A QUARTERLY COMMUNICATION. SEPTEMBER 8, A. L. 5875. QUARTERLY COMMUNICATION OF THE MOST WORSHIPFUL GRAND LODGE OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS was held at the Masonic Temple, in the city of Boston, on Wednesday, the eighth day of September, A. L. 5875, A. D. 1875. The Grand Lodge was opened in AMPLE FORM at two o'clock, P. M., with prayer by R.W. Rev. Charles H. Titus, and singing. William Wallace Lee, Esq., M.W. Grand Master of Masons in the State of Connecticut, was present, seated upon the right of the Grand Master, but declined the formal introduction belonging to his rank. The Record of the Quarterly Communication of June 9, 1875, and the Special Communications of June 17, 1875, and July 3, 1875, were approved without reading, the same having been distributed among the members in printed form. The Records of the Special Communications of June 24, 1875, at North Andover, for the purpose of constituting Cochichewick Lodge; of July 1, 1875, at Needham, for the purpose of constituting Norfolk Lodge; and of July 16, 1875, at Natick, for the purpose of dedicating the new Masonic hall of Meridian Lodge, were read and approved. By-Laws and amendments to By-Laws from the following Lodges were presented for approval, and referred to the Committee on By-Laws: EUREKA LODGE, New Bedford, full code. IONIC LODGE, Taunton, full code. ATHOL LODGE, Athol, amendment. ALFRED BAYLIES LODGE, Taunton, amendment. GRECIAN LODGE, Lawrence, full code. MOUNT CARMEL LODGE, Lynn, amendments. GATE OF THE TEMPLE, South Boston, amendments. NORFOLK LODGE, Needham, change of seal. Proxies were presented from FRATERNAL LODGE, Hyannis, in favor of W. Bro. George J. MILLER. ANCIENT LANDMARK LODGE, Shanghai, China, in favor of R.W. BRO. WILLIAM F. SALMON. The Brethren were recognized accordingly. The record of proceedings of Massachusetts Lodge in the trial of Leon S. Peartree, presented for approval at the Quarterly Communication in March last, was, on the recommendation of the Committee on Trials, referred back to said Lodge, to be amended in two items deemed important by the committee, and which had been inadvertently omitted, viz.: That the service of the complaint upon the respondent did not appear to have been at his "last and usual place of abode;" and that the record did not show that Neils Jacobs was a Master Mason. (See printed Proceedings, pp. 24-26.) The record so amended as to show the above facts having been returned to the Grand Secretary's office, it was, on motion, voted that the Proceedings of Massachusetts Lodge in the trial of Leon L. Peartree be, and the same are, hereby approved, and the action of said Lodge in expelling the said Peartree, from all the rights and privileges of Freemasonry, confirmed. The request of the newly formed Grand Lodges of Prince Edward Island, and Manitoba, to be recognized among the fraternity of Grand Lodges, was referred to R.W. Sereno D. Nickerson, R.W. Tracy P. Cheever, and W. Alonzo B. Wentworth. R.W. William A. Smith, District Deputy Grand Master of the Eleventh Masonic District, having resigned said office in consequence of feeble health, the Grand Master accepted his resignation, declared a vacancy to exist in said office, and appointed W. Bro. Charles W. Moody to fill the same. Bro. Moody being present was installed District Deputy Grand Master of the Eleventh Masonic District in AMPLE FORM. The Grand Master announced the decease of R.W. Ithamar F. Conkey, Past Grand Warden, who died suddenly of neuralgia of the heart, at his residence in Amherst, on Sunday, August 7, 1875, at seven o'clock, A. M., and appointed R.W. David W. Crafts, W. Mirick N. Spear, and W. Samuel A. Phelps, a committee to prepare suitable resolutions upon his death, to be spread upon the records of the Grand Lodge. The committee subsequently submitted the following report, which was accepted, and the resolutions adopted. |