The Builder Magazine

December 1920 - Volume VI - Number 12

 

MEMORIALS TO GREAT MEN WHO WERE MASONS

GENERAL MORDECAI GIST

BY BRO. GEO. W. BAIRD, P.G.M., DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

MORDECAI GIST was born in Baltimore on the twenty-second of February, 1742, the anniversary of the birthday of Washington. His ancestors were wealthy and distinguished people whose names are often found in the annals of the French and Indian wars.

 

Mordecai Gist was educated for an Episcopal clergyman, but on the outbreak of the War of the Revolution he joined the first company recruited in Maryland, and became its Captain.

 

In 1776 he was promoted to Major of a Maryland Battalion which was prominent in the battle of Long Island. He saw considerable service in the North, and was promoted to Brigadier General and commanded the Second Brigade of Maryland soldiers. In 1779 he was transferred to the South, and at the Battle of Camden, S.C., where De Kalb lost his life in 1780, he was conspicuous for valor and for splendid generalship.

 

He was then assigned to recruiting and securing supplies and clothing for the Army, and was eminently successful in that trying time. This duty completed, he returned to the field and took part in the expulsion of the enemy from the Southern States, and was present at the siege and capture of Yorktown. He was, at that time, at the head of a Light Corps and rendered eminently effective service at that critical period of the war. He was accorded the credit of saving the day by a gallant charge in the Battle of Combahee.

 

When the war had ended, General Gist purchased a plantation near Charleston, S.C., where he lived during the remainder of his life. He was buried in the Church Yard of Old Saint Michaels Church (Episcopal), and the memorial shown in the frontispiece was placed over his grave by the Society of the Sons of the American Revolution.

 

General Gist was the first Vice President of the Maryland Society of the Cincinnati, which was instituted by General Knox at the close of the war. His Masonic record is given in the Annual Report of the Grand Lodge of Maryland for 1911. It reads:

 

“On the twenty-seventh of April, 1780, the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania granted a charter for Army Lodge No. 27 to the Masons of the Maryland Line in the Revolution. Its officers were General Mordecai Gist, Worshipful Master; Colonel Otho Holland Williams, Senior Warden, and Major Archibald Anderson, Junior Warden. ., . .”

 

The writer would like to invite attention to the neglect of our distinguished dead, and to the fact that the young, and still small Society of the Sons of the American Revolution is doing the work of erecting memorials which we Masons should have done long ago.

 

SYNOPSIS OF THE FINAL REPORT OF THE MASONIC OVERSEAS MISSION

 

BY BRO. TOWNSEND SCUDDER, P.G.M., NEW YORK

 

To the Masonic Grand Jurisdietions of the United States participating in the efforts to secure governmental permission for the Masonic Overseas Mission to engage in War Relief service overseas:

 

THE MISSION which you dispatched in January, 1919, to Freemasons in the United States Forces Overseas begs leave to submit the following report:

 

A report in writing of the negotiations of the Mission with the United States Government for passports, bearing date December 31, 1918, has heretofore been made. Thereafter, an opportunity having been presented for affiliation with the A.E.F.Y.M.C.A. as a Masonic Unit, and, having been accepted, pursuant, in part to the suggestion of the President and of Mr. Raymond B. Fosdick that we ally ourselves “with a recognized relief agency,” arrangements were perfected, so far as they could be, and passports applied for through the Y.M.C.A. Further difficulty in obtaining passports was then experienced, which was solved, however, by a visit to Washington, and passports were actually issued and delivered to us on the 21st day of January, 1919. We immediately sought transportation by the first available steamer. The long delay goaded us to get to our destination at the earliest possible moment, and learning that the “Aquitania” of the Cunard Line was to sail from Halifax February 1, still a troopship in the service of the British Admiralty but carrying passengers on that voyage, we succeeded in securing passage on that steamer and left New York January 30 for Halifax by rail. Each member of the Mission carried hand luggage and in addition each had a small service trunk; we took along, also, a large trunk containing stationery, typewriter and supplies. On arriving in Boston one of the party accompanied the trunks crosstown in an express wagon to safeguard their arrival at the North Station, and saw them aboard the seven o'clock train for Halifax on the Boston & Maine Railroad. This being accomplished we were reasonably confident that our luggage would be duly delivered at our destination because transported on the same train with ourselves, but on arriving at Halifax after midnight February 1, we were dismayed to find that but two of the six trunks were on the train, the others, including the large trunk referred to, having been lost somehow en route. The steamer was due to sail 9 A. M., and the next train to arrive from St. John which could bring the trunks was scheduled to arrive at the same hour. The agent of the line, to whom we appealed, was most sympathetic and promised to do all that he could for us but feared the worst since the ship, being still a troopship, was under the control of the Government, and he doubted that her sailing could be delayed.

 

Pending the results of his efforts we had determined that two of the Mission whose trunks had not arrived should remain ashore and, in the event of their failure to arrive in time to sail, that they should return to New York, and thence sail on the next available steamer.

 

However, by great good fortune and the kind offices of the agent, Mr. Barrow, the steamer's sailing was delayed an hour and a half. Three of us went aboard, leaving the other two ashore, and well within the time appointed they joined us on board with all our property, and thus we sailed, according to plan, with Mission and impedimenta intact.

 

The ship was dingy and rusty, with partitions removed and furnishings very scanty; she had not been overhauled for months. All the ports were blackened to prevent lights being seen without. The passenger list was small and varied, but our accommodations, in the circumstances, comfortable. We were booked to land at Liverpool, but, for reasons of state, the ship was diverted to Glasgow, where we arrived at noon of Friday, February 7, and that evening left by rail for London, having previously wired for accommodations. Labor in both Scotland and England at the time of our arrival was in a turmoil, and a railway strike was on effecting the London tubes. We had reason to apprehend an extension of the disorder, and, therefore, sought to make all haste to push forward toward our destination.

 

Arriving in London on the morning of February 8, we drove to the hotel to find it crowded and no accommodations awaiting us. London was overcrowded; the many hotels, diverted to Government purposes, had greatly depleted available room for visitors. We were fortunate, however, in finding shelter at The Thackeray in Great Russell Street, where we were comfortably established during our stay, if one can do without heat, warm baths, and hot water, difficult to get anywhere in those times.

 

We thought it advisable, while in London, to learn of the activities of the Grand Lodge of England in war work and service; also to lay before those in authority in that Grand Lodge the hopes and purposes of the Masonic Service Association of the United States, recently projected, and other matters of importance connected with our Mission. One of our members having been taken ill, the days of his convalescence were profitably employed in conferences with Sir Alfred Robbins, P. Colville Smith and other Grand Lodge Officers, and in inspecting Masonic Relief Service, and studying the activities of the A.E.F. - Y.M.C.A. in and about London, to the end that we should be somewhat familiar with the method of operating “Y” huts and the relation of that service to the men when we should undertake such work ourselves, in accordance with the terms of the arrangement which we had made with the “Y” before leaving New York. We had engaged to take over and operate such hut or huts as might, in a conference at Paris between the “Y” authorities there and the War Department, be mutually deemed advisable, the same to be maintained as “Y” enterprises for all men in the service, but designated by an appropriate tablet as Masonically supported. It was further understood that all purely Masonic service should be outside such quarters. This arrangement, it was calculated, would afford us a maximum of liberty and freedom of action and, at the same time, of economy of expense and organization in the matter of movement throughout the A.E.F.

 

Our interviews in London were highly satisfactory, and the cordial reception which we had at the hands of our English brethren will long and pleasantly be remembered. We there had the additional privilege of attending the consecration of the Woodford Lodge in East London by a ceremonial most impressive and in many particulars unfamiliar. Our reception at the dinner following the consecration, attended by a large body of average English Freemasons - business men of the City of London - and the hearty response to our brief remarks, was wonderfully stimulating.

 

We had learned that Paris was not less congested than London and therefore endeavored to make sure of accommodations when we should arrive there. The work in London being finished, and arrangements to travel to Paris via Folkestone-Boulogne having been effected through the Movement Order Department of the “Y” (a very difficult route over which to obtain permits to travel in war times, we found), we left London February 15, and arrived in Paris the same evening, in a steady downpour of rain. London had been intensely cold and disagreeable, but dry. Heat in hotels and public buildings was unusual and deficient, and the discomr fort of living conditions intense. Food was expensive and meagre, and we were assured that food, at least, would be more abundant, and less expensive, in Paris. We were disillusioned. Fortunate to a degree in being received at the hotel with which we had communicated (an old French establishment familiar to one of the Mission) we found Paris not less uncomfortable than London, no heat, little food, higher prices, great congestion, and continuous, dreary daily rain.

