THE BUILDER MAGAZINE
june 1922
volume 8 - number 6
Shriners' Hospitals for
Crippled Children
BY BRO. FORREST ADAIR, GEORGIA, SECRETARY OF THE SHRINERS'
HOSPITALS FOR CRIPPLED CHILDREN
A TRAIN is wrecked. From its debris of wrathing steel,
temples to suffering childhood have arisen. A man is maimed and from his pain
racked body came a tremendous force to banish pain. Throughout North America,
hospitals, to make anew helpless and hopeless crippled children, are being built
by the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. Eventually there will be scores of these
hospitals on the continent and every one of them can trace its beginning back to
the smoking runs of a locomotive and its inspiration back to the man who defied
pain in order to keep his word.
In relating the history of how this came about, THE BUILDER
played an imporant part in what some people might call a series of coincidences,
but most people will recognize as the hand of a Divine Providence.
It was in the stormy year of 1914 that the train went out
from Atlanta, Ga. Ed Roberts was a member of the crew and Ed Roberts was a
Noble of Yaarab Temple of the Mystie Shrine. When he was rescued from the wreck
it was discovered that a leg was crushed. There was also a dislocation of the
hip, which was overlooked by the railroad surgeons.
When brought back to Atlanta, Roberts called for me as I
was then Potentate of Yaarab Temple, and throughout his long suffering I was a
daily visitor at his bedside. His crushed leg was amputated, but the dislocated
hip, pressing on a sciatic nerve, continued to give ceaseless and terrible
pain. Opiates were constantly administered until one day I, speaking brother
and counsellor, said: "Ed, don't let the doctors give you any more of that
stuff. Stick the pain out. If you continue on the opiate it will get you the
pain you are now called on to endure will be nothing compared to the suffering
you'll then have undergo as a drug addict."
Roberts gave his word. That word was never broken. He was
finally discharged from the hospital, but the pain remained with him. Months
passed until one day I was summoned by the wife of Brother Roberts. I found him
in agony.
'I dont believe I can stand this suffering any longer," he
told me, "but I've given you my word about morphine. I won't break it, but
something has got be done and done quickly."
Now in Atlanta was Dr. Michael Hoke, one of foremost
orthopaedic surgeons in America. I called Dr. Hoke and explained the case.
Roberts was again taken to the hospital, where Dr. Hoke manipulated his hip,
forcing it back into the socket. It took weeks for its successful healing and
all the time Roberts was given special nursing, and was finally sent out whole.
I called on Dr. Hoke for an accounting. Yaarab is a
wealthy Temple and its officials have always believved that their first duty is
to their members. I knew Dr. Hoke was a high priced specialist, and was prepared
to pay accordingly.
Dr. Hoke rendered the bill. It was $5! I protested. Dr.
Hoke told me to mind my own busines "You haven't any idea of the suffering this
man was going through," said the Doctor, "and he was undergoing it just because
he had given you his word. You have your pleasures and it's my pleasure to do
something for a man like that I wouldn't have missed this opportunity for a good
many $5 bills."
I wasn't satisfied. "I want to do something too," I
explained.
"I'll tell you what you can do," said Dr. Hoke." You can do
one of the biggest things it has ever been given man to do. Do you know that
right in this section there are hundreds of children, all gnarled and twisted,
doomed to helplessness and pain, who could be made whole just like our friend?
"Their parents come to me every day. I'd be glad to treat
all of them. That's my pleasure, but I haven't the money to furnish them with
hospital equipment. I haven't the money to pay a skilled orthopaedic nurse.
But, I'll tell you what I'll do. If you Masons will furnish a little house, say
with three or four beds, and pay for a nurse, I'll undertake the cases of all
the patients that couldn't possibly pay, and you'll get more fun out of it than
anything you've ever tried. Think it over."
I did think it over. I wanted to think it over all by
myself, so I dismissed my car and began walking about the streets with Dr.
Hoke's words chanting in my ears. It just happened that I passed the Masonic
Temple and wandered in - still thinking.
In the temple I encountered the late Joseph C. Greenfield.
He was busy writing but stopped as I entered and handed me the sheets of paper
on which he was working. It was an article for THE BUILDER and was headed "What
Are We Doing?" The tenor of the article was that while we were making vast
numbers of badge-wearing Masons each year, we were doing nothing tangible for
the benefit of humanity.
Then the idea struck me. Here was a great organization
anxious to do something for somebody and not knowing where to turn. I had just
left a great man, anxious to do something very definite. Why not bring the two
together? "Joe," I said, "call a meeting of the Executive Comittee of the
Scottish Rite Bodies, I have a proposition to put up to them."
The meeting was called and I submitted Dr. Hoke's plan. It
was enthusiastically accepted. Then I suggested that we submit it to the entire
Scottish Rite jurisdiction of Atlanta. I wanted whole-souled cooperation in
this thing, for I saw the chance for doing something big.
When the proposal was submitted, there wasn't a dissenting
vote or voice. We were ready to do something. We leased a little cottage near
Decatur, equipped it with six beds and Dr. Hooke went to work.
It wasn't many months before we saw that our field for
doing things was limitless. What seemed to us miracles were performed each
month. We saw children who could barely crawl come out from that little cottage
walking erect. We saw life made new, not only for the little ones, but for
their mothers and fathers and for us. Gradually we added to the hospital, but
we've always kept that little cottage. Today the hospital has sixty beds and is
considered a model in every way by orthopoedic specialists.
There was just one drawback to the whole arrangement. We
could care only for the children of our immediate section. Railroad
transportation from a distance is sometimes an insurmountable obstacle to the
poor. Parents like to be near their little ones as they go through this trial.
Then arose another opportunity.
W. Freeland Kendrick, at that time Imperial Potentate of
the Mystic Shrine, had become interested in a "Home" for Crippled Children in
Philadelphia, his home town. It was his idea for the Shrine to sponsor some
such charity and he submitted a plan in accordance.
The plan did not meet with as hearty response as it
deserved. Maybe this was providential. For there is a distinction between a
"Home" and a "Hospital." There have been established in a great many states and
in nearly all the large cities, "Homes" for crippled children. These little
beings with club feet, twisted legs, paralyzed arms and legs, bent backs,
tubercular joints and spines, have been sent to these homes, where they have
been kept reared and fed until a kind Providence removed them, but in these
homes practically nothing has been done to restore the child to a normal or
approximately normal condition and send it back where every child belongs - to
its own mammy and daddy.
This was exactly the work that was being accomplished in
the Scottish Rite Hospital in Atlanta, and there was the great Shrine order
waiting to have someone give them the opportunity to do something big and
generous and constructive.
The Shrine has been in existence for forty-six years and
has grown to a membership of 500,000. The Shriners are organized along the
lines of legitimate fun and clean sport and no body of men on earth ever get
more real pleasure out of life than they do.
There were some members, however, a good many of them too,
who I believe were undoubtedly acting under a Divine inspiration, who thought it
might be well if the Shriners continued to have these good times, but at the
same time began to do something for humanity.
Some of them had visited the Scottish Rite Hospital for
Crippled Children. Among these was Imperial Potentate Kendrick, who had already
made a move in a similar direction. Those who had visited the hospital began to
dream of more hospitals and more of them until a hospital could be placed within
the reach of every poor little crippled child in North America.
This dream became a reality when the proposal was made to
the Shrine in concrete form in a resolution assessing each member $2.00 annually
to carry on this work, producing the staggering total of $1,000,000 each year
for the building and maintenance of Shriner's Hospitals for Crippled Children.
