The Builder Magazine 

September 1925 - Volume XI - Number 9 


TABLE OF CONTENTS 

Facts About Stephen Morin - By BRO. CYRUS FIELD WILLARD, Editor 
GEMS OF MASONIC THOUGHT 

The Story of Freemasonry in Colorado - By BRO. GEORGE B. CLARK, Colorado 
PART I 

More Patriarchs of the Craft - By ROBERT I. CLEGG, Vice-President of the N. M. 

R. S„ Ohio 

The Masonic Million Memorial Fund of England: The Proposal and the Prospect - By 
BRO. SIR ALFRED ROBBINS 

Operative Stonemasons - (Concluded from last month) 

A Devoted Life; Edouard Quartier-la-Tente - By BRO. S. J. CARTER, New York 

Great Men Who Were Masons - Kit Carson and Edward F. Beale - By BRO. 
GEORGE W. BAIRD, P.G.M., District of Columbia 

THE EVOLUTION OF THE LODGE - By BRO. R. J. MEEKREN, Assistant Editor 

A MASONIC NATIONAL FLAG - By BRO. WILLIAM E. SUMMERS, New 
Jersey. 


EDITORIAL 

WHAT PRICE GLORY? 

THE EIGHT HOUR NIGHT 


LET US CELEBRATE 



BROTHERLY LOVE, RELIEE AND TRUTH 


GEMS OF MASONIC THOUGHT 


Studies of Masonry in the United States - By BRO. H. L. HAYWOOD - PART X. 
THE FOUNDING OF A NEW GRAND LODGE IN MASSACHUSETTS 


LET US GET BACK TO FIRST PRINCIPLES! 


GEORGIA'S VETERAN MASON 


"THEN YOU'RE A MASON" - F.E. Lester 


What to Read in Masonry - Higher Grades, Eastern Star, Etc. 


THE FUNDAMENTAL CONDITION 

THE LIBRARY 

"ON THE SQUARE," A HANDBOOK FOR FREEMASONS 

MAN AND HIS AFFAIRS FROM AN ENGINEERING POINT OF VIEW 


THE TREASURY OF MASONIC THOUGHT 



THE QUESTION BOX and CORRESPONDENCE 
EXAMINATIONS 

INTERPOLATIONS IN THE RITUAL 

THE SCOTTISH RITE 

MASONRY AND THE NARCOTIC PERIL 

THE WARDEN'S COLUMNS 

THE ORDER OF THE TEMPLE AND MASONRY 

SCOTTISH RITE TITLES 

WHAT BOOKS ARE RECOMMENDED? 

WHAT HAS BEEN THE RELIGION OF THE PRESIDENTS? 
SCOTTISH RITE LITURGY WANTED 

YE EDITOR'S CORNER 


— o 


Facts About Stephen Morin 


By BRO. CYRUS FIELD WILLARD, Editor 


In reading Rebold's Histoire des Trois Grandes Loges, I noticed in all his references 
to Stephen Morin that he called his first name "Stephan" instead of the usual French 
equivalent "Etienne," which struck me as peculiar. 



As Stephen Morin was the one who brought the Scottish Rite to America and was 
appointed as Inspector General by the Council that met in Paris in 1761, he has 
always been a personage who aroused the greatest interest in my mind. 


Nearly all the French writers whom it has been my fortune to read, like Rebold and 
Clavel, as well as the French translation of Findel, have always asserted that he was a 
Jew and all his associates were Jews. In fact Rebold says on page 49: "We think it our 
duty to give here in all its length one of these constitutions, the one which was 
delivered in 1761 to Stephan Morin, Israelite; first because it is a document both 
authentic and curious, and second, because it served as the basis, forty years and more 
later, for the foundation of the Scottish Rite of thirty-three degrees created at 
Charleston by five other Jews." (John Mitchell was Irish, Frederick Dalcho was 
English, Isaac Auld was Scotch and Abraham Alexander was English!) 


Again on page 452 Rebold says: 


"A brother by the name of Stephen Morin belonging to the Israelite confession and 
member of the National Grand Lodge of France, and also of a chapter of the high 
degrees, having been called to America by private interests, manifested the desire to 
establish in that country the Masonry of the superior grades called the 'Masonry of 
Perfection,' and for this purpose addressed himself to Bro. Lacome, then Deputy of 
the Grand Master, the Count of Clermont. On the proposition made by the latter to the 
Sovereign Grand Council of the Princes of the East and West there was, on the 27th 
August, 1761, delivered to Bro. Morin a patent by which he was created Inspector 
General of all the Lodges of the New World, etc. 


"Arrived at San Domingo Bro. Morin named by virtue of his patent one of his co- 
religionists, Bro. M. M. Hays, Deputy Inspector for North America. He conferred 
later this same lignity on Bro. Franklin for Jamaica. Bro. Franklin [Francken is the 
correct name] transmitted some time afterwards his powers to Bro. Moses Hays, 
Grand Master of Boston." 



As Bro. Henry Andrew Francken, who formed the Lodge of Perfection at Albany in 
1767, turned over his authority to Moses M. Hays, Dec. 6, 1768, as is shown by the 
patent copied in the minute book of King David's Lodge of Newport, R. I., according 
to Samuel Oppenheim, author of Jews and Masonry, The Jews in Masonry in the 
United states Before 1810, who wrote me he saw it there, and as Moses M. Hays did 
not move to Boston until 1782 (see ibid.) and did not become Grand Master of 
Massachusetts until 1788, Rebold did not exaggerate in saying that the twenty-year 
period which intervened was "some time later !" 


In Rebold's Histoire des Trois Grandes Loges, page 91, are the following remarkable 
statements which are translated from the original French by the writer: 


"1803— These brethren already irritated against the Grand Orient which they accused 
of having struck and dispossessed its mother, the National Grand Lodge of France, 
and finally to have forced her by un-Masonic means to throw herself, dying, into its 
arms were enraged to the highest degree after this new act of intolerance. This was 
the principal cause [closing the doors of the French lodges of English origin against 
those of other Rites such as the Scottish lodges] which determined the Masons called 
Scotch to form a new Masonic power. Consultations had taken place in the 
underground hall of a restaurant keeper on the Boulevard Poissoniere. A great number 
of Masons of distinction seconded this movement, several Americans ranged 
themselves on the side of the dissatisfied and among others the famous Stephen 
Morin, whom we have seen previously departing in order to go and transplant in 
America the 'Masonry of Perfection' by virtue of a Constitution of which we have 
given the text." 


MORIN WAS NOT A JEW 


Thus far we have quoted from Rebold because he is the one French writer relied upon 
by Robert Freke Gould, who translates him into English and seems to depend on him 
implicitly. From Gould all others who have written in English on the origin of the 
Scottish Rite seem to have drawn their authority. Mackey alone seems to have an 



inkling of the truth when he said in his Encyclopaedia of Masonry under the head of 
Morin: 


"Ragon, Thory and Clavel say that Morin was a Jew but as these writers have 
Judaized ail the founders of the Scottish Rite in America we have no right to place 
any confidence in their statements. The name of Morin has been borne by many 
French Christians of literary reputation, from Peter Morin, a learned ecclesiastical 
writer of the Sixteenth Century, to Stephen Morin, an antiquary and Protestant 
clergyman who died in 1700." 


While it has been generally accepted by Masonic writers, with the exception of 
Mackey, that Stephen Morin was a Jew, as the French writers said he was, yet this 
direct assertion that Stephen Morin was an American, made by Rebold in an obscure 
place and quoted as above, was so positive and direct that it started a train of thought 
which finally led to the belief that such might be the case. It was apparently based on 
information which Rebold had but which he did not care to go into for the reason that 
he had on page 49 of the same history called him an "Israelite" although stating he 
was a member of the royal lodge, "The Trinity," to which no Jew could or would 
belong. 


His being an American would explain why Stephen Morin "being about to depart for 
America, as his patent said, was granted the celebrated patent to spread the Scottish 
Rite and to form the lodge "Perfect Harmony" which Sachse's Ancient Documents 
proves was actually formed at Port-au-Prince as shown in the Ossonde Verriere patent 
in the library of the Grand Fodge of Pennsylvania. This patent of Verriere was signed 
by Stephen Morin, Oct. 26, 1764, at Port-au-Prince as Sublime Grand Master and 
Grand Inspector and is worthy of more extended study. 


Furthermore if Morin were an American, as Rebold asserted, that is, one born in 
America, then his family would probably be a French family which had been settled 
in America for some years. This would explain why he was invariably called 
"Stephen" Morin by the French writers instead of "Etienne" (the French for 



"Stephen"), from his family being settled long enough in America for the name to 
become Anglicized to Stephen. 


If he were an American, as Rebold asserted, which assertion must stand until 
controverted by valid evidence to the contrary, then it would be a fair assumption that 
he was a member of the only American family of Morin of which we have any 
knowledge; we know that there was such a family and that it was located at New 
York City. 


ORIGINAL RECORDS ARE QUOTED 


These facts prompted me to write to New York to ascertain the names of the various 
French churches and their ministers, of whom I asked if their records showed anyone 
by the name of Stephen, or Etienne, Morin. I received from Rev. A. V. Wittmeyer, 
Minister of the "Eglise du St. Esprit," 45 East 27th St., New York, copies of their 
records in the original old French and which, translated, read as follows: 


I. "Today, Sunday, day and year as above, [June 21, 1691] has been baptized in this 
church, Anne, daughter of Jean Pierre Melot, and of Marie Bellemain, her father and 
mother, bom the first Wednesday of this month, about seven o'clock of the evening. 
Presented to the Holy Baptism by Mr. Pierre Morin and Mademoiselle Marianne 
Melot, godfather and godmother. P. Morin, Peyret, Minister, J. P. Melot. 


II. "Today, the twelfth day of June, 1692, before the evening prayer, has been 
solemnly blessed the marriage between Pierre Morin, native of La Rochelle in the 
Kingdom of France, son of Pierre Morin, merchant of the said place, and Marie 
Jamain, daughter of Etienne Jamain, also merchant of the said Rochelle and of the 
defunct Marie Billard. Their announcement having been published for three 
consecutive Sundays without opposition. 



The wife of Monsieur Jean Manbra 


Elie Vanbert 
Judith Jamain 
Pregente Fleurian 
P. Morin 
Marie Jamain 
Estienne Jamain 
Dorothea Van Hertzbergen 
Marquise Fleurian 
Judhit [for Judith] Pian 


III. "Today, Sunday, April 2, 1693, has been baptized in church by Mr. Perret, 
minister, after the service of the eveni Marie, daughter of Pierre Morin and Marie 
Jamain. Prese to the Holy Baptism by Mr. Nicholas Jamain and Mdlle. Je Bardewick, 
godfather and godmother, born the 28th of March in the morning. Nicola Jamain 


P. Morin 
Jeanne Bardeuuiq 
Peiret, Minister 


IV. "Today, Sunday the 8th of March, 1695-6 [the represents the new, the other the 
old style calendar], after evening prayer, has been baptized in this church by M. Pe 
our minister, Pierre Morin, son of Mr. Pierre Morin and Madame Marie Jamain, born 
the 29th day of February 1 Presented to the Holy Baptism by Mr. Etienne and 
Madame Judith Jamain, godfather and godmother. Peiret, Minister 



P. Morin 


Estienne Jamain 
Judith Jamain 


V. "Today, Sunday the 10th March, 1705-6, has been baptized Pierre, son of Pierre 
Morin and of Marie Jamain, born the 24th February. His godfather, Pierre Morin, his 
father, his godmother, Judith Jamain, his aunt, by Monsr. Delaba minister. J. Laborie. 


M. 


Pierre Morin 
Judith Jamain 


VI. "Today, Saturday first January, 1697-8, has been baptized by Mr Peiret, minister, 
Etienne Morin, son of Pierre Morin and of Marie Jamain, born the 20th December, 
1697, about two o'clock in the morning. Presented to the Holy Baptism by Elie 
Vanbert and Sara Gaineau, wife of Jean Mambru, godfather and godmother. 


Pierre Morin 
Elie Vanbert 
Peiret, Minister 


Rev. M. Wittmeyer has verified the above translation and also said: 


"In addition to his sons, Pierre Morin and his wife Marie Jamain had five daughters, 
one of whom, Marie, I have already mentioned (III). The others were: 1, Marguerite, 



bom July 30, 1694, 2, Mariane, bom October 17, 1703, and 3, Esther Judith, twins, 
bom April 20, 1701.” 


The above (VI) shows that we are on the right track, for Etienne, or Stephen, Morin 
was bom in 1697 and this was probably the father of the Stephen Morin known to 
Masons as the introducer of the Scottish Rite into America. 


WITTMEYER IS AGAIN QUOTED 


On Aug. 30, 1923, 1 again wrote to Mr. Wittmey in which letter I said: 


"The information you have given me is very interesting asmuch as it shows the 
French Huguenot family of Pierre Morin established in New York City as early as 
1692. Howe there must have been another Etienne Morin, besides the bom December 
20, 1697 (VI), who was perhaps a son Pierre [Peter] Morin (V) or Etienne Morin (VI) 
who must have been bom from 1720 to 1740 as he is first reported a Mason August 
27, 1761, [date of his patent as given by Rebold] and he is reported by Rebold as an 
American living in Paris 1803. He must have been at least twenty-one years old in 
1761 to have been a Mason at that time and this would take his birth back to 1740 or 
earlier. He is described in the French history as "Stephen" Morin and not "Etienne" 
Morin as would have been the name used, naturally if his family had not lived so long 
in America that "Etienne" had been thoroughly Anglicized into "Stephen." If he lived 
in Paris in 1803 that would have been forty-two years after 1761 and he would then 
have been at least 63 years old, and his presence in Paris in 1803 is not improbable. 


"If you would be kind enough to look over the records for the period from 1720 to 
1740 and see if you can find any entries of the birth or baptism of Stephen or Etienne 
Morin you would confer a great favor and help me solve the problem I am trying to 
unravel. I do not know whether your records contain any death notices but it is 
possible he may have returned to America, the home of his youth, and died some 
years after 1803. 



To this Rev. Mr. Wlttmeyer replied: 


"Have done so [looked over years 1720 to 1740], We have no such records. We have 
some death records but not many. It is possible that the records you desire are kept in 
other churches no longer speaking French. Some of our people joined other 
churches." 


Henry P. Miller, assistant clerk of the Collegiate Dutch Reformed Church of New 
York city, under date of March 7, 1924, wrote as follows: 


"Our records of marriages and baptisms up to the year 1800 show the name of Morin 
only once each, i. e. 


"In September, 1748, Jakob Albride and Mary Morin were married. 


"In 1749, Jakob, child of Jakob Albregt and Marie Morin, was baptized. 


On the burial records, there appears two children of Joseph Morin in 1834 and a John 
F. Morin in 1840, August 7th." 


An inquiry was made of Rev. Wittmeyer what are those churches who no longer 
speak French but no reply was received. As a postscript to his letter he also said: 


"As you are a better judge than I am, I subjoin the following entry: 



"Baptisme A la Nouvelle York ce 8me Decembre, 1717, Aujourdhy dimanche aprest 
la priere du soir, Monr. Louis a baptise Jean Morin, ne le 23me de Novembre dernier, 
fils de Moise Morin et de Marianne Bricon, presente au St. Baptisme par Samuel 
Morin et Marie Quintard, parrain et marrain. L. Rou, Pasteur 


Moses Morin 
Sam'l Morin 
Marie Morin." 


This old French is translated as follows: 


"Baptism at New York this 8th December, 1717. Today, Sunday, after the evening 
prayer, Monsieur Louis has baptized Jean Morin, bom the 23rd of November last, son 
of Moise [Moses] Morin and of Marianne Bricon. Presented to the Holy Baptism by 
Samuel Morin and Marie Quintard, godfather and godmother," and signed by L. Rou 
as pastor. 


It is interesting to note how the French "Moise" has Anglicized in the signature into 
"Moses Morin." 


From Samuel Morin appearing as godfather it is apparent there had grown up quite a 
family of American Morins. In fact, there is today an extensive family of Morins from 
these ancestors living in New York State, whose descendants have scattered all over 
the United States. One of these I met recently in California and he said it was a 
tradition in his family that the Morins were always Protestants and Masons. He also 
said a book has been written on the Morin family, hut despite many efforts I have 
been unable to secure a copy. 



THE MORINS WERE FRENCH HUGUENOTS 


It is apparent from the records cited that the Morins were French Huguenots and 
settled in New York in 1691 or earlier, coming from the Protestant town of La 
Rochelle (which made such a gallant defense against the Roman Catholics); and from 
these a numerous American family of that name originated. The siege of La Rochelle 
by Richelieu and the bravery of the Huguenot mayor are well known historically. 


It really makes no difference whether or not Stephen Morin was a Jew. It is only to 
bring into the history of the Scottish Rite that historical accuracy which Masonic 
writers of the present day are trying to introduce that I have made these researches. It 
is also proper to announce here that Henry Andrew Francken also was not a Jew, but 
Holland Dutch. There are many of his name in the biographical dictionaries seventeen 
alone being listed as painters and artists in Holland. He (Francken) is also recorded as 
having been present at a baptism in one of the early Dutch Protestant churches in 
New York, so Samuel Oppenheim, who has seen the records, informed me. 
Oppenheim declared in a letter to the writer that Stephen Morin was not a Jew, but a 
French Huguenot. 


Having made the discovery that the Morins were a French Protestant family having in 
New York, among whom Stephen was a family name much used, it is now a matter 
for the Northern Jurisdiction members of the Scottish Rite to follow up the clue and 
see if they can find in any of the other French Protestant churches whose members 
have stopped speaking French a record of the birth or baptism of Stephen Morin, the 
American Protestant Mason who brought the Scotttish Rite to America. He was 
evidently born at about the same time and in the same town as Moses M. Hays, who 
was bom in 1739 at New York, where his father was a wealthy shipowner. The two 
boys, Stephen Morin and Moses Hays, perhaps, grew up together in that small town 
which had about 1 8,000 inhabitants at that time. This would furnish a reason why 
Stephen Morin gave full powers to Moses M. Hays at San Domingo, as well as to 
Henry A. Francken about 1762 or 1763 as has been generally stated. In the latter year 
the father of Moses M. Hays died [see Jewish Encyclopaedia] and the young man, 
then twenty-four years old and the oldest son, would naturally have to return home 



from San Domingo to take charge of the large business his father left and could do 
nothing with the Scottish Rite until 1768. All of the numerous tribe of Hays were 
patriots in the Revolutionary War, as is shown by the Jewish Encyclopaedia. Moses 
Cohen in his patent recites that he obtained his copy of the Constitutions of 1762 
from Stephen Morin about 1794 in San Domingo, although it is asserted by Gould 
that Morin lost his life in the Negro insurrection that drove the French planters out of 
that beautiful island. Until the paragraph of Rebold was discovered the writer 
supposed that to be the fact. Morin's life, after he passed the torch of light, liberty and 
truth to Moses M. Hays, seems to have been lost in obscurity, but some day it is 
possible more information will be obtained on this matter. 


"Slowly the Bible of the race is writ 
Each tribe, each race adds a line to it." 


Morin is known to have been present at Kingston, Jamaica, in 1770, when a chapter 
of Rose Croix, or even a higher degree was organized by Stephen Morin and Henry 
A. Francken under the authority of the Council of nine commissioners at Berlin, 
which is recited in the charter, a fac-simile of which is given in the American edition 
of the Complete History of Freemasonry, by Robert Freke Gould, from the original in 
the collection of Enoch T. Carson, 33d, of Cincinnati. 


These facts in regard to the introduction of the Scottish Rite into America by Stephen 
Morin, the French Huguenot, would not be complete unless some further reference 
was made to the source from whence he obtained his power. 


It was in 1761 that he was delegated, by what Albert Pike justly considered a joint 
power from the Grand Fodge of France and the Grand Council of Emperors of the 
East and West. It is well known by Masonic historians that Baron Von Hund, the first 
authentically known promulgator of the Templar system, known as the "Rite of Strict 
Observance," was first initiated in 1742 at Paris into that Order (as recorded in his 
diary) by the Earl of Kilmarnock, who was, at that time, not only Grand Master of 
Scotland, but also Master of the celebrated Mother Fodge of Kilwinning. This Fodge 
of Kilwinning, tradition claims, was organized by those who built the Abbey of 



Kilwinning in 1 140, and has always had attributed to it what we now term the 
"Higher Degrees." That there were Higher Degrees in Scotland is evidenced by the 
fact, which is recorded by Gould and others, that the Grand Lodge of Scotland did, by 
specific resolution in 1799 and 1800, "discharge and prohibit" its daughter or 
constituent lodges from giving any degrees except those of E.A., F.C., and M.M. 


RIVALRY OF FRENCH LODGES 


If we recognize that all the troubles which occurred in French Masonry were due to 
the jurisdictional fights between the English lodges, established by the Grand Lodge 
of England and organized as the Grand Lodge of France, and the Scotch lodges, 
established in France by the Grand Lodge of Scotland, we shall arrive at a clearer 
comprehension as to the original cause and reason for the name of the Scottish Rite. 
Chevalier Andrew Michael Ramsay, noted Scotchman residing in Paris, who was 
made Doctor of Laws by Oxford, and also a member of the Royal Society, has had 
attributed to him certain Degrees which Rebold alleged were introduced by him; and 
he is likewise known for his famous oration before the Grand Lodge of France in 
1737, in which he referred to the fact that Edward I of England, conqueror of 
Scotland, brought back many Masons from the Holy Land at the time of the Crusades 
where he was from 1270 to 1272. This has been substantiated by Prof. T. Hayter 
Lewis, Past Master of the Quatuor Coronati Lodge, as shown in Gould's Concise 
History. Chevalier Ramsay also in his oration refers to the Knights Templar as being 
a Masonic organization and while this has generally been regarded as a baseless 
tradition, yet new discoveries seem to indicate that the Arabs have been Masons since 
632 A. D., when Mohammed died, down to the present time, and to have imparted the 
mysteries of Masonry to the crusading Knight Templars as Sir Walter Scott, himself a 
Mason, partially describes in The Talisman. In fact, a recent writer, Bro. Captain De 
Covington of the British Intelligence Service, stated in an article in The National 
Trestle Board of San Francisco, in June, 1920, that there were documents in existence 
at Mecca proving that every Arabian ruler since the year 632 was a Master Mason. 
However, whether this be so or not, Baron von Hund asserts in his diary, which is as 
good evidence as the diary of Elias Ashmole, that he received the Templar degrees 
(which were originally Scotch degrees) from the hands of the Grand Master of 
Scotland, and that this was the origin of the Scottish Rite and the Chapters of 
Clermont which were Rose Croix chapters and named, so Gould says, in compliment 
to the Count of Clermont, Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of France at the time. 

