The Builder Magazine

June 1918 - Volume IV - Number 6

 

THE DIVINE GEOMETRY

BY BRO. H.L. HAYWOOD, IOWA

Text: Proverbs 8:27, "he set a compass upon the face of the deep."

AFTER Euclid had shown Ptolemy his treatise on geometry the king inquired, somewhat wistfully, "Cannot the problems be made easier?" to which the geometer replied, "There is no royal road to geometry." True enough, but geometry itself is a royal road, and one that will lead us to Divine things if we will but follow it, as I now ask you to do.

 

It is difficult, if not impossible, for us to retrace our steps into the ancient day when men had not yet learned the orderliness of nature. Before the calendar was discovered or clocks invented the navigator steered his ship by the landmarks on the coast, and the farmer planted his crops by chance, for it was not known that the seasons repeat their regular ritual or that the heavens are ruled by order. "They saw things come and saw them go, but whence or whither they could not know." Everything changed or passed away and all things seemed to be in an eternal flux. In the midst of that everlasting stream of circumstance, that wildering maze of vicissitude, the early people felt helpless, if not mocked, for it always seemed that Nature was making sport of them. Even Renan, so far removed from them in time, recognized the pathos of this, for he said that "Nothing is so painful as the universal flow of things," while Tennyson set the mood to his music of accustomed sweetness:

 

The hills are shadows, and they flow

From form to form, and nothing stands;

They melt like mist, the solid lands,

Like clouds they shape themselves, and go.

 

If the mutability of all things was so oppressive to the recent thinkers, having at their hand science's unveiling of the lucid order of the universe, how much more painful must it have seemed to human minds before science came! "We are strangers before thee," they cried in their prayers, "and sojourners, as all our fathers were: our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is no abiding."

 

Little wonder that the discovery of the North Star, one fixed body among all the others that moved perpetually, was an event of such importance that the simple folk worshipped it as a god and hung its symbol above the altars of their temples ! Little wonder that Heraclitus, the first thinker to state the fact with the thoroughness and system of philosophy, was called "The Weeping Philosopher !" Where there is no stability the mind hangs in the air and grows weary like a land bird at sea that finds no solid ground for its feet.

 

It was for this reason that the discovery of numbers, and especially of geometry, which is the application of numbers to form, was hailed as a visitation from on high. This discovery was not made in a day but came so gradually that men could hardly discern the lifting of the changing mists. And it was after this wise it came, if we have rightly pieced together the fragments of the story. The Egyptians lived along the Nile, their fields lying adjacent to its current in order to profit from the rich deposits of its overflow. But this very flood itself, source as it was of all fertility, gave rise to great difficulties, for the rising waters obliterated all landmarks each season and thus caused confusion among the owners of the fields. It was in their efforts to discover some method of fixing their boundaries that the Egyptians learned how to trace out the regular motions of the heavens, the periodicity of the seasons, and the properties of numbers. How much the race is indebted to those sun-browned workers in the fluviatile valley nobody can compute !

 

Inasmuch as numbers had won them order from chaos of their first impressions these early peoples exalted mathematics to the level of divinity, seeing in it, and rightly we may believe, a revelation, an uncovering, of the Creative Mind. Triangles and squares were engraved on their monuments and hung in their temples. The numbers three, five and seven were held especially sacred for in them were many qualities not possessed by other numerals. The cult of numbers arose at last and men formed secret societies for studying and teaching the properties of geometry.

 

It was among these secret societies that there came at a later day Pythagoras, one of the noblest of all thinkers, and the first to raise mathematics to the level of an exact science. From his hidden schools in Greece he taught his initiates the mystery of arithmetic, calling God "the Great Geometrician" and telling his pupils that "All things are in numbers; crystals are solid geometry."

 

Plato, also, the most opulent thinker of antiquity, found in geometry a revelation of the Infinite Mind, looking upon it as the very essence of religion, the knowledge of God. "What does Deity do all the while?" one of his pupils asked him. "God is always geometrizing," was the reply. "Geometry must ever tend to draw the soul towards truth." Over the portal of his school he inscribed the legend: "Let no one who is ignorant of geometry enter my doors."

 

What science is to all modern thinking the one science of mathematics, "the sacred mathematics," was to early thinking; and those first teachers felt it a sacred duty to transmit so valuable a knowledge to their descendants. Therefore was it that, three hundred years before Christ, Euclid wrote the treatise in which he embodied all that was known of the science at that time. Indeed, the work of Euclid is still the standard treatise on the subject, being used as the basis of every textbook in our schools. Better methods for proving the problems have been worked out, and new propositions have been discovered, but the fundamentals stand like adamant, and always will stand.

 

After the breakup of the ancient world and the general inundation of culture under the Barbarian Invasion, geometry was lost. For hundreds of years the people of Europe wandered among the mazes of chance and caprice, as primitive men had done before them. Then at last along came Simon Grynaeus, a contemporary of Luther, who rediscovered Euclid and gave his science to the new peoples. How much this influenced the Reformation no historian has yet undertaken to estimate but it is certain that it had far reaching consequences and paved the way for modern science, which is itself a superstructure built on mathematics.

 

If the earlier peoples were overjoyed to make their few discoveries of the hidden but fixed order of Nature how delighted they would now be to learn that all the endeavors of science have only served to make more clear and more universal the reign of number and form throughout the universe. For through a prophetic inspiration of the geometers we have had uncurtained to us a spectacle of mathematical order throughout the universe which is as revealing as it is beautiful.

 

Matter itself, immobile as it may appear to the eye, is in reality a composite of atoms that move through the mazes of an everlasting dance, every evolution of which seems timed to some exact pattern. Even the chemical elements, which so long baffled the system makers, were proved by Newlands to lie in a regular order of periodicity strangely grouped around the number seven. Order is the first law of the elements. Crystallization is a solid geometry. If one observes ice crystals forming across a window pane he will see them grouping themselves together into symmetrical forms, intricate, involved, beautiful, as if some unseen artist were at work depicting a scene from an arctic fairyland.

 

Even when life gathers matter up about itself into its organisms the same rhythm is preserved. Vitality is free and flowing, often apparently erratic, and moving by the law of its own, yet it will always be found at last to keep step with the geometrical motions of the world. If one would expect the eternal harmony absent from any field surely it would be in that little known realm which the insects inhabit; yet John Henri Fabre was so impressed by the reign of numbers among these insignificant creatures that he was moved to write this magnificent paragraph:

 

"He will admire as much as we do geometry the eternal balancer of space. There is a severe beauty, belonging to the domain of reason, the same in every world, the same under every sun, whether the suns be single or many, white or red, blue or yellow. This universal beauty is order. Everything is done by weight and measure, a great statement whose truth breaks upon us all the more vividly as we probe more deeply into the mystery of things. Is this order, upon which the equilibrium of the universe is based, the predestined result of a blind mechanism? Does it enter into the plans of an eternal Geometer, as Plato had it? Is it the ideal of a supreme lover of beauty, which would explain everything? Why all this regularity in the curve of the petals of a flower, why all this elegance in the chasings on a beetle's wing-cases? Is that infinite grace, even in the tiniest details compatible with the brutality of uncontrolled forces? One might as well attribute the artist's exquisite medallion to the steamhammer which makes the slag sweat in the melting !"

 

The "regularity in the curve of the petals of the flower" has attracted the attention of others as well as Fabre. Maeterlinck, who learned so much from the veteran French naturalist, made a prolonged study of the Mind that is at work in plants with what result anyone can read in a book of lovely pages, "The Intelligence of the Flowers." Why are leaves set around the stem in such mathematical regularity ? Why do flowers seem to love numbers, as the trilium is partial to three, and the rose to five ? Surely it must be because there is that in them which responds to the universal order. Like Plato's deity they are always geometrizing.

 

An animal is a plant that has taken to moving about, and just because it is so often apparently ungoverned in its movements, we lose sight of the regular laws which rule among animals as much as among plants and minerals. But those laws are there as many a scientist has proved. In the Mid-nineteenth Century days, before the evolution theory was so well understood, men fell to theorizing as if the universe had happened into existence through chance. Life itself was defined as the result of a "fortuitous concourse of atoms." The absurdity of this "thinking"--it was really an abdication of thought--was never more clearly revealed than by the Duke of Argyll, whose work on "The Reign of Law" is almost classical. The learned Duke took the wing of a common bird and showed that the mechanism of flight is so unimaginably complicated, so perfect, and solves so many mathematical problems, many of them beyond the ken of a Lord Kelvin, that it tasks our credulity too much to be asked to believe that this exquisite machinery could possibly have come through "chance." In a more recent time, Sir Oliver Lodge has made the same use of the human eye, an organ so intricate and nice in its adjustments and functions, that a Swiss watch is simple by comparison.

 

What is true of the things we find on the earth holds good in equal measure of the great bodies that sail round us through the sky. The astronomer's charts are strangely like a page of Euclid. He has found that order is the first law of the heavens as it is of Heaven. The wildest comet, careening irresponsibly through space, moves in an orbit as rigidly fixed as the passing of the hands about the clock. Surely it must be that an Infinite Mind has set His compasses upon the face of the deeps of space, else how explain the periodicity, the regularity, of the sidereal universe, the movement of any one body of which may be predicted for thousands of years in advance!

 

This law of geometric harmony holds as true among the arts of man as in those realms which are the art of God. Every building is geometric demonstration. As we may read in the pages of a learned student of this: "The language (geometry) spoke in the sloping wall and massive pillar and flat roof of Egypt, or in the mighty piles of Chaldea, or in the Corinthian grace, or in Roman boldness; the heart was that of the geometrician who spoke as he dreamed, in anger, in epic, in poetry of stone and graceful curve--who planned by the plumb and the square, by the secret of the arch and the balance of accurate measure."

 

Even painting, when lightly understood, conforms to the ancient patterns, being based on the principle described by one of its most magisterial exponents: "All nature is modelled either like a cone, a sphere or a cylinder. Painting is a colored mathematics of things." As for music, that is geometry that has taken to wings, its freedom evermore being inbound in law. It is the child of rhythm which is the purest manifestation of the law of numbers. From of old it has been dreamed that the morning stars sang together, that the rafters and beams of creation were laid deep in melody, that the spheres make music as they move, that all "deep things are song." Of this truth every musician is the priest as every poet is its apostle. As Dryden sings:

 

"From Harmony, from heavenly Harmony 

This universal frame began;

When Nature underneath a heap 

Of jarring atoms lay And could not heave her head,

The tuneful voice was heard from high, 

Arise, ye more than dead!

Then cold, and hot, and moist, and dry

In order to their stations leap, 

And music's power obey.

From Harmony, from heavenly Harmony 

This universal frame began: 

From harmony to harmony

Through all the compass of the notes it ran,

The diapason closing full in Man."

 

Yes, in Man, truly, for order holds in the soul as much as in the heavens where the astronomer thinks God's thoughts after Him. Character is no chance product but builds according to laws as immutable and as ascertainable as any to be found in the builder's art. For the freedom of the soul is not capriciousness, least of all lawlessness, but voluntary co-operation with the fixed rules of the spirit. He who will build according to that principle will erect a character as stable as that house which the wise architect builded on the rock. Glorious will be the day when men learn the geometry of the heart and square their actions to the fixed rules of moral life.

 

The significance of this geometry of the cosmos for our faith has been know ever since men discovered it. At bottom there ale but two philosophies: that which holds that this universe is a heap of dirt governed by chance; and that which finds in it a reasoned reign of order resting in an Infinite Mind. As between dirt and deity a man may make his choice, but surely the thinker who sees everywhere the beautiful sweep of order will not for a moment believe that this mighty music could have come to us out of the falling atoms of chance. One might as well throw a handful of type into the air and expect them to write a poem in their fall !

 

Twenty-five centuries ago Socrates labored to show the little atheist, Aristodemus, that as a statue by Polytectetus could not possibly have emerged from the quarries through mere chance, so is it impossible to believe that the cosmos, infinitely greater in complexity as well as in beauty, could ever have come into existence through mere fortuitousness. In the same wise, Franklin, who may typify the modern thinker, exposed the fallacy of an atheist astronomer friend of his. The astronomer was showing him an orrery, which is a working model of the solar system, when Franklin said, "It is strange that such a thing could build itself by chance." "Chance !" exclaimed the astronomer, "I made that myself. How could so complicated a device have come by chance?" "Then," said the philosopher, turning upon him, "how can you believe that the solar system itself, of which this is a mere model, could have come by chance ?"

 

Surely, when we have our minds with us, it must be apparent that the everywhere present order of things is the revelation of a Divine Orderer! Where there is so much intelligence there must be an Intelligence! Where there is so much harmony there must stand near a great Musician! The poetry of earth is the song of an Infinite Poet! The beauty of all creation is the outshining, the splendor of an Eternal Artist !

 

Long ago a psalmist cried, "Whither shall I flee from Thy presence?" We cannot flee from His presence. While we dig in the dirt He is there, present in the dance of the atoms that compose the soil: while we walk through the snow He draws His pictures about us in the traceries of the crystals: the bird that wings above us is His angel, making hieroglyphics in the air: the very tides move along the circle which His compasses draw upon the deep. Everywhere He is. We live imbedded in His mind. To escape from Him is as impossible as to climb out of the atmosphere !

 

Where there is so much order all must be ordered. King Alphonso of Castile, looking out over the general muddle of affairs into which Spain had fallen, doubted that a Mind ruled all. "If God had called me to His councils," he sighed, "things would have been in better order." In these days when it seems that the bottom has gone out of the world and chaos has come again, we may fall into the mood of the old king. But let us despair not. The plain is there; we have lost the perspective, or the key. It is said that the frescoes on the ceiling of St. Peter's look like an inartistic jumble to the man who climbs close to them; but from a station three hundred feet below they spring up into a majestic beauty. They are wrought on too large a plan for a close view. We humans, with our near-sightedness, our myopic eyes, are standing too close to the program of creation; it may appear all jumble to us now. Let us wait with patience. Some morning, soon or late, will find us on a mountain of vision where we can see things as they are and watch the Divine Geometer draw His circles across the deep.

 

----o----

 

WHERE THE RAINBOW NEVER FADES

 

It can not be that the earth is man's only abiding-place. It can not be that our life is a mere bubble cast up by eternity to float a moment on its waves and then sink into nothingness. Else why is it that the glorious aspirations which leap like angels from the temple of our hearts are forever wandering unsatisfied ?

 

Why is it that all the stars that hold their festival around the midnight throne are set above the grasp of our limited faculties, forever mocking us with their unapproachable glory ?

 

And, finally, why is it that bright forms of human beauty presented to our view are taken from us, leaving the thousand streams of our affections to flow back in Alpine torrents upon our hearts?

 

There is a realm where the rainbow never fades; where the stars will be spread out before us like islands that slumber in the ocean; and where the beautiful beings which now pass before us like shadows will stay in our presence forever. --George D. Prentice.

 

----o----

 

BOYHOOD HOME OF ALBERT PIKE

BY BRO. HAROLD L. BAILEY. VERMONT

 

Having noticed in a back issue of THE BUILDER a statement to the effect that you would like material relating to Albert Pike, I am sending you a photograph of the house in which he spent his boyhood. I made this photograph several years ago to illustrate a short write-up of the subject for the Boston Globe.

 

A painted sign with its characters nearly effaced by time proclaims a deserted, weatherbeaten house in the parish of Byfield, Massachusetts, as the "Home of Gen. Albert Pike." Although not his birthplace it stands for all those things generally connected with a man's first days and years in the world.

 

General Pike was born in Boston, Dec. 29, 1809, but was brought to this house when but a few days old. His boyhood days were spent in Byfield, and a letter from which Mr. John Ewell quotes in his "Story of Byfield," (George E. Littlefield, Boston, 1904, publisher) expresses General Pike's affection for his boyhood home. He said:

 

"Many, many long years ago I gathered walnuts and shot squirrels on Long Hill. It saddens me to look back along the procession of departed years, and to remember how long the Future then seemed and how short the Past is. I wish I could be a boy for one single day again and ramble over Long Hill in the frosty air of October, and at night sleep the sound sleep of youth. . ."

 

Byfield is the name of an old-time church parish, the territory of which embraced several towns. General Pike's home was in a section of the parish now included in the town of Georgetown, Essex County, about thirty miles north of Boston.

 

----o----

 

It is best to take life gladly as we strive,

And best to face toil bravely day by day.

We are companioned in this busy hive

With other strugglers in this clay.

No fate selects us solely for its mark,

And no misfortune that can e'er befall

But what find other strugglers in the dark,

For care is common unto one and all.

 

----o----

 

LAFAYETTE'S FRATERNAL CONNECTIONS

 

BY BRO. JULIUS F. SACHSE, GRAND LIBRARIAN, PENNSYLVANIA

 

Since the entry of America into the World War there have come to us many requests for information concerning that notable French ally of America during the War of the American Revolution, Brother General Lafayette. We were unable to learn but little concerning the Masonic connections of Brother Lafayette until we discovered, in the report of the Committee on Library of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania for 1916, notice of the proposed publication in pamphlet form of the following article by Brother Sachse. By permission of this Committee we are enabled to herewith present to our readers the result of Brother Sachse's researches.

 

It is very unfortunate that the name of Brother Lafayette's, Mother Lodge is not known. Possibly some of our members may be able to further enlighten us on this subject.

 

NO original documentary evidence is known to be in existence which records the initiation of General Lafayette in the Masonic Fraternity, nor in what Lodge or when this took place. It has always been a tradition in Masonic circles that General Lafayette was made a Mason in one of the Military Lodges at Morristown, New Jersey, where a Festal Lodge was held December 27, 1779, for which occasion the jewels and furniture and clothing of St. John's Lodge, No. 1, of Newark, New Jersey, was borrowed. The meeting proved a great success, sixty eight brethren being present, one of whom was General Washington.

 

There is another tradition that General Lafayette was made a Mason in a Military Lodge, which met at Valley Forge during the winter of 1777-78, hut no official records of such action have thus far been discovered.

 

It was this uncertainty as to the Masonic standing of General Lafayette, which led to the resolution of September 6, 1824, in the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania and the appointment of a Committee to satisfy themselves that General Lafayette was an Ancient York Mason. That the Committee was satisfied with their investigation is  evinced by their report and the subsequent action of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, which resulted in enrolling Brother General Lafayette an Honorary Member of the R.W. Grand Lodge, F. & A. M. of Pennsylvania.

 

Brother General Marie Jean Paul Joseph Roche Yves Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette, revisited America in the year 1784, arriving at New York August 5 of that year. After remaining a short time in New York he hastened forward to visit General Washington at Mount Vernon, reaching Philadelphia on August 10, where he was presented with an address by Brothers A. St. Clair, William Irving and General Anthony Wayne. It is not known whether General Lafayette visited any Masonic Lodges in Philadelphia during this visit, nor whether there was any communication with the Grand Lodge. One of the chief objects of this visit with General Washington was to present him with a beautiful white satin apron bearing the national colors, red, white and blue and embroidered elaborately with Masonic emblems, the whole being the handiwork of Madam the Marquise de Lafayette.