A Board of Trustees was named to take charge of the plan and to build these
little "miracle shops" as rapidly as funds became available.
The work is already far advanced. The Board of Trustees
visited Atlanta and the Scottish Rite Hospital a year ago, accepted it as a
model, and now five similar institutions are in course of construction in
different sections of the country. The first five to be located were in St.
Louis, St. Paul-Minneapolis, Shreveport, La., San Francisco and Montreal, while
five others have been tenatively located, one in Portland, Oregon, one in New
England, one in Pennsylvania, one in Virginia and one in the Rocky Mountain
States. As soon as these are under way five more will be authorized until there
is a hospital for crippled children wherever there is a Temple of Shriners.
The Board of Trustees has made but two provisions of
admission into the hospitals. In the first place, the patients must be
financially unable to enter a private insttution for treatment. In the second
place, they must be susceptible to improvement. There are some children so
hopelessly crippled that science can do nothing for them. The Trustees believe
that under these conditions it is poor charity to have a hospital bed and
hospital care and attention given where no good can result, when so many little
ones who can be helped are crying for just that care and attention.
However, these cases are few and far between. The
orthopoedic surgeons in charge of these Shriners' Hospitals are men hard to
convince that their science can not improve practically every case.
The science is a comparatively new one and is constantly
being developed. Operations are now successfully performed that were undreamed
of just a few years ago, and research, study and experiments are part of the
regular routine of these Shriner institutions.
For instance there was the case of the daughter of Brother
Frank Higgins of New York, the Masonic writer. This daughter, Pauline, had been
stricken with that dreadful infantile paralysis during the epidemic in New York
in 1916. She spent four and one-half years in the marble wainscoted, splendidly
equipped "Homes" for crippled children in New York and Philadelphia, but no
surgeon's knife had ever been used and no physical therapist had ever made an
effort to start her dormant muscles to renewing their functions.
Pauline couldn't walk a step when she was brought to the
Hospital for Crippled Children in Atlanta, but five months later when her father
came for her, she walked down the broad driveway to meet him. When he had dried
his tears of joy, he sat down in the hospital and wrote a wonderful article for
the "New Age," headed "The Greatest Scottish Rite Cathedral on Earth," and in it
he described the institution as "the temple of babies' smiles." John H.
Atwood, Past Imperial Potentate of the Shrine, an eminent lawyer now residing in
Kansas City, Mo. after visiting the little hospital in Atlanta, wrote to one of
his closest friends in the Imperial Council as follows:
"I, who fancied that I knew a lot of things, find that I
knew nothing about certain aspects in life that I now feel are more important
than any of those of which I have had knowledge.
"That such a multitude of unfortunates existed, I did not
appreciate; that such marvelous things can be done to tight the wrongs done by
Providence, I did not imagine was possible.
"To my mind, it is the finest thing I know of in the whole
world today-churches, big and little, homes and harbors of refuge, as I have
known them, shrivel and shrink into insignificance beside the things I saw in
those unpretentious buildings among the pines in the suburbs of this good city.
"Better than sky-touching towers, stately halls, gorgeous
paraphernalia and all the pomp and circumstances that so frequently mark Shrine
activities, is a bungalow hospital or two, that might, with perfect truth - if
like this Atlanta institution - be described as 'Miracle Houses.'"
An Advisory Board of Orthopaedic Surgeons cooperates with
the Board of Trustees. This board is now composed of Dr. Robert B. Osgood of
Boston, a fanner President of the American Association of Orthopoedic Surgeons,
Dr. Michael Hoke of Atlanta, Dr. John C. Wilson of Los Angeles, Dr. W. E. Gallie
of Toronto, Canada, and Dr. W.E. Ryerson of Chicago. Their services are
contributed to the Shrine without cost. They attend all the meetings of the
Board of Trustees and select, subject to approval of the Board of Trustees, the
chief surgeon for each of the new institutions.
The Shriners are very jealously guarding the integrity of
the hospitals. At the last meeting of the Board of Trustees it was decided to
accept no bequests to the hospitals which carried with them provisions for
memorial tablets or other methods of converting the institutions into monuments
to individuals. The hospitals are simply and solely for the relief of suffering
childhood. That is all.
While in the Scottish Rite Hospital in Atlanta there hangs
a picture of Noble Ed. Roberts, the man whose suffering made the whole system
possible, the picture is unmarked.
Some months ago Brother Roberts visited the hospital. He
was being shown about by a nurse, a newcomer. As she entered the room where the
picture hangs, she pointed it out, not realizing that she was showing the
visitor his own likeness.
"I do not know who that gentleman is," she said, "but I
understand he founded this hospital."
An hour later he was found in an isolated spot on the
hospital grounds. He was sobbing a prayer of thanksgiving, thanks for the
railroad wreck, thanks for his shattered hip, thanks for the Providence that had
made him the unwitting instrument for this work, whose blessings will cover all
North America.
----o----
AMERICAN FREEMASONRY IN THE WORLD WAR - AN ANNOUNCEMENT
BY BRO. CHARLES F. IRWIN, OHIO
By his ability to write, speak and organize, hy his
unflagging zeal, and by his standing among overseas Masons, Brother Charles F.
Irwin has peculiarly fitted himself to superintend The National Masonic Research
Society's efforts to collect and arrange the records of Masonic activity during,
and as a result of, the Great War. Every brother who has even a grain of
information to contribute is urged to communicate with Brother Irwin whose
address is Eaton. Ohio.
AMERICAN Freemasonry
in the World War has learned from the experiences of the past. The losses
sustained by the Fraternity in our several wars have been incalculable because
no systematic efforts were made to collect, arrange, and embody in print the
incidents and events of special worth to the Craft. This condition has been
foreseen by modern Masonry and a movement is afoot to rescue from the rubbish
heap the innumerable occurences of value to the Craft in the Great War. Various
Grand Lodges from year to year have turned their attention to this important
work as attested in their Proceedings. Masons individually have been
investigating and collecting material because of their zeal for the Institution.
But the field is so vast that nothing short of a nation-wide effort can hope to
cover the ground.
Various Masons
throughout the United States have been gravitating toward each other as their
lines of investigation have crossed each other's paths. At last a concerted plan
of activity is to be put on foot. The National Masonic Research Society is
logically the central organization to head this movement. Its past record merits
such leadership. The experiences gained by its staff together with their
intimate knowledge of active Craftsmen throughout the country assures the
Fraternity that proper care will be taken to cover the whole field of war time
Masonic activity.
The writer has been
invited to become the chairman of this new movement. I have been asked to
outline the policy of our department and to explain our purpose. This is done
under considerable hesitancy. There are many difficulties to be faced and much
labor to be undertaken. The prayer of the New England fisherman is appropriate:
"O God, the ocean is so vast, and my bark is so small !"
It seems that the best
results can be obtained through representatives in each state and territory who
were themselves overseas and participated in the struggle. Their personal
experiences and their contact with war time conditions fit them to express in
written form the conclusions they arrived at as the war burnt its way to its
final end. Among the thousands of Craftsmen who went across the ocean there are
many who observed and participated in events which held a Masonic significance.
Incidents isolated and unrelated to the general sweep of Craft activity, when
brought into contact with other incidents, reveal the general relativity of the
whole Masonic fabric.
Our task is to secure
the material, to examine it carefully for the purpose of establishing accuracy,
and to publish its results, in order that Masonry may enter into the benefits.
