THE BUILDER MAGAZINE
june 1915
volume 1 - number 6
ROBERT FREKE GOULD
SOLDIER, BARRISTER, FREEMASON
IN MEMORIAM
(Editor of The Builder:--With deep regret I have to
announce the death on March 26th, of our veteran Brother Robert Freke Gould. As
a reliable Masonic historian he occupied a high place in the affection and
esteem of all Masonic students. His works remain withus as Masonic classics for
all time. His influence in Masonic literature was incalculable and will never
die. Fraternally yours,
John T. Thorp, Lodge of Research, Leicester, England.)
MAN AND MASON
By John C. Yorston, Philadelphia
THE sad news of the death of this renowned, honorable and
worthy brother, of International fame, will be received by the Craft at large
with more than ordinary regret. He died at his residence, Kingsfield Green,
Woking, England, March 26th, at the age of 78 years. How much we may regret his
decease is not a subject for words, for in him was recognized the closest and
most considerate of friends, one who knew the difficulties of authorship and
journalism, and was ever ready to help and take pleasure in doing so, and also
to make allowances where many would have showered unjust criticism.
The great loss to Masonry will be acknowledged wherever the
Masonic symbol is known and recognized, for, although an English author, his
Masonic works have been translated into several European languages, and his
shorter writings and studies have been translated into many more tongues, and
read throughout the World.
His first published work on Freemasonry, entitled "The
First Four Old Lodges," was succeeded by "The Athol Lodges," but the work which
has secured for him his position and lasting fame as a Masonic Author, is his
complete and exhaustive work of research, "The History of Freemasonry," a magnum
opus. For years it has held, and still holds, the field, and is recognized as
the only work of authority and the most reliable one on the history of the
Craft, yielding to him the honor of being the greatest Masonic Historian the
World has yet produced.
He also published a smaller work, "The Concise History of
Freemasonry," summarized without much detail. Many of his contributions to the
Transactions of the Quatuor Coronati Lodge are works of skill, erudition, and
patient research. Many of these are out of print, but the best of them, together
with articles from various Masonic journals, are reprinted in a volume entitled
"Brother Gould's Collected Essays and Papers," published in 1913.
Bro. Gould's contributions to Masonic literature are not
numerous.
Many writers have given us more in quantity of matter and
number of volumes, but none have achieved so much success in face of so many
difficulties. He began his work when all matters of Masonic history were
hopelessly mixed. All kinds of false traditions hovered around the name of
Freemasonry, and countless rites and sects claimed association with the Order.
His work consisted in clearing the way and breaking down barriers. He truly laid
the tracks upon which his successors found it easy to travel. His standard was
high, both as to literary accomplishment and to statement of fact. Guesswork and
imagination had no part or lot in his researches. The truth was supreme, and all
that possessed not its hall-mark was rejected or laid aside for further
evidence. The work he accomplished will remain for many generations as a
monument to his love of the Craft and his genius as a painstaking and truthful
historian.
It might truly be said that his life was made up of the
mystic number Three--for he was essentially a Soldier, Barrister and Freemason.
These three separate characteristics were the predominant factors of his most
useful life, and though he had formany years ceased activity as a Barrister, and
took only a passing interest in military matters after his retirement from the
Army, he devoted the rest of his life with a burning zeal and constant activity
with his pen in behalf of Freemasonry until a short time before his death. His
final letter, dated 22nd February, showed a mental and literary activity of the
keenest nature, and introduced references to friendships in England, Gibraltar,
and America.
Bro. Gould was a son of the Rev. Robert Freke Gould, Rector
of Stoke Pearo, Somerset, and was born at Ilfracombe, Devon, England, in 1836.
At the age of nineteen he entered the Army as Ensign in the 86th Royal County
Down Regiment of Foort, and later in the same year was initiated in the Royal
Naval Lodge, No. 429, Ramsgate, and also received his commission as a
Lieutenant, and was transferred to the 31st Regiment. In the following year his
Regiment was ordered to Malta, where he was exalted in the Melita Chapter, No.
349, and also installed a Knight Templar in the Melita Encampment.
In 1858 he found himself at Gibraltar, where he was
installed Master of the Inhabitants' Lodge, No. 153, E. C. The Lodge roll for
the present year shows him as the senior living Past Master at the time of its
issue, and designates him an honorary member.
His year in the chair was interrupted by a removal to the
Cape of Good Hope, and later in the same year to India. Here he became Founder
and first Master of the Meridian Lodge, No. 743, of the 1st East Surrey
Regiment, then stationed at Poona. In 1860 he took command of a Company at Sinho,
in the North China Campaign, and took part in the action at that place, and in
the storming of Tangku. For the taking of the latter forts he received a medal
and clasp. In 1862 he served on the staff of General Staveley in subduing the
Taeping Rebellion. The operations in the district of Shanghai resulted in the
taking of the stockade of Nanhsiang, the capture by escalade of the walled
cities of Kadin, Tsinpoo, Tsolin, and the fortified town of Najow, and the
success of the operations at Nanhsiang. Afterwards he was appointed by General
Stavele to drill, discipline, and organize a battalion of Manchu soldiers at
Tien Tsin. Continuing his stay in China, he was elected Master of the Northern
China Lodge, No. 570, Shanghai, in 1864, and in the following year was installed
First Principal of the Zion Chapter, No. 570, and was a founder of the Tuscan
Lodge, No. 1027, in the same city.
His departure from China would appear to have terminated
his military career, for in 1870 we find him settled at Russell Square, London,
in close proximity to the law centers of the Metropolis.
This center was most favorable for the continuance of his
legal work and for paying frequent visits to the Grand Lodge Library and to the
British Museum. It was these later visits which enabled him to lay the
foundation upon which so much valuable material was afterwards to be erected in
the way of contributions to the literature of Freemasonry. What Bro. Gould
himself described as the "distractions" of these two Libraries caused him to
suspend his legal studies, and in 1877, he went on Circuit (the Western) for the
last time, and a few years afterwards gave up his chambers in the Temple, and
thus ceased to be even a nominal practitioner at the Bar.
Having thus closed his activities as Soldier and Barrister,
his whole time was available for his chief "recreation"-Freemasonry.
In 1875 he was installed Master of the Moira Lodge, No. 92,
London, and was re-elected for the following year, being also installed First
Principal of the Moira Chapter. In 1875 he also served as a Grand Steward, and
in that capacity took part in the installation of the Prince of Wales as Grand
Master of England at the Royal Albert Hall, which is described by himself in
1911 as "the most remarkable spectacle I have ever witnessed during the
half-century and more that I have been a Freemason."
Having served for several terms on the Board of General
Purposes of Grand Lodge, and on the Colonial Committee, it was generally hoped
by his friends that his services would secure him the coveted honor of Grand
Rank. This, however, was not realized until 1880, when he was invested as one of
the two Senior Grand Deacons. It may be as well to state here that this honor
was not awarded for his literary services, for the first volume of his "History
of Freemasonry was not published until two years later. This fact also
emphasizes the neglect of the Grand Lodge of England to reward the literary
efforts of its members; for although Bro. Gould's monumental work was known and
appreciated all the world over, Grand Lodge failed to recognize the merits of
the author until December 1913, when, in honor of the Centenary of the Union of
the Grand Lodges of England, he was made a Past Grand Warden.
The researches into Masonic archaeology and history on the
part of a small circle of Brethren at this time entailed considerable
correspondence by those who were exchanging ideas and discoveries, and the
question of founding a special lodge for Brethren interested in research was
mooted. After a few preliminary difficulties the Quatuor Coronati Lodge, No.
2076, was consecrated in 1884, and the desire for the literature of the Craft
was at once given a great stimulus, for those who were associated in the work of
this Lodge were keen upon their task, and in a very short time gave the Craft a
literature which has never been surpassed. In this work Bro. Gould was a leading
spirit and became a Founder of the Lodge. In 1887 he was installed Master, an
honor which is the coveted "blue-ribbon of Masonry" amongst literary members of
the Craft. In 1901 the "Inhabitants" Lodge, at Gibraltar, having become too
large, a sister Lodge was formed, and in honor of Bro. Gould, who had been the
first Master at the resuscitation in 1858, the new Lodge was named the Robt.
