Lady Freemasons

Feilding Star, Volume XIII, Issue 115, 26 March 1892, Page 4

Lady Freemasons

I have read that there has never been but one lady known to have been admitted into the mysteries of Freemasonry ; doubtless, others of your readers have read the same, and it may be interesting to those who are Freemasons to know that the writer of this article has attended a lodge to j which belonged, as subscribing members, several ladies. During the winter of 1887-8 I was at Port Mabonin one of Her Majesty's ships, and with others received an y invitation to visit the Freemasons' lodge on shore. We accepted the invitation and, upon being ushered into the lodge after the usual ceremonies, were rather surprised to see several ladies seated in the lodge and wearing the regalia of their oroer. In the working of the lodge the ladies took exactly the sarue share ot work as their sterner brethren would have had to have done had there been no ladies to take upon themselves the work, and they .iid their duty in quite as good a manner as men would have done. Two of the ladies had infants in arrrs, so there were at least two coxcans in that lodge. At the conclusion of the ceremonies I conversed with the master of the lodge, who was a Spanish military officer exiled during the Carlist troubles, and he inform ea me that quite a number of ladies on the island (Majorca) were Freemasons, that the order was worked more after the system of our society of Oddfellows. and that they were peculiarly a benefit society among themselves helping each other oui of the lodge funds when necessity compelled — in fact, working the affair in a manner in which a great many people bf'gin to think that Freemasonry should be worked. I have been in various lodges in and about the world, but this is the only time that I was ever in the company, or knew of any living ladies who had been regularly initiated into the mysteries of the craft. As I previously said, I *was not the only Englishman present, bo that in case of any doubt about the foregoing article I can forward the names of the other Masons who saw this uncommon sight. _____________________________