THE BUILDER MAGAZINE
october 1917
volume 3 - number 10
SCALD MISERABLE MASONS
ALWAYS Freemasonry has had its enemies, seeking by every
means to discredit its labors in behalf of a saner, sweeter humanity, of free
thought, free speech and true reverence for the Father of All. During this year
we have discussed in THE BUILDER many phases of Anti-Masonry, none perhaps, of
greater interest than the paper presented in this issue by Brother Keplinger
upon "Scald Miserable Masons " Brother Keplinger (p. 294) gives us the account
of one of these caricature processions as described in Hone's Every Day Book,
and we reproduce the plate which accompanied it, in the body of his article.
He also mentions the "Geometrical View of the Procession of
Scald Miserable Masons, designed by A. Benoist," which we use as a frontispiece
because it is the most elaborate of all the prints that have come down to us.
These caricature processions were inaugurated as a take-off on the old
"Processions of the Craft" which have been long since abandoned.
The Grand Lodge first appeared in a "Foot procession," in
1721. Upon the selection of the Duke of Wharton as Grand Master, in 1723, "this
Foot procession was improved into a carriage parade. The following year, 1724,
saw a further aggrandizement of the procession to Taylor's-Hall, where the Feast
was held." Dr. Chetwode Crawley, whose words we have quoted, further says "The
Procession of March continued for nearly twenty years longer to form the most
conspicuous outside function of the Freemasons. The promiscuous display of
Masonic symbols and insignia invited caricature, and the discontinuance of the
cavalcade after 1745 was partly due, no doubt, to the travesties which form the
subject of this article." (A.Q.C. XVIII, 130.)
Speaking of the effect of such processions, Dr. Crawley
says:
"Public Processions form no part of the Ritual of
Freemasonry. At best, they can only be described as functions conducted by
Freemasons under the sanction of the Craft. Strictly speaking, the Ceremonies of
Freemasonry are confined to the Lodge-room. But the Lodge-room has an external
wall, and Freemasonry has an external side. It would be held absurd to deny to
the outer wall the architectural embellishment, which formed the glory of our
Operative forefathers. Similarly, it would be absurd to proscribe the use of all
Masonic adjuncts in our legitimate external functions. The danger is that the
symbols, which have meaning for the initiated, may be mistaken by outsiders for
the gewgaws of personal vanity. The mummery of the Scald‑Miserables was
engendered by the Procession of March." (A.Q.C. XVIII, 146.)
G.W. Speth, in A.Q.C., Vol. V, p. 236, says that the
excitement due to the regular public Masonic processions "may have led to the
formation of the Society of Scald Miserable Masons, whose only purpose seems to
have been to travesty the solemn procession of the Freemasons, and who do not
appear to have met on any other occasion but the annual feasts, or to have had
any other bond of union. It is known that amongst the practical and empty-headed
jokers who were the moving spirits in the business, were some masons, and it is
now impossible to conceive how they could have allowed their appreciation of
very poor fun to have over-ridden their sense of the respect due the Fraternity,
of which they were members. Money must also have been plentiful among the
leaders, for these mock processions must have cost a large amount. * * * For a
series of years these ludicrous processions assembled, and mockingly did
reverence to the real procession on its way to the feast, until at length the
Craft authorities resolved to dispense in the future with any outdoor display,
and the processions have since ceased."
Brother R. F. Gould, reviewing the subject in A.Q.C. XVI,
p. 50, says of the cost of these caricatures that "there is room for speculation
whether there was any organized body by whom the expense was defrayed. The Duke
of Wharton and the Gormogons who sought to undermine the authority of the Grand
Lodge in 1724, were of the Jacobite faction, and so may hove been the Scald
Miserables of 1742."
----o----
THE FAITH THAT IS IN THEM---A FRATERNAL FORUM
Edited by BRO. GEO. E. FRAZER, President, The Board of
Stewards
CONTRIBUTING EDITORS
Henry R. Evans, District of Columbia.
Harold A. Kingsbury, Connecticut.
Dr. Wm. F. Kuhn, Missouri.
Geo. W. Baird, District of Columbia
H.D. Funk, Minnesota
Frederick W. Hamilton, Massachusetts
Dr. John Lewin McLeish, Ohio.
Joseph W. Norwood, Kentucky.
Silas H. Sheperd, Wisconsin.
Jos. W. Eggleston, Virginia
M.M. Johnson, Massachusetts
John Pickard, Missouri
Oliver D. Street, Alabama.
S. W. Williams, Tennessee.
Joe L. Carson, Virginia
T.W. Hugo, Minnesota
F.B. Gault, Washington
C.M. Schenck, Colorado
H.L. Haywood, Iowa
Frank E. Noyes, Wisconsin
Francis W. Shepardson, Illinois
H.W. Ticknor, Maryland
Contributions to this Monthly Department of Personal
Opinion are invited from each writer who has contributed one or more articles to
THE BUILDER. Subjects for discussion are selected as being alive in the
administration of Masonry today. Discussions of politics, religious creeds or
personal prejudices are avoided, the purpose of the Department being to afford a
vehicle for comparing the personal opinions of leading Masonic students. The
contributing editors assume responsibility only for what each writes over his
own signature. Comment from our Members on the subjects discussed here will be
welcomed in the Correspondence column.
QUESTION NO. 6--
"To what extent should the Grand Master in each
jurisdiction, either himself or by authorized deputy, inspect annually the work
of the officers of each lodge? (a) Should such inspection be limited to the
ritual work of the lodge? (b) Should such inspection include investigation of
the instruction in Masonic history and philosophy offered by the lodge officers
to new members? (c) May such inspection properly include an audit of the
business transactions of the lodge?
For the Good of the Order.
The Grand Master personally, so far as he is able, the
Deputy Grand Master, and the Grand Wardens, should visit and inspect as many
Lodges as possible during the year; and every Lodge should be visited by a
district deputy at least once a year, or more frequently.
The inspection should be for the Good of the Order,
wherever that may lie. This, of course, would not limit it to the ritual and
ceremonial of the work, and could include an investigation of the teaching of
the history and philosophy of the Order to its members- -but would hardly be
practicable until the principles of the N.M.R.S. are thoroughly inculcated
throughout the jurisdiction.
So far as an audit of the finances of the particular Lodge
is concerned, I regard Freemasonry as being too uncentralized an institution to
warrant such a course by Grand Lodge Authorities. The Grand Lodge should ordain,
however, that the books of each Lodge be audited annually, and that the report
of the committee which should include both temporalities and "spiritualities"--
spread upon the minutes after adequate publication to the members of the Lodge.
In passing, I might say that these questions put me very
much in mind of the "Articles of Visitation" issued by Bishops in the best
practice of the Church. H. W. Ticknor, Maryland.
* * *
Efficiently Informed Grand Officers.
In my opinion the Grand Master or his Deputy should
annually inspect the work of each lodge as thoroughly as inspections are made in
military and business circles--that is, not the least thing left undone or
uninspected that might make for the utmost efficiency. This would involve, (a)
that the inspection not be limited to mere ritual work; (b) that it should
include investigation of instruction in Masonic history and philosophy by lodge
officers to new members, and not only this but such study of history and
philosophy should be encouraged among the officers and old members who need it
as badly as the new ones, for particular emphasis should be placed upon the
necessity for practice of what is studied; (c) certainly an audit of the
business transactions should be included.
If we are to make our Masonic organization thoroughly
efficient we should first have our Grand Officers thoroughly informed as to all
the activities of Masons under the jurisdictions so that they may advise them.
