THE BUILDER MAGAZINE
may 1916
volume 2 - number 5
THE "DEW DROP LECTURE"
(Reference was made some time ago, in answer to an inquiry
in the Question Box, to the famous "Dew Drop Lecture" used years ago in the work
of the Grand Lodge of Mississippi. Just why it was called by that name is hard
to know, but it speaks for itself. There was a tradition to the effect that it
was written by Albert Pike, but that is not correct--it having been used long
before his time. We take pleasure in reproducing it here, in response to a
number of requests, from "The Blue Lodge Text Book" of the Grand Lodge of
Mississippi, adopted in 1874--by the kindness of Brother Frederick Gordon Speed,
Grand Secretary. The lecture is not now a part of the regular work of the
Mississippi Jurisdiction, but it is frequently used even today.)
GEOMETRY, the first and noblest of sciences, is the basis
upon which the superstructure of Freemasonry is erected. Regarding man as a
rational and intelligent being, capable of enjoyment and pleasure to an extent
limited only by the acquisition of useful knowledge, our Order points him to the
study of the Liberal Arts and Sciences and to the possession of knowledge as the
most befitting and proper occupation for the God-like endowments with which he
is gifted.
Indeed, all who frequent our Masonic Temple, are charged to
labor faithfully in the wide and unbounded field of human improvement, from
which they are assured of reaping a most glorious harvest, a harvest rich in
happiness to the whole family of man, and in manifestation of the goodness of
God. Your attention is especially directed to the science of Geometry, no royal
road, 'tis true, but to one prepared with an outfit it must prove more
attractive than palace walks by regal taste adorned.
The ancient philosophers placed such a high estimate upon
this science that all who frequented the groves of the Sacred Academy, were
compelled to explore its heavenly paths, and no one whose mind was unexpanded by
its precepts was intrusted with the instruction of the young. Even Plato, justly
deemed the first of the philosophers, when asked as to the probable occupation
of Deity, replied, He geometrizes continually.
If we consider the symmetry and order which govern all the
works of creation, we must admit that Geometry pervades the universe. If, by the
aid of the telescope, we bring the planets within the range of our observation,
and by the microscope, view particles too minute for the eye, unaided, to
behold, we find them all pursuing the several objects of their creation, in
accordance with the fixed plan of the Almighty.
By Geometry we may curiously trace nature through her
various windings to her most concealed recesses. By it we discover how the
planets move in their respective orbits and demonstrate their various
revolutions; by it we account for the return of the seasons and the variety of
scenes which each season displays to the discerning eye; by it we discover the
power, wisdom and goodness of the Grand Artificer of the Universe, and view with
delight the proportions which connect the vast machine. Numberless worlds are
around us, all framed by the same Divine Artist, which roll through the vast
expanse and are all governed by the same unerring law of nature. Is there not
more truth than fiction in the thought of the ancient philosopher, that God
geometrizes continually ?
By geometry He rounds the dew drop; points the pyramidal
icicle that hangs from thatch-bound roof; bends into a graceful curve the
foaming cataract; paints His bow of beauty upon the canvas of a summer shower;
assimilates the sugar to the diamond, and in the fissures of the earth-bound
rocks, forms georgeous caverns, thick-set with starry gems. By it He taught the
bee to store its honey in prismatic cells; the wild goose to range her flight,
and the noble eagle to wheel and dart upon its prey, and the wakesome lark,
God's earliest worshipper, to hymn its matin song in spiral flight. By it He
forms the tender lens of the delicate eye, rounds the blushing cheek of beauty,
curves the ruby lips and fashions the swelling breast that throbs in unison with
a gushing heart. By it he paints the cheek of autumn's mellow fruit, forms in
molds of graceful symmetry the gentle dove, marks the myriad circles on the
peacock's gaudy train and decks the plumage of ten thousand warblers of His
praise that animate the woody shade. By it he fashions the golden carp, decks
the silvery perch, forms all fish of every fin and tribe that course the
majestic ocean, cut the placid lake or swim in gentle brook. Nay, more, even the
glassy element in which they dwell, when by gentle zephyrs stirred, sends its
chasing waves in graceful curves by God's own finger traced in parallel--above,
beneath, around us, all the works of His hands, animate and inanimate, but prove
that God geometrizes continually.
But if man would witness the highest evidence of
geometrical perfection, let him step out of the rude construction of his own
hands and view the wide o'erspreading canopy of the stars, whether fixed as
centers of vast systems or all noiselessly pursuing their geometrical paths in
accordance with the never-changing laws of nature. Nay, more, the vast fields of
illimitable space are all formed of an infinitude of circles traced by the
compass of the Almighty Architect, whose every work is set by the Level,
adjusted by the Plumb, and perfected by the Square. Do this, my brother, and you
must admit with Plato, that God geometrizes continually, and be assured with
Job, that He who stretcheth the earth upon emptiness and fixeth the foundation
thereof upon nothing, so it cannot be moved, can bind the sweet influence of
Pleiades or loose the bands of Orion.
A survey of Nature, and the observation of her beautiful
proportions, first determined man to imitate the Divine plan, and study symmetry
and order. This gave rise to societies, and birth to every useful art. The
architect began to design, and the plans which he laid down, being improved by
experience and time, have produced works which are the admiration of every age.
The lapse of time, the ruthless hand of ignorance, and the
devastations of war, have laid waste and destroyed many valuable monuments of
antiquity on which the utmost exertions of human genius have been employed. Even
the Temple of Solomon, so spacious and magnificent, and constructed by so many
artists, escaped not the unsparing ravages of barbarous force. Freemasonry,
notwithstanding, has still survived. The attentive ear receives the sound from
the instructive tongue, and the mysteries of Freemasonry are safely lodged in
the repository of faithful breasts. Tools and instruments of architecture, and
symbolic emblems, most expressive, are selected by the fraternity to imprint on
the mind wise and serious truths; and thus, through a succession of ages, are
transmitted, unimpaired, the most excellent tenets of our institution.
PRACTICAL MASONRY
The Temple of Solomon was wrought according to a Divine
plan by practical workmen. Freemasonry is not a theory, neither a mere
speculative plan incapable of practical application. It must be wrought into
beauty and effectiveness by the skilled workmen who are Freemasons in truth.
--Wm. F. Kuhn. A Basket of Chips.
----o----
“LIFE”
(By Wm. Philip Moss 32d Missouri)
Age, and time, and cloudy skies, -
And quiet eveing, when twilight dies;
The sweet contentment of stars above;
And breezes that fan our ardent love.
In the calm silence, not a word;
Above our gentle heartbeats, nothing heard;
Our tired souls, in abguish bound,
And starting at each hush of sound.
Dropping to space - a falling tear.
II
Long shadowed lanes of great tranquility
That shine with dews of silent memory -
Wher naught but splendour strays,
The beauteous light of other days;
And shrubs along these desert isles -
No reflection e’er sweetly smiles
Where bushes weep their lasting tears,
Of sorrows, and jots, of unforgotten years,
Alas! could I but see, -
What holds our future’s destiny.
III
On distant peak, bright Heaven seems -
With faith and Hope’s Eternal dreams,
Within whose still, unshadowed waves,
Ride years of sorrow, and the grave;
The anguishes of fate that forever turn,
The pangs of love, in our hearts do burn,
We hear no answer, from on high,
But whispers, sweet, are calling -
“Alas!” we hear them sigh.
IV
“Each to his narrow home, must go,
The will of God hath made it so.”