How can this objective
be obtained? By contact with those who are in possession of the facts or who can
lead us to the facts. It will be the purpose of our group of workers to secure
the material from those who have it. This will be sought by encouraging a
correspondence with the brethren who were in the service abroad. We will trace
the officers of the various overseas Masonic clubs in order to secure complete
histories of these organizations. We will encourage the continuance of the ties
formed while we were far from home. As striking material comes to hand it will
be presented to the Craft through the pages of THE BUILDER from month to month.
There are stirring tales as yet unpublished. There is material to satisfy the
Masonic appetite for Masonic lore.
Brethren will be
encouraged to communicate with the chairman. The occurences which each had may
seem obscure and trivial. Nothing is trivial that comes under the observation of
Masons. These insignificant events may fall one by one into a chain of
significant processes that explain why the world disaster came. These individual
recitals may have messages needed by the Fraternity. And you, my brother, are
invited to unite with us in our present undertaking.
Our objective as I
have said will be at first the collecting of overseas Masonic data. This will be
done under a number of distinct heads: Military Organizations, Camps, Depots,
Combat Areas, the Enemy, our Allies, etc. To this end we shall encourage papers
by active brothers embodying the conclusions reached by the writers on various
Masonic principles and relationships. We shall ask and seek the answers to
searching questions as to the practical worth of Masonry in times of extreme
danger and distress. Observations of continental conditions will be presented.
Biographies of prominent members of the Fraternity, who participated in the
struggle, will be prepared and published.
The World War did not
end with the Armistice. The after effects continue and will continue for years
to come. Masonry's duties are to continue till the objectives of the war are
finally attained. Only by securing the principles for which such great treasure
of money and men was given can we expect to rest from our labors.
It is important to
discover whether the sinister influences that produced the strife are destroyed.
To know this requires a study of obscure currents of thought and action, on the
part of men and organizations before, during, and since the war.
American Masonry went
to Europe during the war. It carried definite benefits to peoples in desperate
need. But American Masons also received definite impressions in their contact
with Europe. What these impressions were, and the interpretation of them will be
one of our undertakings.
THE BUILDER opens to
overseas Masons a field for expression. The time is ripe. The Craft are ready to
hear. Those who have been considering experiences have had sufficient time to
arrange them into lines of definite thought. We invite such to place these ideas
in written form and to send them to us. Thus we shall be doing not only our own
comrades a benefit but we shall be leaving for future generations a wealth of
Masonic action that will prove an inspiration to younger Craftsmen.
----o----
WHY MASONIC STUDY CLUBS ARE WORTH WHILE
BY BRO. FRANK G. BURROUGHS, IDAHO
THE DETERMINED effort
now being made by a large number of Grand Lodges in the United States along the
line of Masonic Education had its inception as a response to the need of a
fuller realization by Masons of Masonic opportunities and Masonic duties.
'Tis an unsettled
world today, largely due to the great unrest created by the World War and its
readjustment problems. This unrest creates Masonic opportunity and Masonic
obligations. We dare no longer placidly rehearse our ritualistic obligations and
relinquish all memory and thought of them when we lay aside our aprons.
We have work to do and
Masonic wages to earn.
We must be taught to
realize our obligations to our fellow man as well as to our brothers in Masonry.
We must obtain a
clearer and more definite understanding of what Masonry is and what it stands
for.
We must learn how to
apply to the problems of life the principles taught within the lodge room.
We must obtain ritual
interpretation as well as ritual instruction. We must help in that building of
character which is the cornerstone of our Masonic edifice.
We must be brought to
realize that the whole duty of man is contained within the ritual instruction of
the three degrees of Masonry, and, by constant discussion and constant search,
we must learn to dig out for ourselves each little bit of symbolism and every
lesson contained in each word of our ritual, every little bit of our lodge
furnishings, and every article of Masonic use and clothing.
We must learn new
meanings of the word "Fraternalism," and learn the true significance of the
Masonic ritual in its relation to business life, to home life, to every-day
intercourse and to social obligations.
Masonic instruction
does not imply only a delving into Masonic symbolism, or research into Masonic
antiquities. It means an effort to induce Masons to view in their true light the
esoteric principles of our ritual and teachings and to indicate the application
of these principles in our daily intercourse with the world at large.
The wherefore of
Masonic instruction lies in its practical application. The real Mason is he who
practices outside of the lodge those virtues inculcated in it, not he who is
able to deliver a ritualistic recital of those principles and straightway doffs
his apron and leaves the principles sticking under the flap until again called
for, meanwhile forgetting or ignoring the fact that they form a real working
formula for life and conduct twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, and
fifty-two weeks in every year of life.
The practical
application, then, is the ultimate end and aim of Masonic study. The Mason whose
deep studies in the symbolism and ritual of the order had led him to a thorough
understanding of the hidden mysteries of Masonry cannot avoid having it become a
part of him and a part of his every-day life and conduct.
Masonry is a
never-ending study, and a study that grows on one. It's something like the
medical profession. A doctor is never too old to take a post graduate course and
learn something new. But there is a difference. In medicine the new things come
because of new discoveries in medical science, while in Masonry the thoughts
have been there for ages, and need only the mental pick and shovel of the
student.
The average Mason does
not give much attention to the never-ending symbolism of Masonry, to the meaning
of the working tools, to the level, the square, the compass and the apron. But
he only needs waking up a little to discover how valuable and beautiful are the
lessons conveyed by each act done and each word spoken, and by each and every
object used in a Masonic lodge.
Why the square? - To
square our actions, says the ritual. Why the plumb? - To teach uprightness. Why
the level ? - To teach democracy. But did you ever stop to think that the
combination of the three makes that all-embracing rule of life and conduct - the
Golden Rule, "Do to others as you would they should do unto you" ?
Let's think it out.
If we are square, we
shall easily put ourselves in the other fellow's place. If we are upright as the
plumb we shall be just in all of our dealings, and if we seek no unearned
advancement over our fellows, as the level teaches, we shall be able to see our
own failings as plainly as we can see the other man's, and the combination of
the three, the square, the level and the plumb, comprises the Golden Rule the
great rule and guide of our faith.
The educational course
in THE BUILDER is planned to arrest the attention and drive home those things
not at once apparent. If once Masons realize that the ritual of the Order is not
an empty thing, not a string of words to catch the ear, but an ancient
composition, every word of which bristles with symbolism and every act of which
contains an esoteric significance, then and then only can Masonry become that
which it is intended to be a great moral force for the upbuilding of character,
a power in the ethical education of millions.
If Masonic education
realizes its ultimate logical conclusion, our Order will be lifted to an
immeasurably higher plane. We shall cease to become merely members of the
greatest "fraternal order" on earth, but will become members of the greatest
"fraternity" that ever existed - a fraternity that will live as well as speak
the Brotherhood of Man and the Fatherhood of God.
To reach this high
ideal the Masonic ritual, Masonic emblems, Masonic symbolism, clothing,
furnishings, and every and each little act ordained as part and parcel of our
work provide the machinery.
By the study of
Masonry as it is we bring to ourselves the realization of our duties - our duty
to ourselves, to our families, to our Masonic brethren, to our associates in
business or pleasure, in a word, as our Monitor so tersely puts it, to practice
outside of the lodge those virtues taught within it.
By Masonic study we
come to a realization of the duties and obligations of fraternity. We learn that
the symbolism of the cable tow obligates us to help our fellow Mason in a
material way anywhere within the length of that piece of string, and that its
length is only to be gauged by our ability to help and by his necessities. Our
study of the cable tow will show us that we should ever be on the alert to
assist the material interests of the brethren as well as our own.