 

We promptly sought opportunity with the “Y” authorities to discuss our business, and to effect plans for the work which we had projected, and, though we were met with cordiality by the officers of that institution, the very conditions under which work was done in Paris and the circumstances of the war, made progress agonizingly slow. For nearly four weeks we worried along, making little headway and not knowing whether we should be able to pursue our work and perform the service which we had hoped to render, or should have to fold our tents and return home.

 

That time of uncertainty was by no mean wasted; it was devoted to the full, and every minute of it, to canvassing the Masonic situation in the A.E.F., and planning and arranging ways and means for undertaking and pursuing our work, as soon as a foothold should be established.

 

We had carried with us from home a large number of letters from Masons with the A.E.F., inquiring about Masonic activity, existent or projected. Responses to these letters were prepared on the steamer, and mailed on our arrival at Glasgow. Replies to our letters, which had announced our expected arrival in France about February 15, and given an address there, began to arrive before the end of February, and thus we started a chain of active correspondence.

 

We had understood, before leaving home, that a considerable proportion of the Secretaries in the service of the “Y” were Masons, but observation, contact, and the records which were subsequently opened to us, led us to believe that not less than 70 per cent. of the “Y” Secretaries were members of the Craft. We had been in correspondence with a Masonic organization in the “Y.” composed of “Y” Secretaries, called the Trowel and Triangle Club, which had existed for some months, and whose main purpose seemed to be an occasional dining together, and the entertaining of persons of interest or distinction. It had no other apparent activity; but we saw in it a means, effectively and economically, to extend our influence, and by combining effort, to reach and serve the members of the Fraternity in the service.

 

Its officers and members we found to be intelligent, zealous, keenly alive Freemasons, some of them hailing from our own State. We promptly got in intimate contact with these brethren, told them the story of our efforts to get Overseas and to serve, all which stimulated in them prompt sympathy and desire to cooperate. This resulted, gradually, in the formation of a plan for the reorganization of that Club, ramifying, as it did, throughout the entire A.E.F., and comprising, in its membership, a very large number of the Secretaries at training camps, leave areas and with various units of the army all over France and in Germany, and the utilization of the Club, and, through it, of the Secretaries, members of it, throughout the A.E.F., as the connecting link between Masonic life in the A.E.F. and the Mission, with its headquarters in Paris. Through the Trowel and Triangle Club, to membership in the Board of Governors of which one of the members of the Mission was elected, and with all of whose administration the Mission was intimately in touch, we advertised promptly for the names and addresses and the officers of all Masonic Clubs or other organizations in the A.E.F., with the result that, within approximately two weeks, we were in receipt of a large volume of mail and in close touch with the Masonic pulse of the Forces, and equipped with intimate and reliable information regarding most, or all, of the Masonic Club life, which then existed, and some of which had become dormant or extinct by reason of the departure or impending departure for home of the units with which connected. Conspicuous among our co-laborers in this service were Sidney Morse, in charge of the Records Bureau of the A.E.F.-Y.M.C.A.. John Garland Pollard of the Board of Discipline, Cass Connaway, Chief Counsel, William L. Hartman of Denver, Colorado, and J. M. Crouch of West Virginia, in charge of Paris Warehouse.

 

On March 11, 1919, the “Y” offered us the hut known as the “Officers and Men's Club,” 31 Avenue Montaigne, Paris, which we immediately accepted. The offer contemplated our taking it over and operating it as a “Y” hut, bearing all expense thereof. Investigation proved it to be the original headquarters of the “Y,” a palace, charmingly located, and capable, we thought, of great development. It was serving, at the time, approximately 110 officers and men, some of whom - about 25 - were accommodated with rooms, and all with luncheon and dinner at prices materially below the prevailing prices of similar accommodations. The use of the building for months had, of course, resulted in deterioration and the existence, we thought, of the restaurant, led to conditions of untidiness which were better avoided. We found, also, that the restaurant was a serious expense, all out of proportion, we thought, to the service rendered. The method of its management seemed calculated to pamper a few, instead of to serve many, and we concluded promptly to eliminate the restaurant and to develop the usefulness of the institution to the greatest possible extent. On March 14th, letters were exchanged covering the agreement to take that property over, which we were fortunate in arranging not to involve liability on our part for damage to property (a familiar invariable consequence of the relation of landlord and tenant in France), and that we should be at liberty to abandon the enterprise at any time on thirty days' notice.

 

The figures of its operation for a year previous, which were furnished us, showed an annual loss or excess of outgo over income of approximately $30,000. The management of this enterprise we had no hesitation in undertaking, in view, not only of the ditty, as weconceived it, of keeping our bargain, but the necessity, as we found it - or then saw it - of our having a definite status with the “Y” in the A.E.F., in order to maintain our position and render any kind of service, Masonic or otherwise, to the men with the colors.

 

Fortune, however, was kind. It chanced that certain devoted women had been interested in the conduct of that hut from its inception and the thought of it being taken out of their control distressed them. We were asked, first, to reconsider our proposal to abandon the restaurant, to which we consented, temporarily. The agreement covering its operation by the Mission was modified at our instance, by providing that we should conduct it in any case from April 1st until June 30 (the end of a rent period; at which time the tenant, under the lease, would have the right to abandon), with the privilege, however, of abandoning it then on thirty days' notice to the “Y” and, if continued thereafter by us at its instance, with the privilege of abandoning it at any time during that continuance, on thirty days' notice.

 

Notwithstanding, the movement in “Y” circles to withdraw the offer of the hut progressed, without interference on our part. Awaiting the final decision we pursued our activities intensively in every direction.

 

The hut was not turned over to us, and we incurred no expense in connection therewith, but by mutual consent we were relieved from the duty of carrying on operations of that character or of devoting our time or energy to such activities. Gradually we drifted into a service of a purely Masonic character, and no question was raised or exists as between any party to the original agreement, regarding the soundness of our position, or the propriety of our conduct.

 

Meanwhile, we undertook also, the reorganization of the local Masonic Club in Paris, and the placing of it in a position of usefulness. This involved further advertising for local Masons, particularly among the officers stationed in or near Paris and resulted, most happily, in procuring the consent of Col. H. H. Whitney, Chief of Staff of the Paris Division, to act as President, and Major Otto H. Lee, Assistant Judge Advocate, and Capt. Keely, Q.M.C., as Governors, thus assuring to the Club not only the patronage of officers, which was essential to its usefulness, but also their keen interest in its welfare, with the result that its sessions were greatly popularized.

 

Brother J. M. Crouch was actively interested in the Trowel and Triangle Club, and one of its Governors. He was also an intimate friend of Judge George Fleming Moore and deeply interested in his enterprise at 10 Avenue Victor Emmanuel III. It was natural that Brother Crouch, whose friendly interest in the activities of the Mission was early manifested, should suggest the propriety of the Trowel and Triangle Club Governors holding their meetings, and the members of the Overseas Masonic Club their sessions, in the quarters at 10 Avenue Victor Emmanuel III, and as spontaneously and in the same kindly spirit as the suggestion was made, it was accepted. The Mission had maintained its headquarters at the Hotel Peiffer, 6 Passage de la Madeleine. It had been planned to transfer headquarters to the hut at 31 Avenue Montaigne, but late in March Brother Charles W. Connery, the manager of the American Masonic Headquarters, 10 Avenue Victor Emmanuel III, offered to the Mission the use as offices, without charge, of the entresol rooms in that building, and to decorate them for that purpose. The offer was gratefully accepted and our quarters appropriately furnished by the Mission, and these quarters were from early April, 1919, used by the Mission as a convenient place to meet Masons seeking information and advice, relief and Masonic service.

 

This cooperation between the Mission and Brother Connery was most genuine and comfortable, and reacted promptly in a marked increase in the attendance of visitors at the building, 10 Avenue Victor Emmanuel III, and the extension of its usefulness. It grew to be in fact as well as in name the American Masonic Headquarters in Paris and France.