Soon you, and I, must take our place -
Without dishonour or disgrace;
Let’s go to Him, our God above,
To dwell in sweetest peace, and love.
MASONRY IN WAR-TIME
BY BRO. W. C. SHELLEY, VIRGINIA
A RARE and precious document was recently brought to light
by Brother W. C. Shelley, of the Grand Lodge of Virginia, and one which reads
like a passage from Holy Writ in the light of the war now raging. It is an
address issued to the Masons of South Carolina in 1862, during the Civil War, by
David Ramsey, then Grand Master of Masons in that Jurisdiction. We commend it to
Masons of every Rite everywhere, and to men of no Rite, as showing that, once at
least, in the stress and struggle of a gigantic strife our mystic tie held true
and tender when all else was broken.
Grand Master Ramsay at the time was just 33 years old. His
address was published March 25, 1862. Masonry was strong throughout America at
that time, but, Col. Shelley says, "there was not at any time during that war
any war among Masons. All Masons performed their civil and political duties as
they saw them, whether North or South of the Ohio river, but none of them ever
lost sight of the fact that Masonry was a fraternal organization, universal in
its application, and independent of political, personal or sectional
conditions."
FALLS IN BATTLE
Grand Master Ramsay himself entered the army of the
Confederacy, and in the year following his address fell in battle in the charge
for the recapture of a bastion of Battery Wagner, on Morris Island.
Published, as it was, says Col. Shelley, during the
bitterness of war, it was immediately circulated by the Grand Master of Masons
of the State of Maine, into whose hands by some accident it came, and in printed
form was ordered to be hung on the wall of every Masonic lodge in that State, an
order which was obeyed.
NEW COPY WAS OBTAINED
"As the Worshipful Master of Columbia Lodge at Clarendon,
Virginia," says Col. Shelley, "learning of this address and so highly
appreciating its sublime sentiments, and especially the manner in which it was
accepted by the Grand Jurisdiction of the State of Maine, which was the very
antithesis of South Carolina in that troubled period, I wrote to South Carolina
for a copy in order that my lodge might hang it upon its walls also, but none
having been retained there, was referred to Maine.
"The Grand Secretary of that Grand Jurisdiction referred me
to the publisher, who had printed the copies ordered by the Grand Master of
Maine in 1862, and from him, of the four copies remaining in his possession I
obtained one, which has been hung upon the walls of my lodge and is uniformly
read by some one of the brethren at each annual election immediately preceding
such election. St. Paul never expressed himself better !"
"If Our foreign brethren," Col. Shelley added, "could rise
to the sublime sentiments expressed by David Ramsay and the grand response made
by the State of Maine, Masonry would find an exemplification quite worthy of all
it claims."
EXTRACT FROM THE ADDRESS
The address, in part, follows:
"The Grand Lodge, anxious for your prosperity and desirous
that, as members of the great mystic family, you should preserve in unfaded
brightness the light of Masonry which had been intrusted to your keeping, did
heretofore address an encyclical letter of advice and of admonition. In the last
Grand Communication, moved by like feeling, it made request of me to direct
another letter unto the same purpose.
"I republish and affirm the former letter for your guidance
in all respects therein set forth; as to other general doctrines, my brethren,
the masters of lodges will admonish you, it is your duty and should be your
pleasure to hearken diligently and observe their precepts. Special matters
remain concerning which I have to charge you.
"Walk circumspectly in the present evil time, ever mindful
of solemn undertakings on your part in the presence of Almighty God; be faithful
in observance thereof toward all and singular the brethren, whether these be met
in lodges dedicate or only known to you by divers means, in darkness or light,
in health or sickness, in wealth or want, in peril or safety, in prison, escape
or freedom, in charity or evil-mindedness, armed or unarmed, friend or seeming
foe, and as to these, most certainly as toward brethren, when Masonically met
on, by or with all due and regular intercommunication and intelligence. You have
registered words which can not be unspoken or recalled, antedating as they will
survive all disturbances among men and turmoils in state; words which in fullest
force and meaning should be ever present unto you in thought, utterance and
deed.
ADMONISHED OF FLIGHT OF TIME
"Time with its affairs will soon to every one be past. We
are at labor for a short while only in the work of Him who hath no respect of
persons, building us, if meet, into another and an enduring temple; if
vouchsafed unto us to be so edified, it will never be regret to remember any
good deed done in the name of a common Master and Father to whatsoever brother,
even him whom the profane would call an enemy. If we do good to those who love
us and do good unto us. what more do we than other men ? I charge every one of
you, in the name of our Supreme and Universal Master, to be mindful how you are
bound in certain duties whereunto you have called Him to witness your
obligations and performance, who will hereafter judge. I charge you, in His
great name and in view of His final day, suffer not the disputes and broils of
men to impair the harmony which has existed and will exist throughout the
fraternity; for, whether or not you put to shame the teachings of our craft,
they can not be annulled; nor, despite evil members, who may pain us, can the
body of our faithful brotherhood be annihilated or destroyed, or even so much as
paralyzed.
"Let us not hear among us that there is war, that strife
and dissension prevails; as Masons it concerns us not.
"Speak no ill of your brethren; if you have aught against
one, suffer not your anger to get the mastery of your troth. If any, deeming
that their personal desires of advancement or gain have been hindered by a
brother, clamor unto you, heed them not when they speak apart; consider that it
is unmasonic and unmanly to take amends by backbiting and slandering; hearken
not to such, nor be covinous, joining together and complotting, whereby
brethren, unheard and undefended, may be injured. There are such among you; of
such make no further observation than to shun their errors.
AVOIDANCE OF CRITICISM
"Except unto themselves, blame them not for speaking; nor
blame those of whom it is spoken; listen not to one nor repeat to the other; let
the great Searcher of Hearts alone decide on right or wrong. Judge not when but
one accuses and the other is absent. You do gravest wrong as men not even called
Masons should you act on partial judgments severely formed. Nevertheless, should
the wrong be done unto you, forgive even when misjudged; forgive as you hope to
be forgiven. Above all things, give no cause of offense; see that your brother
has no just complaint against you; walk erect and upright, in fact, as well as
appearance, Masons. Remember wherein to be zealous to give aid, counsel,
protection; lend attentive ear, preserve a faithful breast, having withal a
ready and true heart. If it be ill to speak evil, by how much more is it to do
evil.
"It were useless to write unto you save to remind you of
these things, and but for my office sake I should not warn or counsel or
command; for speaking without vain humility, I best know how much I have of
error and regret, how much I have to learn and listen; I was constrained to
write, and that not as one having authority of himself, but such as was placed
in his hands to write doctrine approved among us at all times.
TRIBUTE TO HIS BRETHREN
"I laud and honor you, brethren, for many things, and
chiefly forasmuch as you have been diligent in your work of faith, hope and
charity. You have been and are constant in well doing; some among us have gone
astray, but even these wandered from our fold, and erred not within its sacred
bounds; their condemnation is of themselves and not of us. You may say without
boastfulness that you have fulfilled your undertakings in your lodges unto all
whencesoever coming in our common name. So continue, and not for praise of men,
but looking forward to the time when your example will confirm future good deeds
in good or evil days, and also looking forward beyond all time to the well done
of our Master who is in heaven.
"And may the Supreme Grand Architect of the Universe ever
have you in His holy keeping. May brotherly love prevail, and every moral and
social virtue cement you in the bonds of peace and fellowship."
----o----
WORDS OF JESUS
Wonder at the things before you. He that wonders shall
reign, and he that reigns shall rest.
In whatsoever things I discover you, in these will I also
judge you.
