Contents
President's Corner
Iowa’s Masonic Magazines
Ancient Landmarks Lodge
THE PHILALETHES SOCIETY
Apologies From Dumb Editor
Masons in Illinois:
THE FIVE POINTS OF FELLOWSHIP:
The Necessity For Planning
100th Birthday
of Iowa Library Building
Oratory - A Study
Jerry Marsengill, FPS Editor
2714 Park Place
Des Moines, IA 50312
Alphonse Cerza, FPS, Life, Assoc. Editor
237 Millbridge Road
Riverside, IL 60546
John Black Vrooman, FPS, Life
P.O. Box 402 Editor Emeritus
St. Louis, MO 63166
OFFICERS
Allen E. Roberts, FPS, President
Drawer 70, 1-A South Holly Ave
Highland Springs, VA 23075
John R. Nocas, FPS, 1st Vice President
P O. Box 2366
Inglewood, CA 90305
Jerry Marsengill, FPS, 2nd Vice President
2714 Park Place
Des Moines, IA 50312
S. Brent Morris FPS Executive Secretary
5088 Lake Circle West
Columbia, MD 21044
John Mauk Hilliard, FPS Treasurer
30 - 70 48th St. Apt. 3-G
Astoria, New York 11103
LIVING PAST PRESIDENTS
Philalethes Society
Lee E. Wells
Alphonse Cerza, FPS (Life)
Judge Robert H. Gollmar, FPS
William R. Denslow, FPS
Robert V. Osborne, FPS
Eugene S Hopp, FPS
Dwight L Smith, FPS
Robert L Dillard Jr., FPS
Bruce H. Hunt, FPS
EXECUTIVE SECRETARY EMERITUS
Carl R. Griesen, FPS
TREASURER EMERITUS
Ronald E. Heaton, FPS
CONTENTS
The President's Corner
lowa's Masonic Magazines
Ancient Landmarks Lodge
The Philalethes Society
Apologies
Masons in Illinois
The Five Points of Fellowship
The Necessity for Planning
One Hundredth Birthday of lowa Library Building
Oratory - A Study
Through Masonic Windows
On the Cover
The cover artwork is from the Macoy Masonic Print Collection, courtesy of the Macoy Masonic Supply Co., Inc. The print collection consists of 26 different pictures on 16; permalife sheets and is available for $25.00 plus $3.50 postage. A copy of this cover alone (without overprinting) is available for $5.50 including postage. Send your orders to P.O. Box 9759, Richmond, VA 23228.
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By Allan E. Roberts FPS
Too many organizations take money from their subordinates and give them nothing in return. This has never been true of The Philalethes Society. From its beginning it has shared Masonic knowledge with its members. It has published a top notch magazine for 50 years. Today it is spending 80% of the dues of its members to produce the best publication in Freemasonry.
Even so, I feel our Society should be doing more for its members. We have taken a step in the right direction with the formation of legitimate Chapters. I want to see us assist these Chapters. To do so I’m appointing a Public and Internal Relations Commission with Walter J. "Jerry" Harmon, MPS, as the Chairman. This has the support of the officers of the Society and will be a continuing Commission.
This Commission will be working with our Chapters closely. It takes time to accomplish anything, especially in the field of Masonic education. We will start the ball rolling this year. Within the next two years it should be moving at a rapid clip. Our plans are to establish programs our Chapters can use to reach out to help the Freemasons in their area. As we develop these programs you will be notified. In the meantime any suggestions you may have as to how we can improve our public and internal relations will be appreciated. Send them to me. I’ll see they are considered.
William Copenhaver, MPS, will continue as Chairman of the Annual Feast Commission. Mark your calendar now. It will be held at 6 p.m. (note change in time) at the Hotel Washington on February 8, 1985. Preregistration tickets will be $20; tickets (if available) sold on the 8th will be $22.50. Donald H. Smith, MPS, of Kentucky will be the Guest Lecturer. More about him and his topic later.
John R. Nocas, FPS, our 2nd Vice President. will be Chairman of the Commission on Chapters. He will help organize new Chapters and work with then on programs designed to help the Society be of more value to Freemasonry in general.
Our’s is an international Society and we should recognize this more than we have. Consequently Wallace McLeod of Toronto, well known in international Masonic circles will become the Chairman of our International Relations Commission.
Our Treasurer, John Mauk Hillard, FPS, will be Chairman of the Certificate of Literature Commission. He will be assisted by Richard Sands, FPS, and Charles Guthrie, FPS.
Fellows will continue to be elected by the Executive Board. The Membership Commission will be determined later. This will be another important Commission. Our goal is to double our membership within the next two years. By doing so we can greatly expand our literary efforts, particularly the scope and importance of our magazine.
We have an ambitious program, designed to make the Philalethes Society one of the greatest servants of Freemasonry available. We need your input and cooperation.
An article by Burton Kessler, MPS. in the last edition is indeed thought provoking. He asks "Who Speaks for Freemasons?" He suggests it should be The Philalethes Society, so this deserves an official answer. He also quotes Dwight L. Smith, FPS, a Past President of the Society, so I felt I should consult Dwight before trying to answer Burton.
Dwight stands by his remark that the Society's prime Mission is to provide "responsible authentic Masonic research and information." I'll underline that statement. I'll also agree with Burton that the Society should "seek and offer Light in Masonry ... by discovering, displaying and honoring leadership quality, by continuing to provide information to those who seek more Masonic knowledge." I've purposely left out a small segment of his statement because it could be misunderstood.
Dwight believes, and so do I, that no one person, or group, by whatever name it's called can speak for Freemasons or Freemasonry. There are perhaps no two Freemasons in the world who have "needled" - our Masonic leadership more than Dwight and I. However, and this is important, we've done it as individuals - not as representatives of any organization. This is as it should be. No one else should take our lumps.
For well over a half century the pages of The Philalethes have carried some hard-hitting articles. This will continue. Personally, I'll continue at "call 'em as I see 'em." But, unless what I say is backed by the Board of Directors of The Society, what I write or say will be my sentiments, and only mine.
Achievement in the fields of Masonic history writing and education has been recognized for 15 years. The Brotherhood of the Blue Forget-Me-Not takes these Masons into its membership. Certainly some deserving Master Masons have been overlooked because the membership is small. If you know of someone who should be included in that Brotherhood, send me a brief bio. He'll be given every consideration.
However, perhaps the Society should single out Freemasons who have worked in the quarries of the Craft. Perhaps it should have a certificate. Let's have your thinking
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Grand Chapter of Royal Arch Masons of British Columbia & The Yukon
are pleased to announce the publication of their official history
THE ROYAL ART
The History of Royal Arch Masonry in
British Columbia & The Yukon
This is a book that should be of interest to all Freemasons in British Columbia, and particularly members of the York Rite. From the earliest appearance of that Royal Art in California - San Francisco Chapter No. 1, founded May 9, 1850 - to a petition signed by eleven Companions in Victoria on February 10, 1867 and sent by sailing vessel to the Supreme Grand Chapter of Scotland, and on through the years to the present 43 Royal Arch chapters.
Included are stories of organisations such as The Shrine, Prince Hall Freemasons, Ark Mariners, Order of the Eastern Star, the Odd Fellows, Knights of Columbus, Jobs Daughters, Lady Freemasons, Allied Masonic Degrees, and other groups which have existed in British Columbia, and many are still part of current fraternal life.
Costing $25.00 this book will be available at the Office of Grand Scribe Ezra, Royal Arch Masons, 1495 West 8th Avenue. Vancouver, as of May 15th, 1984, as well as at several booksellers in the Lower Mainland and Victoria.
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"The Builder"
by Keith Arrington, FPS
The Builder was the official organ of the National Masonic Research Society. The National Masonic Research Society was, primarily, the brain child, the hobby and the contribution of George L. Schoonover. The man, the Society and the magazine were also instrumental in the creation of the Masonic Service Association.
This explosion of Masonic education and service was triggered from within the Grand Lodge of lowa's Masonic Service committee. Searching for ideas, to expand their lively Masonic education activities, the possibility of establishing a research lodge was discussed. Envisioning the potential for such an activity, the committee was reluctant to confine such a lodge to the one limited jurisdiction and argued that it would be better to throw down the barriers and make it open to all Master Masons in good standing. Fate had provided that the right men to carry out such an ambitious plan should be available.
Foremost among these talented Masons was George L. Schoonover of Anamosa, only about twenty-five miles from the lowa Masonic Library in Cedar Rapids. Schoonover, Deputy Grand Master at the time of the discussion in 1914, was a banker, past Grand Treasurer and a skilled organiser. Neither the National Masonic Research Society nor The Builder could have come into existence without the special skills and certainly, the financial backing of this crusading Mason.
Joseph Fort Newton. secured as Editor-in-chief, had just written his introduction to Freemasonry, "The Builders." This book, which had been written at the request of the Grand Lodge of Iowa, quickly achieved great fame and popularity and is, to this day, one of the most read of Masonic books. In his "Foreword" in the first issue of The Builder, Editor Newton said, in part: "So enthusiastic, so remarkable indeed has been the response from all over the country to the suggested organization of a National Masonic Research Society, that there is no longer any doubt that such a movement is needed and that it has fruitful and far-reaching service to render to the Order.
"Some things need to be set down plainly, by way of preface, in behalf of a frank and full understanding. Let it be said once and for all that this movement has back of it no motive of personal aggrandisement, much less of pecuniary profit. Instead of trying to make money out of Masonry, the founders of this Society are putting time, money and energy into it, thinking little and caring less of any returns other than to find the truth and tell it. They have no axe to grind, no vanity to vent, no fad to air. Were it possible, they would prefer to remain unnamed. and be known only by their work - like the old cathedral builders, whose labors live but whose names are lost. Their solitary aim is to diffuse Masonic light and understanding, and thus to extend the influence and power of this, the greatest order of men upon the earth.
"Instead of being a private enterprise, this movement has the official sanction and blessing of the Grand Lodge of lowa, and is in fact an outgrowth of the labors of that Grand body in training its young men to be intelligent and capable Masons. 'For more than a generation.' Sir Chetwode Crawley wrote, 'we have been accustomed to see the Grand Lodge of lowa leading the van in the civilization of the literature of Freemasonry.’
"Time was, not so long ago, when it required courage for a man to be a Mason. Feeling against the Order was intense, often fanatical and its innocent secrets were imagined by the ignorant or malicious to hide some dark design. How different it is now, when the Order is everywhere held in honor, and justly so, for the benignity of its spirit and the nobility of its principles. No wonder its temple gates are thronged with elect young men, eager to enter its ancient fellowship. But those young men must know what Masonry is, whence it came, what it cost in the sacrifice of brave men, and what it is trying to do in the world. Otherwise, they cannot realize in what a benign tradition they stand, much less be able to find a reason for their faith. Every argument in favor of any kind of education has equal force in behalf of the education of young Masons in the truths or Masonry. So and only so can these ever hope to know what the ritual realise means, and what high and haunting beauties lie hidden in the simplest emblems.
"Finding in this necessity an open door of opportunity, the Grand Lodge of lowa set about, through its committee on Masonic Research to work out a well-planned practical program of method, testing it by facts and results. By natural logic, the fruits of that labor suggested a National movement toward the same end. which has now taken form in this Society."
The general aims and purposes of the Society were listed, being "to unite the work of the investigator with that of the interpreter" by publication of a journal devoted to the study and interpretation of the history philosophy, symbolism and purposes of the various rites, orders and degrees of Freemasonry; the publication of books and lectures on Masonic subjects; the publication of courses of study; the collection and circulation of data bearing upon distinct Masonic activities, such as plans and specification for different kinds of Masonic buildings; the foundation and management of funds for the financial aid of Masonic students in special fields of Masonic research.
The editor further wrote: "The brethren who compose the Board of Stewards have kept in the background, for they take no false pride in their positions. They are organized on the basis of 'who best can work and best agree.' "
These stewards were, in addition to Schoonover and Newton, George E. Frazer, Newton R. Parvin (Grand Secretary), Past Grand Masters Louis Block and John W. Barry and Charles C. Hunt, Deputy Grand Secretary. "All of them are busy men. All are active Masons. Their concept of a research society for American Masons was born of service in the ranks of American Masonry, which had disclosed a great need. The invitation of the Grand Lodge of Iowa to the brethren of our sister jurisdictions was an attempt to satisfy that need."
With the plans well laid and the ground work completed, the first issue of the new journal was mailed to the over 5,000 members of the Society in January of 1915. In a nine by twelve size, the twenty-four (later increased to thirty-two) creamy off-white pages were divided into two columns. Most articles began at the top of the page, though this was not an iron bound rule. Some fillers were used, mostly poetry or short items of lasting Masonic interest. No advertising was carried. There was always a frontispiece and many of the articles were generously illustrated with drawings or photos.
Members of the Research Society received the magazine for their $1.50 annual dues. Non-members could subscribe for $2.00.
The Builder had a life of almost sixteen years, though not without change in editor-ship and place of publication. The general style of the magazine was unchanged during this time, however, and. except for a few minor lapses, the high quality of its content was maintained. The Builder ranks among the finest scholarly Masonic periodicals ever to be published and still serves as a valuable mine of Masonic information.