By Masonic study we
learn to apply as well as recite the lessons of the working tools. To act on the
level, and, by the same token, to seek not for undue superiority, and to
recognize the equality of others. To be square in all our dealings and to gauge
our time properly so that after devoting a time to rest and recreation and a
time to work, we may still have an equal period of time left in which we may
assist a brother Mason, his widow or orphan. To be upright, straight up and down
like the plumb, with no deviation from the absolute perpendicular.
By Masonic study we
learn the meaning and everyday application of all Masonic symbolism. To keep
ourselves as spotless as a piece of lambskin, to be willing to learn and to
stand in the northeast corner of the world so as to be near the fountain of
knowledge and follow the rising sun from the east by way of the south to the
west and thence to the happy contentment of a life full of years and good deeds.
Brothers, we want to
make our fraternity truly fraternal and a power in a materialistic world of
selfish endeavor.
We possess the weight
of numbers, we have the greatest system of ethics, we need no change, either in
our ritual or our teachings - all we need is to bring home to ourselves just
what our obligations obligate us to do.
And after we have
driven that home to ourselves we shall go out into the world and proclaim our
Masonic membership - not by wearing a pin or hanging a certificate on the wall
of our home or office - but by conducting our lives in such a manner that he who
runs may read, that those with whom we come in contact may recognize our Masonic
membership by reason of our consistent practice of the ethics of Masonry.
----o----
MEMORIALS TO GREtAT MEN WHO WERE MASONS - GENERAL MORGAN
LEWIS
BY BRO. GEO. W. BAIRD, P.G.M., DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
MORGAN LEWIS, who was
Grand Master in New York from 1830 to 1843, is recorded in history as a soldier,
and Governor of New York, but he was also the popular and very active Grand
Master; and also the son of Francis Lewis, one of the signers of the Declaration
of Independence.
He had every early
advantage, and such a nature as could not be spoilt. After graduating from
Princeton in the class of 1773, he began the study of law in the offices of that
great diplomat, John Jay, who was afterwards the Chief Justice of the Supreme
Court of the United States.
Though an apt pupil,
and apparently much in love with his chosen profession, Morgan Lewis heeded the
shrill notes of the fife when the Revolutionary War was announced, and at once
volunteered his services and joined Washington's Army at Boston. He was elected
Captain of a company of the New York militia but soon was promoted to the rank
of Major. It is mentioned in the dispatches of General Stephens that Lewis
behaved very gallantly in the battle at Germantown.
In 1776 Lewis was made
Quartermaster-General, with the rank of Colonel under General Gates at Saratoga,
and in the action at Bemis' Heights shared tne perks and tne nonors of the day
with Arnold, Morgan and the other officers. After the surrender of Burgoyne he
was engaged in the operations undertaken by General Clinton against the mixed
force of British regulars and the hostile Indians in the northwestern part of
the State of New York.
After the War of the
Revolution Lewis resumed his law practice in the City of New York in 1788, and
was soon elected to the state legislature. In this case the office sought the
man; not the man the office. In the legislature he did well, but as the purposes
of the people were generally in the same direction, there was no opportunity for
a contest, and therefore no exciting debates.
Morgan Lewis moved his
domicile to Dutchess County, and in a short time was appointed, first, a judge
of the court of common pleas, and later, attorney general of the State of New
York, and in 1801 Chief Justice of the same court.
His popularity was by
that time nation wide. His splendid record in the Grand Lodge of New York was
generally known to the brethren over the whole land. In 1804 he was elected
Governor of the State, and was obliged to take up his residence in Albany. In
this office he did much to advance the cause of education and to strengthen the
militia, two grand steps in the interest of the republic.
He was elected to the
state senate in 1810, and two years later at the beginning of the war of 1812 he
was made Quartermaster-General in the U.S. Army with the rank of Brigadier. He
was advanced to the rank of Major-General in 1813.
During the campaign of
that year General Lewis was with General Dearborn on the Niagara frontier. He
captured Fort George and was in command for some time at Sackets Harbor and
French Creek. In the latter part of the year 1813 he accompanied General
Wilkinson in his expedition against Montreal, and in 1814 had command of the
forces which were held for the defense of the city and harbor of New York.
From the year 1815
General Lewis seems to have lived much in retirement, so far as politics and his
profession go, but did not lose interest in Freemasonry. He lived in a time when
the Order sought the man, and made strenuous efforts to keep the best man at the
head. No man was elected because it was his turn in the early days of the
Republic.
He was born in New
York City in 1754 and died there in 1844. He was buried at Staatsburgh, where a
beautiful memorial was erected in his honor.
The cut here shown was
loaned by the Rev. Brother Edward Pearson Newton, rector of Saint James Parish,
Hyde Park on the Hudson, who is a member of Rhinebeck Lodge No. 432, of
Rhinebeck, N. Y.
----o----
No prayer is unheard,
none is wasted, there is none that we shall not meet again in the world to come.
Oh! when we come to die, how bitterly shall we mourn that we have prayed so
little, prayed so negligently; ah; we shall see then that life was hardly life
when it was not also prayer. - Faber.
----o----
Diligence is the
mother of good luck. - Benjamin Franklin.
----o----
THE HOLY SAINTS JOHN
BY BRO. BENJAMIN WELLINGTON BRYANT, CALIFORNIA
ST.JOHN the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist! What was
their connection with Freemasonry? Is the Monitorial tradition supported by
historical fact? Why does our Fraternity, firmly committed as it is to that
regulation in the Constitutions of 1723 which obliges its members only to "that
religion in which all men agree," dedicate its lodges to the memory of two
Saints belonging distinctly to the Christian calendar? Whence came the
tradition? When was it adopted? Why the St. Johns rather than St. Thomas whom
tradition denominates the patron of architecture? Such are a few of the
questions frequently asked and seemingly no Masonic Question Box is complete
without one or more of them. Much has been written on the subject, but
unfortunately little of it appears to have any real value, or to lead us nearer
to a solution of the mystery. The excuse for the present paper is not the hope
that anything can be added to the accumulation of data, so much as it is an
attempt to gather and arrange the available material, and possibly give some
hints that may lead to a feasible interpretation.
There appear to have been bat two attempts at a serious and
extended consideration of the subject in Masonic literature. The first, and
among English-speaking brethren, the only readily available publication, is Dr.
Oliver's "Mirror for the Johannite Masons," (1) originally published in England
in 1848, as a protest against the action of the United Grand Lodge of England in
1813 when the Johannine dedication was discarded by that body when it adopted
the Hemming lectures. Dr. Oliver collected and made accessible a great mass of
material which he arranged and discussed in most readable form albeit his
conclusions are too evidently biased by his own peculiar theological views to
have much real value for present day Masonic scholarship. However we must
acknowledge our debt of gratitude for him for his indefatigable labors as a
pioneer in what, in his day, was an unknown field. We cannot read his writings
or look upon his portrait which so clearly reflects his benign nature without
loving him for his sincere and upright character and his fearless stand for the
right as he saw it, even while we take exception to the eighteenth century
orthodoxy which appears in almost every page of his Masonic writings.