Ask for the great things and the small shall be added to
you; ask for the heavenly and the earthly shall be added unto you.
On the same day He beheld one working on the Sabbath and
said unto him: O man if thou knowest what thou art doing, blessed art thou; if
thou knowest not, thou art a transgressor of the law.
Where there is one alone, I am with him. Raise a stone and
there they shall find me; cleave the wood and there I am also.
The world is merely a bridge; ye are to pass over it, and
not to build dwellings on it.
My mystery is for Me and for the sons of My house.
--Unwritten Saying of Jesus, by David Smith.
----o----
SNAP-SHOTS
A confiding of troubles is disloyalty to one's own powers
of endurance.
A woman would rather be miserable with the man she loves
than happy with the man who loves her.
The men who have something of the woman in them are the
most lovable, and the women who have something of the man in them are the least
so.
Sulking is the mental application of vanity to our own
sores.
--A Prig's Philosophy, by B. Belton.
----o----
THE MAKER
Among my fellows, whom the Craft has set
Shoulder to shoulder with me, I pursue
My daily occupation, what is due
From man to man, from man to God, and yet
No fear lest I my wages may not get:
For firm established stand I in the true,
And labor e'er that benefits accrue
All, whom in seeking Truth I would abet.
So seek I God along a winding way
That leads me, aided by the tools at hand,
Through Nature, Science, to the very stars,
That add more light unto my path. The day
Shall surely come when, passed are all the bars,
Refreshed, Before Him I shall humbly stand.
--H. W. Ticknor, Florida.
DISCUSSING THE PREVIOUS QUESTION
BY BRO. R.I.CLEGG, OHIO
"TIDES EBB AND FLOW TWICE IN THE TWENTY-FOUR HOURS."
WHEN I ran across this reference some months ago in The
Builder I promptly made a note of it for future comment. But man proposes and
man procrastinates. Since then several of the brethren have mentioned the
matter, and thus there is less than ever for me to say about it. Nevertheless,
not all the interest has been squeezed out of the original query.
First of all, I beg of our Editor to be patient with me
when I respectfully demur to his use of the word "exaggeration" as applied to
sundry items, "errors" in his opinion, that have for "emphasis" crept into our
practices. While I will not deny that much of what we say and do is open to
attack upon one ground or another, yet I must confess that there are several
points of primarily a mystifying character that on extended inquiry have
disclosed a very reasonable basis. So frequently has this been the case in my
own experience that I am now the slower to assume that a puzzling expression may
be but an error.
Certainly there are examples most perplexing. Take the 47th
proposition. Gow, in his "History of Greek Mathematics," points out that the
Pythagoreans were opposed to the shedding of blood. But the sacrifice of a
hecatomb is commonly understood to imply the death of oxen or even a greater
offering. It may be that the followers of Pythagoras adopted the rule as to
blood spilling after the Master of their School had shown his appreciation
bloodily of his great discovery. I will not dogmatize on the subject. In fact, I
confess I wonder why as much or more is not said by us of Euclid as is reported
of Pythagoras.
Then, too, there is the maiden weeping beside the broken
column. I am not yet ready to answer all mine own questions about that striking
symbol that come to mind.
Having pointed out a few of the other difficulties in the
way of the student, let us return to the tides. If there be any doubt as to the
sequence twice in the day, then consult the scholarly article in the
"Encyclopedia Brittanica." Probably that authority will be sufficient to
demonstrate the accuracy of the phrase as applied to certain places.
Some inquiry into "imprecations" long ago led me to collect
a number of significant instances that will, I am sure, be of interest to the
brethren in general. Particularly should these be noteworthy to the
correspondents who have already considered the "tides" reference in these
columns.
Death by slow drowning where the tide ebbed and flowed was
once by legal authority established as a proper punishment. There is even of
record an instance where to be cast into the sea after mutilation was prescribed
for those who by the imprecations of their own mouths had invited its
application should they be forsworn.
Consider the following: In the curious ordinances which
were observed in the reign of Henry VI for the proper conduct of the Court of
Admiralty of the Humber, are enumerated various offenses of a maritime
connection and their due punishments. To adhere closely to the character of the
Court, and to be within the proper jurisdiction of the Admiralty, the
punishments were generally inflicted at low-water mark. Be it further understood
that from the year 1451 the Mayor of Hull also officiated as the Admiral of the
Humber.
Andrews, in his exceedingly interesting study of "Bygone
Punishments," tells us of the ordinances that were to be enforced by the
Admiralty of the Humber. Among them were these: "You shall inquire, whether any
man in port or creek, have stolen any robes, nets, cords, etc., amounting to the
value of ninepence; if he have, he must be hanged for the said crimes, at
lowwater mark."
"If any person has removed the anchor of any ship, without
licence of the master or mariners, or both, or if any one cuts the cable of a
ship at anchor, or removes or cuts away a buoy, for any of the said offenses he
shall be hanged at low-water mark."
Remarkable as are these references from the standpoint of
our investigation, they do not comprise the whole of the material left to us by
the Admiralty of the Humber. The Court at its regular sessions consisted of
"Masters, merchants, and mariners, with all others that do enjoy the King's
stream with hook, net, or any engine." The latter word, be it understood, had a
broader meaning than is now usually applied to it. But the Court being assembled
for obligation they were thus addressed:
"You, Masters of the Quest, if you or any of you discover
or disclose anything of the King's secret counsel or of the counsel of your
fellows (for the present you are admitted to be the King's Counsellors) you are
to be, and shall be, had down to the low-water mark, where must be made three
times, O Yes ! for the King, and then and there this punishment, by the law
prescribed, shall be inflicted upon them; that is, their hands and feet bound,
their throats cut, their tongues pulled out, and their bodies thrown into the
sea."
The reader will see that there is a distinction in some way
between the two sets of criminals, those guilty of divulging the Royal secrets,
and those convicted of moving a buoy--a river or sea mark comparable with a
landmark in importance. Hanging has so usually been deemed the most ignominious
of deaths that the student may right here ask himself, why it was that the
disloyal "Counsellor" was not choked by the rope rather than killed by the knife
and the wave. However, we will not just now discuss the relative enormity of the
two crimes, save only to say that there is, I believe, a distinction made
between the two classes of persons; a difference indeed of much interest to
Freemasons. Of this I shall say a word or two later.
Turn we now to an excellent book: "The Customs of Old
England," by Snell. On page 225 is this still more pertinent paragraph:
"Suppose that a thief had been taken in the soken, stocks
and a prison were in readiness for him; and he was thence carried before the
Mayor to receive his sentence, but not until he had been conveyed to
Fitzwalter's court and within his franchise. The nature of the sentence, to
which the latter's assent was required, varied with the gravity of the offense.
If the person were condemned for simple larceny, he was conducted to the Elms
near Smithfield--the usual place of execution before Tyburn was adopted for the
purpose- -and there 'suffered his judgment,' i. e., was hanged like other common
thieves. If on the other hand, the theft was associated with treason, the crime,
it was considered, called for more exemplary punishment, and the felon was bound
to a pillar in the Thames at WoodWharf, to which watermen fastened their boats
or barges, there to remain during two successive floods and ebbs of the tide."
That franchise enjoyed by Fitzwalter was bitterly resented
by the Freemen of London. On the feast of St. Matthew, in 1347, it was announced
to the Common Council that these franchises "were wholly repugnant to the
liberties of the City." One thing he seemed willing to concede, and that
strangely enough was the particular point we have been considering, the slow
drowning of traitors at the double turn of the tides.
