THE BUILDER MAGAZINE
july 1926
volume 12 - number 7
AN OLD GEORGIA CHARTER BY BRO. WILLIAM BORDLEY CLARKE,
GEORGIA
THIS valuable discovery by Bro. Clarke should be read in
conjunction with the review of his book that appeared in the January number of
The Builder, page 29, or better yet with the work itself. It is another example
of the possibilities of research in the archives of our older lodges and Grand
Lodges. The document was known and to some extent its value was appreciated by
its custodians, but its significance did not appear till it was seen by someone
with special knowledge.
FOR many years, Masonic historians have vainly tried to
obtain definite information concerning the birth of the Craft in Georgia and of
the date of organization of the Grand Lodge of Georgia. During the past three
years it has been the unusual privilege of the author to discover the facts
answering both of these questions. Definite data concerning the Craft in the
state of Georgia is valuable historically, this state having the second oldest
lodge constituted under an English charter.
The accompanying photograph is a copy of the document which
establishes definitely the exact date upon which the first Provincial Grand
Master of Georgia, Roger Hugh Lacey, was granted his warrant by Viscount
Weymouth, Grand Master of England in the year 1735. The interesting document
also for the first time establishes the date upon which the second Provincial
Grand Master of Georgia, Grey Elliott, was granted his warrant by Lord Aberdour,
Grand Master of England in the year 1760. These two dates have been sought for
nearly a hundred years and, strange to say, they were easily accessible, but
were overlooked because contained in an incomplete and formerly unidentified
document.
The tangle of facts concerning the beginning of the Grand
Lodge of Georgia, commenced in 1816 through an error in the printing of Webb's
Monitor, issued from Salem, Massachusetts. Webb stated that "The Grand Lodge of
Georgia is holden by virtue, and in pursuance of the right of succession legally
derived from the most noble and the Most Worshipful Thomas Thynne, Lord Viscount
Weymouth, Grand Master of England, A. D. 1730, by his warrant directed to the
Right Worshipful Roger Lacey", etc.
Webb was in error and in his next edition corrected the
"1730" and inserted "1735", the correct year. It appears that many authors of
that day saw the first edition of Webb's Monitor but did not see the second
edition. The error in the first edition became scattered abroad and accepted as
fact. Clavel, in his Histoire Pittoresque de la Franc MaConnerie, published
twenty-eight years after the first edition of Webb's Monitor; and Ragon, in his
Orthodoxie MaConique, published thirty-nine years after Webb's first edition,
repeated the error in Webb's first edition.
DISTRESSED MASONS AS EMIGRANTS
On Dec. 13, 1733, a resolution was adopted by the Grand
Lodge of England, the purpose of which was to raise a charity fund to send
distressed brethren to the new colony of Georgia. The first party of colonists
had already arrived in Georgia on Feb. 12, 1733, and the resolution could
therefore have no reference to these. The first lodge in Georgia, Solomon's
Lodge, was not organized by General James Edward Oglethorpe, the founder of the
colony, until Feb. 10, 1734. If the resolution had referred to the first party
of colonists, an embarrassing situation would have arisen.
On March 18, 1734, the Grand Lodge of England adopted a
second resolution calling upon the English lodges to turn in their contributions
to the charity fund for sending distressed brethren to Georgia. This resolution
proves conclusively that no brethren had been sent up to the time of adopting
this second resolution. Had brethren been sent to Georgia, they would by this
time be in serious distress because of lack of support. It was evidently the
intention of the Grand Lodge to send brethren in the second group of colonists
which landed in Georgia on Feb. 5, 1736.
The mistake made by Webb, coupled with misinterpretation of
the meanings of the two resolutions adopted by the Grand Lodge of England, has
led many brethren in Georgia to assume that the first Provincial Grand Master of
Georgia, Roger Hugh Lacey, was given a verbal warrant in 1730 by the Grand
Master of England, and that a formal warrant was issued in the year 1735. Those
who have made these assumptions have apparently overlooked two important
documents. One of these documents is the present charter of Solomon's Lodge, No.
1, of Savannah, Georgia, the first charter issued by the Grand Lodge of Georgia
at the time it was reconstituted from an English Provincial Grand Lodge into the
present American independent body, during the year 1786. The other document is
the Act of the Legislature of Georgia incorporating the Grand Lodge of Georgia,
which Act was signed by the Governor of Georgia on Feb. 6, 1796. It appears that
both of these documents were written by the same hands, the members of the Grand
Lodge of Georgia at that time occupying high positions in the government of the
state.
INHERENT RIGHT LODGES IN GEORGIA
The charter of Solomon's Lodge states that Lacey was given
his warrant in the year 1735 by viscount Weymouth, Grand Master of England. The
Act incorporating the Grand Lodge states "that there has existed, and still
exists in this state, divers Lodges or Societies of Freemasons on an ancient
establishment, since the year 1735." Both of these documents refer to the time
of the establishment of constituted Freemasonry in Georgia. These two documents,
written by brethren in Georgia thoroughly familiar with the facts and who knew
from personal experience the exact date upon which Lacey was granted his
warrant, should be sufficient evidence that Lacey had no form of warrant
whatsoever before the year 1735.
In spite of the facts just mentioned and evidently prompted
by a desire to antedate the date of birth of any other Grand Lodge in America,
the Grand Lodge of Georgia shortly before the Civil War changed it Constitution
and inserted a clause that it had been "Existing since 1733". This amendment was
made on the basis of traditions which the Grand Lodge apparently thought were
absolute facts. In justice to these brethren we must mention that they
apparently thought that it was necessary for a Grand Master or a Provincial
Grand Master to constitute a lodge at the time of its organization. They were
apparently unaware that Solomon's Lodge, the first lodge in Georgia, organized
on Feb. 10, 1734, nearly two years before Lacey's warrant was issued, was
organized according to the "Old Customs" and without constituted authority. It
seems that they thought it necessary for the first Provincial Grand Master of
Georgia to organize and constitute this lodge.
The second error contained in this unusual "existing since
1733" is the fact that the year 1733 is wrong. Solomon's Lodge, according to the
old calendar used or to 1752, was organized on Feb. 10, 1733. When calendar was
changed to the one now in use, February, 1733, became February, 1734. In the old
calendar January, February and March were the last three months of the year
instead of the first three months of the year, as at present.
The preamble to the present Constitution of the Grand Lodge
of Georgia, which has caused so much controversy, is as follows:
We, the Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons, according
to the Old Institution, of the state of Georgia, existing since 1733, and by
virtue of, and in pursuance of the right and succession legally derived from the
Most Noble and Right Worshipful Thomas Thynne, Lord Viscount Weymouth, Grand
Master of England for the year of Masonry five thousand seven hundred and
thirty-five, by his warrant directed to the Right Worshipful Roger Lacey, etc.
Historians have never been able to understand how a Grand
Lodge could exist in 1733 by virtue of the power of a warrant which was issued
two years later. It appears that Lacey did not come to Georgia until the early
art of the year 1736. The historical records of the colony do not refer to him
until that year. Lacey did not grant the charter under which he constituted
Solomon's Lodge in 1736. This charter was obtained from Viscount Weymouth in
1735 by General James Edward Oglethorpe in person. The charter and the warrant
of Lacey appear to have been issued at the same time and it seems that the
warrant for Lacey was issued in order for him to constitute Solomon's Lodge
which had been operating for two years. It is now clearly seen that the
insertion of "existing since 1733" in the preamble to the Constitution of the
Grand Lodge of Georgia was an error and completely disproved by the facts.
FORMATION OF THE GRAND LODGE
For many years there has existed in the archives of the
Grand Lodge of Georgia a charter made out for an unidentified lodge in the city
of Augusta, Georgia, of which a reproduction is given on the opposite page. The
records of the Grand Lodge were destroyed by fire in 1796 and this charter must
have been in the hands of unknown parties and after the fire returned to the
Grand Lodge. It has been preserved as a curiosity of the Colonial period and it
has never been suspected that in this incomplete document was the date so long
sought. The charter was issued on July 11, 1786, and directed to one George
Handley. The signatures of the officers of the Grand Lodge, with the exception
of that of the Grand Master, are affixed. The absence of the signature of the
Grand Master is the reason why the charter was never issued.
For several years the author undertook the preparation of
the material for the book Early and Historic Freemasonry of Georgia, 1733 4 to
1800. He carefully examined all of the minute books of Solomon's Lodge, No. 1.
of Savannah, Georgia, which is the only lodge in Georgia having a continuous
existence from 1734 until the present day.
The destruction in 1796 of the records of the Grand Lodge
of Georgia leaves the records of Solomon's Lodge as the only source of
information concerning the early history of the Craft in Georgia. Thorough
familiarity with the names of the early members of Solomon's Lodge enabled the
author to immediately identify the charter as soon as he saw it for the first
time in the office of the Grand Secretary of the Grand Lodge of Georgia in
Macon, Georgia, on June 23, 1925. He recalled at once that the minutes of
Solomon's Lodge for the year 1785 mention George Handley as a member of
Solomon's Lodge at that time. He was also Grand Treasurer of the Provincial
Grand Lodge of Georgia. In the year 1786 he moved his residence to the city of
Augusta, Georgia, then the capital of the state. He also removed his membership
from Solomon's Lodge at the same time. About one year later, as shown by the
minutes of Solomon's Lodge, Handley returned to Savannah on business and visited
Solomon's Lodge at one of its meetings. The Secretary of Solomon's Lodge
carefully records the fact that Bro. Handley was now Master of Columbian Lodge
in Augusta, Georgia.
This old charter was evidently not used for the
organization of Columbian Lodge because of the lack of the signature of the
Grand Master, Major General Samuel Elbert. It appears that the Grand Master,
evidently aware that steps were then being taken to reconstitute the Provincial
Grand Lodge of Georgia into an independent American Grand Lodge, thought it best
to wait until this took place and then to constitute the lodge under a charter
granted by the new body. The Grand Lodge was reconstituted on Dec. 16, 1786.
This document is priceless to the Grand Lodge of Georgia
because it contains two vital dates heretofore unknown. One of these is the date
upon which the warrant was issued to the first Provincial Grand Master of
Georgia, Roger Hugh Lacey. This date is Dec. 2, 1735. It was assumed by the
author in his Early and Historic Freemasonry of Georgia, 1733-4 to 1800, that
Lacey was given his warrant at the same time that the charter of Solomon's Lodge
was granted, and that both of these documents were issued just before the
departure of Oglethorpe from England for Georgia. Oglethorpe left England on
Dec. 10, 1735. The second vital date contained in the charter is the one upon
which Grey Elliott, second Provincial Grand Master of Georgia, was given his
warrant. This date is Oct. 10, 1760.
The document bears the only known impression of the seal
used by the Provincial Grand Lodge of Georgia from 1760 until 1787. The seal is
circular, bearing in the center the columns, arch and "G" of the Royal Arch
Degree surrounded by the motto of that Degree "Holiness to the Lord."
The charter is valuable to the members of Solomon's Lodge
since it identifies Samuel Elbert, William Stephens, James Jackson and Mordecai
Sheftall as Past Masters of Solomon's Lodge in 1786. This fact was unknown, the
British having destroyed the records of the lodge prior to the Revolution.
----o----
The Craft in the 18th Century
The "Moderns," 1717, and the "Antients," 1751 By BRO.
ARTHUR HEIRON, England (Concluded)
AND now the most important criticism that Dermott ever
made against the Moderns has been left to the last, and it is indeed a serious
accusation that deserves and requires careful thought and consideration.
It is from the same medium of communication. In Ahiman
Rezon, 2nd Edition, page xxx, he tells the Antients and his readers generally,
that soon after 1717 the leading authorities of the Grand Lodge of the
Moderns--which would include such eminent Masons as George Payne, G. M. in 1718
and 1720; Dr. Desaguliers and Dr. Anderson-came to rather a startling conclusion
as to the best method to be adopted when a Candidate was made a Mason in a
Modern Lodge; the following are Dermott's own words:
"Hence it was ordered [i. e., by the Moderns]. that every
person (during the time of his initiation) should wear boots, spurs a sword, and
spectacles." Dermott further adds "we are told that from this improvement
proceeded the laudable custom of charging to a public health at every third
sentence that is spoken in the Lodge."
Dermott adds a foot-note in his 3rd Edition of 1778, to
this effect:--"This may seem a very ludicrous description of making freemasons.
But Mr. Thomas Broughton, master of the lodge No. 11, London, declared that he
was present in a modern Lodge not one mile from the Borough of Southwark, when
two or three persons dress'd in liveries with shoulder tags, booted and spurr'd,
&c., &c., were initiated into modern masonry; and upon enquiring who they were,
he was told they were servants to Lord Carysfoot, then Grand Master of modern
Masons."
The question immediately arises, was Dermott talking of an
actual fact within his own knowledge, or was he merely in veiled language and
skilled metaphor trying to inform the Antients that when a Candidate was Made a
Mason according to the Ritual of the Moderns he was not properly prepared? None
knew better than the Grand Secretary of the Antients that he must only speak of
esoteric matters in vague and mysterious words, not understandable by the
outside world--for had he not titled his own book Ahiman Rezon, or a Help to a
Brother, and as Shewing the Excellency of Secrecy, etc., etc. Perhaps in this
instance Dermott may have been partly narrating the truth--so far as regards
Spectacles,--for from an incident that is recorded in the minutes of the Dundee
Lodge it seems reasonable to believe that up to 1766 our Brethren when they Made
a Mason allowed the Candidate to see much more than is lawful in these days. The
story is as follows: It was at that period an established custom for the Grand
Master of the Moderns occasionally to make visits of inspection to Lodges under
his jurisdiction and in 1766 the Dundee Lodge was thus honored with a State
Visit.
The following extracts from the Minutes of No. 9 speak for
themselves, and show our ancient method of Making a Mason: 1766, Feb. 13. "Lodge
Night. Bro. Clarke [R.W.M.] signified that Lord Blayney and the Officers of
Grand Lodge intended paying us a visit very soon, on which account he proposed
that No Visitors should be admitted on that Night, Carried Nem. Con. Likewise
Bro. Elliott proposed that every Member have Notice in his Letter, the Night
that the Grand Officers come down, 2nd and carried Nem. Con.
Apl. 24. "Lodge Night. Br. Williams informed the Lodge that
he had received a letter from Bro. Ripley, Secretary to the Grand Lodge
intimating that for certain reasons the Grand Master thought proper to postpone
his Intended Visit till after the Grand Feast."
May 22. "Lodge Night. On this Night the following Visited
the Lodge and their names we duly entered in the Minute Book, viz: "Lord Blayney,
R. W. Grand Master; Col. John Salter, Deputy Grand Master; Thomas Dyne, S.
Warden in the room of Br. Edwards; Rowland Berkeley G. Tr.; Samuel Spencer, Gd.
Sec.; Francis Johnston, G.S.B., and a Steward."
There were 67 Members present, also 13 Brethren "Useing the
Sea": a total of 80 Members of the Dundee Lodge. [No visitors were allowed this
night.]
The work done on this memorable occasion was as follows:
1766, May 22. "This Night agreeable to a proposal of last
Lodge Night, Mr. Henry Bird was Balloted for, Accepted and Made a Mason for
which Honour he paid 2. 2s. Likewise Mr. Holman, proposed by Captain George Dear
to be Made a Mason, he Useing the Sea, was Balloted for, Accepted and Made a
Mason, for which Honour he paid 2. 2s."
REFRESHMENTS FOR THE GRAND OFFICERS
Hospitality was shown to the visitors in those days as in
these; food, wine, punch and Music [French Horns] were evidently provided.
1766, June 12. Paid "By Cash to Musick". . 3. 3. 0
July 3. "Pd. Bro. Cordell his Bill".. 9. 6. 0
do. 10. "Pd. Mr. Bothell, the Cook". . 7. 0 6 [for
pastries, &c.]
July 10. "The Bye-Laws were omitted, as was Read the Night
the Grand Officers was present."
Now, in 1766 the 1st and 2nd Degrees were given on the same
evening--this practice was continued up to 1809--but it is quite clear from what
follows that the method of 'Preparing the Candidate,' was not in accordance with
the usual custom; Lord Blayney therefore felt it incumbent upon him to write on
the subject.
REQUEST OF LORD BLAYNEY TO 'DUNDEE' LODGE, NO. 9
1766, Aug. 28. Verbatim extracts from the minutes:
"Likewise the Grand Master ordered Bro. Edwards, the Grand Senior Warden, to
desire That upon Making a Mason, he may be [sic] agreeable to the Method
practiced in most other Lodges."
The Brethren discussed this matter in open Lodge and the
following was their reply:
1766, Sept. 11. "The Minute of the last Lodge relative to
[sic]
[Sic] the Persons when they were Made Masons was put up
this Night and carried by a Majority at it should continue according to our
Antient Custom."
This was an important meeting and there were present 25
Members, 4 visitors, and one Member "Useing the Sea." The sheet containing
entries for the Lodge Night of 23rd October, 1766, and also of a Bye Lodge of
27th October, 1766, has been cut or torn out of the Minute Book, apparently by
the Secretary; doubtless it referred to the dispute over the ceremonial work,
which had been called in question by Lord Blayney, the Grand Master; at any
rate, it is the only sheet that has been cut out or deliberately removed from
the numerous records.
1766, Nov. 27. Resolved "That we should have a Feast as
usual on St. John's Day, and that the Grand Officers be Invited. Tickets for
Members, 5s., Visitors, 7s. 6d." Dec. 27. Feast Day. Present 47 Members; 4 "Useing
the Sea," and 4 Visitors, including Bro. Alleyne [a Grand Officer]. "R.W.M. [Nath.
Allen] proposed that there be a Committee appointed consisting of the Master,
Wardens, Past Masters, Treasurer, Secretary and Stewards to consider of an
Answer to the Dep. Grand Master's Letter and other business relating to this
Lodge."
Serious matters needed discussion or they would not have
appointed all the officers to serve on this Committee. Evidently the Secretary
had written a reply to Grand Lodge that our Brethren declined either to abandon
their Antient Custom or to change their Ritual even although expressly requested
to do so by the Grand Master. It is clear that on receipt of this the Lodge had
been requested to send representatives to the Committee of Charity [the
predecessors of the Board of General Purposes] to discuss the matter and deputed
two Past Masters to attend and uphold our contention. As a result they
apparently lost their temper and insulted the Committee who then resolved on
stern measures and threatened to erase the Lodge.
CONFLICT WITH GRAND LODGE [1767]
Our Brethren saw the gravity of the position, and on Dec.
27, 1766, authorised this special committee to deal with the matter and they
quickly decided not only that the Lodge should express regret but also to comply
with the reasonable requirement of Grand Lodge; and the controversy ended
amicably as shown by the following verbatim extract from the minutes of Grand
Lodge, dated 28th January, 1767:
"A Memorial from the Dundee Lodge was Read, Praying that
for the Reasons therein alledged, their Constitution might not be forfeited
pursuant to a Resolution of the last Committee of Charity, but that they might
be permitted to retain the same and promising all due obedience for the Future.
The Question being put, whether they should keep their Constitution or not? It
was carried Unanimously in their Favour. Ordered That a Letter be wrote to the
Master of the Dundee Lodge, directing him to acquaint Brs. Gretton and Maddox
(who attended on behalf of the said Lodge at the last Committee of Charity) that
it is expected they attend at the next C.C. and make a proper submission for
their Misbehaviour at the last, otherwise that they will be expell'd the above
named Lodge; and not be permitted to visit any other Regular Lodge."