 

This apron was enclosed in a handsome rosewood box when presented to Washington. This apron was worn by Washington, September 18, 1793, when he laid the corner stone of the capitol at the Federal City (Washington, D. C.), and is now in the Museum of the Grand Lodge, F. & A. M., of Pennsylvania. After the death of Washington this Masonic relic was presented by the legatees to the Washington Benevolent Society, who received it October 26, 1816. They in turn presented it July 3, 1829, to the Right Worshipful Grand Lodge, F. & A. M. of Pennsylvania, and bears the following inscription:

 

"To the

 

"WASHINGTON BENEVOLENT SOCIETY.

 

"The Legatees of Gen. Washington, impressed with the most profound Sentiments of respect for the Institution which they have the honor to address, beg leave to present to them the enclosed relic of the revered & lamented 'Father of His Country.' They are persuaded that the Apron, which was once possessed by the man, whom the Philadelphians always delighted to honor, will be considered most precious to the Society distinguished by his name, and by the benevolent, and grateful feelings to which it owes its foundations. That this perishable memento of a Hero whose Fame is 'more durable than Brass' may confer as much pleasure upon those to whom it is presented, as is experienced by the Donors.

 

"October 26th, 1816,     "Is the sincere wish of the "Legatees."  Forty years later Brother Lafayette revisited the United States, landing at New York as the nation's guest, August 15, 1824. He was accompanied by his son George Washington Lafayette, and M. La Vasseur, his secretary, both members of the fraternity. Tuesday, September 29, the party reached Philadelphia.

 

At the Grand Quarterly Communication of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania held September 6, 1824, just ninety-four years ago, the following motion was made, seconded, and adopted:

 

"Resolved, that a Committee consisting of the Grand Officers and Past Grand Masters be appointed to enquire whether General La Fayette be an Ancient York Master Mason, and if he be, to adopt such measures, as in their opinion will best evince the affection and gratitude of his Masonic Brethren, to this friend and benefactor of the United States."

 

At an adjourned Quarterly Grand Communication held Monday, September 26, 1824, the committee made the following report:

 

"The Committee appointed on the 6 Septr. to enquire whether Gen. La Fayette be an Antient York Mason presented the following Report and Resolution which as amended were severally adopted:--

 

"The Committee appointed by the Grand Lodge to ascertain and Report whether General La Fayette be an Antient York Mason, and if so to report such measures it would be proper for the Grand Lodge to adopt in relation to this Brother, respectfully Report,

 

"That they have been led to believe that this distinguished man, for whose attachment and services to this Country our fellow Citizens have evinced the warmest feelings of affection and gratitude has long been an Antient York Master Mason and has honored the institution by his patronage and added to its usefulness and respectability by a devoted attention to its interests. When all classes are zealous to display their good feelings upon his arrival amongst us, it would seem to your Committee that in a City where the Masonic institutions deservedly stand high, some testimony of respect is due from them to so worthy a brother.

 

"They have been anxious to avoid unnecessary ostentation and expense, but at the same time to treat this guest as becomes the Institution, and his character.

 

"The Committee recommended for adoption the following Resolutions:- "Resolved, that a Committee of seven be appointed whose duty it shall be as soon as they have received Masonic information that Gen. La Fayette is an Antient York Master Mason, to invite him to partake with his Masonic Brethren of a Dinner to be prepared for the occasion.

 

"Resolved, that the same Committee shall be authorized to procure the Dinner, receive Subscriptions and make all necessary arrangements for the same at the price of five dollars for each subscriber.

 

"Resolved, that the use of the Grand Salon shall be appropriated on the evening on which the Dinner is to take place to the subscribers to the same.

 

"Resolved, that the Grand Lodge Room shall also be appropriated to the use of the subscribers on that day, with the consent of the Lodge whose day of meeting it may be and that an address suitable to the occasion be delivered.

 

"James Harper,

Thos. Kittera,

S. Badger,

B. Newcomb,

J. K. Kane, Committee."

J. Randall,

 

The R.W.D.G.M. was pleased to appoint Brothers J. Randall, J. S. Lewis, J. M. Pettit, D. E. Wilson, Robt. Toland, D. F. Gordon and Jas. McAlpin on said committee.

 

On motion made and seconded,

 

"Resolved, that the Grand Secretary transmit a copy of the Report and Resolutions to the R. W. Grand Master (Bro. John B. Gibson being absent from the City on official Duties as Judge of the Supreme Court), and respectfully invite his attendance in the City on the day when the Dinner to Gen. La Fayette shall take place."

 

Saturday, October 2, 1824, Brother Lafayette visited the navy yard, then on the Delaware River at the foot of Federal Street, attended by the governor and citizens of the first distinction, escorted by the United States Marines, a regiment of militia, several independent companies, and a long civic procession.

 

After leaving the Philadelphia navy yard in the afternoon, Brother Lafayette was escorted by a committee of the Grand Lodge from his Lodgings at the house of Mrs. Nicholas Biddle, to the Masonic Hall on Chestnut Street, north side between Seventh and Eighth Streets, where he attended an Extra Grand Communication of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, as stated in the minutes, viz.:

 

"Philadelphia, Saturday, 2 Oct., A. D. 1824,  A. L. 5824.

 

"Extra Grand Communication.

 

"This being the day appointed for a Dinner to our Distinguished Brother General La Fayette, in pursuance of a Resolution of the Grand Lodge adopted on the 20 September ulto., about three hundred of the Craft, including a large proportion of the resident members of the Grand Lodge, assembled in the Hall at an early hour in the afternoon.

 

"The R. W. Deputy Grand Master and Grand Officers and members, being seated in the Grand Lodge Room, the door was tyled, the Grand Lodge opened in form at four o'clock P. M.

 

"Present:--

"Bro. James Harper, R. W. Deputy G. M., in the Chair.

"Bro. Thomas Kittera, R. W. Senior G. Warden.

"Bro. Saml. Badger, R. W. Junior Warden.

"Bro. John K. Kane, Acting Grand Secretary.

"Bro. Joseph S. Lewis, Grand Treasurer.

"Saml. A. Thomas, Depy. Acting Grand Secy.

"Bro. Randall Hutchinson, Senior Grand Deacon.

"Bro. George C. Potts, Grand Chaplain.

"Bro. Jas. McAlpin, Grand Sword Bearer.

"Bro. William Wray, Grand Steward.

"Bro. S. F. Bradford, R. W. Past Grand Master.

"Bro. Walter Kerr, R. W. Past Grand Master.

"Bro. Bayse Newcomb, R. W. Past Grand Master.

"Bro. Josiah Randall, R. W. Past Grand Master."

 

Representatives and Past Masters from nearly all of the Lodges in the City and County of Philadelphia, and a large number of visiting brethren among whom were the following: by special invitation-- Brothers George Washington La Fayette; M. La Vasseur and Colonel Victor Dupont, of Delaware, former aid to Brother La Fayette.

 

Bro. Jones, P. G. M., Grand Lodge of Georgia.

" E. Hicks, R. W. Grand Secy. Gd. Lodge N. York.

" Geo. B. Porter, Lodge No. 43.

" M. C. Rogers, " " "

" Charles Stewart, Bro. Wm. Gamble,

" I. M. Gamble, " T. delaPomerage.

 

On motion made and seconded, the following resolution was unanimously adopted:

 

"The Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania glorying in the honour thus conferred on her by the visit of Brother Gilbert Motier de la Fayette, and anxious to enrol among her members an individual so much distinguished by all the Virtues which ennoble the Masonic Character, has Resolved, that all the rights, dignities and privileges of a member of this Grand Lodge be, and the same are hereby conferred on Bro. Gilbert Motier de la Fayette."

 

A committee was appointed to wait upon La Fayette at his lodgings and conduct him to the Hall. Here he was met at the door by the Grand Marshal and Grand Sword Bearer and received into the Grand Lodge with the highest honours.

 

The R. W. Depy. Grand Master then rose and addressed Bro. La Fayette as follows:

 

"Bro. La Fayette.

 

"The Freemasons of Pennsylvania welcome you to their home with sincere and universal pleasure.

 

"Warmly participating in the sentiments which have every where spontaneously burst from our fellow citizens in the lively gratitude for the services you have rendered our Country, in admiration of your high and various virtues, and in cordially reciprocating the attachment you have uniformly evinced for our liberties and for our happiness, we owe in addition the pride and sympathy of Masonic Brotherhood. Your meritorious life has, indeed, justly illustrated our principles; and those who now surround you, feel that like Washington, and Warren and Franklin, you have won their most affectionate veneration, by shedding honour on their beloved fraternity. Always contending General, in the great cause of human rights, your success has equalled the disinterestedness and perseverance of your devotion. In America, as the companion and friend of the wisest and best of mankind, you will ever be regarded as one of the founders of the greatest, purest and happiest of republics; while, in your native land it cannot he forgotten, that amidst the storms of political revolution, and through every vicissitude of personal fortune, you have stood an inflexible example of consistency, moderation and firmness. These impressions common to the people of the United States, but most dear to us, are now indelibly inscribed upon the records of history and will pass to our latest posterity with the sanction of national unanimity. Receive then most valued Brother, the most heartfelt benedictions of our sacred institution; receive the homage of free and upright men, who love you as an early benefactor and whose affection must remain as secure as your own virtues and as permanent as your own glory.

 

"I have also the honour of presenting you with a Resolution passed unanimously by the Grand Lodge during its present session constituting you one of its members: I hope you will accept this as an additional evidence of the high sense they entertain of your virtues and of the services you have rendered to mankind in general and to Masonry in particular."

 

To which Bro. La Fayette made the following reply:

 

"Right Worshipful Grand Master and Brethren:--

 

"I have often thought that we owe as much to our enemies as to our friends, and if this observation is true, it is most true, when applied to us as Masons. It is to the enmity and the persecutions of a Francis the 2d and Ferdinand the 7th that the Masons of Europe in Modern times have been indebted for opportunities of proving through much suffering and peril, that our principles are pure, and that their devotion to them is unchangeable. The Lodges of Spain in particular have been the victims of Royal fears but though dispersed, their members still are Masons, and though much oppressed, their light has not been extinguished.

 

"You R. W. Sir, and Brethren, reposing under the cover of your own peaceful institutions, hear of these things only by the report of those who come to admire your prosperity and to share by your hospitality, the fruit of your labours.

 

"I thank you for the honour you have just conferred on me, and assure you that I shall never forget this mark of your kind distinction, by which I am made the member of a body of which Franklin was the father and Washington the associate."

 

The Brethren were now severally presented to Bro. La Fayette, when Grand Lodge closed in harmony at half past five o'clock.

 

MASONIC DINNER

 

A sumptuous banquet prepared by Bro. Daniel Rubicam being ready in the grand salon and adjoining banqueting room, the brethren entered in tlle follow;ng order:

 

Sojourning Brethren,

Grand Tyler,

Grand Pursuivant,

Grand Stewards,

Grand Deacons,

Grand Chaplain,

 

"The following report was received from the Committee appointed on the claim of William Christie for furn;ture supplied to the Committee of arrangement

 

Grand Secretary, Grand Treasurer,

Grand Wardens,

Invited Guests,

 

Brother La Fayette, supported by the R. W. Acting G.M. and D.G.M.P.T.

 

The decorations of the room were prepared under the direction of Bro. Haviland, to whose refined taste and superior skill the fraternity were under great obligation; the beautiful salon and banqueting room never appeared to so great an advantage.

 

The brethren sat down at six o'clock in the afternoon; feelings of hilarity, mirth and Masonic hrotherhood prevailed at the festive board. After the removal of the cloth a number of excellent toasts were given, followed by appropliate music from the Marine Band attached to the navy yard, for whose services the fraternity were indebted to the politeness of Bro. I. M. Gamble, commanding the marine corps on this station.

 

The company adjourned at a proper hour, much gratified with the events of the day.

 

The session of the Grand Lodge was held in the Grand Lodge Room on the second floor; the dinner was given in the large room or salon on the east side of the lower floor; this room was not used for Masonic purposes, but was rented out for social functions and exhibition purposes. Considerable difflculty was experienced by the committee to get the use of this room for the banquet, as appears from the final report of the committee presented to the Grand Lodge at the Grand Quarterly Communication held Monday, March 5, 1827, viz.:

 

for the dinner to Bro. Genl. La Fayette-in 1824, and on all similar demands.

 

"On motion and seconded, the same was adopted. "To the Grand Lodge of Penna.

 

"The Comme. to which was referred the accounts Or William Christie and others, against the Committee of arrangements appointed by the Grand Lodge on the occasion of General La Fayette's visit.

 

"Report,

 

"That it appears to the Committee that the following bills contracted by the Committee of arrangements remain unpaid, viz.:--

 

"William Christie for Upholstery    $151.88

Clark, for Carpentry $155.34

Myers and Jones, for Painting  $40.00

Russell, Oil $4.87

Porterage and Advertising $2.85

 

Total $354 91

 

That there remains in the hands of said Committee an unexpended balance of  $88.86

 

Leaving a deficit of monies to amot of  $266.09

 

which deficit this committee is of opinion is justly and equitably chargeable upon the Grand Lodge."

 

To elucidate the opinion of the committee, it is proper to recur to some of the circumstances which preceded, as well as those which attended the reception of Genl. La Fayette. As soon as it was understood that this illustlious Mason intended to visit the Grand Lodge a committee was directed to devise measules worthy of the occasion and among the resolutions reported by them was one for the arrangement of a festival of welcome. It was proposed that the task of carrying this part of the arrangement into effect should be confided to a special committee and that the members of the fraternity should be generally invited; they further proposed that the price of tickets should be fixed at seven dollars. The Grand Lodge approved of the plan which its committee submitted, but probably not aware of the increased expenses attendannt on all entertainments which were given at that season of general festivity, it reduced the price of tickets to the sum of five dollars, and in part compensation for this reduction, it determined that the grand salon should he appropriated to the purposes of the festival.

 

It was not until the special committee, which was afterwards appointed, had made the more expensive part of their arrangements, that it was discovered that the Grand Lodge had no right to the salon without the consent of the tenant in possession. To obtain that consent it was necessary to pay fifty dollars to dislodge an Italian artist from the banqueting room, and a further sum of $67.75 to procure another room for a concert which had been announced for the evening at the salon. The sum of $117.75 was thus required to procure accommodations which the Grand Lodge had stipulated it would furnish gratuitously. The obligation of the Grand Lodge to reimburse this sum, if necessary, has not been at any time questioned and needs no remarks.

 

The great number of the brethren who came forward as subscribers, gratifying as the fact was to the committee, had the effect of increasing disproportionately the expenses of the banquet. The furniture and decorations belonging to the Grand Lodge were found altogether insufficient for the suite of apartments which it became necessary to open. New furniture and additional decorations were purchased by the committee and these have since been sold by the Grand Lodge and the proceeds carried into its treasury, or they still remain in its possession.

 

The committee of arrangements, while mindful that it was their duty to welcome their patriarchal guest in a style which might become the Lodge of which "Franklin was the founder and Washington a member," yet anxiously avoided every application of the sinking fund to purposes not strictly within its specified objects.

 

All their proceedings were characterized by as much economy as was consistent with the occasion. All the expenses of making preliminary arrangements were borne by themselves individually and when the moneys which they had received were found to be inadequate, they at once, with the aid of a few friends, applied a considerable sum of their own to meet the deficiency.

 

The state of their accounts, strictly audited, stands thus:

 

"They receive from subscribers in all $1,358.

and appropriated from the private funds exclusive of the amt.

expended in preliminary arrangements $80.

 

Total $1,438.60

They paid bill amounting to $1,349.65

 

They yet owe $354.94   $1,704.59

 

Balance due from committee $266.09

 

"On a full view of the circumstances which have occasioned this balance against the committee of arrangements, first, that no discretion was permitted them in fixing the terms of subscription, the grand Lodge itself having defined the price on views of the subject which the result has proved to be incorrect; second, that a large portion of the balance was applied to procure rooms, which the Grand Lodge had, from an erroneous idea of its rights, declared should be given without cost; third, that the Grand Lodge has received a full equivalent for the residue in the property which it has sold or still retains, and fourth, that the doings of the committee were wisely and satisfactorily ordered and that the deficiency has been entirely occasioned by causes over which they had no possible control, the committee to which the accounts were referred have agreed to present the following resolution.

 

"Resolved, that the R. W. G. M. be requested to draw his order on the grand treasurer for the sum of $266.09 in favour of Br. James McAlpin, treasurer of the La Fayette Comme. of arrangements.

 

"All of which is respectfully submitted.

 

"Philad., 5th, March, 1827."     "(signed.)

"Saml. F. Bradford,

John K. Kane,

Saml. Badger,

Saml. H. Thomas."

 

Among other relics of Brother Lafayette, we have in our Archives the "Golden Book of The Supreme Council for the Western Hemisphere." This contains a copy of the patent conferring the 33d degree upon Brother Lafayette by this Supreme Council; it also contains the following note written and signed by Brother Lafayette, May 10, 1834, just ten days before his death,

 

"It is the extreme indulgence of the Supreme Council of the United States, that elevated to the 33d degree in spite of the superiority in knowledge and in services of many of my brothers, I owe to-day the favors, of which I am not worthy, with which the great Council of the Occidental Hemisphere has deigned to overwhelm me, I accept them with a deep gratitude and will seek to merit them by my zeal. "May our ancient institution propagate everywhere the Liberty, the Equality, the Philanthrophy, and contribute to the great movement of social civilization which ought to emancipate the two Hemispheres.

 

" (signed) Lafayette."

 

Brother Lafayette died in Paris May 20, 1834. At an Extra Grand Communication of the Grand Lodge held Tuesday, June 24, 1834, his decease was announced to the Grand Lodge whereupon:

 

"On Motion made and seconded, The following Preamble and Resolutions were unanimously adopted:

 

"Whereas, the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania have learned with the deepest emotions of sorrow, the decease of their illustrious Brother and Member, General Lafayette, 'an individual so much distinguished by all the virtues which ennoble the Masonic character,' and

 

Whereas the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania feel it a mournful duty to pay the last tribute of their respect to the memory of a Brother, the last Major General of the Revolutionary Army, the disciple of Washington, the companion of Franklin, and the steadfast friend of civil and religious liberty.

 

"Therefore Resolved, That the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania deeply deplore the loss of their revered and beloved Brother and Member, General Lafayette, whose labours in the cause of American Independence and of rational liberty and ardent devotion to the Fraternity, have endeared his memory to every Member of this venerable order.

 

"Resolved, That the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania sympathize most sincerely with the amiable family of their deceased Brother, in the irreparable bereavement they have sustained, in the death of their excellent father.

 

"Resolved, That as an humble testimonial of our respect for the memory of our deceased Brother, the Jewels, Hangings, and other Furniture of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, be placed in mourning for the space of twelve months.

 

"Resolved, That a correct Portrait of our deceased brother be procured, and placed in a conspicuous part of the Grand Lodge Room.

 

"Resolved, That Brothers George M. Dallas, Thomas Kittera, Robert Toland, Cornelius Stevenson, and John M. Read, be a Committee to communicate the foregoing Resolutions to the family of Brother General Lafayette.

 

"Resolved, That the foregoing Preamble and Resolutions be published in the public journals of the day."  The Grand Lodge having closed, the Fraternity proceeded to the salon where they were gratified by hearing a very beautiful and instructive Masonic address from Bro. George M. Dallas, R. W. Dep. Grand Master.

 

The Grand Lodge was again opened, when upon motion made and seconded it was unanimously resolved:

 

"That the thanks of this Grand Lodge be presented to Bro. Dallas for his truly Masonic and admirable address delivered this day and that he be requested to furnish a copy of it for publication."