Note also the comment that Snell offers in another place:
"This punishment (by drowning), which was most likely of
Scandinavian or Teutonic origin, was not confined to the soken in which the
Fitzwalters exercised jurisdiction. In the Cinque ports it was the privilege of
freemen condemned on a capital charge to be drowned in the sea, whereas
nonfreemen suffered the usual penalty of hanging. At Hastings and Winchelsea,
however, this distinction is said not to have existed; at both places all
executions took place by drowning."
There is an article by Cuming Walters on "The Stool of
Repentance" which has reference to the old idea of punishment involved in the
double tides, albeit not intended for the taking of life but of inflicting
severe penance:
"The nuns of St. Bridgets Convent were made to undergo a
particularly barbarous penance in olden time for the most trifling of
peccadilloes. A steep high rock projects over the sea at the Howe of Douglas,
and can only be climbed with much difficulty. Half way up is a hollow, and near
the top a chair-like cavity. The offending nuns were brought to the foot of the
rock when the tide was out, and compelled to climb the rock, and sit in either
the lower or higher chair until the tide ebbed and flowed twice. It was a
terrible predicament. The climber was always in danger of falling into the sea,
and the exposure to the elements, especially when the incoming waters were
roaring through the cavities, was enough to stagger the firmest resolution."
Much more could be said but this is perhaps all that need
be told in print. My brethren will read between the lines. To me the quaint
expressions of the Fraternity are to be cherished. Of such is the oblong square.
Hidden beneath them are rich mines of bygone practices, of olden philosophy and
early ethics. Let us lay hands upon the ritual with reverence. What may seem a
blemish may be a relic to be revered, not ruthlessly removed for destruction.
Furthermore, as to criticism in general. Surely I am not
presumptuous in urging that the Society encourage vigorous independence of
research. Let us all avoid what may not inaptly be termed the sheepwalking
school. For example, there are those who hold that certain characteristic
Christian allusions have of recent date, comparatively, been grafted upon an
unsectarian organization. Is it impossible that the tendency has been the other
way ? Perhaps the fragments now remaining are but the remnants of a Craft
ceremony peculiarly rich with the impress of Christian Knighthood. Reflections
such as these are by no means presented with any claim that they are easily
proven. At best they are suggested as fair grounds for further inquiry.
Investigation and independence are essential to our satisfactory progress. The
last word has been said on no Masonic topic at last reports. There is much to
do. Let tolerance prevail.
----o----
A VISION OF THE FLAG
(An International Anthem.)
I gazed beyond the strife of alien brothers,
And a vision of the glories yet to come.
I saw a flag in the breeze unfurl--
A blessed flag--
That unfurled, and unfurled, and unfurled,
And I gazed in rapture, in realization, and in wonder.
I saw one star unfurl--
And then another, in the blue,
The blessed blue of the sky;
Stars of a golden light;
And of the soul's magnitude.
One star for each land and country
Was in this flag that covered all--
And then I looked again--
And knew that I was gazing at the Heavens.
Not that we should love our country less,
But that we should love our whole world more.
--Julian P. Scott.
A MASONIC MYTH IN THE MAKING
BY BRO. R. J. LEMERT, MONTANA
ONE of the most annoying things with which the student of
history is obliged to contend is the tendency of writers, even those of high
repute, to accept without careful investigation the statements of alleged fact
made by their predecessors. Especially is this true, it is painful to admit,
among writers upon Masonic topics. A few generations ago the most weird fables
were dispensed as gospel truth, and often writers did not hesitate to blend
groundless hypothesis with unquestioned fact in such fashion as best to uphold
their own contentions, regardless of the confusion which such action on their
part must inevitably introduce among later investigators. The older Masonic
literature teems with statements which are not susceptible of proof, and yet one
is loath to disregard them utterly, because of the possibility that such proof
may have existed at some previous time, and may have been accessible to the
authors of the questionable statements.
Perhaps no single branch of Masonry presents more obstacles
to the conscientious investigator than does the early history of the Ancient and
Accepted Scottish Rite and the part played by its reputed founder, Frederick the
Great. I use the word "reputed" only in deference to those fair-minded students
who are not yet convinced that the Prussian monarch authorized the compilation
of the Grand Constitutions of 1786--not because I personally am sceptical; for
after giving most careful consideration to every scrap of evidence available,
including the latest and perhaps the most painstaking brief for the negative,
Dr. Wilhelm Begemann's pamphlet entitled "Der Alte und Angenommenne Schottische
Ritus und Friedrich der Grosse," published in 1913, I still prefer to accept the
conclusions of Brother Albert Pike, that Frederick really was the founder of the
Rite in thirty-three degrees.
Yet it cannot be denied that many of the things told of
Frederick by those who have sought to establish his lifelong connection with the
Masonic institution are questionable if not flatly untrue; and it is of one of
these myths that I desire to speak to the readers of The Builder.
A number of years ago my old and valued friend, Brother
Edwin A. Sherman, 33d Hon., of Oakland, Cal., now deceased, sent me a copy of an
address which he had delivered some years before, on St. John the Baptist's Day,
1889, "Upon the History of the Antagonism and Assaults of the Papacy Against
Freemasonry and Free Government." In the course of the address he referred to
Frederick the Great and his connection with Masonry, and to demonstrate the high
valuation set by the renowned monarch upon our institution Brother Sherman made
the following statement:
The superior of the Dominican convent at Aix-la-Chapelle
Father Greineman, and a Capuchin monk, Father Schuff, were trying to excite the
lower classes against the lodge of Masons at that place, which had been
reconstituted by the mother lodge at Wetzlar. When Frederick heard of this, he
wrote the following letter, dated February 7, 1778, to the instigators: "Most
Reverend Fathers: Various reports, confirmed through the papers, have brought to
my knowledge with how much zeal you are endeavoring to sharpen the sword of
fanaticism against quiet, virtuous people called Freemasons. As a former
dignitary of this honorable body, I am compelled, as much as it is in my power,
to repel this dishonoring slander, and remove the dark veil that causes the
temple we have erected to all virtues to appear to your vision as a gathering
point for all vices. Why, my most reverend fathers, will you bring back upon us
those centuries of ignorance and barbarism, that have so long been the
degradation of human reason ? Those times of fanaticism, upon which the eye of
understanding cannot look back but with a shudder ? Those times in which
hypocrisy, seated on the throne of despotism, with superstition on one side and
humility on the other, tried to put the world in chains and commanded a
regardless burning of all those who were able to read ?
"You are not only applying the nickname of masters of
witchcraft to the Freemasons, but you accuse them to be thieves, profligates,
forerunners of antichrist, and admonish a whole nation to annihilate such a
cursed generation.
"Thieves, my most reverend fathers, do not act as we do,
and make it their duty to assist the poor and the orphans. On the contrary,
thieves are those who rob them sometimes of their inheritance, and fatten on
their prey, in the lap of idleness and hypocrisy. Thieves cheat; Freemasons
enlighten humanity.
"A Freemason, returning from his lodge, where he has only
listened to instructions beneficial to his fellow-beings, will be a better
husband in his home. Forerunners of antichrist would in all probability direct
their efforts towards an extinction of divine law. But it is impossible for
Freemasons to sin against it without demolishing their own structure. And those
be a cursed generation who try to find their glory in the indefatigable efforts
to spread those virtues which constitute the honest man.
--Frederic."