Next there should be more co-operation between the various jurisdictions, not
only of our own country, but of the rest of the world. THE BUILDER has been
doing a great service in correlating the Masonic usages of different Grand
Lodges. May I suggest that it follow up by reporting on what I may call the
percentage of Masonic illiteracy and also present statistics on international
recognition in order that our leaders may have a comprehensive view of the
present status of world Masonry. J. W. Norwood, Kentucky.
Keep Lodges Up to High Standards.
An inspection such as you outline in your Department of
Opinion this month would be exceedingly beneficial, and must of necessity be
exhaustive if at all. For obvious reasons therefore this inspection must be
performed by the Grand Master's authorized Deputy. Suppose we call him a Grand
Inspector.
The Grand Jurisdiction should be divided amongst a number
of such capable Grand Lodge Inspectors, invested with ample powers.
It would be advisable that these Inspectors visit
officially every Lodge under their care at least once each year.
They should have the regular officers of the Lodge
exemplify the ritual in full, and report to the Grand Master on same.
They should examine the Lodge premises, see they are
suitable for all Masonic purposes, or demand such alterations as will make them
so, if they are not up to the necessary requirements.
They most assuredly should audit the business transactions
of the Lodge and report even the most trifling irregularity, a matter entirely
too long neglected by the Grand Lodges, and of the most vital importance to the
welfare of the Craft.
As few if any Lodges give instruction in Masonic History,
Symbolism or Philosophy to either their old or new members, it would be of
immense benefit to our order if these Grand Inspectors would make it a part of
their duties to offer such instruction. So that this essential portion of
Masonic Instruction may not be entirely neglected, as it is in the great
majority of our Lodges today.
For eight years I filled the office of Provincial Grand
Inspector. I know the importance of the necessity of such inspection; and am of
opinion that this is the most important suggestion yet brought before the
readers of THE BUILDER in the Department of Opinion. Joe L. Carson, Virginia.
Let the Grand Master Expound Masonry.
It is impossible for a Grand Master to visit all Lodges in
his Jurisdiction, but all the Lodges should have a visitation from some
authorized person. While some Grand Masters are such, merely in name, yet he
should not be required to pay any attention to the ritualistic or business part
of a Lodge; he should have more than "ritualistic" or "accountant" brains, but
he should prepare (or steal) an address on the history and philosophy of
Freemasonry, then visit as many Lodges as possible, and give the Craft the
benefit of his study, research and advice.
The duties enumerated (A) (B) (C) are admirably covered by
the system used in Missouri, viz.: the state is divided into districts
comprising ten to twenty lodges in each district, over which is placed a
District Deputy Grand Master and a District Deputy Grand Lecturer; in a few
districts these two offices are combined in one. The District Deputy Grand
Lecturer, under the Grand Lecturer, has charge of the ritualistic work in his
district, and not only visits the Lodges, but he must hold a district school of
instruction under the direction of the District Deputy Grand Master.
The Law governing the District Deputy Grand Master who is
appointed by the Grand Master is as follows:
(b) He may preside in each Lodge upon the occasion of his
official visit, after it is opened; shall examine its books and records; and see
if they are properly kept; inform himself of the number of members and the
punctuality and regularity of their attendance; ascertain the state and
condition of the Lodges in all respects; point out any errors he may ascertain
in their conduct and mode of working; instruct them in every particular wherein
he shall find they may require or desire any information; particularly recommend
attention to the normal and benevolent principles of Masonry, and the exercise
of caution in the admission of candidates; and if he discover in his District
any Masonic error or evil, endeavor to immediately arrest the same by Masonic
means, and, if he judge it expedient, report the same to the Grand Master.
(e) He shall call a Lodge of Instruction at least once a
year, if deemed expedient, at such time and place as may be most convenient for
the Craft, and notify the officers of the various Lodges in his District to
appear at such Lodge of Instruction to receive the work and Lectures from the
District Lecturer.
It will be noted that his duties cover in detail all the
points in (A) (B) (C). This system has been very effective and its results
excellent. Wm. F. Kuhn, Missouri.
A Century of Inspection.
I suppose that everyone is attached to the procedure of his
own Grand Lodge. Perhaps for that reason I should like to answer your question
of August 6th by a statement of the Massachusetts procedure which has worked
well for over a century and not yet been found defective at any point.
M. W. Samuel Dunn (1800-1802) introduced the system of
District Deputies. The entire jurisdiction is divided into districts. Our
largest district contains eleven Lodges, but this we consider too many. The
District Deputy makes a formal visitation of every Lodge in his district every
year. At this visitation he examines the Minutes, Visitor's Book, and other
records of the Lodge, collects the moneys due the Grand Lodge, and witnesses a
portion of the degree work. The work to be presented is usually determined by
the Worshipful Master, but the District Deputy may demand any portion of the
work or the whole work of one or more degrees. At some time during his
visitation he addresses the Lodge conveying to it such messages as the Grand
Master may desire and adding any personal advice, commendation or criticism
which occurs to him.
Visits of inspection are not made by the Grand Master in
person.
In addition to the official visitation the District Deputy
keeps in touch with all the Lodges in his district, consults with and advises
the Masters, and acts as a medium of communication between the Grand Master and
the Lodges.
It seems to me that he should not formally investigate or
instruct concerning the Masonic history and philosophy offered by the Lodge
officers to any new members. Neither do I think that this visitation should
include an audit of the business transactions of the Lodge.
Should the Grand Lodge legislate requiring instruction in
Masonic history and philosophy it would properly become the duty of the District
Deputy to see that this legislation like other Grand Lodge legislation is
properly enforced. The business affairs of the Lodge are its own concern. They
do not become the concern of the Grand Master or the Grand Lodge unless
irregularities occur so serious as to involve scandal to the Fraternity. In that
case there would always be abundant redress.
While I do not believe that the functions of the District
Deputy should extend officially to these matters, a very great regulating and
upholding influence may be, and in this jurisdiction is exercised, by the
District Deputy with regard to both instruction and the conduct of business. The
District Deputy may and does encourage, and in some cases procure the proper
instruction of young Masons, and he may and does jointly and unofficially
exercise a directing influence where the business transactions of the Lodge
appear to be carelessly or improperly conducted. Frederick W. Hamilton,
Massachusetts.
Emphasizes Inspection of Study Side.
In my judgment this question touches upon some of the most
important problems before the lodges of our country. My observation has been
that too many of the Masonic organizations (of this jurisdiction at least), and
particularly those in small towns, do their work in a perfunctory way. If each
lodge within the Grand Master's jurisdiction knew that at least once a year
either the Grand Master himself or some authorized deputy would visit the lodge
I am sure the officers would attend to their duties with greater punctuality and
precision. But lamentable as is the slip shod way in which the ritualistic part
of the work is done, the ignorance of many Masons relative to the historic and
philosophical fundamental principles of their Fraternity is much worse. I
believe the crying need among our lodges is an intelligent understanding of the
origin and purpose of Masonry, and therefore it seems to me a Grand Master who
has not provided further light in Masonry to the lodges within his jurisdiction
has failed to realize his opportunity, not to say that he has been derelict in
the performance of his duty. In my judgment the matter of inspecting the
business transactions of the lodges is of secondary importance. I am not sure to
what extent the law of the state would recognize the right of the Grand Lodge to
look into the affairs of a local body. The law of the state would have to be
considered in answering that question. -- Henry D. Funk, Minnesota.
Real Deputy Grand Masters.