The writer's thanks are further due to Bro. W. J. Songhurst,
P.G.D., for kindly supplying the above extract from the original minutes of
Grand Lodge. At this meeting of Grand Lodge on 28th January, 1767, Col. John
Salter, D.G.M., was in the chair supported by seven other Grand Officers and
doubtless the Master and Wardens of the Dundee Lodge were in attendance to
support and explain their Petition. Bro. Wonnacott, the Grand Lodge Librarian,
also furnished the writer with the following verbatim extract from the Minutes
of the Committee of Charity, thus completing the story and showing that the
terms laid down by Grand Lodge were duly fulfilled.
1767, Ap. 8. "This Night Bros. Gretton [and] Maddox
attended and made proper Submission and were restored to favour."
As regards the two Brethren who were thus rebuked by Grand
Lodge, Bro. Henry Gretton was W.M. in 1760 [he was a jeweler and repaired our
Sword of state in 1761], while Bro. William Maddax [or Maddock] was W.M. in
1764; presumably they had defied the Committee, as a result they had to
apologise and the Lodge had "to promise all due obedience for the Future."
What then was the special item in the Ceremony of
Initiation, that so offended Lord Blayney, who stated that it was not "agreeable
to the Method practiced in most other Lodges"; the Grand Master here admits that
the Modern Lodge did not all agree on this point, showing there was no
uniformity of working; but whatever the distinctive feature was, the Brethren of
the Dundee Lodge had evidently practised it for so many years that they
described it as our Antient Custom, and rather than abandon it ran the serious
risk of a collision with Grand Lodge. The writer now ventures to make the
following suggestion: In those far off days it was often the custom to Initiate
the Candidate robed in a White Gown, for the records of several old Lodges refer
to their Gowns and Drawers. In 1837 the Old Dundee Lodge had 3 Candidates for
Initiation and the Lodge ordered the Tyler to furnish Three Flannel Dressing
Gowns which were purchased at a cost of 3 6s. Od. These gowns were made of white
serge or flannel (and had a deep hood at the back), fastened at the neck with
tapes--no buttons--and had wide sleeves. They rather resembled the white gown of
a Carthusian monk and were preserved as Masonic curios by the Lodge for many
years and were often handled by the present writer, but in 1904, having become
old and decayed they were--by order--destroyed by the Tyler. Is it not therefore
possible that the deep hood of the White Gown used to be drawn over the head of
the Candidate during the ceremony of Initiation ? If so, this perhaps would
fully explain the interesting and important controversy that the Dundee Lodge
had with the Grand Master, Lord Blayney in 1766.
Extracts from the Records of Lodge, No. 9
1837, Feb. 7. "Paid Tyler for 3 Flannel Gowns" ...3. 6. 0
Dermott in 1764 closed his "Address to the Reader' by
stating:
"There are many other unconstitutional [and perhaps
unprecedented] proceedings which (to avoid giving more offense) I pass over in
silence [and shall content myself with shewing the apparent state of ancient and
modern masonry in England at the time of this present writing, i.e., July 1778],
and hope, that I shall live to see a general conformity and universal unity
between the worthy masons of all denominations. This is the most earnest wishes
and ardent prayers of
Gentlemen and Brethren,
Your most sincere friend, obedient servant and faithful
brother,
Laurence Dermott, Secretary."
The words italicised by the present writer were added by
Dermott in his 1778 Edition. Dermott died in 1791; twenty-two years later his
wishes were fulfilled for in 1813, the happy and complete union of these two
great sections of the Craft took place.
SUMMARY
One must not judge Dermott's satire from the standpoint of
1924-when all ill-feelings between the Moderns and Antients have long been
forgotten--but his book--Ahiman Rezon had a large audience (in America as well
as in England) for nearly 50 years and his-shall we say exaggerated--statements
must have tended to inflame the feelings and warp the judgment of the Antients,
causing many of them to consider the Masonic life and Ritual of the Moderns as
being quite irregular and unworthy of the Craft. It is evident that Dermott
never regretted his unkind references to the inner life of the Dundee Lodge for
his stories as to (1) our Sword of state and (2) payment to our Tyler of
excessive fees for Drawing the Lodge on the floor were repeated in the various
Editions of Ahiman Rezon of 1778, 1787, and also after his death (in 1791), Bro.
Thomas Harper, D.G.M. of the 'Antients' repeated these offensive remarks in the
further Editions of 1800, 1801, 1807 and 1813.
It is therefore quite clear that the high officials of the
G. Lodge of the Antients were equally culpable, as they evidently fully approved
of Dermott's accusations and by their tacit acquiescence ratified and confirmed
them; one therefore feels justified in stating that the 3rd Duke of Atholl, who
was G.M. of the Antients from 1771 to 1774,--and who was also G.M. of Scotland
in 1773-approved and endorsed Dermott's calculated and continued hostile
criticism of the Moderns and their Ritual; the same comment applies to the 4th
Duke of Atholl [G.M. of the Antients 1775-81], and also to the Earl of Antrim,
their G.M. from 1783 to 1791 (especially the latter, who had occupied the
important post of G.M. of Ireland in 1773 and 1779). Bro. J. Heron Lepper in his
"Fraternal Communica tions," an excellent paper read at Manchester in 192
informs us that in 1776 "Antrim, G.M." . . . "attended a Modern Lodge in London
and subscribed the sum of twenty guineas towards the building fund of the hall
in Great Queen Street, being quite unaware at the time that there was any
difference between Antient and Modern Masonry"; and yet he was supposed as G.M.
to know his Ahiman Rezon by heart!
The Grand Lodge Library possesses an excellent example of
the Ahiman Rezon [1807 Edition] hand somely bound in crimson morocco, and Bro.
Wonnacott, the Grand Lodge Librarian informs me that this copy was for some
years used by the Grand Lodge of the Antients, right up to the very last meeting
of that Society, and is also the identical copy that was used when the Duke of
Essex was re-obligated in 1813. These facts are stated on the first page in a
note in the handwriting of Dr. Thos. Crucefix which also says that the book was
presented to Bro. Crucefix in 1833 by Bro. Edwards Harper, a former Grand
Secretary of the Antients.
NO REPLY BY THE MODERNS
And yet in spite of these severe and repeated tacks on
their Ritual, the Modern Grand Lodge--as far as we know--never deigned to make a
reply, whilst the Dundee Lodge (who must have been aware of these hostile
criticisms, specially directed against their Masonic working) treated the matter
with contemptuous silence. Instead of wasting time by a word warfare, our
Brethren busied themselves in working up one of the most prosperous Lodges on
the side of the Moderns, for a list printed in 1810 (the zenith of their
prosperity) shows that in that year the Dundee Lodge--which was a great maritime
Lodge--possessed 109 ordinary members and no less than 261: "Sea-members" whilst
its property was insured for 2000 pounds.
The writer does not venture to assert that all Dermott's
statements are inaccurate; on the contrary his stories about (a) the user of the
'Sword of State' (b) the special payments made to the Tyler and (c) the use of
the "little Lewis and Capstan" are quite correct. No, no, it is rather the
venomous and exaggerated way in which these matters are made to appear that
naturally--in 1924--arouses the anger (real or assumed) of a very humble
representative of the successors of the Dundee Lodge.
People "who live in Glass Houses" should not throw stones;
the following episode proves that Dermott's own section of the Craft had also
imperfections for some of the so-called Antients were perfectly willing to Make
a Mason for the very trifling and unworthy consideration of a leg of mutton for
supper, whereas the lowest fee charged by the Dundee Lodge for Initiation into
the 1st and 2nd Degrees was 2. 2. 0, and 5s. 0d. extra if--and when--the
Candidate took the 3d of a Master Mason.
LEG OF MUTTON MASONS [1752]
Bro. Bywater tells us on p. 11 of his Notes on Lau. Dermott
and his work that the following extract-taken from the proceedings of the Grand
Committee the Antients--appears in Dermott's own handwriting, dated 4th March,
1752: "Complaints made against Thomas Phealon and John Mackey, better known by
the name of 'leg of mutton Masons.' In course of examination it appeared that
Phealon and Mackey had initiated many persons for the consideration of a leg of
Mutton for dinner or supper to the disgrace of the Ancient Craft. That Mackey
was an Empiric in Physic and both imposters in Masonry."
If Dermott had only let the world a little more into the
secrets of some of the inner workings of the early Lodges of the Antients, it
might have very much discounted his own satirical observations as to the methods
and Masonic life of the Moderns. It is pretty obvious that jealousy prompted
Dermott in many of his criticisms against the Moderns; speaking generally about
1763 the Lodges of the Antients were not financially strong and the prosperous
condition of the Dundee Lodge evidently raised his spleen. To illustrate this,
Lodge No. 9 had 59 members in 1761 and 88 in 1764. The ordinary Lodge income in
1761 was 114 pounds and there was a balance in hand on 1st January, 1762, of 37
pounds. In 1764 the ordinary Lodge Income was 360 pounds [of which 103 pounds
was for making fees received from new members] and the balance in the
Treasurer's hands on 1st January, 1765, was 96 pounds. The receipts from the
"Master's Lodge" held weekly (as a favour or indulgence) during the six winter
months [October to April] in 1764 amounted to over 27 pounds, in weekly sums
varying from 18s. 6d. to 2. 1. 0; at which Lodge meetings there is good reason
to believe that the ceremony of Holy Royal Arch was performed. In addition the
members of the Dundee Lodge raised in 1763 about 800 pounds by voluntary
subscriptions to pay for their new Freehold premises at 'Red Lyon Street,'
Wapping, with the necessary improvements and furniture. This unusual condition
of prosperity of an old Modern Lodge "in my neighbourhood" [to use his own
words] may account for some of his vitriolic attacks on their working !
However, in spite of his severe criticisms Dermott was a
jovial, good fellow and it can be safely asserted that he had many excellent
friends amongst the Moderns who perhaps did not take him seriously and felt that
they could afford to pass over his attacks with good humoured contempt--whilst
the Regular Lodges improved in strength and importance.
Dermott was evidently not a total abstainer, he carried on
business as a wine merchant at Tower Hill, E., and doubtless--in accordance with
the custom of those days supplied certain Lodges of the Antients with rum
(required for punch) and also 'Red Port,' then a favorite beverage. That Dermott
could appreciate a glass of good wine seems apparent from the fact that he was a
martyr to gout, for he himself asserted in 1770 that Br. Dickey, the Deputy
Grand Secretary, resigned his post "when he (Dermott) was so ill in the gout,
that he was obliged to be carried out of his bed (when incapable to wear shoes,
stockings, or even britches) to do his duty at Grand Steward's Lodge." This
story, however, he did not include in his Ahiman Rezon!
DERMOTT S MUSICAL TALENT
Dermott was musically inclined, and very fond of singing at
the meetings of his Grand Lodge but that he was not always popular among the
Antients is proved by the fact that in 1752 four of their members accused him of
having "actually sung and lectured the Brethren out of their senses," but in
1753 the W.M. in the chair at an Emergency held at the 'King & Queen,' Cable
street, Rosemary Lane, thanked him for his last new song and "hoped that the
applause of his Brethren would induce Br. Dermott, G.S., to compose another
against the next st. John's Day."
GRAND MASTERS OF SCOTLAND
The following point seems to deserve some consideration,
viz., that from 1721 to 1753 the Moderns had as their Grand Masters members of
high degree, including four Dukes, nine Earls, eight Lords and two Viscounts;
four of these exalted officials had also been Grand Masters of Scotland, how
therefore could Dermott say--with any sincerity--that the Ritual of the
'Moderns' was not in harmony with the best traditions of the Craft; surely some
of these Grand Masters would have personally objected if there had been just
cause for complaint. Whatever may be the final verdict of Masonic students on
the value to be placed on Dermott's statements, it is quite clear that the Craft
is much indebted to him for thus letting in a flood of light upon the Masonic
customs and ceremonies as practised by the Moderns--or some of them--prior to
the Union in 1813.
In conclusion it is only fair to say that--in spite of his
aggressive hostility to the Moderns and their Ritual, persisted in right up to
his death in 1791-Dermott was a very sincere Mason and gave nearly 50 years of a
busy life to advance the interests of the Antients, that section of the Craft to
which he devoted all his energies and undoubted talents. On page 16 of his 1st
Edition of Ahiman Rezon [1756] Dermott to his infinite credit (considering the
rough age in which he lived) expresses this lofty sentiment, viz., that a Mason
should "not only perform his Duty to his great Creator, but also to his
Neighbour and himself: For to walk humbly in the sight of God, to do Justice and
love mercy are the certain Characteristics of a Real, Free and Accepted Ancient
Mason." The writer therefore desires to end these remarks with the kindliest
thoughts to this worthy and great Mason--the chief protagonist and champion of
the Antients--and in accordance with the time-honored maxim:
"De mortuis nil nisi bonum"
to close this rather discursive--but he trusts not entirely
irrelevant--essay.
----o----
The Hiramic Legend and the Medieval Stage
By BRO. ERNEST E. THIEMEYER, Missouri
PART III--THE LEGEND AND THE DRAMA
(Concluded)
THE idea of conciliation, of influencing the gods to do
your will, finds expression in many ways. The war ceremonies, the initiation
rites, the fertility practices connected with the securing of abundant crops and
plentiful food are all magical in intent. Frazer points out many of them and
offers voluminous proof of their magical nature, but more to the point, so far
as the present discussion is concerned, they are all mimetic as well as magical.
Drama is present in all of them. But most essential is the fact that they are
ritualistic in practice. They are not only pre-done, but re-done. The
pre-enactment of a particular journey, hunt, or battle has become the
re-enactment of a general ceremony typifying journeying, hunting, or fighting,
just as the re-enaction of a past event became generalized as heretofore pointed
out. They become religious and ritualistic. A characteristic of primitive
religions is secrecy--they are all mystery religions. In many cases,
particularly those ceremonies connected with puberty rites, only the initiated
take part. In others, it is only a particular group who are allowed to perform
the rites--the members of a totem clan, for instance, in the case of food
ceremonies. These particular groups are generally endowed with some particular
mystic power which specially fits them for the performance of such ceremonies.
The rites are, in most instances, known only to those who perform them, or, if
they are performed in public, the performers are the only ones cognizant of the
real reason for their enactment. As the necessity for every man to be initiated
was abolished, ceremonies which were originally the property of a given social
group may have come to belong only to a small circle of that group, but this
certainly is not the same as a public ceremony becoming private in the sense
that Bro. Race infers.
That is possibly aside from the question, but contributes
materially to the analogies to be drawn between the Masonic Legend and more
primitive ritual myths. It is proof in itself that stories of this sort are not
first public and then private, but that they develop in private (within a social
group) and continue to be secret until some particular circumstance makes them
public.
In Greek mystery religions the following ritual features
are to be found:
"1. An Agon or contest, the year against its enemy, Light
against Darkness, Summer against winter.
"2. A Pathos of the Year-Daimon, generally a ritual or
sacrificial death, in which Adonis, or Attis is slain by the tabu animal, the
Pharmakos stoned, Osiris, Dionysus, Pentheus, Orpheus, Hippolytus torn to
pieces.
"3. A Messenger. For this Pathos seems seldom or never to
be actually performed under the eyes of the audience. (The reason of this is not
hard to suggest.) It is announced by a Messenger. 'The news comes' that Pan the
Great, Thammuz, Adonis, Osiris is dead, and the dead body is often brought in on
a bier. This leads to
"4. A Threnos or Lamentation. Specially characteristic
however, is a clash of contrary emotions, the death of the old being also the
triumph of the new.
"5 and 6. An Anagnorisis--discovery or recognition--of the
slain and mutilated Daimon, followed by his Resurrection or Apotheosis or, in
some sense, his Epiphany in glory. This, I shall call by the general name
Theophany. It naturally goes with a Peripeteia or extreme change of feeling from
grief to joy." (1)
That the ritual forms preserved in Greek tragedy are
elemental and basic is a conclusion which finds no foundation in fact. Evidence
indicates that for the most part they are developments of a period later than
the most primitive drama with which we have been dealing. It is, nevertheless,
essential that we have some place to begin and the nomenclature applied by
Professor Murray to Greek rituals will be of much value in analyzing more
primitive ceremonies and will assist immeasurably in tracing survivals to a much
later period. One of these forms is,. generally speaking, conspicuous by its
absence. It seems to have been confined, in a large measure, to the Greek drama.
The Messenger is, in all probability, an outgrowth of the Greek dislike for
representing death scenes upon the stage or before the eyes of an audience, or
it may have developed from some person (official) like the 'dadoukos' of Eleusis,
who proclaimed the intent of what is being done. Hence this element as the
bringer of bad tidings is to be found only in rare instances in primitive
ceremonies and still more rarely in later survivals. The personage of the
Messenger is conspicuous in the Masonic Legend, but in a different sense from
the Greek usage. In this particular, then, little or no assistance can be found
in surviving ceremony. The others, however, are found in many instances and
represent both development and survival.
DEATH AND RESURRECTION IN RITUAL
The most primitive form of ritual seems to be chiefly
concerned with a violent death and a resurrection. The Pathos and Theophany are
generally present. The others are absent. Occasional illustrations of one or
more of the other elements in company with the previous two are found, but it is
rather uncommon to find all of these forms (always bearing in mind the general
absence of the Messenger) present in one ceremony. Such instances are
sufficiently frequent and widespread in geographic distribution to warrant the
conclusion that of its own accord ceremonial ritual will develop along well
defined lines.
"In the west of Ceram boys at puberty are admitted to the
Kakian association. The society is in fact merely one of those widely diffused
primitive institutions, of which a chief object is the initiation of young men.
The Kakian house is an oblong wooden shed, situated under the darkest trees in
the depth of the forest, and is built to admit so little light that it
impossible to see what goes on in it. Every village has such a house. Thither
the boys who are to be initiated are conducted blindfold, followed by their
parents and relations. Each boy is led by the hand of two men, who act as his
sponsors or guardians, looking after him during the period of initiation. When
all are assembled before the shed, the high priest calls aloud upon the devils.
Immediately a hideous uproar is heard to proceed from the shed. It is made by
men with bamboo trumpets, who have been secretly introduced into the building by
a back door, but the women and children think it is made by the devils, and are
much terrified. Then the priests enter the shed, followed by the boys, one at a
time. As soon as each boy has disappeared within the precincts, a dull chopping
sound is heard, a fearful cry rings out, and a sword or spear, dripping with
blood is thrust through the roof of the shed. This is a token that the boy's
head has been cut off, and that the devil has carried him away to the other
world, there to regenerate and transform him. So at the sight of the bloody
sword the mothers weep and wail, crying that the devil has murdered their
children. The boys remain in the shed for five or nine days. Every day they
bathe, and their faces and bodies are smeared with a yellow clay, to give them
the appearance of having been swallowed by the devil. During his stay in the
Kakian house each boy has one or two crosses tattooed with thorns on his breast
or arm. When they are not sleeping, the lads must sit in a crouching posture
without moving a muscle. As they sit in a row cross-legged, with their hands
stretched out, the chief takes his trumpet, and placing the mouth of it on the
hands of each lad, speaks through it in strange tones, imitating the voice of
the spirits. He warns the lads, under pain of death, to observe the rules of the
Kakian society, and never to reveal what has passed in the Kakian house. The
novices are also told by the priests to behave well to their blood relations,
and are taught the traditions and secrets of the tribe.