The Scottish Lodge of St. Andrew of Boston gave the Templar Degree in 1769. 



THE SCOTTISH RITE IN GERMANY 


The Grand Lodge "To the Three Globes," of Berlin, of which Frederick the Great was 
Grand Master from 1740 to 1757, also has connected with it a Scottish Rite Chapter 
of Clermont which was organized by the Baron von Prinzen and a French prisoner of 
war, the Marquis de Tilly Launay, who was possessed of the Scottish Rite degrees of 
the Chapter of Clermont, so Gould says. From this it would appear that there is a 
basis for the statement that Frederick the Great was the head of the Scottish Rite 
when the Constitutions of 1762 were adopted, as this Chapter of Clermont, connected 
with the Berlin Grand Lodge, "The Three Globes," was organized in 1758. 


In the Constitutions for 1786 it is expressly shown, as one can see by referring to the 
original Constitutions of 1762 and 1786 given in Folger's History of the Scottish Rite, 
that the Scottish Rite heretofore existing and coming from the Earl of Kilmarnock, 
Grand Master of Scotland, into Germany through Baron von Hund and through the 
Baron von Prinzen, was changed by order of Frederick in the Constitution of 1786 to 
a Rite of thirty-three degrees and these Constitutions explicitly state how it was done, 
and show why the changes were made. 


Like others, the writer had always considered these Constitutions as somewhat 
apocryphal but after a careful examination of them and all the facts obtainable, he has 
reached the conclusion, as did Albert Pike, that they are genuine and based on 
actuality. All of the full process of reasoning by which this decision was reached is 
embodied in a manuscript for a book to be entitled The Origin of the Scottish Rite, 
which gives a full history, as far as is now possible, of the birth of that Rite. This 
history was submitted to and accepted by the Supreme Council of the Southern 
Jurisdiction, A. & A. S. R., and it is the sincere wish of the writer that the same may 
be published after proper revision while he still treads this mundane sphere. 


GEMS OF MASONIC THOUGHT 



Culled From the Expressions of Active and Thinking Masons 


The earnest toiler in our vineyard, the zealous worker in our quarries may not be a 
hero, the world may not look upon him in admiration or view with enthusiasm his 
good works, but the silent and sincere appreciation of his brothers are his; the silent 
blessing of the widow is his; the lisped prayer of the orphan iS for him, and the great 
and potent influence which all good men exert in daily contact with their fellowmen 
can be traced to the teachings of our Craft.— The Widow's Son. 


The true worth of our life is that many hearts of friends should be saddened and many 
eyes drop tears when it ends; that the poor should have good words to speak of us and 
thankful recollections of some act of charity and loving kindness, and prayers to the 
Great Architect of the Universe that these may, in His merciful judgment, outweigh 
our many frailties and errors— this, and that our influences that live after us should 
bear no ill fruit. So the teachings of our venerable Craft endeavor to persuade us to 
live. So, more or less, lived our beloved brothers whose deaths it is our sad duty to 
record from time to time.— El Paso Bulletin. 


— o — 


The Story of Freemasonry in Colorado 
By BRO. GEORGE B. CLARK, Colorado 
PARTI 


BRO. CLARK is a member of Pueblo Lodge, No. 17, A.F. & A.M., Pueblo, 
Colorado. His brief history, the second and concluding half of which will be 
published next month, is the result of original researches extended over a period of 
years, during which he has spared himself no effort to verify all the facts. His 
brochure should be published in book form and so made available to all brethren in 
Colorado, and to students of Masonic history elsewhere. 



What will a man not do for gold? No obstacle is too great, no hardship too severe 
when there is reasonable hope that gold may be had for the taking. The streams and 
hills of Colorado have yielded many fortunes to the hardy adventurers who went after 
them. Many who came did not find the fortune. For them some obstacle could not be 
surmounted. 


The story of Colorado Masonry is the story of Colorado, and the story of early 
Colorado is the story of the search for gold. When the golden sands of California 
called in 1848, the gold seeker crossed Colorado and passed on to the West and added 
a new empire to the country. Ten years later another wave of excitement, encouraged 
by the success of the California movement, rolled eastward. Gold had been 
discovered at Pikes Peak, and the "prairie schooner," with its "Pikes Peak or Bust" 
banner, came to the Rockies. Men flocked to this part of the country always in search 
of gold. And it is to the glory of Colorado that, having found the gold, many of these 
bold spirits remained to build a state and enjoy the fruits of their labor within sight of 
the mountains which gave them their wealth. 


Masonry? Yes. Many of these men were Masons, made in some lodge in a "home 
town back East." Away from that home town probably for the first time in their lives, 
what more natural than that they sought out their brethren in the new West ! The very 
dangers and vicissitudes of travel would draw them together; and being once drawn 
together it was inevitable that the principles instilled into them in the lodge would go 
far in maintaining order in the new country. The prospector for gold is a very 
migratory sort of person. Any "strike," or rumor of a strike, starts him at once for the 
new "diggings." Were this not so there might not have been any Colorado. 


Prior to 1861 there was no Colorado, there was only an indefinite "West," with an 
almost impassable mountain range crossing from north and south. Travelers of 
necessity went around to the north by way of Ft. Laramie, or to the south by way of 
Santa Fe or Ft. Union. Kansas and Nebraska were new countries even then with rather 
indefinite boundaries. The line between them was drawn on the map as a straight line 
to the mountains. The Utah lines coming from the west were drawn to this same very 
indefinite mountain range. The maps of 1859 are not in agreement but seem to carry 



an idea of the mountain range as a boundary line running approximately as a line 
between North Park and Routt County, between Park and Chaffee Counties, and 
between Huerfano and Costilla Counties. All on the west was Utah. The present line 
between Kansas and Nebraska continued west to this same mountain range. All to the 
north was Nebraska and to the south was Kansas. One map of the Indian Reservation, 
dated 1 854, shows a portion of the southern part bounded approximately on the west 
by the Culebra Range, on the north by an east and west line through La Junta, and on 
the east by the 103rd meridian, as being New Mexico. 


At that time nobody seemed to care a part of the country; nobody wanted it. In 
Kansas and Nebraska seemed to be arguing as to who should police it. But in 1858 
the magic word GOLD was spoken! How quickly the scene changed! Men flocked 
out to the "Pikes Peak" country and a new order arose, a new country came into 
being, a new state was formed. 


THE FIRST IMMIGRANTS TO ARRIVE 


The trails led to the intersection of the South Platte River and Cherry Creek where 
there had been a small Indian village. As near as may be ascertained the first party of 
immigrants arrived Oct. 10, 1858. In this party were the "Russell Boys" and a trader 
named John Smith. It seems that the first structure erected was a double cabin built by 
Dr. L.J. Russell for himself and Smith. Others came in and other cabins were erected 
by Roswell Hutchins, John Easter, A.H. Barker, Henry Allen, Andrew Sagendorf and 
a Mr. Rooker. These cabins were located on the west side of Cherry Creek and the 
community was named "Auraria City" after Auraria, Georgia, the home town of Dr. 
Russul. In a month or so other parties arrived and settled on the east side of Cherry 
Creek. They named their community "Denver City," after the then Governor of 
Kansas, this being presumed to be Kansas soil. Some of the first cabin builders on 
this site were General Larimer, E.P. Stout, Charles Nichols, Hickory Rogers, Moyne 
and Rice, Lawrence and Dorsett. The name Auraria was dropped in April, 1860, when 
a bridge was completed across Cherry Creek making one community and it was 
called Denver City. 



Apparently the month of October, 1858, was a busy one for the new settlements. 
Cabins must be built for- protection against the coming winter, and more important 
than that was the pleasant task of getting acquainted. The first rush of building over 
their thoughts turned "east." We are told by J.D. Ramage that he arrived at "Pikes 
Peak" (now Denver) on Nov. 2, 1858 and that on the next evening he attended the 
first assemblage of Masons in this new country. Note the names of those present at 
the birth of Masonry in Colorado: W. M. Slaughter, Charles Blake, Dr. Russell, 
Andrew Sagendorf, George Lehow, Henry Allen and J.D. Ramage. 


December came and with it the true Masonic desire to celebrate St. John's day on the 
27th. Quite a gala feast was prepared for the twenty-six Masons who had arrived by 
that time. The story of this first celebration has been told many times. The banquet 
room— a 1 6 by 1 6 foot cabin; table cloth— a clean sheet borrowed from a Mormon 
family: the table— wagon boards; chairs— none, all stood up; menu— flour, pork, beans, 
coffee, wild game, as far as it went. 


Then came spring and with it a great influx of miners, prospectors and those who 
hoped to be miners. W. N. Byers arrived April 17, 1859, and he notes meetings with 
forty Masons present. On May 6 came the announcement of the discovery of gold at 
Gregory Diggings and away went the people. Gregory Diggings is but a few miles 
distant from the present Central city and a great exodus took place from Auraria and 
Denver to Gregory. Less than a fortnight later we read of meetings being held by 
Masons at Central City. Before June had passed a block of ground had been pre- 
empted for the purpose and a Masonic Temple was erected. Many of the same names 
noted as being present at the Auraria meetings are now recognized as the pioneers 
among the Masonic activities at the diggings. By summer it was estimated that fully 
20,000 men had come into the mining district, and the intensity of the Masonic 
interest may well be imagined. Meetings were held every week and hundreds of 
names were added to the "rolls of visitors." It must be kept in mind that these were 
not lodge sessions but were informal meetings of Masons to discuss and keep alive 
the Masonic traditions, and to search out and band together for mutual protection 
those who were entitled to wear the Square and Compass. 


As time went on other mining discoveries were made, districts were established and 
miners came in to make more history. The transient moved on to the new fields until 



he found his place and became a part of a new community. In the fall many of the 
men went out of the district, some going back to the states for the winter, and some 
simply stopped off at Auraria until winter had passed. Meetings now took on a more 
settled and serious aspect. Permanent organizations, dispensations and charters were 
discussed. Decision was made to change the temporary organizations into permanent 
ones through regular Masonic proceedings. 


In the olden time Masons by "immemorial custom" could assemble and erect a 
Masonic lodge. These lodges would make Masons, who in turn would "travel in 
foreign countries," work, and receive Masters' wages, and they in time would 
organize other lodges. Eventually there came the necessity of an affiliation of these 
lodges, the need of some central authority. So representatives of these lodges gathered 
together and organized a Grand Lodge and elected a Grand Master. To this Grand 
Lodge were delegated certain powers, among which was the power to charter lodges. 
This Grand Lodge assumed jurisdictional powers which, after much controversy, was 
established as regular. Thus the Grand Lodges were set up in England, Scotland and 
Ireland, the priority resting with the Grand Lodge of London, organized in 1717. 

Prom these sources the principles spread to the American Colonies and lodges were 
established on this side. In time Provincial Grand Lodges were set up in most of the 
Colonies by one or the other of the Grand Lodges of England or Scotland. After the 
Revolutionary War the American Provincial Grand Lodges declared their 
independence of the European authority and erected themselves as sovereign and 
independent Grand Lodges in their respective states. This was in due time 
acknowledged by the Grand Lodge of England, and the American Grand Lodges 
became in fact independent Grand Lodges. These Grand Lodges by mutual agreement 
announced a new policy, that of "exclusive jurisdiction." In brief, it is this. The 
authority of each Grand Lodge is supreme in the state in which the Grand Lodge is 
situated, and no other Grand Lodge may invade that state to charter lodges. If in any 
state or territory there be no Grand Lodge, that field is open to any Grand Lodge to 
charter lodges. 


SUCCESSION KEPT INTACT 


Now enters another phase of the principle of exclusive jurisdiction. When three or 
more lodges have been chartered by any Grand Lodge authority in a state or territory 



in which there is no Grand Lodge, these three or more lodges may meet by agreement 
and themselves erect a Grand Lodge for that state or territory. Thus the chain goes on. 
A new frontier is opened. Masons go in, meet each other, desire Masonic concourse, 
associate as a lodge, ask some Grand Lodge for a dispensation to form a lodge, and 
when granted meet as a lodge, regular in every way. In due time the charter is granted 
and the new lodge is now on its way. Then by association of all such lodges in the 
new country a Grand Lodge is formed. 


MASONS CAME FROM EVERYWHERE 


So it was in this part of the country. These informal meetings took on the aspects of a 
lodge and the desire was expressed to form a regular lodge. Naturally the first 
question which arose was that of the source of such authority. Strictly speaking, all 
the territory around Denver, Central city, Golden, and Gregory was Kansas soil but it 
is doubtful if it was so known or considered at that time. The line between Kansas 
and Nebraska was drawn as being along the present north line of Arapahoe county. So 
it may safely be said that there was a question as to the title to this new gold field, 
Masonic title as well as civil or territorial title. Men came here from all parts of the 
United states and Masonic memberships must have been almost as varied as the men 
themselves. 


By the spring or summer of 1859 there were more or less settled communities in 
Auraria, Denver, Golden, Central city, Parkville and Gold Hill. Masons were meeting 
in each of these places in sufficient numbers to justify the establishing of lodges and 
each group in its own way did ask for regular Masonic authority for a lodge. Some of 
these requests were carried through to completion as chartered lodges, some were 
delayed for a time, and some were lost by the way. Brethren in Auraria, Golden city 
and Nevadaville petitioned the Grand Master of Kansas for dispensations and these 
petitions were all granted. Brethren in Parkville an Gold Hill petitioned the Grand 
Master of Nebraska for dispensations and these petitions were likewise granted. The 
lodge at Golden city was given a dispensation on Feb. 18, 1860, and was chartered by 
the Grand Lodge of Kansas on Oct. 16, 1860, as Golden City Lodge, No. 34. The 
lodge at Parkville was chartered on June 5, 1861, by the Grand Lodge of Nebraska as 
Summit Lodge, No. 7. The lodge at Gold Hill was chartered on June 5, 1861, by the 
Grand Lodge of Nebraska as Rock Mountain Lodge, No. 8. 



The Grand Master of Kansas issued two other dispensations for lodges in the Gold 
country— to the brethren at Auraria on Oct. 8, 1859, and to the brethren at Nevadaville 
in January, 1861. When the Grand Lodge of Kansas met in October, 1860, there was 
no return from Auraria Lodge, but it was ordered that a charter should issue as No. 37 
when the returns should arrive, cognizance being taken of the insecurity of travel. The 
returns of Golden City Lodge did arrive on time and it was regularly awarded its 
charter at No. 34. It is known that at least three, and perhaps four other communities 
were asking for lodges, but complete organizations were not perfected. These were 
Denver, separate and distinct from Auraria, Central City Mountain City and 
Arapahoe. 


In February, 1861, the territory enclosed by the present boundaries of the State of 
Colorado was set aside by the National Government and named the "Territory of 
Colorado." In due time, 1876, Colorado took its place as a sovereign state of the 
Union. 


A GRAND LODGE IS ORGANIZED 


In August, 1861, then, conditions were right for the next Masonic move. Here was an 
independent civil territory of the Union with no Grand Lodge and there were 
functioning within its borders three chartered lodges, two lodges under dispensation, 
and three or four more seeking authority to meet as lodges. Invitations were issued to 
the chartered lodges to meet and discuss the advisability of the formation of a Grand 
Lodge. The time set was Aug. 2, 1861, and the place as Golden City. On that day 
there assembled at the lodge room in Golden City the following: 


Representatives from Golden City Lodge. No. 34, at Golden City, C.T: Bro. Eli 
Carter, W.M.; Bro. I.E. Hardy, proxy for S.W.; Bro. J.A. Moore, J. W. 



Rocky Mountain Lodge, No. 8. at Gold Hill, C.T.: Bro. C.F. Holly, proxy for W.M. 
and S.W.; Bro. J.M. Chivington, proxy for J.W. 


Summit Lodge, No. 1, at Parkville, C.T.: Bro. James Ewing, W.M.; Bro. O.A. 
Whittemore, proxy for S.W.; Bro. S.M. Robins, proxy for J.W. 


Visitors: Bro. L.L. Bowen, Past Deputy Grand Master of Nebraska; Bro. W.T. Wade, 
Past Master; Bro. L. M. Frary, Past Master. 


The organization of the Grand Lodge of Colorado as perfected on this day, Aug. 2, 
1861, and the following officers elected and installed: 


J.M. Chivington, Gold Hill, Grand Master; S.M. Robins, Parkville, Deputy Grand 
Master; James Ewing, Parkville. Senior Grand Warden; J.M. Holt, Gold Hill, Junior 
Grand Warden; Eh Carter, Golden City, Grand Treasurer; O.A. Whittemore, 
Parkville, Grand Secretary. 


Interrupted communications due to the difficulties and dangers of travel caused some 
embarrassing situations for the new Grand Lodge. It became known that, another 
Grand Lodge had chartered a lodge in Colorado after the formation of the Grand 
Lodge of Colorado. But in true Masonic spirit these situations were cleared away and 
the new Grand Lodge was recognized and accorded its place among the Grand 
Lodges. 


Nevada Lodge surrendered its Kansas charter and received a Colorado charter as No. 
4. Auraria and Central city surrendered their dispensations from Kansas and Nebraska 
respectively and received new dispensations from Grand Master Chivington. They 
were in due time chartered by the Grand Lodge of Colorado as Denver Lodge, No. 5, 
and Chivington Lodge, No. 6. This latter lodge, however, changed its name later to 
Central Lodge, No. 6. 



The first Grand Master, John M. Chivington, was a church dignitary, but when the 
war broke out he sought service for the Union. He was offered appointment as 
chaplain, but this he refused, insisting that he have a fighting commission. He 
eventually became a colonel of Colorado troops and served his country well. He came 
to Colorado from Nebraska, where he served as Grand Chaplain of the Grand Lodge 
of Nebraska, prior to which he had served as Master of the lodge under dispensation 
which became, Lodge No. 3 when the Grand Lodge of Kansas was formed. 


WHENCE DID COLORADO DERIVE ITS RITUAL? 


Attention is particularly directed to the following extract from the minutes of this first 
meeting, dated Aug. 1, 1861: 


"On motion it was 


"RESOLVED, That a school of instruction be established by this Grand Lodge, and 
that at least one day, at each Grand Communication, be set aside for the purpose of 
instruction by the M.W. Grand Master, in order that uniformity in the work may be 
obtained in this Jurisdiction. 


"RESOLVED, That the work in this Jurisdiction be adopted as exemplified in the 
present session of this Grand Lodge." 


Just what this work was is not known. Golden City Lodge was chartered by the Grand 
Lodge of Kansas, and set up by a representative of the Grand Master who was a well 
qualified Kansas Mason. The meeting at which the Grand Lodge was formed was 
held in the hall of Golden city Lodge, and I. E. Hardy of Golden City was appointed 



the first Grand Lecturer. The first Grand Master was a Master of a Kansas Lodge. 
These facts might lead one to infer that the first work was "Kansas work." 


On the other hand a Past Deputy Grand Master of Nebraska, one L.L. Bowen, was 
present at the organization of the Grand Lodge and he may have influenced the 
selection of the first work. Also it is known that Bro. Chivington had been an officer 
of the Grand Lodge of Nebraska, as well as having been a Kansas Master. It is known 
that the first Constitution adopted was the Constitution of the Grand Lodge of 
Nebraska, modified only to suit the conditions of the new Grand Lodge. 


Be that as it may, it is one thing to adopt an official "work" and quite another thing to 
see that it is used. Lodges were few and far between; the presence of hostile Indians 
on the way and the extreme vicissitudes of travel made it almost impossible for a 
Grand Lodge officer, be he Grand-Master or Grand Lecturer, to visit the lodges and 
teach or demonstrate what that official work was. Each Master of a lodge naturally 
thought the work of the Jurisdiction from which he came was the best ever conceived 
and, knowing that work only, he would use it in his new Colorado lodge to the 
exclusion of all else. The result can well be imagined. In 1878, Grand Master C. J. 
Hart said in his annual address: 


"We have adopted a uniform work and enacted laws prohibiting the introduction of 
any other among our lodges and yet, notwithstanding this, the work in this 
Jurisdiction is almost as varied as were the colors of Joseph's coat." Many attempts to 
correct this were made. The system of District Deputy Grand Lecturers was tried but 
was not a success. Men could not give the time and attention to Masonic work to the 
neglect of private business especially when distances were great and traveling 
hazardous. As a result a committee of five Past Grand Masters was appointed to look 
into the matter. Their report rendered in 1882 carried this quite significant statement: 
"That the work as presented by the Grand Lecturer is in its essential features the same 
as the ALLYN WESTON work so long ago used in this jurisdiction." It should be 
noted here that Allyn Weston was made a Mason in Michigan, in a lodge in Detroit. 
He was very active in Michigan Masonry and for a number of years published a 
Masonic magazine known as THE ASHLAR. He came to Colorado in 1861 and at the 
first Annual Communication of the Grand Lodge in December, 1861, was appointed 
Grand Lecturer. He no doubt at this time introduced his Michigan work in the new 



Grand Lodge of Colorado. The following year he was elected Grand Master. This 
Allyn Weston work with but few changes continued until 1911, when a revision made 
by the Custodians of the Work was put into effect. This latter work is now in use and, 
by a thorough system of inspection under a Grand Lecturer who devotes his entire 
time to the work, complete uniformity is maintained throughout all the lodges in the 
state. All the credit for this wonderful accomplishment goes to Bro. W. W. Cooper, 
who was for so many years the Grand Lecturer and is now the Grand Secretary. 