This letter interested me. If a genuine letter of the
Prussian monarch, it clearly indicated that at least so late as 1778 Frederick
had no hesitancy in avowing his connection with Freemasonry, and did not scruple
to champion its cause when attacked by its ancient enemy. Desirous of verifying
Brother Sherman's statement, I wrote him for his authority, but as several years
had passed since the delivery of the address, he was unable to refer me to his
source of information.
In 1902 the History Publishing Company of San Francisco
issued an elaborate volume bearing the title "Masonic History of the Northwest,"
on page 150 of which is to be found the letter in question, word for word as
quoted by Brother Sherman. It is preceded by the following statement:
That we may understand the Masonic character of Frederick
the Great we give the following: In the year 1778, during our American
revolution, Frederick the Great * * * found trouble in his own dominions, which
he promptly suppressed. The superior of a Dominican convent at Aix-la-Chapelle
(Father Greineman) and a Capuchin monk (Father Schiff) were trying to incite the
lower classes against the lodge of Masons at that place, which had been
reconstituted by the mother lodge at Wetzlar. When Frederick the Great heard of
this he wrote the following letters to the instigators, dated February 7, 1778:
The source of this I have not been able to trace. It may
have been taken from Brother Sherman's address, or both may have been copied
from a common original which I have not yet encountered. At any rate, the
compilers of the history appear to have been convinced of the authenticity of
the letter, for they used it without qualification of any sort.
I found several references to the disturbances incited by
the two ecclesiastics named by Brother Sherman. In Thory's "Acta Latomorum,"
edition of 1815, Vol. I, 141, under the events of the year 1779, is the
following:
March 26--The magistrate of Aix-la-Chapelle caused the
publication of an ordinance in which he called attention to the excommunication
pronounced against the Freemasons. He interdicted their meetings, and decreed a
fine of 100 florins d'or for the first contravention, and 200 for the second;
and 300 florins, in addition to banishment, for the third, against those who
permitted lodges to be opened in their premises. As a consequence of this decree
the Dominican Louis Greineman and the Capuchin Schuff attempted to excite a
popular movement against the Freemasons at Aix-la-Chapelle. They denounced them
in their sermons as ungodly and infamous, and as conspirators against the state
religion, and imputed to them all the crimes of the Templars. Many were attacked
in the streets, and others were pursued. The Loge de la Constance and the
brethren of Aix-la-Chapelle caused an energetic reply to the calumnies of the
reverend fathers to be inserted in the Courrier du Bas-Rhin of May 5 and 22,
1779.
In the appendix to Ragon's "Ritual du Grade de Compagnon,"
undated, page 67, under the heading "Persecutions eprouvees par les Francmacons,"
is the following:
1779--The magistrates of Aix-la-Chapelle interdicted
Masonic meetings. Then Louis Grimman, a Dominican, born at Mayence, and Father
Schaff, a Capuchin, preaching in that city the first during Lent, and the other
on April 11, anathematized the Masons and exhorted in public: "Exterminate this
accursed brood!" Public assaults resulted from this. ( See the Courrier du Bas-Rhin
of May 5 and 22, 1779, and the Monde Maconnique, March, 1860, page 684.)
I have not been able to consult either of the publications
cited by Ragon, but in my bound volume of L'Univers Maconnique, published by
Brother Cesar Moreau in 1837, at column 169, I encountered this further
reference to the persecutions:
In 1779 the Freemasons were persecuted publicly at
Aix-la-Chapelle. In the churches the people were sworn to hatred against them. A
Dominican, Louis Greineman, and a Capuchin, named Schuff, did not hesitate to
belittle their characters as ministers of a God of peace by uttering these
abominable words: "Exterminate this accursed brood!"
Thus far, it will be observed, there is no word regarding
the rebuke said to have been administered by the king. But searching further, I
discovered something more satisfying in the Official Bulletin of the Supreme
Council for the Southern Jurisdiction, Vol. IX, published in 1889 under the
direct supervision of that distinguished scholar, Brother Albert Pike. On pages
249 to 251 appears the following, presumably reproduced from the London
Freemason:
Editor Freemason: Attacks on Freemasonry lack neither in
antiquity nor untruthfulness, as you may gather from the accompanying letter, a
copy of which was handed me last night. It was translated from the Berlin
"Daily" by Bro. Jos. Z. J. late of Civil Service lodge No. 148, of the city of
Quebec, and printed and presented by W. Bro. W. H. Little, W. M. of St. Andrew's
lodge No. 6, Quebec. Bro. Little, who is a good printer and a zealous Mason,
appends the following footnote:
"Does this letter require any further comment? We think
not. The letter is too clear, and at the same time so forcible, so precious,
that it would not be considered too much if the same were made to stand forth in
golden letters on the wall of every lodge room."
I recommend it to the attention of your intelligent
readers.
I am, &c., yours fraternally, --Robert Ker, Trinity Church,
R. W. Grand Chaplain of the Provincial of Quebec. Quebec
City, Dec., 1885.
Then follows a version of the letter quoted by Brother
Sherman, varying slightly in verbiage, but no more than might be expected of two
independent translations.
This seemed fairly sound authority, for the London
Freemason is usually accurate in its statements, and then it was that I myself
fell into the very error which I have decried in others; for I cribbed the
letter of Frederick bodily from Brother Sherman's address and used it in one of
my printed lectures--that one entitled "Catholicism and Freemasonry," many
thousands of which have found their way into circulation. So I stand as "equally
guilty with the rest," for, as I am about to demonstrate, there is every reason
to believe that the letter is fraudulent.
But I am not the latest offender. There is some comfort in
this knowledge. On January 24, 1912, the German Freemasons celebrated the two
hundredth anniversary of the birth of Frederick the Great, and shortly after
that event the distinguished Brother E. Koettlitz, grand archivist and librarian
of the Supreme Council of Belgium, prepared a valuable paper entitled "Frederic
II, un Roi Franc-Macon," which contains a great amount of valuable matter
touching Frederick's Masonic connections and activities. In the course of this
paper Brother Koettlitz says:
Let us cite, for example, the typical letter that he
addressed to the Capuchins an order of Franciscan friars belonging to the Roman
Catholic church, who had attacked Freemasonry:
Then follows another version of the famous letter, varying
from the translations given by Brother Sherman and Brother Pike in minor
particulars only. Brother Koettlitz's paper was translated into English in
April, 1914, by Mrs. Katharine Pratt Horton, of Buffalo, N. Y., and embodied in
the Proceedings of the Council of Deliberation of the Ancient Accepted Scottish
Rite for New York for 1914, the letter under discussion appearing on pages 249
and 250 of that volume.
Brother Koettlitz's address is also published, in part, in
The New Age Magazine for May, 1915, the translation there given providing us
with still a fourth version of our letter, identical in all material regards
with the other three.
A short time ago I had occasion to look up certain matters
connected with the Adonhiramite Rite of Masonry, a system which enjoyed a
considerable vogue in France and perhaps in Germany in the latter portion of the
eighteenth century, and which is still practiced by a number of lodges in
Brazil, and possibly in other South American states. The best authority on this
rite is the little book entitled "Recueil Precieux de la Maconnerie Adonhiramite,"
the first edition of which was published anonymously in 1781. The authorship has
been ascribed both to Baron de Tschoudy and Guillemain de St. Victor, but as
Tschoudy died in 1769 it is probable that the attribution to St. Victor is
correct.
My own copy of this little book is of the edition of 1787.