 

The following is an extract from the very eloquent address delivered before the Fraternity, on this day, by Brother Geol ge M. Dallas, R. W. Deputy Grand Master.

 

"I would close here, did I not feel that the commemorative purpose of the day may for a moment, be with propriety interrupted by a reference to the recent departure of our illustrious friend and brother, Gilbert Motier De Lafayette. This truly good and eminently great man died suddenly, at the Capital of his European Country, and in the bosom of his family, on the morning of the 20th of May last, and in the seventyseventh year of his age.

 

"It will be recollected by some whom I address, that on the 2d of October, 1824, General Lafayette, then the Guest of a Nation to whose service he had dedicated his early enthusiasm, fortune and blood, was, in that chamber, invested with all the rights, dignities and privileges of a member of this Grand Lodge 'a body,' to use his own emphatic words, 'of which Franklin was the father and Washington the associate.'

 

"Both hemispheres were alike the theatre of the virtues and exploits of this exalted Mason. In both he passed, unscathed in honour, through the ordeal of sanguinary revolution, in both he shone the firm, faithful and fearless champion of human liberties and rights, in both he riveted himself, by the loftiest and the gentlest qualities, in universal respect and affection, and in both his death is now sincerely mourned as a common calamity. In the memory, as in the life of their joint citizen and soldier, America and France have a lasting bond of sympathy and union. In this respect, as the moral link to connect two distant and powerful nations in mutual good will, his position on the records of immortality is without parallel.

 

"While we join in the sad and solemn rites every where performing by our countrymen, in melancholy attestation of their deep veneration and undying gratitude for an early and indefatigable public benefactor, we cannot but own one added pang, though accompanied by one peculiar pride as kindling memory suggests that he also was a Mason."

 

On July 21, 1834, commemorative exercises were held at Zion Lutheran Church, southeast corner of Fourth and Cherry Streets, in which the Grand Lodge participated.

 

Other mementos of Brother Lafayette in the Museum of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, beside the Washington Apron, are the two relics of Brother Lafayette's visit to Philadelphia in 1824.

 

1. A piece of candle and holder used to illuminate one of the window panes of Independence Hall during the procession, September 28,-1824.

 

2. A memorial cotton handkerchief upon which is printed his portrait, scene of his arrival at New York on the ship Cadmus, and the memorial arcll erected in front of Independence Hall, through which General Lafayette and the procession passed at his reception, September 28, 1824.

 

3. A largefull length oil portrait of Brother General Lafayette in the upper corridor.

 

4. A study in oil said to be from life in the library.

 

5. Copy of Houdan's marble bust of Brother General Lafayette in the Library.

 

6. Two silk badges worn at the funeral procession and commemorative service of Zion Lutheran Church July 21, 1838.

 

7. Two engraved French portraits in Washington alcove in museum.

 

8. A number of Lafayette medals in the museum collection.

 

9. A Lafayette Silver Dollar coined by the United States in the year 1900. 10. Four Masonic Lodges in Pennsylvania are named after this distinguished brother, viz.:

 

No. 71, Philadelphia,

No. 194, Selinsgrove,

No. 199, Lock Haven,

No. 652, Carnegie.

 

In conclusion to illustrate how the memory of Brother Lafavette is honored in both Masonic and civil life in the United States, as a matter of fact, there are no less than thirty Masonic Lodges named after Brother Lafayette in twenty-six states in the Union.

 

In the United States, there are fourteen villages, eleven towns, five counties, one parish and one city which bear the name of our honored brother, the Marquis General Lafayette.

 

As above stated, it was resolved at the Extra Grand Communication held June 24, 1834, that a correct portrait of Brother Lafayette should be procured and placed in a conspicuous part of the Lodge room.

 

It appears that after this resolution was adopted, the sum of eighty dollars ($80) was collected towards obtaining this portrait.

 

At the Annual Grand Communication held Monday, December 28, 1835, when Washington Hall in South Third Street above Spruce Street was dedicated and consecrated to Masonic uses, on motion of Brother F. Cooper and seconded, it was resolved that a committee of five be appointed to receive the amount collected June 24, 1834, with further authority to solicit donations from Lodges and members within this Masonic jurisdiction, and as soon as a sufficient sum shall have been collected, to have a likeness of Lafayette painted by an eminent artist, and to have the same put up in a conspicuous place in the Grand Lodge Room.

 

The R. W. Grand Master was pleased to appoint on said committee Bros. F. Cooper, Geo. Fox, W. Mayweg, S. Wonderly and A. Quniton. Nothing appeared to have been done in this matter until four months later, when the following amendment was offered at an adjourned Extra Grand Lodge held April 18, 1836.

 

"On motion of Bro. Geo. Fox and seconded, the Resolution adopted on the 28th December last, relative to a Painting of Bro. Lafayette was reconsidered and the following offered as an Amendment thereof and adopted, viz.:--

 

"Resolved, that the Committee appointed on the 28th Decr. 1835, be authorized to solicit donations from Lodges and members within the jurisdiction and when a sufficient sum shall have been Collected to procure a full length painting of Benjamin Franklin, and a portrait of Lafayette, and have said paintings placed in a conspicuous situation in the Grand Lodge Room."

 

After this the matter slumbered for six years, wllen it was revived at the Quarterly Grand Communication held Monday, March 7, 1842, by the following minute:

 

"On motion duly made and seconded, the Grand Secretary was directed to endeavour to procure information respecting collections made for Likeness of Benjm. Franklin and Lafayette and report at next quarterly Communication."

 

No action was taken in reference to the portrait for the next six years, when the matter was again brought to the notice of the Grand Lodge at the Grand Quarterly Communication held Monday, March 6, 1848, by a comrmunication on the subject from Phoenix Lodge, No. 130, viz.:

 

"The following was received and referred to Past Grand Masters Bros. Newcomb, Barger and Page.

 

Phil., Feby. 21, 1848. To Wm. H. Adams,

 

Rt.W.G.Secy. of G.L. of Pa.  Dr. Sir & Bro.

 

"The following Resolution was on motion & seconded unanimously Adopted at a meeting of Phoenix Lodge No. 130, held at Masonic Hall South 3rd St., Wednesday evening, February 16th, A. L. 5848.

 

"Resolved, That the representatives of this Lodge be directed to call the attention of the Grand Lodge to the fact that there has been for a number of Years in the hands of Past Grand Master Bro. Jno. M. Read, a sum of money, raised by Subscription for the purpose of procuring a portrait of Bros. Franklin & Lafayette, that the said Portrait has never been purc1lased and request the Grand Lodge to appoint a Committee to examine into the matter and ask P. G. Mastel Jno. M. Read to account for the same.

 

"Extract from the Minutes. "Signed. Wm. S. Schultz, "Secy. Lodge No. 130."

 

This was referred to Past Grand Masters Bro. Newcomb, Barger and Page, wllo at the Quarterly Communication September 4, 1848, made the following report, which was received and the resolution adopted, viz.:

 

"To the R.W. Grand Lodge of Penna.

 

"The Committee appointed in relation to the money subscribed and paid for the purpose of procuring a portrait of Lafayette and Franklin.

 

"Respectfully report, That a Sum of money for that purpose subscribed was paid into the hands of Bro. John M. Read who cannot at present find the subscription paper containing the precise amount, but believes it to be about Eighty Dollars which Sum he is ready to pay over as the Grand Lodge may direct and when the amt. can be ascertained to correct the same.

 

"Your Committee respectfully offer the following Resolution. Resolved, that the Grand Treasurer call upon Bro. Read & receive from him the above mentioned Sum of Eighty Dollars.

 

"Phil., Sept. 4, 1848.

"Signed. B. Newcomb,

Wm. Barger,

Jas. Page, Committee."

 

At the Grand Quarterly Communication held March 5, 1849, the

following was offered by Brother John Thomson, R. W. G. Treasurer,

and adopted, viz.:

 

"Whereas, there is in the hands of the Grand Treasurer the sum of Eighty dollars contributed some years since by certain members of the Grand Lodge for the purpose of a likeness of Bro. La Fayette and as said sum is insufficient to accomplish the object intended therefore Resolved, That the Grand Treasurer be instructed to add from the funds of the Grand Lodge $20 to the $80 contributed and with the sum purchase one share Masonic loan for the purpose of furthering the object intended."

 

It appears that the portrait of Lafayette which was formerly in the Grand Lodge room and now in the second story corridor of the New Temple was not procured until after the New Chestnut Street Hall was dedicated in 1855.

 

No record has been found as to who the artist was or what was the amount paid for same.

 

----o----

 

THE NEW PATRIOTISM

 

Fly the flag at half-mast

For the life that has been split,

For the wealth that has been built

On the bones of men;

Fly the flag at half-mast

Till the day breaks again.

 

Fly the flag at half-mast

For the greed that would not die,

For the hate that scorched the sky

With envenenomed fire;

Fly the flag at half-mast

For the deeds of men’s ire.

 

Fly the flag at half-mast

For the love that has been slain,

For the conflict’s bloody stain

On the hopes of men;

Fly the flag at half-mast

Till the day breaks again.

 

- T.C. Clark

 

----o----

 

Science is the great antidote to the poison of enthusiasm and superstitution - Adam Smith.

 

----o----

 

GEORGE FRANKLIN FORT, MASONIC HISTORIAN

 

BY JOHN HENRY FORT, NEW JERSEY

 

The following biographical sketch of Brother George Franklin Fort, author of "The Early History and Antiquities of Freemasonry," written at our request by his brother, Mr. John Henry Fort of New Jersey, is intended as an introduction to an article to appear in the next issue of THE BUILDER, The Masonic Writings of George Franklin Fort, by Brother Oliver D. Street of Alabama.

 

GEORGE FRANKLIN FORT was born at Absecon, Atlantic County, New Jersey, on November 20th, 1843. His father was Rev. John Fort, a member of the New Jersey Methodist Episcopal Conference, who entered the ministry in the old days of the itinerancy and whose father was one of the founders of the faith in New Jersey. George Flanklin Fort was named after his uncle, Dr. George Franklin Fort, who was Governor of New Jersey from 1851 to 1855. In later years the State historian accredited the uncle with the authorship of the work by confusing the names. George F. Fort was descended from an old Norman French-Anglo-Saxon ancestry. The original Fort, or "Le Fort," was the Captain of the Body Guard of William the Conqueror at Hastings in 1066 and his descendents remained in England till 1695, when Roger Fort settled at Hampton-Hanover, afterwards New Mills and now Pemberton, Burlington County, New Jersey, upon a plantation which has remained in the family for generations. His family settled in New Jersey when the population was probably not over five thousand, as against nearly two million now. The period was an epochal one in the State and the Fort family were distinctly active in the development of the State. His great-great grandfather on his mother's side, William Emley, was a surveyor to the Crown and acted as Colonial Governor of New Jersey and helped to survey the lines dividing East and West Jersey. He was quite a linguist and of Scotch-English descent, coming from Yorkshire.

 

George F. Fort's family were not only very prominent in New Jersey, in having contributed two governors to the State, both born in the old homestead at Pemberton, but also were honored by having two Assemblymen and one State Senator in the Legislature, and one Judge of the Supreme Court, and two of the Court of Errors and Appeals. The family had several ministers and physicians, all prominent, and in the Revolutionary days contributed ten members to the Continental Army, both the Line and Militia. With an ancestry dating back to the Vikings and in which several languages had been spoken, it is not surprising that George F. Fort easily acquired a knowledge of and mastered seventeen languages and dialects. He read Latin, French, Spanish and Italian with as much ease as English, and amused himself with reading the works of noted writers in these languages. He read and spoke German as fluently as English and his several trips to Europe widened his knowledge and perfection. He attended lectures at Heidleburg University and studied Anglo-Saxon and several dialects for historical purposes. The acquiring of a language with him was a sort of heredity and if no glossary was available he would dig out certain roots from dictionaries and in a short time would construct a grammar and glossary and soon be reading the language as readily as English. It was a gift.

 

Mr. Fort studied law with Abraham Browning of Camden, then the leading attorney of the State and at one time Attorney General, when family prestige and ability made the appointment instead of political influence as in modern times. While he was successful in his practice his tastes were of a literary character and he regularly pursued a literary course. There is no question but that he was one of the most learned men of the century and his knowledge was not confined to archaic research and antiquities, but was universal. Science, belles-letters, literature, mathematics, astronomy and ancient history, all alike claimed his attention. He was a modest and retiring man and any attempt to draw him out or into a discussion was fruitless, but if something happened whereby he expressed an opinion, his erudition was apparent at once and in a few moments extemporaneously a magnificent oration was delivered upon any subject he spoke upon. It was like a prophet speaking and when finished evidenced the depth of learning and greatness of thought.

 

In early life he became prominent in Masonic circles and with several friends and an older brother established Trimble Lodge No. 117, A. F. & A. M., at Camden, New Jersey, his residence. The new lodge aimed at a higher personality than the other lodges and did not meet with immediate success. Mr. Fort in order to infuse life into the lodge of which he was first Senior Warden and had then become Worshipful Master, inaugurated a series of lectures and while others spoke, his great knowledge upon the antiquities of Freemasonry attracted so much attention and comment that he was urged to pursue his researches and write a work upon the subject, which he afterwards did, first visiting the Libraries of Europe and many of the old Cathedrals, the British Museum, Library at the Vatican and the Bodlein at Oxford. This work was named the Early History and Antiquities of Freemasonry. It was immediately recognized by the literally world as the authority, and the Encyclopedia Britannica in all succeeding editions recognized it as authoritive and quoted it on the subject of Freemasonry. Immediately the literary men of the world began to write him for opinions upon other Masonic subjects and this caused him to write "A Historical Treatise on Early Builders' Marks," and a monograph entitled "Medieval Builders." Later he wrote the Medical Economy of the Middle Ages. The latter was written after, as associate editor of his brother's newspaper, he criticised the statement of a prominent physician at the 100th Anniversary of the New Jersey Medical Society "that medicine had no history beyond Galen and Hippocrates," and a committee from the Association requested him to write a history of the ancient cult.

 

Mr. Fort was a regular contributor to the several newspapers owned by his youngest brother, John H. Fort, upon Masonic subjects. Some of them were fugitive and others in series. They were copied in the Masonic Journals of France, England, Australia, and the leading magazines, and often created a learned controversy, but his knowledge of languages always enabled him to give authoritive data. Some of the critics thought he should literally translate his authorities, as but few could read the original. This he always refrained from doing as he claimed the quotation was the authority. Among his correspondents were such men as Hughan, Gould, Woodford and other Masonic writers and antiquarians. His books were reviewed by all the great newspapers of the world such as the New York Herald, Sun, Times, World, the London Times, Globe, Blackwoods Magazine and Masonic Journals, the Chaine d'Union of Paris, the Melbourne Australian, all the Philadelphia papers, especially the Ledger, Press, Record, Bulletin, Telegraph and the Keystone. Gould, the Masonic writer, said of him "Fort has succeeded where all others failed in making the study of our antiquities an interesting task." Other writers said "his history of Freemasonry is as interesting as a Romance of the Middle Ages." The Golden Age of New York characterizes it as "a work of which members of the craft may well be proud." The Encyclopedia Britannica says of it, "the book is instructive as throwing light on certain phases of Middle Age life." In fact the newspaper criticisms are all highly eulogistic and place the History as the highest contribution to Masonic literature. All his other works were just as favorably received by the press of the world. The criticisms are in many languages and would fill a volume in themselves. In a scrap book of Mr. Fort's are not only the notices of the press but letters in many languages from the literatti of the world and most of his fugitive articles which are well worth publishing collectively in book form. All his other works were equally as well received. Mr. Fort has been compared to such writers as Hallam, Draper, Lecky, Macauley, and other archaic, historic and antiquarian writers, and all refer to his writings as showing vast erudition and research.

 

George F. Fort was primarily educated in the Public Schools of New Jersey in the various towns his father was stationed at as a pastor, and afterwards graduated from Pennington Seminary, a Methodist Institution of learning, under the direction of the New Jersey Annual Conference. His after studies of the various languages and literature were by his own effort and attendance of lectures abroad and by visits to European Institutions of Learning. Mr. Fort has given to America the credit of being the standard writer upon Masonic and Medical histories.

 

Mr. Fort was a member of Trimble Lodge No. 117, A. F. & A. M., of which he was practically the founder. He was the first Senior Warden and Second Worshipful Master. He lived to see the lodge become the largest in membership in New Jersey. He was a Knight Templar, belonging to Cyrene Commandery Vale (No. 7) of Camden, Vanhook Council No. 8, Royal and Select Masters, Siloam Chapter Royal Arch Masons, Excelsior Consistory 32nd Degree, and all the intermediate Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite degrees. It has been stated that he was also a 33rd Degree Mason, it having been conferred upon him in Europe.

 

In December, 1877, York Lodge of England in recognition of his great services to Freemasonry, conferred upon him Honorary Life Membership and sent him a specially engraved certificate bearing a picture of the crypt in York Minster where the lodge anciently met. The original certificate from York Lodge is now in possession of Trimble Lodge No. 117 of Camden.

 

Mr. Fort spent a long time in Europe on different trips and was well acquainted there in Masonic circles. He was made the Grand Representative of the Grand Lodge of England to the Grand Lodge of New Jersey by the then Prince of Wales, Grand Master of Masons of England, who afterwards became the King of England as Edward VII.

 

George F. Fort died at the home of his nephew while on a visit at Atlantic City, a few miles from where he was born, on March 30th, 1909. Mr. Fort was practically a recluse the latter years of his life. His health was poor and his literary tastes naturally caused him to avoid society. For years he was editor of the Keystone, a Masonic Journal published in Philadelphia, and a contributor to the America Notes and Queries and several newspapers published by his brother John H. Fort. Some time before his death he told a friend he had finished a History of Norse Mythology and claimed he had in the destruction of the God Baldur by the other Mythological Norse Gods discovered the origin of the story of Hiram Abif. He stated the work was ready for the printer but he was holding it back as he had been unable to secure a font of Norse type and was afraid he would have to have it cast to give the data exact. Since his death no trace has so far been found of the manuscript. In all probability this valuable history may be lost and the researches of a master mind for nearly a half century gone to waste. His scrap book would be a most interesting publication if edited by someone skilled in Masonic lore. There are many articles of rare interest that never got beyond local readers.

 

Mr. Fort's works are on the shelves of most all the prominent libraries of the world, such as the East India Library, British Museum, Congressional Library at Washington, and Institutions of learning everywhere, and thousands of private libraries. His own library was entirely filled with works in foreign languages and were upon historic, antiquarian and archaic subjects. He was at one time Judge Advocate of the Sixth Regiment National Guard of New Jersey with rank of Captain.

 

----o----

 

FOR THE MONTHLY LODGE MEETING

 

CORRESPONDENCE CIRCLE BULLETIN---No. 19

 

DEVOTED TO ORGANIZED MASONIC STUDY

 

Edited by Bro. Robert I. Clegg

 

THE BULLETIN COURSE OF MASONIC STUDY FOR MONTHLY LODGE MEETINGS AND STUDY CLUBS

 

FOUNDATION OF THE COURSE

 

THE Course of Study has for its foundation two sources of Masonic information: THE BUILDER and Mackey's Encyclopedia. In another paragraph is explained how the references to former issues of THE BUILDER and to Mackey's Encyclopedia may be worked up as supplemental papers to exactly fit into each installment of the Course with the paper by Brother Clegg.

