The Builder Magazine 

December 1928 - Volume XIV - Number 12 


Present Day Religious Questions 

Does Freemasonry Help or Hinder Their Solution? 

The Second of a Series of Discussions of Our Ancient Fraternity and Present Day 
Problems 

BY BRO. HERBERT HUNGERFORD 


Author of Seeing Both Sides of Yourself 


Bro. Hungerford in this series hopes to show Masons that there are two sides to the 
Institution to which they belong. We fully expect that the series will shock perhaps 
pain many good brethren, but the only way to escape judgment by the world, for 
men and for societies both, is to forestall it by self-criticism, and correction of that 
which needs amendment or modification. 


THE problems of religion rightly demand first and foremost consideration in this 
survey, because they lie at the roots of all the other questions of the day, social, 
political, educational and commercial. The broad objective of religion, which is so 
frequently obscured by petty creeds and narrow doctrines, is to develop a common 
faith among mankind which will be the basis of mutual understanding, confidence 
and good-will. With this objective in mind, it may readily be seen why the finding 
of a solution for our religious problems will lead to the solving of the others which 
disturb men's relations, and hinder the advance of civilization. 



Does any brother doubt or deny that the main motive behind most Masonic 
activities is, or should be, religious? Surely no one can dispute that the teachings of 
our ceremonials are chiefly religious. Then, it certainly is a fair question to ask to 
what extent and in what ways our Fraternity is cooperating with other religious 
institutions and agencies in solving the pressing problems of religion in the world 
today. 


Religion is rather a ticklish topic to tackle, because it is such an intensely 
individual or personal proposition. Likewise, it is a somewhat difficult subject to 
define, because the term itself has many different meanings to different persons. 


It was said above that religion should develop a common faith. We may go further 
and use faith as a synonym for religion, and this is the meaning we shall endeavor 
to maintain in the present discussion. Paul's statement to the Hebrews that "Faith is 
the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen" presents an 
excellent epitome of our conception of the term, religious faith. Patently, it deals 
with ideals, with considerations outside the purely physical realm. 


Religion as the Answer to the Riddle of the Universe 


In brief, I hold that man has formulated his religious faiths or beliefs in his 
attempts to answer these three great questions as to the meaning of life itself: 


1 . Is there a Divine Spirit animating the universe? Is there a Creative Power behind 
the laws of nature? Is there a God, with Whom man may commune and upon 
Whom man may depend? 



2. What is man's place in this great universe? Is man a free moral agent? Is he the 
master of his fate? Can he make choices for which he should be held responsible, 
or is he "merely a puppet swayed by the chance winds of destiny?" 


3. What takes place with the event called death ? Does man possess a soul that 
continues existence in a different realm? Is man's life immortal? 


Handicapped by ignorance, shackled by superstitions, blinded by prejudices, 
through all the ages, man has been groping, blundering, struggling and stumbling 
on his way towards the light of truth on these questions. 


The problems of religion are the inevitable outcome of this universal quest. For the 
quest is universal, even though some profess that they have found it fruitless, 
holding that life has no real meaning and man's faith has no real foundations. 


As we briefly review three of the principal problems of religion at the present day, 
it will be apparent how and why these problems were developed out of the very 
nature of man himself during his long upward struggle towards the light. 


The Use and Abuse of Religious Differences 


The conflict of creeds and denominational warfare possibly, the basic problem of 
religion must not be regarded as an unmixed evil. With no desire to defend 
denominational dogmas, the fact cannot be escaped that the spread of religion has 
been due in a considerable measure to the spirit of competition fostered by the 
various religious sects. But, this is the only good word the writer cares to say 
regarding narrow denominationalism. 



Chiefly, the results of dogmatic warfare have been a serious handicap to the 
progress of genuine religion and have resulted in many auxiliary problems which 
institutional religion is still struggling to overcome. From denominational 
competition have come the overchurched communities, still existing in many 
sections of the country, with under-paid and under-educated pastors whose bigoted 
behavior and ungodlike utterances often bring disrepute upon religion and subject 
it to the ridicule of its enemies. 


Another consequence is the fact reported by many colleges and universities that the 
ministry is losing its appeal to educated men. 


Narrow-minded creedalism, likewise, should be held chiefly responsible for the 
numerous fantastic religious fads and cults which have sprung up all over the 
world. Disgusted with dogmas and denominationalism, thousands have sought 
some sort of religious solace in these mystical societies of various classes and 
kinds, some of which, of course, are quite commendable. 


Just as religious superstition is the inevitable outgrowth of ignorance, so blind 
adherence to dogmatic creeds breeds those twin iniquities, bigotry and intolerance. 
Recent events suggest that we should not boast too loudly about how far we have 
progressed towards religious tolerance since the days of whipping-posts and 
ducking-stools. 