Each lodge should be visited officially at least once a
year by the Grand Master or his personal representative who should be a District
Deputy Grand Master, appointed by and responsible to his Grand Master. This
Deputy should carry to the lodges of his District official messages and should
address the Brethren along the lines of the Masonic policies of his chief. He
should inspect the original charter and see that it be carefully preserved. He
should see that the By-laws bear the proper approval. He should examine the
minutes to some extent. He should audit the books so far and (except in case of
some special exigency) only so far as is necessary to ascertain the amount due
the Grand Lodge which he should then and there collect and promptly turn over to
the Grand Lodge.
He should also call for an exhibition of some ritualistic
work but he should not be expected to be letter perfect in the ritual. That is
to say, the District Deputy should be an executive officer and not a pedagogue.
The expert and exact teaching of the ritual should be in the hands of Grand
Lecturers or similar officers who can make a business of it and should be paid
for their services like any teacher whether they give the whole of their time to
the work or do it aside from their regular vocations.
One entire issue of "THE BUILDER" could be filled with a
recitation of the advantages of this system and it has no disadvantages. If
those jurisdictions where the District Deputy is merely an honorary official
with perfunctory duties, could only know how valuable he could be made, they
would instantly make this officer a real Deputy--a representative of the Grand
Master de facto as well as de jure--and they would not overload him with many
lodges. No business or professional man can properly attend to the official and
social duties devolving upon the Deputyship in a district of more than a dozen
lodges without unreasonably neglecting his family, or his business affairs, or
both. From long personal experience and observation, I believe that the ideal
district is composed of eight lodges which, in the country, should be arranged
for convenience of inter-communication and not by distance as the crow flies or
even by boundaries established by civil government.
It will interest some jurisdictions to know that because of
the successful working out of this system where it originated, for more than a
generation that Grand Lodge has been able to close its books each year with
every return in, every cent of dues in hand, and not a single lodge in default
for a penny of its constitutional payments to Grand Lodge.
When Grand Master Dunn of Massachusetts found in 1800 that
his particular lodges were too numerous for him to visit each year in person, he
specially commissioned competent Brethren to do the visiting for him. His scheme
was so successful that it has ever since been followed and in 1811 the District
Deputy was made a constitutional officer, but not an elective one. That is to
say, the Deputy in that state is not the representative of his lodge or of his
District to the Grand Lodge. He is a real deputy--the representative of his
Grand Master to those lodges specially assigned to his care and supervision. To
those who fear that this introduces "politics," let it be said that as a matter
of fact and experience for over a hundred years there has been vastly less of
politics than in the jurisdictions where the Deputy is chosen by election. A
Grand Master who is big enough for the job will select the best available past
Master in the district. It may not be the man who can muster the most votes.
The question as to an audit suggests one further
observation. Except so far as is necessary for the support of the Grand Lodge in
the maintenance of general principles, and to the prevention of unmasonic acts,
the Grand Lodge and its officers should leave the lodges alone to conduct their
business affairs to suit themselves. Compulsory adoption of standard by-laws,
for instance, is as absurd as it is unnecessary. And it is none of the Grand
Lodge's business whether a particular lodge serves to its members and guests a
state banquet, or cheese and crackers, or nothing. --Melvin M. Johnson,
Massachusetts.
Build Up Morale Rather Than Ritual.
If in your questions you refer to Degree work, or other
routine work, I have such a slight estimate of the sanctity and value of parrot
proficiency in such cases, such a dislike to Grand Lodge interference in the
local affairs or business of the Lodge, placing greater value on the morale of a
lodge than its ability to work a degree with all the T's crossed and all the
steps made at the right angle that after this clearing away of my defences I
will say:
I prefer that the Grand Master considers himself the
Commander-in-Chief and stays at Headquarters to direct the subordinate Grand
Officers where to visit and what to do; if they cannot find time nor have the
ability nor desire to make good officers under instruction they will not make
good officers to give instructions themselves. The Grand Master should attend to
the greater functions and semi-public engagements, or take a hand in the
critical episodes of his Grand Mastership; he should be the Grand Master, not a
visiting flunkey. There is another feature of these incessant minor calls on the
time and endurance of a Grand Master; such work costs the Jurisdiction money; as
soon as he has made his Annual report to the Grand Lodge and received his jewel,
or whatnot, that costly information is of no account any further to the Grand
Lodge, and the next man goes over the same route; whereas, when the other
officers in line each make some visitations they have years, more or less, in
which to use their information and when they come to be Grand Masters they can
be such and direct the future generations intelligently. This plan also tests
out the coming Grand officers, costs less money and is an approach to a business
administration which will be efficient; I have tried out both plans and for
every desirable result the Commander-in-Chief idea possesses all the aces in the
pack. I therefore answer your first question, by an officer in line properly
deputized.
(a) The inspection should not be limited to the ritual
work, but more to the morale and general get up of the brethren; of course they
ought to know enough to confer a degree reasonably correctly, but if some parts
have to be neglected the "perfect points and parts of entrance, etc.," can stand
the neglect better than any other.
(b) Such inspection should include the knowledge of the
officers in Masonic accepted history, not myth history, in order that not only
new members but old members may be given an opportunity to know something about
their antecedents as Masons, and their landing place in Masonic philosophy, not
the nondescript Religious or Occult "stuff," as the printers term it, which seek
to masquerade as Masonic, not regular addresses, or off hand talks by those who
know something, ought to be the rule in every Lodge.
(c) Audits should not be made unless requested by the Lodge
and, in that case, not by the Grand Master, or his authorized Deputy, who should
not lower himself to the position of a traveling auditor, which while an
honorable job is not one to be attached to the dignity of a Grand Master. If I
were Master of a Lodge I would contest any undue interference with my business,
unless I asked for it.--T. W. Hugo, Minnesota.
----o----
SCALD MISERABLE MASONS
BY BRO. JOHN G. KEPLINGER, ILLINOIS
Keplinger, John G., born at Millersville, Penn., May 21st,
1877; jeweler's apprentice at 14; author of Jewelry Repairers' Handbook at 25;
in succession advertising manager of York Silk Mfg. Co., York, Penn., chief
correspondent National Cloak Co., New York, and past six years advertising
manager Illinois Watch Co., Springfield, Ill. Entered, passed and raised in
Central Lodge, No. 71, Springfield, in 1912; Chaplain since 1913. Member of
Springfield Consistory.
In going through Vol. 2 of Hone's Everyday Book--published
in London in 1827--I found a very interesting account of the procession of
"scald miserable masons," which took place in London in 1741 or 42. This
demonstration on the part of the enemies of the Craft was, in a measure,
responsible for the later discontinuance of the freemasons' processions which
were held annually on June 24th since the year 1721.
R. F. Gould, in his History of Freemasonry, Vol. 3,
opposite page 146, gives a full page illustration of the "scald miserables"
procession which he states was copied from the very rare original print by A.
Benoist, published in 1771. This illustration is entirely different from that
which accompanies Hone's account.
Mackey and Singleton, in their History of Freemasonry, Vol.
2, opposite page 432, aiso show an illustration of this or another "scald
miserable" procession but it is not at all like the ones reproduced by Gould or
Hone. While Mackey does not give an illustration of this procession in his
encyclopedia he has a full page article on the subject. In this he quotes from
Sir John Hawkin's Life of Johnson; the London Daily Post of March 20, 1741;
Smith's "Use and Abuse of Fremas."; the London Freemason of 1858; and Hone's
Ancient Mysteries, page 242. He, however, does not give us the vivid word
picture we obtain from Hone's account in the Everyday Book.
"April 18. On this day, in the year 17--, there was a
solemn mock procession, according to the fashion of the times, in ridicule of
freemasonry, by an assemblage of humorists and rabble, which strongly
characterises the manners of the period. Without further preface, a large
broadside publication, published at the time, is introduced to the reader's
attention, as an article of great rarity and singular curiosity.
