , which he had held for five years with credit to himself and to the very great advantage of the Craft , and we trust that his successor , " Bro . H . W . BARROW , who has been appointed to the vacant office by his Royal Hig hness the District Grand Master , will be as successful in the performance of his duties as Bro . KlNG .

Mrs. A. D. O'Niram At The Mark Benevolent Fund Festival.

MRS . A . D . O'NIRAM AT THE MARK BENEVOLENT FUND FESTIVAL .

My dear GRACE , — Promising you as I did that I would write and give you a full account of our doings at Freemasons' Tavern , I now jot down for your delectation everything that I can remember .

If my account of the proceedings should leave you with only a shadowy notion of our enjoyments , I know you will forgive me , but my poor little tongue was kept going all the time in talking to my neighbour at the table .

To begin at the beginning , you know that Fred put my name down as one of the Lady Stewards , and that I had to wear the sweetest of little badges hung on ribbons of scarlet and blue and white ( some of the other girls were so jealous , and wanted to know why they also were not allowed to have them , but I

told them they had better wait until next year and get their names put down ) . But even then , you know , the dear fellows did not seem to have done enough for us , for they gave us each ( the Lady Stewards , I mean ) , the loveliest posy of roses you ever saw ; they gave us a room all to ourselves , and a Steward to look after us .

When we left our private room we went into the reception room , and found nearly everybody had arrived . Such a crowd , dear , and all looking so deliciously expectant . There was Lady Eleanor Harbord in a white satin gown , all over gold embroidery , ' with a high Medici collar , and beside her was

Lady Agnes Cooper in black ; while near to them stood Lady Darell , also in black , with three Masonic jewels on her bosom ( next year I shall make Fred lend me some of his ) . Captain Airey ' s sweet little wife , in dove-colour , was chatting to Miss Berridge , who wore a frock of pompadour pattern with

high puffed shoulders . Mrs . A . B . Cook was in a corner with pretty Miss Darell , and Mrs . Gordon Miller , in a darling terracotta , was with your friend , Mrs . Matier , and her two daughters , one of whom was in black and the other in a soft French grey . Mrs . C . R . Brighten , in a rich black velvet with a loosel y falling

front of soft white silk , was sitting with Mrs . Conlon , who had on a gown of the loveliest shade of lilac you ever saw , and Mrs . Vyv . Lewes , in all white , looked what Fred calls "fetching . " Mrs . Berridge was in black , and I heard that Mrs . Sim and her daughter were in the room ; but I failed to catch sight of

them . Miss Lake , in white , with Mrs . A . R . Carter , and Mrs . Cordeux-Rhys , in black , made good contrast , while just opposite to me was the kind face of Lady Hanson . But if I were to try and give you the names of all the pretty women present and to describe their gowns I should never finish .

All the men seemed dressed up to the eyes in gold chains , gold embroideries , and glittering jewels . Too bad , I thought it , and so I told Fred ; but he only laughed at me . However , one day I shall get hold of his collar and apron and pick them to

Mrs. A. D. O'Niram At The Mark Benevolent Fund Festival.

pieces to trim a frock for the next fancy dress ball . He will be so wild ! When we had been sitting there some ten minutes , somebody called out that the brethren were to escort the ladies to the dining hall , and away we all went , each of us with

somebody else's husband or brother . We were hardly seated when all the men stood up again and began to clap their hands , and then a long string of " brethren " came trooping in with Lord Euston and Lord Dungarvan at the end ; they were the Grand

Officers of the year , and they all wore chains instead of collars . Fred says that if you want to know all their names and titles , you had better look in last week's Freemason , for he knows you will get more out of that than I can tell you . Isn ' t he rude ?

The dinner was awfully nice , and in the middle of it we had a sorbet , with a mayonnaise of lobster after . At our table we managed to have champagne all the way through , but it was decanted , and Mr . B . ( you know who I mean ) said it was toastand-water . I wonder why ? After dinner came the toasts , with music in between .

Clara Samuell sang her songs divinely , and Ethel Bevans had a great difficulty in avoiding an encore for a song called " A Summer Night . " Bernard Law gave us " I'll sing thee Songs of Araby , " and so sweetly . With the dessert Mr . Cordeux-Rhys gave us each a box of delicious

sweets , all made like little squares and compasses and things ; Fred told me he thought they must have been made specially for us . Then the men had each a little packet of

Dragoumis Cigarettes , got up like a registered envelope , with Lord Euston ' s portrait for the stamp . I have put away Fred ' s as a remembrance , and he says I have put away the sweets too ; I have eaten everyone of them , so what does he mean ?

Just as we were all feeling hot and a little tired , they brought us round each a bottle of scent , it came just at the right time and cooled us wonderfully . Lord Euston gave a lot of toasts , and when he came to

" Prosperity to the Mark Benevolent Fund , " and Mr . Matier got up and said that the subscriptions ( or " lists" they call them ) were larger by about £ 200 than in any previous year , you should have heard the cheering . I had to stop my ears , but Lord Euston looked so delightfully pleased .

Lord Dungarvan responded for " The Ladies , " and made the sweetest of little speeches . We all told each other we could not have had a more delightful champion . After the speeches we went upstairs to the drawing-room to hear some more music , and then Fred took us into Mark Masons '

Hall , after that he and I went home . I told Mr . Matier I had enjoyed myself immensely , and he said I must say Brother Matier for the future , because I was now more than half a Mason . Next year you must be a Lady Steward , and get George to bring you . Your loving sister ,

GERTIE . P . S . —I forgot to say I wore that black silk I had made in Baker-street . You know which I mean .

Knights Templars.

KNIGHTS TEMPLARS .

In Bro . Richard Wolfe ' s ( formerly Woof , deceased ) sketch of the Knights Templars , 186 5 , particulars are given of what may be termed the French branch of the Templars , which it is asserted has maintained " a complete succession from the early Templars . " In Mill ' s " History of Chivalry , " and in a " Manual of

the Order , " it is declared that Jacques de Molay " foreseeing the evils which threatened the fraternity , appointed as his successor Brother John Mark Larmenius , of Jerusalem , who , in 1324 , executed a Charter , by which the Grand Mastershi p was transmitted , and which has continued to be signed by each successive Grand Master down to the present time . " ( P . 18 , Woof . )

In this document the Scottish Templars are styled '' Deserters of the Order , and cast off with an anathema . " Likewise the

supposed Grand Master says : " I have appointed signs , unknown to and out of the reach of the false brethren ( which reads more like eighteenth century style ] , the date (?) of this curious epistle being 13 th February , 1324 . The lamented author of the sketch considers it to be " a genuine record of antiquity , " and that

the doubts of its authenticity were due to the communications made by an expelled member this century to M . Gavel-. Admiral Sir Wm . Sidney Smith was Regent in 1838 , and the Duke of Sussex ( who was Grand Prior of England ) , and many other

English noblemen , were members ; the badge , as the decoration , consisting of a gold cross of eight points , enamelled white , charged with a cross pattee of red enamel , and surmounted by the Grand Master ' s crown .

There was a " Metropolitan Convent in London , of which the 7 th Duke of Beaufort , the 3 rd Marquis of Donegal , the ist Earl of Durham ( entitled Grand Prior of Scotland ) , Colonel Kemeys-Tynte , the 3 rd Duke _ of Leinster ( G . P . of Ireland ) , the