"Meantime the mothers and sisters of the lads have gone
home to weep and mourn. But in a day or two the men who acted as guardians or
sponsors to the novices return to the village with the glad tidings that the
devil, at the intercession of the priests, has restored the lads to life. The
men who bring this news come in a fainting state and daubed with mud, like
messengers freshly arrived from the nether world. When the lads return to their
homes they totter in their walk, and enter the house backward, as if they had
forgotten how to walk properly; or they enter the house by the back door. They
remain dumb indicating their wants by signs only. All this is to show that they
are still under the influence of the devil or the spirits. Their sponsors have
to teach them all the common acts of life, as if they were new-born children.
(2)
In this ceremony we have a ritual death which is in itself
a Pathos and in its nature implies certain of the elements of the Agon. The
mourning of the relatives forms a Threnos and the return to life embodies a
Theophany. The Messenger is present, but differing essentially from the
Messenger of the Greeks.
It is in no wise necessary for us to enter into a
discussion of these forms in Greek ritual. Examples are common and a reading of
Frazer's Golden Bough (the abridged edition) or the volume treating with
"Adonis, Attis and Osiris" will furnish ample evidence of the existence of them
in Greek and other mystery religions.
Illustrations of their survival in medieval folklore are
abundant, many of the Jack o' the Green ceremonies, carrying out death, and folk
festivals in general will exemplify their survival.
"In Saxony and Thuringen there is a Whitsuntide ceremony
called 'chasing the Wild Man out of the bush' or 'fetching the Wild Man out of
the Wood.' A young fellow is enveloped in leaves or moss and called the Wild
Man. He hides in the wood and other lads of the village go out and seek him.
They find him, lead him captive out of the wood, and fire at him with blank
muskets. He falls like dead to the ground, but a lad dressed as a doctor bleeds
him, and he comes to life again. At this they rejoice, and, binding him fast on
a wagon, take him to a village, where they tell all the people how they have
caught the Wild Man." (3)
It is impossible not to recognize in such ceremonies
survivals of the ritual forms discussed heretofore. It would appear then that
from the most primitive times drama is the property of the social group. If it
is possible, in a loosely organized community such as a village, to keep these
customs alive, is it demanding too much of the credulity to ask that we believe
a closely knit organization such as the Masons must have been, were equally
capable of handing down such traditions? The answer to that question must await
further development.
The implication involved in adopting Professor Murray's
classification of ritual forms preserved in Greek tragedy is apparent. The
theory that drama, at least Greek drama, developed out of certain ritualistic
elements contained in the mystery religions is one that finds many adherents
among the scholars of today. Farnell in his "Cults of the Greek States" seems
inclined to that view, as is Miss Harrison and Loomis Havemeyer. Although the
evidence in Chapter IV of Havemeyer's "Drama of Savage Peoples" is not
conclusive, it would seem that drama among the Japanese developed in the same
way. It must be remembered that, in treating with this phase of the subject, we
are dealing with conscious drama. Heretofore the discussion has been confined to
unconscious drama. It seems probable that the chain of evolution is unbroken
when traced through the thoughts of social groups. There appears to be a
continuity that cannot be questioned existing from primitive peoples to at least
those illustrative of the continental European and English peoples of the
medieval period. In following the development from the history of the theatre we
are faced with the problem of bridging a gap of centuries and it will be
interesting to note the conclusions that may be drawn.
Greek plays seem to have had a vital influence on the Roman
drama. The intercourse between the two countries had developed to such a point
that, prior to the establishment of the Roman theatre, Greek drama was known in
the Latin peninsula. Many of the outstanding productions of the Roman dramatists
were merely paraphrasings of the works of earlier Greek playwrights. Possibly
because of its later development, the Roman theatre seems never to have risen to
the heights occupied by the Greek. The form of the Roman plays was similar to
that of the Greeks as would be expected when the close connection between the
two became evident.
INFLUENCE OF CHRISTIANITY ON DRAMA
The growth of Christianity, however, had a detrimental
influence on the Roman stage and eventually was responsible for its complete
annihilation. The theatres were disbanded and actors as a class were persona non
grata. The only ways in which the subdued dramatic instinct survived the Dark
Ages were through bands of strolling minstrels and in the unconscious drama of
the villages. Eventually, the church developed, as religions seem to do in all
parts of the world and at all times, a drama of its own. This was evidentially a
survival of the more primitive type, little if at all affected by the drama of
the cities. The church apparently realized the value of visual representation in
teaching. A number of liturgical dramas resulted and finally these plays were
secularized into the guild plays of the medieval period.
In the old poems of the type of Widsith and the Complaint
of Deor, which are typical of the minstrel period, appears the mythical hero
type of story common among so many of the more primitive peoples. In the case of
most minstrel lays there seems to be some reason for the belief that the hero
actually lived, though the events narrated are often, if not always, fictitious.
Often, then, the heroic character is real, but his life is wholly or, in a great
measure, mythical. "The tale loses nothing in the telling" is an oft-repeated
phrase and applies with peculiar fitness to the period of the strolling
minstrel.
As the minstrelsy declined, the only two means of keeping
alive the dramatic instincts were the church and folk drama, or a mingling of
the two. The Boy Bishop and Feast of Fools seems to be somewhat of a cross
between folk drama and liturgical drama. It is possible that both were
outgrowths of the dramatic tendencies of Christian worship which manifested
themselves early in church history.
"At least from the fourth century, the central and most
solemn rite of that (Christian) worship was the mass, an essentially dramatic
commemoration of one of the most critical moments in the life of the Founder."
(4)
It is not necessary to enter into a general discussion of
liturgical drama because practically all of the plays enacted represented in
some form the Passion. The Agon in Christian ritual is not the physical struggle
pictured by the Greeks; the Pathos is still the sacrificial death; the Threnos,
the lamentation of Christ's followers; and the Theophany the resurrection and
consequent rejoicing. It is only in Passion Plays of the Oberammergau type that
we find a modern example of the survival in drama of the ritualistic features of
Christian religion. This was not true in earlier times and most of the
liturgical dramas graphically represented the Passion of Christ.
MIRACLE AND MYSTERY PLAYS
When the church came to be too small for the representation
of these plays, or rather when the complexity of the plays demanded more room
than the church could provide, they began to spread out. First to the
churchyard, then to the market place, and eventually into pageants which passed
through the towns enacting part of the play at one station and part at another.
The gilds gradually took over these liturgical plays and they became secular in
character. The underlying principles were maintained, but when complete
secularism was attained it seems probable that the plays instead of representing
the Passion of Christ came to picture the passion of the patron saints of the
gilds. Instead then of only one play enacted in pageant and in part at various
stations there developed several plays each enacted in its entirety by the
members of a gild and one might almost say symbolically representing the
Christian Passion, but actually presenting the death of some gild patron. If we
are to accept the opinion of Professor Murray and others belonging to the same
school concerning the origin of Greek drama, we find history repeating itself.
What happened in the case of Christian drama was that the religious passion came
to apply to any heroic character, and this is precisely what happened in the
case of Greek drama. The passion of Dionysus became all inclusive and was
symbolized by the passions of other heroes.
So it is, that we have the survival of ritual forms in both
conscious and unconscious drama. What are the conclusions that may be reached,
then, concerning the dramatic features of the Masonic Legend? It has been shown
that it is natural for such stories as this to develop among social groups. This
growth seems characteristic of group thinking the world over, not only among the
Greeks, or in the Mediterranean region, but among peoples from all parts of the
world. Such stories are extremely tenacious of life and are handed down from
generation to generation for untold centuries; modified, perhaps, but
maintaining the essentials and changing no more than the details; undergoing
expansion where necessity arises, but in all cases maintaining continuous
existence. Drama is inherent in such fables as they progress, dramatic features
are enlarged just as the story is lengthened. The development of drama is just
as natural as the development of myth. These legends and myths are transmitted
through centuries in loosely organized social groups such as savage tribes and
villages. It seems entirely probable that should occasion demand such a story
could be fabricated by a closely knit unit such as the Masons' Gild must have
been. That they were perfectly capable of inventing such a story in its simple
form is clearly shown by the numerous traditional murders found connected with
some buildings, if not by the fact that their mentality was equal, if not
superior, to that of primitive peoples. That the capability of enlarging it was
present seems reasonable in view of the diversity of membership that the
ceremony of Acception gave the Craft. When all the evidence has been examined
the conclusion will be reached that our legend is a natural outgrowth of ritual
requirement, and that it has not been invented in the fictional sense, but is a
product of the thought processes of a social group. Further, that if any
conclusions as to its origin and growth are to be reached, the present line of
research must be abandoned and the field of ethnography investigated.
THE LEGEND AND THE MIRACLE PLAYS
So far as the possibility of Bro. Race's theory being true
is concerned, there is none. The Legend of Hiram is not as he suggests, "The
libretto of a religious drama, nothing more and nothing less"; neither is it an
outgrowth of such a drama. It is no more closely connected with medieval drama
than it is with folklore. It is, however, a parallel development, growing, not
out of the texts or librettos of such dramas, conscious or unconscious, but
illustrative of the survival of the mental type which originally produced such
stories.
Bro. D. E. W. Williamson in a letter to the writer under
date of Feb. 14, 1926, adds a very valuable contribution to this opinion.
"I went very thoroughly into the gild plays of England read
Roswitha in Latin because I did not know there was an English translation and
all other works I could obtain through the Congressional Library. There was
absolutely no trace of anything in any way similar to our legend in any of them.
In fact, reading them as I did, I became convinced that, archaic as is the
Legend of H.A., in its language and its setting it is entirely foreign to the
spirit of the gild plays.... The plays of every gild were written, they were
openly performed, and they were not given on a stage, but on a pageant--I
express it in that way to avoid giving the present-day meaning of pageant to the
performance. Bro. Race, in short, is in my opinion not familiar with the method
of producing the miracle plays, where even the simple exits to which he refers
were impossible in the manner he attributes to them. The play of the Masonic
craft had to do with Herod, as I recall it at the moment, and not with the
Temple.
"I can state with great positiveness that there is nothing
even remotely similar to our legend to be found in the mysteries and miracle
plays of England and North France, that there is probably nothing like it in the
Provencal or Spanish and that the celebrated Nun of Hildersheim never dreamed of
such a story. I can also add with positiveness that Hebrew literature of the
Middle Ages contains nothing whatever that could be stretched by any possibility
into being the germ of the H.A. tragedy or about the builder, himself. I spent
nearly a year and a half in investigating these writings. It was a waste of
time."
That Bro. Williamson's year and a half was time wasted is
to be doubted. He is to be congratulated for exhausting one possible source of
information if nothing else grew out of his efforts. And now the final chapter,
those things we set out to accomplish in the first section of this discussion
have been done. It has been clearly shown that Bro. Race's ritual difficulties
are not uniformly found in all versions of the Legend; it has been proven, that
in all probability they did not exist at the time of mystery and miracle plays.
This, in itself, is sufficient to preclude any possibility of the Legend ever
having been such a play as Bro. Race describes. In addition, however, it has
been pointed out that the Legend as we know it is an evolutionary product, and
this is equally true whether we consider it as an eighteenth century invention
or something much older. The only conclusion to be reached, in my own opinion,
is, then, that our Legend never was a consciously devised play, but that the
drama to be found in it is inherent in its nature and could no more be separated
from it than the Legend itself could be separated from Freemasonry.
(1) Ibid, pp. 342-43.
(2) Frazer, The Golden Bough, abr. ed., 1925, pp. 696-97.
See all of section 4, chapter Ixvii. cf. also, Webster, Primitive Secret
Societies, pp. 22, 32; Havemeyer, op. cit., chap. v; THE BUILDER, vol 10,
American Indian Masonry, by Bro. A.C. Parker, pp. 137ff. and pp. 169ff.
(3) Frazer, op. cit., p. 298.
(4) Chambers, The Medieval Stage, vol. ii, p. 3.
----o----
The Cult of Efficiency By ROLAND HUGINS
THIS article is reprinted by permission from the Open Court
Magazine of Chicago for a special purpose. At this season the whole country
celebrates the Declaration of Independence, and the birthday of its liberties.
The Masonic ideal is that of freedom tempered by a noble discipline and
self-restraint, here we have an able exposition of a world-wide tendency of the
present day that is operating far more rapidly and far more drastically than
most of us dream towards standardizing the individual, restricting his freedom
of action and making of liberty more and more an empty word. The same tendency
is equally at work within the Craft as without, and it may be as well for Masons
to give some thought to the question whether it is leading them whither they
desire to go.
THE decline of liberty is one of the outstanding facts of
our time, and is no less significant because undiscerned by many and discussed
by few. The institutions of society are being molded gradually but steadily in
the direction of more rigid restraints. At the same time respect for liberty in
the abstract, for liberty as an ideal, is declining even more rapidly than its
practice. It is true that the new social forces hostile to individual rights, as
they used to be called, do not have the field entirely to themselves, and that
they are opposed and impeded by the more liberal traditions of a former day. But
the resistance grows more and more feeble. Despite temporary repulses, the new
forces push steadily forward, with liberty and individualism on the defensive
and in retreat.
The old enthusiasm for freedom is yielding to the cult of
efficiency. Social ideals seldom die of old age, or fade like dying fires. They
are displaced by other ideals and new social values. The ascendant ideal in our
day is the concept of social efficiency. Efficiency of the group and of the
nation is admired not only as a shining marvel in itself, but as the miracle
which produces our prosperity and our greatness. Before this latest god, with
its two mighty arms of organization and machinery, the world really worships,
whatever its ostensible creeds. Practically everyone is proud to be a unit in an
efficient group, community, or nation; or if these aspirations seem too narrow,
then a unit is an efficient civilization.
So penetrating are the currents of thought With which all
persons are washed that even professed liberals yield to the new influences, and
sacrifice liberty to efficiency with something like enthusiasm. To a degree that
few people seem to realize this new idea has come to permeate the whole
intellectual and emotional atmosphere of our time. It dominates our opinions on
industry, morals, war, politics and progress. It has become a technique to be
followed for its own sake, irrespective of the object in view, and without
scrutiny of the consequences. The human mind is so constituted, apparently, that
it must push a good idea too far, and turn a serviceable concept into a fetish,
a superstition. Of course, this obsession does not grip all temperaments with
equal force, but it influences practically everyone to some extent, since no one
can quite escape the mental climate of the age in which he lives. Where in this
day do we find any affirmative and burning faith in individual rights? What
section of opinion has not been stirred by a zeal for some kind of social
efficiency? Sparks from this blaze have fallen on all the camps, conservative
and radical. You can trace its scorch on Communists, Laborites, Progressives,
Liberals, Tories, Royalists, Fascisti. Many political groups which stand at
swords points one to another really cherish aims which are fundamentally alike.
Nations which would like to tear each other's eyes out are, in basic purposes,
as identical as cats.
Of course real efficiency, as distinguished from
pseudo-efficiency, has its place and utility. In factory or office, its
apparatus of bookkeeping machines, time-motion studies, performance records; and
its program for routing work, standardization of equipment, and organization of
personnel, combine to form a labor-saving device. Where thousands of employes,
using great quantities of power and material, tending expensive machines, and
fabricating complicated products, work together under one roof or under one
management, co-ordination becomes a vital matter. Some particular arrangement of
all these factors, human and mechanical, will in any give plant or organization
prove to be the most economical and productive; and to discover this best
arrangement is the business of the efficiency expert. But even here the
application of efficiency requires special safe guards. Operations are often
made so rapid and continuous that they strain human endurance. Labor unions have
rightly protested against the excesses of scientific management, and have fought
those drivers and pace-setters who strive to "squeeze the last drops of output
from human effort." Moreover, all the over lords of efficiency, from Pullman to
Ford, have show an inclination to regulate the personal habits and the private
affairs of the men on their payrolls. The excuse is obvious. What a workingman
does in his leisure time may affect his productivity in working hours; and a
little rashness in the pursuit of happiness may make him late the next morning.
The employe is therefore forced to accept, under pain of losing his job, a
thinly disguised supervision of his pleasures, his morals and his expenditures.
The attitude of these paternalistic employers is well illustrated by the order
which was posted in all the plants, shop and offices of Henry Ford some time in
July, 1929. This order read: "From this date on, dismissal, without opportunity
for appeal, will be the penalty imposed on any man found to have the odor of
beer, wine or other liquor on his breath or to have intoxicant on his person or
in his house." Ford succeeds even in outdoing Volstead.
The role of true efficiency is strictly limited. It is a
methodology for getting some of the coarser and more material business of the
world done expeditiously. From a labor-saving device, useful in its proper
sphere, efficiency in our day has been expanded into an all-inclusive social
ideal. Thus distended and misapplied, the gospel of social efficiency works
grave mischief. It takes account of only one side of human nature. It has no
place for light-heartedness, and abstracts from life its spontaneous and joyous
elements. Our world grows progressively drabber, more somber, and more
repressed. Parades, celebrations and public spectacles become less frequent;
fairs, carnivals and festivals less gay. Any boisterous mirth or hilarity is
viewed with suspicion. There are now many sections of the United States where a
man or woman singing in the streets would literally be regarded as either drunk
or insane. One would think that as life within working hours grew duller, less
interesting and more monotonous, every effort would be made to render life
outside the factory and office more diverting and colorfull. But no, the whole
of existence must be subjected to a devastating routine. In this new dour world
each person is expected, as far as possible, to follow a fixed schedule. He is
to arise at the same hour each morning; he is to give eight or nine hours of
concentrated labor; and at night he is to indulge only in a mild relaxation,
such as a movie show or a radio concert. And this routine is to be maintained
for years, broken only by an annual two weeks' vacation with pay. He is never to
have a fling, never to let his spirit cavort. In short, human beings are to
become automatons, each with a minimum productive output. But such a life is
unnatural, and revolts most people-revolts all people in fact, except those few
who are the quintessence of all the bourgeois virtues. The spirit of man grows
restive under such complete regimentation. The soul will inevitably have its
compensations, its relapses. If such dismal uniformity prevails, all our social
engineering will be insufficient to prevent the roof of society from caving in
periodically.
The fetish of efficiency fosters a subtle depravity.
Concentrating as it does on means rather than ends, it has no spiritual reality,
and imposes, therefore, no restraint on any evil passion or debasing doctrine.
Our age is supposedly an age of rationalism; yet religious bigotries, racial
enmities, and nationalistic hatreds blaze as though fed with some secret fuel.
And most disheartening of all is the growth of callousness to human suffering,
especially a murderous insensibility to the horrors of war. Men now turn away
from the picture of overcrowding and reeking hospitals behind the battle-lines
with a shrug. But they are captivated by the spectacle of a modern army on the
move, advancing with its tanks and artillery, with its streams of infantry and
equipment, accompanied by squadrons of aircraft, all highly disciplined and
articulated. The worship of efficiency leads directly to a reverence for force:
Men now admire the strong organization, and at the apex of their admiration
stands the Great state: the powerful nation self-sufficient in economic
resources and machinery; panoplied with military and naval armaments; commanding
the service of scientists, engineers and every type of expert; alert to act in
emergencies, and irresistible in war. This vision has captured the imagination
of the modern man.