Freke Gould Lodge, No. 2874.
Bro. Gould's associations with other Lodges may be briefly
touched upon. Founder of the King Solomon's Temple Lodge, No. 3464, of which he
was the first Master. Joining member of the Royal Lodge of Friendship, No. 278,
Gibraltar; St. Andrew's in the East, No. 343, S.C., Poona; Orion in the West,
No. 415, Poona; Royal Sussex Lodge No. 501, Shanghai; and several Royal Arch
Chapters. His literary services to the Craft have been recognized by several
Grand Lodges in his election to honorary membership with rank of Past Grand
Warden, including Iowa, Ohio, District of Columbia, Kansas, South Dakota,
British Columbia, and New Zealand.
* * *
OUR THUCYDIDES
By Prof. Roscoe Pound, Harvard University.
If James Anderson has a prescriptive right to be styled the father of Masonic
history, Robert Freke Gould has a much better title upon the merits to be styled
its second father. Indeed Anderson owes his position in Masonic history simply
to the accident of time and place which makes him our only authority for the
most interesting period in the history of the Craft. Brother Gould, on the other
hand, taught us how to write Masonic history and founded a school of Masonic
historians which has put the history of the Craft upon a modern and scientific
basis where it may take its place with the history of other human institutions.
Prior to the writings of Brother Gould the profane might well smile when it
was said that Masonic history was to some extent a subject by itself and that it
must have its own methods and its own standards. For unhappily it was formerly
but too true that Masonic history was wholly unique among branches of knowledge
that went by the name of history and that it had methods and standards not
tolerated, much less admitted, anywhere else. Even in the eighteenth century,
when men were willing to believe much of antiquity which they would not have
believed of their own day, when, for example, the legendary history of the Roman
kings remain unquestioned, solemn narratives that made every great personage
from Adam to Solomon a Mason in the modern sense, that made Nebuchadnezzer and
Caesar Augustus Grand Masters of the Craft, that brought Masonry into Britain
with a Trojan king, and into Ireland with the prophet Jeremiah, ought to have
been impossible. What shall we say then of enlightened men and learned Masons
who repeated and affected to believe them in the nineteenth century and of the
pomp and circumstance of Masonic oratory which rehearses them or their like
today? Such things as Oliver's "Five grand periods of Masonry from the creation
of the world to the dedication of King Solomon's temple" have not been merely
harmless. Dr. Oliver was an antiquary of high and deserved reputation. Moreover,
he was one of the few really great Masonic scholars of the nineteenth century.
It is no exaggeration in Mackey to style him "the father of Anglo-Saxon Masonic
literature. His generous enthusiasm, undoubted archeological learning and wide
reading enabled him to give to English Masonic writings a literary and
philosophical turn that might have done much toward creating a scholarly
interest in Masonry. But when such a man was found setting forth soberly in
print that Masonry (presumably such as we know it) was to be found from the
beginnings of history, that it was taught by Seth to his descendants and was in
their hands pure or primitive Masonry, that with the dispersion of mankind after
Noah it divided into pure Masonry and spurious Masonry, that the former passed
through the patriarchs to Solomon and thence to the Masonry of today, while the
latter, a corruption in the hands of the pagans, was to be seen in the mysteries
and initiatory rites of antiquity--when this sort of history could be set forth
gravely by one of the lights of Masonic scholarship two results were to be
expected. One, the rank and file of the Craft accepted it and no speculation of
the sort became too wild for Masonic post-prandial and grand lodge oratory. Two,
the scholar within and without the Craft was led to think that if this was all
that such a man as Oliver could say there was in reality nothing to say. Hence
scholars within the Craft turned to philosophy and symbolism. But these suffered
from lack of proper historical foundation. Those without the Craft simply
laughed to the injury of all serious Masonic study. If the proposition that
Masonic history is in some sort a subject by itself, that from the nature of the
subject it has its own methods and its own criteria meant or threatened any
recrudescence of this pseudo-history among Masonic scholars, it should be
rejected at once.
It was a service of the first magnitude when Brother Gould,
the undoubted leader of modern Masonic historians, took for his guide a standard
more strict than the principles by which historians without the Craft were
guided in their search for the truth. Since his great work in which the most
rigorous tests were applied to every hypothesis, to every tradition, and to
every assertion of fact, no one who makes any pretensions to scholarship would
think of return to what a profane critic justly styled "the sprightly and
vivacious accounts of the . . . Masonic annalists who display in their histories
a haughty independence of facts and make up for the scarcity of facts by a
surprising fecundity of invention." A great clearing away was necessary in order
to put Masonic history upon a proper foundation. This clearing away Brother
Gould achieved almost at one stroke. If we may think today that the
circumstances of Masonic history call for less rigorous criteria in some
connections, we are enabled to say so confidently because he has established the
subject in a position where one may proclaim himself a Masonic historian without
shame. If James Anderson in some sense is the Herodotus of Masonic history,
Brother Gould is emphatically our Thucydides. It is not merely that he has
written what is likely to remain the standard history of Masonry. Much more than
that, he has taught us how to write Masonic history. For this service to the
Craft, if there were nothing else, he would always have to be reckoned among the
very first of our scholars.
LOGICIAN AND CRITIC
By R. J. Lemert, Montana
It is with the deepest sorrow and regret that I learn of
the death of Brother Robert F. Gould. Thus passes, after a long and useful life,
one who has in his own chosen field done more toward setting the history of
Freemasonry upon a solid basis than any other man who has ever lived. So long as
our institution shall endure--and that, I feel assured, will be until mankind
shall have reached a state of perfection inconceivable at the present (May--the
name of Brother Gould will live, and his writings will constitute for him a
monument more lasting than can be built above his grave in stone or brick.
Brother Gould's writings are essentially those of the
practical man, the logician, the severe critic of mere theory. Some of us may
have been at times a trifle impatient of his ruthless demolition of our dream
palaces; some of us may not, even today, be content to accept his dicta as to
certain mooted questions which he dismisses as not proven, and therefore not to
be taken seriously; but those matters of history upon which Brother Gould has
set the seal of his approval may be accepted with assurance by all who write
upon the subject of the Craft, as sure foundations upon which to build. His
Concise History, as well as his more pretentious work, published in this country
in four volumes, are the constant companions of those who write upon Masonic
topics, and the more they are studied, the more they reveal the amazing industry
and erudition of him who has now penned his last line.
He was one of the nine earnest students and lovers of
Freemasonry who founded Quatuor Coronati Lodge, No. 2076--a nucleus about which
has gathered a great student body of more than three thousand members. Of these
nine founders, five have now passed behind the veil--the Rev. Adolphus F.A.
Woodford, G. Speth, Sir Walter Besant, William J. Hughan, and now him whom all
of these acknowledged as the greatest of them all. The work they set their hands
to do, they did well; and we may be assured that when they stand before the
Great White Throne, it shall be their lot to hear from Him who sitteth as the
Judge Supreme the welcome words, "Well done, good and faithful servants; enter
thou into the joy of thy Lord."
THE PYTHAGORAS OF OUR TIMES
By R. I. Clegg
Cleveland, Ohio
Bro. Gould's death is a grievous loss to me and doubtless
to many others who were favored by correspondence. He never lost his keen
interest. His industry failed not. Years passed, age crept upon him, the seasons
ran their cycles, but he kept his poise, preserved his faith, and has now gone
on to his reward. To have established a high standard of Masonic research and to
have bestowed a noble example of such work is to have left at the portals of the
Temple two great pillars to adorn and support the structure. That distinction
was his. No greater monument is in store for any Mason however eminent he be. In
the death of Robert Freke Gould there passes an accurate author, a painstaking
student, a scholar of excellence, a courtly controversialist, the Pythagoras of
our times among Masons.