 

Continuously, members of the Mission were in the field. The occupied territory at Coblenz and its neighborhood was visited, as well also the leave areas, General Headquarters at Chaumont and its neighborhood, the seaports - Marseille, Bordeaux, St. Nazaire, Brest and Le Havre - and the intervening country in central France, where most of our forces were camped or billeted. The time of the members of the Mission was devoted to visiting Clubs and addressing the men, encouraging the formation of Clubs where none existed, furnishing Masonic information to interested inquirers, and generally rendering all and any assistance to Freemasons, which was within our power to render. We early established pleasant relations with Major W.S. Solomon, 417th Telegraph Battalion, Signal Corps, stationed in Coblenz, who hails from Rhode Island, and who had undertaken the reorganization of the Third Army Masonic Club at Coblenz. At the time we came in touch with him, the membership of that Club was about 500. We aided him in every way in our power, and he was, by great fortune, aided also by the presence and active cooperation of two “Y” Secretaries in his neighborhood, Past Grand Master Davis of the Grand Lodge of Rhode Island, and Deputy Grand Master Collins of the same jurisdiction, with both of whom we had the most delightful and profitable relations. Before we left, the membership of that Club was about 2,000, and included two sub-Clubs, one made up of Ohioans, and the other of New Yorkers, each of which numbered over 125.

 

Soon after the arrival of the Mission in France there commenced a regular system of granting leave to soldiers to visit Paris for a period of three days, and approximately 300 - 900 men daily arrived in Paris on leave. Shortly thereafter the Government inaugurated an educational program, the purpose of which was to occupy usefully the men awaiting the determination to evacuate France, and their transportation home, and considerable numbers of men were assigned to the University of Paris, to the Sorbonne, and other Paris and French educational institutions, and many were assigned also to educational institutions in England. The plan involved a change in their pay system and a transfer to a different paymaster, and commutation of housing and rations amounting to the equivalent, with their pay, of approximately $3 per day, not, however, payable in advance.

 

The Mission found opportunity for most useful service in directing visiting doughboys to places of interest, hotels, amusement places, etc., in Paris, and furnishing general information, for which at the time no adequate provision had been made.

 

Soon, the problem of loaning funds to officers and soldiers, members of the Craft, was sharply presented. The cost of living in Paris was excessive, and they were in many instances short of funds, expecting pay and with funds at home which they were unable to avail of. At one time the American Red Cross had served in the matter of cashing checks. The Y.M.C.A. had rendered similar service, but both had been discontinued. In this situation the Mission realized that both an opportunity and a duty were presented, and endeavoring to exercise discretion and discrimination, during its entire stay in France, made loans, cashed checks, made advances and assisted financially many members of the Fraternity engaged in the service. That this service was appreciated by the beneficiaries thereof goes without saying, and the loans were in most cases repaid promptly. But few thereof are outstanding.

 

About the time of the arrival of the Mission in France the withdrawal of our troops Mom the front, and from billets, at the instance of the French Government, had begun, and thereafter rapidly progressed. The expansion of Le Mans as a concentration district for our troops thus withdrawn and prior to their dispatch to the seaboard for embarkation for home, was undertaken, and a capacity of 350,000 men was planned. Early in March Brothers Moore, Lay and Goodrich were commissioned to visit the Le Mans area after a conference at Paris with Brother Harry B. Mook, Regional Financial Director of the A.E.F.-Y.M.C.A. in that area, and we determined to aid and sustain an American Masonic Club in that district. This Club was established with Bro. Harry B. Mook as President, occupying the building at 45 Rue Chanzy, the rent of which the Mission paid, and its membership approximated 900, besides which it served a very large number of men, visitors to that area, or temporarily therein.

 

On March 10th, Brother Goodrich visited Lyons to inspect that field from a standpoint of Masonic service, and from there proceeded to Dijon, returning to Paris.

 

On March 11th, Brothers Moore and Lay visited Marseille, attended the weekly meeting of the American E.F. Masonic Club, which met in the temple of the lodges of the Grand Orient at 24 Rue Piscatoris, and enjoyed fraternal intercourse with both American and French brethren. They proceeded on March 13th to Nice, an important leave area, where the situation was canvassed with Bro. James G. Gipe, Y.M.C.A. Secretary, and arrangements made to foster a Masonic Club in that area, and to guarantee its rent and necessary expenses. From there they returned to Paris.

 

On March 17th Brother Prime visited Chaumont, investigated conditions in that area, including the former aviation base at La Trecey; also Neuchateau; and addressed Goodfellowship Masonic Club presided over by Capt. A. C. Howard.

 

On March 22, Bro. Lay visited Saumur, and attended a banquet held at the Budan Hotel by Villebernia Masonic Club, located at Camp Strathcona and Mt. Royal, a few miles outside Saumur, 68 members of the Fraternity were present. The members of the Club for the most part were officers and men from the First Company, 14th Grand Division, and the 31st Engineers. The camp had been a permanent one, with little change in its personnel since June, 1918. They were engaged in the operation of the railroads in connection with the S.O.S.

 

On March 24th, Bro. Lay visited Tours, attended a meeting of the Acacia Club with Col. George E. Newell of Virginia in the chair, the meeting of which was held in the Y.M.C.A. Headquarters.

 

On March 25th, Brother Goodrich visited Chaumont; also Neuchateau, and neighborhood, with a view to ascertaining what service, if any, the Mission could perform in that area.

 

On March 26th, Brother Lay visited Sunset Overseas Club at St. Aignan, at which camp approximately 10,000 men were quartered, and addressed over 250 men.

 

On March 26th, Brother Moore visited Coblenz and the occupied territory, and attended a dinner of the N. Y. Club on March 28th, and of the Third Army Club on March 31st. He also visited the Masonic Club at Mayen, and generally inspected the district.

 

On March 27th, Brother Lay proceeded to Bourges, and investigated with members of the Fraternity the desirability of establishing a Club at that point.

 

On March 28th, he attended a meeting in the Central Records office of Bourges, and they then decided to form a Club which the Mission undertook to support. There were no social service attractions at that city, except a K. of C. hut.

 

On March 28th, he went from Bourges to Marmagne near Mehun, a camp of 5,000 men. Espoir Masonic Club meets on Wednesday nights, using the Y.M.C.A. hut, and performing an important service.

 

On March 29th, the Masons in Camp at Bourges held a banquet at the City Prefecture with Lieut. Col. Smith presiding, which Brother Lay attended.

 

On March 31st, he proceeded to Gievres, the great warehouse camp of central France, which joins and coordinates with the air station at Pruniers, better known as Romorantin, and attended the East sub-Post Masonic Club meeting. It had a membership of over 400 men and used a hut furnished by the Camp Commandant in the officers' barracks.

 

On April 1st, he visited the Square and Compass Club at Gievres, which met in the Jewish Welfare Hut. 200 men were present. He was also able, through the “Y” Secretary, to arrange with the Commanding Officer for a hut for the use of the Club. He there met Bro. Charles H. Huntley, a “Y” Secretary, who was an active worker, and the originator, with Brother Porter, of the S.O.L., a very popular so-called side degree, returning thence to Paris.

 

On April 5th, Brother Prime visited Bordeaux, accompanied by Brother James D. Collins, Deputy Grand Master of Rhode Island, who was planning to embark for home from Bordeaux, and with him visited Camp De Souge, 15 miles out of Bordeaux, and there conferred with offlcers, members of the Fraternity, regarding the Masonic situation, and the possible service to be rendered by the Mission. They also met a delegation from the Camp De Souge Masonic Club at Camp De Souge who were planning to visit Liberation Lodge at Bordeaux (holding obedience to the Grand Loge National) that afternoon, and conferred with Major Gilbert in charge of the hospital at that point. Returning to Bordeaux with Brother Collins, he attended a session of Liberation Lodge in the Masonic Temple occupied by the Loge Anglais, founded in 1734, under dispensation by the Grand Lodge of England, and at various times thereafter holding obedience to the Grand Orient, or the Grand Lodge of England, but now holding obedience to the Grand Loge National, and being one of the constituent lodges which formed that Grand Body in the autumn of 1913. He took part in conferring the Masonic degrees on four members of the A. E. F. in the afternoon, and on eight in the evening. He also conferred with Capt. John D. Hatch and associates regarding the establishment of a Masonic Club in Bordeaux, which was shortly thereafter established with the zealous aid and support of Bro. Collins.

