deed, the philosophers, astronomers, mystics and religionists of all ages. The amalgamation of operative masonry and craft templarism gave the confraternity control of the building industry of Europe, and also encouraged the revival of the best and most imposing of the architecture of the ages. And although the union of craft masons and craft templars gave to Europe the best mechanical art and building skill that the world has seen, the confraternity often used its power tyrannically. It was, in short, a building trades trust, beside which the one William A. Davies, Grand Recorder Photo Habenicht in America seems as a mole hill to a mountain; but, then, there were few tradesmen other than those engaged in erecting buildings in those days. And it may be said that all the palaces, churches, cathedrals, towers and walls of Europe that were erected before the eighteenth century, were the products of the architectural genius, decorative art, mechanical skill and painstaking labor of the masonic-templar confraternity of building tradesmen. Painting, sculpture, pottery, frescoing, music, drawing, and the other fine arts, were included in the handiwork of the craft, with classic literature as a stimulant to the revival of esoteric masonry and occultism, but within the ranks of the fraternity. This led to application for membership and the initiation of royalty, the nobility, the gentry and the foremost scholars and thinkers of Europe. But then, as now, only the delver into the deeper meaning of life knows where exotic masonry leaves off and esoteric masonry begins where the veil of allegory is rent, revealing the occult meaning of the symbols. And modern templarism has rather led in the noble work of restoring esoteric masonry to its original eminence as "Keeper of the Key of Divine Wisdom." Esoteric masonry-templarism is the Book of the Law ***"Which moves to right eousness, Which none at last can turn aside or stay; The heart of it is Love, the end of it Is Peace and Consummation sweet. Obey!" DAY By Herman E. Kittredge A few faint quivering gleams of roseate light, A BY W. A. BISSELL Asst. Traffic Manager Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe System CONVENTION CITY could never rightly be so called had it only qualities which made it available for men of one belief or of one organization to the exclusion of those of another belief or of another organization. It is the cosmopolitanism of San Francisco, her diversity in religion, in politics, in race and language which makes possible the meeting together of many largely diversified organizations. Few indeed are the social, political or religious bodies in the United States that do not have a healthy growth in San Francisco. This is particularly so of the religious bodies. On the one hand, Western Christianity here takes its last stand before entering the great proselyting ground of the Far East, and on the other, Eastern cults and beliefs have to an extent here begun the proselyting of the Occident. It is this fact of being on the borderland of the battling ground of religious belief which makes San Francisco particularly attractive in the eyes of religious leaders of all denominations as a city for the holding of their conventions. This same feeling is shared by the manufacturer, by the merchant, and by every man who is looking for opportunity. It is natural for students to meet together at the university, where their opportunity of study lies nearest at hand. For the merchant, farmer or manufacturer, California is eminently the land of opportunity. It is this fact that makes the city of the Golden Gate so attractive to men who are lcoking for opportunity in propagation of religious ideas, and thus so much the more a favorite spot for holding conventions of all kinds. When is added to this general de sirability the attractiveness of a climate that is enjoyable both in winter and summer, where neither sunstroke nor frost bite is known, it is small wonder that men from the far Eastern cities, where they cannot sleep through the hot nights of the summer and where they are suffocated by air-tight rooms and furnace heat in the winter, are glad to get a call as delegates to conventions held in San Francisco. And when they arrive, the added charm of natural situation, the magnificent bay with its miles of shore surrounded by residences whose gardens are filled with palm trees and blooming roses, must indeed make them glad they have been called to so delightful a spot. It is thus recognized that any convention held in San Francisco must, in most instances, draw its delegates clear across the continent. Men who are going on a great mission as a rule like to combine with it the pleasure of sight-seeing. In no other city in the United States could a convention be held where the delegates could meet together after so extensive a journeying and so much sight-seeing as they may obtain when coming to San Francisco. Drawn from thousands of towns in New England and hundreds of the Middle West, they are taken in the greatest comfort through a vast country, with stopovers at points of interest, the most wonderful in the land, until they reach San Francisco, with the comradeship of fellow travelers to add to the fellowship of being delegates to a common convention. But perhaps the strongest reason for the choice of San Francisco as a convention site is her eminent fitness to play the