ness, and must needs offer some collateral evidence in the form of a low, vulgar oath, to render their assertion worthy of belief. Brother, have you so conducted yourself that you feel that your word is un worthy of credence unless backed by an oath? If this is your lamentable condition, my brother, face about at once. Talk a great deal less than formerly. Talk nothing but what is true and consistent, and let your yea be yea, and your nay be nay; and the time may yet come when your brethren and neighbor will believe your word without an oath, and you may feel a conscienciousness of integrity, that will afford you more happiness than all the profane oaths you ever uttered. Brother, never use the sacred name of Deity, but with that veneration that is due from a creature to the Creator. Let us all learn to subdue our passion and improve ourselves in Masonry, so that the world may recognize us as better men on account of being Masons. Cassopolis, November 20th, 1871.

TIME AND MONEY.

J. A. S.

Many people take no care of their money till they have come nearly to the end of it, and others do just the same with their time. Their best days they throw away-let them run like sand through their fingers as long as they think they still have an almost countless number of them to spend ; but when they find their days flowing rapidly away, so that at last they have very few left, then they will at once make a very wise use of them; but, unluckily, they have by that time no notion how to do it.

SATURDAY NIGHT.

Saturday night makes people human, sets their hearts to beating, as they used to do before the world turned them into drums, and jarred them to pieces with tattoos. The ledger closes with a clash, the irondoorel vaults come to with a bang, up go the shutters with a will, click goes the key in the lock. It is Saturday night, and we breathe free again. Homeward, ho! The door that has been ajar all the week closes behind us; the world is shut out-shut in, rather. Here are our treasures after all, and not in the vault, and not in the book— save the old record in the old family Bible-and not in the bank. Maybe you are a bachelor, frosty and forty. Then, poor fellow, Saturday night is nothing to you, just as you are nothing to nobody. Get a wife, blue-eyed or brown-eyed, but, above all, true-eyed. Get a little home, no matter how little; a sofa, just to hold two, or two and a half, and then get two, or two and a half in it of a Saturday night, and then read this paragraph by the light of your wife's eyes, and thank heaven and take courage.-Exchange.

BEHAVIOR DURING LODGE HOURS.

It is the duty of Masons to behave with a decent and becoming deportment at all times, and by orderly conduct reflect no disgrace on our noble Craft. But especially should Masons behave properly during Lodge hours. The ancient Charges instruct that members in Lodge should hold no "private committees, or separate conversation, without leave of the Master, nor talk of anything impertinent or unseemly." Great caution should be taken that the Master or Wardens are not interrupted in their work. The Lodge room during working hours is no place for jesting or bon mots; on the contrary, the demeanor should be serious and grave. The work is certainly of a grave character, and is so considered by all who properly appreciate it, and none others have any business inside of the Lodge in working hours. Indeed the working of Masonry is marred the very moment that solemnity is sacrificed. We have sometimes known the most solemn portion of the M. M.'s Degree entirely spoiled, by an unbecoming levity. On the contrary, we have been affected almost or quite to tears by witnessing the same thing done with the seriousness so becoming its gravity. This is proof that the same thing when done in a different way ceases to be the same.

At the Lodge meetings the Brothers should greet each other with that cordiality and true friendship which is becoming in brethren of the Mystic tie. Here all meet on the level. No distinction of rank

or place should appear in the Lodge-room. The poorest and most humble meets the wealthy and famed on the chequered floor, where all are equal in each other's eyes, as they are in the sight of their Creator. Differences of opinion in religion or politics do not here mar the harmony of the Brotherhood. It is indeed holy ground, and only the feelings of harmony and brotherly love should be permitted to pervade the hearts of the fraters when they meet within the precincts of the Lodge. They should meet in friendship, and treat each other with the utmost courtesy while in each other's company, not only listening to the instructions of the Master, but endeavoring meantime to spread the cement which unites them more closely in common bonds. Thus spent, the Lodge meeting has a most hallowed influence upon each and all, and when the time comes to part on the Square, they feel the better for each other's society, and go home to family and friends resolved to be good and true men, and to regard the teaching of the moral law. Thus should Masons meet, act and part while life shall

last, and thus will the Lodge below become a type of that heaven of love and joy beyond the starry skies, where all good Masons hope to arrive in the far off by and by.

And before closing, we would say that members, during Lodge hours, should pay that respect to officers which is their due, and when discussions arise, and judgments differ, always respect the decisions and awards of the Master and Lodge. When the true spirit of Masonry prevails errors of judgment will soon be apparent and become corrected. But the contumacious spirit which cannot brook authority has no right to enter our institution, and never appears more out of place than in a Masonic Lodge-room.

In a word, every member should go to the Lodge in the love of Masonry, and with an ardent desire to do his part to make each meeting profitable. The brethren on the floor of the Lodge should stand by the officers in their endeavors to build up the Craft. Thus working in harmony, our Lodges will be harmonious, and the Order prosperous. At the Lodge meetings, should strangers be present, great care should be taken to make them feel that they are welcome, and the Order furnishes a home for the true brother, wherever he may chance to sojourn. Strangers often complain of the coldness with which they are received by their brethren when far from their homes and kindred. Such a complaint should never be well founded. In Lodge or out of it, be sure that you always treat the stranger with all due kindness, and if his love of Masonry prompts him to visit your Lodge, be sure to greet him most kindly.

