l ignorance of
the true object and design of Freemasonry, who never, under any
circumstances, have recourse to the black ball, that great bulwark of
Masonry, and are always more or less incensed when any more judicious
Brother exercises his privilege of excluding those whom he thinks unworthy
of participation in our mysteries.

I have said, that these men are not governed by motives essentially bad.
This is the fact. They honestly desire the prosperity of the institution,
and they would not willfully do one act which would impede that
prosperity. But their judgments are weak, and their zeal is without
knowledge. They do not at all understand in what the true prosperity of
the Order consists, but really and conscientiously believing that its
actual strength will be promoted by the increase of the number of its
disciples; they look rather to the _quantity_ than to the _quality_ of the
applicants who knock at the doors of our lodges.

Now a great difference in respect to the mode in which the ballot is
conducted, will be found in those lodges which are free from the presence
of such injudicious brethren, and others into which they have gained
admittance.

In a lodge in which every member has a correct notion of the proper moral
qualifications of the candidates for Masonry, and where there is a general
disposition to work well with a few, rather than to work badly with many,
when a ballot is ordered, each Brother, having deposited his vote,
quietly and calmly waits to hear the decision of the ballot box announced
by the Chair. If it is "clear," all are pleased that another citizen has
been found worthy to receive a portion of the illuminating rays of
Masonry. If it is "foul," each one is satisfied with the adjudication, and
rejoices that, although knowing nothing himself against the candidate,
some one has been present whom a more intimate acquaintance with the
character of the applicant has enabled to interpose his veto, and prevent
the purity of the Order from being sullied by the admission of an unworthy
candidate. Here the matter ends, and the lodge proceeds to other business.

But in a lodge where one of these injudicious and over-zealous Brethren is
present, how different is the scene. If the candidate is elected, he, too,
rejoices; but his joy is, that the lodge has gained one more member whose
annual dues and whose initiation fee will augment the amount of its
revenues. If he is rejected, he is indignant that the