And here, doubtless, we have the key to a paradox which the
events of the last ten years have made evident. The paradox lies in the gap
between intentions and deeds, and between expectations and results. It is indeed
odd that the so-called liberal democracies so often prove to be, in action,
quite as imperialistic as avowed autocracies. It is indeed curious that
so-called radical parties, when voted into power, are constrained to proceed, in
their own fashion, quite as ruthlessly as the conservative parties which they
displace. There appears to be some element of bewilderment in the minds of
statesmen which prevents them from following their better judgment. There
appears to be some under-drag of unreason in public opinion which compels
peoples to act contrary to their own interests. The anomaly is an inevitable
result of the attempt to straddle two conflicting sets of principles. Both
leaders and electorates, while paying lip service to liberal doctrines, are
really hypnotized by the ideal of the efficient, selfsufficient state. They
intend to be pacific and magnanimous, most assuredly; but first they must have
"security." Security implies, among other things, economic solidarity. Tariff
barriers are erected to protect all "essential" industries. If the nations do
not possess at home the raw materials necessary for self-sufficiency, they reach
out for exclusive resources abroad. A measure of self-government is granted to
subject peoples only to be snatched back when the agitation for independence
grows dangerous. Of course, this line of policy leads on and on. Colonies must
be protected; sea lanes must be guarded; and navies must be provided with bases,
fuel stations and oil reserves. It is impossible for nations, any more than men,
to serve two masters.
Some nations, naturally, have traveled further along the
road to the new regimentation than others. The United states is indoubtedly the
chief exemplar of efficiency. In America we are mad really; we think so much
about processes, and pay so little attention to the art of living. When
Europeans inveigh against the "Americanization" of the world, they refer to just
this sweep toward uniformly and standardization. But Europeans deceive
themselves if they imagine America to be the spring of that flood which actually
wells from the spirit of the age. America is not more its exponent than its
victim; and while efficiency in practice has been applied more drastically in
the United states than in Europe, efficiency as a national ideal seems to have
been envisioned more sharply in Europe than in the United states. France, under
every type of party government, is intent on the task of knitting her European
and African domains into an impregnable economic and military unit. Great
Britain is busily cementing and consolidating her vast industrial and imperial
power. The British, however, with their inveterate fondness for standing (at one
and the same time) on both sides of every matter of principle, like to fancy
that they can achieve modern efficiency on the one hand, and retain
individualism and muddle on the other. It is an idle hope. Germany transformed
herself within a generation from a land of philosophers, toy-makers and music
masters into a huge machine, equally well organized for industry or war, and
effective in marshalling all the physical and psychic energies of her people.
Although Germany found that efficiency was not enough, and came to disaster, the
world, including Germany, has not learned the lesson. The trend toward national
efficiency is nowhere long retarded. The Western world moves together; and
although some nations may spurt here and other nations lag there, they all drift
along in the same direction, like a band of boys advancing down a road.
Furthermore, the thought of the Orient turns more and more into the ways already
channeled by the West. What America and Europe are in this generation, China and
India will become in the next.
The ideal of efficiency has gained so tyrannical a hold
over the modern mind, and its ramifications and inferences are so numerous and
pervasive, that any effort to break its spell seems for the present almost
hopeless. It is extremely difficult for any epoch to shake itself free from its
superstitions, or, indeed, even to admit that it entertains superstitions. In
every age people flatter themselves that their opinions are based on experience
and on demonstrable facts; and they attribute superstitions only to past times
and backward races. Lecky wrote: "It is often and truly said that past ages were
pre-eminently credulous, as compared with our own, yet difference is not so much
in the amount of credulity, as in the direction which it takes." In the Middle
Ages men were obsessed by the supernatural; they believed in the daily presence
of good and evil spirits, in Satanic wiles, and in miraculous intervention for
the deliverance of the faithful. Miracles now seem to most people rare and
remote. Yet in medieval times these doctrines were cherished not only by the
masses of the people, but by scholars, philosophers and jurists.
Broadly speaking, one might say that since the fall of the
Roman Empire there have been three great historical epochs, each one of them
characterized by distinctive modes of thought and feeling. In the medieval
period men's minds were engrossed by religion and theology. This might be called
the age of Other Worldliness. The intolerable abuses of power by feudal state
and church led to a period of revolt and of emancipation. The rationalistic
movement and the democratic movement were the major currents in the four
centuries between the beginning of the sixteenth century and the end of the
nineteenth century. This might be called the age of Liberalism. Then began the
age of Efficiency. Surely, it is one of the ironies of history that, having
striven for four hundred years to free themselves from the shackles of old
institutions, old customs, old ideas, men have chosen in the fulness of their
deliverance to embrace the pseudo-ideal of social efficiency. The age of
Efficiency was preceded by thirty or forty years of transition, and really
began, if one must select a date, with 1914. How long it will last no one can
foretell.
Certain social philosophers, without hitting the nail
exactly on the head, have deplored "the triumph of mechanism over mankind." A
rebellious repudiation of the machine and all its works finds voice in the
writings of celebrated critics of the modern order, who blame the machine for
both the barbarity of war and the materialism of peace, and who urge man to
revolt against this monster which he himself has created. But if strictures of
this sort are to be taken seriously then the only sensible thing for us to do is
to demolish our factories and power plants, cut our wires and cables, tear up
our railroads, and sink our steamships. Such an orgy of tool-smashing would be
literalism gone mad. Smelters and steel mills do not in some mystic manner now
compel men to do evil, any more than Gothic cathedrals in former times forced
men to use the rack and faggot. Destruction of our physical paraphernalia would
not remedy the world's intellectual anarchy.
Ideas, and ideas alone, alter fundamental human
relationships. What is bringing us to a new order of society and a new type of
civilization is the many-sided idea of social efficiency. We march toward social
regimentation by definite steps. The laws, the so-called reforms, the
institutional changes, which mark our advance, are not fortuitous accidents, but
products of intention and will. Those who advocate or countenance the successive
encroachments on liberty may not in all instances clearly see the goal toward
which they are pressing. But they help to make arrival at the goal certain, and
to hasten the day when a new absolutionism shall have made robots of workers,
and helots of citizens, in the name of efficiency and progress.
----o----
Tuberculosis in Childhood
By BRO. J. ARTHUR MYERS, Ph. D., M. D., Minnesota
BRO. MYERS is the Medical Director of the Lymanhurst School
and Hospital for Tuberculous Children; Consultant in Juvenile Tuberculosis to
the Director of Hygiene of the Minneapolis Board of Education; Physician in
charge of the Tuberculosis Dispensary at the University of Minnesota; Chief
Clinician for Tuberculosis Clinics Minnesota Public Health Association; and
Assistant Professor of Preventive Medicine, University of Minnesota. His
professional standing gives especial weight to the conclusions arrived at in
this article even if the facts adduced were not sufficient in themselves.
NO organization can do a greater work than to provide for
the relief of suffering humanity and for the prevention of the spread of
disease, thus saving lives. There is no disease whose sufferers need more care
both for themselves and their families than tuberculosis. It was with great
delight that I learned of the plans for building Masonic Sanatoria for the care
of the tuberculous and accepted the invitation to prepare this article on
childhood tuberculosis.
Fortunately the germs of tuberculosis multiply in nature
only in the bodies of people and certain warm blood animals. It is true they may
live for a long time outside the body of man and animals, but they do not
multiply. It is also true that every case of tuberculosis is caused by the germs
of tuberculosis. It is probably true that tuberculosis rarely exists in the body
of the child at birth, therefore most cases in childhood come from contact
exposure of children with persons or animals suffering from tuberculosis. This
contact may be direct or indirect. The most dangerous kind of exposure is that
which is frequent, such as a child being exposed from day to day to a
tuberculous parent. The infant has a few very close associates such as the
parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc. If one of these near relatives or any
other close associate of the child happens to have tuberculosis the danger to
the infant is great because of the intimate contact through fondling.
During the first year of life tuberculous disease is highly
fatal, indeed 50 to 70 per cent of the infants who contract disease during that
year die. During the second year of life the mortality is not quite so high yet
it is still approximately 25 to 50 per cent. Beginning with the third and fourth
years of life and on to approximately the twelfth year the number of fatal cases
is greatly reduced. After about the twelfth year, however, we begin getting a
more fatal type of disease again. Obviously the child must be especially
protected against exposure during the first and second years of life. An infant
perfectly well may under exposure fall ill and die in a few days to a few weeks.
In such infants the disease may attack any of many organs, such as the lung, but
tuberculous meningitis is perhaps the most common of the fatal forms of the
disease.
One in tuberculosis practice sees many very pathetic cases,
for example, a young woman recently came for an examination and upon taking her
history it was learned that she came entirely because of exposure. Her husband
had died of tuberculosis only a few months before and just two months ago her
only baby boy of two years became ill with tuberculous meningitis and died in
twenty-one days. The history further revealed the fact that the father while ill
from tuberculosis, and in the home, had exercised no precaution and had
frequently fondled the infant.
Another case is that of an infant of one year who suddenly
became ill with tuberculous meningitis and upon inquiry it was learned that the
father had been suffering from tuberculosis for two or three years. It was
learned further that he had taken little or no precaution in preventing the
spread of the disease to others. He had played with the infant a great deal and
unquestionably the tuberculous meningitis from which this infant was suffering
and later died was contracted from the father.
A few years ago a young man came for an examination because
one of his two children had recently died of tuberculous meningitis. He stated
that the child specialist who took care of the infant during its illness
suggested that the father might be tuberculous and might have transmitted the
disease to the infant. The examination of this father revealed unmistakable
tuberculosis in both lungs. He was sent to a sanatorium and one month third
child was born. The father became extremely homesick in the sanatorium and left
the institution against the advice of physicians. It would seem that his first
experience should have been sufficient but apparently he had not been
sufficiently impressed with the dangers of his disease to infants. He returned
to the home, began to fondle the new-born infant, and a few months later it died
of tuberculous meningitis. The father then decided to go to another institution
in order to protect the only remaining child. By this time he had become so
grieved over the loss of the two infants and was so convinced that they had
contracted their disease from him that he gradually declined and died a few
months later.
RESULTS OF NEGLECT OF PREVENTIVE METHODS
After the age of three years, as I have said, the mortality
from tuberculosis becomes greatly reduced. This is not because children are not
infected, for they are, and even in larger numbers than during the first two
years. However, they become better able to resist disease. Nevertheless there
are still fatal cases between the ages of three and twelve years. Recently a
very pathetic case in this age came under observation. This is the case of a
father who developed tuberbulosis but insisted that preventive measures were
unnecessary. He also insisted upon staying in the home where he spent a good
deal of time in fondling his small boy. Finally the father's disease became so
extensive that he was convinced to go to a hospital. He had been there only a
short time, however, when there was brought to occupy another bed in the
father's room, the little boy of four years whom he had left at home in an
apparently healthy state. Now as he entered a hospital bed the father saw him
pale, thin and short of breath. The two occupied the room for some time, but
each day the little son grew weaker and finally died. It took all of this to
convince the father that exposure to tuberculosis is extremely dangerous for the
little child. He is now firmly convinced and it is strongly hoped that as long
as he lives he will be a missionary in the cause of prevention of tuberculosis
among children.
It is during this period of life, beyond the third year,
when tuberculosis so often attacks the bones and joints. Usually tuberculosis of
a bone or joint does not kill, but may deform and cripple its subjects terribly.
The joint, such as the knee or hip, may become completely locked. Again one leg
may fail to grow in length while the other develops normally. It is surprising
what a large number of hunchback deformities are caused by tuberculosis of the
spine in childhood.
A few years ago a little girl of six years was admitted to
a hospital ward for study and observation. The bone and joint specialist found a
slight but definite tuberculosis involving two of the spinal vertebrae. Upon
inquiry it was found that the mother had been in ill health for a considerable
period of time, although she had been carrying on her usual work and had been
caring for this child. In spite of her frail and weakly condition the mother
visited the hospital daily and the little girl looked forward to these visits
with great delight. One day the mother did not appear at the usual time and a
little later someone on the telephone informed the nurse in charge that the
mother had been taken acutely ill and sent to a hospital. It was later learned
that the mother was suffering from tuberculous meningitis which caused her death
four days later. It was also learned that she had been suffering from chronic
tuberculosis for a long time. There can be IittIe doubt that the daughter
contracted the disease from her mother, but her case is cited to show not only
the dangers of exposure, but also what may be accomplished by way of treatment
in childhood if the disease is detected in time. This little girl was placed on
very drastic treatment and, now, after approximately four years, she is
apparently normal and possesses no deformity whatsoever. Had the disease been
allowed to progress it is more than likely a hunchback deformity would have
resulted.
DORMANT INFECTION
It is during this period of life, after about three years,
when tuberculosis often locates in the lymph nodes of the child's body, such as
the nodes on the side of the neck or those within the chest. In these lymph
nodes the germs may remain dormant for years, perhaps they will never cause
trouble. Again in other cases disease in the nodes may progress, pus accumulates
and finally the nodes may rupture on the surface of the body or even into a
blood vessel. If into a blood vessel, the pus and large numbers of the germs of
tuberculosis are scattered by way of the blood to all parts of the child's body
and from this generalized and fatal tuberculosis is likely to result. Again
tuberculosis in the lymph nodes during this age may lie dormant for years, then
with a reduced resistance on the part of the child's body, such as that which
follows measles, whooping cough and scarlet fever, the dormant process may begin
to smolder and finally burst into flames which causes the destruction not only
of the involved lymph nodes but of other parts of the body.
After the age of about twelve years the tuberculosis scene
again changes. The disease takes on the form that is so commonly seen in adults.
Here the lungs are involved more commonly than any other organs and it is this
type of disease usually involving the upper parts of the lungs in the beginning
which causes the great demand for sanatorium beds throughout this country.
The question arises as to what a group of Masonic sanatoria
can do to prevent tuberculosis in childhood, for after all it is preventive work
that is much more important than curative work. Such sanatoria do much. Among
any large group of people one finds many suffering from tuberculosis. This is as
true of the Masonic Order as of any other order or group of people. Many of
those suffering could be admitted to such sanatoria. This would be an excellent
procedure for each patient since ideally every tuberculous patient should spend
some time in a sanatorium. First, because a period of complete rest is
important. Moreover, a change from the usual methods of living in many cases
works wonders. Second, the tuberculous patient may learn under close medical
supervision some of the most important facts about the control of his own
disease, and better than this, how to prevent its spread to others, particularly
children.
The sanatorium influence would be greatly felt in the homes
while the patients were in the institutions. Members of each family would be
desirous of learning how to care for the patient and, when the patient returns,
how to carry him on to complete recovery and restoration of working capacity.
The members of each family would also be desirous of learning to prevent disease
from attacking their own bodies. The sanatorium influence would also be felt in
each patient's community where many persons would become interested in health
and the prevention of disease.
One point must not be overlooked: when the patient returns
from the sanatorium his treatment is rarely completed, for tuberculosis is a
disease that requires in many cases years of treatment. This does not mean,
necessarily, that during all of this time the patient has no working capacity,
but it does mean he must keep under the supervision of his family physician for
months and even years. All of this time the patient is practicing, by the help
of the family physician and the public health nurse, the principles he has
learned in the sanatorium. He prevents the spread of his disease not only to his
own children, but also to other children with whom he comes in contact directly
or indirectly. Moreover, he becomes a missionary in the good health cause.
There can be no doubt that if Masonic bodies establish well
ordered sanatorias they will not only save and extend lives of many of their
members, but will prevent much suffering, deformity and death in children now
living and thousands yet unborn.
----o----
WHAT THEY SAY
Mr. Warren G. Harding, Washington:
Senator Cameron has called my attention to the
hospitalization plans of the Tuberculosis Sanatoria Commission of the M. W.
Grand Lodges, A. F. & A. M., of Texas, Arizona and New Mexico. It seems to me
that this is a highly worthy and altogether commendable effort of a most
practical sort and I want to express the hope that all your anticipations for
its usefulness may be fully realized.
Mr. James J. Davis, Washington:
The work you describe is one that I have known of for some
time and have always admired. I know of the large number of our brethren who go
to the Southwest seeking relief from the ravages of that most dreaded disease,
tuberculosis, and I also know what it means to the Masons of that section of the
country to help them regain their health.
It is a great humanitarian work that is worthy of the
support of every Mason who has the good of his Fraternity and his brother at
heart. The Masonic lodges in the Southwest that have inaugurated this movement
and are now supporting it, are to be highly commended. The spirit is admirable,
but the numbers engaged in carrying on the work are comparatively small, and it
is easily seen that the need for help from other lodges is very urgent if the
work is to progress and be successful. I, for one, am willing to do what I can
to help along in this movement, and I hope that all other brothers who are able
to do so will come forward to do their part in making this great work of
restoring our sick brothers to health the success it deserves to be.
----o----
Memorials to Great Men Who Were Masons
Henry Eckford
By BRO. GEORGE W. BAIRD, P. G. M., District of Columbia
HENRY ECKFORD, a Constructor in the U. S. Navy, was
probably the greatest ship designer of his time, and by his methods blazed the
way for the wooden ship builders who followed him. In his day there was much
more mould-loft work and very much less done in the drafting room. The problem
of ship building is still tentative, notwithstanding the fact that the best
mathematical education is given to our constructors, but in Eckford's time the
greatest problem was in that happy compromise between the flotation, resistance
and handiness of a ship. To obtain one you must sacrifice another. A long
clipper ship making a voyage where she could make long legs or tacks was
immensely superior in speed, but where a vessel was obliged to tack frequently,
the blunt modeled craft would beat her. The crowning success of Eckford was in
the Ohio, the vessel which, by superior speed and sea-worthiness, brought the
party to California to take possession, and not an hour too late, as the
enterprising British were close on her heels. It was not possible at that time
by mathematical formula to design a ship having all the good qualities of the
Ohio, but the result came from the "judgment" of Eckford. The vessel was not
only a fast sailer but quick in stays, would make long head reaches, stand up
under her canvas and was weatherly.
Henry Eckford was born in Irvine, Scotland, in 1775, and
died in Constantinople in 1832. He served an apprenticeship as shipwright in
Quebec and came to New York in 1796, where he introduced many important methods
in the art of ship building. During the war of 1812 he built a fleet of vessels
for use on the lakes with surprising rapidity: his ability to organize workmen
and his genius in design prevented mistakes and made changes or alterations
unnecessary. After that war had ended Eckford constructed the Robert Fulton,
which vessel made the first successful voyage under steam from New Orleans to
Havana. While constructor at the Brooklyn Navy Yard he furnished designs for
some South American Navies. In 1831 he built a sloop of war for the Sultan
Mahmoud. He went to Constantinople and organized a ship yard, where he laid the
keel for a line of battleships, but died there before the vessel was completed.
Henry Eckford was named as Junior Warden in the charter of
Fortitude Lodge, No. 19 (formerly No. 84) 9 at Brooklyn, N. Y., and later was
elected Master. He was one of the men whom the Lord endowed with good sense, a
splendid memory and sound judgment; and to this he added industry. What would we
have done, in the early days of the Republic, without such men? It is the
builder who is indispensable, but a good builder will never prevent another man
from taking the job he has abandoned.
The accompanying illustration is from a lithographed view
of the Ohio under sail, which ship was his greatest work. His resting place is
unknown, but what better memorial could a master craftsman have than his
masterpiece? It is doubtful if a better sailing ship of the Ohio's dimensions
could be produced in wood today.