 

MAIN OUTLINE

 

The Course is divided into five principal divisions which are in turn subdivided, as is shown below:

 

Division I. Ceremonial Masonry. A. The Work of a Lodge. B. The Lodge and the Candidate.  C. First Steps.  D. Second Steps.  E. Third Steps.

 

Division II. Symbolical Masonry.

 

A. Clothing.  B. Working Tools.  C. Furniture.  D. Architecture.  E. Geometry.  F. Signs.  G. Words.  H. Grips.

 

Division III. Philosophical Masonry. A. Foundations.  B. Virtues.  C. Ethics.  D. Religious Aspect.  E. The Quest.  F. Mysticism.  G. The Secret Doctrine.

 

Division IV. Legislative Masonry. A. The Grand Lodge. 1. Ancient Constitutions. 2. Codes of Law. 3. Grand Lodge Practices. 4. Relationship to Constituent Lodges. 5. Official Duties and Prerogatives.  B. The Constituent Lodge. 1. Organization. 2. Qualifications of Candidates. 3. Initiation, Passing and Raising. 4. Visitation. 5. Change of Membership.

 

Division V. Historical Masonry. A. The Mysteries--Earliest Masonic Light.  B. Studies of Rites--Masonry in the Making.  C. Contributions to Lodge Characteristics.  D. National Masonry.  E. Parallel Peculiarities in Lodge Study. F. Feminine Masonry.  G. Masonic Alphabets.  H. Historical Manuscripts of the Craft.  I. Biographical Masonry.  J. Philological Masonry--Study of Significant Words.

 

THE MONTHLY INSTALLMENTS

 

Each month we are presenting a paper written by Brother Clegg, who is following the foregoing outline. We are now in "First Steps" of Ceremonial Masonry. There will be twelve monthly papers under this particular subdivision. On page two, preceding each installment, will be given a number of "Helpful Hints" and a list of questions to be used by the chairman of the Committee during the study period which will bring out every point touched upon in the paper.

 

Whenever possible we shall reprint in the Correspondence Circle Bulletin articles from other sources which have a direct bearing upon the particular subject covered by Brother Clegg in his monthly paper. These articles should be used as supplemental papers in addition to those prepared by the members from the monthly list of references. Much valuable material that would otherwise possibly never come to the attention of many of our members will thus be presented.

 

The monthly installments of the Course appearing in the Correspondence Circle Bulletin should be used one month later than their appearance. If this is done the Committee will have opportunity to arrange their programs several weeks in advance of the meetings and the Brethren who are members of the National Masonic Research Society will be better enabled to enter into the discussions after they have read over and studied the installment in THE BUILDER.

 

REFERENCES FOR SUPPLEMENTAL PAPERS

 

Immediately preceding each of Brother Clegg's monthly papers in the Correspondence Circle Bulletin will be found a list of references to THE BUILDER and Mackey's Encyclopedia. These references are pertinent to the paper and will either enlarge upon many of the points touched upon or bring out new points for reading and discussion. They should be assigned by the Committee to different Brethren who may compile papers of their own from the material thus to be found, or in many instances the articles themselves or extracts therefrom may be read directly from the originals. The latter method may be followed when the members may not feel able to compile original papers, or when the original may be deemed appropriate without any alterations or additions.

 

HOW TO ORGANIZE FOR AND CONDUCT THE STUDY MEETINGS

 

The Lodge should select a "Research Committee" preferably of three "live" members. The study meetings should be held once a month, either at a special meeting of the Lodge called for the purpose, or at a regular meeting at which no business (except the Lodge routine) should be transacted--all possible time to be given to the study period.

 

After the Lodge has been opened and all routine business disposed of, the Master should turn the Lodge over to the Chairman of the Research Committee. This Committee should be fully prepared in advance on the subject for the evening. All members to whom references for supplemental papers have been assigned should be prepared with their papers and should also have a comprehensive grasp of Brother Clegg's paper.

 

PROGRAM FOR STUDY MEETINGS

 

1. Reading of the first section of Brother Clegg's paper and the supplemental papers thereto.

 

(Suggestion: While these papers are being read the members of the Lodge should make notes of any points they may wish to discuss or inquire into when the discussion is opened. Tabs or slips of paper similar to those used in elections should be distributed among the members for this purpose at the opening of the study period.)

 

2. Discussion of the above.

 

3. The subsequent sections of Brother Clegg's paper and the supplemental papers should then be taken up, one at a time, and disposed of in the same manner.

 

4. Question Box.

 

MAKE THE "QUESTION BOX" THE FEATURE OF YOUR MEETINGS

 

Invite questions from any and all Brethren present. Let them understand that these meetings are for their particular benefit and get them into the habit of asking all the questions they may think of. Every one of the papers read will suggest questions as to facts and meanings which may not perhaps be actually covered at all in the paper. If at the time these questions are propounded no one can answer them, SEND THEM IN TO US. All the reference material we have will be gone through in an endeavor to supply a satisfactory answer. In fact we are prepared to make special research when called upon, and will usually be able to give answers within a day or two. Please remember, too, that the great Library of the Grand Lodge of Iowa is only a few miles away, and, by order of the Trustees of the Grand Lodge, the Grand Secretary places it at our disposal on any query raised by any member of the Society.

 

FURTHER INFORMATION

 

The foregoing information should enable local Committees to conduct their Lodge study meetings with success. However we shall welcome all inquiries and communications from interested Brethren concerning any phase of the plan that is not entirely clear to them, and the services of our Study Club Department are at the command of our members, Lodge and Study Club Committees at all times.

 

QUESTIONS ON "THE OBLIGATION" I Define the word "obligation." Have oaths and obligations been in universal practice ? Why ? Can you name oaths administered outside the Fraternity with which the Masonic obligation may be compared? Are the marriage oath, the President's oath, etc., such forms ? Why is a religious sanction thrown about an oath ? Does the taking of an obligation imply that the candidate cannot be trusted? Does it make his obligation or does it define it? What does Tyler say about the universality of oaths ? How do Philo and Cicero define an oath ? Can you give a better definition of an obligation than any herewith offered? If so, will you send it in to the Society ?

 

II What does Gould believe to have been the original of the Masonic oath ? Why was the oath taken by the freemen adopted into the forms of the Masonic lodge? Do we see today any institutions copying the forms of oaths employed by some other institution ? Name them. Were the earliest Masonic obligations short or long? How did the obligation evolve into such length? Is this legitimate? Have any other parts of the ceremonies evolved similarly? Are Masonic ceremonies still changing and growing? If so, why? If not, why not? What was the substance of the earliest obligations? Why were the building secrets so jealously guarded? How did these secrets come to be public property ? What effect did such publicity have upon the Freemasons?

 

III What is the whole point of the present obligation? Have we any trade secrets ? If you believe that a simpler, more effective obligation might be written, will you offer one? Why should Masonic secrets be still so jealously guarded? What is the function of secrecy in Masonry? Does friendship have its secrets? Business? Diplomacy? What would happen to the Fraternity if it should abandon its policy of secrecy ? Does secrecy attract men to it? Why?

 

IV What is the meaning of "due form"? Whence came the term ? What is the difference between form and formality ? When two friends meet do they shake hands in "due form"? Does the form in which the obligation is given add to its dignity and impressiveness ? Do you permit any flippancy in your own lodge's ceremony of initiation ? Why not ?

 

V Why are the penalties kept so secret? How much can you talk about Masonry without violating your obligation to secrecy? Did the earliest obligations have any penalties attached ? If not why not? What is the "Harleian Manuscript" ? What is meant by "Old Charges"? Why did the Semites fear drowning so? What do Old Testament writers seem to feel concerning the sea ? When the sailors cast Jonah overboard did they suppose they were putting him out of reach of the God he had offended ? Would you as soon be buried in the sea as on the land? What is meant by "consecrated ground" ? What churches still bury their dead in consecrated ground? Why? Does the custom of setting apart a special tract of ground for burial add dignity to the thought of death? Would you as soon think yourself dead as lying in the sea as lying in a grave ? Who added the present penalties to our obligations? When? What hint do you get from Brother Clegg's suggestions? Why have anti-Masons so rabidly attacked the obligation? Is a man scared by penalties which he knows will never be inflicted? Who was John Quincy Adams ? Why did he fight the Fraternity? Do you agree with what Brother MacBride says about the obligation? If not, why not ? If you do, why ? Is there any way in which the obligation could be recast ? Who would have the authority to do so ? Would it be of any advantage to have a General Grand Lodge of America to take care of such matters ?

 

VI Why is the cable tow removed when it is? What does it signify ? Is the obligation an appeal to a man's sense of honor ? Or is it a slam against his sense of honor? Does the wedding oath add to or detract from the stability and dignity of marriage? If marriages were left to private wills could the law have any control over them ? How could Masonic law be brought to bear upon a man who had never taken an obligation ? What is the real "Masonic Tie" ? Does that tie draw you to other Masons ? Does it ever restrain you from doing a wrong to a brother Mason ? Why ?

 

SUPPLEMENTAL REFERENCES

 

Mackey's Encyclopedia: Oath, p. 622; Oath, Corporal, p. 524; Oath of the Gild, p. 624. Obligation, p. 525. THE BUILDER: Vol. I.--Oath, The Freeman's, p. 237. Obligations not political, p. 88. Vol. II.--Oaths, p. 272; Dec. C. C. B. 2; Cor. 190; Q. B. 94, 348 Obligations, Q. B. 348. Vol. III.--Oaths, p. 345; Jan. C. C. B. 2; Apr. C. C. B. 1; June C. C. B. 2- Penalty of Violation, p. 36. Obligations, p. 334; Dec. C. C. B. 4 Vol. IV.--A Hint as to Penalties, p. 178; this issue.

 

 FIRST STEPS BRO. H.L. HAYWOOD, IOWA

 

PART VII--THE OBLIGATION I THE word "obligation" means, according to its derivation, a "binding to." It is more than an oath and more than a vow, for it combines both, and it has been used, in one form or another, ever since the earliest times. Cicero defined it as "an affirmation under the sanction of religion," while Philo called it "the most sure symbol of good faith." Some obligations have had penalties attached, others have not. Obligations have been in such universal practice that J.E. Tyler was justified in saying that "through all the diversified stages of society--from the lowest barbarism to the highest cultivation of civilized life--where the true religion has been professed, no less than where paganism has retained its hold, recourse has been had to oaths as affording the nearest approximation to certainty in evidence, and the surest pledge of the performance of a promise." This last phrase furnishes us with a good working definition of an obligation; it is the solemn pledge to perform a promise.

 

II In old England, when Masonry was still purely operative, obligations were in use in all sections of society, but the most solemn of all was the obligation which a free man took to remain faithful to the king; that oath ran as follows: "You shall be true and faithful to our Sovereign Lord the King." Brother R. F. Gould is of the opinion that this oath was the original of the Masonic obligation because the earliest obligations found in the Old Charges are very similar to it.

 

However that may be, we are certain that the first obligations were short and simple for this is proved from the written records. This does not mean that later forms have any less validity, because, as the Institution grew in numbers and power, new duties would arise, new conditions would have to be met, and the candidate would be required to obligate himself accordingly. If the Fraternity were now to be called upon to perform some new duty to the world it could lawfully require of each candidate a pledge to do his share therein. The Masonic obligation has evolved in the past; it may continue to evolve in the future.

 

There has been much controversy among our authorities as to the substance of the earliest Masonic obligations; they have not yet arrived at unanimity but it is safe to say that a majority of them agree that they had to do chiefly with building secrets. At a time when architectural methods were the chief stock in trade of the Institution, when it made its living by the practice of them, and before handbooks of architecture were dreamed of, it seems reasonable to suppose that the candidate would have been chiefly called upon to keep these invaluable secrets to himself.

 

III But when the Institution was transformed from a craft of Masons doing operative work into a Fraternity of Masons banded together for speculative work, it was necessary to change the substance of the obligation. Trade secrets had become public property; any man could find them in printed manuals. Moreover, building came to be done by men outside the Fraternity, and it was no longer a matter of life and death to preserve building secrets. Accordingly, the obligation has changed in substance. At the present time it has no other purpose than to bind the candidate to absolute secrecy as to what goes on inside the lodge and what is done during the ceremonies of initiation. Some Masonic leaders believe that if the obligations were recast so as to oblige the candidate to nothing except the vow of secrecy that the ceremony would gain in reality and impressiveness. On that every Mason is entitled to hold his own opinion.

 

IV How much importance the Fraternity attaches to the obligation itself is shown by the elaborate precautions which are thrown about it and by the careful method whereby the candidate is put in position to take it. "Due form" simply means that he is in a posture which is a fitting form in which to make such a vow; the term itself is of comparatively recent American origin but the ceremony represented by it is probably as old as the Craft itself. One touch of flippancy or carelessness in giving or in taking the obligation would rob it of much of its impressiveness.

 

V Veils must be thrown about the penalties of the obligation for there is nothing in all the ceremonies more secret than these; nevertheless it may be possible to say a word or two concerning them without violation of our own oath of secrecy.

 

It is certain that the earliest obligations had no penalties attached to them at all, as is evidenced by the following specimen, which has been taken from the Harleian Manuscript No. 2054, dating from the seventeenth century:

 

"There are several words and signs of a Freemason to be revealed to you which as you will answer before God at the great and terrible day of Judgment, you keep secret and not reveal the same to any in the hearing of any person but to the Masters and Fellows of the said society of Freemasons. So help me God." (Spelling modernized.)

 

There is in possession of the Grand Lodge Library of Iowa a very old ritual in which the obligation has no penalties at all.

 

Among many ancient peoples (more especially the Semites) it was believed that death in the sea was a fate too terrible to be contemplated because it was supposed that those lying on the floor of the sea would never rise on the Resurrection Day. The land belonged to God; the sea to some alien deity; it was feared that this alien deity would refuse to surrender up his dead. To perish in the sea was the most awful of fates.

 

During medieval times it was universally believed that only those would be raised to a happy future life who had been buried in consecrated ground. The criminal burned at the stake, the felon drowned in the sea, the suicide buried at the cross-roads with a stake through his breast--it was feared that these would have no part in the Resurrection.

 

When and by whom the present penalties were attached to the Masonic obligation remains a mystery, albeit many suggestions have been offered which throw some light on the matter. One of the most valuable of these hints is that offered by Brother Robert I. Clegg, who says:

 

"Death by slow drowning was once by legal authority established as a proper punishment. . . Consider the following: In the curious ordinances of Henry VI for the proper conduct of the Court of Admiralty of the Humber, are enumerated various offenses of a maritime connection and their due punishment. To adhere closely to the character of the Court, and be within proper jurisdiction of the Admiralty, the punishments were generally inflicted at low water-mark." This court, he continues, being composed of "Masters, merchants and marines, with all others that do enjoy the King's stream with hook, net or any engine," was addressed, when assembled, as follows:

 

"'You, Masters of the Quest, if you or any of you discover or disclose anything of the King's secret counsel or of the counsel of your fellows (for the present you are admitted to be the King's counsellors) you are to be, and shall be, had down to the low water-mark, where must be made three times, 'O Yes !' for the King, and then and there this punishment, by the law prescribed, shall be inflicted upon them; that is, their hands and feet bound, their throats cut, their tongues pulled out and their bodies thrown into the sea.' "

 

The penalties, it need not be said, have ever been one of the chief points attacked by the enemies of the Fraternity. Thus, while leading the rabid attack on Freemasonry which disfigured the early half of the last century, John Quincy Adams said that "the whole case between Masonry and anti-Masonry, now on trial before the tribunal of public opinion, is consecrated in a single act," and that act, he goes on to explain, is the obligation, more especially its penalties.

 

Masons have no need to feel ashamed of any part of their ceremonies, least of all the obligations; yet it may be said, within certain reserves, that if the present penalties, with their obsolete language and their impossible punishments, were to be revised, and brought into harmony with modern ideas and usages, the initiatory ceremony would gain in simplicity and convincingness. Brother MacBride has said a weighty word on this matter which I am glad to re-publish, especially since the utterance of such a scholar and authority would have much more weight than any word of ours:

 

"It seems to us, with these obligations before us, there is only one course open to all Masons desiring the welfare of our ancient Institution, and that is to insist that a simpler, more sensible, and consequently, more solemn and binding form shall be substituted, wherever the corrupt form now prevails. The latter has neither the sanction of age, or law, nor of good taste."

 

IV The removal of the cable tow after the administering of the obligation is a most significant act; it means that heretofore the candidate has been bound to the lodge by means of physical force and that hereafter he is bound by the invisible cord of his own honor. The removal of the cable tow, therefore, does not mean that he is less bound; it means that his tie henceforth is one that can never be removed or broken because it is in the heart. Before the obligation the candidate is held by compulsion; afterwards it is the Mystic Tie which binds him to his fellows with bonds unbreakable.

 

NOTICE TO STUDY COMMITTEES

 

Owing to the fact that Masonic work of all kinds is generally dispensed with during the months of July and August we are discontinuing the Correspondence Circle Bulletin section of THE BUILDER after this issue and shall resume its publication with the issue for September. By so doing we shall not get ahead of the lodges and study clubs using these installments.

 

----o----

 

THE DREAMLAND OF YOUTH

BY BRO. A. W. ARMSTRONG

 

Our days are passing by;

Their sandaled tread falls heedless on the ear,

Yet here and there some landmarks do appear

To catch the casual eye.

 

Life looks so bright and fair

To young hearts in its amaranthine bowers;

A summer day with birds and bees and flowers,

And sunshine everywhere.

 

The streamlet in the vale,

Whose dewey lips caress the lily's cheek,

Seems in soft cadences to speak,

Soothing the wind's low wail.

 

The pale white cloud that smiles

Along its pathway in the upper deeps,

Is but a fairie barque within which sleeps

Some queen of heavenly isles.

 

Night holds her grand levee,

And sends us messages upon the dew;

The stars that glisten in the vault of blue,

Sweet angel-eyes may be.

 

O! brilliant youthful dreams!

O! world of beauty to unpracticed eyes!

Thou art more lovely than the starlit skies,

With all their silvery beams.

 

Let Hope still linger bright

Amidst the tempest on life's stormy sea;

Our boat shall weigh its anchor soon, and we

Bid last adieu to Night.

 

----o----

 

 

MEMORIALS TO GREAT MEN WHO WERE MASONS

BY BRO. FREDERICK W. EIART, OHIO

 

JAMES A. GARFIELD

 

OUR late Brother and President, James A. Garfield, was a man whom the Masonic Fraternity ever held in profound esteem and regard - for he was ever a worthy and loyal member and seriously accepted the suggestion that he, as a "just and upright" Craftsman, should "ever walk and act as such." His history and record is as an open book and needs no repetition here, except as to his record as a Mason which will he of special interest to the Craft.

 

James A. Garfield was in training as a soldier of the Union Army in Camp Chase, just west of Columbus, Ohio, when he first crossed the tiled threshold. On November 29th, 1861, his thirtieth birthday, he was initiated an Entered Apprentice and on December 3rd was passed to the degree of a Fellowcraft, in Magnolia Lodge No. 20, at Columbus, Ohio. He immediately left for the front and went through the Civil War as a Fellowcraft.