Conceived to bring Masonic education to the Craft, this was the motivating factor behind everything that was done by the Society and its journal and behind each and every article that was published. The design and purpose was to educate the "young Mason" and to provide more advanced and challenging articles for those who were beyond the basics. "Nothing would be easier than to edit an erudite journal fined with learned essays to be read by the few and filed away for reference, had that been the purpose of the Society. But our first concern is to reach the rank and file of the Craft, as far as possible, and to enlist them in the study of Masonic truth, the practice of Masonic principles, and a better use of the Fraternity for the service of humanity."
In addition, every effort was made to provide the means, the methods of carrying on Masonic education. Some of the devices used were a Correspondence Circle, a Study Club, and Question Box department combined with correspondence from readers. There was also a Library department, reviewing, at length, several books each month.
The very first article in the magazine was the first in a series on the Philosophy of Masonry by Roscoe Pound, of Harvard University. Pound also contributed series on Masonic Jurisprudence and Masonic Symbolism in later numbers. That first issue had an article on Masonic Archaeology by Frank C. Higgins. P.G.M. (D.C.) George W. Baird wrote about Cleopatra's needle and the Pompeii mosaics in "Ancient Evidences." Baird was possibly the most consistent contributor throughout the fifteen and a half years of The Builder, principally with a long-running series on Great Men Who Were Masons.
Louis Block, P.G.M., Iowa, long a promoter of "the study side of Masonry," and certainly one of those who gave birth to the idea of the Research Society, translated from the German for the first three numbers, three dialogs, "Ernst and Falk Conversations for Freemasons," which explained Masonry in conversation form. The remaining dialogs appeared several years later in the magazine.
Joseph Fort Newton's editorials and occasional articles were understandably highlights of the magazine, one of his first features being "Masonry and World Peace." He also wrote on The Bible and Masonry, Robert Burns, J.D. Buck. Albert Pike, A.S. MacBride and on Masonic Education as well as sending in travel sketches when he was called to England.
Robert I. Clegg, who was a major contributor to The American Freemason at about this same time, was a very active part of the writing and editorial staff of The Builder. Clegg wrote on topics such as How to Study, Masonic Research, temple plans and construction, the early history of the Craft and the life of Albert Mackey. He also wrote editorials at times, being listed as an assistant editor from 1917 to 1920, and was the first editor of the Correspondence Circle Bulletin.
The Masonic scholars of Britain were given a showcase in America through the columns of The Builder. Dudley Wright's name was often seen. He wrote on Masonic war work in England as well as on Druidism women in Masonry, the Eleusinian mysteries and secret societies in China. W. Ravenscroft, over the years, had several articles on the Comacine masters. Sir Aided Robbins contributed articles of spurious Freemasonry and on the English-American Brotherhood. R.K. Baxter presented a course of Masonic reading, while Gilbert Daynes examined the past with articles on the legend of the Quatuor Coronati and the Grand Lodge of England in 1717 to 1813.
Historian Melvin M. Johnson contributed an important series on the history of Masonry in America. He also appeared frequently with articles on topics such as Freemasonry in the Far East, landmarks and the early days of Masonry. Landmarks and the ritual were among the topics discussed by Silas H. Shepherd.
Other well known names, to Masonic students, were Ossian Lang, Julius F. Sachse, Charles H. Merz, A.G. Pitts, C.C. Conover, Cyrus Field Willard, J. Hugo Tatsch, Oliver Day Street, Samuel H. Goodwin, R.V. Harris and many others.
An Indian Affairs Department was established with Arthur C. Parker, Alanson B. Skinner and others writing about Freemasonry among the American Indians.
Editor Newton has special respect for Arthur E. Waite, American born English mysticist and Freemason and a prolific writer on mysticism. alchemy, elves, fairies, - and, Freemasonry. A review from "The Occult Review," edited by Waite, of Newton's "The Builders" was published in one of the early issues of The Builder. Later Waite, an honorary past Senior Grand Warden of Iowa, contributed articles on co-Masonry Masonic symbolism, Emblematic Freemasonry and the Fellowcraft degree.
Harry L. Haywood, of course, was a major contributor for several years. In addition to serving as editor and also editing the Library department and the Question Box and doing other writing chores, he prepared both scholarly and down-to-earth articles on the landmarks, the Old charges and symbolism.
This is by no means a complete survey of the contents of The Builder. Dozens of authors wrote on a myriad of topics during the one hundred ninety seven months of publication.
The purpose of the magazine being to teach Masons about Masonry, little time was lost after The Builder was established in setting up machinery for Masonic education. In the fourth issue, April 1915 a symposium was begun, "How to Study Masonry." This first installment featured articles by Roscoe Pound, Louis Block and F.W. Shepardson on the field, the purpose and the method of study. Next discussed were Masonic libraries, schools on instruction and the Masonic Lecture Bureau of Montana. In June, republication was begun of a long list of questions on Newton's "The Builders," prepared by the Cincinnati Masonic Study School.
In December, "Ye Editor," as he chose to refer to himself, announced "We are now ready to organize a Correspondence Circle among our members, in which all are invited to join," its purpose being "to enable Brethren in one section of the country to come in touch with Brethren similarly interested elsewhere."
The first Correspondence Circle Bulletin did not appear, however, until October of 1916, with Robert I. Clegg as Editor. This eight page bulletin was printed and, presumably, mailed separately from the magazine. How ever, later on it was reduced to four pages and was printed as a part of the magazine, though the pages were numbered separately.
Editor Newton wrote: "We feel that the Society is now at the beginning, in a tangible way, of what is perhaps the most important part of the work it was founded to do. Its organisation, its journal its activity were al! intended with this purpose in view; and we believe that it will vet work out as it was planned, albeit at no little cost of labor and sacrifice. and that it will mark the opening of a new era in American Masonry."
Much used by the readers was the Question Box and correspondence department each month. Here questions submitted by readers were answered by the editors and contributing authors. "The Builder is an open forum, for free and fraternal discussion. Each of its contributors writes under his own name, and is responsible for his opinions. Believing that a unity of spirit is better than a uniformity of opinion, the Research Society, as such, does not champion any one school of Masonic thought as offer against another; but offers to all alike a medium for fellowship and instruction, leaving each to stand or fall by its own merits."
A random glance at typical questions found in one issue shows a writer concerned because his "religious work" demanded so much time he had little for Masonry. Reverend Newton commented: "Be loyal to your church and its labors, but have a care less you take to narrow a view of what religious work is. Any work done in the right spirit is religious work." Another asked, "What is the worst thing in the world?" Newton's answer: "The death of love, the fading of friendship, the breaking of ties that bind human hearts." Other questions concerned where the tide ebbs and flows twice in twenty-four hours, whether Masonry is universal, the lost word, the Mother Grand Lodge, physical qualifications, the Rite of Memphis.
The Correspondence section as often carried letters from the regular writers as from readers. Comment on and defense of positions taken in papers was common. All in all the Question Box Correspondence department was well worth studying by any Masonic student.
Early in third year a Fraternal Forum department was announced. "Results speak louder than words. We have been impressed with the increasing use now being made of the Society's resources. Mere numbers give no evidence of its real strength, but it is surely significant that the Society has enlisted the interest of 14,000 Masons in two years. Naturally, the high character of the membership is making itself felt month by month in the contents of The Builder, whose leading articles provoke a wide response both in the Society as well as in the Masonic press of the country. This response finds expression in the correspondence column, which increases in interest and value with each issue, and also in answer and comment direct from individual members. The editor has taxed the limits of space devoted to it, often with-holding articles to make room for letters of reply or elaboration not infrequently as instructive as the original article. All of which shows a very real and vital interest in the study of Masonry. Surely all of this is as much an evidence of the strength and virility of Masonry as beautiful temples, the perfect exemplification of the ritual, or large numbers of candidates. excellent as all these are.
"Your Board of Stewards has therefore felt the need of adding a department to The Builder that will bring the Experience and special information of its past and present contributors to bear on present day Masonic problems. This department, of personal opinion, will be edited by the President of the Board of Stewards (George E. Frazer). Expressions of personal opinion from writers who have contributed to the magazine will make up the department each month." Rules for contributors were given as to responsibility and length of articles.
In the following months, one question each month was submitted to the writers and their comments were printed in the magazine. Some of the topics discussed were: Shall Masonic Lodges encourage the formation of local Masonic social clubs and the establishment of Masonic club rooms dedicated to amusements and social meetings? Shall Masonic officers be elected from the floor irrespective of service as subordinate officers Shall the Grand Lodge issue charters to military lodges during the period of the Great War? Shall rules as to physical qualifications be modified so that Masons may welcome soldiers and sailors who lose limbs in the service of their country?
The comments on Military Lodges overflowed from the Fraternal Forum department into the body of the magazine, with articles by several writers and with state by state surveys of the actions of Grand Masters in permitting or forbidding Military Lodges. Army Lodges and Army Masonic Clubs were chronicled in a lengthy series of reports by Charles F. Irwin.
The Builder was not a news magazine and made conscious effort to avoid anything like news of lodge or Grand Lodge activities and obituaries, which, it was thought, belonged in the local Masonic publications. However, its editors were aware of what was going on in the world and urged the participation of Masonry in the War effort and, later, in the national Masonic campaign against tuberculosis.
George L. Schoonover, Executive Secretary of the Society and also its creator and force behind the scenes, was the moving force behind the organization of The Masonic Service Association in 1918.
A vision and a desire to fill the need of field service to the American soldier in France prompted Grand Master Schoonover in October 1918 to send a long letter of appeal to the other Grand Masters of the United States. He related briefly how at a meeting held the previous December in the District of Columbia, the fear of a General Grand Lodge had prevented any positive action being taken. Now he declared, "This is Masonry’s war! Our country is in a crisis. Our brethren are flocking to the colors; they're being mixed up like hash in a griddle - but they're still Masons. They are calling on you and me to help them!" Stating that "Our government has told us that they will recognize us as a National organisation, but they will not do so as forty-nine or more separate organisations," Schoonover called upon the Grand Masters to meet with him within thirty days "At some central point in the United States."
The date was then set for November 26 through the 28th in Cedar Rapids and another letter went out to the Grand Masters, inviting them to bring a number of their leading Masons. Grand Master Schoonover noted, "Should conditions within Germany finally prove to have forced a real surrender, there will still be a long period of demobilization" when the needs of "our boys" will be even greater. "Our reason for coming together will be intensified, rather than decreased."
The meeting was held. The Masonic Service Association was created. Though the original need no longer existed, the MSA has served Masonry with distinction for nearly seventy years.
Several numbers of The Builder with a central major theme were produced. In August and September of 1924, Canadian Freemasonry was highlighted with articles on each of the Provinces written by Canadian Masons. In like manner, Masonry in the British Isles was featured in May of 1925, with J. Walter Hobbs, John H. Lepper, F.J.W . Crowe, W.W. Crovey Crump and Gilbert W. Daynes among the contributers.
A long series of articles on Catholicism began with the publication of a treatise on Masonry reprinted from The Catholic Encyclopedia and the publication of Pope Leo Xlll’s Encyclical Letter. A letter or two from readers protested this "anti Catholic" editorial vein but the editor disclaimed any prejudice. Perhaps related to this was an article which argued that if "Home Rule" were to come to Ireland, Masonry in Ireland would certainly be abolished.
Joseph Fort Newton remained as Editor until June 1917, although he was gone from Iowa almost a year before that. The July 1916 number of The Builder carried a note that Newton had gone abroad "for about two months" as guest of the City Temple in London. Robert I. Clegg would write the editorial in September. Newton never made it back although his work continued to appear in the magazine. He was chosen by City Temple to be its minister and remained there about two years.
The June 1917 number had an "Au Revoir" from Newton and introduced Harry L. Haywood as editor of the Library department. Editorials were sometimes signed by Clegg, sometimes unsigned. Because so little emphasis was placed upon names, it was difficult to tell who was acting as editor. Library notes indicate that from 1917 to 1920 there was no official editor, while Schoonover, W.E. Atchison, Haywood, Clegg, and Robert Tipton were associate editors.
Harry Haywood achieved editorial status from 1921 to August 1925, with the assistance of J. Hugo Tatsch in 1922 and 1923 and of Charles Clyde Hunt in 1925 to 1925. R.J. Meekren is listed as editor from 1925 to May 1930, with the assistance of C.C. Hunt and J. Hugo Tatsch.
The first editor, Joseph Fort Newton, was born in Texas in 1880, and attended seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, being ordained a Baptist minister in 1893, which would make him only thirteen years old at the time. He was Pastor of churches in Texas, Missouri and Illinois before coming to Cedar Rapids in 1908 to serve the Liberal Christian Church. He graduated from Coe College in Cedar Rapids in 1912 and later from Tufts College in 1916 and Temple University in 1929. After leaving Iowa in 1916 he was Pastor of City Temple in London and churches in New York City and Philadelphia. He served the Grand Lodge of Iowa as Grand Chaplain in 1911 to 1913. Newton wrote half a dozen or more Masonic books plus a number of non-Masonic works. He died in Pennsylvania in 1950.