"The year wherein this procession took place, is not
ascertainable from the broadside; but, from the mode of printing and other
appearances, it seems to have been some years before that which is represented
in a large two sheet 'Geometrical View of the Grand Procession of Scald
Miserable Masons, designed as they were drawn up over against Somerset-house, in
the Strand on the 27th of April, 1742. Invented, and engraved by A. Benoist.'
(Frontispiece, this issue.)
"It should be further observed, that the editor of the
Every Day Book is not a mason; but he disclaims any intention to discredit an
order which appears to him to be founded on principles of good will and kind
affection. The broadside is simply introduced on account of its scarcity, and to
exemplify the rudeness of former manners. It is headed by a spirited engraving
on wood, of which a reduced copy is placed below, with the title that preceded
the original print subjoined.
The Solemn and Stately Procession OF THE SCALD MISERABLE
MASONS as it was martiall'd, on Thursday, the 18th of this Instant, April.
The engraving is succeeded by a serio-comic Address,
commencing thus:--
The REMONSTRANCE of the Right Worshipful the GRAND MASTER,
&c. of the SCALD MISERABLE MASONS.
WIHEREAS by our Manifesto some time past, dated from our
Lodge in Brick-street, We did, in the most explicite manner, vindicate the
ancient rights and privileges of this society, and by incontestable arguments
evince our superior dignity and seniority to all other institutions, whether
Grand-Volgi, Gregorians, Hurlothrumbians, Ubiquarians, Hiccubites,
Lumber-Troopers, or Free-Masons; yet, nevertheless, a few persons under the last
denomination, still arrogate to themselves the usurped titles of Most Ancient
and Honorable, in open violations of truth and justice; still endeavour to
impose their false mysteries (for a premium) on the credulous and unwary, under
pretence of being part of our brotherhood; and still are determin'd with drums,
trumpets, gilt chariots, and other unconstitutional finery, to cast a reflection
on the primitive simplicity and decent economy of our ancient and annual
peregrination. We ourselves think proper, in justification of Ourselves,
publicly to disclaim all relation or alliance whatsoever, with the said society
of Free-Masons, as the same must manifestly tend to the sacrifice of our
dignity, the impeachment of our understanding, and the disgrace of our solemn
mysteries: AND FURTHER, to convince the public of our candour and openness of
our proceedings, We here present them with a key to our prooession; and that the
rather, as it consists of many things emblematical, mystical, hieroglyphical,
comical, satirical, political, &c.
AND WHEREAS many, persuaded by the purity of our
constitution, the nice morality of our brethren, and peculiar decency of our
rites and ceremonies, have lately forsook the gross errors and follies of the
Free-Masonry, and are now become true Scald Miserables; It cannot but afford a
pleasing satisfaction to all who have any regard to truth and decency, to see
our procession increased with such a number of proselytes; and behold those
whose vanity, but the last year, exalted them into a borrowed equipage, now
condescend to become the humble cargo of a sand cart."
"(Then follows the following)
A KEY OR EXPLANATION of the Solemn and Stately Procession
of the Scald Miserable Masons. Two Tylers, or Guarders In yellow Cockades and
Liveries, being the Colour ordained for the Sword Bearer of State. They, as
youngest enter'd 'Prentices, are to guard the Lodge, with a drawn Sword, from
all Cowens and Eves-droppers, that is Listeners, lest they should discover the
incomprehensible Mysteries of Masonry.
A Grand Chorus of Instruments,
To wit: Four Sackbutts, or Cow's Horns; Six Hottentot
Hautboys; four.tinkling Cymbals, or Tea Canisters, with broken Glass in them;
four Shovels and Brushes; two Double Bass Dripping pans; a Tenor Frying-pan; a
Salt-box in Dclasol; and a pair of Tubs.
Ragged enter'd 'Prentices
Properly cloathed, giving the above token, and the Word,
which is Jachin.
The Funeral of Hyram
Six stately unfledg'd Horses with Funeral Habilaments and
Caparisons, carrying Escutcheons of the arms of Hyram Abiff, viz. a Master's
lodge, drawing, in a limping halting posture, with Solemn Pomp, a superb open
hearse, nine Foot long, four Foot wide, and having a clouded Canopy, Inches and
Feet innumerable in perpendicular Height, very nearly resembling a Brick Waggon:
In the midst, upon a Throne of Tubs raised for that Purpose, lays the Corps in a
Coffin cut out of one entire Ruby; but for Decency's sake, is covered with a
Chimney-sweeper's Stop-cloth, at the head of a memorable Sprig of Cassia. Around
in mournful Order placed, the loving, weeping, drunken Brethren sit with their
Aprons, their Gloves they have put in their Pockets; at Top and at Bottom, on
every side and everywhere, all round about, this open hearse is bestuck with
Escutcheons and Streamers, some bearing the Arms, some his Crest, being the
Sprig of Cassia, and some his Motto, viz. Macbenah.
Grand band of Musick as before Two Trophies
Of arms or achievements, properly quarter'd and emblazon'd,
as allow'd by the college of arms, showing the family descents, with some
particular marks of distinction, showing in what part of the administration that
family has excelled. That on the right the achievement of the right worshipful
Poney, being Parte Perpale, Glim, and Leather-dresser, viz. the Utensils of a
Link and Black-shoe-Boy: That on the left the trophy of his excellency,-- Jack,
Grand-master elect, and Chimney-sweeper.
The Equipage
Of the Grand-master, being neatly nasty, delicately squaled,
and magnificently ridiculous, beyond all human bounds and conceivings. On the
right the Grandmaster Poney, with the Compasses for his Jewel, appendant to a
blue Ribband round his neck: On the left his excellency--Jack, with a Square
hanging to a white Ribband, as Grand-master elect: The Honourable Nic. Baboon,
Esq.; senior grand Warden, with his Jewel, being the Level, all of solid gold,
and blue Ribband: Mr. Balaam van Assinman, Junior Warden, his Jewel the
Plumb-Rule.
Attendants of Honour
The Grand Sword Bearer, carrying the Sword of State. It is
worth observing, This Sword was sent as a Present by Ishmael Abiff (a relative
in direct Descent to poor old Hyram) King of the Saracens, to his grace of
Wattin, Grand-Master of the Holy-Lodge of St. John of Jerusalem in Clerkenwell,
who stands upon our list of Grand-masters for the very same year. The Grand
Secretary, with his Insignia & Probationists and Candidates close the
Procession. Tickets to be had, for three Megs a carcass to scran their Pannum-Boxes,
at the Lodge in Brick-Street, nearlHide-Park Corner; at the Barley-Broth Womens
at St. Paul's Church-Yard, and the Hospital Gate in Smithfield; at Nan Duck's in
Black-Boy-Ailey, Chick Lane, & & &. Note. No Gentlemen's Coaches, or whole
Garments, are admitted in our Procession, or at the Feast."
----o----
AMERICA IN THE WORLD'S WAR
'Tis not for love of gain we go
To war upon a foreign shore;
'Tis not to force submission to
A tyrant's will of murderous gore;
But rather 'tis an act to point
The way to heights yet unattained,
That unborn nations yet to come
May ne'er by bloody war be stained;
That justice, truth and liberty
Shall guide, direct and triumph in
Each nation's act on land or sea,
To hush the deafening battle's din;
That true regard for human rights
Vouchsafe to all shall ever be,
And disenthralled from wrong and greed
Each nation's conduct shall be free.