Bro. Cooper, writing in 1915, had this to say concerning the derivation of the esoteric 
Colorado ritual: 


"From what I can learn of these matters, I am inclined to think that our line of descent 
is fairly clear. Beginning with Webb, we next have Gleason and Fowle, then Barney, 
and through Michigan, Colorado. It must be remembered, however that the Barney 
work, as taught by him to Willson in Vermont in 1818, is not the same Barney work 
that we have inherited. The stream has been clouded, possibly it has been purified by 
additions and minglings. The Brother Willson above referred to subsequent to 1818 
went to Iowa and Kansas, and the system of lectures which he had learned from 
Barney in 1818, was adopted by those two Jurisdictions. I thi nk there is no doubt that 
Vermont, Iowa and Kansas have a better title to the original Barney work of 1818 
(whatever it was) than have Michigan, Illinois and Colorado. Whether the original 
Bamey-Gleason-Webb work of 1818 is better than the modified Barney-Gleason- 
Webb work of Colorado is another question." 


A MONITOR IS ADOPTED 


Until 1906 there had been no Monitor adopted as the official text for this jurisdiction. 
Prior to this time the Mackey Monitor had been unofficially the standard and in 
general use. The Jurisprudence Committee reported on this subject in 1900 as 
follows: "In our opinion the Mackey Manual now in use meets the errands and wishes 
of our officers and lodges. In view of the fact that it is so generally satisfactory and so 
generally used we recommend that no change be made." In 1906, however, the 
Macoy Manual was adopted as the official monitor and its use recommended 



throughout the jurisdiction. This was not satisfactory and the Custodians of the Work 
were directed to and did prepare a Monitor that harmonized completely with the new 
revision of the esoteric work, and this, called The Colorado Craftsman, was adopted 
in 1911, and is in use throughout the jurisdiction today. 


At this same time this committee prepared a Colorado diploma for the use of 
Colorado Masons who may wish to travel in other jurisdictions where such 
documents are required. 


As has been stated the Constitution adopted Aug. 2, 1861, was practically a copy of 
that of the Grand Lodge of Nebraska, and the preamble read: 


"WHEREAS, Every Grand Lodge possesses the inherent powers to form a 
Constitution, as the fundamental law of its Masonic action, and to enact such By- 
Laws from time to time as it may deem necessary for its own government, and to 
make such rules and prescribe such regulations for the administration of its 
subordinate lodges, as will insure the prosperity thereof, and promote the general 
good of Masonry; and, 


"WHEREAS, Every Grand Lodge is the true representative of all the Fraternity in 
communication therewith, and is, in that behalf, an absolute and independent body 
with supreme legislative authority: Provided always, That the ancient Landmarks of 
the Order be held inviolate. 


"Therefore, Upon these principles, which have never been disputed, the Grand Lodge 
of Colorado does hereby ordain establish and promulgate the following Constitution 
and By Laws for its future government, and does make and prescribe the following 
rules for the government of the lodges under its jurisdiction." 



This Constitution has been entirely revised and the present code adopted in 1914 had 
for its preamble the following: 


"We, The Grand Lodge of Ancient, Free and Accepted Masons of Colorado, in order 
to form a more perfect fraternal union provide for and promote the welfare of the 
Craft, do ordain and establish this Constitution." 


(To Be Concluded) 


— o — 


More Patriarchs of the Craft 


By ROBERT I. CLEGG, Vice-President of the N. M. R. S., Ohio 


YOU arouse my interest by the brief mention you have in the June issue of THE 
BUILDER about the good brother who is well into the concluding decade of his 
hundred years of age. You say that he has served his lodge as a Past Master and your 
inquiry as to other cases of the same kind starts me off in a reminiscent mood. 


I am not now thinking of the mere accumulation of years. A man may but vegetate 
and collect them. I am thinking of those who have given service with the years; the 
responsibilities that may have been theirs and their growth that has come with these 
responsibilities and their added days. 



And by the way, there is something about Masonic labors that keeps the heart young 
while the hair falls. Age does not wither nor custom stale the fount of that 
Freemasonry which flows with infinite variety in useful streams. 


Here let me remind you that last year Bro. Fay Hempstead, that genial and poetic 
soul, was elected Grand Secretary of Arkansas for the 42nd time; see page 38, Iowa 
Quarterly Bulletin, April, 1924. 


One can easily call to mind others of similar type in length of useful service to the 
Craft, like Bro. Parvin of Iowa, who has recently passed away, and whose 
distinguished labors found chronicle in THE BUILDER; Bro. Vrooman of New York, 
Bro. Orlady of Pennsylvania, for example, both still with us, whose services have 
been devoted and skilled, of long duration and going strong while life lasts. 


THE RECORDS OF TWO ENGLISH BRETHREN 


One night in London a few months ago I sat next to an active and aged brother, Dr. 
John Dixon, at a chapter dinner. His mind was acute, his interests unflagging. The 
Craft to him was in truth that spring of youth of which Ponce de Leon dreamed. There 
at 93 years of age he was telling me that he joined the Fraternity 1857, nearly seventy 
years ago, and in 1860 when the lodge celebrated its fiftieth anniversary he was 
elected Worshipful Master. Fifty years later, when that lodge celebrated its one 
hundredth anniversary, he was elected Worshipful Master of the lodge, and presided 
actively, doing work, initiating candidates and asking no odds of anybody. During all 
these years he had participated freely in the Masonic labor of various bodies. I am no 
longer young, but before I was bom he was an active officer of the Grand Lodge and 
Grand Chapter and other governing organizations, consecrating Masonic bodies and 
installing the officers, and doing it from memory as is the custom over there. In fact, 
at 93, and although he belonged to about every department of Masonic work, he was 
confident he could install the officers of any body to which he belonged, and do it 
without prompting from anyone else. 



I remember a somewhat similar incident among my other Masonic acquaintances, that 
was in regard to Bro. Robert F. Gould. He was not active as Bro. Dixon in so many 
branches of our Institution as an officer, but he was very prominent in the bodies that 
he favored, and there was a stretch of about fifty years from the time he presided over 
a military lodge at Gibraltar and from thence to the day when he was installed as 
Worshipful Master of King Solomon's Lodge at Chester, and the latter was no mere 
complimentary installation, as he told me, he was required to do the work, and he did 
it admirably so far as my investigation goes. 


I discussed these things with Bro. John Heron Lepper, the present Worshipful Master 
of Quatuor Coronati Lodge. He thought that the claim as to ability to do Masonic 
world during so many years was not at all unreasonable. Certainly he was not as 
much inclined as I have been to make a generous allowance for the natural 
enthusiasm born of a good dinner and congenial company, with the added 
encouragement of sundry creature comforts no longer permitted on such occasions in 
the United States. 


A RECORD FROM IRELAND 


Bro. Lepper told me of a countryman of his, Bro. Robert McLawin, who died in 1890 
at the age of 96. Bro. McLawin conferred a degree as far back as 1816, and in 1884 
installed from memory, as is the usual custom, the officers of his Chapter in Antrim, 
Ireland. Just think of a man who was for 68 years an active Masonic. Bro. Robert 
McLawin was a Roman Catholic in faith, and I was told that in his later years the 
priesthood tried to get him to resign from Freemasonry, but he steadfastly refused. 

His Roman Catholic descendants still treasure his apron as well as his other Masonic 
possessions. 


ANOTHER ENGLISH BROTHER 


While I was in England, I had the very great good fortune of receiving a degree at the 
hands of some of my Masonic brethren, one of whom last October celebrated his 



eightieth birthday. He has recently passed away endowed with years and honors. Of 
him it was said that he had never filled any office in Freemasonry, for nearly half a 
century, the duties and work of which he had not fully discharged. For forty years he 
was a pioneer and a most outstanding figure in Temperance Freemasonry, and some 
years ago was honored with the presidency of the Council of Federated Temperance 
Masonic Lodges. His remarkable record of progress in the Craft is one about which I 
doubt if there can possibly be its equal. I have met other aged brethren Road, as well 
as many here, but Bro. Tipper was in every respect unusual. Those who had known 
him long pronounced him a brother of tender sympathies, of strict integrity, and 
unimpeachable character, unselfish in devotion and service, and zealous for every 
good and noble cause. King Solomon's Lodge of London, of which he was a founder 
more than forty year;, ago, honored this splendid veteran last November, and it was 
indeed a tribute fully deserved and given with all that warm-hearted sentiment which 
animates affairs of that kind. 


I attach his Masonic record which appeared in The Freemason on Oct. 25, 1924: 


"Bro. Harry Tipper was initiated in Tranquility Lodge No. 185, on April 19, 1880; 
served as Master of the lodge seven years after his initiation - the Lodge Centenary 
year. For thirteen years he served as Treasurer of the Lodge, and became an Honorary 
Member. He became a Founder of King Solomon Lodge, No. 2029, in May, 1884 - 
the premier total abstaining Lodge in London. He became its first Secretary, and 
continued in that position up to his death, except the 2 1 st year, when he served as 
Master. He was a Founder and second Master of the Hammersmith Lodge, No. 2090, 
of which he was Secretary for the ten years preceding his death. Joining the Wilson 
lies Lodge, No. 2054, in 1885, he became its fifth Master, and in this connection he 
received his first appointment to Provincial Grand Rank - Prov. G. Registrar of 
Hertfordshire. He was a Founder of the Robert Mitchell Lodge, No. 2956, and was an 
Honorary Member. He joined the Quatuor Coronati Lodge, No. 2076, in 1889, was 
Founder, and was acting I. P. M. of the Aldwych Lodge, No. 3096, was Treasurer for 
ten years from 1909, and an Honorary Member. The M. W. Grand Master recognized 
his valuable services to the Craft in 1 895 by promoting him to Grand Rank, and 
appointing him Assistant Grand Pursuivant, and twenty-two years later conferred on 
him the Brevet Rank of P. G. Standard Bearer at the Royal Albert Hall. He has been a 
Consecrating Office of four new Lodges - Nos. 3027, 3237, 3947, and 4445, and was 
Honorary Member of each of them. 



"In Royal Arch Masonry he was exalted in the Faith Chapter, No. 141, in May, 1882, 
since when he has been a Founder of the King Solomon Chapter, No. 2029, Aldwych 
Chapter, No. 3096, Ranelagh Chapter, No. 834, Quintinian Chapter, No. 2956, and 
the Hammersmith Chapter, No. 2090. He has been First Principal of each of these 
Chapters except No. 2956, of which he acted as I.P.Z. He was appointed an officer of 
Supreme Grand Chapter in 1895 by the conferment on him of Assistant G.D.C. He 
has been a Consecrating Officer of four new Chanters - viz.. Nos. 3237, 3387, 3376, 
and 3368, and an Honorary Member of each of them. 


"In Mark Masonry he was advanced in the Henniker Lodge No. 315, in February, 
1884, was Worshipful Master five years later, and was Secretary and Installing 
Master for twenty-five years. He was a Founder of King Solomon Mark Lodge, No. 
385, its first Master, and the Treasurer since 1888. He was P.G.S.D. in both 
Middlesex and Surrey Provinces, was appointed Grand Inner Guard in 1906, and 
promoted P.G.D. in 1920. He was a Consecrating Officer of the new Arts and Crafts 
Lodge, No. 736, and an Honorary Member of it. 


"As a Royal Ark Mariner he was elevated in the Prince of Wales Lodge, No. 4, in 
1888, filled the office of W.C.N. and was Treasurer from 1900 to 1923. Founder and 
W.C.N. of King Solomon Lodge, No. 385, and Treasurer from 1898. Elected 
Honorary Member in the Matier Lodge, No. 400, and the Installing Master. 


"In the Rose Croix he was perfected in the Bard of Avon Chapter, No. 44, in April, 
1888, M.W.S. in 1892, and Recorder fifteen years. Joined the St. George's Chapter, 
No. 42, and was M.W.S. Founder of Canterbury Chapter, No. 72 and second M.W.S. 
and was D.C. for some years. Took the Thirtieth Degree in 1898, selected for Thirty- 
First Degree in 1916. 


"He took the four degrees in the Allied Degrees in 1887, was W. M. of the Lily 
Council, No. 15. Appointed Grand Inner Guard, 1896. 



"In the Knights Templar and Knights of Malta he was installed in the New Temple 
Preceptory in 1890, E. Preceptor in 1895, Prior in 1896, Founder of Galilee 
Preceptory, Past Preceptor, and was Registrar for several years. Was appointed 1st G. 
Capt. of the Guards and G. C. Outposts in 1907. 


"He was installed in the Red Cross of Constantine in the Plantagenet Conclave in 
1898, was M.P.S. 1906. Has installed the M. P. S. and Eusebius, since appointed 
Grand Marshal Consecrating Officer De Urwin Conclave, Bath, and Honorary 
Member. 


"In the Knights of the Holy Sepulchre he was received in the Saye and Sele Council 
in 1891, and acted as Prior for several years at the Annual Festival. 


"He was advanced in the Royal Order of Scotland on 4th July, 1902. Appointed G. 
Warder. 


"He was received in the Constantine Council of the Cryptic Degree in 1891, and 
served as T.I.M. also, appointed Grand Steward. 


"In the Order of the Secret Monitor he was inducted in the Horatio Shirley Conclave 
in 1888; was Supreme Ruler-Grand Visitor in 1900, was also P. G. Treasurer. Joined 
the Premier Conclave, No. 1, and was P. S. R. Consecrating Officer of Skyrack 
Conclave, Leeds, Claro True Friendship Conclave, Harrogate; Regent Conclave, 
Barnsley, and of Cinque Ports Conclave, Hastings, and Honorary Member of each of 
them. 


"He was received in the Royal Masonic Knights of the Scarlet Cord in 1910, taken the 
5th Degree, that of Arch Priest. Registrar to Metropolitan Consistory up to 1918. 



"In the Societas Rosicraciana in Anglia he was introduced in the Metropolitan 
College in 1896 and was Celebrant. Admitted to the Eighth Grade in 1910, and the 
Ninth Degree in 1918. Has been Treasurer-General of the High Council since 1910 
until his death. He was Consecrating Officer of the Woodman College, Bradford; 
Hallamshire College, Sheffield; Lancashire College, Bolton; and W. Wynn Westcott 
College, Chichester, and Honorary Member in each case. 


"Order of Eri. - Knight Grand Cross and Bard, 1919. 


"Order of Light. - Member of the Second Degree of the Order, meetings of which are 
only held in Bradford." 


Since writing the above I have a letter from a good friend of mine and his, active in 
the Provinces of England, Bro. John Barker, and he tells me, as though it was not of 
any special account, that at the meeting of his lodge on May 22, he would initiate a 
candidate, and he also incidentally observes that he was first installed Worshipful 
Master of that lodge in 1871. He was doing this mainly to celebrate his eightieth 
birthday. 


AMERICAN BRETHREN HAVE LONG SERVICE 


Of course, we have in this United States of ours many brethren of wealth of years in 
the Fraternity having exactly the same lively interest in the welfare of the Fraternity 
that is found among the devoted brethren in Europe. 


Colonel John Wright Vrooman, whom we have already mentioned, celebrated his 
eighty-first birthday on March 28. At the age of twenty-one he was made a Mason in 
Herkimer Masonic Lodge, No. 423, Herkimer, New York, and held several offices in 
both this lodge and the Grand Lodge of New York until June, 1889, when he was 
elected Grand Master unanimously and reselected for this office until he declined the 



honor. He attended every session of the Grand Lodge of New York State for fifty-two 
years. Upon his recommendation the Grand Lodge purchased in 1889 one hundred 
and sixty acres for the New York State Masonic Home at Utica and on May 21, 1891, 
the cornerstone of the Administration Building there was laid by him as Grand Master 
and he also laid the cornerstone of the Washington Memorial Arch in New York City. 
He has been continuously active, in office or out, and his correspondence has been an 
inspiration to those of his brethren who, like myself, have been favored by these 
expressions of his interest and good will toward all Masonic educational enterprises. 
Of his personal charities he probably would not wish anything to tee 'said here, but 
those of us who know the dedication of their lives to this splendid sort of work will 
have, as we do, a whole-hearted regard for Bro. Vrooman and his good wife. 


And here is another important addition that I hope may be included because it is a 
truly notable instance and we over here can and do highly value the service rendered 
Freemasonry by the distinguished leader of the English Craft. At the June Quarterly 
Communication of the Grand Lodge of England on June 3 the announcement was 
made by the Pro Grand Master, Lord Ampthill, of the coincidence that on this 
occasion of the presence of the Duke of Connaught, the M. W. Grand Master, three 
anniversaries of this distinguished brother were especially to be noted. This was the 
twenty-fifth year of the Grand Mastership, the fiftieth year of the Grand Master's 
admission to the Craft, and of his own seventy- fifth birthday, a truly remarkable 
combination of aupicious events. 


Among the Christmas and New Year greetings which came our way during the 
holiday season of 1924 none was more acceptable than that written in his own hand 
by John Corscot, formerly Past Grand Master and continuing thereafter as Grand 
Treasurer to our own times. In this letter of his our good brother says, "I have been a 
Mason sixty-two years and in my eighty-sixth year I am as zealous as when first 
initiated." 


This stimulating suggestion of constancy and zeal may very well be the concluding 
paragraph of the present article, which is by no means intended to be exhaustive. 
Doubtless there are many other shining examples that properly belong in such a 
discussion as the one herein attempted. 



o 


The Masonic Million Memorial Fund of England: 
The Proposal and the Prospect 


By BRO. SIR ALFRED ROBBINS 


PRESIDENT OF THE BOARD OF GENERAL PURPOSES, UNITED GRAND 
LODGE OF ENGLAND 


BOTH the Proposal and the Prospect were crystallized in the original and earliest 
announcement of the project by the Grand Master at the Great Masonic Peace 
Celebration at the Royal Albert Hall in the June of 1919, in these words: "The great 
and continued growth of Freemasonry amongst us demands a central home; and I 
wish it to be considered whether the question of erecting that home in this metropolis 
of the Empire, dedicated to the Most High, and worthy of the great traditions of the 
United Grand Lodge of England, would not be the most fitting Peace Memorial." 
And, just as he inspired the movement at the outset, so has the Grand Master again 
and again heartened it ever since, and notably in his exclamation to the Provincial 
Grand Masters, after the Installation of the Prince of Wales as Senior Grand Warden 
in October, 1922: "I would ask you to do everything in your power to further the 
cause which I have so much at heart, as I am anxious to see, within a reasonable time, 
the erection of a memorial worthy of those who have made the great sacrifice." 


In these last words lies the essential idea of the scheme. It is most desirable that every 
brother who joins in the effort should realize that the true reason for the movement is, 
again to quote from the Grand Master's original appeal, "the creation, as a rightful 



sequel to that impressive gathering (the Peace Celebration), of a perpetual memorial 
of Masonic gratitude to Almighty God for the special blessings He had been pleased 
to confer upon us, both as Englishmen and as Masons, whereby we can render fitting 
honor to the many brethren who fell in the War, and the greater number who, having 
fought therein, are happily still among us." 


This (as I have had previous occasion to say to the brethren) is the first and most 
important object at which we aim - the erection of a Memorial which shall 
demonstrate for all time the abiding gratitude of the Craftsmen of today to those 
brethren who showed themselves prepared in our nation's most critical hour to 
sacrifice everything; and many were called upon to make that sacrifice for the sake of 
us all. They died that we might live. Nothing we can do can heighten their honor or 
brighten their fame. But we can prove by personal effort that their deeds are not 
forgotten or their memory faded away. 


I further and without hesitation would repeat that the idea that a Masonic Memorial 
should be erected has been accepted throughout the Craft as eminently fitting and 
desirable: and there has been just as general acceptance of the idea that such a 
Memorial should not be a monumental mass of stone or metal, but a living thing 
which shall both symbolize and embody the growth, the greatness, and the grandeur 
of the Grand Lodge of England. This practical attempt to realize the ideal we have set 
before us would take shape in such an edifice, in the metropolis of the Empire and the 
abiding place of Grand Lodge, as would ensure the possession by the Craft of not 
only a glorious Temple, not merely adequate administrative offices, but, as the Grand 
Master phrased it, a Central Masonic Home. This could form a rallying point and 
resting place for the myriad brethren who visit London not alone from the Provinces 
of England and Wales, but from the many hundreds of our lodges beyond seas. These 
would thus for the first time be afforded an opportunity for Masonic fellowship which 
would make for the truest fraternity, and would inspire many a visit to this country 
which would not otherwise be undertaken. 


Generally speaking, what it is intended that this new Central Home of English 
Freemasonry shall contain will be a spacious Temple for the Communications of 
Grand Lodge; a smaller Temple for the Convocations of Supreme Grand Chapter; 
improved accommodation for other Masonic meetings; full accommodation for the 



preservation and display of the library and unsurpassed collection of Masonic 
treasures in the possession of Grand Lodge; a hall for the use of the brethren, 
especially those from the Provinces and overseas, with reading and writing rooms; 
and provision for the constantly increasing administrative and executive needs of the 
Craft. 


For the purpose of erecting such a building, an ample self-contained freehold site, 
with approaches on three sides, has been acquired, and is today the property of Grand 
Lodge. Just over three hundred architects in all parts of the world are at this moment, 
at our invitation and their own wish, considering the early submission of designs to 
provide for a building to cover eventually the whole of the land belonging to Grand 
Lodge, but some of it held under covenants which will not expire for a further few 
years. In view of this circumstance, which affects only one end of the site, it is 
intended first to provide and complete on that portion upon which we can 
immediately build not only a new and much-needed great temple but such 
accommodation as will replace as far as possible that existing in the present 
Freemasons' Hall, thus limiting to minimum the disturbance of the executive and 
other work now carried on in that building. 