The second work in which the Johannine claims are discussed
at some length is the "Kunsturkunden," or "Three Oldest Professional Documents
of the Brotherhood of Freemasons," which Krause published about 1810. Although
antedating Oliver's work, I have placed this second because it is little known
to the English-speaking Craft, due to the fact that, so far as I have been able
to determine, no translation has been published. This is the work the
publication of which was so violently opposed by the German brethren, and for
which the author was suspended by the Dresden lodge. Having access only to the
meager quotations and references given by a few Masonic writers, I am not
prepared to discuss its contents.
To these two extended works upon the subject we should
perhaps add Mackey's Encyclopoedia (2) which gives many references and
considerable data upon the Sts. John, as well as several versions of the
tradition as it appears in different systems of lectures. Most of them are
evidently quoted from Dr. Oliver's work. However, he has given us a hint of a
broader and seemingly a truer interpretation by tracing the St. John Festivals
back to the solstitial celebrations of the Ancient Mysteries. (3) Except for
these three writers I have been unable to find any extended works which attempt
a detailed consideration of the matter.
To arrive at an intelligent understanding of this rather
obscure subject it seems necessary first to examine into the origin of the two
festivals which are far older than Christianity. They appear to have originated
in that ancient wisdom- or light-religion in which so much of that which we now
know as Freemasonry had its origin; and of which we catch some comparitively
latter-day glimpses in what is commonly referred to under the general name of
Ancient Mysteries. Writers and historians are notably unanimous in their
agreement that the rituals of many of those ancient ceremonials included
festivals in observance of the equinoxes and solstices. This was true, not
merely of one or two of the pagan lands of antiquity, but of many, for they
appear to have been very widely diffused in the ancient world wherever any great
degree of civilization had been attained. The Egyptian, Phoenician, Dionysian,
Adonisian, Phrygian, Eleusinian, Scandinavian and Druidical mysteries, each in
its own land and time, appear to have introduced the astronomical features and
all celebrated dramas and festivals in which the phenomena of nature were veiled
in myth and allegory. Thus the priests of each of those faiths of olden time
celebrated, each in his own peculiar, and usually beautiful and poetical
symbolism, the passing of the equinoxes and solstices as well as other natural
phenomena; and hence must have possessed a fairly comprehensive knowledge of the
contents of "the great book of nature and revelation"; of astronomy and its
vital influence upon the rotation of the seasons. In the mysteries of Eleusis
the story of Ceres and her search for her daughter Prosperine, when divested of
its mythological setting, becomes the tale of the seasonal rotation. In Egypt
the thought was the same, but veiled in the allegory of Isis, Osiris, and Horus.
Bear in mind that this is intended to refer only to those aspects of the
mysteries which were held less secret and were consequently better understood
and more frequently discussed, and about which considerable data has been
preserved. Of the inner secrets of those Greater Mysteries celebrated in some
localities, little is known with certainty. However there is good reason to
believe that when the novice proven himself and won past the ordeals of the
liminary initiation, he was rewarded with instruction in the eternal verities of
life and its relation to Deity. Here, it is believed, he was led on from the
consideration of the simpler and more evident truths of visble nature, which
were embodied in his earlier initiation, to the contemplation of the more
abstract truth of one God? (4)
Some of those early mystery-systems with their attendant
festivals, were still celebrated in the early centuries of the Christian era,
and while their original meaning had, to some extent perhaps, been obscured, the
festival days still played an important part in the life the people among whom
Christian missionaries were seeking converts, much as do our own public holidays
present day social and religious life. They were therefore a difficult problem
with which the mission and church fathers had to contend. Of the customs
prevailing in the Roman Empire at this period one author has written:
"And as the entire State, so also every community, every
city, every circle of cities, had its special cult, well founded institutions,
rich and distinguished colleges for priests and special feast days and
sacrifices. Every province, every city, every village, honored with local rites
its protecting divinity, and everywhere the various religious observances were
most intimately connected with the civil constitution of the community and
sustained by local patriotism." (5) Such was the system with which missionaries
had to compete for recognition. As a parallel situation, let us suppose that a
people alien thought as well as blood were to come among us here in America and
in the fire of their zeal seek to engraft their religious faith upon our
thought. It would be a difficult, nay, an almost impossible task, to wean away
from the observance of Christmas, Thanksgiving or New Years, and perhaps most
difficult of all to from our memories the events and traditions as ciated with
the Fourth of July; and while the memory of these days persisteed in the
thought-life of our people, the missionaries' success could not be complete.
Such was the problem confronting the early progagandists of Christianity. So
long as the older festivals remained, the memory of the older faith remained.
So as the "heathen" retained a ghost of the memory of the original meaning of
those festivals there was a weak link in the chain that bound them to
Christianity.
It appears that the officials of the early church about the
solution of the difficulty in a thoroughly diplomatic way. Numerous authors
from Sir Isaac Newton in 1733 (6), to the new volume of the Encyclopaeda of
Religion and Ethics' just off the press, have given up a picture of the
transition from the pagan to Christian observances. It appears that during the
third century or thereabouts, the missionaries having with the above mentioned
difficulty, Gregory Thaumaturgus, and after him St. Augustine, and St. Gregory
the Great, each advised that an attempt be made to Christianize rather than to
extirpate the popular observances. If a certain day had been previously
observed as a pagan holiday, let it be changed into a Christian festival. Thus
the Christmas observances succeeded those of the Bacchanalia and Saturnalia; the
Floralia gave way to the floral ceremonies of May day, and festivals to the
Virgin Mary, John the Baptist and various of the apostles took the place of the
zodiacal observances. Gregory Thaumaturgus, to whom Sir Isaac Newton gives
credit for the institution of the movement, died in 265, hence the change began
to take place very early in the history of the church. In the fifth century,
Theodoret speaks of the change of the festivals of the old heathen gods into
those of Peter, Paul, Thomas, and other saints, but mentions no other names of
apostles. (8) According to Gregory of Nyssa, writing about 379, the church was
then observing the festivals of Stephen, Peter, Jaines, John and Paul between
Christmas and New Years, on the principle that "the prodse of the proto-Martyr
should be followed by a commemoration of the apostles." (9) The author of "Greek
Religion" gives a picture of the transition in Greece:
"That in Greece itself ancient rites should persist under
cover of the new religion, and that ancient deities or heroes should reappear as
Christian saints is hardly surprising to one who considers the summary method by
which Christianity became the established religion. It was not so difficult to
make the Parthenon a Christian church when the virgin goddess of wisdom was
supplanted by a St. Sophia (Wisdom), then by the Virgin 31axy- Siniaarly Apollo
was more than once supplanted by St. George, Poseidon by St. Nicholas the patron
of sailors, Aselepius by St. Michael and St. Damian, and in grottos where nymphs
had been worshiped, female saints received similar worship from the same
people." (10)
The connection of the Baptist's day with the ancient
midsummer rites of the Teutonic, and Scandinavian peoples also seems well
established. (11)
Thus we are able to trace quite clearly some of the
influences which finally crystallized in the observance of the Baptist on
Midsummer's day, June 24, and of the death of the Evangelist on December 27. But
much odf it still remains a mystery. It is enough to note here that the nature
of the festivals - the one of birth, coming in the summer and on the longest day
of the year; and the other of a death falling upon the shortest day and at the
season when the hand of death seems laid upon all nature - is particularly
fitting. The peculiar character and history of the men themselves as shown in
records and traditions also seems to coincide with the same thought. The
Baptist is reputed to have been a member of the sect of Essenes, who were
mystics and celibates and held all property in common. He is frequently
characterized as a "Seeker of Light." He was a man of stern integrity and
unshakable fidelity, and bravely met death in the full bloom of his strength in
the service of the Cause to which he had devoted his life. In marked contrast
to his short life and tragic martyrdom is the long life and peaceful end of the
Evangelist. While the life and teachings of the one are veiled in obscurity and
can scarcely be verified with certainty, the work of the other stands out in
clear colors. The Evangelist appears to have come of a well-to-do family, his
mother being one of those who contributed to the support of the work of Jesus
and to have been a man of considerable learning. Truly, he seems to have been
well equipped to "finish by his learning what the other began by his zeal." In
marked contrast to the simplicity of the message attributed to the Baptist is
the finished and scholarly Gospel credited to the Evangelist. Opening with the
mystic doctrine of the Logos- "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was
with God, and the Word was God," he has given us a work notably at variance with
that of the other Apostles. Again, his name appears in connection with the
mystic and apparently esoteric book of the Apocalypse. At every point, in their
history, their circumstances, their messages, and their methods we find the same
sharp contrast that has its analogy in the extremes of the seasons in which
their festivals fall.