 

This Fellowcraft had wrought so valiantly in the military service that he returned as a Major General of Volunteers, and with a splendid record as a soldier. General Garfield was raised to the Master's degree on Nov. 22nd, 1864, in Columbus Lodge No. 30, Columbus, Ohio, at the request of Magnolia Lodge.

 

In 1865 Brother Garfield dimitted from his mother lodge and affiliated with Garrettsville Lodge No. 246, at Garrettsville, Ohio, which was near his home and work at Hiram College, four miles distant. In 1868-69 he served as Chaplain of this lodge. On May 4, 1869, he became a charter member of Pentalpha Lodge No. 23, at Washington, D.C., of which lodge he remained a member until his death.

 

During the year 1866 Garfield received the Capitular and Chivalric degrees in Washington, becoming a member of Columbia Chapter No. 15, R.A.M., (now No. 7), and of Columbia Commandery No. 2, K. T., in the Capital City. In 1871 he received the degrees of Select Architect and Most Excellent Architect and received the fourth and fifth degrees of the Scottish Rite in Mithras Lodge of Perfection, and the fourteenth degree on January 2nd, 1872, the intervening degrees having been communicated to him during the year 1871 by a no less distinguished and competent instructor than Brother Albert Pike, then Sovereign Grand Commander of the Southern Masonic Jurisdiction, A. and A. S. R., at Washington.

 

Brother Garfield was buried in September, 1881, with Masonic honors, with an escort of Knights Templar. The Craft laid the cornerstone of his memorial at Cleveland and contributed largely to its construction and maintenance. Soon after his death steps were taken to erect a suitable memorial which should also be his tomb, and a Memorial Association was appointed consisting of the following distinguished citizens: Governor Foster, ex-President Hayes, Hon. J. H. Wade, Senator H. B. Payne, Joseph Perkins, T. P. Handy, Daniel P. Eels, W. S. Streator, J. H. Devereaux, Selah Chamberlain, John D. Rockefeller, H. B. Perkins, Hon. John Hay and J. H. Rhodes. This Association finally chose the design for the memorial, after a competitive contest of designs, selecting the design submitted by Mr. George Keller, of Hartford, Connecticut. Excavation for the foundation was begun in 1885 and the structure was dedicated with much ceremony on Decoration Day, May 30,1890. Knights Templars were much in evidence on that occasion, as the writer well remembers, and the paraders were drenched with rain on their return from the dedication exercises.

 

The memorial to Garfield, when completed, cost approximately $225,000, and stands on a high terrace in Lake View Cemetery, Cleveland, Ohio, a city where many of Garfield's interests settled and near to his birthplace and his Mentor home. The memorial is of stone, rising 180 feet above the ground and its base is 200 feet above the level of Lake Erie. From its tower there may be obtained a beautiful panoramic view of the city, and of the lake which it faces.

 

A volume could be written describing the many features of the beautiful memorial. It is composed of a pointed tower, 180 feet high fronted by a square "porch," very much resembling a triumphal arch of ancient Rome. The break between the porch and the main tower is neutralized by the presence of two smaller, shorter towers which contain stairways. The porch is decorated with a series of five friezes in high relief representing events in the life of the man. One of these friezes contains that which probably no other national memorial contains, a Masonic picture - a Knight Templar in uniform.

 

The first frieze at the left in the view shows Garfield as a country school-teacher; the second shows him bearing dispatches under fire, to General Thomas at Chickamaugua; the third, the central one over the entrance, shows him as an orator addressing a crowd of his fellow-citizens, while the fourth pictures him as taking the oath of office as President of the Republic and contains, besides the President, a number of portraits that are now historic but strangely omits the beloved mother of Garfield, who sat near and received his kiss after he had "kissed the book." The fifth frieze is an ideal representation of the dead President lying in state and is of peculiar interest. The photograph herewith shown indicates the stream of men and women, boys and girls, who viewed the remains of the martyred President and the very styles of men's and women's dress are preserved for our study. The stream of hushed people passes on, a young boy with his mother looks back at the bier, a sailor looks down into the face of his late Commander-in-Chief, and the mother lifts her babe to see the dead President. Then come an aged man and a young man, others tarry in front of the bier, and in the line is a colored man - perhaps a former slave. A girl adds another wreath to the heap beside the bier, and two soldiers in the full dress uniform of the Eighties, with spiked helmets and fixed, angular bayonets, stand guard over the remains. At the left of one soldier stands a Knight Templar at parade rest, in chapeau, baldric and gauntlets - a tribute to the Masonic character of the dead President. The Sir Knight is a sturdy specimen with features like that of General John A. Logan, and the artist's idea of a Capitular Mason is worthy of study. There is no mean style of man delineated here.

 

This is probably the only monument or memorial of national character in all America that bears a Masonic figure or picture, and yet none can doubt the fitness and appropriateness of it, for the man here entombed and commemorated was a lover of Masonry and it had a large part in his life - a worthy part. And KnightsTemplar guarded his remains.

 

Within the memorial is a gorgeous "shrine" inlaid with stucco-mosaic work in gold and colors, with another line of symbolic friezes, and memorial windows or panels for fourteen States, (the original thirteen, and Ohio), as well as panels representing "War" and "Peace," in both of which Garfield was distinguished. The rotunda is brilliant with mosaics and in the center of the shrine stands a life-size marble statue of the President rising from his chair to make an address. Alexander Doyle, a native of Ohio, was the sculptor of this meritorius marble portrait.

 

Beneath the statue, in a crypt, is the casket of Garfield, and visitors may approach and view it. Here lie the remains of our Brother, stricken down in the discharge of his duty - and here many people visit and silently learn the lesson of memento mori, "remembering our dead."

 

Large and small amounts for the erection of the memorial were contributed from citizens all over our land. About $89,000 of the total amount was given by Ohioans and $75,000 of this was contributed by citizens of Cleveland. The Ohio Knights Templar contributed $4,328.91. Cleveland people have contributed much more than is shown by the figures, in care and landscape effects, and probably in many contributions that were never listed; for Cleveland loved and loves Garfield. He was their friend and neighbor and loved the city as if it were his home town. Banks, parks and streets are named for him in this city.

 

No attempt has been made in this article to do justice to the many beautiful details of the Garfield memorial in stone, mosaic, stained glass and surrounding landscape. Such details would fill a volume and would make memorable a personal visit.

 

The relatives of Garfield have no knowledge of any existing Masonic relics and there are no relics of any sort exhibited in the memorial. Acknowledgment for valuable data in connection with Brother Garfield and the memorial are due Mr. A. N. Stowell, the genial custodian of the memorial, and also Brothers R. I. Clegg, of Cleveland, and George N. Cole, of New York, the latter a personal friend of our late Brother Garfield.

 

----o----

 

IN THE GOOD OLD TOWN

 

Now and then we walk old streets

In the good old town -

Footbeats - heartbeats -

Passing up and down.

Though we wander far away

We go making merry play,

We go making holiday,

In the good old town.

 

Now and then we meet old friends

In the good old town -

Old friends - good friends -

Walking up and down.

Tho those friends are sleeping now

Time has turned them with his plow,

Still we meet them anyhow

In the good old town.

 

There are many memories

In the good old town -

Night thoughts - long thoughts -

Passing up and down.

In our wider world concerns

Nothing new the spirit learns,

Every hour of freedom turns

To the good old town.

 

Take me back when I am done

To the good old town -

Life done - work done -

Let me settle down;

And I know when you are free,

Then, I know, wherever you be,

You will come and walk with me

In the good old town.

 

- Douglas Mallock.

 

----o----

 

WHAT A FELLOW CRAFT OUGHT TO KNOW

 

BY BRO. HAL RIVIERE, GEORGIA

 

AS we look about this world in which we live and consider the various forms of life with which we are familiar, we find a sameness in the general plan that would be monotonous if it were not so beautiful in the infinite variety of the details. The life of a world, the life of a race, of a nation, a man, an animal, a flower, an insect--each of these goes through the same relative processes, a progress from beginning to end and as they pass beyond it seems likely that those processes are repeated. First there is the period of preparation, then the birth, the growth, the fruiting time, the decline and finally the dissolution.

 

For countless ages a fragment clings to its sun--a world in preparation; eventually it is thrown whirling into space to begin a separate existence--the birth of a world; the gases solidify, land and water appear--the period of development; vegetable and animal life are brought forth, the period of fruitfulness; then come the decline and dissolution.

 

A tiny seed lies in the ground; it bursts and the sprout makes its way to the top of the soil and a plant is born; it grows and flowering, sheds a sweetness abroad and perhaps gives useful fruit; but its work done, it too, fades and dies. Whence came the plant and whither has it gone ? It knows not, nor cares.

 

From a tiny egg in the waxen cell within the hive a larva is hatched, passes through the various stages of development until eventually the bee comes forth to perform its amazing, complicated series of duties; finally, with flayed wings worn out in gathering the nectar from a myriad of blossoms, it crawls away to die alone. Whence came the bee and whither has it gone? It knows not, nor cares.

 

After a suitable period of preparation a babe is born, grows to manhood, does his work whether of good or ill, declines and dies. Whence came the man and whither has he gone? Man knows not, but cares and the question that he has ever asked himself from the time when the first gleams of intelligence were developed in him is, "whence come you ?" and later, "whither are you traveling?" Perhaps the first question a child will ask upon seeing a new born infant is, "where did he come from?" Later, as he comes to realize the meaning of death he will ask, "where do the dead go?" For there is in mankind a feeling that death does not end it all and he has ever refused to concede to death the victory, feeling rather that human life is a preparation for a greater life to come beyond the grave.

 

Two stages of human life have ever been awe inspiring, Infancy and Old Age; the infant, a candidate for the mysteries of this world, and the old man, a candidate for the mysteries beyond the grave. Whence comes the infant, from the everywhere, or nowhere? Who can stand beside the cradle of a babe only a few days old and see it smile in its sleep, without feeling that it has had an experience? It has no consciousness of the present world; then whence its smile? Can there be still memories of the everywhere it has left before the experience of this world crowd them out? What possibilities lie before it during the few years it is to spend in this life! Who knows the consequences that may hang upon the use it makes of the opportunities of human existence! And so it is that Old Age also, facing the end of human existence, facing a journey into undiscovered countries, fills the contemplative mind with serious thoughts. If there be sleeping and dreaming in that undiscovered country from whose bourne no traveler returns, will the dreams that shall come to him newly born to the heavenly life, cause sweet smiles to play across his radiant face and bear witness to the beauty and happiness of a useful mortal life ?

 

It is only by realizing that human life is a preparation for a greater life beyond, that he has lived before and shall live again after death ends mortal existence, it is only by so realizing that one can understand the significance of Freemasonry because it is an epitome of human life and each degree teaches the duties of certain stages of life using the customs of the Ancient Operative Masons as a foundation and teaching great moral and intellectual lessons by means of allegories and symbols.

 

When we speak of our Ancient Operative brethren we allude to those men who composed the lodges of stone masons who built the cathedrals, abbeys, temples and national and civic edifices prior to the seventeenth century. But those men were not merely stone masons; their leaders were architects and master builders and possessed that secret knowledge of the building arts which they guarded among themselves and taught only to those proven worthy.

 

Operative Masons have plied their art in the building of many famous structures from the dawn of civilization in Egypt and we have records of many distinguished Master builders; The first architect to erect a building of stone was Imhotep the Wise, who completed his initial work about the year 3000 B.C. A few years later, in 2900 B.C., the architects of King Khufu built the Great Pyramid of Gizeh, an undertaking which demonstrates upon the part of those men, a knowledge of arithmetic, geometry and astronomy marvelous to contemplate.

 

Egypt became the fountain head of knowledge and as the secrets of the builders' arts were jealously guarded by those learned in architecture and the correlated arts and sciences, men of other nations journeyed thither to be initiated into the mysteries. Those found worthy were so initiated, spread abroad to ply their trade and became the teachers and builders of other nations. Babylonia, Assyria, Phoenicia, Crete and later Greece and Rome, felt the influence of Egyptian civilization.

 

Next to the Pyramids, the most famous structure of ancient times was the Temple of Solomon at Jerusalem. This was built by men of Phoenicia headed by Hiram the Architect whom Hiram, King of Tyre, sent to supervise the work for his friend and ally, Solomon, King of Israel.

 

It is comparatively easy to trace the progress of the Art of Architecture from that day until modern times. In company with that progress went oathbound secret societies guarding the knowledge of the builders' arts and today we find Speculative Masonry as the direct descendant of those old secret societies of builders. The knowledge of Architecture once so closely guarded in oath-bound fraternities has become the common property of all who care to learn it. Lodges of Operative Masons have ceased to exist but Speculative Masonry has attached a symbolic meaning to the various working tools and to many words, terms and expressions used by the Ancient brethren.

 

As the lessons of Speculative Masonry are taught so largely in terms of the practices of the Ancient Operative Masons a few words as to their customs will make it easier to draw a parallel between those practices and the ceremonies of this degree.

 

In ancient times, when a person desired to become a Mason he made application to some Master who, if he was pleased with the applicant's appearance, took him on trial. The trial satisfactory, he was formally Entered as an Apprentice, that being his Masonic birth. Entered Apprentices were required to serve for seven years, that being a period of growth or development and during that time they learned the fundamental principles of the Craft; obedience, sobriety, truthfulness, industry and consideration for and charity toward the brethren; they learned to adjust themselves to their surroundings and to work in harmony with those about them, meanwhile catching a vision of the seriousness of life and the beauty and dignity of their calling. Each was expected to become fixed in the habits of right living, skillful in the handling of his tools, familiar with the labors of a stone mason and ambitious to advance. The time of apprenticeship drawing to a close he worked upon and perfected a masterpiece as an evidence of his skill, which he carried before the Annual Assembly where he was required to stand an examination to demonstrate to his superiors his ability and his worth; upon the result of the examination depended his advancement.

 

In our time, my brother, Free and Accepted Masons carry out many of the ancient customs. You were initiated as an Entered Apprentice, served a suitable time as such, passed a satisfactory examination before the lodge, were elected to advance and have been passed to the degree of Fellow Craft. But I wonder if during the days of your apprenticeship, you became proficient in the use of the working tools of an Entered Apprentice. You remember that they are the twenty four inch gauge, or rule, and the gavel, or mallet.

 

Our Ancient Operative brethren used the gauge to measure or lay out their work. You, my brother, should use your mind or reason to measure your work as you labor in the building of a beautiful character. During your apprenticeship have you used your reason to measure yourself, your conduct, your usefulness, your capacity for service? Do you measure up to the high standard of upright moral and Masonic manhood? We are not enough in the habit of so measuring ourselves but it is only by so doing that we can keep our characters straight.

 

But it is not enough for one to measure himself; a man may measure and measure yet accomplish nothing.

 

Shakespeare says "Sure, he that made us with such large discourse, looking before and after, gave us not that capability and Godlike reason to fust in us unused." That is the great point--to use our faculties. As our Ancient Operative brethren used the gavel to knock off the corners of rough stones, so we are to use our will power to divest ourselves of the vices and imperfections of our characters. Have you so used your will power? Is there any fault, any imperfection, any vice that you have resolved to forsake since you became a laborer among us? Remember,

 

"You will be what you will to be; Let failure find its false content  In that poor word environment, But spirit scorns it and is free.

 

"It masters time, it conquers space, It cowes that boastful trickster, chance,  And bids the tyrant circumstance Uncrown and fill a servant's place.

 

"The human will, that force unseen, The offspring of a deathless soul,  Can hew a way to any goal Though walls of granite intervene.

 

"Be not impatient at delay But wait as one who understands,  When spirit rises and commands, The gods are ready to obey."

 

My brother, it is a deplorable fact that this beautiful Fellow Craft degree is neither understood nor appreciated by the vast majority of Masons. Its purpose is not discerned and there seems to be no connection between it and the other two degrees of the Blue Lodge. In reality, the three degrees of Freemasonry form a beautiful system and the Fellow Craft is the only logical connecting link between the other two; but it is only when a view of the whole is taken that one comes to see the necessary place in the scheme that each degree occupies. We must bear in mind that Masonic Light is the object of a Mason's search and that Masonic Light is a symbol for Truth; we must know that in trying to answer the question of his origin and destiny man has come to realize that there are certain laws that govern him. These he has specified as Divine Truth and it is to know and to bring himself into conscious harmony with them that he labors.

 

One of our beautiful charges opens with these words: "The ways of Virtue are beautiful; Knowledge is attained by degrees; Wisdom dwells with contemplation; there must we seek her." In those words we have expressed the degree plan of Freemasonry. Man has found that in striving to attain Divine Truth a foundation of good habits is necessary--a training in the ways of virtue; these good habits are used in the acquisition of knowledge or the development of the intellect; a combination of good habits and high intellectual development produces a lofty train of thought whence result keen judgment, foresight, prudence- all those qualities which go to make a wise man.

 

"Wisdom," said Solomon, "is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom." Wisdom might be defined as Virtue plus Knowledge multiplied by Contemplation. Its attainment is a slow process, a matter of growth. Wisdom is the border-land from whose heights a man beholds Truth while Truth is the land of Canaan which a Moses may behold yet never fully attain.

 

The foundation of Wisdom is Character. It is in the building of character that every Fellow Craft is employed and this degree deals particularly with the training of the body in right habits and the cultivation of the mind. The legend of this degree presents the matter in beautiful, logical form and should leave no doubt in the mind of the candidate that the ways of virtue are beautiful and that knowledge is attained by degrees.

 

Let us ever remember that it is not the purpose of Freemasonry to enter into scientific dissertations upon Hearing, Seeing, Feeling, Smelling and Tasting; by entering such a maze the lessons of the degree are lost. Only architects and delvers into antiquity care to enter minutely into the history of the various Orders of Architecture or to learn with mathematical exactitude the proportion of the several columns. Nor is it the purpose of the Order to define Grammar, Rhetoric, Logic, Arithmetic, Geometry, Music and Astronomy. Such learned disquisitions upon the Senses, Orders of Architecture and the Liberal Arts and Sciences are a relic of the bygone days of Operative Masonry when the lodge was workshop, home and school--in fact, the whole life of the brethren; such practices were then advisable and necessary but in our time the object in view is to learn practical lessons from a symbolical presentation of those subjects.

 

The proper development and use of the five human senses enables us to support and protect ourselves, to enjoy the blessings and comforts of life that surround us and to contribute to the happiness of others. Their improper use may lead to animalism on the one hand or asceticism on the other; in either case it will tend to limit the capabilities. Overindulgence and excesses tend to blunt and asceticism to dwarf the bodily powers while the reward for moderation and simplicity in the employment of the senses is certain and sure.

 

 From the Orders of Architecture we should learn that an absolute mastery of the details pertaining to his particular line of work is necessary for a man's success; and as these orders are used to beautify and adorn as well as to be of service, we should not be satisfied with building merely an upright character but should cultivate those graces that are so pleasing when naturally and sincerely displayed. As the Ionic column, emblematic of Wisdom, bears a mean proportion between the ornamental and solid orders, so our characters should preserve the mean between a sordid, mechanical existence and artistic temperamentalism.