The new building, therefore, will contain a large temple with seating capacity for 
2,000 persons, with separate cloak rooms and other accommodation, registration hall, 
and vestibules and scrutineers' room: Administrative offices adequate to the growing 
wants of the Craft, with ample waiting rooms, a register room, muniment rooms, and 
board and committee rooms: the needed increased accommodation for the Grand 
Master, Grand officers, Past Grand officers, and brethren attending Grand Lodge 
from not only London but the Provinces and Districts, and unattached lodges overseas 
in every part of the English Jurisdiction: a suite of large rooms for the use of London, 
Provincial District, and other visitors, to include a reading and writing room, smoking 
room, three conference rooms, a locker room, and the like: a library and a museum 
lath larger than the present library and museum, with librarian's rooms and strong 
room: not fewer than fifteen lodge and chapter rooms, varying in size from a room to 
hold 600 for meetings of Grand Chapter, and the Great Masonic Assemblies, and 
rooms for large lodges with attendance of from 150 to 400, to small rooms suitable 
for attendances of thirty to fifty, all having adequate ante-rooms with separate 
candidates' rooms; and storerooms adjacent to each lodge room, where books, 
records, and other lodge property may be kept for the convenience of lodges, that part 
of the building containing the lodge rooms and storerooms to be so designed 



structurally as to allow the addition of further floors of lodge rooms as occasion may 
require. 


PLANS ARE ARRANGED FOR 


This is a detailed summary of what is designed to be done, and I present it to an 
assemblage of business men as a business proposition. The reply naturally may be 
made, "Good as a proposition, but will you have the wherewithal to carry it out?" 
Necessarily, the full answer to this interrogation can be supplied only by the 
assistance of individual brethren themselves; but this much I can say with absolute 
certainty - that by the time the plans are approved by Grand Lodge and the foundation 
stone is laid, as we all pray it may be laid, by the Grand Master to whom the 
inspiration of the scheme is due, there will be enough money in hand to secure the 
completion of the first half we are undertaking, and sufficient pledges of more to 
ensure that the whole will be accomplished. 


For the accomplishment of that whole, invitations, under the direction of Grand 
Lodge, have been issued to architects, to which, as has been noted, more than three 
hundred have responded, to submit designs and plans for the new building in 
competition. This competition was open to all architects, and it will be conducted in 
two stages: a first or sketch competition, and a second or final competition. Not fewer 
than ten designs will be selected from those submitted in the first competition, which 
closes next spring, and of these a further selection will be made of six designs, the 
authors of which will be invited to submit detailed plans and designs in the second or 
final competition. 


Each of the six architects submitting a bona-fide design in the final competition - in 
accordance with instructions and conditions drawn up and issued by the assessors - 
will receive an honorarium of 500 guineas. Three assessors have been appointed: the 
first an architect of eminence to be nominated by the President of the Royal Institute 
of British Architects, who has secured the consent of so eminent an authority as Sir 
Edwin Lutyens, R.A., to act in this capacity; and an architect of eminence who is a 
Freemason nominated by the special committee of the Grand Lodge; and the Grand 



Superintendent of Works. The conditions governing both competitions are in 
accordance with the regulations of the Royal Institute of British Architects for 
Architectural Competition, and by these we are bound to abide. 


OBJECTIONS MET 


Now it is possible that, as far as all these points are concerned, I have carried with me 
the assent of all assembled, but there is a further point that has to be dealt with, and 
that is the objection sometimes to be heard that the proposed great building will not 
only be situated in London, but be mainly of use to London Masons, and, therefore, 
that the Provinces are not called upon to support it. Let me fully and fairly face this 
point, and not only: in generalities but in particulars. In the first place, I submit to 
every brother of our Order, not only here at home in the Provinces or in London, but 
to the large number overseas, that a world- wide organization such as in the truest 
sense is the United Grand Lodge of England, must have a great central point of 
administration, and that plainly must be situated in the Capital of the Empire. You in 
your own town have a Guildhall or a Shirehall, or a Town Hall for local 
administrative and judicial purposes, but that does not obviate the necessity for the 
erection and continued existence of the Houses of Parliament at Westminster and the 
Palace of Justice in the Strand, where business affecting the whole and not a part of 
those concerned is transacted. In all such matters, one is bound to "think Imperially"; 
and an unprecedented opportunity is now afforded the brethren as a whole to realize 
that Lreemasonry is not confined to membership of a particular lodge, or a single 
Province, or even the Island in which we live, but is a matter which touches every 
part of the globe in which the English language is spoken and English Institutions are 
revered, and in which, I trust, the principles of our Brotherhood will always flourish. 


THERE ARE PRACTICAL ADVANTAGES 


But there is an intensely practical side as well as a sentimental one to this matter. It is 
a subject of legitimate grievance, which it is our special endeavor to remove, that 
every member of a Provincial lodge qualified to attend Grand Lodge is at this 
moment handicapped by lack of room for his accommodation which exists in the 



present premises, which must continue to exist until they are greatly enlarged. 
Supposing, for example, any one of you yourselves come to London for a 
Communication of Grand Lodge. You have no Masonic Home to which you go as a 
right; no place to meet a brother there Mom your own Province or some other part of 
the Jurisdiction, with whom you may like to exchange your views; no possibility of 
obtaining such Masonic information as you might desire to have on your visit to the 
headquarters of the Craft. All this will be provided by the realization of the present 
scheme. 


There may be Provincial brethren not likely to attend Grand Lodge who may urge that 
these considerations in no way appeal to them, and that they fail to see the necessity 
for an extension of Freemasons' Hall in the direction desired; as, from their point of 
view, it would touch no great interest of their own. In that regard, however, they are 
in error, as a great deal of additional accommodation will be needed to cope with the 
ever-growing demands made upon the administration of the Craft by the constant 
increase in the number of its lodges and the total of its membership. And, when I hear 
these lesser objections raised by brethren living within two or four or at the most 
eight hours' journey from London, I think of those many lodges six, eight, and even 
ten thousand miles beyond sea, from which only the smallest proportion of members 
can ever hope to come to England, which are earnestly, zealously and whole- 
heartedly subscribing to the scheme, and become Hall Stone Lodges as a sign and 
symbol of their belief in the essential unity of Freemasonry. It is true that in these 
times we are not operative but speculative Freemasons; but today we are out to build. 


Up to the moment of speaking, no fewer than 459 London lodges had become Hall 
Stone Lodge, this being more than half the total number, and something like two- 
thirds of the others had given their promise to do the utmost to satisfy this 
qualification. That sufficiently disposed of the idea, which had no true foundation 
from the outset, that the capital of the Empire was lukewarm in its response to the 
Grand Master's appeal. The Provinces and Districts are worthily pursuing the same 
course, and every week, indeed, every day, strengthens their resolution to proceed in 
the direction of success. 


"Let us build wisely, let us build surely, let us build faithfully, let us build not for the 
moment, but for future years, seeking to establish here below what we hope to find 



above - a house of many mansions, where there shall be room for all." These were the 
words concerning the British Commonwealth of Nations uttered by one of the most 
distinguished statesmen of today, who is likewise a brother of our own. I echo and 
emphasize them now in regard to the Central Masonic Home of English Freemasonry; 
and I commend them to the thoughts and the hearts of you all. Never, as with all my 
power I would urge on all the brethren, has such an ideal been presented to the Craft. 
What will be its realization? Of the splendid end that will await us I have no doubt. 
Gratitude to our glorious dead, loyalty to our illustrious Grand Master, devotion to the 
eternal principles of brotherhood inculcated throughout the tenets and practices of the 
Craft all join in arousing support for the Peace Memorial. As I have indicated, from 
the Metropolis of the Empire, from the east and the west, from the north and the south 
of the Homeland and of Britain beyond seas, testimonies of adhesion are daily being 
received. It may not be given to some who are the most strenuously working in the 
movement to see the full fruition of so great a plan. But they will pass from among 
their brethren with the satisfaction of bequeathing to their sons and their grandsons in 
the Craft the proof for all time that the Masons of today were prepared to make a 
supreme effort to prove in most practical form their gratitude to the dead, their loyalty 
to the living, and their abiding and unshakable belief in the eternal principles of a 
glorious Craft. 


— o — 


Operative Stonemasons 


(Concluded from last month) 


FROM this Manuscript Ritual of the Stonemasons we learn that the lodge was opened 
by the singing of a verse to a hymn tune, but the words lend themselves best to "God 
Save the King": 


Brethren, here we agree 



To strive for harmony 
In this our cause. 


May love lead these our laws, 
And help us in our cause, 

And may the secret be 
For evermore. 


Then the President announced: "In the presence of this assembly, and in the memory 
of King Edward the Third, I now declare this lodge duly opened." Presumably the 
minutes, if kept, were then read, and any formal lodge business transacted. Then 
followed this prayer, which was also used at the closing of the lodge: 


O God, who art the author of peace and lover of concord in knowledge of whom 
standeth our eternal life, whose service is perfect freedom, defend us, thy humble 
servants, in this our undertaking, that we, surely trusting in thy defence, may not fear 
the power of any adversary, through the might of Jesus Christ— Amen. 


If there were candidates in attendance to be Made Masons, the following "Form of 
Making" was employed: 


The Conductor, with the Candidate, was asked at the door of the lodge by the Inside 
Tyler: "Who comes here to disturb the peace and harmony of our most worthy 
Lodge?" The Conductor replied: "I am not come here to disturb the peace and 
harmony of your most worthy lodge. I am a Brother, with A.B., a stranger, who 
wishes to be admitted into this our honourable Order, if you please to admit him." 



The Inside Tyler reports: "Most worthy President, there is a Brother, with A.B., a 
stranger, who wishes to be admitted into this honourable Order, if you please to admit 
him." 


President: "In the name of the Lord, admit them." 


All present then gave a knock and claps, from the appearance of the MS., possibly 
similar to those in the Second Degree, and joined in singing the first verse of the 
Doxology: "Praise God from whom all blessings flow." The Conductor and candidate 
were then admitted and addressed by a brother called the Lefthand Supporter of the 
Vice-president, as follows: 


Strangers, within our secret walls we have admitted you, 

Hoping you will prove honest, faithful, just and true; 

But if you cannot keep the secret we require 
Go, go hence, you are at liberty to retire. 

Is your motive pure, and do you declare it is? 

The candidate having so declared, the Left-hand Supporter of the President said: 

Brethren, to initiate this stranger we now proceed, 

And our Most Worthy Master may begin to read. 


The President: I will thank you to kneel, and then I will read Psalm XC. 



President: "Guards, conduct these strangers to our secret chambers." 


After another verse of the Doxology has been sung, the Right-hand Supporter of the 
Vice-president thus addressed the Conductor and the candidate, who apparently had 
not actually left the lodge: 

Stand, ye presumptous mortals; strangers step here, 

And let me know your trade and business here. 

By my great power nothing from vengeance here stay us 
If you are come here intending to betray us. 

Warden (presumably also called the Vice-president): 

Most worthy guardian of our secret laws, 

They are Masons wishing to protect our cause. 

President: Then all is well. 

Right-hand Supporter of President: 

Strangers, you are welcome if you are sincere 
You never will repent your time and labour here; 

Our trade, protecting wants, we, by experience know; 

And it's our duty to prevent the recurrence of our woe; 



We have one common interest and one common soul; 

Should by virtue guide and actuate the whole. 

Our common wealth was like a savage land; 

When the weak are slaves the stronger bear command. 

When tyrants rule us with unfettered sway 
And degraded subjects must their will obey. 

Such was our domestic lot, our sufferings, and our care; 

Enraged our minds with madness and despair. 

We found that only half our lawful rights was gained 
E'en when we had united and our rights obtained. 

Our interests were so many and so various 
The tenor of our rights so frail and so precarious 
That had we not invented lodges our rights to ensure 
All would have come to nought as it had done before. 

Strangers, our lodge's design is love and unity, 

With self protection founded on the laws of equity. 

And when we have our mystic rites gone through, 

Our secrets all will be disclosed to you. 

We deem you worthy of friendship, trust and confidence to share; See that you make 
the prosperity of our cause your constant care; 



Let your tongue be faithful, let your heart conceal the trust; 
Woe, woe and dishonour attend the faithless and unjust. 

All then join in singing another verse of the Doxology: 

Eternal are thy mercies, Lord; 

Eternal truth attend thy word; 

Thy truth shall sound from shore to shore; 

Till sun shall rise and set no more. 

President: "Give the stranger Light." 

Then he pointed to a skeleton, and went on: 

Stranger, mark well this shadow which now you see; 

'Tis a faithful emblem of man's destiny. 

Behold this head once filled with pregnant wit; 

These hollow holes once sparkling eyes did fit; 

This empty mouth no tongue or lips contains; 

Of a once well-furnished head see all that now remains; 
Behold this breast where a generous heart once moved; 
Filled with affection loving, and behold! 



Mark well these bones; the flesh hath left its place, 

These arms could once a tender wife embrace; 

These legs in gay activity could roam; 

Alas, the spirit fled, and all is gone 
O Death, O Death, thy spirit strikes us with dismay; 

'Tis only the just spirit that has left its earthly clay 
Can set thee at defiance, and in triumph say: 

The sting of death is sin, and we are sinners all; 

The heavy stroke of death must one day on us fall; 

O death, where is thy sting, O grave, where is thy victory 

The Vice-president then asked the candidate some questions as to his resolution to 
keep all the secret entrusted to him, after which he was again blindfolded and led up 
to the President, while another verse of the hymn was being sung. The President thus 
addressed him: 


"Stranger and pilgrim in the dark, are you come here with a pure intention to support 
wages, and protect the Mason's trade? If you are you must answer; if not, you are at 
liberty to retire to the place from whence you came. I will thank you to kneel down 
and place your right hand upon your naked left breast and your left hand on the Bible; 
answer me with your Christian name and surname as you are touched upon tho nead, 
and repeat after me: 


"I, A.B., a stonemason, being in the awful presence of Almighty God, do voluntarily 
declare that I will persevere in endeavouring to maintain and support a Brotherhood, 
known as the Friendly Society of Operative Stone Masons, and I further promise that 
I will to the utmost of my power assist men on all just and lawful occasions to obtain 



a just remuneration for our labour. And I call upon God to witness this my most 
solemn Declaration that neither hopes, fears, rewards or punishments, or even death 
itself, shall induce me, directly or indirectly, to give information respecting anything 
in this lodge, or any other similar lodge connected with the Society; and I will neither 
write nor cause to be written upon paper, stone, wood, sand, or anything else, except 
for the use of the Society, and I further promise that I will keep inviolable all the rules 
of this Society; and I never will consent to have any money belonging to this Society 
divided or appropriated to any other purpose than the use of this Society and the 
support of the trade. So help me, God, and keep me steadfast in my most solemn 
Obligation." 


At this point the candidate had the bandage removed, and the President dictated the 
remainder of the Obligation: 


"And if ever I reveal either part or parts of this my most solemn Obligation, may what 
is before me plunge my soul into Eternity— Amen." 


Then he was told to kiss the book and rise, properly initiated. 


While he was being led out of the room the last verse of the hymn 
was sung: 


Blest are the men of every kind 
That do unite with willing mind; 
And help each other in distress 


When sick and rendered comfortless. 



The candidate who went through this elaborate ceremony, even if inclined to laugh at 
the cocked hat and fierce mustaches of the Tyler, was not likely to forget quickly the 
promises he had made, and the oath of loyalty he had sworn. To many trade unionists 
this oath was a very real thing, and not easily broken. The lodge was closed with the 
same prayer as at the opening, and the singing of this verse: 


Brethren, ere we depart 
Let us join hand and heart 
In this our cause. 

May our next meeting be 
Blest with sweet harmony, 
Honour and secrecy, 
United all. 


It is not certain whether the Union insisted upon a uniform ritual of admission. It is 
probable that it did not. James Morrison, in a letter to Robert Owen, both celebrated 
leaders in trade unionism, dated 2nd September, 1833, urged him to arrange for a 
standarization of ceremonial, in order to minimize the effect of such superstitious 
rituals, but there is no evidence that the request was attended to. Uniformity, indeed, 
seems only to have been demanded in the oath. 


I am exceedingly fortunate in having had access to the cash book of the Warrington 
Operative stonemasons' Lodge, from which I have made the following amusing and 
interesting extracts. 


This book is a record of receipts and payments from 15th September, 1832, to 10th 
July, 1840. The first page gives the names of the eleven founders of the lodge, and 
runs as follows: 



"The names of those who tied themselves with 1 shilling each to become members of 
the Warrington Operatives stone Masons Society, September 1st, 1832. 

pounds s. d 

No. 1 George Bevan 0 : 1 : 0 

" 2 Dennis Flynn " 

" 3 Samuel Preistnall " 

" 4 Thomas Brakes " 

" 5 Adam Hyslop " 

" 6 John Hawke " 

" 7 Peter Jowett " 

" 8 Robert Foweler " 

" 9 Robert Ellis " 

" 10 Ephraim Aukland " 

"11 William Hyslop " 


0 : 11 : 0 " 


The eleven founders each paid an additional Is. 6d. at the first meeting, and 2s. 6d. 
appears to have been the entrance fee throughout. The highest number of members 
recorded is 114, the weekly subscription being 3d. The date when each member 
received a certificate is duly noted. 



This book is entitled in a bold hand: 


LODGE No. 3 
IN 

No. 2 DISTRICT 
Opened September 15th, 


THE WARRINGTON 
OPERATIVE 
STONE MASONS 
SOCIETY 

CASH BOOK, &C. 

In the center of the book there is a record of the date when members received votes of 
thanks for their services: 


"Nov. 10th, 1 832. — Thanks was Unanimously Given to Brother John Hawke for his 
Upright Conduct whilst in the office of Vice President and as being one of the 
members who first Forwarded The Society." 


"March 2nd, 1833.— A Vote of thanks was Unanimously given to Brother Samuel 
Preistnall for Serving the Office of Outside Tyler for six months." 



"March 2nd, 1833.— A Vote of thanks was Unanimously Given to Brother George 
Potts for serving the Office of Right-Hand Supporter of the vice, and for His exertions 
in behalf of the Society." 


"March 2nd, 1833.— "A Vote of thanks was Unanimously Given to Brother Ephraim 
Aukland for serving the Office of vice President to the entire Satisfaction of the 
Whole Lodge." 


"March 2nd, 1833.— A Vote of thanks was Unanimously Given to Brother Dennis 
Flynn for serving the Office of Right-Hand Supporter to the President for six months 
and for His constant attendance while in Office." 


"March 2nd, 1833.— A Vote of thanks was Unanimously Given to Brother George 
Bevan for serving the Office of Secretary for six months and for His Exertions in 
Behalf of the Society " 


"March 16th, 1833. — A Vote of thanks was Unanimously Given to Brother Joseph 
Ellis for serving the Office of President for six months to the satisfaction of the 
Whole Lodge." 


"June 22nd, 1833.— A Vote of thanks was Unanimously given to the Secretary for his 
past Services, together with 12 Shillings from the Society's funds towards 
remunariting him for his Great Trouble he has experienced in his Office.— E. Bevan 
Received the same." 


The portion of the cash book devoted to the payments made on behalf of the Society 
is chiefly remarkable for the frequency of the item, "Ale for New members and 
Tylers," the average amount being one shilling. Other interesting items are: 



Sept. 16th, 1832.— "Delegates' expenses, Regalia, etc., 4 12s." 

Oct. 24th.— "Calico, etc., for Transperancy, 2s." 

Oct. 27th. — "Painting for Gilding despensation frame, 3s." 

Nov. 7th.— "Glass for despensation frame, 4s." 

Nov. 24th. — ' "Corresponding Secretary's wages quarterly, Is." 

Dec. 1st.— "Painting and Gilding the Axe, 2s. 6d." 

Jan. 14th, 1833.— "Lent to the Runcorn Lodge, 1 4s. 2d." 

Jan. 19th, 1833.— "Paid for the Wigan Regalia, 2 9s." 

Jan. 3 1 st. — "Paid for the Bible, 5s." 

Feb. 9th.— "Paid for the Tyler's Dress, 1 10s. 9 l/2d." 

March 25th.— "Warrington Lodges share to the Officers' visitation, 3S. 6d." 
April 4th.— "Painting Plates for Cap and Belt. 4s." 

April 29th.— "Expenses attending the Brisklayers, 5s." 

May 14th. — "Materials for Secretary's Scarf and making, 13s. 7d." 

May 20th.— "Ribbon for do., 9d." 

July 6th.— "Paid for the Sword, 4s. 6d." 

July 4th.— "Ale, etc., for the Flaggers Innitiation, 7s. 9d." 

July 10th.— "Buying Warden's Scarf, etc., Is. 9d." 

Feb. 13th. — "The Warden's hat and scarf, etc., 8s." 

Feb. 15th.— "Making ditto and trimming. 3s. 6d." 

Feb. 15th.— "Fine Box for the Warden, 3s. 6d." 



July 18th.— "Warden's Axe, 3s." 

Aug. 13th.— "Painting and Gilding the Axe, Is. 6d." 

Sept. 16th. — "Sent to Manchester Lodge, 3 pounds." 

Sept. 19th.— "Delegates' Expenses to Manchester, 2 11s." 

Oct. 12th. — "Paid for two Columns, 5s." 

Aug. 18th, 1834.— "Paid for Washing Surpluses, 2s." 

Aug. 15th, 1835.— "Paid for two pair of brass candle-sticks 10s. 


6d." 


It is an interesting coincidence that one of the first initiations recorded, that of Elias 
Ashmole, took place in an Operative Masons Lodge at Warrington, in 1645. 


— o — 


A Devoted Life; Edouard Quartier-la-Tente 


By BRO. S. J. CARTER, New York 


Just seventy years ago a child was born in New York state destined, through a life of 
unselfish service, to make an impression on the Masonic Order as a whole that is 
much greater than his contemporaries can easily realize. Always truly modest, and 
without the least trace of self seeking or self assertion, his work was done with no 
trumpet blasts of publicity, such as in America we have come to regard as almost a 
necessity in furthering any cause. All the more, therefore, should some attempt at a 
recognition be made of what he attempted, even if his efforts seemed, as undoubtedly 
they did seem to him at the last, to have ended in failure. Some failures in this life are 



most glorious— as, for example, that of the defenders of Liege to stop the German 
hordes in the autumn of 1914. 


