THE present number commences the one and twentieth yearly volume of the Freemasons' Monthly Magazine, and we feel that on the present, even more than on former occasions, the anniversary ought not to be passed unnoticed by us. Twentyone years mark an important era in the life of man, limiting, as it does, under our constitutional law, the period when each citizen attains his full rights as a man and a member of our glorious system of self-government. Before he has arrived at that age, he is still, in the eyes of the Law, a child, unqualified for the discharge of the citizen's duties, whether in regard to public affairs or to private property. He is still "under charge of tutors and governors." It is far otherwise, however, with a periodical publication, especially in these days of light and often very evanescent literature, when it is no uncommon occurrence for twenty or thirty literary children, full apparently of strength and life and vigor, to be born in the spring and perish in the autumn of a single year, too rapidly realizing the poet's description of the unstable lot of man, who "To-day puts forth The tender leaves of hope; to-morrow blossoms, The third day comes a frost, a killing frost, And-when he thinks, good easy man, full surely His greatness is a-ripening-nips his root, Putting aside, however, these more ephemeral publications, it is a fact familiar to all, that ten years is a good average duration for any periodical work at the present day, and any work which has attained that age, has established its claim to be reckoned among what Xenophon would call the the Teleio ardoeo, or "full-grown men" of the Republic of Letters. Τελειοι ανδρεσ There is, therefore, nothing immodest or presumptuous in our accepting the fact of an existence-and that with vigor as fresh to-day as it was twenty years ago-of more than double that length of time, as a proof of a want widely and deeply felt, and well and faithfully supplied. It is also a proof, and a very forcible one, of the steady progress and increasing strength of Masonry, and the more general and more correct appreciation by the public at large of its pure principles and benevolent, humanizing character. Of the felt deficiency of Masonic publications, when we entered upon this field, we have recently spoken. Of the manner in which we have endeavored to supply that deficiency we feel restrained from speaking so freely, lest our readers should be inclined to suspect us of egotism and vanity. And yet we know such a fear on our part to be ungenerous and unjust towards our Brethren, whose cheering words and wishes have ever been so ready to help us along our course of by no means light or easy duty, and to smooth before us the rugged places of the path. They know, and they have testified again and again to the industry and fidelity, with which we have perseveringly endeavored to fulfil the responsible task which we thus assumed nearly a quarter of a century ago. And our own heart assures us, as we look back with a searching eye over the memories and records of the past, that, whatever have been the deficiencies and shortcomings of this Masonic Magazine, they have arisen solely from error of judgment, not from lack of care or dishonesty of purpose. We have striven to make the publication worthy of our Order-worthy of being honored with a place in every library as a work of standard reference on all matters of Masonic interest. We have diligently sought information from all sources and authorities, ancient and modern-and, above all, it has been our constant desire and rule, at all times and on all occasions, to speak"the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth," firmly and unflinchingly, though at the same time in the spirit of Brotherly love and kindness. To this record of the past career of the Masonic Monthly Magazine our Brethren will, we feel assured, bear prompt and generous testimony as they will also to the fact that we have ever faithfully and firmly striven to maintain against every encroachment and violation the ANCIENT LANDMARKS of our Order, on whose sacred preservation we believe the stability and usefulness and honor of MASONRY mainly to depend and also to inculcate the constant exercise, in every phase and circumstance of public and private life, of that spirit of benevolence and brotherly kindness, the full and free working of which is one of the surest tests of our being MASONS, not alone by the initiation of the Ritual, but by the inspiration of the love of God and man into our hearts. In our last number we felt it to be a duty to state with somewhat of plainness, the position in which we were placed, showing the sacrifices that had been already made by us, and the need of increased support to save us from incurring such a further amount of loss as would involve a breach of duty to those having the nearest and most solemn claims upon If that appeal has not yet added any such number to our subscription list, as would balance the loss sustained within the last year by the withdrawal of so many Southern subscriptions and the stoppage of communication between North and South, still it has been the means of calling forth many kind and brotherly expressions of sympathy and support, which have been a most welcome consolation and counterbalance to the trials that we, in common with all our countrymen-professions, classes, or individuals-have had lately to undergo. When considering, therefore, whether we would still continue the publication of this Magazine, we felt that we must not regard the subject from any narrow or selfish point of view, but chiefly from the two broad stand points of LOVE to our COUNTRY, and LOVE to OUR ORDER. Has the Monthly Masonic Magazine done any good service to these two great and noble principles and causes ? Can it still serve them in any degree, however feeble? These were the questions we put to ourselves, and our heart and conscience have answered YES to both. Masonry, as we have shown in recent numbers, is presented, in the events of the unhappy Civil War which is now distracting these once so happy United States, with a wide field for the exercise of divine principles and that active charity, of which it is the great exponent and advocate. The more widespread the suffering and misery entailed on the nation and on individuals by this