----o----
A Mason's Duty to the Flag
An Address Given in Furtherance of the Purposes of Flag
Week By BRO. ROBERT FERRARI, New York
BRO. FERRARI, who is Vice-President for the state of New
York of the National League of Masonic Clubs, prepared this address for the
meeting of the Bankers Square Club, of which he is an honorary member. It was
delivered on June 11, last year. It has so well expressed sentiments that will
appeal to every patriotic American Mason that it seemed worthy of permanent
record and a wider publicity.
BRO. FERRARI said that the work of making the meaning of
the Flag better known to Americans, is a work of prime importance. Particularly
is that work of the highest importance at the present time because of the large
number of foreigners in our midst.
The United States has always been a place into which have
flowed the various racial streams of the world, but during the last generation
especially, the inflow of immigration has been exceptionally great and the
problem of assimilation has become naturally acute. The problem of assimilation
which we have to face in this country is not entirely new, either to us or to
history. There have been times in the past, in other countries, when the problem
of assimilation, adjustment and adaptation was a burning problem. We can draw
instruction and inspiration from the history of the past, in order to solve the
problem that faces us today in our own land.
We are all here--members of various races. The question is,
what are we going to do about it ? Instead of strident and discordant elements,
we desire to make these elements concordant and mellow. For those who are
fortunate to have been born here, or whose ancestors were born here, the problem
of assimilation presents itself as a duty. It is incumbent upon them to help the
newer arrivals to find themselves, to bring about an adjustment, an adaptation
to the life in which these newcomers find themselves. If this be the duty of the
ordinary American it is especially the duty of a Mason. Masonry teaches us, if
it teaches anything, the principle that we are our brother's keeper. We are,
therefore, in duty bound to lend a helping hand, as we do every day, to those in
need--we are bound, I say, to lend a helping hand to these struggling, would be
Americans, who have come here with glowing thoughts of a promised land.
This duty of the Mason is also a high privilege of the
Mason. He will benefit not only the individuals concerned; he will benefit not
only the racial group that these individuals belong to; but he will benefit
supremely the land we live in. The Mason desires to make his contribution to
this country's future. And the greatest contribution the Mason can make at the
present time is, the bringing into contact of the older and the newer stocks in
this country and the bringing about of an adjustment and an adaptation to
American conditions and American institutions, of the new arrivals. In so doing,
the Mason will not only bring about harmony and concord among the various races
in this country, but will also contribute to the future of this country the
elements of variety and of richness of the composite stock. This country has a
glorious future as well as a glorious past. The Mason can help in bringing about
conditions which will make this country a country of spiritual wealth.
The Flag is a symbol. In and of itself it is meaningless.
It is the significance of the Flag which makes it a thing of living beauty and a
thing of living force. To Masons it will be futile to elaborate upon the
significance of symbols, when Masonry itself is a series of symbols. In and of
themselves, these symbols are nothing. It is the meaning, it is the significance
of these symbols that makes Masonry a thing of goodness and a thing of beauty.
What, therefore, does the Flag mean to a Mason? Is there anything distinctive
about our country? Is there any differentia, as the logicians would put it. Is
there anything in this country which was never before seen on sea or land? We
talk of freedom and of democracy as being the contribution of this country to
the world's thought and the world's experience. But freedom and democracy have
existed in the past, although not in detail in the fashion in which they have
existed in this country.
There is, however, a pioneering, adventuring spirit, which
seems to be the critical and peculiar contribution of this country to modern
times. Consider for one moment that a whole continent has been explored,
traversed and settled. Consider for one moment that within the last seventy-five
years the vast expanse of territory on the other side of the Mississippi has
been opened up to the migration of the hordes who have crossed from the Eastern
frontier. Not long ago, at the National Geographic Society, I heard a lecture on
the Oregon Trail. The historian, Parkman, has written the romance of the Oregon
Trail. What a wealth of adventure, what a wealth of pioneering spirit, of
courage, of perseverance, of determination, of decision, of action, is found in
the history of the exploration of the West and of the long and painful tramp
over the Oregon Trail. This Trail is over 3000 miles long and went through
practically uninhabited country, difficult of access and difficult to traverse,
yet the pioneers, taking their courage in both their hands with a determination
never to be baffled, but to go right on migrating to the Eldorado of the West
and planted upon this continent a new nation. There have been long marches in
history--long marches for the purpose of conquest, as the march of Hannibal over
the Alps to Italy, and the march of Alexander for the conquest of Asia. But
Alexander's line of march was only one-half as long as the Oregon Trail and not
so difficult. And the Oregon Trail March was a march of soldiers of peace,
instead of soldiers of war--the march of an army in search, not of the triumphs
of destruction --but of the triumphs of peaceful expansion and settlement.
This in the 19th century is a distinct contribution to the
history of the world. This is a contribution which has never taken place in the
history of the world, especially in so short a time. This is a contribution
which can never more be repeated in the future history of the world, because the
continents have been opened up and there is no more to conquer. Unless indeed,
the future shall see a universal destruction and man begin all over again his
march upward to perfection.
The Flag is also the symbol of the great men of the country
and of the institutions and of the traditions of the country.
Our ancestors look down upon us and encourage. I say our
ancestors-because these forerunners who have made the nation belong to all of
us, whether we were born here or have become naturalized; whether we or our
parents recently arrived or whether our line descends from the Mayflower. They
belong to us all. And they belong most to those who can best understand them.
Blood ancestry is good. But a greater bond is the ancestry of intellect and of
spirit. Just so long as the present generation is loyal to the spirit of the
fathers, this generation is its direct descendant.
The United States has a rich heritage in its great men and
it is the duty of every Mason in honoring the Flag to honor the great men who
have made the Flag what it is. These great men are the living vital forces that
move the present generation to action, that move the present generation to
nobler victories.
The institutions and the traditions of this country, again,
are institutions which any nation may be proud of. The youth, the strength, the
vigor of the land, are still driving forces which animate us and impel us onward
and forward. It behooves the Mason to study the lives of the great men and the
institutions of the country. They must become saturated with the significance of
these institutions and these lives in order to make the contribution to the
history of the time that the Mason is in duty bound to make.
How can we make the Flag the symbol of all these things and
at the same time make its meaning a driving element in the life of the American?
Knowledge in and of itself, despite some philosophers, is for the generality of
mankind, of no great use. The thing that makes knowledge worth while is the
vital principle which impels to action and makes it possible for us to apply to
our daily lives the knowledge which we have gained. We need a vital spark in
addition to the fund of information or the knowledge of what the Flag means in
order to bring about reverence and love and desire to spread the significance of
the Flag. Matthew Arnold, in his essay on Marcus Aurelius--and I make no apology
for quoting the son of Dr. Arnold, the great historian and the great teacher,
disciplinarian and moralist of Rugby, on a question of morals and of
religion--Matthew Arnold says that the difference between morality and religion
is that morality is a system of principles of action and religion is the divine
power that lights the spark of morality. He goes on to compare various
principles of morality with the treatment by the Bible of these same principles.
And he sublimely shows that the Biblical treatment of morality changes and
transforms morality itself into a higher thing--into religion. This
transformation is brought about because of an emotional ingredient, a spiritual
ingredient which is the special contribution of religion. Without this emotional
and spiritual ingredient action of the highest character is impossible.
We need, therefore, a religion of the Flag instead of only
a knowledge of and a morality of the Flag.
The vital spark which will light up the conflagration which
will move us to noble effort on behalf of the Flag and on behalf of the future
of the country, is the vital spark of religion and of the Bible.
----o----
LATIN MASONRY
Some of our readers may have read what Bro. Melvin M.
Johnson has had to say on Latin Masonry. For the benefit of those who have not
we reproduce it here:
These Latin-American Grand Lodges are constantly accused of
being political. Those which we have investigated are no more political than our
own Masonic bodies before and during the American Revolution. The principles of
liberty, equality and fraternity were taught in our lodge rooms, and then the
brethren, as citizens, though not as Masoas, put these principles into practical
effect in their civil lives. Paul Revere did not make his famous ride as a
Master Mason, but as a citizen. General Warren did not fight at Bunker Hill as a
Mason, but as a patriot. Washington did not lead the soldiers of the Revolution
as a Mason, but as an officer duly authorized by organized government. Yet the
principles which actuated their public lives were taught in their Masonic lodge
rooms.
In reference to this expression of opinion we find the
following in the proceedings of one of our Grand Lodges:
We think that the parallel does not hold. It is not a full
description to say that "These Latin-American Grand Lodges are constantly
accused of being political" as a basis for the argument. It is true, but more
than the mere assertion is true. They, or many of them, seem to be organized for
political, or rather politico-religious purposes. They, as well as French
lodges, meet and discuss such subjects. In Revolutionary days this was not true
of our American lodges, and while perhaps most of our then Masons were patriots,
their antagonism was not manifested toward their fellow countrymen, but toward
their oppressors in a foreign land. True, Paul Revere did not make his ride as a
Mason, but as a patriot. Nor did the members of St. Andrew's Lodge ever openly
acknowledge that they composed the tea party. We have no evidence that American
Masonry ever permitted the discussion of political or religious questions in
lodges and we hope to God they never will. We all know that French and
Latin-American lodges do, and that it seems to be their chief reason for
existing. Masonry should have no fight against any man or body of men on earth.
Tolerate the innovation of discussing such questions as we mention and where
will the end be? Our action and activity as individuals "is another story." We
are in accord with the last sentence in the above quoted paragraph, and
acknowledge its truth. but that is not to justify Masonic action. Our acts as
individuals should be based on proper principles derived from whatever source,
but they should not be Masonic acts, nor should the discussion of political or
religious matters ever be tolerated. Much less should organizations calling
themselves by our name, but organized for political or religious antagonism,
ever be recognized.
The words we have italicized are not true. Bro. Johnson
(not to speak of some others) evidently does not know it, and besides he
explicitly limited his statement to such bodies as had been investigated. The
force of the old proverb, "give a dog a bad name and hang him," is not abated.
----o----
EDITORIAL
R. J. MEEKREN Editor‑in‑Charge
BOARD OF EDITORS
LOUIS BLOCK, Iowa
ROBERT L. CLEGG, Ohio
GILBERT W. DAYNES, England
RAY V. DENSLOW, Missouri
GEORGE H. DERN, Utah
N.W.J. HAYDON, Canada
R.V. Harris, Canada
C. C. HUNT, Iowa
CHARLES F. IRWIN. Ohio
A.L. KRESS, Pennsylvania
F.H. LITTKLEFIELD, Missouri
JOSEPH E. MORCOMBE, California
JOSEPH FORT NEWTON, New York
ARTHUR C. PARKER, New York
JESSE M. WHITED, California
DAVID E. W. WILLIAMSON, Nevada
WHAT PRICE FREEDOM
SOME time ago there was a man named Patrick Henry, who,
upon a certain occasion which some may recall from school-day memories, made a
very emphatic statement to the effect that if he could not have liberty he would
take death in preference to any other alternative that might be offered. The
curious part about it is that he does not seem to have been merely "heating the
atmosphere," or indulging in what at the moment is euphoniously termed "bunk,"
but to have been in grave earnest about it all; and what is perhaps still more
singular, he was taken just as seriously by those who heard him, and even by
those who only heard about it. At least so one would judge from what followed.
Supposing someone should say the same thing today - how
would it be received? As patriotic oratory it would give his hearers a thrill of
national pride, and some reflected glory of vicarious heroism, but it would not
seem to have very much to do with their own daily lives. But suppose it was not
oratory, suppose it was said in the street car or a smoking room. Most of us
would regard the speaker as being a little "off," as having "wheels in his
head," or as being one or another of the many picturesque things by which it
would be understood that in thought and speech he departed from the normal. If
he were taken seriously enough to be argued with he would probably be told that
he lived in the land of liberty, the very home of freedom, and that nobody was
contemplating taking any of it away from him. Should a curious inquirer ask
further regarding the matter he might be informed that every child is taught
this in the common schools, that it is repeated (both when pertinent to the
subject and occasion and also when quite irrelevant) from every political and
patriotic platform in the country-what more could be asked? Is there not the
flag? Old Glory, the very symbol of liberty, that has inspired patriot heroes to
strive nobly for victory or death.
But there have been other flags, and they too were symbols
it must be supposed; and though some signified things quite different from
freedom, yet they have been followed by brave men, even to the last and mortal
extremity. There is no inherent magical power in a flag, it is no talisman
against attack or aggression. It is true that the vexilla of the Roman legions
received a form of worship as though they were actually divinities in
themselves; the standards of feudal war leaders in the Middle Ages were blessed
and consecrated by priest or bishop, sometimes by the Pope himself; yet a flag,
aside from its meaning and the inspiration such meaning may yield, can no more
preserve the integrity and freedom of a country than any other piece of colored
cloth. It is well to remember this. It is not the symbol that in itself is
sacred, but the meaning and associations for which it stands that give it
significance. And the meaning is a dead idea unless it is wrought out in life
and action-for ideas can die, and be embalmed in magnificent shrines and receive
devout homage from the lips, while others, newer and unrecognized, control the
inmost springs of action, and lead in quite other directions. The question then
is not foolish, is not impertinent, if it be asked whether the active living
ideal of America today is liberty, as it was to the fathers; or whether it
really is efficiency with all its restraints and restrictions, as the author of
the article reprinted on another page would have us believe.
The ideal of liberty, the desire for freedom, is no new
one, born within a couple of centuries in this fortunate country; it is as old
as history, as old as mankind. Through all the fierce strivings of the ages it
has slowly, very slowly, been discovered-and the lesson is yet not more than
half learned-that one cannot have one's cake and eat it too; it is not possible
to enslave others and not in the same measure lose one's own freedom. Athens at
Salamis and Sparta at Thermopylae fought against the Asiatic hordes that they
might remain free. Two little states with no more population than that of a
third rate American city-though they put more men into the field than the latter
would, every boy able to bear the weight of shield and spear, every old man
still able to run with the charging phalanx - and they fought an empire that
stretched from Syria to the borders of India, they fought a host fully two
million strong. Yet Sparta kept an indigenous population in helotage and the
leisured Athenian citizen lived by the labour of his slaves. Later they each
fell into subjection through attempting to subject others.
The love of liberty is no new thing; neither,
unfortunately, is the desire for domination. Yet as men have seen the ideal so
they have striven for it. The venture of the Pilgrim Fathers was itself
paralleled some centuries before, when after the fatal battle of Hafrsfiord the
free holders of Norway left their homes and their land, and stowing their
household goods in half-decked boats, sailed west through the storms of the
North Sea to the bleak inhospitable shores of Iceland, rather than live as the
subjects of Harold Fairhair. They were close kin of the English-a hundred years
later another Harold lay dead among his axemen on the edge of the woods that
crowned the ridge of Senlac in a vain defence of the liberties of England
against the Norman invader. But love of liberty is no peculiarity of the
English-speaking peoples, nor of the Teutonic races, nor even of the recently
discovered Nordics. From every country and every age come tales of heroic
struggles against aggression. Rather than bow to the Mogul emperors, the men of
Chitor made of their treasures and household goods a huge pyre, upon which with
their own hands they slew their wives and children, and setting fire to it
opened the gates and went forth to take vengeance from Akbar's men, each for his
own. Doubtless they were not a pleasant crowd to meet. It is possible that some
speeches were made first, history does not say, only that they died, and many
others with them, leaving their city to the Mahommedan victor a burned out
shell. And yet there is no doubt whatever that the Mogul Empire was far more
efficient than the independent states that it superseded. Akbar was a most
enlightened ruler, just and tolerant. His subjects lived in security, they were
prosperous, but they were not free.
But what bearing has all this on our own lives here in the
flourishing cities of the United States? There is an old adage that the price of
liberty is constant watchfulness; but against what are we to be on guard? No
people has yet submitted willingly to foreign domination, however much better
government an alien ruler might give them; but there is no outside power that
conceivably threatens American freedom and independence. Against what enemy are
her citizens to watch? Physiologists tell us that the living organism is capable
of an extraordinary tolerance of all kinds of adverse circumstances provided it
be subjected to them by small degrees. It is stated, one would not care to make
the experiment, that a frog put in water that is very slowly heated will show no
signs of pain or even discomfort even when it approaches the boiling point.
Everyone feels and resents outside interference at once, but an internal tyranny
is as galling and even more degrading than an external one, and it can arise
insidiously by small degrees, in the name of law and order, in the name of
justice, of reform, of efficiency, until without realizing it only the empty
forms of freedom are left. At what stage is the individual to say, "thus far and
no further will I endure?"
What does the average man do in a hold-up? How often does
he even protest against the temporary domination of the bandits? He meekly obeys
when he is ordered to hold up his hands, or to stand with his face to a wall or
to lie down. And with the indignity of this submission goes often enough the
added humiliation of insult, perhaps even blows if he is not prompt enough in
obedience. But what else should he do? If he only happens to be present why
should he risk his life for somebody else's goods? If he is being robbed himself
is not life worth more than the money, especially if it be insured? Certainly
from the commercial point of view it is the only reasonable course to take, and
anyway, what has it to do with freedom? Is it not absurd to bring in such
considerations? Perhaps it is, yet it reveals an attitude.
Freedom is a thing that is of the greatest concern to
Masons. A Fraternity, not only of free men, but of the free-born, must, of
necessity, regard any encroachment upon it with apprehension. It is perhaps not
without significance that it is only in countries where liberty has never been
completely achieved, or where it is openly attacked, that the Institution has
been accused of having political aims. Essentially Freemasonry is against
nothing and nobody, it is tolerant and inclusive. But organizations and
governments with different ideals are inevitably antagonistic to it. A free man
desires only to be let alone to go about his own affairs without let or
hindrance. He is willing to live peaceably, the friend of all. To the tyrant,
actual or potential, the free man is his worst enemy. It must be so in the very
nature of things. The lovers of darkness hate the children of light, not for any
injury done to them but simply because their deeds are evil.
Collectively, Masons have an interest, even if they do not
realize it, in this present day drift from the principles of liberty; if for no
other reason than that the Order is drifting too. It would be very easy to show
how the liberties, the rights and privileges of the lodges have been gradually
restricted in the last hundred years; and the movement accelerates itself. For
an example, fifty years ago lodges made their own by-laws, and it was their
responsibility to see that they conformed with the Constitutions and the
Landmarks. Now the slightest change has to be submitted to some higher authority
before it is of any effect. There is even a further stage in view, in which this
self-governing power will be entirely taken away and ready-made by-laws
furnished en bloc to the rightly named subordinate lodges. Doubtless there have
been what appeared good reason for every step along this path, doubtless it has
led to greater uniformity, perhaps to greater efficiency, but equally true has
it led to a curtailment of Masonic freedom. Perhaps had those who took the first
step realized whither it would lead they would have sought some other way.
But enough has been said; enough it may be hoped to show
that the situation is one that may well be pondered. In a sense, in the highest
sense, freedom in a community, in any community, but especially a highly
civilized one, is an artificial think. It comes not of itself but is slowly
wrought out. The more slowly because the selfish ends of individuals and classes
are continually thwarting its growth. Great sacrifices have been made to win it,
the advantage of which we inherit. Sacrifice, too, is needed to keep it-and what
is the price we set upon it? The lesson that Masonry has to teach is that he who
would be free must respect the freedom of others. As Masons we require no
adhesion to any platform or creed, religious, political or economic. We meet
upon the level, and in the ordered discipline of the lodge, voluntarily
submitted to as free men in the exercise of our freedom, we may see a picture of
what an ideal commonwealth might be.