 

Proceeding on April 6th to Nimes he investigated that leave area from a Masonic point of view, and determined that it would close so shortly thereafter as to require no service from the Mission. Proceeding to Marseille that afternoon, he conferred with Bros. Charles M. Conant, Captain A. C. Gilbert and other brethren regarding the American Masonic Club at Marseille. The following day he attended a meeting of the American Masonic Club at Marseille held in conjunction with Heather Hill Masonic Club of the 13th Engineers (which was about to return home) at the Macaroni Factory in Camp Covington outside Marseille, and addressed about 400 brethren. Proceeding that night to Beaune by way of Lyons, he arrived there on April 11th, conferred with Bro. Mark E. Penney regarding the needs of that Camp, of approximately 14,000 men, and visited the A. E. F. University, an extensive establishment which had taken over a base hospital of many buildings on a plateau overlooking the Rhone, situated about four kilometres outside Beaune, and that evening attended a meeting of the newly organized Masonic Club, and addressed about 200 members, leaving at midnight for Paris.

 

On April 9th Bros. Moore, Lay and Goodrich visited Le Mans, and addressed large gatherings of Brethren, besides performing other important Masonic work.

 

On April 14th Bro. Lay visited Nevers and the American Masonic Club at that place. He learned that the Club had raised a fund of over 5,000 francs for the placing of art glass windows in the Protestant Chapel at Nevers as a memorial to the American Masons in the A. E. F., and attended the regular meeting of the Club on April 15th. He proceeded to Bourges again on April 16th in connection with the Club at that point, and arranged for quarters to accommodate them.

 

On April 16th, he again visited Espoir Club at Camp Marmagne.

 

On the 17th, he proceeded to Gievres, and visited the Trowel Club which meets in the Y.M.C.A. hut.

 

On the 18th, he visited the Square and Compass Club at Pruniers, where arrangements were made to decorate the graves of Masons on Easter Sunday, and he attended the memorial service.

 

On April 19th, he visited Issoudun, and conferred with the officers of the Felloweraft Club of Montierchaume Camp near Chateauroux, and conferred also with Lieut. Poole, Secretary of Base Hospital No. 63, organized in 1913 at Caen, and finally located at Chateauroux. He also met representatives from four Clubs at Gievres, and Romorantin, regarding Masonic work at Romorantin.

 

On April 20th, Easter Sunday, he attended the decoration of graves in the American Cemetery at Gievres by the Trowel Club. 100 men marched to the Cemetery. Six graves of Masons were decorated and photographs taken to be sent home. That afternoon he attended a banquet of the Square and Compass Club at Romorantin, with 175 men present, and in the evening attended Masonic Memorial Services under the auspices of the Trowel Club in the main auditorium hut of the “Y,” with 800 men present, and Red Cross and Y.W.C.A. women present by special invitation.

 

On April 16th, Brother Moore of the Mission was compelled to return to New York by reason of important business matters. He left regretfully, after serving faithfully the entire period for which he generously had volunteered.

 

From the time of his arrival in France until April 16th the Chairman of the Mission was constantly in Paris in charge of the affairs of the Mission and daily occupied with correspondence, conferences, assisting brethren, and generally superintending the Mission's affairs. Excepting as indicated in the above analysis of activities, Brother Prime also was occupied assisting the Chairman, and attending to correspondence. The first few months the Mission employed no Clerk, its voluminous correspondence being attended to by the members.

 

On April 16th, the Chairman departed for Switzerland on an important mission, arriving again in Paris on April 23rd.

 

In his absence Brothers Goodrich and Prime were constantly in Paris.

 

The Grand Master of New York had cabled the Chairman requesting him to return in time for Grand Lodge, which was to sit May 6th, and great difficulty was experienced in arranging transportation home. However, accommodations were secured for the Chairman and Brother Prime, who left Paris on April 26th, and Havre the same day, arriving in New York May 5th, the day before the Grand Lodge convened. Brothers Goodrich and Lay remained in charge. On the voyage home, we volunteered as Troop Secretaries, and served 252 casuals and 17 officers.

 

On May 1st all passes for American soldiers to be in Paris were withdrawn, and all Americans in uniform were ordered to remain off the streets. Not a wheel turned in Paris. All cars, taxicabs, subways, and all means of transportation remained idle. All stores, restaurants, and places of business were closed. Troops were brought into Paris, and thoroughfares leading to central points were closely guarded in anticipation of labor disturbances.

 

Provision was made at the headquarters at 10 Avenue Victor Emmanuel III from possible danger to American women in Paris, particularly Red Cross and Y.W.C.A. women, for whom cots and blankets were provided. A large number of American women gathered there

 

On May 3rd, Brother Lay proceeded to the A. E. F. University at Beaune.

 

On May 6th, he proceeded to St. Nazaire, and attended a meeting of Masonic Club No. 1 which was organized July 8, 1918.

 

On the following day he visited the Montoir Masonic Club near St. Nazaire, and Base Hospital No. 1.

 

At that time two ottier Masonic Clubs were in process of formation in the St. Nazaire area, and to meet the needs of the Clubs he assigned Brother Charles H. Huntley as General Secretary for Masonic Clubs in that area, his salary to be borne by the Mission. He also arranged for a distribution of cards to all home-coming soldiers.

 

The Labor Department of the Government had been anxious for our cooperation in reaching homecoming soldiers with information and advice to proceed, promptly on arrival, to their home towns and not to linger in cities or near the seaboard, and respecting re-employment. We gladly afforded all aid in our power in this endeavor.

 

On April 25th a delegation of doughboys from St. Aignan, headed by Sergeant Starkey, visited Paris and presented the situation of upwards of 100 doughboys, members of the Fraternity, at that camp, about to be commissioned officers, requiring uniform and equipment as a condition of receiving their assignments, and without funds to purchase same, and solicited the aid of the Mission in their behalf. St. Aignan was a casual camp, to which all men for any reason detached from their units were assigned; also replacement troops sent from home awaiting assignment; also men awaiting sentence after trial by court martial, and doughboys awaiting commission after examination for promotion. It was dubbed “St. Agony,” an obviously appropriate term. Lieut. Col. Oliver S. Perry, a member of the Fraternity, was in charge of the camp, and he, as well as other officers, members of the Fraternity, had exhausted their resources in relieving and assisting Brethren in the service, situated as reported by Bro. Starkey. The sum of 50,000 francs was requested, for use as a revolving fund to relieve these brethren in their emergency. It was represented that they were possessed of funds at home or of funds in the hands of friends, neither of which were readily available, or at all, excepting after great delay, and we were satisfied that a rare opportunity for service was here presented. We desired, however, to be sure of our ground, and requested Brother Starkey to return to St. Aignan, canvass the situation most carefully and advise the minimum amount which would afford the relief desired.

 

On May 9th, Brothers Lay and Goodrich proceeded to St. Aignan and there conferred with Col. Perry and other officers, members of the Fraternity, and with Bro. Starkey. They presented a list of 74 candidates and commissioned Second Lieutenants in financial need. It appeared further that immediately a man received his commission, his findings as private stopped, and he was required to pay his food at 10 francs per diem, and often was short of funds until next pay day. Careful investigation established the worth of the applicants, and the Mission deposited with Col. Perry 25,000 francs to be distributed by him, Major McCatharan and Brother Starkey among the men deemed worthy by them, in sums not to exceed 300 francs each, for which their obligations were to be given, payable to the Mission. These obligations were met with almost uniform promptness, and but a few thousand francs of the total amount remain outstanding. The fame of this service, and its signal influence, spread rapidly throughout the A. E. F. No other institution or organization was prepared to, or endeavored to, furnish any similar service.

 

Brothers Lay and Goodrich returned to Paris, where they remained in charge of the Mission's activities until their departure for home on June 28th, constantly occupied during the entire day from early in the morning until late at night in the office of the Mission in conferences with, and assisting, members of the Fraternity seeking aid and advice.

 

On May 19th, they mailed letters to all Masonic Clubs enclosing greetings from the Mission and literature prepared by the National Superintendent of Bureaus for returning soldiers and sailors.

 

On May 28th, they distributed among the Masonic Clubs memorial aprons contributed by the Bee Hive Lodge of Chicago, Ill.

 

The services of the members of the Mission were called for several times in the conduct of Masonic funerals.

 

On May 29th, Wor. Brother C. D. Brooks, of Uncas Lodge, No. 949, Syracuse, who had been engaged in the educational activities of the Y.M.C.A., and had planned to take part in the educational work of the A. E. F. University at Beaune, was buried with Masonic services in the Suresnes Cemetery outside Paris, conducted by Brother Lay.

 

May 30th, Memorial Day, Brother Lay proceeded to Montrichard, and there delivered a Memorial Day address. From there he proceeded to St. Aignan for a conference with Col. Perry regarding loans and other matters.

