wonder is it that when the report of that fair was submitted to the Grand Lodge that the following resolution should be unanimously passed: "That the thanks of the Masonic fraternity of the State of New York are eminently due and are hereby most heartily tendered to the Ladies' Masonic Fair Association for the magnificent result which accompanied the labor of their hands, voluntarily and most cheerfully given in aid of the Asylum." To further acknowledge and at the same time to commemorate the memorable work done in aid of Hall and Asylum by the ladies in connection with this fair and its predecessors a memorial tablet with the following inscription has been placed in the main corridor of the Masonic Hall:

In

Grateful Recognition
of the

Voluntary Services
Rendered by the

Ladies' Masonic Fair Association,
1866-1873-1887,

in and of the
Masonic Hall and Asylum Fund.
"An absolutely unselfish task,
the outcome of a pure desire
to do good for the sake of
doing good."

As soon as the Asylum appeared possible by the certainty of the clearing away of the debt-the real rubbish of the Temple-the brethren seemed ready to rush forward to make it an accomplished fact, and but for the determination of the Grand Master that not a cent should be spent for Asylum purposes until the debt had been extinguished on the Hall it is hard to say what extravagances might not. have been committed under the impulse of the prevailing enthusiasm. Indeed long before the clearance of the debt was an accomplished fact, gifts of money for the Asylum were received by the Grand Master, but these, like the sum received from the fair, were carefully laid aside until the main battle had been fairly won, when it would be time enough to enjoy the

fruits of the victory. In 1888, however, the end was so clearly foreseen that the Grand Master appointed a committee to determine upon a site for the proposed Asylum. That committee included W. A. Brodie, C. Roome, C. M. Stafford, Charles W. Mead, Cyrus Stewart, Charles M. Williams, Myron W. Von Auken, Henry T. Dana, and Elton T. Ransom. While every member may be credited, should be credited, with honest work in connection with the duties of this committee, it must be stated that its moving spirit was Past Grand Master Brodie, and that in connection with it he spared neither time nor travel. The requirements for the site of the home were: First, centrality of location, as near the geographical center of the State as possible; second, accessibility by existing lines of travel; third, perfect water supply; fourth, sewerage facilities, and, fifth, perfect adaptability of the site for the purposes, present and future, of the Asylum. As soon as the committee was organized they found quite a number of sites offered by various parties and on various terms awaiting their consideration. Some of these were at once rejected, such as two on Long Island, on the ground that they did not fulfill the first requirement of centrality. To enable them to carry out their work impartially, the Grand Lodge had limited the time. for receiving proposals for sites to Sept. 15, 1888, and when that date closed they had before them quite a number of propositions from which it seemed certain a selection would be made. These sites were at Auburn, Binghamton, Ithaca, Lockport, Rome, Syracuse and Utica. All the sites were offered on peculiarly advantageous terms and all had more or less recommendations peculiar to themselves, while in some instances the municipality nearest each added special inducements. But the most munificent offer was in connection with the site at Lockport, the homestead of Governor Washington Hunt, known as Wyndham Lawn, and comprising some eighty acres of land beautifully laid out, which was tendered

as a free gift to the fraternity by John Hodge, Junior Grand Warden, and afterward Grand Master, and it was with deep regret that the committee felt impelled to reject the generous offer solely because the site was not sufficiently central. After a careful study of all the others, a study which in each case was the result of personal inspection, the committee finally limited their choice to those sites offered at Auburn, Binghamton, Rome and Utica, and a sub-committee again visited those cities to make various inquiries, mainly as to what the respective municipalities were willing to do in regard to water supply, local transportation in the way of horse or electric cars, and the like, and when the whole committee met again and the sub-committee reported it was seen, by a ballot vote, that the majority favored the site offered at Utica. This was the Morgan Butler farm, 135 acres. In many respects it was not entirely satisfactory, and while the matter was waiting final adjudication, pending the final stages after which reconsideration would have been practically impossible, an offer was made to the committee on exceptionally advantageous terms of the property known as

the Utica Driving Park. This was 160 acres, lying partly in the city of Utica, the magnificent site on which the Asylum now stands. The value of the property was $75,000, and towards this the owner, Hon. C. W. Hutchinson, a member of Utica Lodge, No. 47, offered to donate $25,000, the city of Utica $30,000, leaving $20,000 to be paid by the fraternity. A series of visits followed, at each of which it seemed more apparent that an ideal site had at length been discovered, and the purchase of the property was agreed to by the committee on the terms above stated. Their action was fully indorsed and concluded by the action of the Grand Lodge at the meeting of 1889, when the payment of the $20,000 necessary to acquire possession was agreed to. In connection with this report the committee submitted a series of practical suggestions for the government of the proposed institution and the general policy of its management, most of which were ultimately adopted when the building was completed and the long-expected Home (as it is called) became one of the attractions of Utica and the brightest gem in the Masonic history of the State.

