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Article OUR MASONIC CHARITIES. ROYAL MASONIC INSTITUTION FOR BOYS. ← Page 5 of 5 Article ENGLISH GILDS. * Page 1 of 4 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Our Masonic Charities. Royal Masonic Institution For Boys.
to distinguish them from the pupils at any other public school . The definition of the Committee , "that the object ofthe institution is , hy eliminating from its administration all trace of charity in th e cold signification of the Avord , to elevate the moral tone of the pupils , " is felt to be truthful before you have conversed Avith the lads five minutes . But no
written description can bring the peculiar merits of this Wood Green establishment fairly before the reader . There are about it , over and above its material excellencies and architectural splendour ; a thousand delicate lights and shades , all implying
that it constitutes a tenderly watched and gently disciplined Home to those to whom it opens its charitable doors . It must be seen to be appreciated , or even understood ; and often as Freemasons may have heard the claims and excellencies of
" Boy ' s School" urged at their lodge meetings , the day of the first visit to it Avill be ever after marked with a Avhite stone , for it Avill prove IIOAV far short of its real merit has been every Avord spoken in its praise . Those who remember the caution taught at their initiation should ins ] Deet it , to see that the funds they give for benevolent
purposes are properly applied ; those AVIIO value the pillars of their order should go to see IIOAV stable and sound this chief one is ; the man recently admitted should go in order that he may comprehend Avhat his apron means—in other Avords the
practical fruit of the lessons impressed upon him ; and the old and " rusty" mason should go to see what the stirring doings and the new blood of the last half-dozen years have brought about . In short , every Freemason Avho shrinks from
beingbranded as lukeAvarm ought to make himself acquainted Avith the establishment Ave have described as soon as practicable . There is no difficulty about admission , the way is easy , the time occupied insignificant , the expense to Londoners nominal ,
and the duty obvious—so that there can be no reason , save supineness or indifference , for holding back . "
English Gilds. *
ENGLISH GILDS . *
( Continued from page 267 . ) To mention another incorporated trade , I take the Cutlers in Sheffield . Alread y before 1790 the masters there must have attempted to violate the customary restrictions as to apprentices ; and they were probably hindered in this by the
journeymen . But far from Avithdrawing from the cooperation , they complained of these restrictions in 1790 to Parliament , and petitioned for alleviations in the bye-laAvs of the Company . These were granted in an Act of June the 7 th , 1791 ; and
forthwith , on the 9 th of September of the same year , Ave find combinations among the Scissorgrinders and other workmen . On the 3 rd of April following the Scissor-smiths' Benefit Society Avas formed . According to Mr . Hill's account , it
Ava . s a Trade-Society to oppose the actions of the employers , Avhich probably took the shape of a Friendly-Society to evade the 39 th and 40 th Geo . III . chap . 106 .
The same phenomena which we observed in thetrades incorporated by charter , or under the Sth Eliz . chap . 4 , recur in those which had been ahvays free from any legal restrictions . Among these was the trade of the Calico-printers .
Nevertheless , though the regulations of the 5 th Eliz . chap . 4 , had no power over this trade , yet they were observed in it as the order sanctioned by thegeneral custom of trade before the introduction of machinery . But simultaneously with the introduction of machinery , about the year 1790 , the
unlimited employment of apprentices in the placeof adult journeymen became general in this trade . And the disproportion betAveen journeymen and apprentices Avhich , not restricted by even the possibility of a legal prosecution , arose in the
counties of Lancaster , Derby , Cheshire , and Staffordin England , and in those of Lanark , Benfrew , Dumbarton , Stirling , and Perth in Scotland , surpassed by far that existing in all other trades . Iu Lancashire there Avere cases of fifty-five apprentices to two journeymen only ; and in the county of Dumbarton cases of sixty to two . These
proportions had liOAvever been in no way caused by a want of hands from the great rise of the trade after the introduction of machinery . On the contrary , Avhilst all apprentices Avere Avorking full time in the factories , the journeymen sought in
vain for Avork . And Avhenever the state of the trade necessitated a discharge of hands , the journeymen Avere always disharged first , whilst the apprentices remained fully employed . The reason Avas rather this , that the masters , by employing
apprentices instead of journeymen , saved one-third in Avages . Aud it Avas not rare " that apprentices Avere discharged immediately upon the expiration of their apprenticeship , although the work was
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Our Masonic Charities. Royal Masonic Institution For Boys.