 

The acquisition of knowledge and the training of the mind into habits of logical thought is no less a part of character building than the training of the body. The study of the Seven Liberal Arts and Sciences is typical of that intellectual development that is necessary before wisdom can be attained and the blending of the beautiful and pleasing arts with the useful sciences teaches us that something more than utility is required in the well rounded character. One may reason logically in ungrammatical language but if his speech be polished by the use of correct grammatical constructions and adorned by the use of rhetorical figures, his reasoning and personality are given an added force. While the training of the mind to a high degree in the mathematical sciences is desirable it is not sufficient in a well developed character for one so trained may become coldly precise unless a love for the beautiful enters in to temper his exactitude. If in studying astronomy, a man becomes so engrossed with the lines, angles, circles and distances of the heavenly bodies that he perceives none of the beauty of the handiwork of the Great Architect nor hears the "music of the stars," he is one of those who having eyes to see, see not and having ears to hear, hear not.

 

One of the purposes of this degree is to teach perfection in practice and accuracy in information. Science is systematic thought; it is organized knowledge, while art is skill in the employment of the principles of a science. One should cultivate a due regard for all phases of intellectual activity, remembering that perfection in any art or calling will come in the degree that knowledge of it is systematic and orderly. A Fellow Craft should not be content to perform his duty in a mechanical way but should learn the underlying scientific principles upon which it is based, thus becoming an artist instead of a laborer; his daily toil a joy instead of a task and his life a blessing and inspiration to those who come in contact with him.

 

Realizing that man is a builder engaged in the erection of a temple of character fit for the indwelling of the living God, Freemasonry uses the Temple of Solomon as a type to visualize the processes of building and to illustrate the end in view. Now that you have been passed to the degree of Fellow Craft, the account of the building of this Temple as recorded in the Bible will be of peculiar interest to you. Many traditions in regard to the Temple have been handed down to us, one of the most beautiful being the legend of the Fellow Craft degree. This legend is founded upon a verse in the sixth chapter of I Kings, which is in these words: "The door for the Middle Chamber was in the right side of the house and they went up by winding stairs into the Middle Chamber and out of the Middle into the Third." We must not confuse history and tradition. Eighty thousand men would find it impossible to ascend to the second story of a building in one afternoon and receive their wages nor would the room contain the wages due them. This incident is of value to us as Masons only insofar as we see the lessons designed to be taught and make practical use of them in the development of our characters.

 

After faithfully performing his duty the ancient Fellow Craft was invested with certain words, signs and tokens that secured his admission into the Middle Chamber where he received the wages due him. A shirker or an impostor might ascend the stairs but only he who was duly prepared by being in possession of these words, signs and tokens could gain admission.

 

So in life. Every man is invested with certain words, signs and tokens that determine the circle to which he shall be admitted. Every honest effort put forth and every faithful performance of duty bring their reward. A man may enter any circle or attain any desired height if he shall work until his labor brings as a reward the words, signs and tokens necessary to gain an entrance into the coveted place. The passwords must be unequivocal and no impostor by dissimulation can escape the vigilance that eternally rewards a man according to his deserts. There must be evidence in plenty that the preparation is not superficial nor assumed as a cloak to gain unworthy ends. It is not until a sign or token is given that the required qualities have become established as part and parcel of his very being that a man is accepted with confidence into the innermost circle of his desire. He cannot hope to enter the circle of those who have labored and earned the wages due who displays no token that by earnest effort he has earned his reward. Man must give equal value for what he receives. He must pay the price.

 

So also, the laborer is worthy of his hire. Solomon gave the workers upon the Temple a wage of Corn, Wine and Oil. These, being emblematic of nourishment, refreshment and joy, indicate that the honest, earnest effort receives not only a material wage but that there should be a wage of satisfaction and joy in the performance of duty without which a man labors in vain and spends his strength for naught. He who finds no joy in his work has not received the full wages of a Fellow Craft.

 

There are three things that a Fellow Craft should value highly and treasure as precious jewels; an attentive ear, an instructive tongue and a faithful breast. The attentive ear symbolizes that earnest desire for knowledge, that openness of mind, that willingness to learn that keeps a man young in spite of his years. No quality is more valuable than that of finding the instructive tongue in all the experiences of life, hearing its message and treasuring that message within the repository of a faithful breast. He who earnestly seeks knowledge will value every source of information and if the instructive tongue be sharp and wound the pride or tear the heart yet will he receive its message humbly, gladly. "Man, know thyself," is a goal gained sooner through experience in the ways of adversity than by resting on flowery beds of ease or through the lying tongue of flattery.

 

And now, my brother, that you have attained the Middle Chamber and stand in the strength of manhood to receive the reward of a faithful workman, remember that it is not by your own strength alone that you have attained this position but by the assistance and guidance of the Great Architect of the Universe. "Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord." All the labor you have expended and all the efforts you have put forth in the development of your character have been to the end that you might attain the Wisdom to know the will of God concerning you and to make of yourself a temple fit for the indwelling of the Most High.

 

The true Mason is essentially a religious man, fearing God and keeping his laws and reverence for his name should be a distinguishing characteristic of all who have gone this way. Let no profanity or irreverance for his Holy Name bring discredit upon your profession as a Mason.

 

----o----

 

A HINT AS TO PENALTIES BY BRO. H. L. HAYWOOD, IOWA

 

Shakespeare borrowed many of his plots from other authors and from old books, but the materials wherewith he filled in the frame-work was taken, almost all of it, from observation and experience. The dramatist was a man with wide-opened eyes who was quick to catch up contemporaneous ideas, facts and customs in order to establish a basis of contact with his hearers and readers. It is this that gives some value to the reference made in The Tempest to a method of execution that is not without a mite of interest to students of the origins of our ritual. The Tempest was written, according to a consensus of expert opinion, somewhere near 1611. At this time, as the reader will know, the ritual had not yet been cast into its present form; the inference may be made that the method of execution referred to by Shakespeare was well known in the beginnings of the seventeenth century, and that the men who wrote the penalties may have borrowed a hint from it. This is a reasonable conjecture not to be lightly thrown aside when research is being made for light on such a foggy problem as the origin of the penalties.

 

The reference above mentioned occurs in the famous description of the ship-wreck in the first scene of the first act of The Tempest. The boatswain, who has been laboring breathlessly to make his ship storm-safe and to keep his men toiling toward safety, has been interrupted by the nobles who have come up on deck. He upbraids them for their interference, whereupon Antonio, the Duke of Milan, exclaims:

 

"We're merely cheated out of our lives by drunkards. This wide-chopped (wide-mouthed) rascal-- wouldst thou might lie drowning the washing of ten tides !"

 

On this Professor Hudson makes the following comment: "Pirates were hanged on the shore at low water-mark, and left till three tides had overwashed them. 'Ten' is substituted for 'three,' either for the sake of alliteration or to intensify the guilt of 'the widechopped rascal.' "

 

----o----

 

UNIFICATION IN THE PHILIPPINES

 

BY BRO. CHARLES S. LOBINGIER, CHINA

 

March 15, 1917.

 

To the Sovereign Grand Commander and the Supreme Council:

 

Illustrious and Very Dear Brethren:

 

IN closing his memorable Allocution (1) of 1915 the Grand Commander said: "Let us above all else be united! Discord and dissension are destructive forces engendered by causes which should not be tolerated among Masons. It is only when 'unified' that our Scottish Freemasonry can truly exercise that influence in the World which its power should enable it to do."

 

It is with a gratification second only to that which I know you will all feel as a result of it, that I am able to report for my jurisdiction a practical observance of this admonition, and a complete realization of the ideal. Within the past year a divided house has been joined together. Where there was diversity there is now unity; where there was weakness there is potential strength. In short it is my privilege to announce the unification of our rite in the Philippines. Not that there has ever been dissension among the bodies of our obedience here; but, as you will note from previous reports of mine, Scottish Rite bodies, acknowledging allegiance to other Supreme Councils, have continued to exist there alongside our own. The reasons for this were mainly historical and call for a brief review.

 

In the Philippines, Masonry considerably antedates the American occupation. As long ago as 1856 the Spanish Admiral Malcampo, later Governor General, organized a lodge at Cavite under the Grand Orient of Portugal. (2) For some years, however, Masonic membership in the Philippines was restricted to Spaniards. Finally in the later eighties a movement was inaugurated in Spain itself (3) by Miguel Morayta, recently deceased, and then head of the Spanish Grand Orient, and Marcelo H. del Pilar, a Filipino residing in Spain, which resulted in admitting some leading natives of the Philippines into the ranks of Masonry; and then it began to exert a real influence upon the affairs of the archipelago. It was the ideas of the Scottish Rite which largely furnished the inspiration for the uprising against the Spanish government in 1896. All Masons were then under suspicion; many suffered and others died for their allegiance to the craft and its principles. Then, too, the Spanish Masons were practically the only Spaniards who sympathized with the Filipinos in their struggles for a more liberal form of government. It was not strange, therefore, that, in the hearts of the latter, Spanish Freemasonry won a high place and that those who had allied themselves therewith were loth to leave it notwithstanding changed conditions. Indeed I sometimes wonder if we, ourselves, have rated sufficiently high the character and achievements of our Spanish Brethren and if we have not been too prone to judge them by adventurers, parading under their name, in our own country. We must remember that to be a Mason in Spain involves a great personal sacrifice and that few but the tried and true are found in their ranks. Perhaps for that reason they are extremely careful whom they receive and require a long period of probation (4) such as formerly prevailed in our own jurisdiction. (5)

 

American Masonry, coming into the Philippines with the army, followed for a time the course of its predecessor in admitting only Americans, just as the Spanish lodges at first received only Europeans, but in establishing the Scottish Rite there I insisted that there should be no invidious distinctions of nationality and the first class upon which I conferred the 320, in 1911, included a well known Filipino, now a Judge, who has been very helpful to us ever since. Other Filipinos, not inconsiderable in number, have joined the Manila bodies from time to time, and, so far as I have been able to prevent it, there has been no deviation from the principle upon which those bodies were started. Meanwhile, not unnaturally, some of the lodges and other bodies claiming authority from the Grand Orient of Spain continued to work. The transfer of sovereignty had severed that authority as completely as it had the political tie (6) but it was difficult to make this clear to Masons who knew little of the Anglo-Saxon doctrine of exclusive territorial jurisdiction; who felt a sentimental attachment to the Spanish Grand Orient for the reasons already mentioned; and who, as yet, saw little manifestation of a similar attitude among American Masons. It seemed like asking much of our Filipino brethren to require them to surrender an affiliation which had cost them so dear while nothing was offered in its place, and when they were not responsible for the grounds on which the requirement was based. While, therefore, our Scottish Rite bodies in the Philippines could hold no official intercourse with those claiming authority from Spain, it was quite possible to get their viewpoint and to prepare the ground for a solution of the most important problem which confronted us--the union under one head of all Scottish Rite Masons in the Archipelago. If you will refer to my previous reports upon our status here you will note that while I have repeatedly called attention to the existence of a Scottish Rite Chapter of Rose Croix, claiming authority from Spain, I have never recommended drastic action toward it, believing that a solution of the difficulty could be found which would be just and honorable to both parties. Fortunately my belief has proven to have been well founded.

 

The Grand Commander will recall that, during a conference with him in October, 1915, I brought up the question of establishing a new group of bodies in the Philippines and he stated that the granting of Letters Temporary was entirely within my discretion. Among the purposes which I had in view in this project was unification and the placing of the Rite on a basis which would render it a real force in the country.

 

Upon my return I took the matter up with two of our members, Bros. Austin Craig, 32d, and Manuel Camus, 32d, who were in close touch with Masons of Spanish allegiance, and by February of 1916 conditions were ripe for opening a new Lodge of Perfection. The petitioners for Letters Temporary were all members of the Manila bodies but the new lodge was soon exercising its express authority to receive new members by initiating and affiliation.

 

On August 14, 1916, I opened under Letters Temporary, Burgos Chapter of Rose Croix; on December 22, Malcampo Preceptory was opened and finally on February 14, 1917, I enjoyed the extreme satisfaction of completing the group at an occasion marked by imposing ceremonies, including the presentation of Letters Temporary to Rizal Consistory.

 

Meanwhile the work of winning over our brethren of Spanish allegiance had been actively proceeding and in this Brothers Craig and Camus had found an active ally in Bro. Manuel L. Quezon, 32d, then of the Spanish bodies. Toward the close of prolonged negotiations and innumerable conferences with members of the last named bodies I addressed to them the following letter:

 

Manila, P.I., Feb. 5, 1917.

 

To the Scottish Rite Masons residing in the Philippines, but belonging to Bodies Chartered by Other Recognized Supreme Councils:

 

Very Dear Brethren:

 

In the name of Universal Masonry, for whose realization we all hope and strive, and in behalf of the Mother Supreme Council of the World, whose Deputy I have the honor to be, I take pleasure in extending to you a cordial and fraternal invitation to present applications for affiliation with the Bodies of the Rite now working in this Valley under the authority of said last named Supreme Council.

 

It is of the utmost importance to the interests of the Craft in these Islands that Masonry in all its forms be united. In union there is strength; in division weakness.

 

The growth of the Bodies referred to has been gratifying and rapid, but the Mother Council long to bring under its protecting aegis all Scottish Rite Masons residing within its territorial jurisdiction, and to enlist them under a common banner.

 

Come with us Brethren, and make the union complete.        Fraternally yours, Charles S. Lobingier, 33d Hon., Deputy of the Supreme Council.

 

The members of the Spanish Bodies finally decided to dissolve their organizations, return their charters and petition for affiliation with the new Philippine bodies. They did this without exacting any concessions in return. They surrendered a status which was to them cherished and valuable; they even paid the fees of "newly created" members under Statutes, Art. VI, Sec. 6, and they did not reserve the small privilege of continuing their former bodies under new charters.

 

Their petitions were acted upon favorably by such of the bodies addressed as were then organized and they were ready for affiliation in the highest degree which they had received in the Spanish bodies. Not many of them, however, had passed beyond the 30d; for in Spain, as elsewhere in Europe, the 31d and 32d are not conferred generally but are confined to a limited number, much like our 33d Honorary; and, as I have already shown, the Regulations of the Spanish Supreme Council require a much longer interval to elapse between the reception of degrees than do our own.

 

To complete the affiliation of the petitioners it was necessary that each "take all the pledges and vows of all the Degrees of the Body with which he affiliates." (7) For this purpose they were assembled in large numbers on the evenings of February 12 and 14. Our obligations had all been translated into Spanish by Bro. Leo Fischer, 32d, Secretary of the Philippine Bodies, for the benefit of those petitioners who understand that language better than English, and were administered in full after the body to which they corresponded had been duly opened. The new Philippine bodies will need to work in Spanish as well as English and it will save them a tremendous and unnecessary burden if they can have the benefit of what has been done in Porto Rico.

 

Thus, through the organization of the new Philippine bodies, the unification of the Scottish Rite in the Archipelago has been accomplished. I trust that the Charters for these new bodies will be issued in due course. For I cannot but regard this result as one of the most important and far reaching achievements which has yet been consummated within the jurisdiction of our Supreme Council.

 

(1) Transactions, (1915) 148.

(2) This was known as Logia Primera Luz Filipina. See The Far Eastern Freemason, II, 103.

(3) See Derbyshire, Introduction to Translation of Rizal's "Noli Me Tangere" XXXIX.

(4) Bro. C. A. Tansilll, K.C.C.H., of the Manila Bodies has been investigating this interesting topic and reports as follows: "The minimum time for progression in the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry as practiced by the Spanish Grand Orient requires that an Entered Apprentice must serve to the satisfaction of his brethren, not less than five months before being passed to the degree of Fellow Craft, and the Fellow Craft must serve to the satisfaction of his brethren, not less than seven months before being raised to the sublime degree of Master Mason. Thus, an Entered Apprentice is under the careful scrutiny of his brethren for at least one year before being raised to the sublime degree of Master Mason.

 

"Subjoined is the minimum time for progression and advancement in the Supreme Council of Spain, under which Supreme Council the 4th, 9th, 13th, 18th, 24th, 30th, 31st, 32nd and 33rd degrees are considered essentially necessary to be conferred in full form:

 

"Master Mason--1 year to receive the 4d

4d " --1 year to receive the 9d

9d " --1 year to receive the 13d

13d Mason--1 year to receive the 18d

18d " --2 years to receive the 24d

24d " --2 years to receive the 30d

30d " --1 year to receive the 31d

31d " --1 year to receive the 32d

32d " --1 year to receive the 33d

 

"It will be noticed that an Entered Apprentice may not attain the 32d until after at least eleven years' service, and that it requires ten years' service as a Master Mason before receiving the 32d."

 

(5) See the observations of Ill. Bro. Hugo in the New Age (XXV 40 et seq.) showing that eighty-one months were once required for taking twenty-five degrees.

(6) Allocution, 1905, p. 47; Cf. Id. 1903, p. 45.

(7) Statutes, sec. 32, Art. VIII.

 

----o----

 

AN AMBASSADOR

BY BRO. JOSEPH FORT NEWTON, ENGLAND

 

LINKING ENGLAND AND AMERICA

 

PRESIDENT WILSON'S desire is to make the world "secure for democracy," to abolish the nightmare fear of sudden war, and with it the necessity for maintaining huge armies and navies. It is no selfish motive, for he wishes for the people whom he rules what they would eagerly and whole-heartedly share with all mankind.

 

At present that high purpose is not only unaccomplished, but actually menaced with final disappointment. So far from hard-won democratic institutions being safe they are at this moment in dire peril. They are in peril so great and urgent that a peace-loving people, separated from Europe by a thousand leagues of ocean, still cherishing a tradition inherited from Washington and Franklin of non-intervention in the quarrels of the Old World, feel that duty, religion, honour, and humanity bid them take up arms and wage war with all their might against a soulless autocracy which threatens to enslave the world.

 

This seems to me the greatest event of modern times, because, if it be crowned with success, as we believe it will be, it may well inaugurate a new era, the Era of Settled Peace. And not only or chiefly because the "men that delight in war" have been subdued, but because the association of Britain and America in this great and holy cause is likely to eradicate, to uproot the last vestige of remembrance of the quarrel which separated them.

 

That quarrel has long ago been virtually forgotten in Britain. But American history begins not with Julius Csesar, but with George Washington, not with the Battle of Hastings, but with a revolution, which resulted in thirteen British colonies, hitherto passionately loyal, taking the style and title of the United States of America; not with Magna Charta, but with that Declaration of Independence the signing of which is the chief landmark in the American citizen's historical landscape.

 

The boys and girls read of these things in the earliest pages of their school-books. Bunker Hill and Lexington become magical names to them. First impressions being lasting, grown-up Americans have been apt to forget it was a German king, George the Third, opposed by the best and noblest of his advisers, and contrary to the wishes of the people of Britain, whose blind obstinacy and congenital insanity drove the American colonies into revolt.

 

Yes, and they are also apt to forget, whilst knowing speeches of Franklin, Webster and Lincoln by heart, the words thundered by Pitt in the British House of Commons: "I rejoice that America has resisted. Three millions of people so dead to all the feelings of liberty as voluntarily to submit to be slaves, would have been fit instruments to make slaves of the rest."

 

Today those three millions have become one hundred millions. Yet, mark the miracle, America is still but a larger Britain across the ocean. From Atlantic to Pacific she speaks the tongue of Shakespeare and Bunyan; her public and private life is based on English custom; her traditions and literature are one with the Motherland; her ideals of civilisation those of the isle from which her Pilgrim Fathers sailed.