Edouard Quartier-la-Tente was born of parents who had emigrated from Switzerland. 
At an age when little more than an infant in arms he was left an orphan, and through 
the good offices of the Swiss Consul in New York he was sent back to the country of 
his ancestors, and for some years was cared for by his grandfather. At the age of 
seven he was again left alone in the world and was sent to an orphanage in 
Neufchatel, where he remained till he was thirteen. He however showed so much 
ability that after passing through the elementary schools he was sent to the University 
of Neufchatel where he took a theological course, and was eventually ordained as a 
minister of the National Church. After some years of pastoral work he was called to 
the chair of Practical Theology at his Alma Mater. This was in 1888. Two years later 
he assumed the direction of the secondary schools in the Canton, and was placed at 
the head of the Department of Education and Publie Worship. These posts he held till 
his resignation in 1922. During these years he had been very active in the various 
movements for the preservation of world peace in which Switzerland has taken so 
prominent a part. He was President of the Peace Society, and was chosen to preside 
over the Nineteenth Peace Congress held at Geneva in 1912. 


His father had been a Freemason, and was a member of sincerity Lodge No. 200, of 
Phelps, N. Y. Most likely it was through the fraternal care of the members of his 
lodge that his infant son came to be sent back to his nearest surviving relatives, but of 
this there appears no record. At the age of twenty-nine the son followed his father's 
steps, and sought admission to the Craft. He was initiated in the lodge at Neufchatel 
in June, 1 884, and a year later, as is the custom there, was passed to the second 
degree. He was not raised until 1887, for the sublime degree is not conferred as a 
matter of course by our Swiss brethren, but only after the Craftsman has proved his 
fitness to receive it. In 1897 he was elected Junior Warden and the following year 
Senior Warden, a Assistant Worshipful Master in 1899. The next year instead of 
becoming Master of his lodge he was chosen as Grand Master of the Grand Lodge 
"Alpina," the ruling body of the Craft in Switzerland, an office he held for five years. 
It was during the tenure of this office that the Swiss Grand Lodge, largely through his 
influence, instituted an organization which it was hoped would lead to giving more 
reality to the fundamental ideal of Masonic universality. The conception was a simple 
one— no more than the formation of an inter jurisdictional enquiry office— the 
International Bureau of Masonic Affairs. It was carefully made clear that assisting in 



the work of this Bureau involved nothing in the way of recognition or of jurisdiction- 
its sole function was the collection and dissemination of accurate and trustworthy 
information. Yet in spite of the obvious advantages of such a piece of machinery in 
view of the disruptions in the Craft throughout the world, this project was looked on 
with suspicion by many, and complete indifference by more of the governing bodies 
of the Masonic world. In a personal letter Brother Quartier-la-Tente said that but for 
the support and encouragement of individual Masons from all over the world the 
work could not have been carried on at all, and added that everywhere, while 
generally the individual brethren believed in universal Masonry, those of official rank 
seemed in many cases quite indifferent or even hostile to the idea. 


In the face of all this discouragement Brother Quartier-la-Tente labored on, he 
became the center and mainspring of the Bureau, he established personal relations 
with literally thousands of Masons in every country, and among them most of those 
of the highest ideals and most full of enthusiasm for the larger objects of the Masonic 
Institution. His work began, rather tardily, to be recognized; he received many 
honors; more and more the Bureau was being used and being also found useful. And 
then the war broke out. It was then that German Masonry, officially, for it does not 
follow that all German Masons agreed, declared that it had nothing to do with the 
Masonry of other countries— that Universal Masonry was not only a delusion, but a 
snare, a will-o-wisp leading to the bottomless morass of "Internationalism." German 
Masonry officially was too much at the mercy of the German government, to be 
blamed as a whole for these wild outbursts, by which it self-excommunicated itself. 
But it was a great blow to the hopes of Brother Quartier-la-Tente, especially when 
Swiss Masonry was also put under the German ban because certain Swiss Masons, as 
individuals, had protested against the outrages in Belgium. 


PRISONERS OF WAR RELIEVED 


But a new need arose, and the Bureau, providentially for some thousands of Masons 
in dire need, was right where it could meet it. Among the prisoners of war taken on 
both sides were a considerable proportion of Masons. At first the arrangements for 
looking after these prisoners were largely improvised by the government concerned. 
One thing is certain, that while the Germans in the hands of the Allies were at least 
given the same rations that our own men received in accordance with International 



agreement; the Allied prisoners in Germany were at the first subjected to such severe, 
and at that time seemingly unnecessary, deprivations, that it certainly gave the 
impression they were being systematically and deliberately half starved. However 
that may be, these men were in great need, and Brother Quartier-la-Tente turned the 
whole machinery of the Bureau, and used all his great influence towards the task of 
relieving this distress-primarily among the Masonic prisoners of war— but he did not 
confine his sympathies and assistance to them. The Bureau became a center for the 
collection of funds and the dispatch of parcels of food and other necessaries to the 
Masonic prisoners, and also to make inquiries for those who were missing. In spite of 
the official severance of relations between Switzerland and the German Grand 
Lodges, many individual brethren on the German side did not wholly follow their 
official leaders in this matter. Brother Quartier-la-Tente was able to establish lines of 
communication by which he was enabled to do an enormous amount of good. The 
present writer can speak of this from personal knowledge, as it was his fortune to be 
captured. At one time owing to the miscarriage of several letters, his friends became 
very anxious. An inquiry was made that reached Brother Quartier-la-Tente through 
Masonic channels; and he managed in some way to have a German Mason make a 
special trip of some hundred and fifty miles to visit the camp where the writer was 
confined and find out exactly his state of health and general conditions. This was but 
one of many, no one knows how many, cases where our late brother spared no pains 
or trouble to himself in the service of those who could do little to help themselves 
during the continuance of war. Those of us at least who came in touch with him then 
are little likely to forget him. 


POST-WAR DIFFICULTIES ARISE 


After the war the question arose in an acute form as to the future of the Bureau. For 
nearly twenty years Brother Quartier-la-Tente had devoted most of his time and 
energy to the work, without reward, and with little acknowledgment. It is not too 
much to say that he was the Bureau himself. In 1920 the difficulties became acute. 
There was a falling off in the voluntary subscriptions and an increase in the outgo due 
to the general rise in prices. Besides this he felt that the organization was 
impermanent so long as it depended entirely on himself At that time his letters 
showed profound disappointment— even discouragement. It seemed to him that he had 
labored in vain. He could not understand how it was that the great majority of Masons 
seemed indifferent, and in the case of those in official positions, so frequently even 
hostile to an attempt to remove misunderstandings, ignorance of actual conditions, 



and other obstacles to a closer union between the sovereign jurisdictions throughout 
the world. The object seemed to him so necessary, so fully and completely Masonic 
in all senses of the term, that he was unable to believe that any Mason could be 
indifferent to it, and wondered if perhaps it was because that the movement had been 
initiated, and for a long time chiefly supported by such a small group as that 
represented by the Grand Lodge Alpina, relatively as insignificant in numbers, as 
Switzerland itself is in point of size compared with its immediate neighbors. 


THE INTERNATIONAL MASONIC ASSOCIATION FORMED 


However the announcement that the Bureau would have to be dissolved brought out 
protests from all over the world and promises of support. The result was that the 
International Masonic Association was formed into which the Bureau was merged. 
Brother Quartier-la-Tente was unanimously elected to the office of Chancellor of the 
new organization and so in some measure received recognition of all he had done in 
the past. 


Further than this it is perhaps better not to pursue the subject, as, officially at least, 
English speaking Freemasonry has ignored or condemned the International 
Association, and recent events have made it a highly controversial subject. This 
attitude on the part of the largest and wealthiest of the Masonic jurisdictions of the 
world was of course a bitter disappointment to Brother Quartier-la-Tente, and there 
seems little doubt that this disappointment hastened his end. 


Among his many Masonic honors and distinctions, notably several honorary 
memberships in lodges in Great Britain, he had the honorary rank of Past Senior 
Grand Warden in the Grand Lodge of Maryland, and was an honorary member of the 
Masonic Veteran Association of Washington, D. C.; he was also an honorary member 
of a number of Supreme Councils of the A. & A. S. R. Perhaps his best epitaph would 
be a sentence from one of his own letters: "As far as I have been able I have given my 
heart and life to Masonry." 



O 


Great Men Who Were Masons 


Kit Carson and Edward F. Beale 


By BRO. GEORGE W. BAIRD, P.G.M., District of Columbia 


THE first of the two subjects of this sketch was born in Kentucky, the second in 
Washington, D. C., but an adventurous disposition threw them together in the then 
scarcely explored West, and they are especially connected together in their 
acquaintance with, and efforts for, the welfare of the various Indian tribes. 


Christopher Carson, who will always be known as Kit, is one of the better known of 
those picturesque, trapper, pioneer, and frontiersman figures of the days when the 
white man was beginning to reach out to take possession of the Golden West. As 
mentioned above he was bom in Kentucky, but his parents moved into the State of 
Missouri when he was a year old, and there he spent his boyhood. He went to school 
until he was fifteen and was then apprenticed to a saddler. Whether he gained much 
proficiency at this craft, history does not say, but at the age of seventeen he joined a 
trading expedition going overland to Santa Fe. Perhaps his knowledge of saddlery 
may have had something to do with this adventure, as many repairs to the harness 
would naturally be required on such a long journey. 


After this taste of travel and adventure, the youth found it impossible to settle down to 
any sedentary pursuit. He became a trapper and explorer, wandering all over the 
plains and through the Rockies to the Coast. It is said that for sixteen years "his rifle 
supplied every particle of food on which he lived." At one time he was employed by a 
Trader's Company to supply their fort with meat, and this he did for eight years. 



In this life he became well acquainted with the Indians, and was always on good 
terms with them. He married an Indian girl. By this marriage he had a daughter who 
was educated in St. Louis, Mo., and grew up to be very well known and popular in 
that city. His wife died in 1842. 


When Fremont made his famous expedition to explore the Rocky Mountains he 
employed Carson as guide, and it would have hardly been possible for him to have 
found any one better fitted for the post. After this expedition Carson returned to New 
Mexico, where he married again, a Spanish lady, and resumed his old life of hunting 
and trapping; but when Fremont made his second expedition Carson joined him again 
and remained with him all through the military operations which resulted in the 
addition of California to the territory of the United States in 1846-7. 


Later on Carson was sent to Washington, where President Polk nominated him for a 
commission in the Army, but this nomination was not confirmed by the Senate. He 
then returned to New Mexico and in 1853 he collected a flock of over six thousand 
sheep which he took to California, where they were in great demand. 


After this successful venture he returned once more to New Mexico, and was later 
appointed Indian Agent. It was a most happy appointment, for his knowledge of the 
Indians and his reputation among them fitted him in a peculiar manner for this 
responsible post. Owing to their trust and confidence in him he was enabled to 
negotiate several treaties of benefit both to the Indians themselves and the 
Government at Washington. 


With the outbreak of the Civil War Carson was loyally on the side of the 
Government, and rendered most valuable services; so that at the end of the War the 
man whom the Senate refused to accept as a second Lieutenant was retired from the 
army with the brevet rank of Brigadier General. 



Carson joined the Masonic Order in 1854, receiving the degrees in Montezuma 
Lodge, No. 109, at Santa Fe. He afterwards dimitted with several others to become a 
charter member of Bent Lodge, No. 204, at Taos, named after Governor Charles Bent, 
whose wife was a sister of the lady Carson had married. Carson was named Junior 
Warden in the charter of the new lodge, and in spite of his constant expeditions was a 
faithful attendant. The lodge was later obliged to return its charter, and the surviving 
members, including Carson, returned to membership in Montezuma Lodge. 


Carson was absolutely fearless, but so modest and retiring that no one could ever get 
him to speak of his exploits. He was greatly beloved by all who knew him personally, 
and deeply regretted when he died. 


In the National Museum at Washington is a bronze relief showing Carson and Beale 
in their hazardous journey to gain reinforcements for the American forces in the 
second Californian expedition. The inscription tells the story: 


"The Army, sent from Santa Fe to occupy California was met and defeated by the 
Mexicans at San Pasqual. The American forces were driven upon a dune in the desert 
where there was no water, and there surrounded by the Mexican forces. Edward F. 
Beale and Kit Carson, both famous explorers of the west, volunteered to get through 
the Mexican lines and get reinforcements from Stockton's fleet at San Diego. They 
succeeded in crawling past three cordons of Mexican sentries in the night; by hiding 
in ravines in the day and traveling by night they reached Stockton's fleet after 
enduring great hardships." 


This memorial, in the largest museum in the country, is seen and read by many 
thousand visitors every year. 


Our second subject, Edward Beale, was the son of George Beale, a Naval Paymaster, 
and his mother was the youngest daughter of Commodore Truxton, who commanded 
the Constellation in her famous engagement with the Vengeance. Very naturally he 
followed in the footsteps of his forbears and went into the naval service. He was 



appointed Midshipman by order of President Andrew Jackson, was promoted to 
Master in 1849, and Lieutenant in 1852. At the time of the event above described he 
was commanding a naval battery, serving with the army. It was Beale who was called 
the hero of San Pasqual, and it was Beale and Carson who crossed the plains bringing 
reports to Washington, and it was Beale who brought the first gold from California to 
the East. He eventually resigned from the Navy and President Fillmore appointed him 
Superintendent of Indian Affairs in California, while Congress appropriated two 
hundred and fifty thousand dollars to carry out the plan he had proposed of 
establishing Indian colonies, or reservations. Had this plan been strictly adhered to 
and honestly carried out much of the later trouble with the Red Men would have been 
avoided. 


Beale kept a diary, which he illustrated with very clever pencil sketches; a most 
interesting account of his adventures, and one that should find some day a competent 
editor. He noted the deplorable condition of the Indians held in peonage by the 
Spaniards and Mexicans, and from these observations eventuated his plans for the 
care of these wards of the nation. 


The question of transportation in the Southwest was then a very serious one, and 
Beale suggested the use of camels, which the then Secretary of War, Davis, approved, 
and Commander David D. Porter was sent to Syria to secure a number of these 
animals. The experiment proved a great success, and but for the advent of the 
railroads the use of camels would probably have been continued. 


The first wagon road was surveyed from Fort Defiance to California, the second step 
in solving the transportation problem,' and then came the railway surveys from Fort 
Smith to the Colorado. 


President Lincoln reappointed Beale as Surveyor-General of California and Nevada, 
though he had expressed a desire to re-enter the Navy and take a part in the active 
operations of the Civil War, but the President wanted him where he felt he was really 
indispensable. Beale proposed the acquisition of Lower California, but this was not 
favored at Washington. 



At the end of the Civil War, Beale resigned his office with the intention of making his 
home on his ranch at Tejon, but his annual visits to Chester, Pa., revived his liking for 
politics. His land holdings in California had yielded him a good fortune, and he 
purchased the old home of Commodore Stephen Decatur in Washington, and settled 
down in close neighborhood with many of his old Mexican War comrades. He had 
been, for many years, a close friend of General Grant and General Sherman. The 
difference between Grant and Blaine was reconciled through his intermediation. 
President Arthur wanted to appoint him Secretary of the Navy, but did not succeed. 
He died in Washington on April 22, 1893, and his ashes interred at Chester, Pa. 


He was a member of California Lodge, No. 1, though the date and place of his 
initiation have not come to the knowledge of the writer. His services to the 
Government in regard to the establishing and settling arrangements with the Indians, 
like those of Carson, are worthy of remembrance. 


— o — 


THE EVOLUTION OF THE LODGE 


By BRO. R. J. MEEKREN, Assistant Editor 


In early days it appears that the lodge was a lodge of Masons, and could not be 
formed or constituted without a certain number present. The number required in 
general was seven, though in some accounts six and even five were said to be enough 
in case of necessity. These seven were the Master, two wardens, two fellows, two 
apprentices, though other authorities said five fellows and two apprentices; and yet 
another, two masters, two fellows and two apprentices (or three masters, if there were 
seven present all told). In all these variations there is apparent the underlying 
principle that a lodge must include every grade and rank in the Craft. Remembering 
that at that period the master was such only in virtue of his being an employer or 



secondarily the master or ruler of a lodge, that in grade or degree he was a fellow of 
the Craft, it is clear there is no inconsistency between the requirement, five fellows 
and that of master, wardens and two fellows, or again three masters and two fellows. 


This fact has been taken as indicating (with other considerations supposed to tend the 
same way) that only one form or ceremony was known before 1717. This does not 
follow. In the eighteenth century everywhere, in Europe and Britain today, the lodge 
is always opened in the First Degree, not as a lodge of apprentices but as a lodge of 
Masons. It is first formed, which part of the ceremony is also called "constituting" the 
lodge. Before Grand Lodges and the system of chartering or warranting lodges this 
was a very practical piece of business. It really was the same thing in intent and 
purpose as the inauguration or constituting a new lodge today by a Grand Master or 
his deputy. Only as at that time Masons met in their own right, there being no 
organized outside authority they constituted themselves, and after constituting a lodge 
it was opened. Then if any business arose at which the apprentices were not 
competent to assist, they were directed to retire, in a manner exactly analogous to the 
withdrawal of all but Past Masters when the Worshipful Master elect is invested with 
the "secrets of the chair" (in those places where that ceremony is used as part of the 
installation). In such withdrawal and the tiling of the lodge anew are to be found the 
germs of the ceremony of opening the lodge in a higher degree. Such secondary (and 
tertiary) ceremonies were naturally parallel to the purging and opening of the lodge in 
the first place, but would not repeat (and do not repeat except in America) that part in 
which the lodge was formed or constituted; because it was not a new lodge that was 
being opened, but the same, with some of its members absent. There is good reason to 
suppose that up until the time of the Morgan episode, the same rule more or less held 
good in the U.S.A. It is well known how through that storm of persecution Masonry 
became dormant in many places, with the natural result that when lodges revived 
there was much ignorance and uncertainty even about quite essential things. Yet for a 
long time after it was the custom in many places to open the lodge in the First Degree 
(as the process came quite naturally to be described), that is, to open a lodge of 
Masons. In other places the lodge was opened on any degree according to 
convenience. Even when the idea began to gain currency that the business of the 
lodge was the concern of the masters alone, there still remained a tradition (which 
Morris for one tried hard to make a living thing) that the lodge should always be 
opened and closed in all three degrees for the sake of instruction. But during the same 
time the idea grew up, and the writings of Morris and Albert Mackey went far to 
definitely crystallize it, that there was not one lodge of Masons working under a 
charter, but a lodge of Master Masons, who had authority to convene at their pleasure 
lodges of Fellowcrafts and Entered Apprentices, which, however, were distinct 



entities of an ephemeral character. With this as a premise, logic demanded that the 
initiate should no longer be considered a member of the lodge, and scarcely even of 
the Craft. Indeed, not long ago, someone made the extraordinary proposal, quite 
seriously, that the presentation of the apron should be deferred until the Third Degree, 
as the Entered Apprentice and Fellowcraft were not really Masons ! 


The precise history of this change would be well worth inquiring into more fully. For 
instance the prefacing of the first question in the lectures by the phrase "As an 
Entered Apprentice" is connected with this development, either as cause or effect, or 
more probably both. But it has become so thoroughly a part of the law of American 
Masonry as to be received almost as a "Eandmark." In itself, as Mackey argued, for 
he knew very well the custom was not primitive, the change is of little practical 
moment under present conditions in this country, as the stages of the two inferior 
degrees are passed through so rapidly. Where a man has to wait a year or more as is 
the rule in many foreign jurisdictions, between degrees, the case is quite different, and 
in such countries the Entered Apprentice is recognized fully as a Mason and a 
member of the lodge, though often without the right to speak. 


The interest of this evolution lies in its being an instance of how imperceptibly an 
entirely new rule, even a fundamentally different rule, may by degrees get adopted 
without anyone at any time during the process being conscious of innovation. The 
lesson is that small changes should be watched with a jealous eye, with a full 
recognition of the danger to the old structure of employing logic without adequate 
knowledge and the risk in attempting to reform apparent inconsistencies, a tendency 
which should be curbed and checked, for such inconsistencies are often most precious 
indications of what the original ritual actually was in the past. 


— o — 


A MASONIC NATIONAL FLAG By BRO. WILLIAM E. SUMMERS, New Jersey. 


"The Flag of Cuba Is a Masonic Flag, Designed by Masons" 



No less an authority than Bro. Carlos Manual de Cespedes, Secretary of State of the 
Republic of Cuba and former Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of 
that Republic to the United States, made this statement. 


Bro. Cespedes is the son of our late brother of the same name, who was the first 
President of Cuba under their Provisional Government in the unsuccessful struggle of 
that liberty-loving people to free selves from the tyranny of Spain. This conflict, 
known as the "Ten Years' War," began on Oct. 10, 1868, and ended Feb. 10, 1878, 
leaving both sides exhausted and neither really successful. The leaders against Spain 
in this rebellion, Bro. Cespedes, Sr., Bro. Ignacio Agramonte and Bro. Manuel 
Quesada, were designated by the Spaniards as "the three Masonic conspirators." The 
first, as has been noted, was the first President of the Provisional Government; Bro. 
Quesada was the first Commander-in-Chief of the Revolutionary Armies, and Bro. 
Agramonte at first, the Secretary of Revolutionary Government under Cespedes, was 
afterward made Commander-in-Chief of the Armies in the field and for a period kept 
the revolution alive with, at one time, but 35 men, all under-armed and under-fed and 
unpaid except for the payment which every patriot receives in the privilege of 
defending the land he loves. He fought against terrific odds for two years until finally 
killed in action while charging the enemy on July 1, 1873. The Spaniards took his 
body to his home city of Camaguey and there burned it in the public square. 


Bro. Cespedes explains the Masonic significance of his flag as follows: The two 
white stripes represent the two columns found in Masonic lodges, the three blue ones 
the three degrees of symbolic Masonry, the red triangle the Masonic triangle as 
explained in the "Scottish Rite" system of the symbolic degrees, and the white star the 
All-seeing Eye which watches over the world. The colors, blue, white and red, denote 
the Masonic principles: truth, peace and brotherly-love. 


This flag of our diminutive, big-souled neighboring republic is a worthy associate for 
our own beloved "stars and stripes." 



