A LODGE IS BORN
"What did you think of it?" inquired the Old Tyler of
the New Brother as they came out of the lodge room in which a lodge had just
been consecrated, dedicated and constituted. "It isn't often that we have a
chance to see that ceremony."
"I don't care if I never see it again." returned the
New Brother. It's hot in there, and it struck me as a lot of blah, just words
which mean nothing. Why do they have to go to all that bother? Why the corn and
wine and oil? Why not just say, 'you are a lodge- go ahead and work,' and have
it over with?"
"Would you have the Master say, 'this lodge is open' and
'this lodge is closed' for an opening and closing ceremony?" asked the Old
Tyler.
"I wouldn't go as far as that," answered the New
Brother. "But this ceremony leaves me cold. I can't see any sense in having
this new lodge anyhow!"
"Oh! So that's it!" The Old Tyler smiled wisely.
"You are objecting to the beautiful ceremony we have just witnessed because
you are not in sympathy with the creation of a new lodge at this time and place!
"I wouldn't say that." The New Mason flushed.
"Did you, by any chance, happen to want election to an
office in the new lodge, and they chose someone else?" The New Brother made
no answer. "There will be other new lodges!" comforted the Old Tyler.
"And you are a little too young in Masonry to aspire to office in a new
lodge. But I can't let you keep this wrong attitude about one of the really
beautiful ceremonies of our beloved order. Have you ever attended the graduation
exercises of any grammar school, high school, or college?"
"My little girl graduated from the eighth grade into high
school last week," answered the New Brother. "Why?"
"It's at least an even bet that you saw half of that
ceremony through wet eyes," answered the Old Tyler. "As you watched
all those fresh faces, boys and girls leaving childhood for youth, taking the
big step that is between the grade schools and high school, facing the unknown
future so blithely, was not your heart touched with a knowledge of all the
disappointments and heartaches these happy and carefree children must undergo?
"Of course."
"You wouldn't be a human father otherwise! To me a
consecration, dedication and constitution of a lodge is something like that. The
new little lodge starts out so bravely. It is composed of Masons who have had no
Masonic responsibilities. Sometimes one can find an old Past Master who will go
into the line, but generally they are new and untried officers. They satisfy the
authorities that they are competent to confer the degrees, but who knows their
abilities to form a new lodge into a coherent whole, their tact in keeping
harmony, their knowledge of the necessity for practicing brotherhood in the
lodge? They come here, these brave bright brethren, and the Grand Lodge performs
this beautiful ceremony. The corn, the wine, the oil, are poured for them. They
are consecrated to God, dedicated to the Holy Saints John, and constituted a
member of the family of lodges under this Grand Lodge. Masters of other lodges
are present to wish them well. Some come bearing gifts - the jewels the officers
wear, the working tools, perhaps a modest check from the lodge which sponsored
them to help the new thin treasury get a start. They have no traditions to
steady them. They have no matters of common knowledge to bind them together.
They have no past of which to talk. All they possess is their mutual Masonry and
their mutual responsibility - their hopes, their fears, their plans and their
determination. An unwritten page is theirs on which to record their Masonic
future. The Mystic Tie is all they know of lodge life. The Grand Master
pronounces them a lodge, the charter or warrant is presented and they are born.
To me it is a simple, beautiful, pathetic, and interesting site, and one I never
tire of seeing."
"I am a fool." The New Mason spoke with conviction.
"Old Tyler, why did the Senior Deacon gather up the corn that was used and
put it carefully away?"
"He couldn't gather the wine and oil, since they were
spilled for good," answered the Old Tyler. "But that little horn of
corn will be kept until this new lodge itself sponsors another new lodge, then
to be offered to them, that they may be consecrated with the same corn poured
for the Mother Lodge."
"Oh, I am a fool, indeed," cried the New Mason.
"Please take me with you to the next such ceremony, will you?" The Old
Tyler grunted. But it sounded like a promise.
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