Harry L. Haywood was born in Ohio in 1886 and died at Cedar Rapids, in 1956. When only thirteen he graduated from high school and then attended Theological Seminary at Dayton and then Lawrence College, Appleton, Wisconsin. Ordained a minister at eighteen, he served a non-denominational church at Waterloo, Iowa, and possibly other churches. He left the ministry in 1919. From 1925 to 1930 he was editor of the New York Masonic Outlook. A most prolific writer, he is credited with at least thirty books and about fifteen hundred articles on Masonry.
Robert I. Clegg, a mechanical engineer, was born in England and became a U.S. citizen in 1891. One time president of the Masonic History Company, he prepared revisions of Mackey's works - the Encyclopedia, History, Jurisprudence and Symbolism.
George L. Schoonover, probably the least "public" and the most important of all to the National Masonic Research Society and The Builder, was born at Anamosa in 1880, the son of a wealthy banker. He had poor eyesight and was unable to attend public schools, so he was privately educated. He graduated from the University of Iowa in 1901 and then entered the banking business with his father, becoming president of the bank in 1907. He was also active in other businesses including the Metropolitan School Supply Company of Cedar Rapids. Schoonover served Iowa Masonry as Grand Master in 1918-1919. He had an active part in the Washington Masonic Memorial Association.
"The Freemason" of London said of Schoonover in November 1919, "Among the delegates from overseas at the Peace Celebration of the United Grand Lodge of England in June last, none was more welcome than Brother George L. Schoonover, Past Grand Master of Iowa. His arduous work as Secretary in connection with the National Masonic Research Society of Iowa had made him known to all Masonic students and his efforts in connection with the welfare of the American soldiers in France have made him known to many outside the ranks of the Craft."
In addition to the changes in editorship of The Builder, there were changes in place of publication as well as in the leadership of the Society.
"The House of Light," a new home constructed especially for the Society was described in the October 1915 magazine.
Editor Newton wrote: "Graceful, substantial, modest, home-like, it is the home of the National Masonic Research Society - as simple as it is elegant - a temple and workshop." Then he wrote, "Let there be credit where credit is due. Despite his protest, we deem it but just to state the simple fact that our House of Light, so beautiful in its appointments, was erected by the munificence of our Secretary, whose enthusiasm for the advancement of Freemasonry is equalled by his practical capacity in working out his designs. Without his faith, his personality, his executive acumen and indomitable industry, neither this Society nor its Home would ever have had an existence. He has invested his time, money and energy without stint, asking no dividends save the increase of Freedom, Friendship and Fraternity among men.
Our new home will help Brethren to fix in their minds, once and for all, that this Society is no longer an experiment, but an established institution, to be reckoned among the permanent assets of American Masonry."
The frontispiece of the January 1923 Builder was a photo of Harry L. Haywood, "Ye Editor." The opening article stated: "By the time these words reach the reader we shall have moved into our new headquarters building at 2920 First Avenue East, Cedar Rapids, where under ideal conditions and with a complete outlay of the most modern equipment, we shall undertake anew the tasks to which this Society was dedicated nine years ago."
These high hopes for the new quarters were short lived, however, since events to come brought about a second move. this time to St. Louis, Missouri. in September of the same year. George L. Schoonover's connection with the Fraternity having ended in that year. arrangements were made with F.H. Littlefield to take over management of the Society. The Builder and the Society were set up in offices in the Railway Exchange Building, "the largest office building in the world."
Editor Haywood stated that the Board of Stewards, at an annual meeting held in Cedar Rapids, in October, had decided that it would be wise to so reorganize "our machinery" as to make for increased efficiency and economy, as well as to guarantee that the future of the Society be absolutely secure. "To that end it was arranged that the general offices of the Society be retained at Cedar Rapids, with Brother Charles C. Hunt as General Secretary and that the publication office of The Builder, membership offices, financial offices, and all other activities appertaining to the business management of the Society's affairs be removed to St. Louis to be under the care of Brother F.H. Littlefield, who at that meeting was chosen executive head.
"Those qualifications required of an executive head were found fully developed in Brother Littlefield. As president of the Standard Masonic Publishing Company, editor and proprietor of The Missouri Freemason and for many years intensely active in all the Masonic bodies in Missouri. as well as several important business concerns. he possesses the ideal experience and equipment for the managing head of the Society."
Littlefield, in a "Salutatory," said: "The Builder and the business offices of the Society are now removed from Cedar Rapids to St. Louis, with all the collected manuscripts, library and equipment intact. Ample provision is made for its valuable reference library and its editorial and research departments. The material resources and conveniences are in no was impaired and we expect them to develop improvement in the future.
"More important is the continuation of the high standard of Masonic journalism that The Builder has established. To this we pledge our most sincere efforts. Everything will carry on as before."
At about this same time Editor H.L. Haywood mentioned "a rather extended illness" which prevented him from writing the article planned for the Study Club. This illness eventually forced his resignation from the position of editor.
Not revealed in the pages of The Builder was some behind the scenes maneuvering. Former Editor J.F. Newton was in favor of a move to transfer the Research Society and The Builder to the Masonic Service Association. He also wrote, in a letter, that the MSA was planning a new magazine which would "knock the spots off The Builder." Newton, in fact, became editor of that new magazine. "The Master Mason," which lived for about seven years.
During this apparently troubled period, the editor tried to reassure the members. "The Builder is one hundred months old: The Society has never been so flourishing as now, and as for Masonic Education, it is everywhere and without exception completely in the ascendant."
The magazine and Society continued for almost seven years after the up rooting to St. Louis. The quality of the magazine was for the most part retained. There were occasional lapses in the substance of the articles and new names appeared in place of the familiar writers. Some ideas ran their course and were laid aside for new ones. The Study Club and the Correspondence Circle Bulletin went through changes and were eventually laid aside as having served their time. The appearance of the magazine went unchanged during its long life, except for two issues which came out on white paper in place of the usual cream colored. The color of the cover was also changed in later issues from a yellowish tan to a more Masonic blue.
The final issue was that of May 1930. No announcement was made that publication was ending, although an alert reader could have found hints that the end was coming. Also, "Black Friday," October 28, 1929, saw the U.S. Stock Exchange collapse and a World economic crisis ushered in. This, no doubt, was the primary contributing factor to the Builder's demise.
Featured in the last number was "Freemasonry in the Civil War" by Albert Pike; an article on Cagliostro by Cyrus Field Willard was concluded; Masonic Clubs in the A.E.F. by Charles F. Irwin; an article on the Humber Installed Master's Lodge: the Library, Question Box and correspondence department: and, the Editorials - one on the future of Masonry and one mentioning a change of address to another location in St. Louis.
So ended, in its sixteenth year, the distinguished literary contributions of The Builder - a solid, dependable, scholarly Masonic journal which became the criterion for all others which have sought to follow in its shadow.
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No 3579 - AF&AM
(Blooming ton McLean County, Illinois)
by Thomas Right, MPS
It was a near-overflow crowd that filled the dining room of the Masonic Temple in Bloomington, McLean County, Illinois on the evening of November 17, 1983 when a dinner, which included the ladies, marked the opening activities in which Ancient Landmarks Lodge, U.D. was to receive delivery of its Charter as a regularly constituted Masonic Lodge under the jurisdiction of the MW Grand Lodge of Illinois.
This was Masonic history in the making for Bloomington, as this was the first new lodge constituted there since October 1918, so there was special excitement in the air on that evening as the dream of Ill. Louis L. Williams. 33d, and other dedicated Brethren came true in a community rich in Masonic tradition and Illinois history.
Bloomington is a community peculiarly American. Primarily an agricultural and educational community, here the memories of Lincoln, Douglas and other great men are still very much alive, as is our beloved Masonic fraternity.
Abraham Lincoln traveled this way as he rode the circuit of the Eighth Judicial District from 1847 to 1857. At the Courthouse here, during the winter of 1858 to 1859. Lincoln wrote the only autobiography of his early life. This brief sketch produced deep public interest in his campaign of 1860, when he was elected President of the United States.
Bloomington is the home of a great newspaper, The Pantagraph, which was founded there in 1846 and was the first newspaper to endorse Abraham Lincoln for President. It was also in Bloomington that organisation of the Republican Political Party took place in May 1856.
Bro. Stephen A. Douglass U.S. Senator from Illinois, served as State's Attorney of Mclean County in 1835 and practiced law here with his law partner George F. Markley, as one of the towns in his district.
Bro. George M. Pullman, in 1858, built his first sleeping car in the Chicago & Alton railroad shops here. This was also the hometown of Bro. Adlai Stevenson, who served as U.S. Vice-President under President Grover Cleveland. It was also in Bloomington that a Freemason was stubborn enough to stick with an idea that he thought was good - and resulted in his becoming the founder and first president of the State Farm Insurance Companies. Ill. George Jacob Mecherle, 33d, was a dynamic insurance executive who guided State Farm to national prominence and a leader in the insurance field, but also found time to devote to our beloved Masonic fraternity.
The Masonic life of Bloomington began in 1847, when the first Masonic Lodge was formed there, since then, Bloomington has had a strong Masonic tradition and masonry has flourished there. Today, Bloomington is a far cry from the day back in February 1847, when four pioneers of that community sat astride the trunk of a felled tree near the present Main Street, and resolved to take the necessary steps to form a Lodge of Masons there. Yet, from this humble beginning has risen a flourishing Masonic presence that continues to this very day. At one time, it was believed that Bloomington had more Masons within its borders than any other city of like size in America.
It was this setting that inspired a great American Freemason, Ill. Delmar Duane Darrah (1868 to 1945), to write and originally present here The American Passion Play, a religious drama presented annually since 1924 at the Scottish Rite Cathedral of Bloomington. It was also in Bloomington that the Masonic Book Club was formed under the guidance and leadership of Ill. Louis L. Williams 33d, with Ill. Alphonse Cerza, 33d, noted Illinois Masonic scholar, editor, writer and book-reviewer, serving as president.
Under this long tradition of Masonic enlightenment and progress, an environment was established where it was only natural that the inspiration for a new kind of Masonic Lodge would result. A lodge unique among other lodges in Illinois, if not elsewhere in the country, in that its primary purpose would be to propagate the Masonic education of its members.
RW Bro. Louis L. Williams, Bro. Barry D. Weer, and Bro. Michael S. Weer invited the Brethren of Bloomington to attend a meeting to discuss the formation of a new Masonic Lodge to be named Ancient Landmarks Lodge.
With twenty-one members of the Craft present, an organisational meeting was called to order at 7:50 p.m on November 24, 1981 for the purpose of determining if sufficient interest existed to form a fourth Masonic Lodge in Bloomington. RW Bro. Williams explained the need and reason for such a new lodge, relating to the assembled Brethren the "Story of St. Andrews Lodge," indicating his long sought dream of establishing a somewhat similar lodge in the Bloomington environs. This lodge would be in the format of the English tradition, in that the brethren would dine together before each meeting; bimonthly meetings encouraging Masonic research, dialogue and enlightenment would be held; and, attendance would be required of all members unless excused by the Worshipful Master. The stated objective of such a lodge was to bring further light to those Freemasons who were desirous of increasing their knowledge of the history of Masonry, in addition to conferring degrees and conducting the business of the lodge. It was hoped that the leading Masonic scholars and personages, from near and far, would be attracted as feature speakers, and that their presentations would be published in the annual transactions of the lodge. The proposed bylaws were discussed in detail, and after suggestions and changes were offered and discussed, they were accepted.
The twenty signatures required before applying for a dispensation were obtained, and a petition for a new lodge dated March 10, 1989 was presented to the MW Grand Master of Masons of the State of Illinois. The petition was made with the approbation and recommendation of the three nearest lodges which were all located in Bloomington, and which included Bloomington Lodge No. 43. Wade Barney Lodge No. 512, and Arts and Crafts Lodge No. 1017. There were twenty-two petitioners, all being members of Illinois Masonic Lodges. Nominated and recommended as the first lodge officers were: Bro. Lewis L. Williams, to be the Master; Bro. Barry Weer, to be the Senior Warden; and Bro. Michael Weer, to be the Junior Warden.
On September 10, 1982, the then Grand Master, MW Raymond H. Bachman, of Joliet, Illinois, granted his dispensation authorizing Ancient Landmarks Lodge, U.D. to work under the appropriate codes of the Grand Lodge of Illinois, and appointed the above stated officers, as well as, Bro. Robert E.L. Clark, to be Secretary of the lodge. This Dispensation was read in open Lodge, entered in full upon the record, and due return was made the MW Grand Master of the action had under this authority. On that same date, the MW Grand Master went to Bloomington and delivered his Dispensation personally at a special celebration held at the Bloomington Masonic Temple, which included a banquet followed by the institution of the Lodge, the investiture of officers with the jewels of office, and other appropriate and customary activities as prescribed in the Book of Ceremonials.
The Blazing Star, the Lodge's official newsletter for members, began its first issue in October, 1982. The name of this publication was to reflect the fact that this Lodge expects to be a bright shining light in Masonry.
From inception, Ancient Landmarks Lodge was blessed with harmony progress, and prosperity. Nationally and internationally-known Masonic scholars and leaders have been attracted as feature lecturers, and as honorary and active members of this creative new lodge in Illinois.