to distinguish them from the pupils at any other public school . The definition of the Committee , "that the object ofthe institution is , hy eliminating from its administration all trace of charity in th e cold signification of the Avord , to elevate the moral tone of the pupils , " is felt to be truthful before you have conversed Avith the lads five minutes . But no
written description can bring the peculiar merits of this Wood Green establishment fairly before the reader . There are about it , over and above its material excellencies and architectural splendour ; a thousand delicate lights and shades , all implying
that it constitutes a tenderly watched and gently disciplined Home to those to whom it opens its charitable doors . It must be seen to be appreciated , or even understood ; and often as Freemasons may have heard the claims and excellencies of
" Boy ' s School" urged at their lodge meetings , the day of the first visit to it Avill be ever after marked with a Avhite stone , for it Avill prove IIOAV far short of its real merit has been every Avord spoken in its praise . Those who remember the caution taught at their initiation should ins ] Deet it , to see that the funds they give for benevolent
purposes are properly applied ; those AVIIO value the pillars of their order should go to see IIOAV stable and sound this chief one is ; the man recently admitted should go in order that he may comprehend Avhat his apron means—in other Avords the
practical fruit of the lessons impressed upon him ; and the old and " rusty" mason should go to see what the stirring doings and the new blood of the last half-dozen years have brought about . In short , every Freemason Avho shrinks from
beingbranded as lukeAvarm ought to make himself acquainted Avith the establishment Ave have described as soon as practicable . There is no difficulty about admission , the way is easy , the time occupied insignificant , the expense to Londoners nominal ,
and the duty obvious—so that there can be no reason , save supineness or indifference , for holding back . "
English Gilds. *
ENGLISH GILDS . *
( Continued from page 267 . ) To mention another incorporated trade , I take the Cutlers in Sheffield . Alread y before 1790 the masters there must have attempted to violate the customary restrictions as to apprentices ; and they were probably hindered in this by the
journeymen . But far from Avithdrawing from the cooperation , they complained of these restrictions in 1790 to Parliament , and petitioned for alleviations in the bye-laAvs of the Company . These were granted in an Act of June the 7 th , 1791 ; and
forthwith , on the 9 th of September of the same year , Ave find combinations among the Scissorgrinders and other workmen . On the 3 rd of April following the Scissor-smiths' Benefit Society Avas formed . According to Mr . Hill's account , it
Ava . s a Trade-Society to oppose the actions of the employers , Avhich probably took the shape of a Friendly-Society to evade the 39 th and 40 th Geo . III . chap . 106 .
The same phenomena which we observed in thetrades incorporated by charter , or under the Sth Eliz . chap . 4 , recur in those which had been ahvays free from any legal restrictions . Among these was the trade of the Calico-printers .
Nevertheless , though the regulations of the 5 th Eliz . chap . 4 , had no power over this trade , yet they were observed in it as the order sanctioned by thegeneral custom of trade before the introduction of machinery . But simultaneously with the introduction of machinery , about the year 1790 , the
unlimited employment of apprentices in the placeof adult journeymen became general in this trade . And the disproportion betAveen journeymen and apprentices Avhich , not restricted by even the possibility of a legal prosecution , arose in the
counties of Lancaster , Derby , Cheshire , and Staffordin England , and in those of Lanark , Benfrew , Dumbarton , Stirling , and Perth in Scotland , surpassed by far that existing in all other trades . Iu Lancashire there Avere cases of fifty-five apprentices to two journeymen only ; and in the county of Dumbarton cases of sixty to two . These
proportions had liOAvever been in no way caused by a want of hands from the great rise of the trade after the introduction of machinery . On the contrary , Avhilst all apprentices Avere Avorking full time in the factories , the journeymen sought in
vain for Avork . And Avhenever the state of the trade necessitated a discharge of hands , the journeymen Avere always disharged first , whilst the apprentices remained fully employed . The reason Avas rather this , that the masters , by employing
apprentices instead of journeymen , saved one-third in Avages . Aud it Avas not rare " that apprentices Avere discharged immediately upon the expiration of their apprenticeship , although the work was