To my great interest I encountered on pages 103 to 115 a section devoted to "Violences
exercees contre les Francs-Macons," containing what purports to be, and probably
is, a correct reproduction of the two letters published in the Courrier du Bas-Rhin
on May 5 and 22, 1779, referred to by Thory and Ragon. The first of these
letters, while not lacking in interest, has no direct bearing upon the alleged
letter of Frederick. It is a communication addressed under date of April 13,
1779, by the brethren of the Loge de la Constance of Aix-la-Chapelle to their
brethren in other cities, reciting the persecutions to which they were being
subjected by reason of the fanatical preaching of the two priests, Grieneman and
Schuff, and asking that prayers be offered and representations made in proper
quarters in their behalf, to the end that protection might be accorded them by
some unnamed personage. The name is left blank, but it is not an unfair
presumption that the king of Prussia was meant.
The second letter, however, seems to establish the
fraudulent character of the letter ascribed to Frederick, and I therefore append
my own translation in full:
Extract from the Courrier du Bas-Rhin, May 21, 1779. Letter
to the Reverend Fathers Greineman, theological lecturer in the Convent of the
Dominicans of Aix-la-Chaplle, and Schuff, Capuchin, preacher at the Cathedral of
said city.
My Very Reverend Fathers: Various reports, confirmed by the
public prints, having informed me of the ardor with which you have exerted
yourselves to unsheathe the sword of fanaticism against certain tranquil,
virtuous and respectable persons, called Masons, I must, as a former dignitary
of their venerable order, repulse, so much as lies in my power, the calumny
which outrages it, and endeavor to free your eyes from the thick veil which
leads you to see and depict the temple which we elevate to the virtues as the
receptacle of all the vices.
My very reverend fathers, do you seek to bring back upon us
those centuries of ignorance and barbarity which were for so long a time the
reproach and the shame of the human spirit ? Those times of fanaticism, toward
which the eye of reason cannot look back without horror ? Those times when
hypocrisy seated upon the throne of despotism, between superstition and folly,
gave the world to the steel, and burned indiscriminately as sorcerers all who
knew how to read ? Not only do you apostrophize the Masons by this name of
sorcerers (a senseless name, shameful evidence of the imbecility of our
ancestors and which proves nothing), but you accuse them further of being
swindlers, sodomites, ungodly persons, precursors of antichrist; and you
charitably exhort an entire people to exterminate this accursed race.
Swindlers, my reverend fathers, never charge themselves, as
we do, with the duty of assisting the poor and the orphaned swindlers rather
demand of them contributions, despoil them of their heritages, and grow fat upon
their spoils, in the bosom of sloth and hypocrisy; swindlers, in short, befool
mankind--the Masons educate them.
Assuredly, sodomites are not proper persons to fill the
estate of good fathers of families, but a Mason who returns from his lodge,
where he has received only lessons tending to the good of humanity, is in his
home a better father and a better husband. Precursors of antichrist would beyond
doubt exert all their efforts to destroy the law of the Most High; but Masons
can never attempt this without at the same time overturning their own edifice.
Finally, you denounce them as an accursed race, whom it is necessary to
exterminate. Compare this judgment with that which has been pronounced upon them
by a prince whom the wisest men of the century have with unanimous voice
surnamed the Solomon of the North:
"His Majesty is happy to assure you in his turn that he has
always interested himself in the happiness and prosperity of an assembly which
finds its chief glory in the indefatigable and uninterrupted propagation of all
the virtues of the honest man and the true patriot
"Potsdam, Feb. 7, 1778. --Frederic."*
This style is very different from yours, my very reverend
fathers, and if one of the greatest princes has testified so preciously that
Masonry is the school of all the virtues of the honest man, in what class are to
be ranked those who persecute them, and who cry, "Become converted!"? To whom,
my reverend fathers, best applies this advice to become converted ? Is it those
who, uniting to taste the purest sweets of humanity, recommend unceasingly
union, peace and fraternal love, or those who cry "Aid us to exterminate them !"
? Is it the love of peace, O ministers of a God of peace, that has led you to
compromise certain members of your regency in the hearing of all, by demanding
of the assembled people if justice could be properly administered by them ? The
indulgence of your magistrates on this occasion proves at least that they are
more peaceable than you. But without discussing the question whether or not it
is permissible for a minister of religion to erect himself a tribune of the
people, learn, my very reverend fathers, that Masons have always sworn to
maintain and follow the laws, to be faithful to their country, and that the
first obligation of a Mason is to perform the duties of the station in which
heaven has placed him. By this you may see that our oath is not the pact of
thieves, as you have dared advance from the seat of truth; and when you shall
have become better instructed in our statutes you will doubtless imitate the
Masons, who leave the world in peace.
No, my reverend fathers; never have Freemasons troubled
states; rather has this been the act of the fanatics. Never have they dealt
death to those who did not think as they do. They serve faithfully their
princes; they obediently allow themselves to be governed by them; they respect
them, and they have never counted a Jacques Clement among their brethren. You
should reflect upon the fact that among these same Masons whom you treat as
swindlers are to be counted all the princes of Europe, with the most powerful
and most honest people of their states. The king of Naples, you reply to me, has
allowed the Masons to be persecuted. That is true; but he was not then their
brother. He has become so since, and he protects them. The secular rulers are
not the only ones whom Masonry has honored; and you surely are not ignorant, my
very reverend fathers, that it counts in its ranks a pope, several cardinals,
certain Dominicans even, and a number of Capuchins. I have often participated in
the work of the lodge with religious men every order. I have found there able
preachers and honest men, who, upon leaving our assemblies, went to edify their
auditors, but did not say to them, "Assist us to exterminate them!"
I am, and I have the honor to be, with that candor
inseparable from good and free Masonry, my very reverend fathers. -S.F.B.
Master of a lodge situated four miles from Babylon, this
16th day of the fifth month of the year of the Great Light, 5779.
It is scarcely necessary to comment upon this letter. It
speaks for itself. No one can doubt that it is the original from which was
framed the apocryphal blast of righteous wrath attributed to Frederick the
Great. Down to the little quotation from a possibly authentic letter of the
famous monarch, this letter is almost identical, word for word, allowing for
differences in translation, with the fraudulent one.
And it is not to be suspected that any portion of the
last-quoted communication, save only the fragment in quotation marks, is from
the pen of the Prussian ruler. He would scarcely style himself "the Solomon of
the North," nor call himself "one of the greatest princes." Clearly, it was
written by the master of one of the lodges of Aix-la-Chapelle, who chose to veil
his identity under the initials "S. F. B." The expression, "a lodge situated
four miles from Babylon," amounts to nothing. It may prevent us from identifying
the lodge of which S. F. B. was master, but further than that it need not
concern us. Such mystification was common among Continental Masons in the
eighteenth century. Many Masons thus concealed their identity from the profane,
when writing books or articles for publication, partly because of clerical
persecutions, and partly because it was not thought necessary to take the public
into confidence. Even the little book from which the foregoing extract is made,
the "Recueil Precieux," was, as has been said, published anonymously; and its
place of publication was not openly disclosed. The title page merely states that
it was published "At Philadelphia, at the house of Philarethes, street of the
Square, at the Plumb."
The "typical letter" of Frederick, as Brother Koettlitz
styles it, which has given satisfaction to so many of us, cannot be regarded as
other than a fraud. And the tale of his indignation at the aggressions of the
two fanatical priests of Aix-la-Chapelle, if based on no better evidence than
this, must be relegated to the category of myths.
*At the bottom of page 112 of the "Becueil Precieux" is a
footnote, referring to the above letter signed by Frederick, in which it is
stated that the original of this letter, addressed to the Loge de l'Amitie at
Berlin, is preserved in its archives, and is to be found in its entirety in the
Gazette Litteraire of that city, folio 726, of Feb. 23, 1778.