HOW TO STUDY MASONRY
A SYMPOSIUM
(For this last installment of our Symposium we are indebted
to the Masonic Study School of Cincinnati, Ohio, and to the kindness of Dr.
Stewart and other members. This School was organized in 1910, and adopted a
constitution and by-laws identical with those used by the Fargo, North Dakota,
Masonic Study School organized in October, 1908. A copy of the constitution and
by-laws may be found in Dr. Stewart's interesting and valuable book, "Symbolic
Teaching, or Masonry and its Message," chapter four. In the following letters we
learn, first, from Dr. Stewart, what methods of study have been tried by the
Cincinnati Masonic School, and with what results, as well as the plan finally
adopted as most profitable and workable. Second, a committee from the Society of
Past Masters of Cincinnati and vicinity tell of the efforts of that body to
extend the influence of the School, and to deepen the interest of Masons in the
deeper aspects and purposes of Masonry. Here we have the results, not of
theoretical suggestion, but of practical experience in a company of busy men and
Masons who undertook the study of Masonry; and we believe it reveals a point of
contact with the problem, and also a method of beginning, which will be found
useful to other groups who may wish to make a start. Elsewhere in this issue we
sum up the findings of this symposium with certain reflections suggested by each
contributor.)
THE STUDY-CLUB
By Dr. T. M. Stewart Cincinnati, Ohio
Not until the Masonic Study School came into the field in
February, 1910, was any definite effort made systematically to try out different
plans of work. These plans were as follows: (1) Question and answer meetings.
They were not satisfactory and therefore not continued, because very few had
read enough to make it interesting.
(2) Essays written by students and read to a general
meeting of Masons. This plan also failed be cause the students were too few and
the audience seemed to desire a variety of topics as well as of speakers.
(3) The reading, and discussing as read, of one or more
books during the season. A splendid plan, but only reaching a few, because in
this city, with thirty-one Lodges scattered over a wide territory--not counting
the Lodges across the Ohio in Kentucky--it is quite a task for members to get
home and later return to the city for study. To meet in any one suburb does not
change the condition, as regular attendance at the meetings is necessary or the
thread of thought is lost. The problem, so far as the Masonic Study School has
been able to formulate it, is as follows:
(a) The need of Masons, and especially of the younger men,
for a more general knowledge of the origin, nature and genius of our ancient and
honorable fraternity. To meet this need a book was selected and questions on its
contents were prepared by the Study School. Following each question was the
number of the page of the book--in many instances of the paragraph--where the
answer may be found. The best results are obtained by the student writing the
answer thereto in a small blank book, and meeting with others doing the same
work at stated intervals, so that the questions and answers may be read--fixing
the answers in the mind. Notes are taken of questions in regard to matters on
which the student desires further light, and these are the basis of work after
the School has finished with that particular book. The personal effort required
in such a method is the secret of its success.
(b) To enlighten the Craft generally with regard to what
Masonry has done for the world, for this country, and for this city; and thus to
formulate the basis of what Masonry can and should do for coming generations. To
this end several lecturers should talk on the same topic, handled much in the
same manner, to several Lodges in a jurisdiction. In this way all the Lodges are
reached in a much shorter time, than where one lecturer tries to fill dates with
many Lodges. This plan will be elucidated by its originator, Brother P. J.
Cadwalader, who has gladly agreed to outline the plan for this Symposium.
* * *
The Past Master's Society
The Society of Past Masters of this vicinity have
undertaken to do some work to try and bring to the minds of the Craft at large
some matters which every Mason ought to know, and thus lead up to the work which
Dr. Stewart and the Masonic Study School are interested in. With this idea in
view, the Society has undertaken to make Masons realize that there is a greater
work for the Fraternity than has been accomplished in the past.
The better to assist in this work, it has been deemed
advisable to have addresses made by selected speakers to the members at large,
and to the different Lodges at such times as may be convenient, and to try to
bring home to each Mason the tremendous work we awaiting us, if the Fraternity
is to retain its present high standing in this country. A committee has been
appointed systematically to take up this work. For the first general meeting
April 13th, 1915, at the Scottish Rite Cathedral, the following live subjects
have been selected:
First--"The Position of Masonry in this Country, Past and
Today, What has been accomplished? Looking Backward," by Dr. J. D. Buck, 33rd
degree.
Second--"The Position of Masonry in this Country, Tomorrow
and the Future, What can be Accomplished? Looking Forward," by Brother Rev. A.
B. Beresford, 32nd degree.
The first subject selected to be presented to all the
Lodges by different speakers is:--"After the Petition, then what?" The idea
being that the speaker should try to address himself to the character of the
candidate before and at the time of asking the "recommendation of a friend."
That is, the care which the investigating committee should take, whether or not
their report should simply be "favorable" or "unfavorable," or whether the
committee should try, in its report, to picture to the Lodge the character of
the candidate as he has impressed himself upon them; keeping in mind all the
time that our object is "the Universal Brotherhood of Man."
Other subjects to be presented in the same way to the
individual Lodges, and which have been favorably considered, are:--"After
Raising, Whither Bound ?" and "Our Duty to Unfortunate Members," that is, how
long and how far shall we protect them, not financially, but as to moral
character. These subjects will cover three months of work, and will reach
forty-four Lodges, with a membership of fifteen thousand.
The committee feel that all these subjects are very broad,
and that properly treated, as we hope to have them treated, they will reach the
heart of the Craft, and perhaps start the fire burning which will make the
individual feel that there is something in Masonry more than making candidates
and seeking office.
Fifteen thousand Masons in a community like ours, if they
exert their influence for the highest and best things, can do much. The
fraternity must stand for the highest morals, not only as a fraternity, but as
individuals; so much so, that while it does not as an order enter politics, its
influence may be so felt that politicians will have regard for the better
interests of the city.
While this condition is being brought about by the Craft as
a unit, each individual member should feel and know of his interests therein,
and begin to learn that "the house not made with hands" is his own spiritual
individuality, and that perhaps the "lost word" may be found in himself by a
proper exercise and the guidance of others who may be able to point out the way,
to which he must apply his efforts and make out of himself the real and true
Mason which our fraternity demands.
Committee of Past Master's Society.
John H. Dickerson
James N. Ramsey
Orin N. Littell
Chas. A. Stevens
Pierce J. Cadwalader
"THE BUILDERS: A Story and Study of Masonry."
By Joseph Fort Newton
Questions Compiled by the Cincinnati Masonic Study School.
(Experience has shown
that one of the most effective ways of awakening interest in the study of
Masonry is a series of questions analyzing some book dealing with the history
and teaching of the Craft. "The Builders' is selected as the first book to be so
studied, for the reason that it is the only book of its kind ever adopted by a
Grand Lodge for the instruction of young Masons. It was adopted by the Grand
Lodge of Iowa as its text-book June 10th, 1914. Other books will be analyzed in
like manner, in the hope of tempting young Masons to study the story and
teachings of the Order by showing how many interesting questions are involved in
the research.)
1. What two arts have
altered the face of the earth and given shape to life and thought of many Page
5-1.
2. What two
fundamental factors do we find when we inquire into origins, which carry art
forward ? Page 5-2.
3. What was the first
great impulse of all architecture and what did it include ? Page 5-2.
4. What are the laws
of architecture? Page7-2.
5. What will the
violation of moral laws do to architecture? Page 8-2.
6. What are the
secrets of man's success and what are the two great intellectual lamps of
architecture ? Page 8-2.
7. Where does it seem
that the art of building first seemed to have gathered power, and where are its
remains best preserved? Page 9-2.
8. What emblems of
architecture show that they are the laws of the eternal? Page 11.
9. Do buildings which
Man may build refer to his religion or character? Page 7-1.
10. Where was the
square building invented? Page 10-1.