Having considered the genealogy of the festival, it may be
of interest briefly to note that of dedications. "Among the ancients," says Bro.
Mackey, "every temple, altar, statue, or sacred place was dedicated to some
divinity." This, in Rome at least, was required by law, and the necessary
proceedings were definitely defined. In the laws governing the Collegia, a
fundamental legal requirement for organization was that the College should
select a patron divinity. It served in the Roman legal process as a means of
identification. Among the Jews there was a distinction between consecration and
dedication; sacred things being both consecrated and dedicated, while profane
things were dedicated only. (12) This custom was practiced as early as the time
of Moses, the Tabernacle being both consecrated and dedicated, and the same is
true of the Temple of Solomon. (13) The practice has been continued among
Christians; and it is probably needless to call attention to the fact that
Masonry has done the same.
Just where or when the Craft became connected with these
saints and when it began to dedicate its lodges to them cannot be traced with
any degree of certainty. A writer in THE BUILDER asserts that our dedication to
them finds a counterpart in the recognition accorded them by the Comacines. Many
of their churches were dedicated to one or the other of them. The Island of
Comacina was dedicated to St. John the Baptist, and his festival is still
celebrated annually by the inhabitants with much pomp and ceremony. (14) This is
particularly significant, for many authorities now believe that the Comacines
form an important link in the history of our Fraternity. James I of Scotland in
1424 passed a statute legalizing trade societies, and provided for the
dedication of each to some patron saint. The early craft guilds of England
appear to have followed the same custom, practically all of them being similarly
dedicated, usually to some Saint connected with their calling, and frequently
the guild was namned after him. (15)
"None of the Londan trades appear to have formed
fraternities without ranging themselves under the banner of some saint," says
Bro. Gould, "and if possible they chose one who bore some fancied relation to
their trade. Thus the fishmongers adopted St. Peter; the drapers chose the
Virgin Mary, mother of the 'Holy Lamb' or 'Fleece' as the emblem of that trade.
The goldsmiths' patron was St. Dunstan, represented to have been a brother
artisan. The merchant tailors, another branch of the draping business, marked
their connection with it by selecting St. John the Baptist who was the harbinger
of the 'Holy Lamb' so adopted by the drapers.... Eleven or more of the guilds
... had John the Baptist as their patron saint, and several of them, while
keeping June 24 as their head day, also met on December 27, the corresponding
feast of the Evangelist." (16)
Toulmin Smith examined the records of some six hundred of
these guilds and found few cases where the patron saints were omitted.
Other than the Comacine recognition, which cannot strictly
be considered as that of a guild, inasmuch as it was their churches and their
island home which were the subjects of dedication, the earliest Masonic
connection of these particular saints of which we have record, appears in a,
guild of Stone Masons and Carpenters at Cologne in 1430 called the Fraternity of
St. John the Baptist. (17) On the other hand, the "Quatuor Coronate," or "Four
Crowned Martyrs," are invoked in the Strassburg Ordinances of 1456 and those of
Torgau of 1462, while in neither of these, nor in the Brotherbook of 1563, is
there any reference to the Baptist." (18) Bro. Mackey says that the earliest
festivals of the Operative, or Stonemasons of the Middle Ages were those of St.
John the Baptist on June 24, and of the "Four Crowned Martyrs," on November 4.
(19)
Dr. Oliver quotes a bit of doggerel verse which he says "it
is confidently affirmed" was a part of the O. B. of a system in use in the
fourteenth century:
"That you will always keep, guard and conceal, And from
this time you never will reveal, Either to M. M., F. C., or apprentice Of St.
John's Order what our grand intent is." (20)
The learned brother neglects, however, to cite his
authority for the above, and Mackay, who has evidently copied the stanza from
him, adds the comment, without giving reason or authority, that it is doubtful
if it can be traced to an earlier date than the beginng of the eighteenth
century. (21) I have been unable identify it among the MSS. listed in Gould's
History. Of a similar character is the reputed antiquity of so-called Charter of
Cologne, which purports to date from 1535, and which contains these Articles:
"E. That the society of brethren began to be call 'the
fraternity of Freemasons' A.D. 1450 at Valenciennes Flanders, prior to which
date they were called 'the brethren of St. John.'"
"K. Every year a feast is held in honor of St. John the
patron of the community." (22)
The authenticity of this, like the former quotation is
gravely questioned by almost every Masonic scholar so we may dismiss them both
without further comment. Among the Craft in Great Britain the earliest definite
date of a Johannine reference appears to be "St. John's day in Christmas," 1561,
when it is related that Queen Elizabeth sent an armed force to break up the
annual Grand Lodge at York. But the Masons, as it were, executed a
counter-attack and initiated a number of the officers of the force, who returned
to the Queen with so favorable an account of the objects and nature of the
society that the Craft remained unmolested during the remainder of her reign.
(23) This appears to the earliest reference to the festival of the Evangelist in
connection with the Fraternity to which a semblance of credence can be given.
Gould gives a list of early dates which he has succeeded in verifying, where the
festival of the Evangelist is mentioned in the lodge minutes, as follows:
Edinburgh, 1599; Aberd 1670; Melrose, 1674; Dunblane, 1646; Atcheson Haven 1700,
while the earliest notice of the Baptist's day appears in the York minutes of
June 24, 1713. These are the earliest references appearing in the records of
any exclusively Masonic organization. There is mention of the feasts of both
saints in the records of Gateshead Sodality in 1671, but that was an
organization of mixed trades. (24) The earliest date, that of Edinburg, 1599,
is entry in the minutes of the Lodge of Edinburgh No 1, providing that annually
on St. John the Evangelist's day the Wardens shall be chosen. (25) A ritualistic
notice appears in the Sloane MS. of 1646, the date of the initiation of Elias
Ashmole, which contains the question and answer: "Where did they first call
their Lodge? A. At the holy chapel of St. John." (26) In a copy the Gothic
Constitutions exhibited before Henry Jermyn, Earl of St. Albans, at an assembly
held on John the Evangelist's day, 1663, it was strictly joined that the Grand
Festivals should be held on John's day in commoration of a custom which existed
from time immemorial. (27) Both Anderson Preston refer to that meeting, but the
Roberts MS states that it was held December 8. (28) According the Alnwick MS.
the members were required to attend the parish church of that town each "St.