 

On June 20th, the Mission gave a dinner in honor of Col. H. H. Whitney, President of the Overseas Masonic Club of Paris, at the Laurent Restaurant. General Pershing had been requested to attend this function, and wrote an appreciation, of which he afterward authorized publication.

 

The correspondence is as follows:

 

(On the letter-head of the Mission)

10 Avenue Victor-Emmanuel III,

 

Paris, France.

 

June 13, 1919.

 

General John J. Pershing,

 

G.H.Q., Chaumont, France. Dear Sir and Brother:

 

On Friday evening, June 20th, the Masonic Overseas Mission is giving a dinner in honor of Colonel H. H. Whitney, President of the Paris Masonic Club at the Restaufant Laurant, on the Champs Elysees, at 6:30 P. M., and would deem it a great honor if you could arrange to be present.

 

Trusting that this may be possible, I am,

 

Cordially and fraternally yours,

 

GEO. S. GOODRICH,

 

Of the Mission.

 

AMERICAN EXPEDITIONARY FORCES

 

Office of the Commander-in-Chief

France, June 14, 1919.

Mr. George S. Goodrich,

 

10 Ave. Victor Emmanuel III, Paris. Dear Mr. Goodrich:

 

I have received your cordial invitation of June 13th to dine with the Overseas Mission to the Freemasons on June 20th.

 

I am indeed sorry that my military duties force me to be absent on that date, and so I cannot have the pleasure of dining with you. I wish to express my extreme regret as nothing would have given me greater pleasure. I have heard nothing but the highest praise of the results of your generous efforts in the American Expeditionary Forces, and desire to express to you personally my hearty thanks for the consistently helpful attitude you have assumed.

 

Sincerely yours,

 

(Sinned) JOHN J. PERSHING.

 

He did not attend the dinner. However, among those attending were Col. H. H. Whitney, Majors Martin and Robinson, Cass Connaway, General Counsel of the Y.M.C.A., Charles W. Connery, Manager of the American Masonic Club, Sidney Morse, in charge of the Records Department of the Y.M.C.A., John Garland Pollard of Virginia, member of the Board of Discipline of the Y.M.C.A., Ex-Governor Dunn of Indiana, Brother Newby of the Grand Commandery of the United States, Major Ross Corbin, of the Red Cross, Sherif Pasha, a Turkish Mason, and many others. Anticipating the return of Brothers Lay and Goodrich, Brother Erastus C. Knight, who had been originally designated a member of the Mission, but had taken up active duties in New York in connection with the activities of the War and Relief Administration, and particularly in connection with the care of wounded brethren during their presence in and near New York at the various debarkation and Base Hospitals, was dispatched, and arrived in Paris on June 13th in time to gain from Brothers Lay and Goodrich, before they left, an intimate understanding of the various activities of the Mission, it being planned that he should remain indefinitely after they left, and as long as the need required. The fund raised by the American Masonic Club at Nevers for stained glass memorial windows in the Protestant Chapel at Nevers was turned over to the Mission, the glass ordered, and under its auspices and supervision installed. The Chairman of the Mission returned to Paris, after visiting London and attending the Peace Session of the United Grand Lodge of England, and arrived in Paris, July 3rd, remaining there to close up the various activities of the Mission, its relations with the Y.M.C.A., and with Headquarters, No. 10 Avenue Emmanuel III, also to settle all bills or arrange for same. When he departed he left Bro. Knight to oversee the final details. He sailed from Havre about the middle of August. Brother Knight left Paris Aug. 30,1919, and arrived in New York with the records and other property of the Mission.

 

You will remember that at the conference of Grand Masters held at Cedar Rapids, Iowa, November 24th to 28th, 1918, which resulted in the adoption of the tentative organization of the American Masonic Service Association of the United States, the project of dispatching the Mission overseas was brought before the assembled Grand Masters, and it was unanimously voted that the Chairman of the Mission be appointed the representative of the Masonic Service Association of the United States overseas. The original plan by New York for Masonic Service overseas contemplated impartial service to all Freemasons in the United States forces whencesoever they hailed, and the Masonic Service Association of the United States at the conference referred to adopted the Mission also as its Mission to Freemasons in the United States forces overseas, and undertook to share pro rata in the whole expense thereof. We bore letters of credit for fifty thousand dollars, in addition to travelers checks, aggregating $5,000, in all $55,000. The total expenses of the Mission, including outstanding loans but not including the depreciation in the value of the franc, are approximately $35,600, of which New York will pay her proportionate share, our sister jurisdictions joining in this service having requested that they each pay on a proportionate basis equal to what the membership of each bears to the total membership of all contributing.

 

In closing this report, it is fitting that sincere acknowledgment should be made of the cordial relations which at all times prevailed between the Mission and the A.E.F.-Y.M.C.A. as well as of the great service and assistance which that organization afforded us. All our transportation in France and England was obtained through its Movement Order Department, and Masonic Secretaries were assigned and transferred freely at our request. Motor vehicles, mechanics, building material, hut equipment, moving picture machines and films, entertainers, food and supplies of all kinds were freely and promptly furnished upon our requisition, and while our arrangements, as was proper, provided for payment for all such services and supplies, we received great assistance, many facilities and favors for which we could not compensate in money, and were not asked to.

 

The situation of our boys after the Armistice was signed, and movement back from the front was commenced, concentrated for transportation home, no longer with the stimulus of a fight unwon, with little to do and less to occupy their minds, much of the time in mud, wet, cold, and general distress of mind and body, can well be imagined. Words are inadequate to express it accurately. To such men, in such a plight, yearning for home, and in dire need of distraction, the Mission and its varied service was a veritable God-send.

 

The influence of the Mission's presence, representing organized Freemasonry in the United States, was also felt deeply by the A.E.F.-Y.M.C.A. The large number of members of the Fraternity in that service were greatly heartened and stabilized thereby, and beyond doubt rendered more efficient service.

 

In closing this report the members of the Mission desire to record their personal appreciation of the privilege of participating in this service, and their admiration of the quality as men and Masons of the rank and file of American officers and doughboys engaged in the World War. The memory of the dear associations which they have enjoyed will never die.

 

Fraternally submitted,

 

TOWNSEND SCUDDER,

MERWIN W. LAY,

Chairman GEORGE S. GOODRICH,

WILLIAM C. PRIME,

ERASTUS C. KNIGHT,

THOS. CHANNING MOORE

of the Mission.

 

PRELIMINARY STATEMENT TO CANDIDATES

 

My Friends:

 

You are about to be initiated into Freemasonry. It is deemed proper in this Grand Lodge that all candidates for our ceremonies shall know in brief just what Masonry is, what its aims and purposes are, and in that way any erroneous or trivial notions which you may have had will be entirely removed and your minds free to receive the great truths which Masonry hopes to teach.

 

You are to be congratulated upon having been found worthy to pass the unanimous ballot of the members of this lodge, and it is of the utmost importance that you so conduct yourself as to be always worthy of this confidence.

 

The Order with which you are seeking to unite is known in this State as Ancient Free and Accepted Masonry. Ancient as having a recorded history of more than two centuries, and still more ancient as having come down from the old guilds or fellowship of Operative Masons, who worked upon those wonderful cathedrals and other public buildings in Europe which were constructed during the middle ages, and which have been and still are the marvel of all who behold them. We do not desire our candidates to understand that we claim any connection with those workmen who built King Solomon's Temple, although we use in our ceremonies and ritual the symbolism of the same.

 

Free Masonry is made up always of free men - free born. Free Masonry was originally composed of workmen who, by reason of special privileges granted them by the church in the early middle age, were free to travel and work without the usual restrictions which were common in those times.

 

Accepted Masonry, or Speculative Masonry, is distinguished from Operative. The transitions to Accepted Masonry came about the beginning of the 18th century, when many gentlemen, scholars, scientists and clergymen, sought and attained admission to the guilds of Operative Masons, and were known as Gentlemen, or Accepted Masons. From 1717, with the organization of the Grand Lodge of England, Masonry has been Speculative rather than Operative.

 

Our Order intends to make good men better, and thus wiser and happier; men capable of rendering large service to their fellow men. This is its main object. It is founded upon certain vital and fundamental truths, chief among them is the belief in one Ever Living and true God, and our dependence upon him. If there is any doubt in your mind whatever on this point, you ought not to think of proceeding further. Other great truths will be taught as you proceed with your degree.