----o----
THE WORSHIP OF MARS
Oh! base apostasy, for words too great!
False Christendom the Prince of Peace has spurned;
Its heart despoiled of love, and filled with hate,
Now unto Mars, the god of war, has turned.
Grim struggling forces charge and counter charge;
Good men and horses by the thousand fall;
But as the gruesome list of death grows large,
The lords of war for other thousands call.
With deadly rifle shot and cannon boom,
The mortar's roar, and madly screeching shell,
And stifling vapors adding to the gloom,
The earth seems changed into a very hell.
Then deadly submarines the seas infest;
Swift aeroplanes drop bombs from over head;
Great navies for supremacy contest
And many hearts are filled with constant dread.
The howling, savage dogs of war turned loose,
Men's bitter curses rise above their prayers;
And, disregarding every call to truce,
They drench with blood the world's great altar stairs.
Imposing churches, built for prayer and praise,
And dedicated to the Prince of Peace,
Professing Christians madly storm and raze--
Oh God! when will such false pretensions cease?
But still the god of war is not content,
"More sacrifice of life," he loudly calls,
And when the air with murd'rous sounds is rent,
He laughs the while the flower of manhood falls.
He grins as little children shriek in fright,
And helpless women wring their hands and cry;
Exultantly he shouts his base delight,
As men, enraged, rush on to do--or die.
And mountain-like the debts, by war incurred,
Which people over-taxed, must help defray;
And backs will ache, fond hopes be long deferred,
While jaded nations monstrous war debts pay.
And this, the fruit of our apostasy,
Swift death, great debts, and gaping, ugly scars
Distressing turmoil, both on land and sea,
Is what, in part, we pay to worship Mars.
Aghast we look upon the ruin wrought,
And to the God of love most humble pray,
That we, through wide and awful suffering taught,
May never more the Prince of Peace betray.
--E. A. Coil, Marietta, Ohio.
American Union Lodge, No. 1.
----o----
MY QUEEN, THE SOUL
Life may be likened in a parable to a simple citizen who
married a princess of the royal blood. Even if he made her to eat of all the
delicacies of the world, and gave her every delight, he could never fulfill all
his obligations to her. Why ? Because she is the daughter of a line of kings.
Thus also, whatever a man may do for his own soul, he can never do all that is
required of him, because the soul of man is from on high."
--Rabbi Levi.
DEATH IN THE DESERT - THE STORY OF A POEM
BY BRO C.M. SCHENCK. COLORADO
(One of the most pathetic of the poems of Albert Pike is
entitled "Death in the Desert," in which he imagines the last, bitter hours of a
friend and Brother Mason who was wounded and left to perish on the old Santa Fe
trail in the wild days of Indian war. It first appeared in a tiny volume of
"Prose Sketches and Poems Written in the Western Country," published by Light &
Norton, Boston, 1834-- the earliest, and now the rarest, piece of his writing.
What lay back of that poem is told in the following article by a kinsman of the
Brother whose fate the poem describes so vividly.)
IN reading that exceedingly interesting work "Leading Facts
of New Mexico History," by Mr. R. E. Twitchell, my eye caught the foot note on
page 135 of Volume 2, relative to the various Santa Fe caravans that crossed the
plains, which quotes from "Chittenden's History of American Fur Trade," as
follows: "1832 - fall and winter of this year, attacked by Indians Canadian
January and lost all their property and one man."
Josiah Gregg in his "Commerce of the Prairies" (Vol. 11,
pp. 48-53), presumably referred to the same party. He states that three or more
men lost their lives. One of the three was a kinsman of mine, of whose life and
death the following sketch is found in "Rev. William Schenck, His Ancestry and
His Descendants," by A. D. Schenck, (1882 pp. 80-85), which may be of Masonic
interest:
"Colonel William Rogers Schenck was born at Cincinnati,
then in the Northwestern Territory, 20 Oct., 1799. In 1802 his father, Gen.
William C. Schenck, removed and settled permanently at Franklin, now in Warren
County, Ohio, where the son remained with him, receiving such education as the
place and times afforded, until he reached the age of about eighteen years, when
he was sent as a clerk to Mr. Martin Baum, a wealthy merchant of Cincinnati, and
an intimate friend of Gen. Schenck.
As a young man, William was noted for his wit and social
qualities, a genial companion and something of a poet; some of his effusions are
to be found in a work entitled "Gems from American Poets."
After the death of his father in 1821, he returned to
Franklin to take charge, as co-executor with his mother, of the family estate.
And he then and there established himself in business upon his own account as a
merchant, his store being on Front Street, between Second and Third Streets. Not
being satisfied with this business, he removed with his family to Lebanon, in
Warren County, Ohio, and commenced the study of law with the late Thomas Corwin,
and was admitted to the bar, but never practised as a lawyer.
He took a great interest in the militia, and held various
commissions as an officer therein. After having been captain of the cavalry, he
was commissioned as a lieutenant-colonel, Second Regiment, Second Brigade, the
16th of January, 1823. He was afterwards colonel of this regiment, his
resignation being dated the 15th of November, 1826, "he having been an officer
of said regiment for five years."
On the 24th of October, 1822, he entered the Masonic
fraternity, was "passed" on the 26th of the same month, and "raised" to the
degree of a master Mason on the 27th of the following month. In 1826 he was the
secretary of his lodge, Eastern State, No. 55, of Franklin, Ohio. His father was
the first master of this lodge upon its organization in 1819, and his uncle,
Garrett A. Schenck, was at the same time the junior warden.
On the 3d of February, 1831, Colonel Schenck left
Cincinnati to engage in the Santa Fe trade, a business then in its infancy. He
went from St. Louis by way of Independence to Santa Fe during that year. One of
the same party was the late well-known General Albert Pike, of Washington, D. C.
This party consisted of seventy-five men in all, and was fitted out by Carter
Bent, Frederick Billen and Mr. Holliday, the train consisting of ten wagons, all
but one drawn by oxen, and left St. Louis on the 10th of August, Independence
between the 5th and 10th of September, and got into Taos, some on one day, some
on another, between the 9th and 15th of November of that year.
General Pike writes: "In September, 1832, I left Santa Fe
and Taos with a trapping party, descended the Picos, crossed the Ellano Estacado,
and ultimately reached Arkansas. During my stay of near ten weeks I saw Mr.
Schenck very often, and we continued to be on terms as intimately friendly as we
were while crossing the plains. He told me a thousand things about himself and
his relatives, the course of his life, his success and reverses; but all have
passed out of my memory, for until now, no one has spoken to me of him in fifty
years. He was a man of cultivation and acquirements, of fine intelligence,
cordial and genial, a pleasant companion and firm friend, sadly out of place in
such a country as New Mexico was at that day, among the citizens of the United
States residing there. I left him in Santa Fe, and after I had been for a time
in Arkansas I heard of his having been wounded and left to die on the prairie,
and wrote and published some lines of verse respecting it, which were seen by
his relatives, and caused them to write to me for such information as I could
give."
In the fall or winter of 1832-33, a party consisting of
twelve men started to return from Santa Fe. This party met with a terrible
calamity, an account of which is given by Josiah Gregg in his "Commerce of the
Prairies," (Vol. 11, pp. 48-53), as follows:
After three or four days of weary travel over this level
plain the picturesque valley of the Canadian burst once more upon our view,
presenting one of the most magnificent sights I had ever beheld. It was
somewhere in this vicinity that a small party of Americans experienced a
terrible calamity in the winter of 1832-3, on their way home; and as the
incident had the tendency to call into play the most prominent features of the
Indian character, I will digress so far here as to relate the facts.
