Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
" What Is Masonry Doing For Intellectual Progress?"*
" WHAT IS MASONEY DOING EOE INTELLECTUAL PROGRESS ? " *
"We take it , that in this utilitarian age , when even the amenities and courtesies of society are weighed before they are dispensed , in the scales of profit and loss : when friendship is valued by " how much it will fetch : " relaxation from the iron mill of weekly care , hardly allowed : amusement deemed needless , though the fingers and feet are blistered with scraping and running in the race for gold : in
a word , when loss of life apparently is feared chiefly because it infers a more dreaded evil—loss of time;—many of our Fraternity have been asked by others ^ and have frequently asked themselves , the question of our present essay , and have received an unsatisfactory reply . It is true that Masonry is the breathing-place for philanthropy , flying from the niggard selfishness of the external world ; an oasis of comparative seclusion , yet not inertness , amply needed in these days of
noise , and strife , and brain work ; but this is no reason why the oft ^ repeated charges against it , of living for the past rather than for the present , of not fostering the intellectual expansion of the age , should continue unrefuted , and disparage the system in the eyes even of the [ Fraternity itself , which , allowing its fullest claim to the glory of promoting mutual Charity , yet is constrained to admit it sluggish and inefficient towards the mental development of the people .
We speak now of course of the publications connected with the Craft , not of schools , nor of those nobly-maintained endowments which reflect a lustre on our Ancient Order . How is it that the sensible Mason , whilst acting in strict concurrence with the obliga-* The attention of our readers is particularly requested to this paper , and any co-operation in furtherance of its suggestions , will be gratefully appreciated . —r ( Ed . F . M . M . ) yoL . i . 2 d
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
" What Is Masonry Doing For Intellectual Progress?"*
" WHAT IS MASONEY DOING EOE INTELLECTUAL PROGRESS ? " *
"We take it , that in this utilitarian age , when even the amenities and courtesies of society are weighed before they are dispensed , in the scales of profit and loss : when friendship is valued by " how much it will fetch : " relaxation from the iron mill of weekly care , hardly allowed : amusement deemed needless , though the fingers and feet are blistered with scraping and running in the race for gold : in
a word , when loss of life apparently is feared chiefly because it infers a more dreaded evil—loss of time;—many of our Fraternity have been asked by others ^ and have frequently asked themselves , the question of our present essay , and have received an unsatisfactory reply . It is true that Masonry is the breathing-place for philanthropy , flying from the niggard selfishness of the external world ; an oasis of comparative seclusion , yet not inertness , amply needed in these days of
noise , and strife , and brain work ; but this is no reason why the oft ^ repeated charges against it , of living for the past rather than for the present , of not fostering the intellectual expansion of the age , should continue unrefuted , and disparage the system in the eyes even of the [ Fraternity itself , which , allowing its fullest claim to the glory of promoting mutual Charity , yet is constrained to admit it sluggish and inefficient towards the mental development of the people .
We speak now of course of the publications connected with the Craft , not of schools , nor of those nobly-maintained endowments which reflect a lustre on our Ancient Order . How is it that the sensible Mason , whilst acting in strict concurrence with the obliga-* The attention of our readers is particularly requested to this paper , and any co-operation in furtherance of its suggestions , will be gratefully appreciated . —r ( Ed . F . M . M . ) yoL . i . 2 d