wicked war, all the more urgent is the call for the great heart of Masonry to expand and pour forth in more rapid circulation and in freer flow, the life-blood of its charity throughout the land! As we have shown on former occasions, the Masonic Order has now attained a standard of strength and reputation unequalled in any former time, and the fact seems to us a sufficient proof that there is some great and important work for it to do. In God's moral Universe no great agency is created or permitted but for some adequate object, and such an agency as this-so beneficent, so powerful, and so all-pervading-has not been, we solemnly believe, allowed to reach so high a point of stability and power without having allotted to it a proportionate sphere of useful and effective action. May MASONRY-may every MASON realize this fact-rise to the proper sense of his high and solemn duty, and now, in this dark trial-hour of his country, strive to cheer that darkness and alleviate the trial, by a faithful cultivation and exercise of true MASONIC CHARITY and MERCY! Circumstances and the wise action of the Grand Lodges of the several States, have already paved the way for the cultivation of the Masonic spirit in the army, by the establishment of a large number of Lodges in the different regiments. Since the breaking out of the Rebellion, about forty Lodges have, upon the receipt of petitions duly and properly drawn up, been opened in the army of the United States. It would be superfluous to point out what a great source of comfort these must be to our Brethren, who are bravely risking life and limb in defence of their country and its Constitution. The lessons of the Lodge will also tend to keep alive and vigorous that spirit of charity, for which the camp and the battlefield are likely, alas! to afford only too many painful opportunities of exercise. Viewed even in this light alone, we consider the establishment of these Lodges to be a just cause of satisfaction and congratulation, not only to all the members of our Brotherhood, but to the army and country at large to our misguided foes as well as our staunch and loyal friends. There is also another point of view not to be disregarded. The effective strength of an army greatly depends on its perfect discipline, and its unanimity of spirit. The iron sway of a strict commander may ensure the former, but Love is a mightier power than FEAR, and love alone can fully secure the latter. In the monarchical countries of Europe, where the masses are, for the most part, less enlightened and educated than with us, it is deemed unsafe to admit private soldiers to membership in the army Lodges. With us there is no such restriction, nor any need of it. Education is universal in these States, and many of our privates are as well-informed and as cultivated in mind as their officers; and are therefore fully fitted to meet them on brotherly terms of association in the Lodge. And this association, so far from weakening the ties of military discipline, will greatly strenghten them, for, in the first place, RESPECT and OBEDIENCE to AUTHORITY are amongst the most essential rules and principles of Masonry, so that the true Mason can never be an insubordinate soldier: and, secondly, how greatly must the soldier's courage be stimulated and his hand and heart strengthened, as he marches on to the field on which awaits him "A quick death or glorious victory," when he knows that in the Colonel and the Captain who are leading him and his companions on, he has not commanders only, but friends and BRETHREN! UNION LODGE, NANTUCKET. THIS is one of the oldest, as it is one of the most respectable Lodges in Massachusetts. It received its Charter in May, 1771, and has consequently been in existence ninety years: and it is a remarkable circumstance that it to-day holds the same relative rank among the Lodges in the State that it held on the day of its inauguration in 1771, viz.: number five. This is to be accounted for by the fact that several of the earlier Lodges had previously ceased to exist, while others, located out of the State, though within the jurisdiction, were subsequently transferred to the roll of other Grand Lodges. We have not the means at hand of sketching even a brief history of the "island Lodge," but our impression is that it has never at any period of its existence ceased to hold its regular monthly meetings and we are quite certain that there are few, if any, Lodges in the jurisdiction, located within fifty miles of Boston, that have been so often represented in the Grand Lodge, or more punctual in the payment of their quarterly dues. This is the more creditable to the Lodge, when it is remembered that Nantucket is something more than a hundred miles from Boston and about thirty from the main land, and that until within a very few years past several days were required to perform the journey between the two places. The communication is now by railroad and steamboat; and at the proper season of the year the trip is a very agreeable one. At least we found it so in a recent excursion there, in company with the M. W. Grand Master. The passage across the "sound" is performed by a staunch and well-appointed steamer in about two hours and a quarter, and in a smooth sea is a delightfully pleasant sail, though we can readily imagine that it may occasionally be otherwise to persons of a billious tempera ment. The island is about fifteen miles in length and from three to five in width. The town is pleasantly situated at the head of a fine harbor, on the north shore, and contains, we think, about six thousand inhabitants, the whole population of the island being between eight and nine thousand. It bears evidence of having once been a flourishing and prosperous place; but the falling off of the whale fisheries has seriously affected it in all its business relations. The great fire of 1846, which swept away the largest part of the business section of the town, destroying about a million of dollars in property, was a calamity from which the island has never recovered; and if we add to these the heavy losses sustained by the more wealthy and business men of the place, by the French cruisers, for which our own Government has never yet been honest enough to award any indemnity, we need not look further for the reasons for the present un |