 

Please bear in mind that there is nothing in Masonry which does not have a serious purpose. Nothing is done to embarras you, or trifle with your feelings. Your preparation for initiation all has a meaning which will be explained later.

 

With this preliminary statement, let me express the hope that your mind will be at ease and in a mood to receive the important lessons which Masonry is intended to teach you.

 

* * *

 

The foregoing “Preliminary Statement to Candidates” has been authorized by the Grand Lodge of North Dakota to be given to all candidates in that Grand Jurisdiction prior to their preparation for initiation into the First degree. It is designed to be delivered preferably by the Worshipful Master in some suitable room other than the lodge room.

 

----o----

 

I cannot know the future of this life,

What storms may come, what woes,

Or whether I shall conquer in the strife,

But I can trust in Him. He knows! He knows!

 

- G.A.N.

 

----o----

 

I will chide no heathen in the world but myself, against whom I know most faults. - Shakespeare.

 

----o----

 

The truly generous is truly wise, and he who loves not others, lives unblest. - Home.

 

 

MASONS’ MARKS AND MARK MASONRY

 

BY BRO, CHARLES C. CONOVER, MICHIGAN

 

(CONTlNUED FROM NOVEMBER NUMBER)

 

THE MARK DEGREE - ITS HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT

 

THE MARK degree seems to antedate any of the chapter degrees. In England and most of her dependencies it is controlled by a separate organization known as the Grand Lodge of Mark Master Masons. These lodges take their material from the Master's degree and they confer the degrees of Mark Man, Mark Master and in some instances the Royal Ark Mariners. We naturally first turn to Mackey's Encyclopedia for his viewpoint. On the subject of “Mark Man” he says:

 

“According to Masonic tradition, the Mark Men were the Wardens, as the Mark Masters were the Masters of the Fellow-Craft Lodges, at the building of the Temple. They distributed the Marks to the workmen, and made the first inspection of the work, which was afterward to be approved by the overseers. As a degree, the Mark Man is not recognized in the United States. In England it is sometimes, but not generally, worked as preparatory to the degree of Mark Master. In Scotland, in 1778, it was given to Fellow Crafts, while the Mark Master was restricted to Master Masons. Much of the esoteric ritual of the Mark Man has been incorporated into the Mark Master of the American System.”

 

MARK MASONRY - PLACE AND MEANING

 

When we read the story of the building of that house upon Mount Moriah we are amazed at the magnitude, as well as the splendor of the work. By the quarries, in Lebanon, and in the mountain that overlooked the Dead Sea, men wrought by plan - Fellow Crafts and M. M.'s of the different lodges. They apparently wrought also by piece in many cases; and it was important that a careful record should be kept of work done, of work done well - and of the worker, whatever he had done. This was done by a system of Marks. Whether each family had a separate Mark, or each nation or each company of workmen, it is impossible to say. But that Masons were in the habit of making such Marks for purposes of signature there is no doubt. When few could read, and fewer write, a plan of adopting some easily remembered Mark would be a great advantage. And there is no doubt that the signature in some way of a man's workmanship was of import; ance to the Wardens and the Overseers. Masonry has ever emphasized the value standard in regard to membership in a lodge, both in operative and in speculative labor; and we can easily understand that such a system of Marks as we have discovered would become necessary, especially in a work of such stupendous magnitude as the Temple of Jerusalem, or the other great works of antiquity in which bands of workmen of different nations and languages and habits were employed. The Marks would be, to the Overseers, both statement of account and surveyor's report; and every man would receive praise and reward or punishment as these marks were borne upon good or bad work. The apprentice hand made a blind Mark of equal angles, and the F.C. a true mark of unequals. In the former we find a standard easily followed, and the absence of a personal characteristic of great importance. In the Mark of the Master was the individuality of that skilled artisan. The standard of obedience was no longer inexpertly and blindly emphasized; but the workman obeyed Masonic law by expressing his own characteristic in the varying unequal angles. The circle was avoided, and never became a Mason's Mark unless in combination with some perpendicular or angle. The circle is the means to right lines; and in right lines is Masonry builded. The study of the ancient Marks in buildings of all nations and religions and Masonic tendency reveals some curious suggestions. Mr. Godwin and M. Didron, in the forties of last century, brought these Marks under the observation of antiquaries. The first, who was editor of the “Builder,” submitted, in 1841, a most interesting communication upon the subject to the Society of Antiquaries; and M. Didron, a Parisian student of archaeology, communicated his own findings to the Comite Historique des Arts et Monuments shortly afterwards. Various conclusions were reached by learned men who took the matter up; but nothing appears to be conclusive beyond that with which we have already stated. The Marks were the signature and the challenge of the workmen.

 

And, just in the same way, the Mark Mason of today demands that a Mark shall represent the responsibility and the account of the Mark Mason. Just as in business the reputation of a merchant or manufacturer may be said to be constantly in pledge against the fulfillment of a contract, so Mark Masonry throws herself upon her character, upon her Masonic brotherliness, upon her right to receive and to give. And just so her character stamps her acts and her ideals. The Mark is found upon the obverse of the jewel, and not upon the apron, which with the exception that there are no tassels and that the ribbon is edged with crimson, rip sembles that of the M. M. Craft degree. The jewel takes the form of the keystone of an arch. Upon one side are the letters H.T.W.S.S.T.K.S., and upon the other Hebrew characters of similar import. These are arranged round a space, circular, in which the Mark of the wearer is inscribed. So that both the Royal Arch and the Mark are based largely upon the content and construction of the arch in Masonry. The principal difference is one of form. The Royal Arch deals with the secret the arch has hidden; and the Mark illustrates more the value of the arch itself and the lmportance of reliable work. (The Trestle Board, Vol. 26, No. 6 Calif.)

 

MARK MASONRY

 

William J. Hughan of England, who with Robert F. Gould, were the most painstaking Masonic history ans in separating the wheat of truth from the chaff of fiction and tradition, has this to say about Mark Masonry:

 

During the centuries which immediately preceded the establishment of the premier Grand Lodge of England and the World, the “Mark” was directly connected with operative and speculative Freemasonry, and from time immemorial, it has been the custom for the skilled Craftsman to chisel his distinctive Mark on the stones he fashioned, so as to indicate his workmanship.

 

It is this fact that differentiates the Mark degree from all other ceremonies additional to the first three, and justified the formation of the Mark Grand Lodge, nearly fifty years ago, so as to take under its wing those lodges which worked with interesting and suggestive ceremony, the English Craft agreement excluding it from the formally recognized series, according to the Articles of Union of A. D. 1813-4.

 

The antiquity of Mark Masonry cannot be doubted. Operatively considered and even speculatively, it has enjoyed special prominence for centuries; records of the custom being followed by speculative brethren, according to existing records, dating back to 1600, in which year, on the 8th day of June, “Ye principal wardens and chief master of maissons, Wm. Schaw, master of work to ye Kingis Maistie,” met members of the Lodge of Edinburgh (now No. 1) at Holyrood House, at which meeting the Laird of Auchinleck was present, and attested the minutes of the assembly by his Mark, as did the operatives, in accordance with the Schaw statutes of December 28th, 1598, which provided: That the day of reassauying (receiving) of said fallow of craft or master be ord'lie buikit and his name and Mark insert in the said buik.”

 

That theoretical Masons selected their Marks just as the operatives did, during the seventeenth century, is abundantly manifest, by an examination of the old Scottish records of that period. One of the most noteworthy instances out of many is the Mark Book of the Lodge of Aberdeen (now No. 1 tris) which started in A. D. 1670, and is signed by 49 members, all of whom but two have their Marks inserted opposite their names.

 

The Master of the “Honorable Lodge of Aberdeen” in that year was Harrie Elphingston, Tutor of Airth and Collector of the King's Customs and only a fourth part of the members were operative Masons, the roll of brethren including the Earl of Findlater, the Earl of Dumferline, Lord Pitsligo, the “Earl of Errolle,” a professor of mathematics, several ministers, doctors and other professional men and tradesmen, such as wrights (or carpenters), slaiters, glaziers, etc.

 

The names of the apprentices were entered in another list, the Marks chosen by such being evidently similar to the fathers' in several instances.