HE leading features, the grand features, of Frank R. Lawrence's four years of administration were the clearing away of the rubbish of debt and the practical founding of the Asylum, and as the years recede and details are grad ually being forgotten it will be by these achievements his name will be best, remembered by the craft. Certainly throughout those years they overshadowed everything else, yet those who were members of the Grand Lodge at that time know that there were countless other matters which called forth attention, the very matters which had so fully engrossed the time and administrative efforts of so many of his predecessors. In fact, the four years under notice were more brimful of these details, for a new life seemed to spring up everywhere in the craft, its activities. were branching out in every direction and this healthfulness, these activities naturally called into play more action on the part of the Grand Master, and, great though the exertions were which the debt question involved, or perplexing as were the cares attendant upon the Asylum question, not one of what might be called, for the time, minor details escaped the most careful attention, and no duty, however trivial, which had to be done was left undone. The writer of this history, being a member of the Grand Lodge during much of that time, can testify to all this from his own knowledge, but the records of the time are evidence enough.

To some of these details we may now briefly call attention for the sake of their historical

import. The quality of the new spirit which the Grand Master infused in the craft may be best understood from the progressive number of initiations each year. In 1885 there were only 1,890; in 1886, practically the first of the debt-raising years, there were 3,312; in 1887, 3,593; in 1888, 3,973; in 1889, 4,212. For these years the number of Master Masons increased thus from 71,977 in 1885; in 1886, 72,113; in 1887, 72,625; in 1888, 74,065, and in 1889, 75,775. The extent of the increase was even much better than these figures show, for as soon as the debt-clearing scheme was fairly launched the Lodges by suspension threw off many whose names they had been carrying for years, names which virtually had ceased to be anything but names to their Lodges, while many lukewarm brethren in - alarm secured their demits or got rid of all anxiety over the debt question by simply ignoring their obligations and allowing their names to be dropped from the rolls. The craft was all the better for being purged of such material, material which it should never have possessed. The increase in membership was in every way healthy, and experience has since amply shown was on the whole of a much higher standard than had been set in the past. There was something so chivalrous in the debt-clearing. campaign that, even amid the early discouragements, marked it out for ultimate success and gave the institution a deeper hold than ever in the esteem of the community and attracted the attention of the profane. Then the increase was mainly directed so as to strengthen existing Lodges, for Grand Master

Lawrence, more than even his predecessors, set his face resolutely against the introduction of new Lodges on the roll. In his first year, as we have already remarked, he did not issue a warrant, or even a dispensation for a single Lodge. In his second year he issued one dispensation, that for Whitney's Point Lodge, No. 795, and in his fourth year, two, that for Dolgeville Lodge, No. 796, and that for Frank R. Lawrence Lodge, No. 797. In connection with this subject he said, in his closing address to the Grand Lodge in 1889:

I most earnestly recommend to the Grand Lodge that the policy of recent years with respect to the erection of new Lodges be rigidly adhered to in the future. No one familiar with the subject can doubt that the number of Lodges is, with exceptions which are few and rare, sufficiently great to meet all proper requirements of the fraternity within our jurisdiction; and save as these exceptions shall from time to time present themselves it is my very firm belief that any increase whatever in the number of our subordinate Lodges is far more likely to be detrimental than advantageous to the true interests of the fraternity.

By refusing to issue a warrant for a new Lodge in Honduras, Central America, on the ground that a Lodge at such a distance could only be governed with difficulty and even at best might lead to foreign complications, the Grand Master established a precedent so clearly and so forcibly that we are not aware that even a suggestion to depart from it has since been made.