Though we descend from realms of peace
Into the fiery war cloud's smoke;
'Tis not to win the victor's crown
Or deal a foe a deadly stroke;
But that with loving hands we reach
Into the nation's boiling pot;
The crucible of cruel war
Where struggling empires cast their lot
And help refine and elevate
Each noble sentiment inspired;
To break oppression's galling yoke
Where millions have expired.
That true democracy shall be
The light and guide to liberty
And noble heritage bequeathed
To countless millions yet to be.
--W. S. Vawter, Texas.
----o----
REQUIEM
Pray which died first, and was buried
Thy heart or thy hand the last ?
Was unspent love thy last passion,--
A sword in thy hand held fast?
No gem or gold of thy treasure
Held close to thy heart in death
Excels in value the nlessage
That died on thy parting breath.
Was Justice swift or too tardy,
Did Virtue or Vanity gain,
Was Duty joyous or irksome,
Did Wisdom or Folly reign ?
To live, to love, and to languish
With visions of Truth replete,--
To dare to dream unto dying,
Perchance was thy life complete ?
Perchance some stream that is hidden
May burst from a blasted stone,
Here lost, dissolved through the ages,
May flow from thy source unknown.
Of Truth, like rain from the heavens,
Like snow on the mountain sheer,
No drop, distilled through the sages,
Is lost, but will reappear.
For God's footrule is a million,
And ours is the inch and ell.
The weave and woof of thy merit
His measure alone may tell.
--James T. Duncan.
----o----
THE RECEPTION OF THE FLAGS
BY BRO. LOUIS BLOCK, P. G. M., IOWA
At the public ceremonies preliminary to the opening of the
Grand Lodge of Iowa, the British, French and American flags were each presented
by a girl dressed in the white nurses uniform of the Red Cross. When the British
flag was borne down the aisle to the stage the quartet sang "Rule Britannia" and
the flag was received and welcomed by the speaker with these words:
THE UNION JACK
MOST Worshipful Grand Master, Mr. Chairman, my Brethren,
Ladies and Gentlemen: As Masons we have often been taught that Masonry is the
science of symbols. Flags are either intensely symbolical or they have no
significance at all. It is natural therefore that Masons should take a keen
interest in flags.
This is the flag that is best known as the "Union Jack." It
is called this because it symbolizes the Union of England, Scotland and Ireland.
As you will see, it consists of a blue field across which there are laid three
crosses, a red one running straight across and up and down, and a white one and
a red one which run crossways from corner to corner. These are the crosses of
St. George, St. Andrew and St. Patrick, St. George being the patron saint of
England, St. Andrew the tutelary saint of Scotland, and St. Patrick the well
beloved saint of Ireland.
The banner of St. George was a red cross laid
perpendicularly across a white field. We can all recall the famous legend of St.
George and the dragon, how the beautiful daughter of the King of On was rescued
from the flaming jaws of the dragon who threatened to devour her. Today in
France the sons of St. George are freely offering up their lives to rescue God's
beautiful daughter Liberty from the all-devouring jaws of the dragon of
militarism.
The banner of St. Andrew consisted of a white cross laid
diagonally upon a blue field. It has a special meaning for Masons, for in the
early days it was the banner of the craftsmen and King James the Sixth was heard
to say, that whenever he attempted to impose upon these sturdy workmen the
smallest burden, they arose in their wrath and hoisted "their bloody blue
blanket" and resisted him. This banner had painted upon it a thistle and round
about it the motto, "Nemo me impune lacessit." This, my brethren, is a latin
phrase which being interpreted meaneth, "Nobody monkeys with me without getting
stung," and the sons of Scotland fighting today Somewhere In France are proving
to the enemy how sharply this thistle can sting.
The banner of St. Patrick consisted of a red cross
stretched diagonally across a white field. We are told that St. Patrick was
especially beloved because he drove the snakes out of Ireland. I sometimes
suspect, however, that their real reason for leaving was that they could hardly
stomach the music by the Kilkenny cats of whom the poet tells us,
"There were two cats of Kilkenny,
They fought and they fit,
They scratched and they bit,
Until instead of two cabs of Kilkenny
There wasn't any."
Be this as it may, it is nevertheless sure that the sons of
the old sod are today proving to the Prussians that the Kilkenny cats could take
lessons from their Irish masters when it comes to fighting.
Taken all together, the three crosses go to make up the
Union Jack, the banner of our ancient enemy, John Bull. You know that in the old
days we were forced to teach him a couple of lessons in human liberty, forced to
make him understand that we would neither endure taxation without
representation, nor permit him to impress free-born American seamen upon the
high seas, and to make him learn this lesson we had to larrup him twice, once by
land and once by sea. But that was a long time ago and for over a hundred years
now he has been our good neighbor on the North and we have lived side by side
with him for over a century with never a soldier or a fort needed to maintain
peace between us.
This is the flag of the land which gave Masonry her birth.
It is the banner of the country which produced the greatest system of human law
known to man --at once the wisest and fairest, the safest and squarest system of
free self control that has ever blessed a troubled world. This is the national
emblem of the people who speak our mother tongue and for that reason we can know
and understand them a little bit better than any other people on the earth.
We used to think and feel that while England loved liberty
for herself she was not quite so ready to grant it to others. But we have seen
her heart undergo a wonderful change--have seen the soul of the great Britain
people rise and shake off its selfishness and offer itself as a sacrifice for
the suffering and the oppressed of the world. If Britain was ever beset with the
greed of conquest she surely has shriven her soul by the great sacrifice made by
her sons in behalf of poor, broken, bleeding Belgium and we are now ready to
believe that with her whole heart and soul she loves liberty for her own sweet
sake, and that when she proudly declares that "Britons never, never, never will
be slaves" she means that slavery shall exist nowhere in the world and so we are
glad to welcome here today the proud banner of Britain, fold it to our hearts,
and wave it aloft alongside the Stars and Stripes.
THE TRI-COLOR
(Then the National flag of France was borne to the stage
and the quartet sang the Marsellaise and the speaker welcomed it by saying:)
This, my brethren, is the tri-color, the tried colors of
the sunny land of France. It is the flag of our sister Republic, the standard of
a great, cheery, laughing, sunny-souled and happy-hearted people, and if there
is a flag on the face of the earth to which the American soul is irresistibly
drawn with a tingling thrill, it is this beautiful banner of France. How well
our own song of the Red, White and Blue would fit this fine flag. Let us give
three cheers for this Red, White and Blue !
(Whereupon the great audience arose to their feet and
roared out a cheer that seemed to rock the building on its foundations.)
This is the banner that has proved to the world that a
people can be free and still not lose its power of fighting. Just think of the
magnificent resistance that this free people has made against the most powerful,
most magnificently organized and perfectly operating Or as it fighting machine
the world has ever seen. Under the leadership of old Papa Joffre, the General
Grant of France, they have fought this military machine to a stand-still and are
making its wheels grind backward. At last, my brethren, we have an opportunity
of paying the debt we have so long owed to Rochambeau and Lafayette and we were
sodden ingrates indeed did we not respond to the call of our ancient friends who
have so freely poured out floods of their patriotic blood upon the sacred altar
of liberty. Verily, it takes a free people to know the heart of a free people,
and if there is a land in the world to which our hearts go out in its hour of
trial, it is this dearly beloved land of France, the land that was so true and
helpful to us in our own hour of crying need.