 

When a special and elaborate ceremony (with a distinctive legend) was first used it is not possible to decide, but probably about the middle of the eighteenth century, soon after the arrangement of the Royal Arch as a separate degree. The oldest preserved records date from the year 1769, and there is no lack of evidence as to the observance of the custom in speculative lodges during that century and later, either in separate lodges or under the wing of the Royal Arch. The Mark continued to be worked in England as an unauthorized ceremony until the year 1856, when the Mark Grand Lodge was founded and has proved a conspicuous success, having ultimately secured the support of all the “time immemorial” and other lodges in the country, besides having warranted several hundreds of lodges to work the degree in England and the Colonies and dependencies of the British Crown.

 

The ceremony is very popular, especially in North America, where there are over a quarter of a million subscribing members, * and is recognized by all Grand Chapters of Royal Arch Masons there and elsewhere, excepting in England. The Grand Lodge of Ireland includes it with the additional degrees belonging to “the other Masonic Grand Bodies recognized in it, and acting in union with it,” and the Grand Lodge of Scotland authorizes the Mark to be “conferred on Master Masons, and the secrets only to be communicated in presence of those who have taken the step in a lodge entitled to grant it.” The Mark Grand Lodge in recent years has incorporated the “Mark Man” with the “Mark Master”; and wisely so, as it was the former that was conferred on Fellow Crafts, and the latter on Master Masons, during the eighteenth century. - (The Trestle Board, Vol. 23, No. 4, October, 1909, California.)

 

In a letter to the Masonic Home Journal of Louisville, Ky., Companion Alfred A. A. Murray, Grand Scribe E., corrects an erroneous idea which had been published previously, and treats of the Mark degree in Scotland:

 

As regards the Mark degree itself it was not worked in the Fellow Craft lodges, but there were really two degrees, namely, that of Mark Man, which was given to a Fellow Craft, and that of Mark Master, which was given to a Master Mason. The degree of Mark Man was worked down to within fifty years ago by various Craft lodges, and given to Fellow Crafts. The degree of Mark Master was conferred as a separate degree in the same way as the Royal Arch, and was expressly cut off by the Grand Lodge of Scotland, about 1800, in the same way that the Royal Arch and the Temple were cut off. Before that date they used to be worked by an inner circle of the lodge as a sort of side issue not under the Grand Lodge of Scotland at all.

 

The Royal Arch and the Temple were, after 1800, organized as governing bodies, and then the Mark Master degree was taken under the sole control of the Supreme Grand Chapter, and continued so till, as I say, about fifty years ago, when an agreement was made between the Grand Lodge and the Supreme Chapter that the two degrees of Mark Man and Mark Master

 

* Latest figures show over half a million.

 

 

were to be amalgamated, and were to be conferred under the authority of either body, but only upon Master Masons.

 

It is wise to get a clear statement made upon the point, because I observe a very large amount of mistaken information is being printed from time to time, which is derived from confusion of thought and want of knowledge, and results sometimes in mistaken action.

 

THE MARK DEGREE - ITS ROMANCE AND LESSONS

 

Companions in this country will be deeply interested in the following article by Herbert J. Williams, Grand Scribe E., of New Zealand, as it opens up a new thought and lesson from another angle than that with which they are familiar. The rejected work was not that of another, but his own which was misunderstood.

 

For the groundwork of the degree, Mark Masonry is indebted to the building of King Solomon's Temple, which is the basis upon which the whole superstructure of Freemasonry rests. And though today this legendary foundation is recognized as being quite mythical, yet the end fully justifies the means, in view of the great moral edifice erected.

 

The scene of our story lies in the great Temple building, and the wonderful organization which controlled 180,000 workmen is recounted. The first page of the history of the degree opens with the introduction of the Fellow Craft, who desires enrollment in the arms of workmen, and as a Mark man he works well and worthily, and receives his wages. The fact that he has worked “well and worthily” may be noted in view of subsequent happenings. After working in the quarries for some time, on one eventful day he accompanies some of his fellow-workmen, and duly submits his work for examination to the overseers, but for some unaccountable reason he presents a stone which is not confined to right lines and angles, but was as a keystone, wedge-formed, an entirely new departure from the rectangular. This in itself was quite sufficient to excite the surprise of his companions and the displeasure of the overseers, who refused to pass the stone, and as an indication of contempt finally ordered it to be heaved over among the rubbish, and the legend relates that it long lay hidden. For centuries it was believed that the principle of the arch in building was not known at the time of King Solomon, and it was only within the last few years that this statement has been entirely disproved. Archways with regular keystones have been found in the doorways of tombs at Thebes, which could not be of later date than 1540 B. C., or 460 years before the building of the temple. And we are further told that the Cyclopean gallery of Tyrius exhibits lancetstapled arches as old as Abraham. It is assumed by Lawrence that the principle of the Arch was a kind of guild secret, of which H ___ A ___ would be in possession, but it was not known to the workmen generally. But to return to our romance. The Craftsman who had been turned down by the overseers was on subsequent examination denounced as an imposter, and narrowly escaped the penalty which invariably followed such an indictment. But as time went on, and the building neared completion, it was discovered by the Master that a certain stone was necessary for the completion of the building, and the Master was satisfied that he had is issued a plan of this particular stone. The overseers having been convened in council, admitted having received it, but working strictly by plans, the stone was rejected and cast aside. How it was subsequently found by the skillful Craftsman, and the honor that he received is well known to each Mark Master. That the Craftsman was a skillful worker must be admitted from the excellence of his artistic work. That he was actuated by good motives may be gathered from the record that from the commencement of his career he worked “well and worthily.” Yet when the stone was rejected, he was deeply humiliated, he was accused of working for self-glorification, and received angry words and reproaches. As we know that his fellow-workmen were well pleased at the humiliation of what they conceived , to be his vanity. Picture to yourselves what this worthy Craftsman must have suffered, perhaps for years, until the subsequent finding of the stone. Whether his work was the result of seeing the plans, or whether as an artist he knew such a stone would be required matters little, there is no record that he displayed the least vanity or ostentation. On the contrary, after the finding of the stone, the extreme value of which was recognized by H ___ A ___, he was advanced to the degree of Mark Master and ordered to cut his name upon it. Again imagine the feeling of the worthy Craftsman when the stone - his work - was being conveyed with much pomp and parade to be fixed in its place. Well might he have been excused for manifesting feelings of the utmost pride, and of retaliating on those of his companions who had assisted at his humiliation. He had no such thoughts, but rather in an ecstacy of joy gave the thanks to God that he had worked well.

 

Were there no other lessons conveyed in the teaching of the Mark degree, this beautiful romanee and its moral should give ample compensation. And there is no other character in Freemasonry who shows such restraint under suffering, patience of endurance under the sneers and gibes of his fellows, or such nobility of character in the hour of his unbounded triumph. What a glorious example of the suppression of self, and the glorification of the Supreme Architect.

 

THE MARK

 

To the ancient operative Mason the “Mark” was only a means of identification, protected by his known ability and the registration of his Mark, as signatures are, in our day, recorded in a bank.

 

In ancient Rome, when two friends were about to part, it was a custom to break a piece of money or ivory in two, and having registered a secret Mark, each retained a part, and this was a token of everlasting friendship, and was called the “arrhabo.” Both word and custom were borrowed from the ancient Israelites, for it is derived from the Hebrew “Arabon,” a pledge.

 

Among modern speculative Masons the Mark is no longer a means of livelihood, nor is it a mere emblem of livelihood, nor is it a mere emblem of ornamental appendage of the Mark Master degree, but a sacred token of the rites of friendship and brotherly love, it is a veritable “tessera hospitalis,” and when presented by the owner to another Mark Master, would claim, from the latter, acts of friendship, which only a mutual obligation would warrant.

 

If a Mark is presented for the purpose of obtaining a favor, it then becomes an “Arabon,” or pledge, and while it remains in the possession of its owner, it ceases, so far as he is concerned, to be of advantage to him, until, conforming to an ancient usage, of redeeming it from its former pledge.

 

In Rome the “tessera hospitalis” extended to the descendants, and if the father exchanged a broken die on parting, the son honored it, as this short quotation from an old Roman comedy will show, as between Agorastocles and Poenulus:

 

Ag. - I am a son

of old Antidamus.

 

Poe. - If so, I pray you

Compare with me the hospital die

I've brought this with me.

 

Ag. - Prithee, let me see it.

It is, indeed, the very counterpart

Of mine at home.

 

Poe. - All hail, my welcomed guest,

Your father was my guest Antidamus.

Your father was my honored guest and then

This hospital die with me he parted.