[Another explanation of the symbolic significance of this flag was given by Bro. F. A. 
Currier in his Centennial History of Aurora Lodge of Fitchburg, Mass., as follows: 


"The flag of free Cuba, with its red, white and blue colors, indicative of liberty and 
the rights of man, is closely allied with Masonic symbolism. It was in the secrecy of 
the lodge room that the Freemasons of Havana devised this symbol of the struggles of 
Cuban patriots for freedom from Spanish misrule. The five-pointed star in the center 
of the red color of the triangle is said to represent the star of free Cuba rising from 
amid the blood shed by her devoted sons. The three stripes of blue are suggestive of 
friendship, brotherly love and truth, the two white stripes are typical of purity of aim 
and purpose, and these, bound together by the triangle at the end in the center of 
which is the star with its five points of significances, make the flag of free Cuba an 
object of peculiar interest to students of Masonic heraldry. It tells of the treachery of 
the Provisional Government at Seville, when, in 1 808, Napoleon deposed the 
Bourbon king; it tells of the revolution of 1823, when Bolivar and his associates were 
tortured and put to death; it tells of the revolution of 1 844 when inquisitorial methods 
of cruelty were revived by the Spanish government; it tells of the death of Lopez and 
his followers in 1848: it tells of the 'ten years of ruin and tears' in the struggle for 
freedom under the leadership of Gomez, and finally it tells of the triumph of truth 
over error, of right over wrong, and of a victory gained largely by devotion to the 
promptings of the occult meaning of a symbolism which stands for liberty and 
obedience to the will of God. This emblem of freedom, designed in the secret 
councils of a brotherhood, is a newcomer in the galaxy of the flags of nations. Men 
have not yet become accustomed to its meaning: but there is written thereon a history 
and a prophecy— a history of the triumph of civil liberty, and a prophecy of its 
privileges and responsibilities under the guidance and the restraints of law."] 


— o — 


EDITORIAL. 


BOARD OF EDITORS 
Editor-in-Chief - H.L. HAYWOOD 



ASSOCIATE EDITORS 


LOUIS BLOCK, Iowa 

ROBERT L. CLEGG, Ohio 

GILBERT W. DAYNES, England 

RAY V. DENSLOW, Missouri 

GEORGE H. DERN, Utah 

N.W.J. HAYDON, Canada 

C. C. HUNT, Iowa 

CHARLES F. IRWIN. Ohio 

A.L. KRESS, Pennsylvania 

R. J. MEEKREN, Canada 

JOSEPH E. MORCOMBE, California 

JOSEPH FORT NEWTON, New York 

ARTHUR C. PARKER, New York 

JESSE M. WHITED, California 

DAVID E. W. WILLIAMSON, Nevada 


"WHAT PRICE GLORY?” 



AN old-time reader has sent in a photograph clipped from a rotogravure Sunday 
supplement. It is an interesting picture. One look at it explains why its sender angrily 
inscribed on it "What Price Shrine?" It cannot be reproduced here lest it bring the roof 
down on us, nor may it be described except to say that it displays a rubicund Noble 
alongside a bathing beauty, as they are called, of dangerous pulchritude. If Shriners 
insist on bringing these ladies into the scenery they need not be surprised to hear a lot 
of rumbling among Grand Lodges. Unless we completely misunderstand the temper 
of brethren in these same Grand Lodges, one such miss is enough to cause a tremor, a 
dozen can cause an earthquake. If ever that earthquake comes there will be an end of 
Shrine frolics. 


* * * 


THE EIGHT HOUR NIGHT 


THERE is much common sense and a world of wisdom in the Working Tools of 
Masonry, homely as they are in their ancient uses, and commonplace in form. Where 
can one discover sounder ideas than those of which they are the emblems? Clerk- 
Maxwell said, "Progress is symbolized in the clock, the balance, and the foot rule." 
Freemasonry has something better than the foot rule; it has the two-foot rule. 


The twenty- four-inch gauge, divided into twenty-four equal parts, is symbolical of the 
hours of the day, of which the Mason is enjoined to devote eight to the service of God 
and a worthy distressed brother, eight to his usual vocation, and eight to refreshment 
and sleep. 


That last phrase has in it a quaint touch almost of humor, especially when applied to 
us Americans in these present days. We are committed, even by law, to the principle 
of the eight-hour day; we are quick with charity and we are, as St. Paul said of the 
Athenians, a very religious people. But sleep and refreshment! A learned 
phychopathologist declares that Americans are ruining themselves for lack of sleep; 
he advocates the eight-hour night. Another authority of the same ilk says we have 



countless amusements but few recreations, and tire ourselves to death trying to have a 
good time out of life; he says that amusement is fun that tires us, recreation is fun that 
rests us. 


The wise old Greeks protected themselves against excesses by adopting proportion 
and symmetry as their ideal. "Nothing over much," such was their motto. The golden 
mean was their golden rule. It is a good rule to follow, especially in these high-strung 
times, and it is symbolized by the twenty-four-inch gauge. A life built according to it 
is like a house that is built upon a rock; though a windstorm of business! clubs, 
movies, shows, night rides, and all night poker parties descend upon it, it will not 
crash. 


* * * 


LET US CELEBRATE 


IT is now one hundred and fifty years since the embattled farmers and shopkeepers of 
Lexington and Concord fired their shots heard round the world. Other farmers and 
shopkeepers followed them, and fired off other bullets, not always of lead, the 
reverberations of which have not yet died down, and won't for centuries to come. 
What was begun at Lexington reached its grand finale with the surrender of 
Cornwallis, and its grand consummation when Bro. George Washington was inducted 
into office as first President of an infant nation with an oath taken on a Holy Bible 
borrowed from St. John's Lodge of New York City. 


Masonic lodges in New England are already celebrating the sesqui-centennial of these 
events. Other lodges will follow in due course for the next seven years. Before these 
ceremonies of reminiscence are concluded, it is greatly hoped, the entire Fraternity 
will unite with these brethren in New England and the East, and bring the whole 
seven-year period to a fitting end by a nation-wide celebration of the bicentennial of 
the founding of the American Craft. 



During these seven years many historical papers will be read, orations will be 
delivered, books will be written, and movies will be filmed. The Yale University 
Press has already produced the first of a series of movies covering the Revolutionary 
period; in these Freemasonry is being noted. 


All this is very much to the good. The patriots were a colorful lot, men of daring 
deeds, of audacious speech, of dramatic surprises; to live through their adventures 
once again will satisfy the ineradicable need in us all for the picturesque and the 
romantic. 


These anniversaries will accomplish a more sober purpose for us Masons. In spite of 
the fact that Freemasonry was in the thick of events from Lexington to Yorktown, and 
that every Mason has heard much about it, the whole story of Revolutionary Masons 
remains largely in the dark. Except for Bro. M. M. Johnson's Beginnings of 
Freemasonry in America, and Bro. Sidney Morse’s Freemasonry in the Revolution 
the books and papers on the subject have for the most part been dreary and unreliable 
stuff, their uncritical authors accepting con amore a whole mass of secondhand fables. 
All this may be remedied during the next seven years. It is certain to be remedied if 
the American Craft devotes itself to these anniversaries with the whole-hearted 
interest they deserve. 


* * * 


BROTHERLY LOVE, RELIEF AND TRUTH 


THE phrase is so familiar that it is probable that few Masons have ever considered it 
analytically. One would naturally expect in such a group that the three things would 
be of the same kind, classifiable in the same category - as three abstract qualities, or 
three virtues, or whatever it might be - but this group consists of an emotion or 
sentiment, a kind of action and an abstract principle. What is the reason that they are 



brought together and said to be the tenets of a Mason's profession? A cynical critic 
might perhaps say because the truth is that though we profess brotherly loose we do 
not do much for the relief of those in distress. 


Possibly there would be just enough truth or semblance of truth in such a satirical 
comment as might make members of the Craft a little uncomfortable, and yet we 
would all be quite justified in feeling that it was unfair to say the least. In the old 
days, and under more primitive and less complex conditions, relief was a 
comparatively simple matter, and one in which individual brethren seldom failed to 
fulfill their obligations. Now we have found that indiscriminate and casual charity 
tends to perpetuate the need, and that a complicated machinery is required to 
administer Masonic relief. But this again has its dangers and drawbacks in that it 
strongly tends to eliminate the personal element, the only one of permanent value, the 
feeling of compassion, of friendship, everything that is comprised in the term 
brotherhood. 


The phrase with which we started might be interpreted in several ways. Undoubtedly 
it had some definite meaning to those who first used it; whoever it was must have had 
some reason for coupling these three things together with such an important 
reference. Like everything else in the Masonic system of teaching it gives food for 
thought, and provides us with many valuable suggestions. Here is one interpretation. 
Brotherly Love is the very foundation, the ground indeed on which the Masonic 
Institution rests. Without it Masonry is dead and without meaning. But true love and 
friendship is not merely a sentiment, an affection in the primary meaning of that 
word, but an active impelling motive power. The very strongest, indeed, in human 
nature. Love it is that impels the individual to transcend self, to face any danger, 
endure any hardship, even to lay down life itself. Brotherly Love must lead to 
relieving the distress of a brother in need, and so we get Relief. But what of Truth? In 
our rituals we are told it is a "Divine Attribute" and a theme worthy of contemplation, 
but its special application is to truth in our dealings and intercourse with others, to 
sincerity and lack of hypocrisy, to friendly admonishing of faults to a brother's face 
rather than unfriendly criticism behind his back. But it may also be understood as a 
desire to know the truth, a determination not to rest content with easy fair-seeming 
statements but to arrive at the actual facts, and especially the facts as to the needs of 
others, and the not less important facts of what we are really able to do to help others. 



This preamble has been inspired by the receipt of a report of the Masonic 
Tuberculosis Sanatoria Commission printed by order of the Grand Lodge of Texas. 
The Commission vitas composed of three committees appointed respectively by the 
Grand Lodge of Texas, Arizona and New Mexico. It is not possible here to go into the 
details of this report, but we do wish to bring to the attention of our readers all over 
the country, the essential facts, the truth, in this particular and very pressing problem. 
The prevalence and danger of tuberculosis is a fact of common knowledge, as also 
that it is a disease that when taken in time and treated under proper conditions is 
generally curable. Also it is hardly necessary to point out that Masons are not immune 
to it. Yet again it is well known that the mild dry climate of the Southwest is 
commonly supposed to be peculiarly favorable to the recovery of those afflicted with 
this insidious complaint, and that many sufferers of their own motion, or by medical 
advice, leave their homes in the North and East to journey thither in search of health. 
There is yet another point, the individual so afflicted has usually struggled on for a 
long time before coming to this decision, in many cases people are not aware they 
have the disease until after a long period of general ill health, and a growing 
incapacity for their usual avocations. Which means that as a result, in a great many 
cases, that scanty savings have been used up, that debt is incurred, and that actually 
the patient is in distress financially if not in absolute need before the pilgrimage is 
undertaken. 


Such patients are often very optimistic, the attack has been so gradual that they 
cannot realize what effect it has really had on their physique. So far they have been 
able to keep going, and they feel that only more favorable circumstances are required 
for them to recover. The matter comes to the knowledge of the brethren, the officials 
of the lodge feel something should be done. The patient says if only I could go South 
or West I would get well, but I can't afford it. The lodge offers to pay his fare, and he 
thinks this will be assistance enough. So he starts out - with his ticket and perhaps a 
little money. He is grateful and the lodge feels it has done all that is needed. But what 
happens? In the first place the new arrival is usually less fit for work than ever before, 
in the second place he comes to communities where there are already too many in the 
same condition as himself Either he has to undertake work too hard for him, or he 
cannot get work at all. Sooner or later he becomes destitute, and on the local lodges 
the care of relieving him is thrown - an unfair burden, seeing that this does not 
happen once or twice but over and over again. The lodges concerned are in three 
jurisdictions, relatively among the weaker and poorer in the United States, the 
jurisdictions from which many of the patients come are among the richest and 
strongest - it is not justice that the former should thus have thrust upon them the 



charges that properly are the concern of the latter, and justice is one of those four 
great cardinal virtues upon which Freemasonry stands. 


Into the details of the plans that the Commission has evolved we will not enter row, 
except to say that they contemplate the erection of Sanatoria to which such patients 
may be sent and where they will be given every opportunity to regain full health, and 
thus be restored as useful members of the community. Such an undertaking is one that 
concerns the whole Craft in America, and we are confident that it needs no more than 
a realization of the truth of the matter for the project to receive universal support. In 
the meantime we trust that all our readers will consider the facts, and tell others about 
them at every opportunity, so that the ground may be the better prepared, when the 
time comes, for the erection of such truly Masonic edifices, real Temples of Brotherly 
Love and Universal Benevolence. 


— o — 


GEMS OF MASONIC THOUGHT 


Culled From the Expressions of Active and Thinking Masons 


The earnest toiler in our vineyard, the zealous worker in our quarries may not be a 
hero; the world may not look upon him in admiration or view with enthusiasm his 
good works, but the silent and sincere appreciation of his brothers are his; the silent 
blessing of the widow is his; the lisped prayer of the orphan is for him, and the great 
and potent influence which all good men exert in daily contact with their fellowmen 
can be traced to the teachings of our Craft. - The Widow's Son. 


The true worth of our life is that many hearts of friends should be saddened and many 
eyes drop tears when it ends; that the poor should have good words to speak of us and 
thankful recollections of some act of charity and loving kindness, and prayers to the 



Great Architect of the Universe that these may, in His merciful judgment, outweigh 
our many frailties and errors - this, and that our influences that live after us should 
bear no ill fruit. So the teachings of our venerable Craft endeavor to persuade us to 
live. So, more or less, lived our beloved brothers whose deaths it is our sad duty to 
record from time to time - El Paso Bulletin 


— o — 


Studies of Masonry in the United States By BRO. H. L. HAYWOOD PART X. THE 
FOUNDING OF A NEW GRAND LODGE IN MASSACHUSETTS 


IN Part IX of these studies published in THE BUILDER June last, I gave some 
account of the various Grand Masters that served the first Massachusetts Grand 
Lodge. It now remains to give a short sketch of the last Grand Master of that Grand 
Lodge, Bro. John Rowe, and then to describe the rise of a new, and for a time a rival, 
Grand Body. 


In his The Freemasons' Monthly Magazine, Vol. XV, 1856, page 163, Charles W. 
Moore wrote a thumb-nail biography of Rowe that may here be quoted: 


"John Rowe, Esq., who was Grand Master at the time of which we are speaking, was 
also a distinguished Boston merchant and proprietor of what in our younger days was 
called 'Rowe's Pasture,' lying between Bedford and Essex streets, but now covered 
with costly and elegant dwellings. 'Rowe's wharf,' in the vicinity of 'Fort Hill,' was 
also his property and place of business and still bears his name. Like most of the 
leading men and Masons of his day, he was an efficient actor in the early scenes of 
the Revolution. His name is borne on the noted Memorial of 1760, and it also stands 
next after that of the patriot Samuel Adams (who was the first signer) on the 
Memorial to the Governor and Council, of Dec. 18, 1765, against the longer 
continuance of the closing of the courts of law. He was likewise chairman of the 
committee appointed at a town meeting in October, 1766, to prepare a subscription 
paper in which the signers agreed to 'encourage the use and consumption of all 



articles manufactured in any of the British American Colonies, and more especially in 
this Province, and not to purchase, after the 3 1 st of December next, any of certain 
enumerated articles, imported from abroad.' This was a bold measure, but it received 
the sanction of the country. He was also one of the 'Sons of Liberty,' and the intimate 
of James Otis, Samuel Adams, John Hancock, Joseph Warren and their associates. 


"He was initiated into Masonry in the First Lodge (St. John's) in July, 1740, and was 
chosen Master in 1748. In 1750 he was elected Grand Treasurer, and again in 1766. 
And having previously sustained the offices of Junior and Senior Grand Warden and 
Deputy Grand Master, he was, in 1768, on the decease of M. W. Jeremy Gridley, 
commissioned by Lord Beaufort 'Grand Master for North America and the territories 
thereto belonging'; which appointment he held until his death, on the 16th February, 
1787. He was buried with Masonic honors, the Grand Lodge and the lodges in Boston 
and Charlestown attending in procession." 


ROWE IS CHOSEN GRAND MASTER 


Rowe was chosen for the office of Grand Master at the adjourned meeting of Grand 
Lodge held at the Bunch of Grapes Tavern, Jan. 22, 1768. Henry Price, then serving 
as Grand Master pro tern, made the nomination of Rowe who, upon the ballot being 
taken in the usual manner, received twelve of sixteen votes and was thereupon 
declared duly and constitutionally elected. Thereafter a committee of nine was 
appointed for the purpose of petitioning the Grand Master of England for a 
Deputation. In this petition, signed by all members of the committee and dated Jan. 
25, 1768, was a paragraph containing some points of historical value, which read in 
this wise: 


"And, Whereas, Masonry in America originated in this Place Anno 5733, and in the 
year following, our then Grand Master Price received Orders from Grand Master 
Craufurd to establish Masonry in all North America, in Pursuance of which the 
several Lodges hereafter mentioned have received Constitutions from us. We 
therefore crave due Precedency, and that in Order thereunto, Our Grand Master Elect 



may, in his Deputation, be styled Grand Master of all North America, and your 
Grace's Petitioners as in duty bound." 


Price sent along with this petition a letter of his own addressed to the "Right 
Worshipful Grand Master, Deputy Grand Master, Grand Wardens and Brethren in 
Grand Lodge Assembled," in which he stated that he had been first appointed 
Provincial Grand Master in 1733, and that in 1735 this commission "was extended 
over all North America." He went on to say that the said Deputations were never 
registered though he had paid a fee of three guineas for the same, and stated that "this 
Deputation was the first that the Grand Lodge ever issued in any Part of America, and 
stands so now in all Lodges on the Continent. Other Deputations have since been 
given to different Provinces; but they cannot, according to Rule, take Rank of mine." 


The petition and letter were taken to the Grand Lodge of England by Bro. William 
Jackson in person, a member of the committee. After Grand Lodge officers had made 
their investigations a Deputation was issued to Rowe in the name of "Beaufort, 
G.M.," and signed by Charles Dillon, Deputy Grand Master, under date of May 12, 
1768. Jackson arrived, with his Deputation, at Boston, Sept. 30 of the same year. 


HE WAS INSTALLED WITH ELABORATE CEREMONIES 


Elaborate arrangements were made for installation to be held Nov. 23 following. 
"Summonses to all the known and accepted brothers in town" were issued by the 
Grand Secretary, and as a result a large number of brethren attended, 148 being 
present at the dinner provided on the occasion. Of it, Recording Grand Secretary 
Charles H. Titus said: 


"Thus was ended this grand solemnity, much to the honor of the fraternity, as the like 
had never been seen in America before; what from the richness of the jewels, badges, 
clothing and ensigns of office, the good order and regularity of the procession, the 
appearance of many honorable and respectable brethren, and the uniformity of the 
clothing, the spectators of all ranks were struck with admiration, except some few 



who called themselves brethren, who had sufficient to raise their envy, for it appeared 
in the countenances of several of them, as the procession passed through the streets to 
and from church." 


Price, the venerable father of the Grand Lodge, delivered an inauguration address 
fortunately preserved in Grand Lodge Proceedings; one quotation from his earnest 
and solemn words will reveal the high moral plane upon which the Craft was then 
working: 


"Therefore, Brethren, let me once more take my solemn leave of this chair, by a word 
of advice to you. Let me recommend to you in the first place, a proper deference to 
your new Grand Master; assisting him with your advice and aid in carrying up that 
great building, Charity! Regard yourselves as a Body of people the most considerable 
in the world, selected into different departments, for promoting all the good you can, 
in proportion to your abilities and opportunities--not only to one another, but to all 
your fellow creatures, in public obedience to the laws of God, and the manifestation 
of the social duties we profess. Let each man then in every such department study his 
usefulness; not to recline himself in a round of selfish pleasures or associate for the 
purpose of eating and drinking, without first paying a peculiar regard to the great 
business of mankind, and to the use of our faculties as reasonable beings." 


A NEW BEGINNING IS MADE 


Meanwhile a new beginning in organized Massachusetts Masonry had been made in 
Boston, the upshot of which was the ultimate establishment of a new Grand Lodge. In 
1752 a group of Masons gathered together in the Green Dragon Tavern and organized 
themselves into a lodge. Inasmuch as the early records of this lodge appear to be 
missing for the first four years of its existence, it is difficult to learn much about its 
first members. Their manner of organizing their lodge was open to question. Instead 
of organizing on a warrant, as was required at the time by the Grand Lodges of 
England and Scotland, they organized according "to ancient usage," that is, a number 
of Masons voluntarily formed themselves into an independent lodge unconnected 
with any Grand Lodge. 



Finding themselves handicapped by the anomalous position of their lodge, the 
brethren, in 1754, sent a petition to the Grand Lodge of Scotland for a charter. On 
Nov. 30, 1756, the Grand Lodge voted to issue the charter but, for a variety of 
reasons, its issuance was withheld for a season— perhaps largely because of doubts 
about the Masonic regularity of the petitioners —so that the lodge in Boston did not 
receive the instrument until Sept. 4, 1760. In this charter its name was given as st. 
Andrew's Lodge. 


By 1761 this lodge had grown to such proportions that the St. John's Grand Lodge of 
Massachusetts took action to condemn St. Andrew's Lodge by adopting the following 
resolution: 


"Voted, That it be, and is hereby recommended and ordered by the Grand Master, that 
no member of a regularly constituted Lodge in Boston, do appear at the meeting (of 
the Lodge so called) of Scots Masons in Boston not being regularly constituted in the 
opinion of this (Grand) Lodge. The Master and Wardens of the several Lodges, are 
desired to take notice of this Order at their next meeting." 