 

Furthermore, America's greatest church was founded by Wesley, an Oxford clergyman; her two leading universities, Yale and Harvard, by Englishmen; every president she has elected, except two, has borne a British surname. Her laws are confessedly founded on English law, and the usages and precedents of the courts in the two countries are almost identical. Her ideas of liberty, justice, and freedom, for conscience, for the individual, for the Press, are the ideas promulgated by the great Puritans, Cromwell, Hampden, Milton, and Bunyan.

 

In short, the influence upon the fundamental life of America of all other nations combined is negligible compared with the profound and ineradicable influence of Britain.

 

Then how greatly desirable is a sympathetic and intelligent understanding between these two kindred peoples. Neither nation has taken sufficient pains to understand the other. Superficial differences have been able to obscure fundamental unities.

 

But in the furnace of this world war, upon the anvil of a common and noble purpose, under the hammer, kindred peoples will be rewelded, and then in their keeping chiefly will be the future of mankind.

 

And who can doubt that the heart-union of the British Empire and the United States of America means for the world an era of unbroken Peace in which service and not enslavement, enlightenment and not exploitation, arts - ay, hearts - and not arms will be the watchword of statesmen and rulers? Certainly all whe help forward this great friendship are thereby labouring for the better future of humanity.

 

----o----

 

EDITORIAL

 

FRATERNIZING IN FRANCE

 

FRATERNIZING with the French Masons progresses apace, one Grand Lodge after another having stepped in that direction. It is curious to note that while we are showing such a tendency to cross the frontier of our own creation against the Freemasonry of France, the British whom we first followed away from the land of Lafayette are not nearly so ready to return though their regard for that nation has been proven by the greatest sacrifices and the utmost tests of loyalty and devotion.

 

While British are formally far from the Freemasonry of France they are close to the French Freemasons. There has been neither submission nor subjection. The one and the other retain their individual dogmas, their peculiar doctrines endure, yet their entwining friendliness calls a truce to the acidities of the past.

 

Frigidity between French and British is melted into fraternity by the sunlight of a common cause. Righteousness enriches recollection with the warmer treasures of a joint purpose for humanity. Each with parallel aims proves to the other how adequate indeed to the end is their resource for good, that perhaps the difference after all is rather in name and phrases than in principles.

 

We shall sympathetically watch the fine old traditional Masonry of Greater Britain - of the United Kingdom and its overseas empire, the mother country and her colonies - and that stalwart French Freemasonry with her sociological and philosophic excellencies, as the two go forward in the brunt of gigantic battles. Out from all these gory struggles there will be a rebirth of the ancient faiths, not throwing them upon the scrap heap, but the old less cold, the renewed less raw.

 

Our hearts are with them. When dawns the sun of victory there will be many a tale told of the place Freemasonry has filled for brethren united in the family of fraternity though having their birthrights from quite different Grand Lodges. R.I.C.

 

* * *

 

THE A.A.O.N.M.S.

 

Perhaps the Committee on History will this year make a final report to the Imperial Council at Atlantic City. Maybe this is not to be expected.

 

Death has been busy with the older members whose memories held the facts of the Shrine's origin. Every year this reservoir recedes. Whatever we can do to get the particulars into perfect consonance and into complete records should be done while our pioneer brethren remain available for checking up the information advanced by others, and being themselves in turn subjected to the same sort of checks against any and every inaccuracy.

 

Not unlikely there has also been an inclination to preserve the true story of the Shrine from what some may deem excessive publicity. Why blaze with bright sunlight what has thrived without it? Where there was no evil, there are no regrets remaining. And what a joke will endure while there is an element of surprise about it is one thing. Turning the light upon it brings about an entirely different outcome.

 

But have we not arrived at the stage when the true story of the Shrine's origin may be disclosed? Has the old account of its Eastern source any life? How muck is worth repetition as fact or as joke?

 

Writing as one who dearly loves the Shrine for its charity and cheer, who richly enjoys both its boys and noise, sympathy and cymbals, I beg of the historians candor. For to me the Shrine will be as attractive if its first ritual were fashioned by Fleming, flourished with Florence, and practically elaborated by Briggs, these noblest of the nobility. Lower Broadway, or the Knickerbocker Club, or Moquin's old quarters, suit me just as well for a place of origin as a fellaheen's hut near the pyramids. All may not think so. Tradition dies hard among Masons. For those there will ever be jewels such as the sad passing of our late Brother (?) the Khedive of Egypt as reported and adorned by a whimsically diverting correspondent at Malta! But the truth will out, even in an affidavit. R.I.C.

 

----o----

 

RAIN

 

It always rains when I go out

And clears when I come in,

Until I very often doubt

The theory of sin.

They tell me that it rains upon

The unjust and the just;

It doesn't rain on ev'ryone

The way they say it must.

 

Some sinners never get a bath

When they go out to stroll;

The weather always pours its wrath

On me, unlucky soul.

There is no justice in the strife

Of living, that is plain;

I've had to take, all thru my life.

Somebody else's rain.

 

- Douglas Mallock.

 

----o----

 

THE LIBRARY

 

EDITED BY BRO. H.L. HAYWOOD

 

The object of this Department is to acquaint our readers with time-tried Masonic books not always familiar; with the best Masonic literature now being published; and with such non-Masonic books as may especially appeal to Masons. The Library Editor will be very glad to render any possible assistance to studious individuals or to Study Clubs and Lodges, either through this Department or by personal correspondence; if you wish to learn something concerning any book - what is its nature, what is its value, or how it may be obtained - be free to ask him. If you have read a book which you think is worth a renew write us about it; if you desire to purchase a book - any book - we null help you get it, with no charge for the service. Make this your Department of Literary Consultation.

 

"BOBBIE BURNS"

 

HALF the charm of Burns lies in the fact that one can dare to call him "Bobbie!" Mark Twain once attempted to call Emerson "Ralph," and Longfellow "Henry" (or was it "Hen!"), but he met such a rebuff that the memory of it smarted all his life. Browning bore the same christian name as Burns, but who has ever dreamed of speaking of "Bob" Browning ? Or who would ever refer to Browning's great colleague as "Alf" Tennyson? The very mention of such familiarities makes us shiver! But it seems far more fitting to speak of "Bobbie" Burns than it would of "Robert" Burns.

 

This, I say, is half the charm of the Scottish singer; he comes so close home to us, he seems so like a personal friend, that we instinctively think of him as one of our intimate chums. So was it with those who knew him in the flesh; to them also he was just "Bobbie," and to Scotchmen he ever will be nothing else. Burns was one of the most democratic of men. It is easy to be democratic in theory; it is often difficult to play the part; Burns played the part. He was himself that which he sang, and never did a man sing so much of the joy of friendship, the glow of fellowship, or of the appeal of average, undistinguished human nature. Many of his love affairs were with peasant girls and many of his friendships were with peasant men.

 

Yet, in spite of this, it has become somewhat difficult for a twentieth century American to know Burns, and this for at least two reasons. For one thing, most of his poetry sprang up out of actual experiences, and it is often necessary to know the story of those experiences in order to have a clew to the poetry. For another thing, he wrote his best songs and poems in the Scotch dialect and this is now almost as hard to read as Chaucer's English. How many, for instance, would know offhand that "ilka green shaw" means "a wooded dell," or that a "laverock" is a "thrush" ? Burns' poems are strewn with these Scotticisms, most of which are as so much Greek to the majority of us.

 

It is for these reasons that one may take pleasure in recommending to one's friends - all of whom may be presumed to be lovers of Burns' poetry - such a work as W. A. Neilson's "Burns: How to Know Him" (published by Bobbs-Merrill of Indianapolis, at $1.50). Mr. Neilson tells the story of the poet's life in such manner as to cast in relief the biographical experiences which throw most light on his work; and he also writes into the margin the English equivalent of all the Scotch expressions. Furthermore, he quotes nearly all the old favorites from the poems in such order as to place each one in its appropriate biographical context.

 

This biographical context is of great importance in understanding most of the songs, for Burns was truly one who "wrote from the heart." Some poets are deliberate artists; they sit down cold-bloodedly to build up a burnished column of verse, as Gray did in his "Elegy"; others are children of inspiration; they can never write anything worth while except when the mood is upon them; Burns was such an one. The poems which he wrote for special occasions, or because he chanced to consider it his duty to write something, are almost invariably artificial and lifeless, as one may learn from the various specimens of the same displayed by Mr. Neilson; but when it was a genuine passion that caused him to take his pen in hand he could compose such songs as never a poet could before him. Carlyle declared "My Nannie, O" to be the greatest song ever written. Carlyle was Scotch himself, and may therefore have had his bias, but others not Scotch have agreed with him.

 

Many of the finest flowers of Burns' song grew up, it may be confessed, from a rather rank soil. The poet was possessed of a dangerous nature. His blood was usually at the boiling point, and all too frequently it boiled over. Even in his own circles he was called "a wild one," and the Burns worshipper is never permitted to forget that his idol had feet of clay. But the poet himself surpassed everybody in regret for his wildness and never have lines of truer penitence been penned than are certain of his verses; he had a hard row to hoe both domestically and financially and allowances must be made accordingly even by the most puritan.

 

But it may be said without exaggeration, and without making light of any of the great moral sanctions, that the very darkness of much of the background of Burns' poetry only serves to bring out in stronger relief the amazing qualities of his genius. Shakespeare would take over an old bloodthirsty play and transfigure it; in his genius an Italian tale or an old Danish drama would suffer a sea change into something rich and strange. The genius of Burns had the same magical power when dealing with his own raw experiences or misadventures. Take, as an example, that song entitled "Ae Fond Kiss" which contains the haunting lines,

 

"Had we never loved sae kindly,

Had we never loved sae blindly,

Never met - or never parted,

We had ne'er been broken-hearted."

 

This song, and the companion song, entitled "My Nannie's Awa," sprang from a love affair of which Burns himself came to feel very much ashamed; nevertheless, his genius transformed it into a melody which will sing itself around the world while men continue to love poetry.

 

No other singer can ever have quite the same place in the affection of Masons because Burns was the first great poet laureate of our Fraternity; every lodge should keep a volume of his poems at hand to serve as a poetical commentary on the teachings of the Fraternity. Those lodges which desire to build up a Burns library will receive a full list of Burnsiana from the Grand Lodge Library of Iowa, situated at Cedar Rapids; this library now possesses one of the largest collections of books on Burns and by Burns that can be found anywhere.

 

* * *

 

"THE INTERPRETATION OF DREAMS"

 

Dreams unroll their evanescent dramas within those houses of sleep which are nearer to us than breathing and closer than hands and feet, yet are they often so eerie, so fantastic, that we wonder whether they may not belong to an order of being very remote from our own. They are ours, they are not ours; they borrow such substance as they have from our waking hours, their language is our language, their colors are such as we have seen, yet their figures and their motions are so fantastic that when we awaken from them into the actual world we feel that we have returned from some aerial voyage into a land that lies over the abysses of the inane. Is it any cause for wonder that men who dream every night of their lives are quick to forget the insubstantial phantoms? that ancient peoples attributed them to gods or demons? that credulous medieval folk feigned to accept them as prophecies from the unseen? or that the more pragmatic men of today dismiss them as having no significance at all ?

 

This indifference with which most of us are wont to consider our dreams is not shared, however, by the men of science; how could they be, when it is the dearest dogma of science that every slightest thing, the atom of dust, the faintest nuance of feeling, has its value, its ray of light to throw on the ineluctable mystery of existence ? Dreams are normal functions of the human mind; as much a part of ourselves as our own brains; how can we continue to imagine that they play no part in the real business of our lives ?

 

Of the scores of men of science who have undertaken to translate the rosetta stone of dreams, Professor Sigmund Freud is easily chief. Assisted by a band of workers he has analyzed thousands of dreams, and the sleepers whose visions he has studied have come from both sexes, from all ages, and from many walks of life. After years of such research he and his colleagues have something to tell us about the least understood of all our common experiences, and it must be worth our while to listen to these savants, though we cannot always understand them nor always agree with them. The story of these explorations into the shadowy lands will be found, unhampered by many of the technicalities of the specialist, in Professor Freud's "Interpretation of Dreams," (Macmillan Co., New York, $4.00).

 

Professor Freud tells us that our dreams are composed of our own experiences albeit these are usually, and for a good reason, disguised beyond recognition. The larger part of these materials are borrowed from the day immediately preceding; next in order come the recollections of childhood, many of which have seldomly lifted themselves into the waking consciousness; and lastly are those memories which drift, like flotsam and jetsam, over the intervening years. These may be memories of thoughts, of feelings, or of events.

 

Oftentimes the dream will make use of some physical sensation arising from the body during the very moment of the fantasy. The purpose of this, so it seems, is to protect us against awakening. If, for instance, a member of the body is exposed to the cold the unpleasant sensation would arouse the sleeper did not the genius of the dream dress it up in some exciting drama to hold the attention and to prevent it returning to the actual surroundings. "In a certain sense," writes our author, “all dreams are dreams of convenience: they serve the purpose of continuing sleep instead of awakening. The dream is the guardian of sleep, not the disturber of it."

 

But this guardianship of sleep is not, so Professor Freud believes, the principal function of the dream; he believes that in a majority of cases the dream "may be recognized as the fulfillment of a wish." In this simple statement the savant has presented an hypothesis which has revolutionized the whole subject and has caused many psychologists to recast their theories. As his own exposition of this idea runs through almost 500 pages I cannot hope to explain it in as many words, but I may be able, if due caution is employed, to furnish some slight hint of the matter. It is the nature of the mind to be incessantly desiring; it is the nature of our surroundings to thwart the larger number of these wishes; when a desire is thwarted it creates a tension in the mind which causes a feeling of uneasiness or pain; these thwarted desires, always pressing toward fulfillment, resort to the device of dreaming and therein find the satisfaction denied them in the actual world. Were our unfulfilled wishes always accumulating their tension the nervous system would at last be shattered by the strain; dreaming is nothing other than the mechanism whereby the mind finds relief, illusory but sufficient, and thereby frees itself of its otherwise intolerable tension.

 

Some may object to this by saying that their dreams are the last things that they would wish, so terrible are they, oftentimes. Professor Freud's explanation of this is one of the most ingenius features of his argument. He says that many of our wishes are such as we would not even acknowledge to ourselves and that therefore to present themselves before the mind they must disguise themselves. When John of Patmos wrote his Revelation, the last book in our bible, he had a few simple things to say, but these things were distasteful to the Roman authorities; to get his book past the censors he composed it in allegorical fashion; the quickest-witted Roman could not discern behind the phantasmagoria of the book the message which it carried to the initiated. Professor Freud contends that a similar process goes on in our dreaming, and the mental process which throws its strange disguises about a dream he calls "the censor complexes," thereby using the very phraseology of our illustration. A very terrible dream may thus prove after all to be the disguised fulfillment of a wish.

 

In its habits of disguise the dream faculty uses certain symbolisms and these are employed many times over, by all persons, just as writers repeat the same figures of speech; by studying and comparing thousands of dreams Professor Freud and his helpers have placed in our hands a key to the language of our visions. Equipped with this, and with a modicum of patience and curiosity, we can learn to interpret our own dreams. He who undertakes this will be surprised to learn how simple are many of the most gigantic grotesqueries; he will learn nothing of any world outside the real world; he will receive no messages from gods or ghosts; but he will learn many things about himself which may prove a surprise. Did space permit I might describe such instances of self-revelation, and I might indicate certain practical uses of dream analysis, especially in way of the diagnosis and the cure of a few diseases; as it is I must refer the reader to the fascinating pages of Sigmund Freud's "Interpretation of Dreams."

 

This book is of considerable interest to Masons because it tends to throw light on the origin of ancient and universal symbols. Freud holds that, as the sex impulse is one of the strongest in human nature, a great many dreams are disguised sex wishes or resumes of secret sex experiences. Also, he has discovered that the dream faculty makes uses of the same sex symbols over and over again, and these symbols, so he holds, are identical with many of the symbols used by secret societies and religions from the dawn of history. Many of our Masonic scholars, and they the sanest, have always held that certain of our emblems and symbols, the pillars for example, originally had a sex origin; to those who care to pursue such studies Professor Freud's work will be most illuminating.

 

----o----

 

THE QUESTION BOX

 

THE BUILDER is an open forum for free and fraternal discussion. Each of its contributors writes under his own name, and is responsible for his own opinions. Believing that a unity of spirit is better than a uniformity of opinion, the Research Society, as such, does not champion any one school of Masonic thought as over against another; but offers to all alike a medium for fellowship and instruction, leaving each to stand or fall by its own merits.

 

The Question Box and Correspondence Column are open to all members of the Society at all times. Questions of any nature on Masonic subjects are earnestly invited from our members, particularly those connected with Lodges or Study Clubs which are following our "Bulletin Course of Masonic Study." When requested, questions will be answered promptly by mail before publication in this department.

 

"REMEMBER NOW THY CREATOR"

 

Can you put me on the track of some reliable exposition of Ecclesiasties 12:1-7? It sounds beautiful in recitation, but largely meaningless. As chaplain of Norwood Lodge, No. 119, in the Grand Registry of Manitoba I am especially interested as it falls to me to recite the passage in "raising." "Let there be light." L.F., Manitoba.

 

Good for you, Brother Fraser! The bane of Masonry is the constant repetition of the ritual by men who never make an attempt to discover the meaning of what they are saying.

 

The sacred sentences which fall on the ears of the candidate as he makes his mystic round are so heavy with poignant beauty that one hesitates to intrude the harsh language of prose upon such strains of poetry, solemn sweet. We may well believe that the men who introduced the reading here had no other thought than that the words might the better create an atmosphere in which the coming drama of hate and doom might all the more impressively come home to the heart of the participants. If such was their purpose neither Shakespeare nor Dante could have found words or sentiments more appropriate to the hour. There is a music and majesty in the twelfth chapter of Ecclesiastes which leaves us dumb with awe and wonder and our hearts open to the impressions of a tragedy alongside which the doom of Lear seems insignificant and vain.

 

For generations the commentators of Holy Writ have seen in the allegory of this chapter a reference to the decay of the body and the coming of death; to them, the golden bowl was the skull, the silver cord was the spinal nerve, "the keepers of the house" were the hands, the "strong men" the limbs; the whole picture is made to symbolize the body's falling into ruin and the approach of death. * One hesitates to differ from an interpretation so true in its application and so dignified by its associations. But it must be doubted whether the sad and disillusioned man who penned the lines possessed either the knowledge of human anatomy implied by the old interpretation or the intention to make his poem into a medical description of senility. A more thorough scholarship has come to see in the allegory a picture of the horror of death set forth by metaphors drawn from an Oriental thunderstorm.

 

It had been a day of wind and cloud and rain; but the clouds did not, as was usual, disperse after the shower. They returned again and covered the heavens with their blackness. Thunderstorms were so uncommon in Palestine that they always inspired fear and dread, as many a paragraph in the Scriptures will testify. As the storm broke the strong men guarding the gates of rich men's houses began to tremble; the hum of the little mills where the women were always grinding at even time suddenly

 

* For this version see the article by Bro. Wm. F. Kuhn, "When the Almond Tree Blossoms," THE BUILDER, vol. I, p. 138.