----o----
The North East Corner
National Masonic Tuberculosis Sanatoria Association
Bulletin
Edited by Bro. R. J. Newton, Director of Publicity
THE Executive of the Research Society has decided to place
a regular department at the disposal of the N.M.T.S.A. for the furtherance of
their publicity work, for so long as may be required, in addition to special
articles that will appear elsewhere on the subject. Through this department
members of the Society and other readers of THE BUILDER will be kept in touch
with the progress of the campaign, with other information that may be useful to
those, and we hope they will not be few, who see it in the light of a duty to
bring the subject to the attention of their brethren.
THE GROTTO CONSIDERS ACTION
At the meeting of the Supreme Council of the Grotto, held
at St. Louis, Mo., in June, a special committee was appointed to consider the
project of the National Masonic Tuberculosis Sanatoria Association, and whether
it will be advisable for the Grotto as a national organization to take part in
it.
MASONIC SANATORIUM CAMPAIGN
The work of organization of the National Masonic
Tuberculosis Sanatoria Association is progressing. Since the incorporation of
the association under the authority of the Grand Lodge of New Mexico, eleven
Grand Jurisdictions have signified their interest and desire to co-operate by
acceptance of membership on the National Board of Governors. Grand Masters
Howard Knight of Rhode Island, Win. W. Martin of Missouri, Christe B. Crowell of
Vermont and Cary B. Fish of Florida, have agreed to serve. The Grand Masters of
the following Grand Jurisdictions have made appointments, of representatives:
Texas, Dr. Felix P. Miller of El Paso; Oklahoma, P. G. M. Gilbert B. Bristow of
Roosevelt; North Carolina, P. G. M. Dr. J. C. Braswell of Whitakers; North
Dakota, Dr. J. G. Lamont, Dunseith. The Grand Masters of Connecticut, New Jersey
and Mississippi have signified their intention of making appointments or
accepting service themselves and it is expected that additional acceptances will
be received shortly from other States.
FROM A TUBERCULOUS BROTHER
Thank you for your interest in my case. I hope my letter to
you contained nothing that could be construed as a reflection on my lodge, as
that would be an injustice. The lodge has extended help to me on several
occasions during my illness without any request from me, and I know that further
help would be forthcoming immediately should I ask for it. As I am not in real
distress, I have not asked for any, so it is entirely my fault if no further
assistance was given. My worry has to do with the future, which is uncertain
because of the fact that, while I may live for many years, it will probably be
impossible for me to ever be self-supporting, and, of course, I cannot expect my
lodge to take care of me indefinitely. Personally, I feel that my lodge has been
very good to me, and I know the brethren are always willing to give further aid,
if requested, but I do not like to make such requests unless absolutely
necessary.
Those of us who know tuberculosis in its far advanced
stages, know that while life may be preserved for an indefinite number of years,
the patient in many instances living out what might be called his "natural span
of life," he is never able to follow any regular occupation to supply himself
with the necessities of life. We also know that not many lodges could stand the
financial strain of giving the help that many tubercular brothers need over a
period of years, especially, if any one lodge should happen to have several such
cases. To extend such help for a lodge is impossible, and for a brother to
expect it is unreasonable
I do not know of any better way of solving this problem
than the movement now under way for a national Masonic tubercular sanatoria,
toward the support of which every Mason in the country would contribute an equal
share. With a united effort this can be accomplished and would not impose great
hardship on any one lodge or brother.
J. J. K., Texas.
ESTIMATED COST OF HOSPITAL UNIT
For the information of the brethren we give the following
estimate of cost of buildings. The National Tuberculosis Association estimates
that tuberculosis sanatoria can be constructed at a cost of $2,500 per bed. This
estimate includes all service and utility buildings, and a 500-bed hospital
would therefore cost approximately $1,250,000.
The various units of this institution would cost
approximately as follows:
Power house, water works and all utility buildings in
connection therewith $300,000
Infirmary building or hospital bed-ridden cases 175,000
Subsistence building 125,000
Nurses' home 70,000
Administration building 54,000
Children's hospital building for pulmonary cases of
tuberculosis (no estimate of cost).
Women's hospital building (no estimate of cost).
In addition to the above service buildings there must be a
number of dormitories and cottages for semi-ambulant and ambulant cases. It is
our hope that the various Grand Lodges of the country will provide these. In the
event that the above named service buildings are provided for by Masonic bodies
the cost of dormitories and cottages would be from $1,000 to $1,500 per bed.
OPINIONS OF MEMBERS OF THE CRAFT
The following excerpts are taken from letters received at
the headquarters of the N. M. T. S. A. showing how the national plan of campaign
appeals to individual Masons:
Mr. Frank B. Kellogg, Secretary of State, Washington, D.
C.:
It is very commendable, indeed, of the Grand Lodge of New
Mexico, to give their thoughts to the aid and comfort of their unfortunate
Masonic brethren from the northern and eastern States who have or will come to
New Mexico seeking the climatic benefits of the State to arrest the ravages of
the great scourge of tuberculosis, and I wish for the National Masonic
Tuberculosis Sanatoria Association the greatest success in the humanitarian
purposes for which they were incorporated by authority of the Grand Lodge to
relieve such Freemasons who may become destitute and members of their families,
to secure hospitalization of the sick, to render service according to the need,
to erect and operate sanatoria, to aid in the prevention and treatment of
tuberculosis among Masons and their families, and to disseminate knowledge as to
the cause, methods of treatment, relief and cure of tuberculosis. These purposes
are most praiseworthy and deserve the aid and support of Masons throughout the
country.
Mr. John Whicher, Grand Secretary, Grand Lodge, A. F. & A.
M., San Francisco, Cal.:
I am directed to say that we are giving very earnest
thought to the matter of caring for brethren and their families who are
suffering from the dreaded white plague, and that the Grand Master has appointed
a special committee to make thorough inquiry into all phases of the question and
to report to our Grand Lodge at its annual communication next October.
Mr. Perry Winslow Weidner, S. G. I. G. in Southern
California, Supreme Council Scottish Rite, Los Angeles, Cal.:
I agree with you that the opportunity to co-operate is
presented for everyone concerned to get interested in this great movement. It is
my firm opinion that if the people of the United States would earnestly attack
this problem, the white plague would be wiped out in perhaps ten to fifteen
years' time; or, at least, nearly so.
----o----
The Form of the Lodge By BROS. A. L. KRESS AND R. J.
MEEKREN (Continued)
THE connection of the sacred enclosure or diagram with
ritual steps and dances is very close. Among some Australian tribes the boys to
be initiated are, as a preliminary ceremony, taken from the assembled women and
made to enter a circle drawn on the ground. The women wail and lament ritually,
for this means their sons are definitely taken away from them. The Hopi children
are taken on to the sacred sand picture to receive the flogging which is an
important part of the initiation ritual. Also at one stage in the ceremonies the
"Chowilawu Katcina," masked, and in a symbolic dress, dances round the border of
the diagram.
Other parallel instances might be adduced. In a paper read
before the Quatuor Coronati Lodge, Bro. Sidney Klein mentions a curious rite
among the Spanish Gitanos or Gipsies,
. . . in which after drawing a small circle on the ground
and placing crossed sticks within it, one boy walked round on the circle
stamping his feet and reciting a doggerel, and a second boy . . . had to follow
keeping time and repeating each sentence quickly after him. I do not remember
the substance of the words except that it was recounting a journey and the
obstacles which were met in the way, one of which I remember was getting over a
river or sea. I have the impression that it was something after the fashion of
Pilgrim's Progress, and that the river or sea was the finale referring to death.
He also adds that the grown-up people watched it, but
without any "applause or apparent interest in it," and that
It was not a game in the ordinary sense, as I heard it was
to take place several hours beforehand, and there was some question as to
whether I should be allowed to be there.
He also describes a form of oath among the Bedawin called
"the Yemein el Khet or 'oath of the cross lines.' This is never used except on
very important occasions." It is usually employed as what in old English law
would have been called an oath of compurgation, where a person accused swears in
the presence of his accuser that he is innocent. Among the Arabs "the accuser
draws on the sand with his selchin or crooked knife a circle with many cross
lines inside it," both parties then put the right foot in the circle and the
accused repeats the words of the oath after the accuser. In some places they
stand with both feet in the circle
... but they all agree in never using this form of oath
except at a distance from their dwellings because it is believed that "the
magical nature of the oath might prove pernicious to the general body of the
Arabs were it to take place in their vicinity."
Another variant apparently is the drawing of only two
cross lines at right angles to each other. Bro. Klein remarks on the analogy the
first form has to the Masonic chequered pavement. In the sketch given as
illustration it might seem possible that there were seven lines each way, and if
so this diagram might throw some light on a reference in Indian folklore to
"seven cross lined labyrinthine forts." A charm used at childbirth is the
chakrava, which is "a figure of seven cross lines drawn on a bell metal dish
over which the finest white dust has been spread." If the dish be a round one
(as is very probable, seeing that chakra signifies a wheel or circle) the
analogy would be still closer. It is connected with a tale of how Krishna bribed
a demon who was tormenting his sister by reading the book Chakravrjaha, the
seven chapters of which explained the method of "conquering a labyrinthine fort
with seven cross-lined forts."
One branch of the Compagnonnage, that of the Cutlers, had
first an initiation in which the candidate, kneeling at an "altar," took an oath
on the Gospels followed by a kind of sacrament of bread and salt and wine, and
then:
Some time after they take him into the country in a lonely
place to instruct him in the rights [duties or laws, perhaps?] of the passed
Companion, they make him take off one shoe and make several turns on a cloak
that they have put on the ground in the form of a circle [mis a terre en rond]
in such fashion that the unshod foot shall be on the cloak and the other on the
ground.
THE SEPULCHRE AND THE ABYSS
A French writer, Henri Gray (who has recently discussed
what is known of this traditional organization in a series of articles in
L'Acacia), argues that this cloak was actually, or was used in place of, a
funeral pall, and that the space covered by it represented a sepulchre, "the
mystic sepulchre in which death and renewal takes place," and he definitely
equates it with the later Masonic "floor carpets." As an interesting coincidence
may be quoted an account, not very complete, of the initiatory ceremonies of a
Sicilian Secret Society, said to be the original of the "Black Hand"
organizations, and analogous to the notorious Mafia. These consisted partly of
making the candidate shoot or stab a picture of the virgin and Child, the
significance of which is obviously a renunciation of the Church and the
Christian religion, just as the Knights Templar were accused of doing by the
analogous ceremony of trampling and spitting on the cross. The medieval witches
had to do the same thing, and we may remember that the objection of the doctors
of the Sorbonne to the Compagnonnage was that it savored of heresy, blasphemy
and witchcraft. In this connection too it may be noted that the witches of Roman
Tuscany, according to Leland, continue to speak of their system as the old
religion, la vecchia religione, up to the present day. After the Sicilian
candidate had renounced Christianity the members present formed a circle with
their arms interlocked and he was informed that this circle was an abyss in
which all that he heard said and saw done was to be buried. In a second stage or
grade a very primitive form of the blood brotherhood rite was carried out, the
novice being made to suck blood from a wound in the wrist of one of those
present, chosen by lot. The abyss and the grave are conceptions not very far
asunder.
The Mandaeans, or St. John's Christians, of Mesopotamia pay
great attention to the points of the compass, especially the north, in their
rites, and in their theology (or mythology) the abyss is very prominent and
there seems little doubt that this belief is a survival of the Babylonian Tiamat,
the feminine personification of the primeval darkness and chaos -the "deep"
spoken of in the second verse of the first chapter of Genesis parallel if not
derived conception. We may recall here the curious bronze plaque of Babylonian
origin which seems to represent the three divisions of the world, the abyss, the
earth and the heavens. And this has been connected with the Buddhist wheel of
life depicting the heavens, the earth and the various hells to which ill-doers
are condemned.
THE LABYRINTHS AND MAZES
Some years ago excavators in Crete laid bare the secret of
the famous labyrinth. It seems to have been a rectangular paved floor in an open
court in the Palace at Knossos. On two sides tiers of stone benches served for
spectators. It is supposed that on the pavement mosaic "labyrinthine" patterns
were laid out which served as a track for the participants in a sacred dramatic
dance, in which, if it be safe to draw an inference from ancient works of art,
the death of the Minotaur was enacted; the part of the latter being probably
represented by a dancer with a bull mask and cloaked in a bull's hide.
Incidentally it may be remarked that originally a character in the mummer's play
was dressed in a skin or wore a tail.
Such labyrinths, or mazes, as this of Crete are to be found
all over Europe. Their distribution is rather curious. In Southern Europe
existing specimens are not older than the middle ages, and are nearly all to be
found in churches, marked out in mosaic work on the floor, often in a porch, or
in the west end of the church. The center is often named Jerusalem, and treading
the maze is known as "going to Jerusalem." Superstitious people regard following
the track as a meritorious work from the religious point of view; and to do this
is sometimes, it is said, laid on penitents as a mild penance for venial faults.
The myth has grown up that they were introduced at the time of the Crusades to
enable those who had taken the vow to go to Jerusalem to get out of it easily;
but in view of the remains in the British Isles and northern Europe this is
hardly likely as an origin, though some such subterfuge may account for the name
given to the center. In England, North Germany, Denmark and Scandinavia such
mazes are hardly ever found inside churches, though sometimes in or near
churchyards. They are generally outlined by small stones, or the involved path
is cut in the turf. They are the kind of thing that is ageless; there is nothing
in their appearance to show they were not made last year or so, while in most
cases they are undoubtedly pre-historic. Where they consist of turf cutting
there is usually a local custom of assembling periodically to clean the pathway,
just as the pre-historic white horse cut on the hillside in Wiltshire, England,
is cleaned occasionally by the inhabitants of the valley. Most of these mazes
have come down, as has happened in other cases, to be nothing but a child's
game. And here may be mentioned the game that goes in some places under the name
of "hop scotch." For this an oblong is marked out on the reground and divided
crossways into five compartments, the first four being divided by a line
parallel to the sides, while two diagonals form a St. Andrew's cross in the
fifth dividing it into four triangles. The game consists in a number of more or
less complicated dancing steps going and coming over the lines. Both the forms
of the diagram and the rules followed vary a great deal. In one of these variant
forms a semicircle is added on to the compartment containing the cross in which
the word "heaven" is sometimes written. The other spaces are numbered.
At Athens exploration of the ruins of the great theatre of
Dionysus have revealed a mosaic pavement with a swastika pattern on it composed
of two continuous interlaced bands crossing each other at four different points.
It was here that the great plays of the Greek dramatists were enacted, and on
this pavement that the chorus performed its evolutions--movements that were
derived directly from older ritual dances in honor of the god. In Greek art the
Cretan labyrinth was often represented by patterns suggesting the swastika, or
else by the well-known ornamental design, the meander or Greek fret, sometimes
called the key pattern. The swastika at Athens closely resembles this, and A. B.
Cook in his monumental work Zeus is inclined to equate it with the dance floor
at Knossos. The thread, which Ariadne gave to Theseus as a clue to find his way
out of the labyrinth according to the well-known story, recalls the cotton
string with which fields and the foundations of new buildings in India are
enclosed with a ritual circumambulation, and as a coincidence it may remind us
of the "tow line" of Operative Scotch Masonry, and even our own cable tow, which
is also in a sense connected with circumambulations.
CIRCUMAMBULATION AND RITUAL STEPS
Turning movements, and in all their variety form a subject
in themselves, but they as well as ritual and symbolic steps seem to be so
closely connected With sacred enclosures that it is hardly possible to avoid
some reference to them. The encircling of Buddhist shrines by devotees, of the
Kaabah at Mecca by the Moslem pilgrims, are too well known to need much mention.
But hundreds of similar observances have been collected from all over the world,
and are often to be suspected even where not explicitly described. Even in the
Christian Church the tradition has remained and processions still go sunwise
about the sacred edifice, or on Rogation Day about the parish bounds. And this
last is done with the same intent that the Hindoo cultivators encircle their
fields, to pray for the fertility of the earth and bounteous crops.
THE PRAYER CARPET
The Mohammedan at the time of prayer lays down a special
carpet or mat, used for this purpose alone. At the foot of it he stands facing
Mecca, and goes through the ritual of his devotions, which include a number of
prostrations. These carpets are ornamented with traditional patterns, varying
according to the locality of manufacture, but containing certain constant
features. These are a well marked border, within which is a smaller enclosed
space outlining a kind of arch, sometimes curved but more often angular. This is
called the Mihrab or niche. The name, and quite possibly the design, is taken
from the niche that marks the true direction of the Kaabah which is to be found
in every mosque.
In many of them a panel is placed above the spandrel [of
the arch or niche] and occasionally a second panel is placed beneath the field.
Above the niche of some Asia Minor and Caucasian' prayer rugs is woven a small
rhomboidal [diamond-shaped] figure where the suppliant plants the pebble or bit
of earth he has brought from Mecca.
The same authority informs us that among the conventional
designs woven into the borders and panels of these carpets are the following:
the sun, the moon, the eight-rayed star (so frequently found in Babylonian
reliefs), the zigzag water symbol, and in almost all "expressions of vegetable
life" such as the sacred tree, the vine, the lotus and so on.
Now Mahomet was obliged, by the force of older tradition
among his first followers, to adopt a number of primitive elements into his
system, the ancient sacred black stone built into the Kaabah was one, the rock
under the dome at Jerusalem has also found its way into the circle of Mohammedan
sanctities. Like other ethical religions, Judaism, Buddhism (and Christianity is
not wholly an exception) Islam retains many earlier religious ideas, especially
in usages and ritual. The pagan Arabians not only worshipped sacred stones and
springs and wells, but they also observed the heavens, and adored the celestial
host. The Jews of the Dispersion worshipped towards Jerusalem, for there was the
temple, the footstool of Jehovah. But those at Jerusalem, according to Ezekiel [Ez.
8:10], worshipped with their backs to the temple, facing the east. It is
possible this was the primitive custom of all Semitic races, and just as the
later Monotheistic Jew retained the idea of orientation, of turning to a certain
direction, but changed the object from the place of the sunrising to the temple,
so the Mohammedan turns to Mecca where his predecessors also turned eastwards.
If so, it would look as if the prayer carpet might be only another case where a
sacred ritual enclosure has been fashioned in a permanent and portable form. And
note the singular parallel with the sand mosaics of the Hopi Indians, all the
more singular as any connection or intercourse is impossible. We have
orientation in both cases, the representations in some form of water, of sun and
moon and of vegetation. The squash blossom has the same meanings with the Hopi
as the lotus has in Asia. And is it necessary to point the parallel with Masonic
designs? Though again there seems no possible connection in origin. Look at the
illustrations given earlier in this discussion [April, pages 119 and 120] and
again we find sun and moon, clouds, running water and vegetation. Even the wind
is represented in the Masonic frontispiece to Batty Langley's book of builders'
rules and formulae by the common Renaissance emblem of a human head depicted as
blowing in two directions, labelled, that we shall not mistake, east and west.
The Hopi represent the winds in their ceremonies, and it is quite possible that
some of the conventional figures in oriental carpets are intended forclouds. At
least some of these have a curious resemblance to one American symbol for them,
that which is depicted at the end of the four bars of the inner square in the
diagram given last month (page 185).
Sir George Birdwood has said, and the passage has been
frequently quoted in works on the subject,
A deep and delicate symbolism, originating in Babylonia,
and possibly in India, pervades every denomination of Oriental Carpet. Thus the
carpet itself prefigures space and eternity and the general pattern or filling
the fleeting universe . . . The very irregularities either in drawing or
coloring, ., are seldom accidental, the usual deliberate intention being to
avert the evil eye and ensure good luck.