The first special meeting of Ancient Land marks Lodge, U.D. was held on November 11, 1982 which featured MW Bro. Stanley Maxwell, a PGM of Massachusetts, and currently Sovereign Grand Commander of the Scottish Rite (NMJ), and president of the George Washington Masonic National Memorial Association. Bro. Maxwell was accompanied by his suite of Active Members of the Supreme Council from Illinois, and delivered a most eloquent lecture entitled "The Philosophy of Freemasonry." Following this, Ill. Arlo E. Bane 33d, told the story of the late Delmar D. Darrah, one of the most distinguished Masons in Illinois Masonic history, and for whom this lodge established a prestigious award.
The Delmar D. Darrah Medal for Distinguished Masonic Service was then presented to Bro. Maxwell by the Worshipful Master, Bro. Williams, who in presenting the award to Bro. Maxwell named him one of the most prominent Freemasons in the world today - well deserving of being the first Freemason to receive this Medal from Ancient Landmarks Lodge.
Illinois Masonic law requires that a new lodge under dispensation must initiate, pass and raise a candidate before its Charter may be issued. At the Lodge's Stated Meeting of November 19, 1982 the first candidate was elected. Wilmer Edgar Weer, Jr., the young brother of the Lodge's Senior and Junior Wardens, received his Entered Apprentice Degree at the Stated Meeting of December 17: his Fellowcraft on January 21, 1983, and, was raised at the Stated Meeting on February 18, 1983.
In the evening of that same day, Ancient Landmark Lodge, U.D. presented its first version of a Table Lodge, and it was hoped that this would become an important annual event with attendance required of all lodge members at this meeting. Table Lodges are an old and venerable institution dating back to most of the early lodge meetings held in the period after the organization of the first Grand Lodge in 1717. It was the custom of the Brethren to dine together in some local tavern, and then to confer the degrees, if there were candidates, interspersed with drinking various toasts. Somehow, in America that custom fell into disuse and for many years we had no such meetings here of Table Lodges. But in the early 1960's, MW Bro. Myron K. Lingle, an innovative Grand Master of Illinois, resurrected the idea of Table Lodges, inducing the other Grand Lodge officers to agree, and in 1967 printed a format for a proposed Table Lodge to be used in Illinois. The reaction by those lodges who tried this format was most enthusiastic for the concept. To prevent its misuse, and to keep it from becoming commonplace, a dispensation from the Grand Master is required to hold such Table Lodges in Illinois.
From its inception, Ancient Landmarks Lodge, U.D. has attracted the interest of prominent Masonic personages and its Honorary Memberships continues to grow. This class of membership includes dedicated Masons, who deserve the honor of membership in the Lodge, but are not expected to fulfill the attendance requirements.
At the Stated Meeting of March 18, 1983 Bro. George Broughton, of Normal, Illinois, presented an interesting lecture on his recent visit to Broughton Lodge No. 5437, which is located about 100 miles northwest of London in Preston, England.
Bro. Homer Zumwalt, of Galesburg, Illinois, for the past twelve years Chairman of the Grand Lodge of Illinois Masonic Education Committee, presented an interesting and stimulating lecture at the Stated Meeting of April 15, 1983. Bro. Zumwalt, a dedicated scholar and supporter of Masonic education, was president of the Midwest Conference on Masonic Education. His remarks on "Masonic Education" were warmly received and accepted "Masonry and Religion" was the topic of a most eloquent lecture presented personally by Ill. Alphonse Cerza at the Stated Meeting of June 17, 1983. Bro. Cerza is without question the best known of Masonic scholars, writers, editors and book-reviewers in America today. His Masonic flame was lit early and continues to brighten the thoughts and minds of our beloved Fraternity on a worldwide basis to this very day. Few, if any, have contributed more to the promotion and enjoyment of Masonry in recent decades than Bro. Alphonse Cerza. His remarks and presentation to Ancient Landmarks Lodge, U.D. will be long remembered and appreciated by the Brethren in attendance.
On August 19, 1983 the Brethren of Ancient Landmarks lodge, U.D. had the unique opportunity to hear Bro. Wallace McLead, who is the Worshipful Master of Quator Coronati Lodge No. 2086 of London, England.
This is the world's largest and without a doubt the most renowned lodge of its type with a worldwide membership. MW Bro. McLead resides in Ontario, Canada and is the first Freemason to be elected to the office of Master who resides outside the confines of the British Isles.
After his eloquent and entertaining remarks of that evening Bro. McLead became the second recipient of The Delmar D. Darrah Medal for Distinguished Masonic Service, which was presented to him by the Worshipful Master, Louis Williams.
During this "trial" period of its first year, Ancient Landmarks Lodge, U.D. enjoyed an active and rewarding year, quietly moving toward realisation of its ambitious stated goals. In addition to attracting prominent Masonic lecturers from afar, many local Brethren also shared their thoughts and experiences with the Brethren of the Lodge. These included: Bro. Louis L. Williams on the occasion of the Lodge's institution on September 10, 1982: Bro. Barry Weer, Senior Warden, who explained the concept of the Table Lodge; Bro. Martin A. Compton, who lectured on the "Response to the Fourth Furthermore - 'I Will Aid and Assist...' ": Bro. Louis L. Williams, who discussed "The Blazing Star"; Bro. George Buren, who presented a paper prepared by Bro. Arlo Bane on our illustrious superhero George Washington; Bro. W. Aitken Riddle, Senior Deacon, who discussed "The 47th Problem of Euclid"; Bro. Walter G. Wright who discussed "The Five Human Senses"; all of the above lectures, except the first, were presented at the first Table Lodge, which attracted thirty-six dedicated members of Ancient Landmarks Lodge, U.D. During this first Table Lodge meeting, toasts were made to the Ornaments of a Lodge: the Five Human Senses: the Forty-seventh Problem of Euclid; and, the Fourth Furthermore. It was an interesting and fine experience that deserves to be tried again, and again.
On Thursday evening, November 17, 1983 MW Bro. E. Gene Ross, MW Grand Master of Freemasons in Illinois visited Bloomington for the express purpose of delivering the Lodge's Charter, and officially installing its officers. It was an exciting evening for Masonry in Bloomington. Excluding the Honorary Members, who are scattered call over kingdom come," the Lodgers Active Members, all belonging to Mother Lodges elsewhere, came from about eight different Lodges. One of these Lodges, Bloomington No. 43 served as official host for the dinner that was held on Thursday evening in honor of Ancient Landmarks Lodge, and to the visit of the MW Grand Master to Bloomington. This thoughtful gesture of brotherly love and affection on the part of the Brethren of Bloomington Lodge No. 43 was most gratefully appreciated by everyone in attendance on that important event for Ancient Landmarks Lodge.
This evening was also a Stated Meeting for Bloomington Lodge No. 43, so flexibility was required to prepare a meeting of Ancient Landmarks Lodges U.D. so that both Lodges could function properly that evening. This was done by serving dinner at 6 p.m., and at 7 p.m. holding the Stated Meeting of Bloomington Lodge No. 43 in which only its necessary business was transacted, and then the Lodge was quickly closed. During this Stated Meeting, the ladies were entertained with a musical program in the dining room, and then joined the open ceremonies of the new Lodge later. At 7:30 p.m., an open meeting was held with delivery of the Charter for Ancient Landmarks Lodge No. 3579 being made by the MW Grand Master of Freemasons in Illinois who was accompanied by most of the Grand Lodge Officers who also participated in the official ceremonies and the installation of the Officers of this newly-chartered Lodge. At 9 p.m. a reception was held for the MW Grand Master of Illinois in the dining room of the Bloomington Masonic Temple. And thus concluded a once in a lifetime experience for this creative new Illinois lodge in Bloomington, Illinois.
On the following day, November 18, 1983, the regular monthly Stated Meeting was held, but this was of special importance, of course, because it was the first official meeting as a Chartered lodge, but also because the MW Grand Master, E. Gene Ross had staved overnight to attend the Lodge's first meeting. At 6 p.m. that evening a dinner was held in a local restaurant in the Grand Master's honor, and following this, the Brethren assembled in the Bloomington Masonic Temple to open this new Lodge, and to transact all necessary business.
At this first meeting as a Chartered Lodge, this writer was pleased to have been voted on and passed as an Active Member of Ancient Landmarks Lodge No. 3579.
With all the necessary business transacted, the MW Grand Master and many of his Grand Lodge Officers were officially received in the Typed Lodge where the Customary courtesies and ceremonies were exchanged. MW E. Gene Ross then delivered a most eloquent lecture to the assembled Brethren, which was well received by everyone in attendance that important evening in the life of this new and unusual Illinois lodge of Freemasons.
It is hoped that the same wisdom and guidance that helped establish this creative new concept of Freemasonry in Bloomington. Illinois will continue to guide the Lodge to expand its Masonic horizons to bring much needed Masonic enlightenment to Brethren everywhere. Every indication suggests that Ancient Landmarks Lodge No. 3579 is on the right path to fulfill its ambitious goals, and in so doing, increasing the Brethren's interest in, and knowledge of Masonry. The results must ultimately reflect greater appreciation by the Brethren it reaches, for our beloved Masonic fraternity everywhere, as well as the "Masonic way of Life."
Reference: For greater details and documentation, kindly refer to the annual Transactions of ANCIENT LANDMARKS LODGE NO. 3579 AF&AM of Bloomington, Illinois.
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The Masonic Research Society
PREAMBLE
THE PHILALETHES SOCIETY was founded on October 1, 1928, by a group of Masonic students for Freemasons desirous of seeking and spreading Masonic light. In 1946, The Philalethes magazine was established to publish articles by its members.
The sole purpose of this Research Society is to act as a clearing house for Masonic Knowledge. It exchanges ideas, researches problems confronting Freemasonry, and passes these along to the Masonic world.
Its membership consists of Members and Fellows who are Master Masons in good standing in a recognised Masonic Lodge anywhere in the world.
Chapters of the Society are encouraged to be formed and remain active. These are composed of Members and Fellows of the Society to assure fellowship among like-minded Freemasons. The papers presented during Chapter meetings should be sent to the Editor of The Philalethes for possible publication in the magazine.
Fellows are elected from Members of the Society who have shown a dedication to the knowledge of Freemasonry. The number is limited to 40 at any one time.
The Society is governed by a Board of Directors which meets at the call of the President. An annual meeting of Members and Fellows of the Society is held at a time and place determined by the Board of Directors.
The name of the Society is pronounced fill e lay thees with the accent-on the third syllable - lay. It is derived from two Greek words philos and aletheia. It means friends of truth.
philos (lover or a friend)
aletheia (truth)
philalethes (loving truth)
BYLAWS
ARTICLE I. NAME
The name of this organisation shall be THE PHILALETHES SOCIETY.
ARTICLE II. PURPOSE
a. To provide a bond for Freemasons who desire to pursue the study of Freemasonry.
b. To provide a means of exchanging ideas and to mutually assist each other.
c. To encourage those Freemasons who have Masonic light to spread and those who desire to receive it.
ARTICLE III. MEMBERSHIP
The membership shall consist of Freemasons who are members in good standing in a recognized Masonic Lodge. Members, not to exceed 40 at any one time, may be elected as Fellows. Non-Masons may become "subscribers" to receive The Philalethes magazine. Members and Fellows will be automatically suspended if their dues are not current. Members and Fellows will be automatically suspended if suspended by their Lodge.
ARTICLE IV. DUES AND FEES
The annual dues, payable on January 1, shall be $10. Life memberships may be obtained for a fee of $150. The joining fee shall be $5.00 and shall accompany the petition with the dues for the first year.
ARTICLE V. OFFICERS
The following officers shall be elected biannually by the Board of Directors; President; First Vice President: Second Vice President: Executive Secretary: Treasurer. The Editor of The Philalethes shall be elected by the Board of Directors and serve until replaced by vote of the Board of Directors.
All officers must be Fellows of the Society.
An elective officer may be removed for cause by four votes of the elective officers.
ARTICLE Vl. BOARD OF DIRECTORS
The Board of Directors shall consist of the President, First and Second Vice Presidents, Executive Secretary, Treasurer, Editor of The Philalethes, and all Past Presidents. The administrative affairs of the Society shall be managed by the Board of Directors.
ARTICLE VII. DUTIES OF OFFICERS
The President shall be the presiding officer of the Society and the Board of Directors. He shall appoint the committees he deems advisable.
The First Vice President shall assume the duties of the President in his absence or disability: he shall perform such other duties as may be assigned by the President.
The Second Vice President shall assume duties of the First Vice President in case of his disability and those of the President in case of the disability of both: he shall perform such other duties as may be assigned by the President.
The Executive Secretary shall attend to all correspondence of the Society; keep the records; receive all monies due the Society and deposit them promptly in a bank designated by the Board of Directors keep the financial records; pay all the bills when approved by authorised officers; arrange to have his books audited after January 1 each year; and perform such other duties as may be assigned by the President.
The Treasurer shall perform such duties as may be assigned by the President.
The Editor of The Philalethes shall be responsible for its publication; and shall perform such other duties as may be assigned by the President.