hostess. Six hundred hotels, some of the finest in the land, restaurants of incomparable merit, besides the famous open-handed hospitality of thousands of private citizens, make any convention in the city by the bay a period of feasting and pleasure long remembered. The hotel committee of the Knights Templar Conclave, to be held in San Francisco in September, have already booked fifteen thousand Sir Knights with room to spare. Golden Gate Park, trips up Mount Tamalpais, steamer excursions about the bay, and the unique interest of China town and the Ocean Beach pass time unnoticed. And when to these we add the two world-wide wonders of the Grand Canyon of Arizona and the Yosemite as easily accessible en route, and the many points of national interest in high mountains and wonderful valleys, and princely hospices within easy reach of San Francisco, gardens of delight beautiful with the luxuriant growth of a semi-tropic land, one does not fail in judgment in choosing this as the greatest convention city in the United States. A Musical Brotherhood BY J. M. SCANLAND T is often asserted that California is unmusical-that the people do not properly appreciate the art. This charge is unfounded. California, and particularly San Francisco, not only produces excellent music, but highly appreciates both the classic and the melody, and also those who are musicians. There is, within recent years, an increased taste for musical performances, and a demand for progress. It is the de sire of California and of the Northwest to keep up with the times, to hear the latest composer, or his music, and to catch the tone of the latest development of what is termed "higher criticism" in regard to music, its desires, its possibilities, and its achievements. Instead of being backward, and a people sparing of attendance at concerts, and not appreciative of new forms of composition, as is sometimes alleged, Californians are liberal patrons of the art, and those who have a talent for it spend much of their time in cultivating it. Music is a constant topic at social gatherings and in the home circles. Perhaps there are more clubs and patrons of music in San Francisco than in any other city of equal population, and in no other large city does one hear so much music, relatively speaking. Up to a very few years ago, when ene spoke or thought of the cultivation of musical art in the United States, the thought naturally centered around Boston, or one or two other Eastern cities. Of recent years, however, with the settling-down process which so many of the larger Eastern cities. have undergone, there has been much more time devoted to the cul tivation of the arts, especially music in the best sense of the word, and several of the large cities in the United States may justifiably boast of the ambitious and successful efforts they have made towards allowing music-lovers in their respective communities to hear many of the very best orchestral and choral compositions. While in such cities. as Boston, New York and Brooklyn, Cincinnati and Chicago, especially, good work has been done in the study and cultivation of music for men's voices. San Francisco, isolated as she has been from the socalled musical centers, stands in the front rank as the possessor of a male voice club whose work and efforts in an absolutely unselfish spirit for the furtherance of the art of music, are recognized and wellknown by musicians in our Eastern cities and even in European cen ters. The Loring Club of San Francisco has, during the past twentyseven years, established and maintained a reputation for the study and production of the best and greatest in compositions for male voices. The very fact that a society of any kind has existed for twenty-seven years is, in itself, an unusual thing, particularly in a city where everything is so new, and the factors which go to hold such a society so firmly together must necessarily be of great interest to all connected with similar organizations. The Loring Club, when it was organized into an association, adopted, as all associations do, a set of by-laws, one of which recites that the club was formed "for the study Mr. Walter J. Phelps, Treasurer Loring Club. of music for male voices, and for the cultivation of a refined musical taste in its members." The club has adhered strictly to the purposes for which it was formed, as enunciated in that by-law, and this is one of its main features of strength. There are other features, however, which will appear in the following story of the club's life and work. In the year 1876, Mr. David W. Loring, a member of an old Boston family, and who was one of the founders of the celebrated Male Voice Clubs of Boston, the "Apollo Club" and the "Chickering Club," arrived in San Francisco to engage in business. Shortly after his ar rival,, Mr. Loring in conjunction with a few kindred musical spirits, arranged to meet more or less informally for the enjoyment and practice of male voice music, so much success resulting from these meetings that later in that year the club was duly founded. In appreciation of the great experience and undoubted musical skill of Mr. Loring, that gentleman was unaimously chosen as director, and, in spite of his protestations, his name was used to designate the new society. The first public appearance of the club was made in the old Mercantile Library Hall, on the evening of March 5th, 1877, in what was an |