HOW TO PROMOTE LODGE INTEREST.

In our jurisdiction we have many Lodges which do not seem to thrive as they ought. The meetings are not attended by the members as they should be, and while all confess that they respect the institution of Masonry, and believe its principles to be very good, and well calculated to perfect and elevate mankind, yet they wonder that so little interest is taken in the Order by the membership in their particular locality. The meetings of these Lodges are neglected, and the officers grow disheartened, and all join in wondering why it is that so few ar e interested in an institution which all are so free to admit is a good one.

In previous numbers of this journal we have noted the great importance of selecting good men for officers; men whose daily lives reflect the noble principles of Masonry; men who love the Order, and themselves take a lively interest in it. The zeal of such officers is well calculated to awaken a corresponding zeal in the brethren over whom

they preside. They infuse life into the work. They so render it as to bring out its hidden beauties and excellences. In this way they serve to make the Lodge-room attractive, and the brethren feel well repaid for their trouble when they attend the Lodge meetings.

But all does not depend upon the officers of a Lodge; the members also have their part to perform. It is to be expected of them that they will stand by and support their officers, for it is a thankless task to serve an unappreciated Lodge-a Lodge of grumblers, who are hypercritical, cold and disingenuous. Nothing so serves to quench the zeal of an officer as to make him feel that his best efforts are not properly appreciated, and that the members of his Lodge are unjust toward him. That they do not second his well-intended exertions to build up the Craft. And in many instances this want of due appreciation on the part of members fairly kills out the zeal of the very best of officers. It should be remembered by the brethren that it is no small labor to qualify for the duties of Master, especially, and to attend all the meetings promptly, and perform the work of the Lodge in a creditable manner. If you would have your Lodge thrive, and its meetings interesting stand by your officers and speak cheering words in their behalf. And, if an occasional blunder is made, remember that to err is human, and had you been in the erring brother's place the error might occur more frequently.

The members of Lodges should be prompt in their attendance at all the meetings, especially the regulars. They should remember that if it adds to the interest of the meetings to see the hall well filled, they owe it to Masonry to do their part toward filling the hall. If it is pleasant to meet smiling, courteous brothers, that they, too, should cultivate cheerfulness, and treat the brethren with courtesy. If the cultivation of brotherly love improves the brotherhood and makes their society more attractive, that they too should enter earnestly into its cultivation that their society may be pleasing to others. And we know of no Lodge where the members are prompt in their attendance. where they aid as they should, by their friendly co-operation, and cultivate the kindly principles of the Order, that has need to complain of any lack of interest. It is only the badly-worked, neglected Lodge which loses its interests, and where the members do not manifest enough zeal to keep up the interests of Masonry, they should surrender their charters and disband. If Masonry is not worth working well, it is not worth while to work it at all, and when interest is lost, the Lodge is dead, or so nearly dead, that it had better yield up the ghost. But in all such cases it is not Masonry which is at fault, but members who are not Masons.

OUT OF TIME.

DURING the last six months our Journal has been several weeks behind the time in its monthly issue, which has been a great source of regret to its publishers and caused complaint by the readers. We wish in a few words to explain. In the first place, we intentionally delayed the issue of the first number of the volume, waiting the reception of clubs. These came in tardy, and we commenced with too small an edition. Before the second number was entirely worked off, we found our edition exhausted, and two or three hundred unsupplied. We then had to reprint the first number, and the first two forms of number two. This greatly delayed us, but just as we were about getting up to time again the accident of which mention has been made in these columns happened to the editor. Loss of time, and incapacity for la · bor for some two months, has greatly deranged our business plans; but life is spared us, and returning vigor will enable us to soon be up to time.

We are greatly obliged to those Brethren who have stood by us so nobly in our day of misfortune, and for the forbearance of our readers. We are almost daily in the receipt of letters from our own State and other Jurisdictions, which greatly cheer us, and encourage us to go on and fight valiantly for victory over all obstacles. Let those who wait impatiently for our numbers take a little time to canvass their Lodges in behalf of THE MICHIGAN FREEMASON, and aid us to the means of making it more acceptable to our readers and ourselves. Send for specimen numbers and prospectus for volume 4. We shall supply clubs who pay in advance at the rate of $1.50 per year.

MASONIC ITEMS.

A story is going the rounds of the press affirming that Wm. Morgan, of anti-Masonic notoriety, died at the head of the Cherokee nation, and that his son is still occupying the exalted position made vacant by the death of his illustrious father! What next?

The following are the officers of the Grand Lodge of Minnesota as per recent election: G. B. Cooley, Grand Master; Charles Griswold, Dep. Grand Master; J. W. Castle, Gr. Senior Warden; E. P. Barnum, Gr. Junior Warden; Geo. L. Otis, Grand Treasurer; Wm. S. Combs, Gr. Secretary.