ball may sometimes be inadvertently cast--the member voting it may
have been favorably disposed towards the candidate, and yet, from the
hurry and confusion of voting, or from the dimness of the light or the
infirmity of his own eyes, or from some other equally natural cause, he
may have selected a black ball, when he intended to have taken a white
one. It is, therefore, a matter of prudence and necessary caution, that,
when only one black ball appears, the Master should order a new ballot. On
this second ballot, it is to be presumed that more care and vigilance will
be used, and the reappearance of the black ball will then show that it was
deposited designedly.

But where two or three or more black balls appear on the first ballot,
such a course of reasoning is not authorized, and the Master will then be
right to refuse a reconsideration. The ballot has then been regularly
taken--the lodge has emphatically decided for a rejection, and any order
to renew the ballot would only be an insult to those who opposed the
admission of the applicant, and an indirect attempt to thrust an unwelcome
intruder upon the lodge.

But although it is in the power of the Master, under the circumstances
which we have described, to order a reconsideration, yet this prerogative
is accompanied with certain restrictions, which it may be well to notice.

In the first place, the Master cannot order a reconsideration on any other
night than that on which the original ballot was taken.[71] After the
lodge is closed, the decision of the ballot is final, and there is no
human authority that can reverse it. The reason of this rule is evident.
If it were otherwise, an unworthy Master (for, unfortunately, all Masters
are not worthy) might on any subsequent evening avail himself of the
absence of those who had voted black balls, to order a reconsideration,
and thus succeed in introducing an unfit and rejected candidate into the
lodge, contrary to the wishes of a portion of its members.

Neither can he order a reconsideration on the same night, if any of the
Brethren who voted have retired. All who expressed their opinion on the
first ballot, must be present to express it on the second. The reasons for
this restriction are as evident as for the former, and are of the same
character.

It must be understood, that I do not here refer to those reconsiderations
of the ballot which are necessary to a full understanding of the opinion
of the lodge, and which