John's day in Christmas", - "Clad in aprons and carrying common squares." (29)
In a charter granted by the Bishop of Durham, April 24, 1671, it is directed
that the incorporated body "shall upon the fower and twentieth day of June,
comonly called the feast of St. John Baptist, yearely for ever, assemble
themselves together before nine of the clock in the forenoone of the same day,
and there shall, by the greatest number of theirs voices, elect and chuse fouer
of the said fellowshippe to be there wardens, and one other fitt person to be
the clarke . . . and shall vpon the same day make Freemen and brethren; and
shall vpon the said fover and twentieth day of June, and att three other feasts
or times in the yeare - that is to saie, the feast of St. Michael the Archangel,
St. John Day in Christeninas, and the five and twentieth day of March, . . . for
ever assemble themselves together." (30) This was the Gateshead Sodality
mentioned above.
The Four Old Lodges of London having constituted themselves
a Grand Lodge pro tem in 1716 or early in 1717, set the date for the formal
revival of the quarterly communications for St. John the Baptist's day of 1717.
It is related in Anderson's Constitutions that "Accordingly on St. John the
Baptist's day in the 3rd year of King George I., A. D. 1717, the ASSEMBLY and
Feast of the Free and Accepted Masons was held at the Goose and Gridiron
Ale-house." "The ASSEMBLY and Feast" was held on the same date in 1718, 1719,
and 1720; but there appears no record of the observance of the Evangelist's day
under the Grand Lodge until 1720 when a quarterly communication or Grand Lodge
was held on that day. This was under the Grand Mastership of George Payne. The
festival of St George the patron saint of England, which falls on April 23, was
later adopted as the principal feast of the Grand Lodge.
The earliest known minutes of the Craft in Ireland show a
meeting of the Grand Lodge of Munster on the Evangelist's day, 1726. The annual
meeting was held on the same date in 1727. The meetings for 1728, 1730, and
1731 were dated on the Baptist's day. In 1732, that day falling on Sunday, the
Grand Lodge met on Saturday and adjourned until Monday the 25th. The year 1729
shows no record of a meeting. The General Regulatians incorporated in the same
minutes are dated as having been adopted on the Evangelist's day, 1728, but
there is no other record of that communication. They provide "In due Honour,
Respect, and obedience to ye right Worshipful the Grand Master, that his Worship
may be properly attented for the more solemn and proper holding our Grand Lodge
on St. John the Baptist's day, annually, for ever . . . . "(31) The minutes of
the Munster Grand Lodge do not continue beyond 1733. The present Grand Lodge of
Ireland was established in 1730, but its earliest minutes have been lost, and
Gould gives no dates of the early communications. According to Mackey, however,
the present custom includes the observance of both the Baptist's and the
Evangelist's festivals. (32)
The Scottish Grand Lodge was established in 1736, the
minutes showing a preliminary meeting on September 30, which suggests the
festival of St. Michael though Gould makes no reference to it in his account of
the formation of that body. The actual organization took place an St. Andrew's
day, November 30, and that day is still observed as the principal feast of
Scottish Masons, thus concurring in the celebration of the feast of the patron
of their country. Bro. Mackey, however, quotes Lawrie to the effect that
Scottish Masons always observed the festival of the Baptist until 1737 when the
change was made to St. Andrew's day. This statement is in marked variance with
Gould, who, I believe, is the safer guide. The Johannine dedication still
prevails under the Grand Lodge of Scotland and the three degrees are officially
designated "St. John's Masonry."
Enough evidence appears, therefore, to indicate that the
two festivals had already attained an immemorial status in the customs and
traditions of the Craft long before the dawn of the Grand Lodge era. Even
during the Middle Ages there is sufficient evidence to warrant a belief that
they were quite widely recognized. Indeed, if we may accept the Comacine theory
now gaining ground among our Masonic scholars, there is, in the peculiar
attention accorded these two saints and their festivals by those architects and
builders, another link in the chain of Masonic evolution. Through them the line
leads back to the Roman Collegia, and thence to the ancient pagan solstitial
observances. The change from the pagan to the Christian nomenclature would have
been a natural result of the Christianization of the Empire. Thus, apparently
we have in our Johannine dedication and festivals a direct line of descent from
the most ancient observances known to man, and from the evidence at hand, I am
inclined to believe that in remarkably few instances have their celebration been
entirely neglected by the Craft. That this is not far-fetched will be realized
when we remember that many a recognized and time-honored historical or
genealogical tree has little more to support it.
(To be concluded.)
1. "Mirror for the Johannite Masons," Rev. George Oliver;
J.W. Leonard & Co., New York, 1855; included in vol. 5, Universal Masonic
Library., Rob. Morris, Lodgeton, Ky., 1856.
2 "Encyclopaedia of Freemasonry," A. G. Mackey, see
articles on "Dedication," "Parallel Lines," "St. John the Baptist," "St. John
the Evangelist," "Festivals," etc.
3. Ibid, article on "Dedications."
4 "History of Freemasonry," Robert Freke Gould, vol. 1, p.
15.
5. "Conflict of Christianity with Heathenism," Uhlhorn, p.
31.
6 "Observations upon the Prophecies of Daniel and the
Apocalypse of St. John," Sir Isaac Newton, 1733, Chap. XIV, pp. 204-5.
7 "Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics," Ed. by Dr. Jas.
Hastings, vol. 11, p. 58; New York, 1921.
8. "Dictionary of Christian Antiquities," vol. 2, p. 1907.
9. "Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics," vol. 5, p. 847.
10. "Greek Religion," Fairbanks, pp. 285-6.
11. "Encyclopaedia Americana," New York, 1904, Article on
"Eve of St. Johns."
12 "Encyclopaedia of Freemasonry," article on
"Dedications."
13 "THE BUILDER," vol. 3, CCB. May.
14 "THE BUILDER," vol. IV, p. 262.
15 Essay on "History and Development of Gilds," Brentano,
1870.
16. History of Freemasonry," Gould, vol. 3, p76
17. Ibid. p. 79
18. Ibid
19 "Encyclopeadia of Freemasonry," article on "Festivals."
20. "Mirror for the Johannite Masons," p. 32.
21. "Encyclopaedia of Freemasonry," article on "St. John's
Order."
22 "History of Freemasonry," Gould, vol. 2, p. 117.
23 "Some Account of the Schism," etc. Oliver, p. 7;
Universal Masonic Library, vol. 5. Also "History of Freemasonry," Gould, vol. 2,
p. 179.
24 "History of Freemasonry," Gould, vol. 3, p. 75.
25 "Ibid, vol. 2, p. 79.
26 "Encyclopeadia of Freemasonry," article on "Lectures."
27 "Mirror for the Johannite Masons," Oliver, p. 102.
28 "Encyclopeadia of Freemasonry," Mackey, article on
"Saint Albans, Earl of"
29 Ibid, article on "Alnwick Manuscript."
30 "History of Freemasonry," Gould, vol. 2, p. 275.
31 Ibid, vol. 3, pp. 282-3-4.
32 "Encyclopedia of Freemasonry," Mackey, article on
"Festivals."
----o----
OUR DUTY TO THE MERCENARY CRAFTSMAN
BY BRO. FRANCIS E. WHITE, GRAND SECRETARY, NEBRASKA
Here is an utterance
from the sagacious and much experienced Grand Secretary of Nebraska that can and
should be recommended to the attention of every Master and Grand Master in the
land. It deals in a telling way with a problem that has reached scandalous
proportions in large centers, and will probably reach to larger proportions
still if the present rate of membership increase continues. Ye editor expresses
a pious hope that Brother White will follow this with another paper on those
unhappy brethren who make use of the Fraternity for political and business
purposes, often in the most unblushing
fashion!