The other day in addressing the Chamber of Deputies,
Monsieur Ribot, the President of the Council, speaking of us to his people, said
that by taking part in this war for human liberty we had proven ourselves
faithful to the traditions of the founders of our independence and had
demonstrated that the enormous rise of our industrial strength and economic and
financial power had not weakened in us that need for an ideal without which
there could be no great nation. He further declared that the powerful and
decisive aid which the United States had thus brought to France was not only a
material aid but was more than all else a moral aid and a real consolation in
their hour of heavy affliction. Let us here highly resolve that we will prove
ourselves true to the faith our French brothers have in us.
OLD GLORY
(Then the Stars and Stripes were carried to the stage, the
audience standing upon their feet and singing the "Star Spangled Banner." When
the flag was placed in the hands of the speaker, he said:)
This is Old Glory, my flag and your flag. If there ever was
a flag about which an American ought to be able to speak freely, fluently, and
with great force, it surely is the Stars and Stripes. But alas, on this occasion
I feel as though human speech were far too frail, poor and weak a thing to tell
of the thoughts that fill the mind and the feelings that thrill the soul. This
is one of the times when words seem absolutely worthless. This is the flag which
the poet spoke of when he sang:
"When Freedom from her mountain height
Unfurled her standard to the air
She tore the azure robe of night,
And set the stars of glory there!
She mingled with its gorgeous dyes
The milky baldric of the skies
And striped its pure celestial white
With streakings of the morning light.
Then from his mansion in the sun
She called her eagle bearer down,
And gave into his mighty hand
The symbol of her chosen land."
Unequal as I am to the occasion I yet must try to tell what
this banner means for us as
"Blue and crimson and white it shines
Over the steel-tipped ordered lines "
Or as it
"Catches the gleam of the morning's first beam
In full glory reflected now shines on the stream"
even if I call to my help the words of others to tell the
story. This is the flag that speaks to us of
"Sea fights and land fights, grim and great,
Fought to make and to save the state,
Weary marches and sinking ships,
Cheers of victory from dying lips.
Days of plenty and days of peace,
March of strong lands swift increase,
Equal justice, right and law,
Stately honor and reverend awe.
Sign of a nation great and strong,
To guard her people from foreign wrong,
Glory, pride and honor all
Live in the flag to stand or fall."
Even though I had the skill of the sculptor that fits him
to carve the cold rock into a living semblance of life, or the inspiration of a
painter who dips his brush in the colors of the sunset to make the glowing
landscape quiver with life upon the canvas before him, or the exaltation of the
singer who caught the high note of the music of the spheres when the morning
stars sang together,--even then I could not begin to picture the power, the
glory, the majesty, the dignity, and the sanctity of the love of the free
patriot for his flag.
"I am unworthy.
Master hands
Should strike the chords
And fill the lands
From sea to sea with melody
All reverent yet with harmony,
Majestic, jubilant to tell,
How love must love
If love loves well."
Think of the sacred love of a mother for her little
child--of the cradle
"Gently rocking, rocking,
Silent, peaceful, to and fro,
Of the mother's sweet looks dropping
On the little face below,"
think of the love of a fine strong man as he clasps to his
breast his blushing bride, think of the sacred affection linking together the
lives of an old couple who have journeyed far along life's road side by side
into the sunset, think of the love and the pride and the joy that flames back
and forth between a staunch and sturdy son and his silver-hail ed sire--think of
all these and roll and blend them into one and you cannot begin to tell of the
love of the freeman for his flag! Surely then we are ready to say:
"This is my flag. For it will give
All that I have, even as they gave--
They who dyed those blood-red bands--
Their lives that it might wave.
This is my flag. I am prepared
To answer now its first clear call,
And with Thy help, Oh God,
Strive that it may not fall.
This is my flag. Dark days seem near.
O Lord, let me not fail.
Always my flag has led the right,
O Lord, let it not fail."
Some of us can fight, others can work, others still can
pay, each in his place can do his duty and be worthy of the honor of being an
American citizen and enjoying the blessings of liberty. Each one of us can do
his bit and remember that
"Honor and fame from no condition rise,
Act well thy part, there all the honor lies."
The poorest citizen in the land can buy at least one
Liberty Bond, and every dollar spent for a Liberty Bond is a bullet blown into
the bowels of the enemy. Let us here today in overwhelming gratitude for the
blessings that we have enjoyed under this banner of the free, consecrate our
souls anew to its service.
THE MISSING FLAG
But there is another banner which is not here with us
today, a flag which for the present at least we are forced to shut out of our
sacred circle. I speak of it with pain and regret, with heart-ache and with a
great sense of deep pity, for it is the flag of my ancestors and my own father's
ashes now lie buried beneath the soil over which it waves. It is needless to say
that I speak of the German flag. This flag once flew over the heads of a great
people, a people that stood high in the ranks of world achievement, a people who
were masters of the world, both in medicine and in music, a people who love
liberty, a people who produced Martin Luther, who was the foremost champion of
religious liberty in the world. There is one curious thing about the colors of
these flags which I am not sure that you have noticed. Is it by mere chance that
it happens that the colors of all of the flags of freedom are red, white and
blue, while those of the banner of Prussian despotism are red, white and black?
Was it a matter of mere accident that this dark streak and sinister stripe
appears in this flag which now stands for the outlaw among the nations ? Is not
this dark stripe symbolical of the darkness of the mind, the military madness
that holds a great people in bonds and is fast driving it on to ruin? Surely.
the black must be a symbol of the madness of militarism.
When a storm gathers in the heavens black clouds ;hut out
from sight the face of the sun. But when the age and madness of the elements has
worn itself out and the roll of the thunder has died away in the distance, then
slowly but surely the blackness fades to blue and the earth is bright and happy
once more. Let us hope that so it will be in this awful world war and that, when
the storm of rage and madness has been swept from out the hearts of our German
brethren, that the blackness which now blinds their sight will clear away, and
be supplanted by the pure blue of the unclouded sky of freedom and that peace
and happiness will once more prevail among all the peoples of the earth.
THE FLAG OF FRATERNITY
But there is another banner here today, although we cannot
see it with our mortal eyes. It is the unseen flag of Fraternity that floats
above the dome of that great "house not made with hands," that temple of liberty
which stands forever eternal in the heavens. Its colors are all the colors of
the rainbow and it spreads its flaming folds across the world from sunrise to
sunset. It is a flag that shall fall upon the world as a reward for the awful
sacrifice it is now being called upon to make. In all of the history of this old
earth never has there been a sacrifice so awful, so bitter, so heart-rending, so
soul-terrifying, so overwhelming, as that which we are making today for the sake
of human liberty, and just so surely as we believe that there is a God of
Justice, just so certain must be the reward that will bless humanity for this
mighty manifestation of divine devotion to a most holy cause. Out of it all
there must come a world-wide unity and friendship, and a fraternity that shall
reach wide-swept to the uttermost corners of the globe. There must be a union of
the states, not of Europe alone, but of the whole world, and Masonry which has
been never the destroyer but always the builder, must play a mighty part in
erecting this world-wide temple of humanity. Even now Masons everywhere are
praying for the dawn of that day so beautifully pictured by Albert Pike:
"When all mankind shall be one great lodge of brethren, And
wars of fear and persecution shall be known no more forever."
When that day comes we shall behold with our spiritual eyes
the mighty Temple of Human Liberty made more magnificent than ever, and over its
shining portal we shall read in letters of living light the words, "Liberty and
union, freedom and fraternity, now and forever, one and inseparable, world
without end."
----o----
THE TRUE JOY OF LIFE
This is the true joy of life, the being used for a purpose
recognized as yourself as a mighty one; the being thoroughly worn out before you
are thrown into the scrap heap; the being a force in nature instead of a selfish
little clod complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you
happy.--G. B. Shaw.
