Page:Manual of the Lodge.pdf/56





HE necessity of some preparatory ceremonies, of a more or less formal character, before proceeding to the dispatch of the ordinary business of any association, has always been recognized. Decorum and the dignity of the meeting alike suggest, even in popular assemblies called only for a temporary purpose, that a presiding officer shall with some formality be inducted into the chair, and he then, to use the ordinary phrase, "opens" the meeting with the appointment of his necessary assistance, and with the announcement, in an address to the audience, explanatory of the objects that have called them together.

If secular associations have found it expedient by the adoption of some preparatory forms to avoid the appearance of an unseeming abruptness in proceeding to business, it may well be