WHATSOEVER a man
soweth, that shall he also reap" is as true today as it was when Paul, the
Apostle, wrote it. I am assuming that the Apostle Paul used the words as a
figure of speech, and with no reference to the fruits of the soil.
Applying this gem of
wisdom to Freemasonry, we might say that we are now reaping, and will continue
to do so, what we have sown, a portion of which we do not want and which we do
not know what to do with. If the crop exceeds our expectations, we must remember
that Nature makes allowances for losses and produces accordingly. It would be a
waste of time to refer at length to the great increase in membership in the past
few years. Every student of Masonic conditions knows what it has been, and the
statistical tables give the facts. I believe it is safe to say that every
Masonic student realized, when noting the great increase in membership, that
there was a percentage without which Freemasonry could have prospered very
nicely. One Masonic writer puts it rather tersely, saying, in reply to the
query: "Are we making too many Masons?" "No; a thousand times no! We are making
them entirely too slowly; in fact, we are not making one for every one hundred
Master's degrees conferred. We are too busy making members to devote our
attention to making Masons." This statement seems to me to be a little
overdrawn.
However, we have to
consider conditions as they exist and not as they might be. It is a question
that needs the wisdom of Solomon to answer, and I can only give my personal
views on the subject. I have always taken the view that becoming a member of the
Masonic Fraternity is in the nature of a contract, whereby the lodge promises to
do and perform certain things, and receives from the candidate his promise to
something, not exactly in return for what we give, but to fulfill his part of
the contract, not only for his own brood, but for the good of the Fraternity.
After due consideration, I have reached the conclusion that we are responsible
for a percentage of mercenary Craftsmen. People see our Masonic Homes, note our
Relief Committees, see our funeral processions, and the little real charity that
we do reaches them in an exaggerated form, and who can blame them, if from our
own acts, they are impressed with the idea that to belong to the Masonic
Fraternity carries with it a Masonic funeral such as the town never saw before,
and a living, in case of death, to your wife, your children, your wife's kin and
yours to the most remote of them. Many a wife, mother, sister, and daughter has
received just such an impression as the above from some member of the family who
no doubt believed it himself. Too many of our members construe charity as coming
in place of going: that is to say, they expect to receive it, in place of
extending it. A little education on the right lines might change a mercenary
Craftsman into a charitable one; in any event, it might change some of our
members and their dependents from demanding, where they have only the right to
request.
Candidates should be
advised more fully on what they can expect from the Fraternity, also on what we
shall expect from them. This, however, relates more properly to a different
subject than it does to the one I am trying to answer. As long as a brother
continues to fulfill his promise, we are in duty bound to extend to him the same
fraternal consideration that we do to our most just and upright brother. It is
difficult for some of us, at times, to feel the same spirit of fraternity
towards some Masonic brother that we do to others, but the time to set him apart
in a different class passed when we received him into fellowship. Therefore, we
must consider that he has some rights, and if he obeys the laws of the land and
transgresses no Masonic laws, we must render to him a full measure of
consideration.
The mercenary
Craftsmen might be divided into three classes. First - A percentage among these
brethren might, by proper proceedure, become worthy members of the Fraternity,
and it is our duty to try to induce them to change their selfish natures and
grow to be more in keeping with the spirit of our Fraternity. We might try to
get them interested in our charity work, if we are doing any. If we are not
doing anything on these lines, let us take up some of it for our own benefit as
well as for the benefit of the Masonic brother. Precept and example will do
much. Bear in mind that the brother you are trying to win over has some good in
him and perhaps needs to be reached in the right way to produce deeds of charity
that will bring abundant fruit. Do not forget that if you want the Masonic
brother to walk in the paths of rectitude, charity, and brotherly love, you must
walk in these paths once in a while yourself. The privilege of association with
men of character and standing is one of the incentives for some men to seek
admission into the Masonic Fraternity, and sometimes a mercenary Craftsman
realizes that getting into the Order does not carry with it the association
privilege, and when he wonders why, some one might suggest that good deeds are
the only passport to full fellowship in the Fraternity. The above suggestions
refer to a class of members that I believe we can benefit: members who are
susceptible to good influence, and will respond to the right effort that is made
to reach their better natures. Let us fulfill our part of the contract, and by
persuasion endeavor to turn a part of the crop we have reaped from the seed
sown, into a valuable asset, in place of letting it remain a liability.
The second class of
mercenary Craftsmen will doubtless solve the problem as to what shall be done
with them, for themselves and for us, when they learn that they can get out of
Freemasonry only what they put into it, and being entirely destitute of anything
to put in, many of them will drop out, either by demission or by suspension, and
the laws in regard to suspension should be kept in good, first-class condition,
and not be permitted to rust for the want of service.
The mercenary
Craftsmen who will cause us the most trouble will be those who think that the
world owes them a living and who are trying to collect the entire debt, as they
view it, from the Masonic Fraternity. Finding neither sympathy nor financial
assistance in their own Masonic lodges, the members of this class will take "to
the road," and open up again the beaten path that formerly ran from the south to
the north in the summer time, and reversed the line of travel at the approach of
cold weather. I said that this class would cause us the most trouble, and yet it
should cause us the least. We have now and for some time have had a remedy for
this trouble in our own hands; but the well-learned hard luck story related to
the Master of a lodge, whose sympathy is large and whose judgment for the time
being is set aside, brings a few dollars that are worse than wasted. This class
of mercenary Craftsmen should be dealt with kindly, firmly, and effectively.
Kindly, so as to be sure that the applicant for relief is not entitled to it.
Try to convince him in a kindly manner that if he were entitled to relief, he
would receive it. If there is any doubt, solve it in favor of the applicant. If
you are going to err in a matter of this kind, err on the right side, but do not
err too much. Firmly, by insisting upon some evidence of Masonic good standing,
more than a simple statement of the name and number of the lodge, and the old,
old story of stolen receipts and Masonic papers. Insist upon something in the
way of documentary evidence; a receipt for dues for the current year, with some
authentication by the Grand Secretary, should be demanded. Effectively, by
spreading the information regarding impostors, far and wide.
To these might be
added the class of men who apply for admission to our lodges, hoping for
increased business or for help of a political nature. Our duty to Craftsmen of
this kind, is to ignore their mercenary proclivities.
To sum up this
subject: Every Grand Lodge should give it careful consideration; provide ways
and means for the identification of their members, so there would be no
possibility of them being taken for impostors. A very small percentage of the
money wasted on unworthy Masons would provide first-class documentary evidence
in the way of diplomas and receipts for dues. Legislation should be enacted
prohibiting lodges from contributing any of the lodge funds without such
documentary evidence, showing that the applicant for relief is in good standing
in a lodge that is recognized by the Grand Lodge. With a list of regular lodges
before the examining committee, a diploma or a receipt for dues in the hands of
a worthy brother should always and most always will receive a steady response to
reasonable requests for assistance; all others should he denied.
----o----
THE SONG OF THE RED BIRD
BY BRO. H. L. HAYWOOD, IOWA
It was a cold and wintry day
As down a sullen city street
I made my silent, gloomy way
With heavy heart, reluctant feet.
The day itself, as sad as I,
Was roofed with clouds of heavy gray;
The weary wind was but a sigh;
The city street was mired with clay.
But from the sky's deep heart of peace,
Down wafting soft, and still, and slow,
As though to put my heart at ease,
There fell great innocent flakes of snow.
Above my head the maples met
With branches gray, wind-swept, and bare;
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