ARTICLE VIII PUBLICATIONS
The Society shall publish The Philalethes on a basis to be determined by the Board of Directors; the Editor shall have full responsibility in determining what to publish; it shall be mailed to every Member and Fellow of the Society. Other publications may be approved by the Board of Directors at its pleasure.
ARTICLE IX. ANNUAL MEETING
The Society shall meet annually at a time and place to be selected be the Board of Directors.
ARTICLE X. CHAPTERS
A dispensation to form a Chapter of The Philalethes Society may be obtained from the President, provided:
a. The formation of a Chapter does not conflict with the laws of the Grand Lodge.
A dispensation will be considered provided:
a. The proper form is signed by five Master Masons, one of whom must be a Member or Fellow of the Society, and returned to the Executive Secretary with the fee of $10,
b. All signatures on the dispensation are those of members of the Society;
c. Non-members have applied for membership in the Society on the proper application, and these, along with the proper fees, are included with the dispensation.
To obtain a charter, the Chapter must return the dispensation, along with a fee of $50, a copy of its bylaws which have previously been approved by the Board of Directors, and a transaction of its meetings, all of which must be received by the Executive Secretary by January 1.
Charters will be presented at the annual meeting.
No Chapter may be named after a living person, or a city.
Each Chapter shall make an annual report by January 1 to the Executive Secretary. Failure to do so for two consecutive years shall result in the forfeiture of the charter, and all property of the suspended Chapter shall become the property of the Society.
ARTICLE XI. AMENDMENTS
These Bylaws may be amended by a two-thirds vote of the Board of Directors when the proposed amendment is submitted in writing and each member of the Board given sufficient notice of the action proposed; or by a two-thirds vote of the entire membership present, if at least five members, one of whom must be a Fellow, has submitted a proposed amendment in writing, which, if approved by the Board of Directors, shall be printed in The Philalethes, along with a ballot, which shall be returned to the Executive Secretary: and the ballots counted by arrangements made by the Executive Committee.
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Crow, the cooking and eating of same.
How does one apologize for sins of omission? Sins of commission I have little trouble with, I do them on purpose. However, in the last issue of the magazine, I forgot to mention the Philalethes banquet. It was one of the best Assemblies I have seen. It was presided over by Most Worshipful Bruce Hunt, President. Naturally, M.W. Brother Hunt did a great job with this as he does with every position which he fills. He introduced the various brethren who gave the toasts, introduced the speaker and ended the banquet with the installation of the officers of the Society.
The Feast with most of the brethren in formal dress, added a certain amount of dignity to the proceedings which is sometimes lacking in our Masonic meetings.
The speaker, R.W. Richard Sands, gave an interesting and educational address.
M.W. Brother Hunt deserves the commendation and the thanks of the society, not only for his abilities in setting up this most interesting meeting but for the way in which he guided the destinies of the society for the preceding year.
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Analysis of Spatial Distribution
by Burton Kessler, MPS
Introduction
While the author previously detailed the spatial distribution of Masons in Illinois (Philalethes Magazine, Dec. 1976), the purpose of this study is an analysis of the spatial association of Illinois Masons in 1970 and various socioeconomic factors. A prime objective is to explain the variation in the distribution of Masons in Illinois on the basis of demographic and socioeconomic factors.
In this effort data from the 1970 Census of Population in Illinois was combined with data from the 1970 Illinois annual Grand Lodge Report in correlation and regression statistical analysis. While the focus of this study is Illinois, the methodological approach and techniques employed may be utilized in any scale to accommodate any political, administrative or geographic unit.
Results of Correlation Analysis
Eighteen socioeconomic variables, each listed in Table 1, were selected for analysis. Simple correlation coefficients, which measure the intensity and kind of statistical relationships between Masons and the variables, are listed in table 2. The variety, quantity and, in some instances, similarity of selected variables reflect a desire to be as precise as possible in measuring age, education, and income.
The results of simple correlation analysis (Table 2) indicate that the relationships between the eighteen variables have varying degrees of strength. The results of analysis of the following variables exhibit reasonably strong positive association with Masons: 1) percent families with annual income below $6,000 (r value (a) = .56); 2) median age of males (r value = .55), and 3) percent males, age 45-59 (r value = .50). Results of analysis of the following variables show reasonably strong negative covariation: 1) per capita income (r value = -.54); 2) percent families with annual income $12,000 to $25,000 (r value = -.61); 3) percent families with annual income over $25,000 (r value = -.50); and 4) percentage of people who are native born of foreign or mixed parentage (r value = -.53).
An unexpected result was the negative association of Masons and the following variables concerning income and education: 1) percent families whose annual income exceeded $12,000; and 2) percent males possessing a college or high school diploma. A possible explanation for these results is suggested by the great increase in the number of Illinois Masons following both World War I and World War II. As a result of this large increase, it appears that the 1970 membership included a predominance of Masons, in the age category of 45 or over, whose opportunity to obtain a formal education may have been limited by life circumstance. Further explanation may be found in the positive association between Masons and percent males, age 65 or over. A significant number within this age group probably received an annual income below $12,000. This relationship could account for the negative association between Masons and variables concerning per capita income and annual family income above $12,000.
A composite picture of the characteristics most closely associated with the distribution of Masons, as suggested by an analysis of the data, is that of a rural male, age 45 or over, whose parents were not foreign born neither Catholic nor a member of a racial minority, with an annual income below $12,000 and a formal education which terminated prior to high school graduation. One could speculate that this composite picture contrasts with the historical view of operative Freemasons in Great Britain as cathedral builders associated almost exclusively with what we now label urban places or cathedral towns. As a result, the historical development of speculative Freemasonry in Great Britain might have acquired an identical distributional association with urban places. The current significant association between Masonry and urban locus in Great Britain continues to differ from the situation in Illinois.
Results of Multiple Regression Analysis
The purpose of step-wise multiple regression analysis conducted as a part of this study was to determine which sub-set of the eighteen independent variables, acting collectively, explain the greatest proportion of the variation in the distribution of Masons.
The regression analysis indicated that of the eighteen independent variables, only five were statistically significant at or beyond the 99 percent level of confidence. (b) They are 1) percent families with income $12,000 to $25,000 per year, 2) percent minority populations 3) median education of males, age 25 or over, 4) percent males, age 45-59, and 5) percentage of people who are native born of foreign or mixed parentage. The results of this analysis are presented in Table 3. Only those relationships between dependent and independent variables found to be significant at the 99 percent confidence level were considered; absolutely conclusive relationships were of course, impossible to establish.
a. The coefficient of multiple correlation is a measure of the strength of the linear relationship between three or more variables.
b. The coefficient of determination measures the percent of the variation in the dependent variable that can be explained by the set of significant independent variables.
c. The standard error or estimate is a measure which indicates the spread of the given points around the fitted line of regression.
d. Significant at 99 percent level of confidence.
In Table 3 the most important in dependent variable, percent families with income $12,000 to $25,000 per
TABLE 1
SOCIOECNOMIC VARIABLES
INDEPENDENT VARIABLES
1 Percent Males, Age 21 and Over, Who Are Masons
DEPENDENT VARIABLES
2 Percent Urban Population
3. Density of Male Population, Age 21 and Over
4. Percent Minority Population: Negro, Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, American Indian, Malayan, Hawaiian, Polynesian, Korean, Eskimo, Aleut, Thai
5. Per Capita income
6. Percent Families With Income Less Than $6,000 per Year
7. Percent Families With Income $6,000 to $12,000 per Year
8. Percent Families With Income $12,000 to $25,000 per Year
9. Percent Males Age 25 and Over Who Are High School Graduates
10. Percent Males Age 25 and Over, With Four or More Years College
11. Median Education of Males, Age
25 and Over
12. Median Age of Males
13. Percent Males, Age 20-34
14. Percent Males, Age 45-59
15. Percent Families With Income Over $25,000 per Year
16. Percent Males, Age Over 65
17. Percentage of People Who Are Native Born of Foreign or Mixed
Parentage
18. Percentage of People in White Collar Occupations
19. Number of Catholic Parish Clergy
TABLE 2
CORRELATION MATRIX: MASONS AND VARIABLES
TABLE 2
CORRECTION MATRiX: MASONS AND VARIABLES
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year, has a coefficient of simple correlation of .61. (c) Thirty-eight percent of the total variation in the distribution of Masons in the general population is explained by this measurement of income. The character of the relationship between this measurement of income and the presence of Masons is negative (i.e., the relationship is inverse, as Masonry increases the level of income decreases) (Table 3).
With five independent variables in the regression equation the coefficient of multiple correlation and coefficient of determination (d) increase to cumulative values of .77 and 59 percent, respectively (Table 3). The partial regression coefficients show that an inverse relationship exists between Masons and the variables, percent minority population, percentage of people who are native born of foreign or mixed parentage, and percent families with income $12,000 to $25,000 per year. Direct relationships are exhibited by these coefficients between Masons and the variables, median education of males, age 25 or over, and percent males, age 45-59. As Masonry increases in strength, these two variables increase (Table 3).
Conclusion
The analysis of Illinois Masonry pictured above may no longer be true for 1980; but replication of this study in Illinois using 1980 data may be invalid because dual membership is now permitted by the Grand Lodge of Illinois. Therefore some Masons would be counted more than once and this introduces a margin of error in the results of such a study that may be statistically inadvisable if not rendering the work useless.
The primary value of this kind of study may be its ability to aid policy planning, analysis, and implementation. Masonic population characteristics are associated with real world population characteristics revealing bonds that may be labeled strengths and weaknesses.
TABLE 3
Results of Regression Analysis of Freemasonry
| Socioeconomic Variables | Coefficient of Multiple Correlation (a) | Coefficient of Determination (b) | Standard Error of Estimate (c) | ||
| Percent Families With income $12,000 to $25,000 per year | .61 | 38 | .5946 | ||
| Percent Minority Population | .69 | 47 | .5517 | ||
| Median Education of Males, Age 25 of Over | .72 | 51 | .5309 | ||
| Percent Males Age 45-59 | .75 | 56 | .5052 | ||
| Percentage of People Who are Native Born of Foreign or Mixed Parentage | .77 | 59 | .4929 | ||
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(a) r value is the simple correlation coefficient which measures the intensity of the linear relationship between the independent variable (Masons) and the dependent variables (various socioeconomic factors). r can be measured either positively or negatively indicating a positive or negative association. The value can range from zero percent or (0.00) to one hundred percent or (1.00), the higher the value the greater the intensity of the relationship. Zero correlation indicates no relationship while one hundred percent indicates perfect covariation. Correlation relationships should not be interpreted as cause and effect relationships.
(b) Those variables associated with Masonry that have less than a one percent probability of covarying by chance were considered reliable and valid for purposes of this study.
(c) The coefficient of simple correlation measures the strength of the linear relationship between two variables.
(d) The coefficient of multiple correlation measures the extent to which variation in Masonic distribution is associated with the variation in the set of independent variables. A perfect covariation is indicated by 1.00 and lack of any covariation by 0.00. The coefficient of multiple determination measures the extent to which the variation in the dependent variable. Masons, can be explained by the set of independent variables. A perfect covariation is indicated by 1.00 or 100 percent and lack of any covariation by 0.00 or zero percent. For further reference see Ezekial and Fox, Methods of Correction and Regression Analysis (New York: Wiley and Sons, 1969).
----o----
THE FIVE POINTS OF FELLOWSHIP:
What's wrong with them?
by Richard H. Jordan, MPS
Brethren, is there something strange, or ludicrous or hilarious about the Five Points of Fellowship? Have you noticed your Masonic brethren grinning, or - perhaps - snickering, during the sending of The Substitute under the Five Points of Fellowship? I have, and it greatly disturbs me - as I hope it would all thoughtful Masons.
In recent times there has appeared an unfortunate tendency toward squeamishness, giggling, and some times open laughter when brethren meet upon the Five Points of Fellowship. This shows an element of discomfort in entering upon the Five Points of Fellowship that suggests a lack of appreciation of the Masonic truth and significance of the mode of recognition and ritual designated as The Five Points of Fellowship. Why is this?
Symbolic gestures such as this are as old as the recorded history of mankind: today men meeting in civil life greet one another by shaking hands; men in military life salute? some religions genuflect - others salaam: in the early Christian era, St. Paul wrote "Salute one another with a holy kiss" in his Epistle to the Romans, chapter 16, verse 16a. In the Book of Genesis, we read in chapter 29, verse 13. "...when Laban heard the tidings of Jacob, his sister's son..he ran to meet him and embraced him, and kissed him, and brought him to his house."
Even today the men of the Reformed Mennonite religious denomination will greet each other in a style that has a continued strangely strong resemblance to the Five Points of Fellowship, including the verbal element. While this is ironic - given the traditional Mennonite opposition to fraternal orders - yet it shows that such gestures of friendship and allegiance are common to almost every element of mankind. Why, then, should we Freemasons feel edgy or squeamish when engaging in such a widespread and very human custom, especially when it has such significant import to every member of our organization?