Probably no sterner rebuke was ever previously given to a Lodge of unworthy Masons -or rather a Lodge the working majority of which were unworthy Masons-than was administered by Grand Master Lawrence in 1887 in the case of Prudence Lodge, No. 632. This Lodge was what might be termed a strong one, having over 200 members, and in its earlier stages it was a reputable, hard-working and honorable body. But somehow it fell, gradually, into the hands of an unscrupulous gang who cared nothing for Masonry except the fact that membership in it gave them a

certain standing in the community, a certain degree of respectability which their personal characters certainly did not warrant. Some even had a sort of vague idea that by the strength of their Masonic connection a certain. protecting shield would be thrown around. them should they cross the thin line that divided their lives from those of the recognized criminal classes. As these men assumed prominence in the Lodge the respectable members-by far the majority-gradually withdrew from all active participation, but retained their membership hoping, as many of them afterward said, that the disreputable element would somehow be retired or would turn their attention to some other fad and in time permit Prudence Lodge to resume its oldtime-staidness and the characteristics in keeping with its name. By this course, however, they simply rendered themselves liable to Masonic law, although their reasoning as to the short-lived interest of the disreputable workers in the Lodge was probably correct. But while the latter were in power they made the most of it. Professional gamblers and blacklegs, keepers of notorious resorts and shady characters of all grades were initiated, passed, raised and accepted as members. All this became notorious, some of its details even found their way into the public prints, until after the usual fraternal warnings the Grand Master became satisfied that for the best interests of Masonry summary action should be taken, and on Sept. 20, 1886, he ordered the warrant of Prudence Lodge to be suspended. This order was carried out by the Deputy of the seventh district, George W. Cregier, one of the most devoted of the Grand Master's aides for three years, and the warrant was duly placed in the hands of the Grand Secretary. Eight of the members of the Lodge were tried on charges and seven were expelled, the charges against the other being withdrawn, as he was about passing from the jurisdiction of all earthly judges. Then the Master of the Lodge and his predecessor were tried and ex

pelled. These trials revealed such a disreputable condition of affairs that the Grand Master decided that the only effective way to purify the Lodge was to wipe it out altogether, and, accordingly, District Deputy Cregier preferred charges against all the members on the principle that the charter was in the custody of them all and that they were all equally responsible, by practically deserting it for its misuse. The Committee on Warrants, before whom the matter came, said: "While the offense of the existing members of the Lodge consists rather in acts of omission than of commission, yet we believe that for the good of the fraternity the warrant of the Lodge should be forfeited and the Lodge pass out of existence. In this way only can the stamp of condemnation of the fraternity be placed upon proceedings of a like nature." This view was entertained by the Grand Lodge of 1887 and Prudence Lodge was removed from the roll. It was certainly a piece of Spartan-like discipline for the majority of the members of the Lodge, but no one can say it was undeserved. Many believed that the punishment was too severe, but the fact that one of Frank R. Lawrence's most conservative successors, John Stewart, had to administer precisely similar discipline in connection with another Lodge, for precisely similar reasons, shows that even the drastic punishment inflicted was not severe enough to act as a deterrent. However individuals may have been hurt, the procedure in connection with Prudence Lodge redounded to the credit of the entire craft and increased its hold upon the better sentiment of the thoughtful classes in the community.

We turn with pleasure from the discussion of such blots upon the fair page of Masonic history to consider matters more in keeping with its teachings and policy and of such matters there are as many as would offset a hundred such contrary instances as that furnished by Prudence Lodge's single heinous example. For our purpose it is only necessary here to place in juxtaposition, as it were, with the

dark story just told the bright one in connection with the establishment of a museum of antiquities in connection, more or less close, with the Library. That institution, thanks to the zealous care of Herman G. Carter, was now in fairly perfect working order-that is to say, its contents were arranged and available, the room in which the books were lodged was cozily fitted up as a reading room and the tables were well supplied with reading matter and writing material, while the whole was thrown open each evening to the use of the brethren. The Library was not then, it is not now, what one would expect the library of a Grand Lodge like that of New York ought to be, but it was a great improvement over what it had been. Several efforts were made to have the library open day and evening, but the efforts failed, mainly because the expense was more than the fraternity felt warranted in expending, but until that is done, the Library will not be regarded as practically useful and so fail to win the financial support from the Grand Lodge which it should receive.

However, under Frank R. Lawrence's administration the Library received much more encouragement than had been vouchsafed to it up to that time and he strove earnestly to add to its popularity. One of the means he adopted to that end was the appointment of at committee for the ingathering of a collection of Masonic relics-manuscripts, diplomas, medals, coins, jewels, regalia and the like, the committee consisting of William H. Andrews, Herman G. Carter, Edward H. Warker, Charles T. McClenachan, and Joseph M. Levéy. The story of the inception of this new committee was thus told by the Grand Master in his address before the Grand Lodge on June I, 1886, in the course of his reference to the library:

The free reading room established at the beginning of 1885, in connection with the Library in this building, has continued to be of great interest and has attracted large and increasing numbers of visitors. About a year ago the committee, through