11. What was it the
early builders sought above all things? Page 12-2.
12. What were the two
ideals of the early builders in their work? Page 12-2.
13. What is beauty?
Page 8-2.
14. What are the ideas
that glowed in the heart of the builder and guided his arm from the start? Page
9-1.
15. What does true
building teach and open? Page 8-2.
16. What is said of
the "Builders of buildings?" Page 34.
17. What ideals of the
early builders are most clearly expressed? Page 12.
18. What is said of
the way the Temples of Egypt were built in early times? Page 11-2.
19. What is said of
cube and square ? Page 25-26
20. What is said of
the Cross ? Page 24-25.
21. What was thought
to be the shape of the world by Egyptians in the early ages? Page 11-2.
22. What is said of
eternity as an ideal of the early Egyptians? Page 12-2.
23. What was the
attitude of the learned ancient philosophers in regard to the Egyptian teaching
? Page 46.
24. What was the
central theme of the Egyptian faith ? Page 46.
25. Give an outline of
the Egyptian teachings Page 39-42.
26. How were the
secrets of the Allegoni form or faith transmitted? Page 31.
27. What are the real
foundations of Masonry? Page 15.
28. What did Goethe
write? Page 19.
29. What does the
phrase "told in song what ha been taught in sorrow" mean to you? Page 61.
30. Did Jesus teach a
Secret Doctrine? Page 57-58.
31. As to death what may be said of the value other
universal intuition as to eternal life ? Page 39,
32. What has the
Keystone, Compasses and Cubes to do with buildings ? Page 11-1.
33. Is there any such
thing as Liberty ? Page 7-2.
34. What has obedience
and loyalty to do with a man's liberty? Page 8-1.
35. What is the
difference between the mystery of the ancients and mystification ? Page 59.
36. Outline the main
tenets of the lesser and greater mysteries of the ancients ? Page 47-51.
37. What does Maspero
tell us of the temples of Egypt? Page 11.
38. What did the
spiritual instinct in seeking to recreate types lead to? What has Man always
been? Page 6-2.
39. What is an
Obelisk? Page 13-1.
40. What is obedience
in life ? Page 7-2.
41. What is said of
Cleopatra's needle ? Page 33-34.
42. What is said of
the Pyramids as to their age and durability? Page 13-1.
43. What discovery was
of great importance to the primitive Egyptians ? Page 10.
44. What were the
columns of the first European Age? Page 9-1.
45. What is said of
the Pyramid Builders and with what amount of ease did they work ? Page 10-1.
46. Relate some ideas
in regard to pyramid and obelisk? Page 13.
47. What is stated of
the Pillar as an ancient symbol? Page 28-29.
48. What are the two
sets of realities ? Page 7-2.
49. What is the thesis
which Ruskin expounds in his Seven lamps of architecture ? Page 7.
50. What is said of
the old light religion of humanity? Page 14.
51. What is said of
the Shrines of the Old Solar Religions? Page 12-1.
52. What sort of
Emblem did the square become at its discovery? Page 10-2, 11-1.
53. Why was Secrecy
necessary in the ancient mysteries ? Page 59, 62.
54. Give the Egyptian
Secret Sermon on the Mountain as transmitted to the Greeks ? Page 47.
55. Of what is the
square an emblem? Page 10.
56. What was the form
of the earliest known structure? Page 10.
57. What was the
symbol of the earth ? Page 13.
58. Give symbolic idea
of temple, pyramid and cathedral. Page 15.
59. Give some idea of
tools symbolizing a builder's thought. Page 15.
60. What was the
symbol of the heavens? Page 13.
61. What is said of
Symbols ? Page 20.
62. What are some of
Socrates' ideas in regard to man ? Page 21.
63. What is the
Swastika symbol ? Page 23, 24.
64. What is said of
the Square and Cube ? Page 25, 26.
65. Where do we find
the crumbling ruins of towns, temples and tombs ? Page 7-1.
66. What is the basis
of initiation into eternal truth? Page 61.
67. What is the
relation of the seeker after truth to the object of his search? 57.
68. What historical
evidence can be cited as to the use of the mason's working tools? Page 29-30.
69. Give the idea of
the Trinity and its emblem Page 22-23.
70. Contrast the unity
of the human mind ant the reason for a secret Doctrine. Page 22, 59, 61.
(To be continued)
----o----
A SIGN AND A SUMMONS.
During the last summer
an explosion occurred in the trenches of one of the gas companies of Columbus
which was caused by the stupid action of one of the laborers, a foreigner, in
lighting a match near the escaping gas. In this frightful explosion the clothes
of the workmen in the trench caught fire, and it was evident that they would all
be burned to death. Chas Sumner Potter, a member of Magnolia Lodge, No. 20 the
foreman in charge of these men, was slightly burned, but in a position of
safety, when he heard the screams of these unfortunate men; and without a
thought for his personal safety, and with his own clothes still burning, he
rushed into the ditch and rescued three or four of the victims. Although he
could have removed his burning clothing and escaped with very slight injuries,
he continued in this work of rescue until his clothes were practically burned
from his body; and in this condition he went to a telephone stationed some
distance away to call for help. He was so weak that he could scarcely stand, and
when he left the station there were pools of blood on the floor which flowed
from the wounds on his hands and arms. He was carried away in an ambulance, and
when asked as to his condition said that he wished none of the others were
burned any worse than he was. He was taken to the hospital, where he lingered
and suffered for several weeks, and died. He was buried from the Masonic Temple
at Columbus, Ohio, and a great number of these foreign laborers attended his
funeral; they could not understand the language of the ceremony, but they knew
and appreciated the unselfishness and heroic devotion which they had witnessed.
Everything that Masons
could do has been done. His body rests in Green Lawn Cemetery, and the grass is
green on his grave. He carried out the great lesson taught in the second section
of our Third Degree. He performed his duty at the cost of his life, and gave it
up that those men, who were not his Brothers or even his countrymen, might live.
I have considered it altogether fitting and proper to make a memorial of his
noble sacrifice. When we teach men this higher duty and see our teachings
exemplified in this way, we honor the Fraternity as well as the man in making a
perpetual memorial of his sacrifice.
- Proceedings Grand Lodge of Ohio.
OUR "MACHINERY OF ORGANIZATION"
BY GEO. L. SCHOONOVER, SECRETARY
WITHOUT doubt the greatest impression, received by the
average layman, of the entry of a new dreadnaught into the American navy, comes
with the published reports of her christening. The picture of the uncompleted
hull sliding into the water arouses his sense of proprietorship. And probably he
takes as much pride in the photograph of the beautiful Daughter of the Republic
who breaks the bottle of grapejuice over the bow of the vessel, as he does in
the outlines of the fourteen-inch guns which will ultimately peer out from her
turrets. The preliminary labors of designing, milling, testing and assembling,
the engineering problems involved in making of this inert hull a living power
for his benefit and protection-- all these are symbolized in the one ceremony of
giving the ship a name. And, for the future, that name shall stand for the
dignity and power of his Government. With the flag of his country flying at her
masthead, with his countrymen acting as captain, helmsman, stoker and gunner,
she becomes the visible emblem of organized efficiency. Efficiency means that
results desired are accomplished. Without accomplishment, confidence and pride
will vanish, proprietorship will be regretted, the labors will be counted as
lost--the symbol of efficiency loses all its magic, and the vessel soon becomes
junk.
So it is with all human institutions.
The National Masonic Research Society is a human
institution. It has certain objects, known to all of you who have joined us in
this work. It may seem to some of you that we advance very slowly toward the
accomplishment of these objects. Much thought and labor have been devoted to the
designs upon our trestleboard. Almost unanimously those designs have been
approved by you. Now you are making it your Society. Day by day an increasing
mass of evidence proves it. Let us rejoice that it is so. In the preliminary
literature sent out by the Research Committee of the Grand Lodge of Iowa,
Masonry in Iowa pledged itself to provide "the machinery of organization."