The custom of every member sending The Substitute while rendering the Five Points of Fellowship in the opening and closing ceremonies of the symbolic lodge has fallen into disuse where presiding officers, anxious to save a little time, send the substitute through the deacons only. I believe that this should be deplored because sending "thru Deacons only" ought to be resorted to only on unusual occasions, rather than as a matter of standard procedure. The rule says "...when necessary to save time''; is it necessary to omit sending it thru the sideline brethren in virtually every meeting?! As a result of such shortcutting, most new members have almost no chance to learn the proper style of, and attitude toward, the Five Points by frequent use in a reverential setting; likewise, older members, who only rarely attend, may be discouraged from resuming frequent lodge attendance because they feel they cannot properly render the due guards and signs, and, moreover, by the short-cutting, are afforded little opportunity to refamiliarize themselves with them.
Why are the Five Points of Fellowship so significant? Brethren, the significance of those Five Points is that they are the very essence of Freemasonry - they are Freemasonry in a nutshell - the Masonic fraternity condensed or boiled down, into a single sentence! In short form they review a Mason's duty to his God and to his fellow humans. The Five Points of Fellowship inculcate the need for us, as Masons, to accommodate our brethren, to pray for them, to respect their confidences, to go to their aid, and to address them with helpful advice when advice is called for; by extension and implication, they apply not only to our fellow Masons, but to all mankind, as well.
Think back to the Master Mason degree; think back to the occasion when you first learned of the Five Points of Fellowship; and if in a tiled setting, your knowledge of ritual permitting, rehearse the precise utterance of those venerable injunctions.
Brethren, the Five Points of Fellowship direct - no, more than that - they demand - that each and every Freemason shall perform his duties to God and to his Masonic brother - and, by implication - to all mankind.
When you were first met on these Five Points, you were met by a brother who was, just as you were, sworn to perform the same noble offices; may we then draw a parallel between its physical elements and the psychological elements of universal brotherhood? Thus the Five Points of Fellowship ought to Create an aura of human warmth, of reverence of respect, of fraternal affections an appreciation of the nobility of the thoughts and deeds which arise when each of us conscientiously lives up to the duties we learn and re-learn each time we are met upon those time-tested Five Points. The closeness inherent in the Five Points of Fellowship ought to teach us to be equally close to our brethren and to our God, in our daily relations with each of them.
So, brethren, when you next meet on the Five Points of Fellowship, I pray you consider what it truly means, and that you enter upon them, not with grimace or smirk, but with sincerity and with the appreciation that, there stands the whole heart and soul of your beloved Freemasonry!
----o----
by Allen E. Roberts, FPS
PART THREE OF A SERIES
"You've made a believer out of me," said a Grand Lodge officer at the conclusion of a planning session. "I never would have believed a random group of men could accomplish more than an individual."
We had held a four hour session on planning and goal setting. I had outlined the steps necessary for planning. We had discussed these steps freely. I then passed out a NASA test and we took a trip to "the moon" alone. The participants than counted off. Those with like numbers became a TEAM. No chairman or leader was appointed. Each team went into another room. There they discussed each point on how to return safely to the mother ship from their crashed vehicle.
When the short alloted time was up the teams returned. The lowest and highest individual scores were posted. The scores for each team followed. Without fail each team score was better than any individual score:
This "test" has been used many times. The results are always the same. They prove that a group of men of reasonable intelligence, any group even picked at random, can accomplish more than can any one individual. This is encouraging, except to the egotist.
We discussed the steps in planning some more. The participants became different groups charged to set a goal and formulate the plans to reach the goal. Many confessed later it was the first time in their lives they had ever considered planning for anything.
Why should we learn how to plan? This can be answered by asking other questions. Why does one Lodge grow and another stand still? Why does one Lodge have an overflow attendance and another have to plead to have enough present to confer a degree? You have the answer. The successful Lodges have officers that set goals and make plans to meet them.
Here I'm using the word "Lodge," but what I'm saying isn't limited to Lodges. It goes for Grand Lodges, appendant bodies, commercial enterprises, and any organization.
The successful Lodge must continue to plan or lose its members to complacency. The unsuccessful Lodge must start planning or it will become defunct. But happily it can pull itself out of the rut. All it has to do is find someone who knows how to plan, then follow the plans.
This isn't as difficult as it may seem. Earlier I said there are excellent leaders all around us, but we aren't using them. Along comes the Grand Master of Masons in Indiana to prove I'm right. In the February, 1984, edition of The Indiana Freemason he wrote:
"If there is one thing I have realized as Grand Master that I did not fully appreciate before, it is the fact that a great many Master Masons in Indiana are ready willing and able to help the Grand Lodge and their own individual Lodges.
"It might be that the very Master Mason who has never taken an active part in any Lodge activity just might be a most available worker for your Lodge if only he is asked."
He told a story about a Lodge that was ready to surrender its charter or merge with another Lodge. Along came a Master who turned things around. He found many Masons more than willing to help. He put constructive leadership to work. And you can bet your coffee mug it wasn't done without constructive planning,
The Master, and those he chose to work with him would have to take a hard, cold look at what had happened and was happening. So, the Lodge was probable turned around because the Master found constructive leaders who could:
- Define the problems. These could have been poor ritual; poor programs; poor communication; little or no Masonic education: little or no knowledge of Masonic history, philosophy, or symbolism: no Masonic activity: little or no community recognition.
- Determine what training was required to alleviate the problems. These could be weekly ritual classes; a team to provide good MASONIC programs; a good editor for the bulletin; teams to teach the fundamentals of Freemasonry; a public and internal relations team to teach the members and public about Freemasonry.
- Determine the training objectives, such as excellent degree and floor work, improved attendance; providing the membership with information about all phases of Freemasonry.
- Determine the content of training programs.
- Decide what methods and techniques to use.
- Determine the supplies, materials and equipment needed.
- Decide when, where, and how the training will be done.
- Set aside the necessary funds to accomplish the objectives.
These are necessary steps in planning. There are times when more steps will be needed; at other times not as many will be required. You can add to them as you feel necessary. And you can elaborate on what should be done for your Lodge.
Without setting goals there is no need to plan. We must know what we want to achieve or there will be nowhere to go.
At the beginning of a management seminar I attended, the instructor told us to break up into groups. That's all he said. We didn’t know what to do. We had complete freedom, and it wasn't long before we realized that freedom without direction produces chaos. We spend several frustrating hours doing nothing. But we learned these weren't wasted hours. We learned that we had been wasting valuable time all our lives because we hadn't set goals early.
We also learned that goals, if they are to be meaningful, must be set through participation. All involved in trying to reach a goal must be allowed to add his ten cents worth. A goal set by me becomes my goal. You may or may not help me reach it. But if you help me set that goal, it belongs to us both. You are committed.
Please reread the above paragraph. If you remember nothing else, remember that. Many worthwhile goals are lost because that simple principle isn't followed. Put another way: PARTICIPATION ACHIEVES GOALS! it's the only way they will be reached.
Long ago I stopped asking for a vote on just about anything. A majority is one more than 50%. In setting and achieving goals you'll get nowhere with a percentage like that. Work toward a consensus. By give and take you'll find your team will meet this consensus and all will be committed to achieve the goal or goals. This requires learning to listen, an important but usually ignored principle of constructive leadership.
I've said this before, and probably will many more times: "The fellow who says he's too old to learn new things probably always was!" The same phrase fits the man who claim's he's too old to try new things. Don't put them on your goal setting teams.
Once the goal is set, what do we do? Follow the steps outlined earlier, but add these where necessary:
- Determine the purpose for the existence of Freemasonry
- Determine the responsibility of the Lodge to the Grand lodge (or vice versa)
- Gather information
- Analyze the factors involved
- Form assumptions concerning the goal and plans
- Determine the budget required
- Set a timetable for reaching the goal
- Identify the role of the leader
- Identify the role of the members
- Define the needs of the members
- Determine the Lodge's roles in the community
- Follow a plan of action
- Set standards and performance measurements
- Take corrective action where necessary
- Continually review, reconcile and modify the plans
Follow these steps in your planning process and see what a difference lt will make.
(NOTE: In the December edition we'll select a goal and adopt the plans necessary to reach it. If you have one you would like set, send it along with your plans to the Editor. We'll select the one we consider the best. In the next edition we'll discuss communication, or the lack of it.
[For a comprehensive course on planning and all phases of management and leadership for Freemasonry, see Key to Freemasonry's Growth by Allen E. Roberts, Macoy Publishing Company, Richmond VA]
----o----
100th Birthday of Iowa Library Building
by Keith Arrington, FPS
One hundred years ago, on May 7, 1884, the cornerstone was laid for the first building ever erected for a Masonic Grand Lodge Library. This was to be the first permanent home for the Iowa Masonic Library, which had been born thirty-nine years earlier with one donated book and a five dollar appropriation. The five dollars came from the total cash balance of one hundred two dollars of the new Grand Lodge of the Territory of Iowa. Three books and a magazine subscription were purchased with this small sum. The donated book, from Grand Secretary Theodore S. Parvin, has a special story of its own.
Young Theodore Parvin, while calling upon a lady friend, found on the center table a book - "Cole's Ahiman Rezon." Becoming absorbed in the volume, he forgot his surroundings and the lady, until she suggested that if the book was so much more interesting than she he had better take it and leave, which he did.
This all-consuming interest in books, brought the suggestion from Parvin to the Grand Lodge in 1845, that if a "certain amount of funds could be set apart each year, for the purpose of procuring books for the Grand Lodge, a very respectable Masonic library might thus be collected. The Grand Secretary was put in charge of securing the books and caring for them and it was through his diligence, energy and passion for books that the Iowa Masonic Library grew into the world reknowned collection that it is today.
Parvin was Grand Secretary-Librarian until his death in 1901. He was succeeded by his son, Newton R., who served another twenty-four years, a total of eight-one years for father and son.
For many years the Library had no home of its own. At first it was kept in whatever space was being utilized at the time as the Grand Secretary's office. When Parvin moved from Muscatine to Iowa City, the books went with him. At one period, they were stored in rooms at Davenport. As the collection grew in size and value, the lack of safe and adequate quarters became increasingly apparent.
The largest single acquisition came in 1882 when the death of Robert F. Bower, a wealthy Keokuk merchant, made his large and fine private Masonic library available. The Grand Lodge purchased the Bower Collection for $4,000, a mere fraction of the present day value of just a few of the books.
This purchase gave urgency to the need for a permanent fire-proof building in which to house the Library. Invitations went out to the larger cites of Iowa to make an offer to have the Library located in their city. Cedar Rapids Masons and citizens won out with an offer of a free building lot and $10,000.
To this was added $20,000 which had been accumulated for the purpose by the Grand Lodge. The building housed the Library and the offices of the Grand Secretary as well as providing museum space for a growing collection of curios which Parvin was accumulating.
By the end of the century, additional library space was needed. In 1903, an adjoining lot and large brick house, which became known as The Annex was purchased. In 1913, a fireproof wing was added to the main building.
But, nothing lasts forever and the need to replace the then crumbling old building was seen by the mid nineteen hundreds. The old building was demolished and construction, on the same site, of the present building was begun in 1953. The dedication of the impressive white marble Library Museum and Administration Building, which cost just over $1,000,000, was in June of 1955.
Masonic scholars who have been nurtured through the Iowa Masonic Library include Harry L. Haywood, Joseph Fort Newton, J. Hugo Tatsch, Joseph E. Morcombe, Charles C. Hunt, Franklin J. Anderson and Jerry Marsengill.
The library did not always have the approval of all Iowa Masons. Often referred to as "Parvin's Folly," it was at first considered to be for his personal use. Several unsuccessful attempts were made to sabotage the library, one with a suggestion that it be broken up and distributed as equitably as possible among all the lodges.
At another time, when it had been moved from one building to another or one city to another for at least ten times, the proposal was made by the Grand Lodge Library committee to move the library to Des Moines, the capital city. Fortunately, Parvin was able to prevail against these suggestions. He was a professor at the University of Iowa in Iowa City at the time and, no doubt, could not afford to leave this position. It might have proven fatal to remove the library-egg from mother-hen Parvin.
Masonic students and observers have often claimed, through the years, that the lowa Library is the "largest and the greatest in the world." Recognizing that such claims are almost impossible to substantiate, that it is difficult to compare apples and oranges even if the quantities in each basket were known, lowa is satisfied that its Library is without question one of the greatest in the world.
In size and in service. this library does equal the best. Certainly, its service is outstanding. Anyone, regardless of Masonic affiliation or lack of the same, race, creed or color may borrow books from this library. T.S. Parvin established this "open door" policy: "In accordance with one of the earliest lessons learned by the Grand Secretary in the Masonic Lodge, 'it is one of' your greatest duties as a Mason to dispense light and knowledge to the uninformed Mason,' and another Iesson learned from the Great Light, ever open upon the Masonic altar when Lodge is at labor, is that we are to 'so let our light shine before men that they may see our good works,' and that 'no man when he hath lighteth a candle putteth it in a secret place, neither under a bushel, but on the candlestick, that they which come in may see the light," (therefore) he opened the building to the public."
There is wisdom for the ‘80’s in the 1894 statement of Parvin; "The age is past when any man or set of men can so far withdraw themselves from the body politic and seek seclusion in secret places apart from the haunts of their fellow men, without bringing upon them the disfavor of the general public. If there were no men to become Masons, the race of Masons would soon die out."