The party consisted of twelve men, chiefly citizens of
Missouri. Their baggage and about ten thousand dollars in specie were packed
upon mules. They took the route of the Canadian River, fearing to venture on the
northern prairies at that season of the year. Having left Santa Fe in December,
they had proceeded without accident thus far, when a large party of Comanches
and Kiowas were seen advancing with the treacherous and pusillanimous
disposition of those races. The traders prepared at once for defense; but the
savages having made a halt at some distance, began to approach one by one, or in
small parties, making a great show of friendship all the while, until most of
them had collected on the spot. Finding themselves surrounded in every
direction, the travellers now began to move on in hopes of getting rid of the
intruders; but the latter were equally ready for the start, and mounting their
horses, kept jogging on in the same direction.
The first act of hostility perpetrated by the Indians
proved fatal to one of the American traders named Pratt, who was shot dead while
attempting to secure two mules, which had become separated from the rest. Upon
this the companions of the slain man immediately dismounted and commenced a fire
upon the Indians, which was warmly returned, whereby another man by the name of
Mitchell was killed.
By this time the traders had taken off their packs and
piled them around for protection, and now falling to work with their hands, they
very soon scratched out a trench deep enough to protect them from the shot of
the enemy. The latter made several desperate charges, but they seemed too
careful of their own personal safety, notwithstanding the enormous superiority
of their numbers, to venture near the rifles of the Americans. In a few hours
all the animals of the traders were either killed or wounded, but no personal
damage was done to the remaining ten men, with the exception of a wound in the
thigh received by one, which was not at the time considered dangerous.
During the siege the Americans were in great danger of
perishing from thirst, as the Indians had complete command of all the water
within reach. Starvation was not so much to be dreaded, because, in case of
necessity, they could live on the flesh of their slain animals, some of which
lay stretched close around them. After being pent up for thirty-six hours in
this terrible hole, during which time they had seldom ventured to raise their
heads above the surface without being shot at, they resolved to make a bold
sortie in the night, as any death was preferable to the fate which awaited them
there. As there was not an animal left that was at all in condition to travel,
the proprietors of the money gave permission to all to take and appropriate to
themselves whatever amount each man could safely undertake to carry. In this way
a few hundred dollars were started with, of which, however, but little ever
reached the United States. The remainder was buried deep in the sand in hopes
that it might escape the cupidity of the savages; but to very little purpose,
for they were afterwards seen by some Mexican traders making a great display of
specie, which was without doubt taken from the unfortunate cache.
With every prospect of being discovered, overtaken and
butchered, but resolved to sell their lives as dearly as possible, they at last
emerged from their hiding place, and moved on silently and slowly until they
found themselves beyond the perlieus of the Indian camp. Often did they look
back in the direction where from three to five hundred savages were supposed to
watch their movements; but much to their astonishment, no one appeared to be in
pursuit. The Indians, believing no doubt that the property of the traders would
come into their hands, and having no amateur predilection for taking scalps at
the risk of losing their own, appeared willing enough to let the spoliated
adventurers depart without further molestation.
The destitute travelers having run themselves short of
provisions, and being no longer able to kill game for want of material to load
their rifles with, they were soon reduced to the necessity of sustaining life
upon the roots and tender barks of trees. After traveling for several days in
this desperate condition, with lacerated feet and utter prostration of mind and
body, they began to disagree among themselves about the route to be pursued and
eventually separated into two distinct parties. Five of these unhappy men
steered a westward course, and after a succession of sufferings and privations
which almost surpassed belief, they reached the settlements of the Creek
Indians, near the Arkansas River, where they were treated with great kindness
and hospitality.
The other five wandered about in a great state of distress
and bewilderment, and only two finally succeeded in getting out of the mazes of
the wilderness. Among those who were abandoned to their fate and left to perish
thus miserably was a Mr. Schenck, the same individual who had been shot in the
thigh, a gentleman of talent and excellent family connections, who was a
brother, as I am informed, of the Hon. Mr. Schenck, at present a member of
Congress from Ohio. The following is a poem mentioned by General Pike, written
by him upon hearing of the fate of his unfortunate friend:
----o----
DEATH IN THE DESERT
The sun is sinking from the sky,
The clouds are clustering round the moon,
Like misty bastions, mountain high;
And night approaches, ah! too soon.
Around me the dark prairies spread
Its limitless monotony.
And near me, in wide sandy beds,
Runs water salter than the sea,
Bitter as tears of misery.
And now the sharp, keen, frosty dew,
Begins to fall upon my head,
Piercing each shattered fibre through;
By it torturing wound with fresh pain is fed.
Near me lies dead my noble horse;
watched its last convulsive breath,
And saw him stiffen to a corse,
Knowing like his would be my death.
The cowards left me lying here
To die- and for three weary days
I've watched the sunlight disappear;
Again I shall not see his eyes;
Upon my dead heart they soon will blaze.
Ah, God! it is a fearful thing
To be alone in this wide plain,
To hear the hungry vultures wing,
And watch the light of my existence wane.
Am I, indeed, left here to die?
Alone ! Alone ! It is no dream !
At times I hope it is. Though nigh,
Already faintly sounds the stream.
I must die! and fierce wolves will gnaw
My corse before the pulse is still,
Before my parting breath I draw.
This doth the cup of torture fill;
This, this it is that sends a thrill
Of anguish through by inmost brain;
This thought far bitterer than death;
I care not for the passing pain,
But fain would draw in peace my last, my parting breath.
And here, while left all, all alone,
To die, (how strange that word will sound)
With many a bitter, mocking tone,
The faces of old friends come around.
They tell of one untimely sent
Down to the dark and narrow grave
By Honor's code; of old friends bent,
With grief, for causes that I gave;
And leaning on each misty wave,
I see the shapes I loved and lost
Gather around, with deep dim eyes,
Like drowning men to land uptossed.
And here one mocks, and my vain rage defies.
Dear God! my children, spare the thought!
Bid it depart from me, lest I
At length to madness should be wrought,
And cursing Thee, insanely die!
Hush! the cold pulse is beating slow--
I see death's shadow close at hand;
I turn from sunset's golden glow,
And looking toward my native land,
Where the dark clouds, like giants, stand,
I strain my eyes, and hope perchance,
To see, beneath the calm cold moon,
Some shape of human-kind advance
To give a dying man the last and saddest boon.
In vain, in vain! No footstep comes!
All is yet lone and desolate;
Deeper and darker swell the glooms,
And with them Death and eyeless Fate.
Now am I dying. Well I know
The pains that gather round the heart,
The wrist's weak pulse is beating slow,
And life and I begin to part;
Vain now would be the leech's art;
But death is not so terrible,
As it hath been. No more I see!
My tongue is faltering! Now all's well!
My soul, 'tis thine, oh Father, take it unto
----o----
THE HEREAFTER
Hereafter ! O we need not waste
Our smiles or tears, whate'er befall;
No happiness but holds a taste
Of something sweeter, after all:--
No depth of agony but feels
Some fragment of abiding trust,--
Whatever Death unlocks or seals
The mute beyond is just.
--James Whitcomb Riley.
----o----
THE HIDDEN GLACIER
There is no time for hate, O wasteful friend:
Put hate away until the ages end.
Have you an ancient wound ? Forget the wrong.
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