Machinery which is not used, rusts. And upon your use of this machine which has
been created to serve the Masonic Fraternity, depends its efficiency.
The purpose of this article is to give you a better picture
of the "machine." To do this I must tell you the chief parts of which it is
composed, what its limitations are, how it works, and some of its possibilities.
I
In the first place, it is a "wireless." This does not mean
that there are no live wires in its construction. There are. But it means that
there are no wires to pull. The Brethren who compose the Board of Stewards have
kept in the background, for they take no false pride in their positions. They
are organized on the basis of "who best can work and best agree." They are
Stewards, in the full definition of the term.
Constructed strictly in accordance with Masonic usage, this
"machine" has seven parts. The parts are George E. Frazer, N.R. Parvin, Joseph
Fort Newton, Louis Block, John W. Barry, C. C. Hunt and George L. Schoonover.
Every one of them is an American citizen- -though the blood streams of both the
Allies and the Germans course through their veins. All of them are busy men. All
are active Masons. Their conception of a Research Society for American Masons
was born of service in the ranks of American Masonry, which had disclosed a
great need. The invitation of the Grand Lodge of Iowa to the Brethren of our
sister Jurisdictions was an attempt to satisfy that need.
These seven Brethren assembled in their first 1915
quarterly meeting as a Board of Stewards in April, at the newly-completed home
of the Society in Anamosa. A brief description of that meeting will show you how
the "machine" works. Incidentally, it may give to our members a better insight
into the problems which have been involved in the organization and development
of this Society, thus far, than could be done in any other way. At any event,
the Board has a firm determination that the important questions brought before
them shall be fully discussed by the Members of the Society, in order that its
policies may represent the best judgment of the majority.
II
The Committee appointed to draw up Articles of
Incorporation and By-Laws made their report. They submitted a copy of Articles
prepared in accordance with Chap. 2, Title IX of the Iowa Code, providing for
corporations not for pecuniary profit, reported their adoption and execution,
and showed that they had been filed of record according to law. They recommended
that as soon as possible every member receive a copy of the By-Laws which have
been adopted, and this recommendation was approved, and the Committee
discharged.
III
Brother Newton presented the report of the Committee on
Publications. It was full of good things which are promised for future numbers
of "The Builder." The Committee are deeply gratified at the manner in which
brethren are contributing the results of researches already made by them; and
reported that the great number of splendid articles already submitted from all
over the world is an absolute guaranty of the high standard of the magazine
until such time as the growth of the Society shall justify the financial expense
of making special original researches, which to some extent, are already
planned. The Committee presented a letter from Brother Roscoe Pound, tendering
to the Society the copyright on his lectures on the Philosophy of Masonry, and
stating that when put into book form he would add a preface, a dedication, and a
bibliography. With the utmost gratification the Board unanimously accepted this
generous offer, ordered the publication of a first edition of 500 copies, and
instructed the Secretary to convey to Brother Pound not only the feelings of the
Board but the hundreds of the commendatory expressions received from the
Brethren, regarding these lectures. The announcement of the Committee that Bro.
Pound will also give to our membership, as soon as his time will permit, a
series of papers on Masonic Symbolism, should be received with universal
acclaim. The Chapters on "The Establishment and Early Days of Masonry in
America," by Bro. Melvin M. Johnson, Grand Master of Massachusetts, the second
of which appears in our next issue, will throw much light upon a subject
concerning which there is little in literature accessible to the Craft. That
brethren from Pennsylvania and Virginia will contest Brother Johnson's claim of
earliest establishment of Masonry in Massachusetts is certain. Thus will "The
Builder" fulfill its prophecy, expressed in Brother Newton's "Foreword," as a
"forum of frank, free and fraternal discussion of every possible aspect of
Masonry," from the historical standpoint.
IV
Masonic experience has demonstrated that the study club
idea is practical. The Symposium on "How to Study Masonry" has been an
illuminating one, and the practical workings of the Cincinnati Masonic School,
as partially outlined in this number, show that, as a beginning in Masonic
study, some sort of a textbook is necessary. The series of questions, arranged
by this school, with Brother Newton's book, "The Builders, A Story and Study of
Masonry," as a basis, will be the first installment of the recommendations of
the founders of the Society. The book referred to was therefore adopted by the
Board as the official textbook of the Society; other books will be recommended
later.
Much time in investigation of the proper form of study
clubs has been spent by the Board. Many groups of students, all over the
country, have asked us whether we would charter subordinate groups of the
Society, and just how the Society proposed to make its investigations of real
working value to its widely separated membership. The Board takes the position,
unanimously, that the Society will not charter any study clubs or subordinate
groups of students anywhere. Its reasons for so doing are three-fold; in the
first place it is impossible for the Board to provide a way to accommodate all
groups (each with its own conception of the organization which it needs) under a
single, simple plan; secondly, they believe that the Society, a purely voluntary
association with only one object--the advancement of the understanding of the
members constituting it--should involve itself in no questions of jurisprudence,
as an organization; and thirdly, because the brethren who desire to get
together, in any community or Masonic group, are themselves best fitted by
location and knowledge of their needs, to provide themselves with whatever
machinery of organization is necessary for the promotion of their work. The
Board appointed Brother Block as a Committee, however, to draw up a form of
By-Laws adaptable to general conditions only, which could be used as a model, so
far as considered of value. This simple form of organization, as soon as
completed, will be published in "The Builder," as a suggestion only. No matter
what form of organization the Brethren in any place finally determine upon as
best adapted to their needs, the Society, insofar as it is represented by its
Board of Stewards, will tender every possible aid, and give all possible
suggestions which will promote the Cause. And as it stands ready to help, so it
will appreciate co-operation in return, on the part of study clubs, by sending
us their courses of study, as they may outline them for themselves, and telling
their Brethren, through the columns of "The Builder," the methods which bring
success.
The spirit of the above paragraph applies equally to the
attitude of the Board upon the subject of the promotion of the Research idea,
everywhere. The Society has a Committee for the purpose of urging the
co-operation of Grand Lodges, through Committees on Research, or in whatever
manner may seem best to any particular Jurisdiction. The getting together into a
Society of nearly ten thousand Masons in a few short months, for the purpose of
a study of Masonic principles and facts, should be in itself a notice to all
Grand Lodges that there is an interest in the "study side of Masonry." Elsewhere
a table of our membership is published. As an index of the real status of
interest in this subject in any state it is valueless, because of the difficulty
we have had in getting in touch with Masons who are interested. But as showing
that we are finding students all over the world who are anxious to co-operate in
a course of study--call it a kindergarten system, or a correspondence school
system, or what you will--the table is illuminating. The splendid showing
already made in the State of Iowa confirms our preliminary promise of a
"substantial sustaining membership," and affords tangible evidence of the
progress of Masonic study in the state as well as a complimentary evidence of
the standing of the men behind the movement; but what is most significant in
these figures is their affirmative testimony concerning the possible growth of
the Society in other States, once the good faith, aims and purposes of the
organization are generally understood.
V
In the opinion of your Secretary, the most important
question considered at this meeting was the determination as to the future
methods of promoting the work which we have undertaken. Manifestly, it was
necessary at first that those who stood as sponsors for the organization should
outline their conception of its plans and purposes, and to a large degree,
direct its activities. It was the original intention of the Board that after the
lapse of a sufficient time to discover the enthusiastic Brethren over the
country, who could be depended upon to further its purposes, the Board of
Stewards should be enlarged to say, twenty-five members. With the experience of
the past few months, it seems as if the great distances in this country,
involving extreme difficulty in ever getting even a majority of such a body
together for a meeting, would make such an arrangement impossible. Meetings must
occur at least four times a year, in order to make them of any value to the
Society. Even as it is, we have already found that many questions must be
decided by a mail vote.