----o----
THESE THREE
There are three qualities which will enable a man to endure
all hardships--unquestioning faith in a beneficent God, an absorbing love for an
individual, or a burning enthusiasm for a cause.-- Salome Hocking.
----o----
ALBERT PIKE: A MASTER GENIUS OF MASONRY
BY BRO. J. FORT NEWTON, ENGLAND
MR. TOASTMASTER:--It is the privilege of the living to
strive, as occasion may of offer, to preserve the image of the great and good
men of former times. Not less is it our duty to do so, that as little as
possible may be lost of the precious heritage of our race. Fewer names would
fade from their rightful place in human memory if we, who enter into their
labors and reap what they have sown, were duly mindful of our obligation to the
dead and to the advancing generation.
In this the centennial year of his birth it is doubly
fitting that we recall the name of Albert Pike--the master genius of Masonry,
its most accomplished scholar, its noblest orator, and by far the greatest
artist who has adorned its temple in these latter days. No more beautiful spirit
than Albert Pike ever lived with us or died among us, and tonight his words are
fulfilled before our eyes, when he said: "I wish my monument to be builded only
in the hearts and memories of my brethren of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish
Rite." He himself fulfilled those words by the beauty of his genius, the
splendor of his character, and the high quality of his service to our order;
"For naught endures unless it stands Linked with a
deathless poet's name."
Almost twenty years have now come and gone since the great
figure of Albert Pike disappeared from the walks of men. Other men and other
scenes have come upon the stage and many changes have been wrought upon the
earth. Even in the city where he was for so long a chief ornament and
distinction a generation has arisen to whom it is necessary to describe Albert
Pike. And that no one may ever hope to do. One may recall the majestic figure,
the noble head, the great and beautiful eyes that were the homes of genius and
power, the face so full of benign wisdom, and the fine spirit that forever
animated and refined a form at once colossal and symbolic. But no one can
reproduce the personal and intellectual charm, the stately grace and rich
humanity of that wonderful man.
Albert Pike has long been known to me as a poet of daring
and eloquent melodies. In days that come not back it was my joy to read "Hymns
to the Gods," in which as a youth he visited the altars of Greece, the holy land
of the artist, and learned the holiness of beauty. We of the south recall his
poems of "The Mocking Bird," the mystic queen of southern woodland song, along
with his ringing lines proposing "The Magnolia" as the emblem of the south. Nor
can any one forget those tender verses which set to music the loneliness and
pathos of old age, as colors grew dimmer and the life grows heavier "Every
Year." But more melting than all is his little song to "A Dead Child," which
brought a ray of light into one of the darkest days of my life.
But this week (*) it has been given me to see another
Albert Pike-- a great artist of spiritual truth, a magician of form and color
and words--the Michael Angelo of moral architecture. It is beautiful beyond all
words. No one can imagine a more magnificent portrayal of the meaning of life
and of what it is to be a man and a Mason. In token of this honor let me ask you
indulge me in a recital of the story of Albert Pike, his personal history and
his career as a Mason, with a brief sketch of his achievements as a scholar, his
character as a man, and his genius as a poet.
I.
Albert Pike was born in Boston, Mass., December 29th,
1809--the same day that brought Gladstone into the world, and like Gladstone he
came of a stock noted for its strength and longevity. The Pikes came to this
country from Devonshire, England, as early as 1635, and the family has given us
many poets, patriots, scholars, ministers and jurists. Such was Nicholas Pike,
author of the first arithmetic in America, the friend of Washington, and the
planter of the liberty tree in front of his house in 1775, the branches of which
arch State street to this day. Such was Zebulon Pike, the explorer, who gave his
name to Pike's Peak, and died in battle in the war of 1812.
The father of Albert Pike, so he tells us, was a journeyman
shoemaker, "who worked hard, paid his taxes, and gave all his children the
benefit of an education." His mother was a woman of great beauty, though
somewhat austere in her ideas of training a boy. As a child he saw the
festivities at the close of the war with Great Britain, in 1815. His father
removed to Newburyport, in the same state, when Albert was four years of age,
and remained there until his death; and it was there that the boy was reared. He
attended the schools of the town, and also an academy at Farmingham, and at
fourteen was ready for the freshman class at Harvard. Being informed that he
must pay the tuition fees for two years in advance, he declined to do so, and
proceeded to educate himself, following the junior and senior classes while
teaching school. He taught at Fairhaven and later in his home town, first as
assistant, then as principal, and afterwards in a private school until March,
1831.
By nature Pike was a thinker and by genius a poet
--large-minded, sensitive, high-strung; conscious of his power, yet diffident;
easily depressed by unkind words, but resolved to be a force in the world. When
life with its nameless hopes began to stir within him, he felt the
(*)The address was delivered at a banquet following the
reunion of Iowa Consistory, No. 2, at which the speaker received the degrees of
the Scottish Rite, in 1909.
austere restraint of his Puritan environment where poetry
was scorned as "flowery talk," and where all wings were clipped. He began to
long for freer air and a wider life, and in 1831 set out for the west, by way of
Niagara, thence to Cincinnati and down the Ohio, much of the way on foot, to St.
Louis. He went as far as Santa Fe, the scenery of the country giving color to
the poems he wrote along the way. At Taos he joined a trapping party, and after
going down the Pecos, he traveled around the head waters of the Brazos to the
sources of Red river. This took him across the Staked Plains, and he was so worn
by hunger and hardships that he was glad to turn east. After walking five
hundred miles he reached Fort Smith, Arkansas, "without a rag of clothing, a
dollar of money, or a single friend in the territory."
In Arkansas Pike cast his lot, teaching school in a tiny
log cabin near Van Buren. While thus engaged he wrote some verses for the Little
Rock "Advocate," and they captured attention at once. These were followed by a
series of articles on political topics, under the pen name of "Casa," which
attracted so much notice that Greeley used them in his paper. The editor of the
"Advocate" sent for Pike, offering him a place on his paper. This offer was
gladly accepted and in 1833 he crossed the river and landed-in Little Rock,
paying his last cent for the ferriage of an old man who had known his father in
New England. Here began a new day in the life of Albert Pike. He learned to set
type and to edit a paper, reading Blackstone at night, and never sleeping more
than five hours a day. By 1835 he owned the "Advocate," but soon sold it, and
after trying for a year to collect what was due him, he one day settled his
accounts by putting his books in the stove. His own teacher in law, he delved
deep into the volumes of Duranton, Pothier and Marcade, translating the Pandects
of Justinian with the comments upon them of the French courts. After such
studies, once admitted to the bar his path to success was an open road.
A tender little poem "To Mary" about this time told of
other thoughts busy in his mind. He was married in 1834, and the same year
appeared his "Prose Sketches and Poems," followed by "Ariel,"- -a longer poem,
bold, spirited, scholarly, though marred somewhat by double rhymes. In 1830 he
revised his "Hymns to the Gods"-- written when he was a boy-- and sent them to
"Blackwood's Magazine." The editor, "Christopher North," not only accepted the
hymns, but wrote a letter to Pike saying that his songs gave him first place
among the singers of the day and that his genius marked him out to be a poet of
the Titans. And yet Pike cared little for fame as a poet. His poet-soul was a
well-spring of delight, and he seems to have cared only for the joy, and
sometimes the pain, of writing. Most of his poems were printed privately for his
friends, as though he were deaf to the tormenting whispers of the siren of
ambition. Outside his inner circle he is known only by fugitive pieces which
escaped from the cage and flew into the upper air.