The definite statement that this symbolism exists could
hardly have been made by this authority without good grounds, but in the light
of the material we have been discussing it is hard to believe that the ideas of
space and eternity are original. They would appear to be but another stage in
the evolution from the representation of a definite limited piece of the earth's
surface, of peculiar interest to those concerned, to that of the whole of the
known earth, and then to the world, the universe; a sequence of ideas so natural
as to be almost inevitable.
CARPET PATTERN'S AND MAGICAL DIAGRAMS
That the conventional patterns of oriental carpets,
especially those of the prayer rug, may ultimately have been derived from a
mystical or magical diagram drawn on the ground is no more than a surmise, but
it is very evidently possible in view of the fact that the same kind of thing
has happened elsewhere. We know certainly that this happened with regard to the
diagram of the lodge. We have also seen that in books of magical formulae the
circles and pentagrams were just as efficacious when depicted permanently on
silk as when drawn temporarily on the ground. In the Arabian Nights we find
incidents in several of the tales that tend to show that this was a conception
well known in the Orient. Strips of silk (and the color is specified as green)
are in one case laid down and the magician expressly warns the prince, the hero
of the story, that the result will be fatal if he does not remain on his during
the evocations. Neither must we forget the wonderful flying carpet which enabled
the three brothers to return home in time to save the princess. King Solomon, in
Mohammedan legend, is also said to have possessed such a carpet, only like
everything else belonging to the wise monarch it was on a stupendous scale,
large enough to accommodate his throne, his court and his whole army; and this
is also said to have been of green silk. Of course green is the sacred color of
Islam, but it is also the natural color of vegetation. The idea of being
magically transported from place to place by such means seems a very bizarre
one, but it may possibly have at least a kernel of psychological fact underlying
it. Fasting, dancing, the use of various narcotic drugs, will produce a
sensation that might be described as that of flying. It has been suggested that
the belief that witches could fly through the air mounted on broomsticks was due
to the use of drugs, and dancing was a marked feature of the nocturnal Sabbaths.
Little children sometimes whirl round to make themselves giddy, a physical
condition that give a sensation of being in the air. The connection of the
sacred enclosure with dancing we have already seen, and fasting is an almost
invariable preparation for magical ceremonies. In the Arabian Nights and other
eastern stories the burning of perfumes and incense is an essential part of the
incantations, and these may well have had a narcotic effect. The use of the
tobacco or opium pipe is merely a more economical method of attaining the
result.
THE FUNERAL PALL
We have already quoted the suggestion of Henri Gray that
the cloak or mantle mentioned as used in the outdoor "passing" of a companion
Cutler may have been a funeral pall. This does not really seem very probable, as
the pall was naturally oblong in shape, and could hardly have been laid on the
ground en rond, but a cloak or capote is actually cut on a circular pattern, and
two of them would make a complete circle when laid out flat. It seems better,
therefore, to accept the account as it stands. Nevertheless the cloak does seem
to have represented a pall in the minds of the participants in the ceremony,
judging from the expressed symbolism as a whole. The pall or "bearing cloth" was
a very important thing in medieval eyes, and every gild seems to have possessed
one for use at the funerals of gildsmen, and very large sums of money were
frequently paid for them. We have unfortunately not been able to obtain much
information about the designs with which they were undoubtedly ornamented. That
of the Company of vintners of the city of London was made of cloth of gold and
purple velvet with an embroidered figure of St. Martin, the patron saint of the
gild. In the London Saddlers' Company it appears that
. . . when a new liveryman was sworn in it was at one time
customary to place the Company's Pall on the table as a token of the
vacancy--thus showing a purely symbolical use of the article.
This is a very curious coincidence and it would be
exceedingly interesting could it be found that this usage was not an isolated
one. Bro. Tuckett is authority for the following description taken from a letter
written by Pere simonnet in 1744:
. . . Before him [the Master of the Lodge] is an Altar or
elongated table covered with a Pall on which is embroidered the tomb of Hyram
with la tete decharnee two crossed swords, palms, cypresses and winged clocks.
Lastly a tapis painted on oil cloth entirely covers the floor of the redoubtable
place.
In a further description of the latter we learn it was laid
in accordance with the points of the compass, that the designs included two
columns labelled J. and B., a plan of Moses' tabernacle, a cylindrical object
surrounded by working tools, a "brute stone" [rough ashlar] and a mysterious
"five-foot chest" [coffre de cinq pieds] with three locks in which the ornaments
of the lodge are supposed to be kept. Bro. Tuckett is inclined to see in these
designs references to the high grades. This is a subject too large to discuss
here, but it does not seem the only possible interpretation. The death's head
and crossed swords on the pall are not very far from the emblems of mortality as
shown on the design reproduced on an earlier page (April, page 119), the winged
clock may be a variant of the winged hourglass, not an infrequent emblem, while
the floor cloth seems to follow the French 18th century diagrams fairly closely.
But the peculiar feature of this description, whatever it may be worth (it must
be remembered Simonnet was not a Mason), is the combination of a cloth on the
floor and the pall on a table. That this may not have been an isolated usage is
suggested by the curious old wood cut entitled "Death and the Freemason." It has
been interpreted as representing a lodge of Illuminati and this may be the fact,
still it is not likely that the Masonic part of that system varied greatly from
the normal type of the period. In this we see a similar arrangement, of a long
table before the Master and in front of that a diagram on the floor. Another
peculiarity of the arrangement described by simonnet is the presence of a design
that must surely be interpreted as relating to the grade of Compagnon or Fellow
(our Master Mason) along with the diagram of the lodge.
NOTES
The works consulted in preparing this installment have all
been mentioned before. The volumes of A. Q. C. that have been specially used are
Nos. 8, 9, 22, 28 and 32.
It has been customary in the past to discontinue the Study
Club articles during the summer months, as such activities are in abeyance. It
seemed better, however, as this particular subject had grown so under
investigation to finish it without a break, but under the circumstances the
questions for discussion may be omitted.
----o----
THE LIBRARY
ERLAEUTERUNG DER KATECHISMEN DER JOHANNISFREIMAUREREI. By
Robert Fischer. Part IV: Historischdogmatische Darstellurg der
hauptsaechlichsten freimaurerischen Lehrarten. (Exposition of the Catechism of
the Symbolic Degrees. Part IV. A Historic-Dogmatic Presentation of the Principal
Masonic Workings.) Revised by Ernst Paul Kretschmer. Published by the Verein
deutscher Freimaurer, Leipsig, Germany. May be procured through the Book
Department of the National Masonic Research Society, 1950 Railway Exchange, St.
Louis. Boards, 141 pages; index, 15 pages.
ONLY a narrow and un-Masonic provincialism will deter the
student of Freemasonry from studying the excellent works issued in
recent years by German scholars. Any one having access to the files of German
Craft periodicals will be impressed with the quantity and the excellence of
books, pamphlets and articles appearing in the German language in Central
Europe. The greatest agency for such meritorious effort is the Verein deutscher
Freimaurer - Association of German Freemasons - which is carrying on literary
and philosophical work of unusual character. This is not the proper place to
present an account of the organization; for present purposes let it suffice to
say that the monumental Bibliographie der freimaurerischen Literatur (reviewed
in THE BUILDER for August, 1923) was produced by the Association in 1911-13, and
a fourth volume issued this year. [See also "German Masonic Writers," THE
BUILDER, March, 1923, page 94.]
The little volume before us is the fourth of a series, and
is a revision of a thirteenth edition of 1921, now out of print. Bro. Kretschmer,
in the preface, states that such revision is essential, and that the present
work is also an enlargement of the previous issue. The volume supplements the
three previous titles of The Entered Apprentice's Catechism, The Fellowcraft's
Catechism and The Master Mason's Catechism.
To begin with, it is written in most readable German and
possesses a style which carries the reader along through constantly developing
interest in the subject. It is devoid of the heavy and pedantic style which
marks so many German works, and which are the despair of non-Germans who have
acquired a knowledge of this difficult tongue in high schools and colleges.
Chapter I opens with a brief sketch of English Freemasonry
as it arose through mixed operative and speculative sources in the second half
of the sixteenth century. The writer has skillfully brought forth the essentials
required to amplify his theme and shows the development of English, Irish and
Scottish Freemasonry as it relates to ritualistic monitorial workings. The
chapter concludes with accounts of the Eclectic, Fessler and Schroeder systems
of Masonic workings.
The Rite of Strict Observance, with its Scottish grades,
the Clermont System, the Clerical System and the Rectified Rite, are covered in
Chapter II. In this connection I refer the reader to Bro. Henry Sadler's
article, "An Unrecorded Grand Lodge" (A.Q.C., Vol. 18), and especially to the
commentary by Bro. Carl Wiebe, Hamburg, on page 82. These are very valuable in
connection with the Scottish degrees. This is followed by an exposition of the
Swedish Rite, in which Zinnendorf played an important part. It is now the
working of the Grossen Landesloge der Freimaurer (Grand Countries Lodge of
Freemasons) of Germany. The older French systems are described in Chapter IV,
while the fifth chapter is devoted to the newer systems in vogue in France-the
Rite of Memphis, La Grand Loge Symbolique Ecossaise Mixte, and L'ordre
Maconnique Mixte International.
The Rite of Adoption and Androgynous Freemasonry is treated
in a separate chapter, as is the Scottish Rite. A review of German Freemasonry
is presented in Chapter VIII, the volume concluding with a tabular account of
the various Masonic Grand Lodges in Europe. A most valuable feature of the book
is the extensive index of fifteen pages; and the work is enhanced by numerous
but concise footnotes and references to other authoritative publications.
Anyone having a working knowledge of German will find.,
this carefully written book a most desirable acquisition to his library. It
presents information not available in any recent! works in English, and coming
as it does from brethren whose signatures are hallmarks of scholarship, it can
be quoted with safety and respect. American Masons will note with pleasure the
references in the volume to the Bulletin of the Grand Lodge of Iowa, as late as
the issue of January, 1926, indicating that the influence of the Iowa Masonic
Library is felt far beyond the, confines of the jurisdiction which so ably
supports it.
J. H. T.
* * *
WHY WE BEHAVE LIKE HUMAN BEINGS. By George A. Dorsey.
Published by Harper & Brothers, New York. May be purchased through the Book
Department of the National Masonic Research Society, 1950 Railway Exchange
Building, St. Louis, Mo. Cloth, index, bibliography. Price, postpaid, $3.70.
CURIOSITY killed the cat but before he died he willed his
fatal gift to an animal that walks on his hind legs and uses his front ones for
more enlightening tasks than mere instruments of locomotion. That the execution
of that will was known to the feline world is to be doubted as is the statement
that man descended from a cat. Evolution does not teach that our ancestors had
four feet and whiskers, which may or may not have been the forbears of our
modern mustache. Fundamentalists may disagree with the idea of evolution because
it cannot be reconciled with the Bible, but even so, man came from somewhere and
the evolutionist's explanation of his origin is as capable of proof as that of
the fundamentalist, possibly more so. If some of our adherents to the Biblical
account of the genesis of man could truthfully understand that evolution does
not mean that man was a monkey they might be more willing to endeavor to
reconcile the Bible with the teachings of modern science. The conclusion that
may be reached concerning the origin of species is clearly indicated by Prof.
Dorsey's statement that
Man never was a gorilla, a chimpanzee, an orang, or a
gibbon. No biologist ever made such a claim. Whether these apes could have
developed into human beings is a different story. They have the makings - all
the parts. If we knew how heredity works and could control variation, we might
breed from an ape a being that could dig a ditch, play the piano, talk English,
and sing the "Messiah." We can teach them to smoke cigarettes, chew tobacco,
wear clothes, eat with a knife and fork. We do not yet know the limit of their
capacity to learn human ways.
They vary in their man-likeness; no one is in all ways
closest to man. The orang looks like an Irishman; the gorilla is built like Jack
Dempsey; the chimpanzee is the most angelic; the delicate gibbon has a lady-like
skull and an upright carriage. The first three - the Great Apes - are the
extremes from a generalized ancestor. The gibbon varies least, and to that
extent is nearest the tree man climbed down when he decided to stand up and
talk.
So it is that man never was a monkey, but monkey and man
came from a common ancestor and popular fallacies concerning evolution are
dispelled. This common forebear on the other hand may have been a "sport" from
another root which gave birth to felines, and cattle. So the last will and
testament of our curious cat has, in the lapse of ages, come down to man and is
in after generations fulfilled.
If it was curiosity that killed our feline friend, what is
going to happen to man? There is no more curious animal on earth than the human
being. For countless centuries he has been prying into what some would tell us
is none of his business, but he has found out many things which he has made his
special property and because of his curiosity we have electric lights, radios,
telephones, airplanes and countless other things which to pithecanthropus
erectus never existed and of which he never dreamed even in the wildest flights
of what probably was a none too vivid imagination. Nevertheless our inheritance
from the cat was active and many things were discovered which to the primitive
man were as important as those wonders of modern inventors are to us. If he had
not been curious we probably would still be living in caves and painting
ourselves blue, but because he had a desire to know more about something with
which he was unfamiliar we have our modern society with its accompanying
civilization. It was curiosity that gave man control over his brain and made him
think about his surroundings in such a way that he was able to make the most of
those tools with which nature provided him.
If man had received no more than mere bodily form from his
monkey ancestor, he might as well have had an opossum for an ancestor. It was
not mere body that made monkeys smart; nor their brain that produced their hand.
Their brain made the most of their hand, but, as Jones says, while man can play
the violin because he has a big brain, what could his brain do if his hand were
a horse's foot?
And so,
If the hand that rocks the cradle is the hand that rules
the world, it will not hurt good government if the hand knows what it rocks; or
what the hand came from; or that the first cradle was in a tree top. The human
brain and throat made civilization possible, but it was the hand that built the
home, kindled the fire, and made human culture. There are simpler and surer feet
than man's, but none has carried such priceless freight or been shod with the
wings of a Perseus. The human hand should build a monument to the human foot,
for the foot freed the hand!
Thus it is that man has evolved, and now talks glibly of
evolution as though it were something either cut and dried, or to be condemned
because it does not agree with his religion. The ignorance of the world at large
on the subject of the descent of man is clearly illustrated in any ordinary
conversation on the subject. The "missing link" is an expression that rolls
glibly from the tongues of all of us. From the common usage of the term one is
inclined to the opinion that there is only one link in the chain that is lost
and that one the ancestor from which man and monkey sprang. It is true, however,
that there are literally thousands of links missing in the chain from amoeba to
man. The science of paleontology is full of such blanks, in fact were it not for
them we would have much difficulty in following evolution at all. If a person
with no more than average knowledge of the subject could hear a geologist
enthuse over a new and previously undiscovered shell which might be no more than
an unusual oyster he would realize how important are the missing links of
evolution. The first chapter of Prof. Dorsey's work is devoted to the evolution
of man from the standpoint of embryonic evidence and is a valuable aid in
dispelling many of the popular fallacies on the subject of evolution in general.
Why we live and how we live are questions the answers to
which may be found within the covers of this book provided a certain limitation
is placed upon the answer to why we live. The subject is one which if treated
for scientists would be dry and uninteresting from the layman's standpoint, a1hd
it may well be that because we have had no such book as Dr. Dorsey's written
heretofore that there is so much misunderstanding abroad in the world today.
Written as it is for popular consumption it fills a long felt need, and makes a
wide appeal besides being scientifically accurate. The style never smells of the
lamp; it is replete with erudition tempered with wit; and expressed in the
language of the present day. The book is written by a man who has for more than
a quarter of a century devoted himself to the study of mankind-not only in the
library and laboratory, but in the field as well; but scholar that he is Dorsey
proves himself primarily one of those humans he so aptly describes, capable of
writing in a vein that the average person will comprehend.
His opinions are illuminating, in many cases expressed with
a candor almost brutal, but so stated that one cannot forget them. For example,
he says:
When Sir Oliver Lodge talks with "spirits", he does it
outside a physical laboratory and as a misguided enthusiast, and not as a
physicist. To talk of or to a ghost is to talk of or to a ghost story. Thought
transference and disembodied spirits transcend all the known laws of physics,
nature and common sense.
And further
That man makes an ass of himself and elects himself a saint
only adds zest to the study of human behavior. Man is not only the most curious
thing in the world, but the most interesting, not only to live with, but as an
object of observation.
These, one may say, are the opinions of a scientist on life
as it is. True enough, but Dorsey is primarily a scientist and as such his
opinions are scientific, he is as contemptuous as most scientists where
philosophy is concerned; he objects to the separation of mind and body and the
study of the mind as a separate entity. This may, to some extent, be
permissible, but certainly there are functions performed by the mind which are
not purely bodily functions. In the case of reflexes this may be true and
psychology and philosophy become one, but the answers to all stimuli are not
reflective. The beginning of a chain of thought may be due to some outward or
inward stimulus, but the continuous development of that thought chain is due to
no accidental stimulation of a nervous system, but rather to a careful selection
of stimuli so that the chain may continue in a definite direction. For some
people Dorsey's contempt may seem justified. Those, for example, who have not
succeeded in training themselves to weigh each bit of evidence carefully before
forming a conclusion. We find examples of this type of mind among Masonic
scholars as well as others. They begin a discussion with a preconceived notion
and all development of a given subject is tinged by the aim they have in view.
That mind and body can be entirely divorced is not true, but by a proper
understanding of the interlocking features, we may learn to control our mental
functions and cause them to operate along certain well defined lines. It is here
that philosophy and intelligence both begin in showing us the way.
If one agrees with everything he reads he soon finds his
mind nothing more than a collection of contradicting opinions. He must pick and
choose and weigh each opinion carefully, accepting or discarding as the evidence
seems to dictate. One of Dr. Dorsey's statements with which I believe all will
agree is that
. . . this country proceeds on the theory that ignorance is
a defect, that education will cure it, and that the opposite of ignorance is
intelligence; and that compulsory education makes for intelligence.
This probably is a defect in other countries as well as
ours, but it is certainly a criticism of modern education which is above
reproach. Doubtless we will some day learn that we cannot force intelligence on
any one, the desire must be present before the result can be obtained. With the
proper stimulus the desire for intelligence may be awakened, but until that
desire is aroused no amount of effort can accomplish the desired result. Man can
be made to learn anything, he may be able to recite "Paradise Lost" from memory,
or he may have read all of the classics, and speak half a dozen languages, but
when he has accomplished this he may be no more intelligent than the parrot
whose vocabulary is limited to "Polly wants a cracker."
That Dr. Dorsey is alive to the vital issues of the times
is further illustrated by the following:
But the "racial purity" and the "racial inferiority" behind
such books as McDougall's Is America Safe for Democracy? Chamberlain's
Foundations of Nineteenth Century Civilization; Grant's The Passing of the Great
Race; Wiggam's The New Decalogue of Science; Gould's America a Family Matter;
and East's Mankind at the Crossroads, are bunk pure and simple. If these United
States wish to restrict immigration to "Nordics" or to this or that political
group, why not say so and be done with it? To bolster up racial prejudice or a
Nordic or a Puritan complex by false and misleading inferences drawn from
"intelligence tests" or from pseudo-biology and ethnology, is to throw away
science and fall back on the mentality of primitive savagery.