To meet this contingency, the Board have decided that a
much wiser and more practical plan is to leave the Board of Stewards as they
are, at least for a while, and to create an Advisory Committee, as
representative of the students of the country as possible, who should be invited
to give us the benefit of their experience, and send any and all their
suggestions in to the Secretary's office. All questions of policy to be
submitted to them, in order that, so far as possible, every State may feel that
through one or more members of this Committee, it can aid in shaping the destiny
of the Society. By this means, suggestions regarding the direction which the
research should take, as well as explanations of this or that live Masonic
question which are desired, might all be sent in to the Secretary. From this
office, submission of these various topics could be promptly made to all members
of the Committee, and the problems before us can be more efficiently solved, as
we think, than by being compelled to wait the convenience of a moderately small
quorum of an enlarged Board.
It is not to be expected that such a Committee would agree,
perhaps, upon all of the questions submitted to it. Nor would it be even
possible that each member of such a Committee would approach every problem from
the same viewpoint. Such a condition, indeed, ought to be viewed with alarm, as
it would mean Masonic stagnation. Nor would the announcement of such a Committee
preclude any member of the Society from sending in his opinion at any time-- on
the contrary, as we have already demonstrated, every member helps the Society by
joining in this "frank, free and fraternal" search for Truth, and the more
varied the expressions of views, the more successful and the more interesting,
as well as profitable, will be the result. Expansion of the Society's activities
will by this method mean an increase in the number of shoulders at the wheel--
and the more rapid will be our progress.
And perhaps the greatest advantage of all in this plan,
will be the manner in which members of the Society will be able to feel one
another's pulse, as it were, and thereby bring that active co-operation which
alone can make this organization the great means of understanding and fellowship
which was and is the dream of its founders.
VI
As this is written, it seems not too much to expect that
the month of June will witness the expansion of the Society to 10,000 members.
The tabulation herewith was prepared on May the first. Believing that a campaign
for members during the hot months would be of little avail, we have determined
that after June only necessary correspondence will be carried on until
September. As much time as possible will be devoted to the preparation for
definite expansion of the Society's activities in the autumn. In the meantime,
every member has been provided with blank applications, and all that are sent in
will be taken care of, promptly. The real problem, from the financial
standpoint, is to let ten thousand more Brethren who have not yet heard of the
Society, know about it. Our canvass has reached, directly, less than four per
cent of the Masons in the United States! And you Brethren who have come to know
us are the only ones through whom we can get in touch with the other 96 per
cent.
It needs no artificial stimulant to make optimists of the
founders of the Society. Industrious advertising on our part brought us over
four thousand charter members, before ever an intimation of what "The Builder"
would be like was revealed to the Craft. That, surely, was remarkable. And
thereby was proven the need for closer fellowship in behalf of authentic,
systematic, effective Masonic education. As we have progressed, the Craft have
caught the spirit of the enterprise, and have stamped the aims, purposes and
methods of the Society as truly Masonic. Since January first a steady growth of
more than a thousand a month attests the respect won and the co-operation
extended by the Brethren, and warrants the statement that the Society is
"delivering the goods." And the tone of recent letters shows that Masons are
beginning to see that what has been done shows what ought to be done, and,
better still, points out the way to do it.
In bringing this little survey of our work to a close I can
do no better than to quote a recent paragraph penned by Brother Newton: "For the
many words of appreciation and co-operation, so spontaneous and enthusiastic,
the founders of this Society are deeply grateful. They are doubly sure that they
have not misread the needs of the Fraternity or the signs of the times; and they
wish to urge every member of the Society to renewed efforts to enlist the
interest of the Craft in a movement which means so much for the present
influence and future glory of Freemasonry. The need is great. The opportunity is
in our hands. The need is great. The opportunity is in our hands. done for the
joy of doing it, uniting our efforts to make the Masonry of tomorrow greater
than the Masonry of today--greater in thought, sweeter in spirit, and more
effective for the sublime end for which it labors."
IMMORTALITY - THE CIRCLE
BY S.W. WILLIAMS G.H.P., TENNESSEE
"In the beginning God created the Heaven and the Earth--
and the Earth was without form and void.
AT some point of time in the vast Eternity that is gone,
when an unknown Planet was at its perihelion, there was thrown from its surface,
whirling into Space, a single Atom of Matter that, guided by the Limitless One,
started on its course and forged out of the Ether a place for itself--a home
among the Stars--where it could fulfill its destiny of gradually perfecting a
place whereon Man could dwell and work out his mysterious mission.
Such was the "BEGINNING"--the birth of this World of ours;
and, as the Great Creator looked He saw that "It was good"--and "God said Let
there be Light and there was Light." Then, throughout another myriad of years,
by the same mysterious power, Vegetable Life appeared and "It was good"--only to
be followed by Animal Life--and "It was good"--and then, the CLIMAX--God's
crowning Work, MAN-- "Male and female created He them."
All things come of God--and all return unto the Great
Giver. "Cast thy bread upon the waters and it shall return unto thee "after many
days." As we do, so shall we be done by. Darkness and Light shall be meted out
in strict measure. Like begets like--an Acorn never produced a Violet any more
than Hate can yield Happiness. All things pass from Eternity into Eternity.
There never was a beginning to Time, and there can be no ending. The Light that
WAS, is that which IS and IS TO BE--only as we grow more and more like Him from
whence we came, we shall be more and more in the Light, and the Light shall
drive out the DARKNESS; then we shall become the Children of Light--SONS OF
GOD--because He is "Our Father." This is the demonstration of the CIRCLE.
There is a ONENESS in all things. Nothing is complete in
itself-- but everything bears some relation to all else in Creation, without
which kinship nothing would be complete and all things would be destroyed. This
mysterious relationship ends not with this World-- for Earth is simply a small
part of the Boundless Universe wherein there are millions of Worlds, each of
which came into existence just as this one did--because God willed it, and it
was a part of His GREAT PLAN. What that "PLAN" is, it is not given us to
fathom-- but we know this--we are Children of Light and Light is of and from
God--and HE is "Our Father." As a Father counselleth his children so speaketh He
unto us, and we are told to speak unto HIM; for does He not say:--"Seek and ye
shall find, ask and ye shall receive, knock and it shall be opened unto you."
An Eternity of Love, Light and Life constitutes the
Immortality which is promised us of God. But Immortality is for Eternity, and
Eternity is a Circle, without beginning or ending. This body which we see with
our physical eyes is not truly US--it is but the covering which conceals our
true self--a sort of Cloak with which we are provided, and which we wear while
sojourning on this Planet. We put it on when we enter the World and discard it
upon leaving it--what, then, is MAN ? He cometh, he knoweth not whence, and he
goeth, when summoned, into the vast Eternity of Time and Space to do the Will of
the Father in other Spheres.
Children of Life--"The Life Which is the Light of Men."
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God."
"The same was in the Beginning with God."
"All things were made by Him; and without Him was not
anything made that was made."
"In Him was Life; and the Life, was the Light of Men. And
the Light shineth in the Darkness; and the Darkness comprehendeth it not."
ARTHUR MACARTHUR
BY BRO. G. ALFRED LAWRENCE
NEW YORK
SUDDENLY in the full
flower of vigorous manhood, at the very zenith of his distinguished Templar
activities, Most Eminent Arthur MacArthur, Grand Master of the Grand Encampment
Knights Templar of the United States of America, was called from this
terrestrial Temple into the glorious presence of the Great Captain of our
salvation in that celestial Temple, not made with hands, eternal in the Heavens.
To know him was but to
love him and deep grief for their fallen leader pervades the hearts of
each of the 225,000 Sir Knights in that vast Templar, but his acts of charity
and pure beneficence have spread their fame both far and wide to the uttermost
parts of this broad land. No less sincerely is he mourned by his Brethren in
various other Masonic bodies, especially by every member of the Acacia
Fraternity, in which latter body he had held Honorary Membership for several
years. As one of its most distinguished members, Brother MacArthur, although his
activities were multitudinous and exacting, yet found time to attend its
functions and was deeply interested in all that pertained to Acacia Fraternity.
