"It had been the great object of the committee to give the girls a good, sound, simple, and useful education--not what it had become the fashion to consider education, but an education without any 'padding.' In these days education was more thought of than it was fifty years ago, and, indeed, it was the great topic of the day. But before this time the Freemasons were among the first to set a good example, and having set this good example early, it was their duty to keep it up. The committee, in order to test the standard of education given in those schools, entered some of the names of pupils for the Cambridge Local Examinations, and, with very few exceptions, these girls so entered had passed the examinations with credit to themselves and to the institution. The institution was flourishing in every respect. During the past year 100 girls had been received into the institution, and as many had gone forth ready to take their place in the every-day life of men and women, well instructed in all the duties of the positions they would be called upon to fill. He urged that it had become necessary to build afresh, and as he had himself found that building could not be carried out for nothing, the subscriptions of the brethren were looked for to assist the committee." The secretary read the list of subscriptions, which included 100 guineas from His Royal Highness the Prince, and 25 guineas from the Princess, and though forty lists were not given in the subscriptions already received amounted to £5000. On a later page will be found the record of another anniversary, when the Prince presided, and when the subscriptions were about £50,000. The year 1888 is the centenary of the Institution, which flourishes, at St. John's Hill, Battersea Rise. The girls are admitted at eight years of age, and maintained until sixteen. There are nearly 250 in the school. The annual revenue, from all sources, is about £15,500. EARLSWOOD ASYLUM FESTIVAL. _May 17th, 1871._ In the summer of 1870 the foundation-stone of a new wing to the splendid edifice of the Earlswood Asylum for Idiots, had been laid by the Prince and Princess of Wales. The Prince further showed his interest in the institution by presiding at the anniversary festival, held at the London Tavern on the 17th of May, 1871. The Asylum, originally established at Highgate in 1847, was incorporated by Royal Charter in 1862. Her Majesty is patroness of the charity. On the removal of the cloth the Prince gave the toast of "Her Majesty the Queen, as the Patroness of the Institution," which was received with every mark of respect, as was also that of "The Prince and Princess of Wales, and the rest of the Royal Family," proposed by the Duke of Wellington.