 

Now that we understand the customs of the ancients, how easy to comprehend the message of St. John the Evangelist, when he says, “To him that overcometh will I give a white stone, and in it a new name written which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it,” or in a more literal translation, “To him who overcometh will I give an arabon of my affection, and entitle hilt to privileges and honor of which none else can know the value or extent.”

 

THE SYMBOLISM

 

The symbolism of the Mark degree, unlike all other degrees in Freemasonry, may be comprehended in one emblem - the Keystone. Around this is woven the whole of the romance. It was this that caused the humiliation of the skillful Craftsman, in his desire to produce good and useful work, and his long period of sorrow and dejection by its rejection, and, consequently, to this symbol he owed his honorable advancement, and the tardy recognition of his skill.

 

We need no legend to estimate the value of the Keystone in its material sense. To the operative Mason of today it is an invaluable aid in the science of architecture. How much more so would it be in ancient days, when it would appear that the knowledge of its use and construction was actually confined to a privileged few of the higher class of Temple builders. To speculative Mark Masons of today it not only constitutes the jewel of the degree, but it also bears the special Mark chosen by the Mark Mason on his advancement to the honorable degree.

 

Now, what are the great lessons which the teaching of the degree inculcates ? We may answer, primarily, “Charity,” in its highest attributes. Not to judge harshly and condemn the actions of others because we may not understand them. To act in charity to all mankind, and more especially to our brethren in Freemasonry, is a Masonic command, which was not exemplified by the overseers in their treatment of the skillful Craftsman's work. Among some of the sterling precepts of the Mark degree we are enjoined to do justice to all mankind, to love mercy, which equally blesses him who gives and him who receives, to practice charity in all its phases, to maintain harmony in our own persons, and to endeavor to promote it with others. To quote an American writer: “The rejection of the keystone should teach us that nothing has been made in vain. It matters not how worthless and insignificant a creature may appear to our prejudiced eyes, we may rest assured that if infinite wisdom has been employed in its creation, it has, in the economy of Providence, its appropriate place and use; from it we may also learn never to despond and grow weary in welldoing. Although our motives may be misinterpreted and the work of our hands be misjudged by our erring fellowmen, still may we have faith that there is over all a Judge who sees not with the eyes of man.”

 

I wonder how many of us seriously consider the very great responsibility that devolves on the members of this degree. In the concluding charge the newlyadmitted brother is told that while he acts in conform ity with the sublime precepts of the Craft, “Should misfortune assail you, should other friends forsake you, should the envious traduce your good name, or the malicious persecute you . . . among Mark Master Masons you will ever find friends who will administer relief to your distresses and comfort in your affliction.” Surely this constitutes the essential essence of true Freemasonry, and were it only given practical effect would raise Mark Masonry high above its sister branches of Freemasonry and would convert the ideal into the real. - New Zealand Craftsman.

 

MARK MASTER'S LOW WAGE

 

Bro. George W. Warvelle, Grand Secretary of the Grand Chapter, R.A.M., of Illinois, thinks it absurd that the century-old rate of a penny a day still continues to be paid as the wages of a Mark Master, and this notwithstanding the ever increasing high cost of living. Bro. Warvelle says:

 

This ridiculously low wage scale seems to have been the work of the early American ritualists. I have in my possession two old English rituals, of Mark Man and Mark Mason, in both of which there is a specification of wages. In the former the rate was “nine shekels, equal to 1 2s. 6d. of our money,” and in the latter it was “Twenty-five shekels, equal to 3, 2s. 6d. of our money.” What the present rate may be in England I am unable to say, but no Englishman would work for the beggarly stipend paid in the American Mark lodges. I am inclined to believe, however, that our English brethren have fixed these abnormally high prices to make up for the actual wages formerly paid in England to the operative craft. As late as the year 1689 the wages of Freemasons were prescribed by law at one shilling and four pence a day. To demand more subjected them to severe penalties. In fact, it was really the passing of restrictive laws commencing say, about 1356, that led to the present speculative institution, and Masonic scholars of eminence assign the year 1424 as the cessation of English Freemasonry as a strictly operative association. - (Tyler-Keystone, Ann Arbor, Michigan, December, 1914.)

 

Bro. Wm. J. O. Astrop writes in the Tyler-Keystone:

 

I desire to draw attention to the statement on page sixty-two of the Tyler-Keystone that “pure ancient Masonry consists of three degrees.” In operative craft Masonry there was but one degree, that of the E.A., but as an older apprentice was eligible to the chair, he was entitled to his Mark for which he paid the clerk or Secretary of the lodge. The lodge of Kilwinning Peebles charged thirteen shillings and four pence for registering this Mark. The Mark thereafter could not be changed. For want of being able to write his name the apprentice used his Mark as a signature as well as marking his work. During the seven years usually spent in service as apprentice, his Master was his guardian. He got his board, lodging and clothing from his Master, and was allowed to venture out after dark to go to lodge or places of enjoyment only unless accompanied by two fellows to bear witness that he was in respectable company, so that no reflection would be brought upon the craft. Brethren would travel fifty miles to defend his character and good name.

 

In his “Concise History of Freemasonry” Brother Robert F. Gould gives the history of the Mark degree in its relation to Grand Lodges:

 

In 1856, March 5th, at a meeting of the Grand Lodge, it was resolved unanimously:

 

“That the degree of Mark Mason or Mark Master is not at variance with the ancient landmarks of the order, and that the degree be an addition to and form part of Craft Masonry; and consequently may be conferred by all regular warranted lodges, under such regulations as shall be . . . sanctioned by the Grand Master.”

 

The resolution, however, was negatived when the minutes were brought up for confirmation in the following quarter. A Grand Lodge of Mark Master Masons was formed in London during the same year, but it has not been recognized by the “United Grand Lodge” of the Craft. We find then, among the conflict of laws under the various Grand Lodges, that in England the Royal Arch is recognized, and the Mark degree is not; in Scotland, the Royal Arch is not, but the Mark is; and in Ireland both are recognized. The earliest known reference to tie Mark degree, it may be observed, occurs in the minute book of a Royal Arch Chapter at Portsmouth, under the date of September 1st, 1769.

 

(To be continued)

 

-----o-----

 

It is one hour past high twelve, and it is time for us to awaken from our lethargy and sleep of security, and note the signs of the times as they appear in the trend of the world's affairs. If Masonry is to continue to be a teacher and leader of the world in its march toward a higher civilization among the nations of the world; if it is to continue to be the guardian and preserver of those principles of justice and human liberty given us by our ancestors; if we are to be the conservator of American liberty, schools and homes, and exert any great influence upon the life and character of the brethren and the people of the particular community in which we live, we must do more than wear our Masonry in the lapel of our coats.

 

The time is near at hand, if not at our very door, when the ignorant and vicious, the selfish and the avaricious, with a heart and mind full of prejudice against the government, will find a fruitful field of labor, and, if they are finally successful in their efforts, we will find the separation of the church and state next to. impossible, and the teachings of the youth of this great land, the honor, respect and love of the glorious heritage bequeathed us by our Masonic ancestors, entirely out of order. Let us then discharge our full duty as Master Masons, because as doing so we will be actually discharging in harmony our full duty as American citizens. - Wm. A. Westfall, P.G.M., Iowa.

 

-----o----

 

THE BUILDERS

 

Did you see yourself to-day

As the children were at play?

 

They were building houses tall

Just within the garden wall

Near the gate.

Carefully their blocks they laid,

Carefully the side walls made

Lest they fall.

 

Block by block the houses grew

Till it seemed that just a few

Touches more

Would complete the maker's plans.

But alas! Too eager hands

Caused the ruin.

 

Bated breath and shining eyes

Thinking to have won the prize,

Work well done,

Then, unsteady, grasping hands,

Eager to complete the plans,

And the ruin.

 

Did you see yourself to-day

As the children were at play?

 

Have you builded castles tall,

To be humbled by their fall,

Incomplete?

Did your eagerness prevent

The Great Builder's glad consent

To your plans?

 

He whose wisdom builds the best-

Builds with knowledge of the test

Of all time-

Does not hurry in His task,

And His wisdom does not ask,

Am I done?

 

Grant us patience, O Great Builder!

In Thy wisdom, without murmur,

Thus to build.

As we gain the heights we've scanned,

May we always feel Thy hand

Guiding ours.

 

Did you see yourself to-day

As the children were at play?

 

- Ermina Lincoln Cooper, in The Universalist Leader.

 

FOR THE MONTHLY LODGE MEETING