This pioneer Grand Secretary was saying that it is good public relations to permit outsiders to come into our libraries, see the books, and even to borrow them to read about Freemasonry. What is written and printed cannot be considered secret and no secrets are revealed by permitting non-Masons to read Masonic books.
----o----
by Louis L. Williams
When I was a young lawyer, years and years ago in the 1920's, and had just started practising at the Bar of McLean County, one of the older lawyers of that day was Bro. Hal M. Stone. He was one of the finest lawyers practising at the Illinois Bar in this century and his brother, also Bro. Clyde Stone, of Peoria, spent about twenty years on the Supreme Court of Illinois in the period 1930-1950.
Hal M. Stone told rite that when he in turn was only a young man, he was privileged to hear an address by Robert G. Ingersoll (1833-1899), the great agnostic, who lived and practiced law in Peoria at that time. Ingersoll had achieved national fame in 1876, when he made his famous "plumed knight'' speech in nominating James G. Blaine for President. Thereafter Ingersoll was considered the most famous orator in the nation, and was in constant demand for all sorts of occasions. Under the auspices of a local literary society he had agreed to appear in Bloomington and deliver his famous lecture on "Shakespeare."
We are all familiar with the customary method of introducing a speaker today. Some chairman makes a few introductory remarks, cracks a few jokes, tells the audience what a wonderful speaker they are about to hear, and presents him. Then the featured speaker responds by saying how glad he is to appear before such a distinguished audience, tells a few preliminary jokes in turn, and finally launches into his main address. Not so Ingersoll in his "Shakespeare" address before his Bloomington audience. At 8 P.M., and with no preliminaries whatsoever, he marched out of the wings of the old Chatterton Theater, took his stance in the center of the stage, and said "William Shakespeare was the greatest genius that ever lived", and launched into his speech.
Styles of oratory have undergone a dramatic change over the last century. Radio and television may be partly responsible for some of the change, but not all. Today's auditors are better educated, and more aware of current events because of our instant communication systems. Hero worship may also have disappeared under the lights and disillusion of constant exposure to the glare of publicity. But whatever may be the cause, the great speaker of today, and there are many left must be more informal, more witty, and better informed than his counterpart of a century ago.
The high flown rhetoric of the past is also out of favor. The great orators of other days had trained themselves in a medium calculated not only to entertain, but also to inspire their listeners, usually on patriotic or religious themes. The greatest speeches were expected at Fourth of July picnics, or Memorial Day observances; at school graduation exercises, or political rallies. These were the only occasions when our forefathers could assemble and enjoy and participate in contemporary history in the making. The Lincoln-Douglas debates, for example, drew thousands of spectators, who would drive a hundred miles or more in a farm wagon, and spend days in being a part of such memorable happenings.
It is hard for us in this day and age to understand the motivation that produced such orations. The old orators painted their canvas with words, with phrases as striking as they were effective. Their speech abounded in mellifluous metaphores, in sibilant simile, in strident strophe, in imaginative imagery, in poetic phrase, in highflown hyperbole, in extravagant exaggeration.
Joseph W. Fifer, a Bloomingtonian, served as Governor of Illinois in the last years of the last century. He served throughout the Civil War as a private, and as "Private Joe" he was a political candidate who appealed to the mass of voters. As a lawyer in Bloomington he sharpened his oratorical skills until he rated with the very best. In his last years, when he was about ninety years old, he would often come downtown, and we'd gather all the lawyers, who were free, in some office, and he would go over some of his old speeches. He was fond of telling of the beauty of Illinois, and would speak about like this:
"When I look out across the beauties of this God-given land, sparkling in the flitting shadows of the declining sun, I do not see only the billowing waves of wheat, as they rise and fall with the gentle passing of every whispering zephyr. No, I see the golden grain that feeds all of God's living creatures, great and small, and brings life to ever toiling man. I see each of us gathering Nature's bounty into the storehouses of our lives, and harvesting these gifts that we in turn, before joining our Maker in that grand assembly before God, may join our fellow man in praise and rejoicing that we live in the greatest republic on earth, free from the despotism of the chains of slavers, and secure in the hard-won liberties that keep us free.'
On other occasions he would reminisce on the Civil War, and might start off his remarks in this fashion:
"From the unspoiled shores of Lake Michigan and the verdant banks of the lazy Wabash River on the east, to the rolling reaches of the mighty Mississippi on the west, the flood of early pioneers settled on the vast, unbroken and unplowed prairies of Illinois, there to set up a stirring empire of corn and wheat, of cattle and swine, destined to feed the immigrant hordes who had come to add their untamed and unlimited energies to the building of a republic, greater than the lawgivers of Greece or Rome in their wildest dreams had ever imagined. This sturdy pioneer stock, displacing the fierce and warlike Indians known as Illini, "real men," - plowed up the waving prairie grasses and the virgin fields of a myriad of wildflowers, and sowed the corn, the wheat and the oats destined to feed the hungry mouths of a growing nation devoted to peace and good will.
But, alas, this concord of sweet sounds was broken when the shackles of slavery raised the ugly cry of men groaning in bondage. Then the fairest of the fair, the pride and joy of a nation struggling to be free, our young men, answered the call of an outraged justice, and by tens, hundreds, yea thousands, marched forth to lay down their unspent lives on the bloody fields of battle," etc. etc.
The old time orators were trained in a school we would not recognize today, and we should also be impatient for them to get to the core of their remarks. The thoughts they were trying to express, and the points they were making, were clothed in such fancy phrases that today we would have difficulty in separating the wheat from the chaff of overblown rhetoric. But both before and after the Civil War the populace wanted to be entertained. Speeches and sermons of one and two hours were common occurrences. For an example of fine oratory the Gettysberg address of Edward Everett Hale, about an hour in length, provides a splendid example. Today it is boring to the point of inducing sleep.
Masonry was not immune. It had its occasions and its golden-tongued orators. Dr. Joseph Robbins, of Quincy (1834-1909), Grand Master in 1876-77, was Grand Orator in 1869. His speech on that occasion is said to have been the greatest single exposition of Masonry and Masonic philosophy ever delivered by one man at one time. Despite this fact, since it was written for a special era, it is rather hard going for the average Mason today. We may all agree that the teachings of Masonry are timeless and unchanging, but our approach to those principles, and our reception of them in practice, do undergo change from generation to generation, and from century to century. So, too, our attitude toward orations and even Masonic orations.
All of the foregoing exposition is leading up to this one prime illustration of what I have been writing about. I never heard of Bro. Thomas Shirley, until the past year. In 1853 he was Worshipful Master of Oriental Lodge No. 33, Chicago, and was Grand Orator of the Grand lodge at the Public Installation of its officers on October 5, 1853. His Grand Oration, delivered on that occasion, is a masterpiece of flowery speech. We have reproduced it for you here in its entirety, for it is a precious museum piece.
Just notice the beginning: - "It is sweet to see the tempest-tossed vessel homeward bound, etc.". For the next three paragraphs he repeats his "It is sweet" theme, - a very effective oratorical device. Then note the magnificent use of contrast and comparison in paragraph seven which begins, - "And, oh! if there be an oasis in life's wild waste," etc.
It would be difficult if not impossible for anyone today to duplicate such an address. We simply don't think in those terms. Can you imagine a Grand Lodge audience of today hearing it? After their first moments of astonishment I suspect they would lean back and thoroughly enjoy it. But after it is over you ask yourself. "What did he say?" The few kernels of value are so concealed in the vast wasteland of panegyric that they are hard to recognise and retain. For example, consider the phrases in the last paragraph on page 183. The orator doesn't just mention an eagle flying. He speaks of "the proud eagle, that cleaves with unwearied wing, the pure empyrean." He doesn't just mention a wind stirring. Not at all. It is "the soft nightwind, that gently creeps along, hardly rustling the crisp, withered leaves of autumn." (I have underlined the descriptive words that we must admit sharpen the impact of the imagery. In the same paragraph we find "dashing steeds"; "dwarfish, stunted oak"; magnificent heaven-towering magnolia"; "fiery flash and deep-mouthed thunder." There are poetic phrases calculated to stir the apathetic mind and send it "soaring through the blue empyrean" with the "proud eagle."
In a sense it is sad that this style of oratory is lost forever. It takes us back to a day when life was less complicated, less hurried, and its pleasures simple ones. If the past century has brought such changes, we wonder what our successors face in the Twenty-first Century, now almost upon us. How obsolete will our methods and our modes of speech seem to them?
Now to the example before us. Read it and enjoy it. You will seldom read an oration that says so much, so beautifully, and yet so little, It's 'a lost art.'
APPENDIX B.
AN ADDRESS
DELIVERED BEFORE THE
M.W.&. LODGE OF ILLINOIS
AT SPRINGFIELD,
ON THE OCCASION OF THE
PUBLIC INSTALLATION
OF OFFICERS
OCTOBER 5, 1853.
BY R.W. THOMAS SHIRLEY.
ESQ. GRAND ORATOR,
AND
W. MASTER OF ORIENTAL LODGE
NO. 33
----- AT CHICAGO -----
M.W. Grand Master - R.W. & W. Brethren-Ladies and Fellow Citizens:
It is sweet to see the tempest-tossed vessel homeward bound, with all sails spread to the favoring breeze, fast-scudding upon Old Ocean’s bearing bosom and nearing the dear shores of our father-land.
It is sweet to see the tender greeting of long absent loved ones-the cordial grasp of affection's trembling hand, the dew-drop of joy glistening in the sparkling eye, to hear the full-souled welcome to "home, sweet home!" Then to receive friendship's pure and ardent embrace, and feel the heart throb exultingly in unison with heart.
It is sweet when the day toil is over, and soft twilight mantles all in her darksome drapery, to be environed with the delectable aroma of fragrant flowers, soothed be the nightingale's dulcet voice, lulled by the drowsy murmurings of a babbling brook, and fanned by the frolicksome flutter of a zephyrs wing.
It is sweet when
"Meek Diana's crest.
Floats through the azure air, and Island of the blest, to wander amidst the crumbling ruins of some ivy wreathed edifice, pillowed upon the time worn breast of grave antiquity, covered with the dust of centuries, the mausoleum of a thousand associations - the statesman's hope, the student's ambition, the lover's vow, the rotary's prayer - and sleeping in the mild moonlight, calm quiet and peaceful as old age on the bosom of death;
"But sweeter still, than this, than these, than all,"
is the harmonious meeting of Masons - the mingling of sympathetic feelings, the melting of hearts into one indissoluble brotherhood, the laving of souls in the pure, pellucid font of Charity, ever overflowing with refreshing showers ever descending from the never failing Ocean of Heaven's everduring kindness.
Here, we are shut out from the busy hum of the bustling world - its strife, confusion and jarring discord: here the shrill clarion of politics is never sounded: the wild shouts of fanaticism never heard: the harsh thunders of bigotry never uttered.
Here no billows of contention ever rise; no tempest of passion ever lowers; and no lightning of anger ever flashes athwart our "starry decked Heaven;" for FRIENDSHIP is present with counsel kind; MORALITY speaks with stern command: and BROTHERLY LOVE hushing all in harmony, softly glides from heart to heart, hugging each in its liquid arms, like the little brook that dallies by the way-side, to embrace and kiss the beautiful flowers that embower its mossy banks.
And, oh! If there be an oasis in life's wild waste - if there be an Eiysium on Earth - a relic of Eden-any "bliss of Paradise that has survived the fall" - it is here - here, where Masons meet around the same holy altar, and bow to the same ever true and living God!
Then my brethren, on this auspicious day, at the close of these imposing ceremonies, and on the commencing of a New Masonic Year, let us, with the devout spirit of the faithful votaries of Islamism, begin our Annual Pilgrimage.
We draw back the sable curtain of the PAST, and under the shadowy twilight of antiquity, let us wander along the ghostly vista of departed centuries, amidst the wreck, the ruin, the rubbish of TIME, and contemplate the gorgeous Temple of Masonry, standing nobly erect in all its original symmetry, its brightness, it splendor, rearing its lofty dome, far, far above the cloud, the storm and the tempest-away, far, far away in the pure empyrean, in the eternal sunshine of Heaven!
Let us approach; Let us enter; and here on bended knee, offer our oblations at the holy shrine of Masonry. The tutelar Goddess receives the grateful offering with the benignant smile of approbation - still beautiful as Anadyomene, issuing from the bosom of the waves; lovely as
- "Young Iris when she dips
Her mantle in the sparkling dew;"
pure, as the glacier's virgin snow; fresh, as Aurora laughing the shades of darkness away; and blooming, as the rose deep-blushing at its own redolent sweetness -
"Time writes no wrinkles on her "spotless brow."
Such as Creation's dawn beheld, thus is she now.
The evening cloud receives the kiss of the parting sun, dies in a blush, and is forever gone; the Heaven-dyed Iris lives but an hour; the delicate flower falls in a day; the freshness of youth soon fades from the carnationed cheek of the maiden; and man, formed in the image God, next to the angels in intelligence, with his colossal mind compassing and penetrating earth, sea, and sky, dies! - and where is he?
Nations pass away; empires decay; monuments of antiquity crumble into dust; the bat wings his drowsy flight in the palace of kings; the spider weaves his web in the council chamber of senators; and the owl sings his watchsong in the august temples of the gods!