Upon this action being taken St. Andrew's Lodge communicated the fact to the Grand 
Lodge of Scotland. The Grand Master of that Grand Lodge, the Earl of Elgin and 
Kincardin, sent a reply to the lodge under date of June 4, 1762, in which, among other 
things he said: 


"The last reason assigned by the Lodges in Boston for their unkind behavior to you is, 
that the Right Worshipful Jeremiah [Jeremy] Gridley, Esq., looks upon your Charter 
as an infringement of his province as Grand Master of North America; it is my 
opinion there may be some mistake in this; you say he saw, read and approved of 
your Charter; if he had any objections, he certainly would have signified them to you 
when you showed him your Charter. I am confident my R. W. Brother Jeremiah 
Gridley, Esq., knows and observes the principles of Masonry better, than to take 
offence where there is not the smallest reason given for it. I do not doubt nor dispute 
his authority as Grand Master of all the Lodges in North America, who acknowledge 



the authority and hold of the Grand Lodge of England, as he certainly has a warrant 
and commission from the Grand Master of England to that effect. The Grand Master 
and Grand Lodge of Scotland have also granted a warrant and commission to our R. 
W. Bro. Col. John Young, Esq., constituting and appointing him Provincial Grand 
Master of all the Lodges in North America, who acknowledge the authority and hold 
of the Grand Lodge of Scotland. These Commissions, when rightly understood, can 
never clash or interfere with each other." 


MEANWHILE ST. ANDREW'S HAD GROWN 


Until 1766 St. John's Grand Lodge took no further interest in its rival body. During 
that period, as Drummond writes: 


"It had grown rapidly and already numbered among its members some of the most 
active and influential men of the city. Many, who had been made in the other Lodges, 
joined it. Then a Mason could belong to more than one Lodge, and one receiving the 
degrees in a Lodge did not become a member without a subsequent election to 
membership. St. Andrew's Lodge admitted to membership, or as visitors, members of 
all other Lodges: but the other Lodges did not reciprocate. Its first Master under its 
charter was William Burbeck, who was made a Mason in 'the first lodge' and had 
been its Senior Warden; its second Master was Joseph Webb (afterwards Grand 
Master of Massachusetts Grand Lodge) also made in 'the first Lodge,' and Past Junior 
Warden of it, and up to 1767, its Masters and Wardens, with scarcely a single 
exception, were Masons made in Lodges subordinate to the Provincial Grand Lodge. 
Whether this was merely accidental, or was done with the purpose of strengthening 
the legality of the Lodge in the eyes of the Craft, is now only a matter of conjecture." 


In January of 1766 St. Andrew's Lodge dispatched its compliments to the Grand 
Master and other Grand Officers of the St. John's Grand Lodge. This friendly overture 
was not accepted with much kindliness; on the 27th of the month, and evidently after 
much deliberation, the Grand Lodge "voted" that brethren who had been named "in 
the Constitution of the Lodge," naming nine, "were not at the time of their application 



for it, or at the date of the said Constitution, free and accepted Masons," and that their 
applying for a charter had been an imposition upon the Grand Lodge of Scotland. 


Concerning this action Bro. Charles W. Moore, in his historical account of St. 
Andrew's Lodge, made a comment that was also an argument: 


"The bad spirit in which these votes were written, is not their most objectionable 
feature. The Brethren who composed the Committee of the Lodge, with the exception 
of Ezra Collins were all made Masons in st. Andrew's Lodge, under the authority of 
its Charter from the Grand Lodge of Scotland and were therefore, as lawfully made, 
and entitled to as much consideration and respect, as the Grand Master who presided 
over these deliberations. The validity of the Charter of the Lodge, and the lawful 
making of the petitioners for it, were matters in which the Grand Lodge had no 
control or right to interfere. Both subjects had passed beyond its reach. Whatever may 
have been irregular in the proceedings of the Lodge in the earlier days of its 
organization, had been Masonically regularized and confirmed by the Grand Lodge of 
Scotland, under whose authority it existed, and to which body it was alone amenable. 
If the St. John's Grand Lodge had any grievances to complain of it was to that body 
its complaints should have been preferred." 


St. Andrew's Lodge prepared a reply to the censures of the Grand Lodge, and at the 
same time appointed a committee to convey it to that body, which in turn appointed a 
committee to confer with them. A conference of the two committees was held at the 
Royal Exchange Tavern but little came of the proceedings except that the controversy 
was narrowed down to a few points. On its side the Grand Lodge committee 
acknowledged itself in error in having cast aspersions on the Grand Lodge of 
Scotland; while the St. Andrew's committee on its side admitted the irregularity of its 
ante-constitution activities, in these words: 


"They also acknowledge in behalf of said Lodge, that all the proceedings of those 
persons before their application for a Constitution from the Grand Master of Scotland 
were irregular and wrong; but are fully of opinion, that the proceedings of said St. 
Andrew's Lodge, after their Constitution have been regular and just; and that although 



they, before their Constitution, were irregular, yet the Grand Master of Scotland has a 
power of dispensation, and can make irregular Masons regular; therefore they think 
themselves regular." 


These conferences poured some oil upon the waters but a full union of the two groups 
was delayed for many years, as will be related in the following chapter. 


QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION 


Give a sketch of John Rowe. Explain how Provincial Grand Masters were appointed 
at the time. Tell what you know about Henry Price. What are the points of historical 
value in the paragraph quoted from the petition for Rowe's Deputation? What would 
the account of Rowe's installation indicate of the prosperity of the Craft in 1768? 
What is indicated concerning the moral ideals of the Craft at the time of Price's 
speech? 


When was the lodge that met at the Green Dragon Tavern organized? In what sense 
was its organization irregular? Why do you suppose, did this group petition the Grand 
Lodge of Scotland for a charter? Why didn't it petition the Grand Lodge of England? 
Why did the St. John's Grand Lodge oppose St. Andrew's Lodge ? 


Was the institution of a lodge under Scotch charter a violation of the territorial rights 
of St. John's Grand Lodge? If not, why not? 


Could brethren at that period belong to more than one lodge at once? Do you believe 
that such a privilege should now be permitted? 


NOTES AND REFERENCES 



On John Rowe see The Freemasons' Monthly Magazine, Charles W. Moore; Boston, 
Vol. XV, page 161. Beginnings of Freemasonry in America, Johnson; New York, 
1924; consult index. The petition for Rowe's Deputation as published in full in 
Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts; 1871, page 327. The Deputation is 
given in the same volume, page 352; and Price's speech at Rowe's installation is given 
on page 372. 


On St. Andrew's Lodge, see in particular The Lodge of St. Andrew, and the 
Massachusetts Grand Lodge, Centennial Memorial Volume; Boston, 1870. Also see 
Mackeys Revised History of Freemasonry, Robert Ingham Clegg; Chicago, 1921, 
page 1570 ff. Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts; 1869. A History of 
Freemasonry, Robert Freke Gould; Philadelphia, 1889, Vol. IV, page 334 ff. History 
of the Ancient and Honorable Fraternity of Free and Accepted Masons, and 
Concordant Orders, Stillson and Hughan; Boston, 1891, page 243ff 


— o — 


LET US GET BACK TO FIRST PRINCIPLES! 


I noticed in the June issue of THE BUILDER several answers to your inquiry as to 
what the different Grand Lodges thought as to the length of time a brother should be a 
Master Mason before making application for the so-called Higher Degrees. Such a 
question should never have been necessary if Grand Lodges were doing their duty. 


Masonry was organized for only one thing, namely, that all men who were earnest 
and honest seekers after Truth could come together and exchange ideas and methods 
and in this way to help each other find what all true seekers have ever found - God. 
There is no place in Masonry for any man unless he is earnestly seeking that one goal; 
and the man who comes into the Order on any other basis has wasted his time and 
money and can never become a real Mason. It is too true that those on the inside in 99 



per cent of the membership do not know the true qualifications for entrance, and 
naturally thousands are coming in who are only pin Masons or mere lodge members. 
If those who do know the true qualifications were to refuse to let any other kind in, 
they would soon be without friends and be looked on as cranks. 


If true Masonry is to survive, we shall have to get back to what Herbert Spencer 
would call "first principles." No petition should be acted on in less than six months 
from the time it is received by the lodge, and if the applicant is found worthy and is 
elected he should serve three years as an Apprentice and be able to prove that he 
understands the esoteric meaning of that degree before he can go further. He should 
be given to understand that he can never receive the next degree until he has shown 
by his zeal and study and earnest search he has found the true meaning and is striving 
to live it. In this he should be helped by the J. W., who should be competent to teach 
the meaning of the symbols or words used to conceal from the unworthy. He should 
serve two years as a F. C., and should be compelled to study the seven liberal arts and 
sciences and prove that he knows about them to appreciate the work of his Creator. 
Unless he knows the first two of these arts at least, how can he ever expect to 
interpret the Great Light, or any scientific work on the development of the human 
soul ? And how can he appreciate the glories of this world unless he knows 
something of music? Or the glories of the universe unless he knows something of 
astronomy, which science shows the utter absurdity of any man trying to fathom the 
Infinite Mind by his little finite mind ? Of course this should not prevent anyone from 
studying the universe and its marvelous system of worlds or any other study that 
makes for progress in knowledge. When any brother has mastered these two degrees 
he has mastered Masonry, so that when he is raised and brought into tile company of 
those who have learned the Truth, he is capable of comprehending all that the so- 
called Degrees have to give him, and he will be confirmed in his knowledge 
especially if he goes on through the Scottish Rite degrees. He should, however, serve 
one year as a Master by Grand Lodge decree. When this program is carried out by all 
Grand Lodges throughout the world we shall not have any "lodge members" but real 
Masons, and we shall have officers who are capable of teaching the initiates or at 
least helping them in their search for the Great Central Light. 


If THE BUILDER wants to do some worth-while constructive work for the 
advancement of Masonry, it can do so by initiating a campaign for the above 
program. When Grand Lodges require six and one-half years from the time a petition 
is presented until a brother is through the Blue Lodge degrees, there will be no need 



for any discussion as that in your inquiry to the Grand Masters. No building is secure 
unless the foundations are well laid; and since the Entered Apprentice Degree is the: 
foundation of Masonry, it should be thoroughly mastered before any other degree is 
attempted. We would not have such large numbers under such a program, but we 
would wield more influence for good in the world than many times the present 
number. In other words, three hundred thousand such Masons would wield more 
influence than all the Masons in the world at the present time. I hope to live to see 
some such plan put into effect by the Grand Lodges of the world, and Masonry 
brought back to its original intentions. This will require real education before the age 
of twenty-one to carry out. "There is no darkness but ignorance." 


Wm. Hockings, Alabama. 


— o — 


GEORGIA'S VETERAN MASON 


In your statement under the photograph of Bro. John S. Rosier, in the June 
BUILDER, on page 163, 1 find the query, "Is He the Oldest Living Past Master ? " - 1 
am herewith handing you information, which will answer the question so far as the 
Grand Jurisdiction of Georgia is concerned. 


James W. Taylor, of Luthersville, Gal, joined the Masonic Fraternity in 1855. He 
attended the Grand Lodge of Georgia in 1860, and has never missed a communication 
of the Grand Lodge since his first visit to the Grand Lodge, making sixty-five years 
continuous service without missing a single year. He will be 92 years old the 25th day 
of this coming October. Bro. Taylor is Past Grand Master of Georgia, Past Grand 
High Priest of Georgia and Past Grand High Priest of the General Grand Chapter of 
the United States, and still active in Masonic work. He has attended the Board of 
Trustees for the Masonic Orphans' Home of Georgia and served as Chairman of the 
Board of Trustees since 1907, and has never missed a meeting of the Board. 



James D. Hamrick, Grand Master, Georgia. 


— o — 


"THEN YOU'RE A MASON" 


If you can clear from off the path about you 
The rotting limbs of Bigotry and Greed, 

If you can recognize with men around you 
The Brotherhood of Man above their Creed; 

If you can know that all of human thinking 
Gains strength from God's divinity in man 
And see His laws with human effort linking, 
Then you're a Mason, brother, and a Man. 

If you can see in all Masonic labor 
Responsibility towards your fellowman 
And, strips for Service, you can draw your sabre 
And fight for Truth, as only Masons can; 

If you can speed the day when Education 
Shall raise man's vision o'er his cult and klan 



And fill him with Masonic inspiration 
Then you're a Mason, brother, and a Man. 

If you can stoop and raise a fallen brother, 

And start him on the Road of Hope again 
If you can know yourself to be a lover 
Of Honor, though obscured by cloud and rain; 

If you can hear the call of grief and sadness 
From your distressed, discouraged fellowman, 
And change his tears to laughter and to gladness 

- F.E. Lester 

— o — 

What to Read in Masonry 

Higher Grades, Eastern Star, Etc. 


SOME time back a Masonic periodical published an editorial to say that Masonic 
research had about come to an end for leek of anything further to do. (He should have 
read Bro. Gilbert Haynes' Untrodden Paths of Masonic Research!) In making this 



somewhat surprising statement our colleague must have completely overlooked the 
whole realm occupied by the Royal Arch, Cryptic Masonry, Knight Templarism, and 
the Scottish Rite. Instead of having reached its term of usefulness in these fields, 
research has not yet properly made a beginning save possibly in the case of a few 
valuable treatises incorporated in the indispensable Ars Quatuor Coronatorum. The 
almost utter paucity of. really good works on these Higher Grades is a thing to be 
astounded at, and casts a rather lurid light on the claims sometimes made by them to 
be high schools or universities of Masonry. That claim cannot be substantiated until a 
literature is forthcoming; high schools and universities without books are unthinkable. 


If authors have remained indifferent to the appeal of the Higher Grades it has not been 
for lack of subject or of materials. The Royal Arch came into existence in the middle 
eighteenth century, or before. Knight Templarism followed a few years afterwards. 
During the same general period Scottish Rite Masonry came gradually into being, the 
Mother Supreme Council having been organized in 1801. During this century and a 
half, or a century and three-quarters, a vast number of events occurred, and all manner 
of developments happened, enough to fill many volumes with a history that would be 
as colorful and as full of human interest as any other chapter in the long story of 
Masonry. Why don't competent brethren give us this history? The whole Craft calls 
loudly for it. 


At the same time these Higher Grades offer an equal opportunity to writers gifted 
with the faculties for philosophy and the interpretation of symbols and ritual. In his 
Morals and Dogma Albert Pike revealed the possibilities of such a treatment in his 
own favorite Rite albeit he did not, as some appear to think, exhaust his subject, or 
utter the final word. In truth and by way of parenthesis, we need two or three books 
about Morals and Dogma itself, to reduce its mountains of chaotic materials to order, 
and to release its leading ideas from their vast and confusing context. Let that pass! 
There should be a book, or better still, books to do for the Royal Arch, the Council, 
and the Commandery what Morals and Dogma has done for the Scottish Rite. 


In that connection another lacuna may be noted. The Higher Grades have grown to be 
great and powerful organizations, each sovereign in its own field; but these 
organizations prequire of their members that they be in good standing in a Blue 
Lodge, consequently there is a zone of constant interaction as between the Craft 



lodges and the Higher Grades. A wise and learned book is needed to cover that zone 
to the end that it set forth the legal issues involved, and at the same time make clear in 
what fashion the rituals of the Higher Grades dove-tail into, or amplify, or complete 
the Ritual of the Blue Lodge. It is an opportunity for a brother of parts. If such a 
brother ever comes forward he will lay the whole Masonic Craft under a debt of 
obligation. 


The publication of a more adequate literature on the Higher Grades would be most 
welcome to students of the Blue Lodge. If ever the origins of the Royal Arch, 
Templarism, and the Scottish Rite are laid bare, and a meticulously careful account of 
their early history is given, the facts will throw some badly needed light on the Blue 
Lodge of the corresponding period. 


The best case in point here is the Royal Arch. Did it arise inside or outside the Craft 
lodges? If it arose inside, why? What were the conditions that gave it birth? Why was 
it incorporated in the Blue Lodge system? If it arose outside, who began it, and for 
what purpose? In either case, was it designed in order to “complete” the symbolism of 
the Lost word? If so, why did the Blue Lodge suffer its own symbolical system to 
remain "mutilated"? However such questions may be answered, the facts will help us 
to know how Blue Lodge Masons of the eighteenth century understood their own 
symbolism. 


A brother who undertakes a study of the Scottish Rite will be fortunate if he reads 
French, in which much of the extant literature is written. He will be more fortunate 
still if he has some familiarity with the history of the eighteenth century, more 
especially of that brief but crowded chapter of it that contains the story of the 
Jacobites, and that other chapter, also filled with incident, in which Frederick the 
Great figured as the chief character. Perhaps the most useful available work in 
English (second-hand) is Robert B. Folger's Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, 
though it is out of date in many particulars; and so also of Enoch T. Carson's "History 
of Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite Masonry in the United States," Part IV of The 
American Addenda of the American edition of Gould's The History of Freemasonry. 



The student of Knight Templarism will find in the same volume T. S. Parvin's "The 
History of Knight Templar Masonry in the United States," which may be read in 
conjunction with Addison's Knight Templar History. Both of these studies need to be 
checked up by the chapters in Clegg's Mackey's Revised History of Freemasonry, and 
the essays in Ars Quatuor Coronatorum. 


In the meantime we must rest content with what we have, of which some indication is 
given in the list below, along with a few titles on the Order of the Eastern Star. To 
that list should be added the general histories of Freemasonry which contain chapters 
on the Higher Grades, such as Gould's History Mackey's Revised History o f 
Freemasonry, History of Freemasonry and Concordant Orders, and a large number of 
articles in Masonic encyclopaedias, of which a number were mentioned on this page 
last February. 


Centennial Memorial of Thomas Royal Arch Chapter, Frederick A. Currier. 

Cryptic Rite, The, J. Ross Robertson. 

Higher Degrees Handbook, The, J. S. M. Ward. 

Origin of the English Rite of Freemasonry, Wm. J. Hughan. 

Origin of the Royal Arch, Dr. George Oliver. 

Story of the Royal Arch, William Harvey. 

Treatise on Selection and Registration of Masons Marks, Charles A. Conover. 

Treatise on the Construction, Completion and Dedication of King Solomon's Temple, 
Charles A. Conover. 

Crusades, The, T. S. Archer and C.L. Kingsford. 

History of Malta Knighthood, W. Henry Lannon. 

Knights Templar History, C. G. Addison. 

Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, in Thirty- three Degrees Robert B. Folger. 



Ancient Documents Relating to the A. & A. Scottish Rite in the Archives of the R. W. 
Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of Pennsylvania. 

Book of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry Charles T. 
McClenachan 

Brief Account of the Scottish Rite, Henry A. Crosby. 

Life Story of Albert Pike, Fred W. Allsopp. 

Morals and Dogma, Albert Pike. 

Thoughts Inspired by the Scottish Rite Degrees, Edgar A. Russell. 

History of the Order of the Eastern Star, Willis D. Engle. 

History of the Order of the Eastern Star, Jean M'Kee Kenaston. 

Pioneering in Masonry, Lucien B. Rule. 

Woman and Freemasonry, Dudley Wright. 


— o — 


THE FUNDAMENTAL CONDITION 


"Freemasonry has in all ages insisted that men shall come to its door entirely of their 
own free will not as the result of solicitations, not from feelings of curiosity, but from 
a favorable opinion of the Institution and a desire to be ranked among its members.” 


— o — 


THE LIBRARY 



"ON THE SQUARE" 


"ON THE SQUARE," A HANDBOOK FOR FREEMASONS. By Wm. Hy. Beable. 
Published by the author. May be purchased through the National Masonic Research 
Society Book Department, 1950 Railway Exchange, St. Louis, Mo. Limp cloth, four 
by six inches, 51 pages. Price, postpaid, fifty-five cents. 


BRO. BEABLE is an active English Mason. Most of the little articles collected in 
"On the Square" appeared originally in The Freemason, of London, and treat of 
various Masonic subjects from the point of view of the English Craft. To an 
American reader the most instructive chapters are those dealing with four of the great 
Masonic charitable institutions of England, more especially those on the "Royal 
Masonic Institution for Boys," and the "Royal Masonic Institution for Girls." In fine 
keeping with our English brethren's unflagging devotion to Masonic relief - 
proportionately to their membership they are far ahead of us in this - Bro. Beable 
devotes all proceeds from the sale of his beautiful little book to Masonic charities. 


* * * 


A BOOK ON HUMAN ENGINEERING 


Reviewed by CASSIUS J. KEYSER, Columbia University 


MAN AND HIS AFFAIRS FROM AN ENGINEERING POINT OF VIEW. By 
Waiter N. Polakov, M. E. Published by Williams & Wilkins Company. May be 
purchased through the National Masonic Research Society Book Department, 1950 
Railway Exchange, St. Louis, Mo. Cloth. Price, postpaid, $2.65 



THE spirit of science is the spirit of truth-seeking, and nothing but science can save 
the world. But science is one thing and the applications of science are another. The 
former is good; the latter may be good or bad - it may advance civilization or it may 
rend and destroy it. If science is to save the world it must contrive to enlighten the 
world. Scientific men and women cannot indeed make scientists of the multitude but 
regarding the spirit and the ways of science they can make the multitude wise, as one 
may become wise about agriculture, for example, without being a farmer, or about 
music without being a musician, or about the affairs of State without being a king or a 
legislator. 


To give the multitude such wisdom demands a special art - an art in which most 
scientific specialists have not been trained and which, most unfortunately, they are 
neither willing nor qualified to practice or even to honor. Happily there are a few 
notable exceptions and the author of this book is one of them. 


Though academically well-bred, Mr. Polakov does not wear academic spectacles, nor 
does he write with an academic pen. He is a consulting engineer, accustomed to 
dealing with the concrete. But he is no mere technician, much less a mere practician; 
he is a union of doer and thinker - a fact abundantly evident in his contributions to the 
literature of engineering, especially in his Mastering Power Production, a superb 
work that no student of engineering can afford to neglect. 


Like that work the present one is at once scientifically enlightened and quick with the 
spirit of human service. Both of them are contributions to what Count Korzybski has 
happily called Human Engineering - the application of scientific intelligence to 
human affairs. But while the former work is pretty technical, the latter one is designed 
for the general reader and can be read by all save morons. 