Quick to realize the unlimited possibilities of educated
Masonic effort, as a college man, he gladly accepted Honorary Membership in
Tradhi Chapter of Acacia Fraternity at Columbia University in the first year of
the Chapter's existence. In the spring of 1910 on April 4th at Earl Hall,
Columbia University, and in the presence of another of its distinguished
Honorary Members, Most Illustrious Wm. Homan, 33d Deputy of the Supreme Council,
Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite of the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction for the
State of New York, and a large number of other members, Arthur MacArthur was
duly initiated into Tradhi Chapter and presented by the Chapter with a jewelled
pin of the Fraternity, Brother Homan participating in the ceremonies. A banquet
followed at the Faculty Club at which he
was the honored guest, and where he spoke of how deeply impressed he had been
with the ritual and the work and of the great possibilities of such an
intellectual Masonic movement. At a special reception given to him by Tradhi
Chapter on March 15th, 1914, at the residence of one of the members, Bro.
MacArthur insisted upon having his Acacia pin placed upon his coat lapel and
entertained the members in a most delightfully informal way, recounting his
experiences in constituting and dedicating the first Commandery of Knights
Templar in the Canal Zone at the Isthmus of Panama, his personal interview with
Pancho Villa at Jaurez across the Mexican border about a year ago, and various
other topics - among them the recent constituting of a Commandery of Knights
Templar in Alaska. At this meeting he was full of youthful buoyancy and
enthusiasm and impressed all present as but in the midway of active and
distinguished services to his fellow men.
Unexpectedly about 1
P.M. on Sunday, Dec. 27th, 1914, at his home, 226 West 3rd St., Troy, N. Y.,
while his only daughter was at church the summons came, and as a true soldier of
the Cross, Arthur MacArthur answered the last call. Shortly thereafter Miss
Susan C. MacArthur returned, and finding her father reclining on a couch in the
library and not responding, called her brother, Capt. Charles A. MacArthur, who
hastily summoned physicians and upon their arrival an exammatlon revealed that
Col. MacArthur had died suddenly of valvular heart disease.
Thus passed away a
loving father, a true friend, an upright citizen, a fearless editor, a loyal
patriot, and a great and noble Mason. Col. MacArthur was a Trojan by birth and
ancestry. He was the son of the late Col. Chas. Lafayette MacArthur and Susan
Colgrove MacArthur and was born in Troy, N.Y., on July 24th, 1850, and passed
his entire life excepting for periods of study and travel, among his fellow
citizens as an active participant in all that was best in their various
organizations.
He received his early
education at St. Paul's Parish School and the Troy Academy, graduating from the
latter. He devoted the next two years to the study of engineering at the
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute at Schenectady, N. Y. He then desired to join a
South American expedition, but being dissuaded he next turned his thoughts to
the study of medicine and began reading medical works in the office of Dr. C. E.
Nichols of Troy, N.Y. Finding this not to his taste he finally entered the
newspaper office of his father, who was at this time proprietor and editor of
the Troy Northern Budget.
About this time he was
married to Miss Ella Elizabeth Griffen, daughter of Abner J. Griffen of Cohoes,
N. Y., in 1877, and two children were born of this union, a son, Chas. A.
MacArthur, and a daughter, Susan C. MacArthur. Mrs. MacArthur died in 1907 after
thirty years of ideal married life.
The office of the Troy
Northern Budget where Col. MacArthur now entered upon his life work was situated
directly opposite the Masonic Temple and for over forty-two years he was a
familiar and conspicuous figure in both places. Later his father took him into
the firm which then became known as C. L. MacArthur & Son. Upon the death of his
father a few years ago, Col. MacArthur continued the business with ever
increasing success and recently in turn took his own son, Capt. Chas. A.
MacArthur, into the firm.
Among the vivid
incidents of his busy life was one that occurred when he was but fourteen years
of age - that of the battle between the Merrimac and Monitor - which he
witnessed at Fortress Monroe. His father, then a Captain, was connected with the
commissary station at that point and Arthur MacArthur and his mother had been
living at Newport News in order to be near Capt. MacArthur, and it so happened
that he was visiting his father upon that memorable day. This event made a most
vivid impression upon his mind and he could describe every detail of this great
naval engagement in a most dramatic manner up to the very time of his death. He
took an additional interest in the momentous event, owing to the fact that the
plates for the Monitor were made in his home town, Troy, N. Y.
His father retired
from the United States Army at the end of the Civil War, with the rank of
Colonel and returned to his home in Troy, where he again took up his newspaper,
becoming finally editor and proprietor of the Troy Northern Budget and
maintained the same with the aid of his son up to the time of his death.
In his own life work
as a newspaper man, Col. MacArthur maintained the high standard set by his
father in adopting a policy of printing nothing which would offend the most
conservative reader. No scandal found a place in the columns of his paper, and
they were always open to the cause of the poor and the unfortunate and for all
charitable effort. During the holiday season each year an appeal for food and
clothing was made for the needy at his direction through the columns of the
Budget, and distributed on New Years Eve by means of the Salvation Army, in
which Col. MacArthur had faith that his charity would be ably carried out. This
year the annual plea was made by Col. MacArthur, but upon the night of the
distribution only the spirit of the giver was there, all that was mortal of
their benefactor having been consigned to the earth from whence it came.
Col. MacArthur early
became interested in Masonry and shortly after reaching his majority on Nov.
22nd, 1872, was raised a Mason in Mt. Zion Lodge, No. 311, F. & A. M. of Troy.
He soon became actively engaged in its work and was elected Junior Warden in
1881, Senior Warden in 1882, and Worshipful Master in 1883, serving one year as
Master. He became a life member, was a frequent attendant, and evinced a deep
interest in all its activities up to the time of his death. He was happily
enabled to raise his only son, Capt. Chas. A. MacArthur, in his own lodge and
the latter has just closed his administration as Worshipful Master of the same.
In the Grand Lodge of the State of New York, Col. MacArthur was appointed
District Deputy Grand Master of the 17th Masonic District in 1883, and served
with distinction.
In 1890 he was
appointed a member of the Advisory Committee of the Trustees of the Masonic Hall
and Asylum Fund, and in 1910 a Trustee of the Masonic Hall Board. A year ago he
resigned from this Board, owing to his many other Masonic duties. At the annual
communication of the Grand Lodge of the State of New York, in May, 1914, he was
made a permanent member of the Grand Lodge.
In the Chapter he was
equally active, being exalted in Apollo Chapter No. 48, R.A.M., Feb. 18th, 1874,
and became a life member. He had the distinction of being elected High Priest
from the floor in 1883 and was the dean of the High Priests of his Chapter at
the time of his death. From 1890 to 1910 he served as Grand Representative of
the Grand Chapter of Colorado near the Grand Chapter of New York. He was a
member of the Board of Trustees of Apollo Chapter for many years, and to him was
entrusted the investments of its funds. So successfully did he carry out this
duty that Apollo Chapter enjoys the distinction of being probably the wealthiest
Chapter in the State although sixth in number of members.
In Cryptic Rite
Masonry he was received and greeted in Bloss Council No. 14, R. & S. M., the
largest Council in this State at present, and one of the largest in the United
States, on March 5th, 1880. He was soon appointed to office and after passing
through the several stations was elected Thrice Illustrious Master in 1891,
serving one term. In 1908 he was appointed Grand Representative of the Grand
Council of England and Wales near the Grand Council of New York. Becoming
personally acquainted with many of the officers of the Grand Council of England,
he did much to bring about the present close, cordial relations which exist
between these Grand Councils.
In the Commandery he
reached the very zenith of pre-eminence; the crowning glory of his Masonic
career coming at the triennial election of the Grand Encampment Knights Templar
in August, 1913, when he became the Grand Master of the mighty Templar host of
the United States, consisting of over 225,000 Knights.