Evolution produced a human brain, our only remarkable
inheritance. Nothing else counts. Body is simply brain's servant. Treat the body
right, of course; no brain can function well without good service. But why worry
more about the looks, color and clothes of the servant than the service it
performs?
Dr. Dorsey evidently despises philosophy and were it not
for this fact the title of his book might well have been "Why We Behave Like
Human Beings," but because he does not take it into consideration and give it
due allowance he would better have named his work "How We Behave Like Human
Beings." A little of the science dealing with the more intangible aspects of
human life would have done his book no harm. He might have said "we don't know"
in a number of places where the impression would be given to the unwary that we
do-perhaps he thinks we do. Then still more does he need a dose of metaphysics
to balance the physics.
E. E. T.
----o----
FREDERICK THE GREAT AND MASONRY
I was very much interested in the article in the June
BUILDER by Bro. Kress. You may know the following. If so, no harm is done. If
not, it may be interesting.
Bro. LeBlanc de Marconnay wrote the following letter from
New York city on May 25, 1833, to the Grand National Mother Lodge of the Three
Globes:
The highest tribunal of the Thirty-third and last degree of
the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite (a Masonic authority which has extended
its jurisdiction over Europe, principally France), claims to have its authority
from Frederick II, King of Prussia, the said monarch having, on the first day of
May 1786, revised the Masonic constitutions and statutes of the high degrees for
which he had himself given the reglemens, etc. Are these historical traditions
founded on truth? Is there any trace to be found of such a fact? Is there any
probability for their being a reality?
The Directory under date of Aug. 17, 1833, replied as
follows:
The Grand Mother Lodge of the Three Globes was founded on
the 13th September, 1740, under the authority of Frederick the Great. who was
its first Grand Master. He never had anything to do with the organization and
legislation of the Grand Lodge. All that has been related of his having in 1786
originated a High Masonic Senate, etc., has no historical basis.
And the Three Globes, after a thorough research of its
archives, declared as follows:
1. King Frederick (the Great) attended to Masonic affairs
for only seven years, from his initiation in 1738 to 1744, and was never engaged
in them afterwards. He kept himself aloof from every participation in them,
devoting himself, with almost superhuman exertions, exclusively to the troubles
and cares of government and in the command of his army.
2. In the year 1762 the third Silesian campaign engaged the
whole of the time and activity of the king, and on the first of May, 1786 (the
last of his life), indeed a few months before his death (17th of August, 1786),
he resided, a martyr to the gout, decrepit and weary of life, in his castle of
Sans Souci, near Potsdam, not in Berlin. According to the most reliable
information, the king arrived at Berlin, Sept. 9, 1785, visited his sister, the
Princess Amalia inspected his public works, and spent the night at the mineral
springs to attend on the next day (Sept. 10, 1785) the manoeuvers of artillery.
From the place of review the king returned to Potsdam. He never again came
afterwards to Berlin; for, after passing the winter in great suffering, his
approaching end became no longer doubtful to his physicians in 1786, and the
suffering monarch moved, on the 17th of April, 1786, to the castle of Sans Souci,
where he through four months suffered and died a hero.
3. It is, therefore, a falsehood that King Frederick the
Great had convoked on the first of May, 1786, in his residence at Berlin, a
Grand Council for regulating the High Degrees. It does not correspond at all to
the manner of thinking and acting of the Sublime Monarch, to have occupied
himself at the end of his earthly career with things which he had characterized
as idle valueless and play work.
4. The documents kept from time to time in the archives of
the Grand National Mother Lodge do not show the slightest trace of the above
mentioned documents, or of the existence of a Grand Council in Berlin.
5. Of the persons who have said to have signed these
documents only Stark and Woellner are here known, the others are entirely
unknown, nowhere mentioned in the numerous Masonic books or writings collected
here.
But Stark could not have signed the documents in 1762 and
1786, for he was from 1760 to 1765 well known in England and France, and in
Paris was the expounder of the Oriental manuscripts of the library. In 1786, he
returned to Germany and became Corrector at Wismar. In 1769 he was appointed
Professor of Oriental languages at Koenigsberg, in Prussia, whence he went in
1781, as first preacher of the court to Darmstadt. Stark declares in his book,
"The Accusations Against Dr. Stark and His Defense: Frankfort and Leipsic. 1786,
pp. 83 and 245." that he had renounced since 1717, all his Masonic connections
had not participated in any way in Masonic matters, and had been very
indifferent to everything that had happened among Freemasons: so indifferent
that he did not want to answer letters of his former friends who wrote on such
subjects.
Woellner had been elected in 1785 "Alt Schottischer
Obermeister," and held this office till the year 1791, when he was elected
National Grand Master. Nowhere in the archives can be found evidence that he
took an interest in the High Degrees. A letter sent to him by "des Philalethes
Chefs legitimes du regime Maconnique de la respectable Loge des Amis Reunis a
l'Orient de Paris," kept in the archives of the National Mother Grand Lodge
touches the meeting of a convention at Paris on the 15th of June, 1786. It is
signed by Bro. Savalette de Langes (Garde du tresor royal). The purpose of the
convention was to he. "to confer on Masonic doctrine, and by the concentration
of lights and the comparison of opinions, to clear the most important points
relating to the principles, dogmas, advantages and true aims of Freemasonry,
viewed as a science."
A later letter from Bro. Savalette de Langes, received Feb.
9. 1787, shows that the meeting of the convention had been put off to the 21st
of February. 1787. On this letter is a remark that it had not been answered.
"THE GRAND LODGE RESOLVES to insert this report of the
Directory into the Protocol, and to promulgate it to all the lodges."
My authority for this is Robert B. Folger's "Ancient and
Accepted Scottish Rite in Thirty-three Degrees," p. 59 of Documents, Appendix to
Documents 10.
B. E. B., Washington.
----o----
WHAT THEY SAY
Mr. John H. Cowles, Grand Commander. Washington. D. C.:
Personally, I have talked to leading Masons in other bodies
of Masonry and expressed an opinion that hospitalization, especially for the
accommodation of our T. B. brethren, was a most deserving and meritorious line
of endeavor.
Mr. George W. Vallery. Grand Master Grand Encampment of
Knights Templar, Denver, Colo.:
I am somewhat interested in your Sanatoria Association and
I wish you would write and tell me something more about it.
Mr. Adrian Hamersly, Grand Recorder Grand Encampment of
Knights Templar, Indianapolis, Ind.:
It is my personal opinion that you are engaged in a
laudatory and highly enterprise.
----o----
THE QUESTION BOX
and CORRESPONDENCE
MAKING MASONS AT SIGHT
I have read with a great deal of interest the article in
the June number of THE BUILDER on "Making a Mason at Sight," and it may be of
interest to you to know that I have been an active participant in the making of
four men at different times in this State.
The first time was in 1895 when M. W. Charles Belcher was
Grand Master, and the reason then for his action was on account of a young man
desiring to visit the Holy Land with his father and a party of Masons.
He had made application to Haddonfield Lodge, No. 130, in
regular form, but as he was within one month of attaining his majority, the then
Grand Master decided that be could not apply until he was of full lawful age.
This would make his election, entering and passing and raising too late for him
to take advantage of the trip as a Master Mason, so Grand Master Belcher made
him at one time a Mason "at sight" in Haddonfield Lodge. The brother, William G.
Moore, afterward became a member of that lodge, was quite active in the work and
was at length elected W. M. At different times in 1902-3 M. W. Grand Master W.
Holt Apgar made three men Masons "at sight." One of them, Hon. Frankland Briggs,
then (I believe) State Treasurer, and afterwards U. S. Senator from New Jersey;
another one, Hon. Moses Taylor Pyne, a prominent financier and trustee of
Princeton University, and another one, Hon. Hugh H. Hammill, a prominent citizen
of Trenton, N. J. I was present and assisted in my official position as Senior
Grand Deacon. The work was performed under the direction of the Grand Master and
Grand Lodge officers and was practically the same as the t work of the
Occasional Lodge held in Charleston, S. C.
These brethren were furnished with a certificate from the
Grand Master showing how they became Masons and were elected in due time in
subordinate lodges.
The Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania (I believe) has also at
different times made Masons "at sight" and if I am not mistaken, John Wanamaker
was made "at sight."
Hoping the above information may be of interest to you and
the Craft, I am,
AUSTEN HALL McGREGOR, P. G. M., New Jersey.
* * *
FROM BRO. C. S. PLUMB
As you may be aware, on the night of Dec. 18, last, I was
struck by an automobile violating the traffic, law, the identity of which has
not been discovered. I was rendered unconscious but was taken at once to Grant
Hospital by two university students in their car. Here it was learned that both
legs and my right arm were broken. I also suffered concussion of the brain and
didn't regain consciousness till late the following day.
I was in the hospital three months. Much of the time I was
in a very serious condition, and the doctors did not believe I would recover.
While in the hospital and after coming home I received
letters from 325 old students and friends from all over the country giving their
expressions of sympathy. There was always a wealth of flowers in my room. The
doctors and nurses were kindness itself, and gave me every assistance possible.
Each day Mrs. Plumb was at my side, and had it not been for her and a good nurse
I should not be here now to tell the tale.
I have been profoundly touched by the expressions of
affection that have come to me from so many friends. There are others who left
no word, but who called at the hospital to learn of my progress.
Under the circumstances, I cannot personally reply to many
of those letters. But I feel as though I should express to you my gratitude for
your kindly sympathy for Mrs. Plumb and myself. I do not know how I can ever
repay such kindness.
I have steadily improved since coming home. On Easter for
the first time I was dressed and carried downstairs to eat at the family dinner
table. Today I go about with one crutch and a cane. My right leg has not healed
the best and I may need the crutch for some time yet. I have had a number of
trips to the university and have been out to dinner twice. Since coming home I
have had many callers. Each day brings one or more in to see me. I hope you will
accept this as a personal letter and as a deep expresson of gratitude on my part
for your kindness in which Mrs. Plumb joins me.
C. S. PLUMB, Columbus, Ohio.
[Bro. Plumb is one of the senior members of the N. M. R. S.
and has always been most interested in its work, and has ever been ready to help
in any way possible. We are, as all the rest of his friends will be, exceedingly
glad to hear of his progress towards a complete recovery from his accident.]
* * *
HENRY CLAY, G. M. OF TENNESSEE
In a review, "Homes of Famous Americans," page 189 of the
June BUILDER, I note what appears to be an error. In mentioning the name of
Henry Clay it says that he was Grand Master of Tennessee in 1820-21. Henry Clay
was Grand Master of Kentucky. I don't believe that he ever served as Grand
Master of Tennessee. It may be a printer's error, but it would be well to
correct it.
RAY V. DENSLOW, Missouri.
In reply to this Bro. Tatsch writes as follows:
I also observed the error in my book review regarding Clay
in a copy of THE BUILDER which was sent to me at Des Moines earlier in the week.
Clay was Grand Master of Kentucky for 1820-21, and presided at the annual
communication beginning Aug. 27, 1821. The Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of
Kentucky for Aug. 30, 1819, show that be was present as Grand Orator and that be
was re-elected to that position for the ensuing year on Aug. 31, 1819. He was
present at the religious service attended by the Grand Lodge at Lexington, Ky.,
on Aug. 31, at which occasion a eulogy was delivered on the merits and character
of Thomas Smith Webb, late Deputy General Grand High Priest of the General Grand
Royal Arch Chapter of the United States of America. Clay was a member of
Lexington Lodge, No. 1, in 1819, being listed in the returns as a Master Mason
and not as a Past Master. The returns show him as a Past Master under date of
August, 1821. These facts may be of interest especially as Masonic encyclopedias
carry no account of them. I have been unable to find when he was admitted to the
Craft, but the returns of Lexington Lodge. No. 1, for 1807, show him as a Master
Mason at that time. Clay was born in 1777; consequently he must have been
initiated some time between 1798 and 1807. Gilbert Patten Brown states that the
records of Lexington Lodge of 1803 show him as a member at that time; this
statement is apparently based upon a letter of W. J. Norwood, librarian of
Lexington Lodge, No. 1, which appeared in the "New Age," August, 1910, pages
178-9. Bro. Norwood believes Clay was made a Mason in Lexington Lodge, because
he came to Lexington, Ky., in November, 1797, being at that time 20 years of
age. Bro. Norwood states further that Clay was Grand Orator of the Grand Lodge
of Kentucky in 1806, as well as 1818-19. He demitted from Lexington Lodge Nov.
18, 1824, although the records show that he visited the Grand Lodge of Kentucky
Aug. 31, 1829. I commend Bro. Norwood's letter in the "New Age" to American
Masons who wish to do some original research, as there are leads in it worthy of
further investigation. Clay died June 29, 1852, and it is said that he was
buried with Masonic honors. An article by Gilbert Patten Brown in the "New Age"
for July, 1910, entitled "The Last Days of Henry Clay," informs the reader that
Clay was elected Grand Master of Kentucky April 12, 1856, very plainly an error
in view of Clay's death four years earlier.
While I regret the failure to correct my manuscript before
it was sent to you, I am pleased to have this opportunity of giving additional
information on Clay, and to urge upon American Masons the importance of
ascertaining facts of Masonic interest regarding our great men. Only those who
have gone into the subject know how meagre the records are, and how much work is
required in order to search records so difficult to find except in a few
libraries. Even Grand Lodges themselves are devoid of records and information
essential to such research work.
J. H. TATSCH, Iowa.
* * *
THE GRAND SECRETARY OF SCOTLAND
In looking over the reports of the Grand Lodge of Scotland,
I notice that the Earl of Elgin, Provincial Grand Master of Fife and Kilross, on
Dec. 14, 1925, says "Brother Field-Marshal, the Earl Haig, who was initiated in
Elgin's Lodge at Leven, No. 91, in 1881, returned to his Mother Lodge for his
Second and Third Degrees in 1924, and I had the honor of installing him as
Master of that lodge a fortnight ago," I note that Bro. Haig is the Senior Grand
Deacon of the Grand Lodge of Scotland.
You will recall that Bro. David Reid, Grand Secretary of
Scotland, took a very active and helpful part in carrying to a successful issue
the legal proceedings against Thomson in Utah. He has recently resigned owing to
ill-health. The Grand Lodge of Scotland has continued his salary and will
continue to have his services in an advisory way, though a new Grand Secretary
will soon be selected to succeed Bro. Reid.
ROBERT I CLEGG
* * *
LAFAYETTE AGAIN
I observe that on page 96 of the March issue of THE BUILDER
Bro. A. G. Scholl of Pennsylvania summarily disposes of the problem of
Lafayette's entrance into Freemasonry by quoting from the records of the Grand
Lodge of Tennessee, in which Lafayette is made to declare that he was made a
Mason before coming to America. The inference that his Mother Lodge was in
France, and Bro. Scholl suggests that "this statement should set at rest for all
time any doubt as to where he was made a Mason."
I am afraid it is not quite so simple as that. Robert Freke
Gould is usually considered fairly good authority, and he bad quite a different
idea. On page 217 of his "Military Lodges," Bro. Gould states:
In December, 1777, the army retired to Valley Forge, and it
was there-according to evidence which seems to be of a trustworthy character -
that General Lafayette was initiated. The French officer, though he had been
received very warmly and kindly by General Washington, experienced much
uneasiness from the circumstance that he had never been entrusted with a
separate command. During the winter he learned that there was a lodge working in
the camp. Time hanging heavily on his hands, and the routine of duty being
monotonous, he conceived the idea that he would like to be made a Mason. His
wish, on being made known to the lodge, was soon gratified, the
commander-in-chief being present and in the chair at the time of the initiation.
"After I was made a Mason," said Lafayette, "General
Washington seemed to have received a new light. I never had from that moment any
cause to doubt his entire confidence It was not long before I had a separate
command of great importance."
It would be most interesting to learn the source of Bro.
Gould's information, and particularly that of the closing paragraph, which
appears to quote Lafayette's own words.
R. J. LEMERT Montana
* * *
A CORRECTION
At the end of the first paragraph of the article on The
Great Frederick in the June number of THE BUILDER there is an error in regard to
Bro. Albert Lantoine. He is not a member of the Grand Orient of France but of
the Grand Lodge. He is not the historiographer of the Grand Orient. In fact, his
book is not to the liking of the representatives of the Grand Orient who accuse
him of rank partiality.
L. G., Colorado.
* * *
BOOKS WANTED AND FOR SALE
I have the first ten volumes of THE BUILDER complete,
unbound, in good condition, which I would be willing to dispose of.
G. W. S.
"Etidorpha," by John Uri Lloyd. I have a copy of the 11th
edition, 1901, but this is much inferior in form to the original edition, which
I think was published by subscription in 1895. Can you tell me where I could
obtain a copy of the original, and what it might cost?
"Secret Societies of All Ages and Countries," by C. W.
Heckethorne, 2 vols. I saw a copy of this work some years ago, but suppose it is
now out of print. I would like to know if it is available.
E. J. R.
Could you obtain for me a copy of James Ballantyne Hanney's
"Christianity"?
J.R.S.
If you can secure a copy of Robert Morris' "Mnemonics",
please send same to me.
W.T.V.
Address all communications to the Editor.
* * *
YE EDITOR'S CORNER
It is with great patience and without the least exhibition
of any kind of emotion that ye Editor in the most matter-of-fact way repeats yet
once again that THE BUILDER takes no responsibility for the opinions and
statements of its contributors and correspondents.
A good brother recently wrote expressing pain at our fall
from grace in publishing the translation of the article on Fascism by Bro.
Wolfgang, from our respected German contemporary Die Bauhutte. His objection was
that it seemed to reflect upon a certain American organization which he
evidently favors. With such questions THE BUILDER has nothing to do, though it
may be remarked in passing that in disapproving of this particular organization
Bro. Wolfgang is, in the same boat with a considerable number of American Grand
Masters and Grand Lodges. The particular point that ye Editor must stress is
that such items are put into THE BUILDER for the information of its readers.
Without full and accurate information no reasoned judgment is possible. We
reproduced this particular article not for the sake of what it said about things
happening in this country, for the majority of our readers have other and ample
sources of information, but because it threw some light on what has been
happening in Italy, and indirectly on the reaction of German Masons to the
situation thus created. Once again, then, THE BUILDER is a student's journal,
and every student, if he wishes to advance in knowledge, must be prepared to
hear the opinions of those with whom he disagrees and to weigh the arguments by
which they are supported.
* * *
We cull the following from the Fraternal Correspondence of
the Grand Lodge of North Carolina. We confess to sharing Bro. Allen's curiosity:
A New Scientific Treatise!
There remains only one other item for our notice ere we
discuss the Correspondence. That item is one of vast importance; it is found on
the one hundred and ninety-first page of the Proceedings, near bottom of page,
being a part of the report of the Grand Treasurer on Mileage and Per Diem
Account, Recap. Exhibit. One of the items, for which the Grand Lodge paid the
sum of twenty-six dollars and ninety-six cents, is a Biology of the Retiring
Grand Master. We'd like to have a copy of that ",biology" of Grand Master
Alpheus Everett Orton, dealer in Mineral Waters, Superintendent of his
Sunday-school, Grand Master of Masons, etc. In which of the classifications of
the animal kingdom would it place him? What would it reveal as to his early
biological history? They don't like evolution, you know, in Kentucky; had it up
in the legislature once upon a time, in fact. Perhaps he is so retiring that he
needs special study, biologically considered. We don't know. They don't tell us.
These Kentucky people take such unfair advantage of a fellow!
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