The mountain falling, sleeps on the bosom of the plain, the green island links in the embrace of the ocean; the comet is lost in the wilderness of worlds; and the sweet Pleiad, leaves the arms of her dear sisters, to wander an outcast in the boundless blue depths of ether! But amidst these mutations, Masonry still survives; for, like the house of the wise man, it is founded on a rock, and as the dark ocean of oblivion sweeps along, and engulfs passing events in its inky waves, Masonry, standing justly and uprightly on her watchtower, with lamps trimmed and lights burning on her sacred altar, unfurls her snowy banner to the breeze, and shouts amid the gloom - ALL IS WELL! GLORY TO GOD IN THE HIGHEST, AND ON EARTH, PEACE, GOOD WILL TOWARD MEN!
These last simple, but eloquent words, embody all the principles of our time-honored institution - its whole design, scope and aim - and contain the essence of genuine Free Masonry. To accomplish this end, it commands proficiency in the several arts and sciences; adopts the Holy Bible as its statute-law, BROTHERLY LOVE, RELIEF, and TRUTH, as its tenets; enjoins the practice of the cardinal virtues, TEMPERANCE, FORTITUDE, PRUDENCE, and JUSTICE: and is ever admonishing me to have FAITH in God, HOPE in Immortality, and CHARITY to all mankind - thus, by symbols, the most expressive and impressive, forming a beautiful system of morality, positively prohibiting all that is degrading or debasing, and earnestly inculcating whatsoever is true, whatsoever is honest, whatsoever is just, whatsoever is pure, whatsoever is lovely - calling into exertion the noblest feelings of the heart, the loftiest aspirations of the soul, and bringing into requisition the strongest powers of the human intellect.
Hence, Masonry dispels the lowering clouds of ignorance, wipes away the suffocating mists of bigotry, and gives freedom of thought of speech, and of action; and man's mighty intellect, knocking off the clanking chains of servitude, and shattering into atoms the iron crusted shell of selfishness, emerges from its prison-house, and steps forth in the beautiful sun-light of knowledge in all its God-like majesty, "redeemed, regenerated, and disenthralled!"
It unbars the golden gates of science, unlocks the secret chambers of rnystery, affording a pleasure more delectable than the roseate sweets of Bacchus' ivy-wreathed goblet, more enrapturing than the mountain-moving music of Orpheus' heaven born Iyre-unfolding a treasure more desirable than the pearl under "Oman's green water" - more valuable than the glittering ore of the wild Sacramento.
It opens the broad book of the Universe, with its ten thousand interesting and instructive objects of contemplation; the beautiful earth, "so grand, so glorious in its action, and in itself" - its towering mountains - its quietly sleeping vales - its soft rolling streams - its rushing torrents, and thundering cataracts - the wide world of waters too, old Ocean
"Boundless, endless, and sublime,
The image of Eternity, the Throne
Of the Invisible;"
The illimitable blue expanse above, like another mighty ocean, far, far away - vast Archipelago, studded with countless glittering isles, throbbing with light, in the great pulse of Nature; Nay, the little glow-worn that twinkles amid the darkness of Night - "the bright Eye of the Universe, the gorgeous sun that swings resplendent in the boundless realms of space; the animalcule that floats upon the downy bosom of the breese; the huge mastodon that shakes earth with his ponderous weight; the tiny hummingbird, that sports in the chalice of the honey-suckle, the proud eagle, that cleaves with unwearied wing the pure empyrean; the insignificant flower, that dares not raise its sinking form from the earth; the beautiful lily, that drinks the life-giving dews of heaven, and bows its lovely head in humble gratitude; the dwarfish, stunted oak, that boldly braves the chilling blast which sweeps the mountain's top; the magnificent, heaven-towering magnolia, that burthens the balmy zephyr of the "sunny south" with the delicious aroma of its snowy blossom; the soft night-wind, that gently creeps along, hardly rustling the crisp, withered leaves of autumn: the storm-king, that moves wildly onward, seated in his dark pavillion, wrapped in his sombre mantle, and drawn furiously along by the dashing steeds of the hurricane, whilst the lofty forest bends in humble awe at his majestic presence, and heaven's artillery greets his direful coming with fiery flash and deep-mouthed thunder:- the midnight sun, that bathes in splendor the bald summit of the Avasara, and gilds with golden resplendency the iceberg's pellucid brow; the Aurora Borealis, that encircles the Northern Pole with roseate majesty, and lights the weary Laplander to his cheerless home; the blazing comet, eccentric wanderer of the skies, that for ages courses the blue sea of ether, visiting countless glittering worlds, beholding them in the beauty of their creation, in the august magnificence of their meridian glow, and in the awful sublimity of their mighty ruin - these, all these. Masonry regards - surrounds with the bright halo of divinity, till man, toy of fortune, child of sorrow .
"Pendulum betwixt a smile and a tear" - kneels in humble submission to the will of the Supreme Grand Master; and although Epimetheus is wedded to his bride, the box of Pandora opened, the crime of the first born multiplied to infinity, and the earth, poor mother, forced to drink the life's-blood of her own children, and weep rivers of purple tears at the unholy sacrifice; forgetting every thought unkind, he turns to his fellow man, hugs him to his bosom, and calls him brother!
Then let the enemies of Masonry do their worst, let them curl the lip of sarcasm, wag the head of derision, and point the finger of scorn wherever there is a hand open to the melting appeals of charity a heart susceptible to the tender emotions of sympathy, a soul capable of appreciating man's exalted destiny-there, whether in our own happy America, or in the less favored portions of this vast globe - whether amidst the chilling snows of Siberia, or the vine-clad hills of beautiful France - whether on the fertile banks of the Nile, or in the scorching deserts of Arabia - there will the sound of the gavel be heard, and true and faithful craftsmen be found at work in their great quarry of FRIENDSHIP, MORALITY, and BROTHERLY LOVE.
Ay, let the ocean of opposition be lashed into tempest; let its billows roll mountain high, and dash their maddening spray into the very face of heaven; the rod of Moses will divide the waters, and like the children of Israel, we shall pass through dry shod. Nay, let the winds of Aeolus be invoked; let the fires of persecution be kindled; let her furnace be seven times heated; like the Hebrews of old, we shall come forth from the flames, scathless and harmless, for, ever with us, is the God of our Fathers! And, amidst all, our beloved institution will remain nobly erect -
"As some tall cliff that lifts its awful form,
Swells from the vale, and midway leaves the storm
Tho' round its breast the rolling clouds are spread.
Eternal sunshine settles on its head."
No, - the progress of Masonry can never be stayed - its principles can never die - will ever live: for they are indelibly engraven on the memory of the faithful, they grow in the hearts of the true, and shine forth in the lives of the worthy. Nay, they are heard in the soft whisperings of the breeze, and in the hoarse howlings of the hurricane; they are written by the lightning on the cloud, and muttered in the deep reverberations of the thunder; they glow in the splendor of the sun-dazzling day, speak in the gloom of the dark-jewelled night, are sung in the music of the ever-rolling spheres, and emblazoned in characters of living light on the azure tablet of the heavens!
M.W. Grand Master, and officers of the Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of Illinois: To you the growing interests of our beloved institution in this State are now entrusted for the ensuing year; and from your high position, and well known character, we feel assured that our confidence is not misplaced.
During your term of office, many questions concerning Masonic jurisprudence will doubtless arise, and much will be said of innovation, and the ancient usages of the Order. And I beg of you, while you shun Scylla, do not fall into Charybdis - mistake not the dry letter of the law for "ancient cause," or a liberal and enlightened construction for innovation."
Brethren of the M.W. Grand Lodge: You can do much in assisting your Grand Officers in the discharge of their arduous duties; and as you are shortly to return to your respective places of abode, instruct your less informed brethren in the many important lessons which have here been inculcated.
And now, in conclusion, let me entreat you all to be true to your sacred obligations - then you can be false to no man.
Practice unceasingly the sublime principles of Free Masonry, and "become workmen which need not be ashamed."
And when you have finished your labors on earth, and the Supreme Grand Master sounds his gavel to summon you to
"That undiscovered country from whose bourne
No traveler returns"
may you go to the grave, like the sun as he sinks in the cloudless west, leasing to the world the soft twilight of a glorious career!
----o----
by Allen E. Roberts, FPS
Much is being said about the way we dress to attend Lodge. Several Grand Masters have issued instructions on the subject. In Arizona things are a little different. A fellow complained because the officers and members there wore cowboy boots and Levis when he was a junior warden. Soon after he became Master of his Lodge he appeared in a tuxedo. His officers, along with several Grand Lodge officers wore boots and Levis. His remarks came back to haunt him.
Richard H. Sand's article, "Hitching Our Wagon to a Star," should be widdy reprinted. He notes early in it: "My experience tells me that most of our Jurisdictions are conducting business as usual. We need to take a close look at ourselves and insist on major rensions in our behavior." You will note, he doesn't tell us to change the principles of Freemasons he tells us to change "our behavior." He wants the members to live "their Freemasonry in their communities " He reminds us we "have no major charities outside our Masonic homes." The appendant bodies and their charities are "doing nothing to promote Freemasonry in the eyes of the public because the average citizen does not know that these are Masonic bodies." He adds: "We are thinking small! This is compounded by the fact that all of our officers can occupy their time simply by going through the motions." And, "we need full time professional help" in the field of Masonic education, but this is ignored. "We need quality leadership in all of our ranks but particularly in our...Lodges, and we need to stop fighting among ourselves and mount mutual support." If this whets your appetite for the whole article, Sally Spohn, Editor, The Oregon Freemason, 709 S.W. 15th Ave., Portland, OR 97205, says she'll send you the November, 1983 edition for $1.00 You can't beat that!
Lodge bulletins, where they exist at all, are usually horrible. Most merely list the officers. Sometimes the committees and members are added. Once in awhile the date and time of the meeting is included. On a recent visit to the MSA offices, Stewart M.L. Pollard, FPS, handed me one written by the Master of a New Jersey Lodge. He wrote in part: "I've seen a lot of Trestleboards put out by Masters. They all seem to follow the same pattern, so save your time and mine over the next year, let me get them out of the way now. Jan.-Feb.; 'Thanks for electing me Master', March-April, ‘Don't forget Grand Lodge'; Sept.-Oct., 'Welcome back from Summer'; Nov.-Dec., 'Thanks for a wonderful year. Nothing got accomplished - wish I had more time.' I will make a deal with you, I'll try to keep off the first four topics and I'll never use the last. This year will be a year of accomplishment.
The Grand Master of Masons in India said he often comments on the lack of growth in Freemasonry in his country. "I have often been given one simple explanation...we believe in quality and not quantity." He agreed there should be quality, but he also noted India's "civilization goes back to thousands of years and....has been a beacon light to many countries, [so] there should be no dearth of men of quality."
A few members of Brookside Lodge No. 747, Ohio, started a "Bikes for Kids" program in 1982. They collected used bikes, reconditioned them and distributed them for Christmas. It grew larger in 1983 and a bicycle concern helped. Over 225 bikes have been distributed through this program throughout the Lodge’s district.
The composer of Christmas Spirit, the song sung at the lighting of the national Christmas Tree, is William C. Herrick. Herrick is a Past Master of Medford Lodge No. 217. Wisconsin. The Wisconsin Masonic Journal informs us it's the first original composition "to be performed at the Capitol ceremony which began in 1964."
The Phylaxis Society is concerned about the designation "Non-Prince Hall Masonry." Its President, Joseph A. Walkes, Jr., writes: "It implies that those Black groups outside of our fraternity are in fact Freemasons and that their organisations are Masonic. However, the fact remains that they do not trace their roots or bloodlines to the Grand Lodge of England, and all have been self-erected, most, we are saddened to say, bey expelled Prince Hall Masons." The Society doesn't want any PHGL to "recognise and embrace those Black groups who are attempting to destroy us, just because they happen to be Black!" A committee attempts to determine who and where these "bogus" groups are, but admits it's difficult to keep track of them.
The then Grand Master of Indiana wrote of many of the advantages of the past we enjoy today in the pages of The Indiana Freemason. He concluded by saying: "Freemasonry teaches us a philosophy of life and dignity of the individual man. We are not asked to observe strict devotions as did medieval man. The demand is quite small and the rewards far outweigh the sacrifices we make. So many of our Brethren only feast on the crumbs of the Fraternity and our Masonic teachings. Think how much richer their lives would be if they ate of the bread!
Dwight D. Eisenhower, not a Freemason, said: "What couldn't a million Masons do if they made a concerted effort to change the world! We could approximate brotherhood in the twinkling of an eye." Dr. Charles R. Glassmire, MPS, Editor of The Maine Mason, used those words to let us know "it would be wonderful if we could share this opinion."
The late Dr. Thomas S. Roy's book Dare We Be Masons is having a justifiable rebirth. Much that he had to say is being quoted in several magazines. The Grand Master of Pennsylvania, William A. Carpenter, MPS, in his inaugural address asked, "Dare we be Masons." It's a good question and one each of us should ask. Dare we be Masons - really? Are we willing to consider others before ourselves? Can we stop hating and start loving? Can we bury jealousy, envy, and greed? Do we have the courage, the fortitude, to really be Freemasons?