He was knighted in
Apollo Commandery No. 15, Jan. 9th, 1880, and became an officer almost
immediately thereafter, advancing through the various stations until he was
elected Eminent Commander in 1887, serving two years. He scarcely ever missed a
conclave of his own Commandery when at home.
In the Grand
Encampment Knights Templar of the United States of America he entered the
official line by appointment to the position of Grand Sword Bearer at the 27th
triennial Conclave held at Pittsburgh, in 1898. At the 28th Triennial Conclave
held in the City of Louisville, Ky., in 1901, he was appointed Grand Junior
Warden, and in 1904 in San Francisco at the 29th Triennial Conclave he was
further advanced by appointment to Grand Senior Warden. Owing to the death of
the Grand Captain General prior to the 30th Triennial Conclave, Col. MacArthur
became acting Captain General, and was elected as Chairman of the Committee of
Arrangements upon whom befell the innumerable details connected with the
gathering of the Knights Templar host from all parts of the world at Saratoga
Springs in 1907. At this the 30th Triennial Conclave he was advanced two
stations, from Grand Senior Warden to Grand Generalissimo, and three years
later, in 1910, at the 31st Triennial Conclave held in Chicago,
'he was elected Deputy
Grand Master. Finally upon August 14, 1913, at Denver, Colo., his ambition was
realized and at this the 32nd Triennial Conclave he was elected Grand Master of
the Grand Ens ampment Knights Templar of the United States of America, the
greatest Templar organization in the world. Shortly thereafter in the fall of
1913 he visited the Canal Zone and constituted and installed the first
Commandery ever established in that part of the world. He also visited many of
the Commanderies throughout the State of New York, attended the annual Conclave
of many of the Grand Commanderies of the various states, visited the Pacific
Coast in order to arrange for the 33d Triennial Conclave to be held at Los
Angeles, Calif., in 1915, and at which he would have presided had he lived, and
had accepted an invitation to visit the Panama-Pacific Exposition during 1915 as
the official guest of Golden Gate Commandery of San Francisco.
His last public
appearance as Grand Master was at the Christmas exercises of his own home
Commandery, Apollo No. 15, Dec. 25th, 1914, two days before his death, at which
time he delivered an eloquent and interesting address responding to the
Christmas sentiment prepared by the Committee on Christmas Observance of the
Grand Encampment. One of the first acts after his election as Grand Master was
to appoint his intimate friend of many years (who assisted at the funeral
services), the Rev. Henry R. Freeman, rector of St. Johns Episcopal
Church of Troy, N.Y., as Grand Prelate of
the Grand Encampment. At the time of his death, Most Em. Arthur MacArthur was
the Grand Representative of the Grand Priory of Scotland near the Grand
Encampment of the United States of America, materially assisting in bringing
these bodies into close
fraternal bonds.
Although his interest
was deep and his activities numerous in York Rite Masonry he was no less deeply
interested and zealous in Scottish Rite Masonry. He was a life member of Delta
Lodge of Perfection of Troy, N.Y., receiving the 4th to the 14th degrees
inclusive on April 28th, 1884, and became Deputy Master on Jan 18th, 1889, and
was elected Thrice Potent Master Jan 19th, 1900, serving in the latter office
for four consecutive years. He was also a life member of Delta Council Princes
of Jerusalem, receiving the 15th and 16th degrees on April 28th, 1884. Also a
life member of Delta Chapter, Rose Croix, receiving the 17th and 18th degrees on
the same night of April 28th, 1884 upon which he completed his membership in the
two subordinate bodies. The Albany Sovereign Consistor of Albany, N. Y.,
conferred the 19th to the 32nd degrees inclusive upon him on April 22nd, 1886.
In this body he served as Second Lieutenant Commander from 1897, to 1900; First
Lieutenant Commander from 1900 to 1903, and Commander-in-Chief from 1903 to
1906. He was crowned an Honorary 33d Grand Inspector General Ancient Accepted
Scottish Rite for the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction by the Supreme Council at
Cleveland Ohio, on Sept. 16th, 1890. Upon Sept. 20th, 1906, he was crowned an
Active 33d member from the state of New York and at the time of his death was
one of the three active thirty-third degree Masons of the State of New York. For
several years he had been Chairman of the Committee on Deceased Members of the
Special Committee on Charitable Foundation in the Supreme Council for the
Northern Masonic Jurisdiction. He was the Representative of the Supreme Council
33d for the Ottoman Empire. He was also Chairman of the Important Committees at
the Annual Proceedings of the Council of Deliberation of the State of New York
Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite Northern Masonic Jurisdiction, U. S. A., and
performed the various duties assigned to him in Scottish Rite Masonry with the
same zeal and fidelity as in other fields of activity.
In addition to his
membership in the above Masonic bodies, he was also a member of the Past
Masters’ Association of the 17th Masonic District, a member of the Past High
Priests' Association of Apollo Chapter a Charter Member of the Past Commanders'
Association, organized Oct. 11th, 1911, a member of the Templar Knight
Commanders' Association, of the Royal Order of Scotland, the Masonic Veterans'
Association of Troy and vicinity, and was Most Venerable President of the latter
in 1902, a Charter Member of the Troy Masonic Club, a member of the Masonic Club
of New York City, a member of the Troy Masonic Hall Association, a Trustee of
Mt. Zion Lodge No. 311. He was a life member of Oriental Temple, Nobles of the
Mystic Shrine.
Of Revolutionary
stock, Col. MacArthur early became interested in military affairs, additional
zest being given by his father's active participation in the Civil War in which
the latter was a member of the famous Second New York Regiment attaining to the
rank of Colonel in the same. His witnessing the spectacular and epoch-making
naval engagement between the Monitor and Merrimac, previously mentioned, was not
only an event that made a life long impression upon his vivid imagination, but
equally increased his interest in military and naval affairs.
He early joined the
Troy Citizen's Corps and maintained his interest in the same to the end. He
served on the staid of the late Maj. General Jos. B. Carr, and placed a wreath
upon the General's grave every Memorial Day. He served upon the Military Staff
of General Levi P. Newton and Governor Frank S. Black of New York State and by
the latter was appointed Assistant Paymaster General with the rank of Colonel
(thus obtaining his military title), serving as such during the Spanish-American
war and going to Tampa, Fla., when the New York troops were mustered out and
paying them off. About two weeks prior to his death he appeared before the Troy
Chamber of Commerce to urge upon business men the patriotic duty of facilitating
the enlistment of their male employees in the National Guard in conformity with
a movement to that effect started some time ago by the Merchant's Association of
New York. It was a source of personal pride to him that his only son joined the
militia and recently was elected to the Captaincy of Company A.
Col. MacArthur was the
President of the Association that secured the funds for the erection of the huge
shaft of the Soldier's and Sailor's Monument erected in Monument Square, Troy,
the idea having been first conceived by his father. He was a member of the Wm.
Floyd Chapter Sons of the Revolution, the Society of the Second War with Great
Britain, and of the Army and Navy Club of New York City.
Col. MacArthur was a
prominent member of the First Presbyterian Church of Troy, N. Y., and held
office as an elder and regularly occupied his family pew when at home. He took
an active interest in the Brotherhood of his Church, giving much counsel and
kindly advice to all that came to him. He was also an active member of Young
Men's Christian Association.
Politically, Col.
MacArthur was a Republican and served his party as Treasurer of Rensselaer
County for two terms, being retired in 1912. He insisted upon clean politics
both in the columns of his paper and in official life, and would stoop to
nothing of an underhand nature, even at the cost of the loss of a re-nomination.
The candidate who supplanted him in 1912 was defeated at the polls.
Col. MacArthur had
various other affiliations to which he devoted his time and influence. During
the Hudson-Fulton Celebration he was Chairman of the Upper Hudson Commission.
Probably no Mason in
the United States ever had a more imposing and impressive funeral service.
All the pomp and
splendor of that impressive pageant, the wealth of beautiful flowers, th |