In the war with Mexico, Pike won fame for his valor on the
field of Buena Vista, and he has enshrined that awful scene in a stirring poem.
After the war he took up the cause of the Indians, whose language he knew, and
whom he felt were being robbed of their rights. He carried his case to the
supreme court, to whose bar he was admitted in 1849, along with Abraham Lincoln
and Hannibal Hamlin. His speech in the case of the Senate Award to the Choctaws
is famous in our annals, the supreme court adjourning to hear it, one of his
auditors being Daniel Webster, who passed high eulogy upon his effort. Judged by
any test, Albert Pike was a great orator--massive as Hercules, graceful as
Apollo, a lawyer ranking with Grimes, Prentiss and Pettigrew, at once a poet and
a man of action, uniting the learning of a scholar with the practicalness and
bright eyed sagacity of a man of affairs, and above all gifted with the
imperious magnetism which only genius may wear. By mistake he was reported dead
in 1859, to the great distress of his friends, and he had the opportunity, not
often enjoyed by any one, of reading the eulogies and laments written in his
memory. When he was known to be in life and good heart, his friends celebrated
his return from Hades by a social festival entitled, "The Life-Wake of the Fine
Arkansaw Gentleman Who Died Before His Time." This event was duly recorded in an
exquisite volume printed in August, 1859.
And then came blood and fire and the measureless woe of
civil war. Albert Pike, though a lover of peace and a hater of slavery, cast his
lot with the South and was a great soldier on its red fields. His lines written
and sung to the tune of "Dixie" kindled all Southern hearts with fiery and
passionate enthusiasm. He became brigadier general and was placed in command of
the Indian Territory. Against his protest, the Indian regiments were ordered
from the territory into Arkansas, and took part in the battle of Elkhorn under
his command. This battle, fought against his advice, was a disaster, and he
resigned from the army and returned to the law. To the end he regretted the war,
so terrible in its human harvest, the result of an immemorial misunderstanding,
and which stained with blood and tears a land where heroes sleep together.
II.
It was in 1850 that Albert Pike entered the Masonic order,
and rapidly advanced to its highest honors. Some have expressed wonder that a
man of such rich and beautiful genius should have devoted so much of his life to
a secret order. But those who thus speak know as little of the man as they know
of the great order which he loved and honored. Happy the day when this master
artist entered our temple, for it was as a great artist that he conceived of
Masonry, even as it was as a great artist that he conceived of God, of man, of
the kingdom of heaven, and of our pathetic human life.
One may almost say that Pike found Masonry in a log cabin
and left it in a temple. In his life as a pioneer he saw the Masonic lodge as a
silent partner of the home, the church, and the school, toiling in behalf of
law, society and good order among men, and he perceived its possibilities as a
field in which to use his varied gifts for the good of his fellow man. No one
ever discerned the mission of Masonry more clearly, no one ever toiled for its
advancement more tirelessly. If he had done nothing more than write "Morals and
Dogma," his name would be entitled to our lasting and grateful remembrance. That
is an amazing book-- amazing alike for the wealth of its learning, the breadth
and sanity of its teachings, and the lucidity and beauty of its style which not
even Ruskin could excel. Its style, indeed, cast in the mold of classic
simplicity, rivals in its grace and ease the noblest pages of man. No one can
lay aside that book without feeling that he has visited the high places of
wisdom and of truth, led by a master of those who know.
But "Morals and Dogma," noble as it is, was only a small
part of the service of Albert Pike to our order. When he came to his throne in
1859 he found the Scottish Rite little more than a series of crude, incoherent,
disconnected degrees, and six or seven of them consisted of the words and signs
alone. At once he set about to recast the Rite and put it upon a higher level,
writing those rituals and lectures which are so much admired, and which have
been translated into so many tongues. Such a task gave free play to the
artist-soul within him, from which his life and thought took form and color--his
poetic genius, his sense of the fitness of things, his mastery of language, his
faith, his hope and his dream. So he wrought, as Angelo wrought in the Sistine
Chapel, giving to moral truth a form worthy of its beauty and meaning, and the
imprint of his genius will never fade from the temples of this order. Nature,
genius and culture had fitted Pike for such a labor. The note of his intellect
was beauty; its depths were the depths of beauty; and to the soul of an artist
he joined a rich and warm humanity, which made him an ideal priest in the temple
of fraternity. To his skill as an architect he added a parallel genius as a
scholar, and to the altar of his rite he brought the lore of all the ages, the
myth and legend, the sacrificial rites and sacred ceremonials of all the races.
He was of those who believe in the utility of the ideal, in the spiritual
meaning of life, in the moral influence of beauty, and in the efficacy of art to
surprise and embody the elusive Spirit of Truth which visits this earth with
inconstant wing and fleeting shape--
"Like hues and harmonies of evening,
Like clouds in starlight widely spread,
Like memory of music fled.
Like aught that for its grace may be
Dear, yet dearer for its mystery."
Such an artist, poet, Mason was Albert Pike. As Grand
Commander he ruled not less by the divine right of genius and character than by
the love of the bodies of his obedience--ruled with a stately and affable grace,
wise in council, skilled in healing schism, fertile of inspiration, his one
passion aside from the good of the craft being that he should never work
injustice. Unforgettable are alike his dignity and his humility, the
unpretentiousness of his mental and moral bigness, and the kindness that
softened even the sternness of his discipline, when that sternness seemed like
to vent itself upon the wrong doer rather than upon the wrong. Memorable were
his encyclicals and allocutions, and his tributes to his friends--such as those
to Robert Toombs and James A. Garfield-- written with the lucidity of Thucydides
and the charm of Cicero. Urbane always, he was, at times, a master of invective
and satire, as witness his papers and letters in the "Cerneau" debate, and his
famous reply to the bull of Pope Leo against Masonry.
Companionable he was supremely, abounding in friendship,
glorious in conversation, simple, frank, and lovable. His laughter, rich and
ringing, none might resist, and his humor gave an added grace to his
intellectual magnificence. For the frills and fritiniances of life he had a
fine, a copious, yet withal, an amused scorn, and every form of pretense or
meanness shriveled in his presence. He kept ever, until toward the end, his
youthful verve, and there was a freshness of sympathy in him that was essential
democracy.
III.
As a poet Albert Pike had the authentic fire, the vision
and the dream, and he would be more widely known had not he-had such scorn of
fame. In "Fantasma," a poem in which he shadows forth his life history, he
speaks of one who was young and did not know his soul, until the mighty spell of
Coleridge woke his hidden powers. Coleridge was his master, as Shelley was his
ideal, and while we may not say that he was of equal genius with those masters,
it is to that order of singers that he rightly belongs. In later life heavy
cares and sorrows muffled his song and his harp lay idle for many years. Near
the end he took up his harp once more and sought relief from loneliness, in a
poem entitled "Every Year," which for a blend of a pathos that is almost bitter
and a hope that is undefeated has none to surpass it in our speech.
"Life is a count of losses,
Every year;
For the weak are heavier crosses,
Every year;
Lost Springs with sobs replying
Unto weary Autumns sighing,
While those we love are dying,
Every year.
"To the past go more dead faces,
Every year;
As the loved leave vacant places,
Every year;
Everywhere the sad eyes meet us,
In the evening's dusk they greet us,
And to come to them entreat us,
Every year.
In his lonesome later years Pike betook himself more and
more to "that city of the mind, built against outward distraction for inward
consolation and shelter." Then it was that he mastered many languages--
Sanskrit, Hebrew, old Samaritan, Chaldean and Persian --in quest of what each
had to tell of beauty and of truth. By these he was led on to a study of Parsee
and Hindoo belie | 