What is the book's message? It cannot be conveyed in a word but its general nature 
may be intimated. Despite the exactions of his profession the author has somehow 
contrived to keep in touch with the great advances in the scientific thought of recent 
years, especially in the fundamentals of logic, mathematics and physics. Few have 



seen so clearly as he that these fundamental developments are fast producing a 
profound revolution in our views of the world and of Man. He has seen clearly, what 
most have yet to leam, that the old cosmic absolutes - absolute space, absolute time, 
absolute matter, absolute natural law, absolute truth - are gone. He sees clearly that 
the reign of relativity, thus inaugurated by the basic sciences, is destined to work a 
corresponding revolution, deep, noiseless, it may be, but inevitable, in all the views 
and institutions and affairs of man. The aim of the book is to indicate the nature of the 
revolution, to prepare us for it, to show us that it is the part of wisdom to welcome it 
and to facilitate its coming. 


Whoever reads the book will probably read it twice, as I have done, for it is many- 
sided and very thought-provoking. Is it a work for educators? It is noteworthy that 
among recent contributions to educational theory the three most significant ones are 
by men who do not pose as educators. I refer to the preface of Boys' Own Arithmetic 
by Raymond Weeks, to Count Korzybski's Manhood of Humanity and to Polakov's 
book, especially the chapter on Language, Logic and Destiny, which is alone worth 
many times the price of the volume. 


But the book was not specially designed for professional educators. Far from it. It 
ought to- be read by politicians for it would help them face about in the direction of 
statesmanship; by professional philosophers, for it would help to emancipate them 
from mere phraseology and verbomania; by engineers for it would elevate and 
amplify their conception of engineering; by biologists, anthropologists and historians, 
for it would give them new light upon the nature of man; and by all men and women 
of affairs for it will give them precious insight into the essential relations of their 
affairs to the modern developments of Science. 


* * * 


A PROSE ANTHOLOGY 



THE TREASURY OF MASONIC THOUGHT. Compiled by Bros. Geo. M. Martin 
and John W. Callaghan. Scotland. May be purchased through the National Masonic 
Research Society Book Department, 1950 Railway Exchange, St. Louis, Mo. Blue 
cloth, 816 pages, table of contents. Price, postpaid, $2.75. 


THIS work is frankly a compilation, and consists of articles, | addresses, lectures and 
so on gathered from a very wide field. Naturally in such a collection the standard of 
merit varies a good deal, but the general level is remarkably high; nearly everything 
in it is not only readable but worth reading. 


Most of the items are quite short, and it is the sort of book one can pick up and open 
at random and find something of interest. The table of contents gives the names of 
writers such as Kipling and Sir Gilbert Parker; of students such as Dring, Crowe, 
Hobbs, Vibert, and others whose names are very familiar to all reading Masons, and 
of others again whose fame has hardly crossed the Atlantic. 


It would be impossible to discuss the contents as the articles are so varied in 
character, but a glimpse is given of almost every avenue of Masonic study and every 
field of Masonic activity. 


The compilers have devoted all the proceeds of the work to assist in the building of a 
Masonic Temple in the town of Dundee, the seat of one of the oldest lodges in the 
world. This laudable undertaking is worthy of support. One annoying omission in the 
editing of the book must be recorded. Apparently most of the articles have been 
published before, but in almost every case there is no indication of this, and the defect 
is most marked in precisely those cases where such information is most likely to be 
desired. 


— o — 



THE QUESTION BOX and CORRESPONDENCE 


EXAMINATIONS 


I am a Past Master and am often called upon to examine visiting brothers. 


I always demand first the up-to-date lodge receipt including the Grand Lodge voucher 
if possible, also his signature, all of which is in accordance with the Grand Lodge 
constitution. 


Then I take the three Great Lights and ask him to place them as he saw them in each 
degree; then I ask him and my witness (I always have a witness) to place one hand on 
the Holy Bible with me, and repeat the Tiler's oath after me, both visitor and witness. 
Then I proceed with the regular lecture of the three degrees. 


I have learned all this indirectly but have never seen any authority for it, and 
whenever I have been examined myself I have never seen it done twice alike. 


Question: Do you know what is right and regular and by what authority ? Am I right 
or what change or alteration should I make to be right and regular ? Is there a regular 
way ? 


A second question: Has a near Masonic body like the Grotto or Eastern Star, etc., a 
right to demand from a visiting Master Mason the Masonic password ? 



I claim that no body other than the Blue Lodge has a right to demand that word, and 
have advised inquiring brothers not to give it when demanded. I am quite sure that I 
am right. What is your opinion or ruling ? 


J. W„ New York. 


In answer to your first question it would appear that you are quite right in your 
method of examining, but on the other hand, there is no regular way of doing this, 
always and everywhere binding. It is a matter wisely and naturally left to the 
discretion of those appointed by the Master to test the qualifications of the visitor. 
There is, however, another side to the question, very generally ignored, so much so 
that many Masons do not even realize its existence. The lodge is equally on trial with 
the stranger brother. It is as much the latter's duty to take nothing for granted or on 
hearsay as for the examining committee. It is for this reason that when the solemn 
declaration is administered, usually styled the "Tiler's Oath," that all present should 
repeat it as you say - which is not always done. Also not only should the visitor show 
his diploma or certificate and receipt for dues, but he should, unless he has lawful 
information to satisfy him on the point, demand to see the charter of the lodge. A well 
instructed brother without information as to the standing of the lodge would insist on 
seeing it before answering any questions of an esoteric nature. The proper way of 
arranging the Great Lights is a useful test, but by no means an essential one. 


In asking questions, many examiners do not follow the order in the lectures at all 
closely, in feet some avoid it as much as possible, but this again may militate against 
the rights of the visitor. 


If the first group of questions and answers (the first twenty- five approximately) be 
considered as a whole it will be seen that they are so designed that each party 
maintains a cautious reserve Neither questions nor answers by themselves could mean 
much to the uninitiated, and the form and order of the questions is as much a proof of 
the qualifications of his examiners to the one examined as his answers are a 
demonstration of his own. This group should therefore never be omitted and no others 
should have prior place. After this the examiner may use his own discretion as to how 



much and what he should demand. His object is not to find out how proficient the 
visitor may be, but whether he is what he claims to be. 


In respect to the witness, it is the more usual custom in most places for the W. M. to 
appoint two brothers to examine the visitor, generally Past Masters, and the old 
custom was for them to introduce the visitor at the altar after the lodge was opened 
and certify that they had found him duly qualified or well skilled in Masonry. 


In your second question it would seem that speaking generally you are quite correct 
that no other body (such as those you mention) has any right to demand any word or 
sign pertaining to the Blue Lodge. In the case of bodies whose membership includes 
those who are not Masons this is particularly true. On the other hand an individual 
member of such a body, in his quality as a Master Mason, may privately demand such 
word or sign to satisfy himself of the visitor's status. In the case of those bodies all of 
whose members are Master Masons such an examination is most natural. The right is 
not the right of the body as such, which is extraneous to Craft Masonry, but of its 
individual members, who as Masons may legitimated demand proof that the visitor is 
a Mason, just as he has a right to be satisfied that they have the same qualification. 


* * * 


INTERPOLATIONS IN THE RITUAL 


The following question from the same correspondent is also of interest: 


I remember when a newly made brother was raised without an address. In recent 
years an address before raising has come into use as follows: 



Brother.... in your present.... situation you represent no less .... who Masonic tradition 

informs us just prior to the completion of the Temple .... for refusing .... as .... is 

said to have been ... by the strong .... I will now as .... and will communicate, etc. 


Question: Where did this come from and by what authority Is it right to say anything 
at this point in the ceremony, bearing in mind what the ritual says previously about 
the first... and the first.. ..at the.... etc.? Is not this address therefore out of order? 


This group of questions are not very easy to answer. Brethren who have not traveled 
very extensively are frequently quite ignorant of the wide variations in the ritual used 
in different jurisdictions; there are many different ways of arranging the essential 
points and explaining their significance actually in use, besides others that were once 
used and have become obsolete. 


It would be impossible to say exactly where the address referred to came from. It may 
possibly be authorized by the committee on ritual in the jurisdiction, or it may just 
have grown up in some lodge and been copied by others. It depends on the precise 
phraseology of the previous ritual formula that you employ whether it be consistent or 
not to say anything at this point. In most rituals the substance of the first part of this 
address is given to the candidate early in the second "section" while the equivalent of 
the last is given in the instruction later. 


* * * 


THE SCOTTISH RITE 


Why should a Master Mason join the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite ? W.F.L. 



There is an old Latin saying De gustibus non disputandum, which is the equivalent of 
the English "There is no accounting for tastes." But it is hardly fair to dismiss the 
question merely as a matter of personal predilection, though it does appeal sometimes 
that the same things that are inducements to on man to take the degrees of the Rite 
lead another to disapprove of it altogether. 


The ceremonies have become more and more dramatic in character until the newer 
buildings, the so-called "cathedrals” of the Rite, are frankly theatres, with 
proscenium, drop curtains, scenery, and all the paraphernalia of the stage. There is no 
doubt that the representations there put on are most impressive, and in many places 
highly charged with emotion, and should have a beneficial effect. On the other hand 
the friendliest critic cannot avoid noticing that the reality of the claim of the Rite to be 
a profound esoteric system of moral philosophy tinged with mysticism has in the 
same proportion become more and more shadowy. 


Historically, the various degrees in their origin and earliest promulgation had very 
little to do with each other. Several of them in their original forms were designed to 
be the highest degree, the ne plus ultra of Masonry. After being worked separately 
they were put together in groups; connecting degrees were invented, mostly of very 
little interest or significance, and these groups were again put together, till at last the 
present rather unwieldy number of thirty-three was attained. One rite was then trying 
to outbid the other in the number of degrees it could confer. 


Later on Albert Pike revised the rituals and did his best to make a system of them. A 
very difficult if not impossible task, considering the heterogeneous elements of which 
they were composed. He compiled the well-known text book, "Morals and Dogma," 
to set forth a philosophy and interpretation of the series; a work about which opinions 
are as sharply divided as about the value of the degrees themselves. All that can be 
said, therefore, is that if any brother is attracted by the Rite he will probably enjoy it 
very much and may profit by it, but if not, it is possible for him to go as deeply into 
the meaning of Masonry as a Master Mason as if he possessed all the degrees of 
concordant orders and rites But of course he will in that ease have to seek for further 
light by himself 



MASONRY AND THE NARCOTIC PERIL 


Have any American Grand Lodges taken action to assist the International Narcotic 
Education Association in their truly laudable work? It appeals to me as being a very 
Masonic effort, this task of stopping the general use of narcotics. 


R. D. G., Illinois. 


Our files do not show that any Grand Lodge thus far has taken any action whatsoever, 
nor do we see the necessity of such a thing. Desirable as it undoubtedly is to head off 
the unspeakable evil of the narcotic habit, such an activity Does not fall within the 
province of Grand Lodge action, just as other equally necessary reforms, many of 
them similarly Masonic in their spirit, cannot be discussed in Grand Lodges. Lor one 
thing, many of these crusades for cleaning up the world (prohibition is a ease in point 
here) are political in their character; for another, there is a limit to the moral duties of 
organized freemasonry. If it is freemasonry's duty to stop the narcotic evil, why is it 
not also its duty to undertake every other social reform? Where could the line be 
drawn? 


* * * 


THE WARDEN'S COLUMNS 


Could you give me any information regarding the significance of the Warden's 
Columns? 



J. T., New York. 


The actual use of the columns at the present time is to mark whether the lodge is at 
labor or refreshment. If the former, the one on the Junior Warden's pedestal is laid 
down while that of the Senior Warden is erect. When the lodge is called to 
refreshment it passes into the special care of the Junior Warden, who thereupon 
should raise his column while the Senior Warden lays his down. There is some doubt 
about the correct procedure when the lodge is closed. It is generally assumed in the 
United States that while the lodge stands closed the Craft is at refreshment, and it is in 
consequence of this ritual supposition that the legal theory has arisen, in some 
jurisdictions actually embodied in definite enactment, that the Junior Warden should 
act as a public prosecutor when charges have been preferred against any brother, 
excepting of course in the extremely rare event of the offense being committed while 
the lodge was at labor, when it would, on this principle, be the Senior Warden's duty. 
However, following this line of thought, when the lodge is closed the columns should 
stand as when the lodge is at refreshment, and should be so placed when it is about to 
be opened. Generally they are left just as they happen to be placed:' It is not perhaps a 
very important matter, but it is attention to such details which marks the perfect 
rendition of the ritual. 


Historically the date of the first appearance of the columns in the lodge as actual 
objects is not certain. There is evidence of a kind in the "Three Distinct Knocks" that 
they were in general use in 1760 among the "Ancients," and that they represented the 
two pillars of the porch of K. S. T. Up to this time, and probably much later in some 
places, the "Modem" lodges contented themselves with drawing them in the so-called 
"diagram" of the lodge. The engravings of the "Procession of Scald Miserable 
Masons" shows among many other objects carried in the procession, two large pillars, 
each about as high as a man. It is probable that there has never been any uniformity in 
the matter, some lodges had small columns, some large, and some only drew them. It 
is obvious that the custom of using them as mentioned above as marking whether the 
lodge is called off or on, could only have arisen when they were actual objects small 
enough to be easily handled. It is also pretty evident that where large columns exist in 
addition to those of the Wardens, that they are in symbolic origin merely duplications. 
As far back as any record or indication goes, Freemasons have always attached a 
special significance to the two pillars of the porch fashioned by Hiram, the widow's 



son, and they were naturally represented in the lodge in the way most convenient, and 
this naturally led to the variations in form that we find, while the underlying principle 
has remained constant. 


* * * 


THE ORDER OF THE TEMPLE AND MASONRY 


Can you tell me when the Knight Templars joined the Masonic Order ? Was it after 
the death of Jacques de Molay ? In what country was it and how did it happen? I shall 
be much obliged if you can answer these questions. 


G. M., California. 


It is said first of all that during the Crusades a number of Masons went to Palestine 
among the multitudes of men of every rank and condition of life, and that they so 
distinguished themselves that the chivalric orders in some way recognized them, and 
some of the knights joined the craft organization as honorary members. And that 
when they returned from the Holy Land, this connection was maintained. 


There is another story that after the suppression of the Order of the Temple the 
surviving members fled and hid themselves by joining the Masonic lodges, but others 
have said that they pretended to be working Masons as a disguise, and that they 
originated Freemasonry as a Fraternity with initiatory rites. 


There is yet another tale that certain Templars fled to Scotland and helped King 
Robert the Bruce against the English, and as a reward were formed by him into the 
order of the Rosy Cross, which later became the origin of Freemasonry in the form of 



the Royal Order of Scotland, which some would tell us is the true authentic form of 
Masonry. Others say that the Templars maintained their existence in Scotland down 
to the times of the Jacobite conspiracies and insurrections, but that during this period 
they nearly died out, and to preserve their organization admitted a number of Masons, 
and that through this it became the rule that one qualification necessary to become a 
Knight Templar was to be a Master Mason. Similar stories are told in France and 
elsewhere, and they are all equally probable and all equally without real evidence, so 
it would seem everyone may take his choice. 


Really the question should first be asked, did the Knight Templars join the Masonic 
Order? And to this question most of those best qualified to speak would answer in the 
negative. Not only is it improbable in itself, but the different stories so contradict each 
other that they cancel out. The idea of the connection between the two organizations 
seems to have had two roots. One was a rather snobbish desire to associate the origin 
of the Fraternity with knighthood and nobility - the other was the association with the 
Temple. Masons were interested not only with Solomon's Temple, but Zerubbabel's, 
and then Herod's, and later still with the Christian order that built its church and 
headquarters on the self same site and was pledged to defend it against the enemies of 
Christendom. The Templar connection rounded out the historical connection with the 
first Temple, and so when high degrees were being devised and invented, this theme 
was inevitably seized upon, and worked out in all kinds of ways, three main lines of 
which have survived - the Templar Orders of America and the British Empire (which 
are very different from each other) and the degrees with Templar connections in the 
A. & A. S. R. 


* * * 


SCOTTISH RITE TITLES 


What is the official name of the Scottish Rite supreme body in the Southern states ? 
By what titles should its officials be addressed ? 



D.L., Florida 


The official title of the supreme body is given in the Statutes, thus: "The Supreme 
Council of the Thirty-third and Last Degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish 
Rite of Freemasonry for the Southern Jurisdiction of the United States of America." 
The title of the Grand Commander is "Sovereign," of the Lieutenant Grand 
Commander is "Venerable," and of all other officers and members is "Brother." 


* * * 


WHAT BOOKS ARE RECOMMENDED? 


Your Catalog of Books for the Mason has given me a larger understanding of the 
possibilities of Masonic reading. May I be permitted to ask if the Society 
recommends all books listed ? W. S. M., New York. 


It does not. The Book Department of the Society came gradually into existence, 
without any thought of ever making a commercial business of it, and solely as a 
convenience to its members. In the early days of the Department the Board of Editors 
attempted to list only such titles as could be recommended without reservation, but 
this proved to be impracticable, owing to a great diversity of opinion among 
members. What one man believes to be a poor book another man considers to be 
valuable. Neither the Society nor any other group of Masons has any right to censor 
Masonic reading. What to read and what not to read is an inalienable prerogative of 
every individual. The Board of Editors never hesitates to give its own honest opinions 
about any book of which a member makes inquiry. Every member may feel free to 
make such inquiry before purchasing a book if he so desires. 



WHAT HAS BEEN THE RELIGION OF THE PRESIDENTS? 


Will you kindly inform me, through the Question Box Department, what has been the 
church affiliation of the Presidents of the United States? 


G. L. K., Ohio. 


According to an unsigned brochure in our files, the Presidents have been of seven 
various affiliations, not counting those of no church at all. We cannot vouch for the 
accuracy of this statement and will appreciate a check-up by such readers as have the 
data in hand. In tabulated form the names stand thus: 


Episcopalian - Washington, Madison, Monroe, Wm. H. Harrison, Tyler, Taylor, 
Pierce, Arthur. 


Unitarian - John Adams, John Quincy Adams, Fillmore, Taft. 


Prestbyterian - Jackson, Polk, Buchanan, Lincoln, Cleveland, Benjamin Harrison, 
Wilson. 


Reformed Dutch - Van Buren, Roosevelt. 


Methodist - Grant, Hays, McKinley. 



Disciples - Garfield. 


President Coolidge is a member of the Congregationalist Church. 


* * * 


SCOTTISH RITE LITURGY WANTED 


I am desirous of obtaining a copy of the Liturgy of the first three degrees of the 
Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite. I have the rest of the set, and am willing to pay 
any reasonable price for it. Our library here does not contain it either, and at present 
the supply is exhausted at Washington. 


Perhaps you know where there is a copy for sale, or perhaps a notice in THE 
BUILDER might bring one to light. 


W. A. Theobald, P. O. Box 438, Chicago, III. 


We do not know where this work could be obtained, but are very pleased to be able to 
give publicity to Bro. Theobald's requirements, and hope that some one among our 
readers may have a copy he wishes to dispose of. 


— o — 


YE EDITOR'S CORNER 



Letters of congratulation on the May number of THE BUILDER continue to arrive 
and requests that similar efforts be made to deal with Freemasonry in other countries. 
This is very gratifying and we hope to be able to carry out some of these proposals. 


* * * 


A story related by Rob Morris many years ago throws a lurid light on the conditions 
under which the Craft labored in the fifties and sixties of the last century. It appears 
that serious complaints reached the Grand Master concerning a certain lodge in his 
jurisdiction and he appointed a commission of grave and reverend seigneurs - at least 
right worshipful brethren - to inquire into the matter. The commission met and 
summoned witnesses; among them was a member of the lodge in question whose 
testimony ran as follows in answer to the questions asked him: 


Yes, it was true the lodge met in a room over a "dramhouse” but he thought that this 
very conveniently solved the question of providing necessary refreshment. Yes, it was 
a feet that most of the glass was out of the windows, but no more than afforded 
necessary ventilation. Yes, the floor was only loose boards with wide cracks between 
them, but this saved the expense of having cuspidors - and as for anyone discovering 
the secrets of Masonry, he had been a member of the lodge for three years and he 
hadn't learned any. 


Needless to say how the commission reported. 


* * * 


We regret very much to leam that "The Square" of Vancouver, B. C., has to be 
temporarily suspended. This is bad news, for "The Square" has been one of the best 



and most generally interesting of Masonic magazines. It is to be sincerely hoped that 
this suspension may be only temporary and that Bro. Templeton may be able to 
continue it on the same high level that he has done in the past, "me Square" is one of 
the comparatively few Masonic periodicals of general interest, very little of purely 
local concern having appeared in its pages. It is too bad that it could not have more 
general support. 


* * * 


Our request for a copy of "The Clique" met with an unexpected response, quite a 
number of readers very kindly sent us copies, for which courtesy on their part we are 
truly grateful. 


* * * 


As an additional note or comment on Bro. Tucketf s very interesting article in the 
May number of THE BUILDER on "Prince Charles Edward Stuart, G. M.," we 
reproduce the following communication by Bro. J. O. Manton to Miscellanea 
Latomorum for June, regarding the old lodge at Li(t)chfield, England. It does not 
appear however that Bro. Manton is referring to the article in THE BUILDER, but to 
one published in the April number of the above mentioned periodical. 


"Bro. Tuckett is in error in crediting Derbyshire with the Longnor Lodge of Unity; 
Longnor is in Staffordshire, just over the border. Perhaps the following additional 
dates and details will be of interest. The Lodge at Longnor was consecrated on 28th 
June, 1811, and the number was altered to 492 in 1814. Its last return was made in 
1818 and it was erased in 1829. In the meantime an Atholl Lodge had been founded 
at Buxton, in 1810, with the number 165, under the name 'Derbyshire Lodge.' In 1837 
it had only two members, and in 1 840 the surviving members of the Lodge at 
Longnor secured the removal of the Derbyshire Lodge to that place from Buxton. 



"But this Lodge was in its turn erased in 1866 having made no returns for six years, 
and on 15th September, 1868, a warrant was issued for the Phoenix Lodge of St. Ann, 
Buxton, and the two brethren of the extinct Lodge at Longnor who were in possession 
of all its furniture and its warrant, being among the founders of the new Lodge 
transferred to it all the effects of the old one. The Lodge at Buxton is still in 
possession of then and the old warrant is there today. It bears the date 24th July, 1787 
- not June as printed at p. 117.”