 

 

ceased because the grinders were frightened from their toil; the women, imprisoned in the harems, who had been gazing out of the lattice to watch the activities of the streets, drew back into their dark rooms; even the revelers, who had been sitting about their tables through the afternoon, eating dainties and sipping wine, lost their appetites, and many were made so nervous that the sudden twitting of a bird would cause them to start with anxious surprise.

 

As the terror of the storm, the poet goes on to say, so is the coming of death, when man "goes to his home of everlasting and mourners go about the streets." Whatever men may have been, good or bad, death brings equal terror to all. A man may have been rich, like the golden lamp hung on a silver chain in the palace of a king; he may have been as poor as the earthen pitcher in which maidens carried water from the public well, or even as crude as the heavy wooden wheel wherewith they drew the water; what his state was matters not, death is as dread a calamity to the one as to the other. When that dark adventure comes the fine possessions in which men had sought security will be vain to stay the awful passing into night. "Vanity of vanities; all is vanity." The one bulwark against the common calamity, the Preacher urges, is to remember the Creator, yea, to remember Him from youth to old age; to believe that one goes to stand before Him is the one and only solace in an hour when everything falls to ruin and the very desire to live has been quenched by the ravages of age and the coming of death.

 

* * *

 

SOLOMON'S TEMPLE AND EARLY HISTORY OF MASONRY

 

Will you kindly enlighten me on the following questions:

 

1. Is there any Masonic history before the establishment of the first Grand Lodge in England on June 24, 1717 ?

 

2. If there is not, whom is the Widow's Son supposed to represent ?

 

3. What connection is there between Masonry as we know it today, and the building of King Solomon's Temple ? In other words, was the Temple built by the Freemasons?

 

4. Is the Temple of Solomon described in Jewish history as a very common building, 124 feet long by 65 feet wide, and 52 feet high, built of square blocks of stone, supposed to be the same as the one described in the lecture of the Entered Apprentice degree? If so, why such a difference?

C.N.R., Nevada.

 

1. Yes, June 24, 1717, is not the beginning of Masonic history; it is hard to tell where the legend ceases and history begins. We have no means of knowing how old Masonry is, but we do know that it existed long before the formation of the Grand Lodge in 1717. For instance, Elias Ashmole in his diary, under date of October 16, 1646, says that he was made a Freemason at Warrington. He also gives the names of those "who were at the lodge," and his mention of the institution is in the casual manner in which you would speak of it at the present date, as though it were so well known that it was not necessary to explain what the Society of Freemasons is.

 

In a churchyard in London an old tombstone bears the inscription: "Here lieth the body of Wm. Kerwin, of this city of London, a Freemason who departed this life the 26th day of December Ano 1594."

 

There are lodge records and also other evidence to prove that Freemasonry existed prior to 1717. These are but samples of several records similar in nature which indicate that Masonry existed long before 1717.

 

2. All the history we have in regard to Hiram is found in the Bible (see I Kings 7:13-14) and the works of Josephus. Most of what we are told about him means that we have no way of proving that it is historical.

 

3. Whether or not Solomon's Temple was built by Freemasons we have no way of determining. We know that there were societies of architects at Tyre, and that Hiram, King of Tyre, sent workmen to King Solomon. There is no doubt that the Society of Dionysiac Architects resembled the Society of Freemasons very closely, but we have no positive proof of an identity between them.

 

4. Yes, the Temple of King Solomon is the one on which our Masonic symbolism is based, but I must remind you that neither biblical nor secular history speaks of King Solomon's Temple as a common building. It is always referred to as a very magnificent structure. In calling it a very common building we presume that you refer only to the size, and that you are contrasting that with the reference to its stupendous magnitude in the Entered Apprentice lecture. The same size applies only to the main body of the Temple. The outer court had enormous and magnificent terraces, spacious courts, and the whole structure was at least one-half mile in circumference. The Temple itself was but a very small part of the entire edifice.

 

* * *

 

WHO WILL HELP THIS LODGE TO BUILD UP A LIBRARY?

 

As we are starting a library in connection with our lodge and study club, I have been wondering whether some of our American brothers have any Masonic literature to spare. If so, it would be very gratefully received by the brethren in these distant parts. I would personally acknowledge anything that may be sent. - Robert W. Stiles, Sec'y Victory Lodge No. 40, Nelson, New Zealand.

 

This is the kind of query we like to receive; it shows that the New Zealand brethren are alive; when a lodge has both a library and study club that lodge is in good health. We are leaving our readers to answer this question; if you have any volumes or papers or journals that aren't doing business with you. send them over to Brother Stiles.

 

* * *

 

AID AND ASSISTANCE FROM ENEMY MASONS IN THE WAR

 

Can you give or refer me to any incidents in the present war where enemy Masons have aided each other when found in difficult places? Or (and I hesitate to ask the question) have you heard of instances where enemy Masons have forgotten their obligations? The term "enemy" is used to imply that Masons are in opposing armies. C.V.H., California.

 

We cannot refer to any such instances though there have doubtless been many such cases, as was true of the Civil War, when the Blue and the Gray sometimes forgot their enmities and met fraternally beneath the square and compass. Can any reader cite such instances from his observation, hearsay, or reading?

 

Your second question doesn't quite "get across to us"; do you mean their Masonic obligations, using the word in its general sense; or do you mean the obligation taken at the altar; or do you mean a Mason's obligations to society at large ? It is a temptation to charge the German Masons with violation of their obligations in all senses, especially in breaking relations with the English Grand Lodge at a time when the latter was willing, and even eager, to maintain relations, and in the invasion of Belgium - one of the most un-Masonic acts in history - but it must be remembered that the German overlords maintain control of everything in their empire, lodges as well as all else, and that the Masons have been as much robbed of their rights of "self direction" as any other group in Germany. If German autocracy were to turn out victorious in this struggle, Masons the world over would be placed under a system of espionage as they have been in the Fatherland: how would Masons enjoy that? Yet there are Masons here and there who say that Masonry has no stake in the war and that we are not under obligations, as Masons, to help whip the Kaiser! Water and fire are not more opposite than Masonry and Kaiserism!

 

* * *

 

NO PROOF OF THE EXISTENCE OF MASONRY IN RHODE ISLAND IN THE 17th CENTURY

 

The following is the first paragraph of an article entitled "The Jew in Masonry," appearing in the December number of the "Masonic Journal of South Africa," and there quoted as taken from the "Masonic Voice Review":

 

"Mr. Madison C. Peters, of New York, quotes from the Rev. Edward Peterson's History of Rhode Island to show that in 1658 some Jews from Holland established a Masonic lodge in Newport which continued to meet in the house of Brother Campanall until 1842.

 

"Peterson quotes Past Grand Master Gould, of Massachusetts, who asserted that in 1839 certain papers found among the effects of a deceased relative who was a great-great-grand-daughter of Gov. John Wanton of Rhode Island, 1734-1740, one of which contained this item:

 

" 'That ye (day and month obliterated) 165 - (either 6 or 8) wee (sic) met at y house of Mordecai Campunall and after Synagog we gave Abm Moses the degree of Maconrie.' "

 

The remainder of the article goes on to later dates, which give rise to no question, but the last three lines quoted prompt a query as to whether you or any of your readers can say whether any investigation has been made concerning a seventeenth century meeting in America, founded on previous meetings in Holland, where Masonry has hitherto been supposed to have made its first appearance some years after the foundation of the Grand Lodge of England. O.H.B., England.

 

We asked Brother Melvin M. Johnson, Past Grand Master of Massachusetts, if he could throw any light on the foregoing subject and received the following reply:

 

I can throw all the light on the subject that there is to throw on it. The fact is that the assertions made with regard to the Rhode Island document in question will not bear having any light thrown on them.

 

On page 111 of THE BUILDER for May, 1915, you will find a comment on this same subject matter and you will find the evidence carefully reviewed in the Printed Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts for 1870, pages 357 to 361, inclusive. See also my "Freemasonry in America Prior to 1750," published by the National Masonic Research Society, page 20.

 

The fairy tale that certain Hebrews were given the degrees of Masonry at Newport, Rhode Island, in 1656 and 1658, grew out of a statement published in 1853 by Rev. Edward Peterson, on page 101 of his "History of Rhode Island and Newport in the Past," and quoted by J. L. Gould, of Connecticut, in 1868 in a manual entitled "Guide to the Chapter." Mr. Peterson says that his statement was "taken from documents now in possession of N.H. Gould, Esq."

 

Brother N. H. Gould was a 33d Mason. In 1870 he wrote a letter in which he says that in January, 1839, Hannah Hull, a distant relative of his, died leaving some papers. She was a great-great-grand-daughter of Governor John Wanton who was Governor of the Colony from 1734 to 1740. Brother N.H. Gould says that his father settled her estate and in looking over her effects they found in an old trunk some letters. Among them, he says, was a memorandum which read:

 

"Ths ye (day and month obliterated) 1656 or 8 (not certain which, as the place was stained and broken: the first three figures were plain) wee mett att y House off Mordecai Campunnall and affter Synagog wee gave Abm Moses the degree of Maconrie."

 

Brother Gould added that the document was "nicely enveloped and packed away, with some of my papers in my house, securely, but not where I can at present put my hand upon it."

 

The document has never been seen since, although Bro. Gould, while he lived, was applied to time and time again by historians including M.W. William Sewall Gardner, Grand Master of Massachusetts, and Wor. Brother William James Hughan, but he never produced it or permitted any one to see it if he ever had such a document at all.

 

Unless and until the document is produced or accounted for, no credit whatever can be given it. Indeed, no credit is given it in Rhode Island.

 

M.W. Thomas A. Doyle, who was then Grand Master of Masons in Rhode Island, in December, 1870, wrote to the Grand Master of Masons in Massachusetts a letter reading as follows:

 

"Providence, December, 1870.

 

"Dear Sir and M. W. Brother:

 

"As to the statement, in Peterson's History of Rhode Island, that Masonry was worked in this State from 1658 to 1742, I can only say that, from the best information I can obtain in regard to that history, the statement is not to be taken as a fact, unless supported by other reliable testimony. What he has said about Masonry is, I understand, asserted upon the authority of documents in the possession of W. Br. N.H. Gould. I have made many enquiries about these documents of brethren in Newport, members of the Grand Lodge and others, and do not find that any one has ever seen them; neither do the brethren believe that any proof exists of the truth of Peterson's statement.

 

"From Brother Gould's letter to you, it would seem that the only authority in his possession, for the assertion of Peterson, is a document showing that, in 1656 or 1658, somebody met some other persons at some house in Newport, and gave 'Abm. Moses the degrees of Maconrie.'

 

"This may have occurred * then and there just as it is stated; but, if so, it is no authority for the statement that a lodge of Masons existed then in Newport, or that there was any legal Masonic authority for the work done, or that any other person was ever legally made a Mason in Newport, between 1658 and 1742.

 

"My own opinion is, that the first lawful lodge of Masons ever convened in this jurisdiction, was the one which met in Newport, in 1749, under the authority of R. W. Thomas Oxnard, Provincial Grand Master of Massachusetts, which lodge has existed since that time, and is now known as Saint John's Lodge.

 

"Yours truly and fraternally,

Thomas A. Doyle,

Grand Master of Masons in Rhode Island.

 

"M.W. William S. Gardner,

Grand Master of Masons in Massachusetts."

 

One of the hardest animals to kill is a snake. It is even harder to kill a false statement which is made as real historical fact. This canard with regard to 1656 has been copied by one writer after another. Most of those who have given it any credit whatever have been the kind of historians who are doing the Masonry the most harm - historians who are willing to give the credit of their names to wild and unreliable statements so long as they have the flavor of antiquity.

 

The late Brother Robert Freke Gould founded a new era in the writing of Masonic history and it will be much to our advantage if we follow his lead and do not assert facts as historical until the evidence therefor has been examined and found worthy of approval.

 

 

* Impossible. There were no degrees in Masonry until 1719. Whoever concocted the story about this document forgot that. - M.M.J.

 

----o----

 

CORRESPONDENCE

 

 

EXPLORATION OF THE HOLY LAND

 

I want to make a suggestion, but perhaps the matter has already had consideration. Doubtless when the present war is over there will be some geographical changes made in the earth's surface; possibly we all have ideas of what they should be. I should like to see Armenia given to the Armenians, and Jerusalem given to the Jews. There is much to be found out concerning the Holy Land and Jerusalem of historic value to the world. The exploring and examination of ancient and venerable places should be done by our Research Society, possibly combined with the National Geographic Society and institutions of like kind in England and France, but under license of a Jewish government. There are many Jews in both of our Societies, and no doubt a happy combination could easily be formed.

 

There are at present in the world sufficient miracle-working bones, parts of the true cross, and what not, without any more being unearthed. It is my opinion that whatever may be found in that land should be found by honest people, and if put anywhere for exhibition, should be placed in public museums and on exhibition at all times and not to be worshipped and expected to work miracles.

 

B. F. Bache, Florida.

 

* * *

 

NAMES OF CANDIDATES lN LODGE NOTICES

 

Permit me this attempt to answer Brother C.H.S. of Connecticut. For several years my own lodge has followed the practice of reporting to our membership the names and addresses of all applicants for the degrees and for affiliation, there being no prohibition in this Grand Jurisdiction.

 

We do it because it adds nothing to the expense of the notices which are sent out for each meeting and because it is manifestly impossible for every resident member to attend every meeting, much as we should like to have them do so, and we believe they are entitled to the protection afforded by such notice. It is not possible for one man, or two, to know all there is to be known about another. Even our investigating committees of three, newly appointed for each applicant, do not get all the facts the lodge should have upon which to base a judgment as to the qualifications of the applicant to be made a Mason. Instances are very numerous of favorable reports by such committees following the favorable recommendation of two brothers, which comes with the application, and all followed by a ballot which is "dark."

 

In his address before the last Annual Communication of the Grand Lodge of Minnesota, our Grand Master cited one instance which I commend to Brother C.H.S. for his careful perusal and if he declares it an exceptional case and not to be relied on for a rule, I would remind him that he also has cited but a single case and it is even less of a "precedent" or reason for a rule barring the giving of these notices than the one which our Grand Master used to point out his plea for still more care in the investigating of applicants. In our Grand Master's case the facts were within the knowledge of only one man, and if he had been unavoidably absent, and so unable to stop the applicant, what a dreadful situation would have resulted!

 

I think there are therefore twosreasons why these names should be published in advance to all the members. First, that if any doubt exists it must be resolved in favor of the lodge, and not the applicant, and second, that every brother now in the lodge must be made to feel that he is to be protected against the possibility of having to assume Masonic responsibility for one he knows to be unworthy.

 

Doubt does exist as to every applicant. If not, why investigate? And if we do investigate, why not be thorough and use every possible channel of investigation? No man goes about spreading his knowledge of another's character, but if that other is to be made his Masonic brother he must be made acquainted with that fact. If not, then we have failed in our responsibility to him.

 

It is unfortunately true that one may not safely rely upon the fact that another is a Mason. It is needless to say that this should not be so. The reason is in the lack of thorough investigation, it will be said, but I reply that none can read the mind of another if he choose to hide it, and I know at least one instance where three investigations (two of which followed the first rejection) failed to disclose any reason and yet some one knew, because two other rejections followed.

 

If the applicant is worthy, he will be admitted. If he is not, within the knowledge of even one unknown brother, the lodge should not want him so badly as to prefer that one unknown brother shall not have every possible chance to express his opinion at the ballot-box, and remain unknown.

 

I insist upon assuming the good faith of the brother who is "in" rather than relying upon the qualifications of the applicant whom I may not know.

 

William Burrows, Minnesota.

 

* * *

 

ORIGIN OF THE GRAND LODGE OF CUBA

 

May I obtain from you the insertion in THE BUILDER of the following correction to Brother Johnson's and Odell's article on the recognition of the Grand Lodge of Panama? I have corresponded with M. W. Brother Johnson and he accepts my correction and indicated that it could be published. I cannot but still congratulate the Society for the excellence of the article. The correction follows:

 

It is said in the article that the Grand Lodge of Cuba was started by the Supreme Council, A. and A.S.R. This is an error, as it was constituted on the fifth of December, 1859, and the Supreme Council was constituted on the twenty-seventh of the same month. The Grand Lodge was composed of three lodges, two of them holding original charters from Pennsylvania and one from South Carolina, purposely chartered for that end.

 

It is true that sometime afterward some relations existed between the Grand Lodge and the Supreme Council, but these relations had no restraint upon the independence of the Grand Lodge, and lasted but a short time.

 

F. de P. Rodriguez,

Chairman Committee on Foreign Correspondence

of the Grand Lodge of Cuba.

 

* * *

 

VIRGINIA MILITARY MASONIC CLUB

 

Brother C. F. Bushman, Virginia, sends us the following item written for the Virginia Masonic Journal which should prove interesting to the readers of THE BUILDER:

 

At a meeting composed of officers and enlisted men of the 315th Field Artillery, National Army, at Camp Lee, Va., February 6th, 1918, all of whom were Master Masons, it was suggester by Lieutenant Colonel Russell P. Reeder, the Commander of the Regiment, that we form a Masonic Club, and that we attend the Grand Lodge the following week at Richmond, Va., for the purpose of gaining recognition from that august body.

 

On February 12th, the Master Masons of this Regiment attended in a body the Grand Lodge of Virginia, then in session at Richmond, where we were welcomed with much feeling and pleasure, and were granted permission to organize a Masonic Club, for social purposes only.

 

This having been accomplished, the Club was organized and the following officers elected:

Worshipful Master            Sergeant Major C. F. Bushman

Senior Warden            Sergeant B. F. Hatton

Junior Warden            Sergeant R. A. Lampton

Treasurer            Private Lacey Cole

Secretary            Sergeant R. H. Counts

Senior Deacon            Sergeant James H. Petty

Junior Deacon            Private H. J. Lilly

Tiler            Corporal William E. Kirk

 

The Club, at present, has a membership of fifty Masons.

 

At a meeting held on March 6th, the Club was honored by the presence of Dr. Joseph W. Eggleston, Past Grand Master of Virginia, and Major W. McK. Evans, both of whom served as artillerymen in the Civil War, and who were elected Honorary members. During his visit, Dr. Eggleston delivered a very strong and interesting talk, choosing as his subject "Masonry and the War," which proved very beneficial to us and was much appreciated by all.

 

The name of our club was selected in honor of our Regimental Commander, Lieutenant Colonel Russell P. Reeder, and Dr. Joseph W. Eggleston, but for whose kind interest and co-operation it would have been impossible for the club to have attained its present well established condition.

 

The club was organized for social and benevolent purposes only, and as a means whereby the Masons of this, as well as other Regiments in the cantonment, may assemble together and get better acquainted. At the present time it is the only organization of its kind in the Division.

 

* * *

 

DEPUTY FOR CHINA - A CORRECTION

 

In the March issue we gave the title of Brother Charles S. Lobingier, who wrote the interesting article "Freemasons in the American Revolution," as "Deputy for China." While Brother Lobingier is a resident of Shanghai, China, he is not the Supreme Council Deputy for that country but for the Philippines. The Deputy for China is Brother John R. Hykes.

 

----o----

 

AN ACROSTIC

 

Always and ever I cherish thee still

My home and the land of my birth.

Each mountain, valley, river and plain

Rises to view, the fairest on earth.

I ever will serve and support the

Country whose name, by the letters you see

Are first in each line, the home of the free.

 

- W.S. Vawter. Texas.

 

 

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