Action and Reaction Between Religion and Science 


The second outstanding problem of religion is an offspring of tradition-bound and 
dogmatic creedalism. I refer to the foolish and futile conflict between religious 
superstition and the discoveries of science. There is no genuine justification for any 
issue being raised between science and religion, because each deals with a distinct 
realm of thought. The domain of science should be restricted to natural phenomena 
and things that can be weighed, measured and verified by facts. The realm of 



religion, on the contrary, is in the domain of faith, entirely outside the physical or 
material world. 


It is just as absurd for a dogmatic scientist to profess that science can disprove the 
things we know by faith as it is for an unscientific man to challenge the 
demonstrated facts of science because some of these facts seem to bump up against 
some of his pet religious prejudices. On the whole, however, it seems worse for the 
bigoted scientist to pretend to prove something that he knows that science has 
never either proven or disproven. It is perfectly proper for a scientist to proclaim 
his personal faith or theory regarding the answers to any of the three principal 
questions that we hold to be the basis of religious faith. But, when any professed 
scientist pretends that these metaphysical questions can be proven or disproven by 
strictly scientific processes, we beg leave to doubt his right to the title of scientist. 


God, the freedom of choice and immortality may be denied as not being capable of 
demonstration by scientific facts; but to pretend that this settles the case against the 
faith of mankind is an assumption as unfounded as it is pernicious. The scientist 
who attempts to maintain the position that there are no truths outside of those 
demonstrated by the already discovered facts of science has, to use an apt 
vulgarism, bitten off considerably more than he can chew. 


Materialism the Triumph of Pessimism 


This brings up the third and most serious problem of religion, namely, the menace 
of materialism. According to the writer's observation of current conditions, the 
conflict between sordid and, frequently morbid materialism and hopeful idealism 
outweighs all other problems of our times and constitutes a genuine menace to the 
progress of civilization. On all sides today you may hear from credulous youth and 
half-baked adults the parrot-like slogans of cheap cynicism coined by our 
professional pessimists. 



Since materialism, in its final analysis, is simply the triumph of selfishness and, in 
our usage of the term, combines commercial policies or attitudes with its 
philosophic theories, we propose to give further consideration to this issue when 
we discuss the relation of Freemasonry to our business problems. Let it suffice, 
therefore, in our present discussion merely mention the matter and to state our 
opinion that religion seems to be making less headway in the conquest of this evil 
than is being made in other directions. 


One thing appears quite certain in the relation of this particular problem to the 
attitude of modern youth; namely, that, unless institutional religion provides more 
substantial spiritual fodder than the petty sentimentality and wornout superstition 
that many so-called spiritual leaders are still peddling, the trend towards hedonism 
and crass materialism will not be turned back. Y outh today demands a faith that 
does not run counter to reason and reality; even though our modern youth, like his 
predecessors in ages, still is a seeker after ideals. But the ideals of the intelligent 
youth of our times must be rooted in realities. 


The Contacts Between Religion and Freemasonry 


The superficial survey of our present day religious problems has given merely a 
fleeting glimpse of a tremendous subject. Our specific objective, however, does not 
require that we go deeply into this phase of the subject. All we need is a brief 
outline or background of the problems of organized or institutional religion to 
enable us to present our inquiry as to whether or not our own institution, which 
certainly has many religious characteristics, is doing its full share of service in 
cooperation with other agencies and institutions which are seeking the solution of 
these problems. 


It may be well to remind our readers that the principal objective of this series of 
discussions is to raise questions rather than answer them. We are making no 
pretense of offering our own ready-made solutions for all the problems into which 
we may inquire. Rather is our intention to review all problems in the light of the 
challenge they present to Freemasonry. We do not intend to ignore any question 



that may be considered as a challenge of the times to our Fraternity simply because 
we are not prepared also to submit the answer to the question. 


In brief, our specific aim is not to tell you something or "hand out" a few packages 
of information, but rather it is to challenge you, as a man and a Mason, to face the 
issues of the world today, from which Freemasonry cannot escape its due share of 
responsibility. As a world- wide fraternal institution, Freemasonry cannot avoid 
proper participation in all world problems. 


Like the timid child who hides behind mama's skirts, many Freemasons try to 
escape all responsibility or even personal interest in religious problems, by 
pretending that the ancient landmark concerning the discussion of clearly sectarian 
issues might be disturbed by the participation of members of our Craft in the ways 
and means proposed for the solution of religious problems. 


The attitude of Freemasons with regard to religious problems has been criticized, 
both justly and, in some ways, unjustly, from many different angles by many 
different religious leaders. It seems to me, however, that all the criticisms 
deserving of attention may be comprehended by three questions: 


First, is Freemasonry antagonistic to the progress of institutional religion? 


Second, is Freemasonry a competitor, attempting to provide a substitute for 
institutional religion? 


Third, is Freemasonry in general indifferent to the welfare of institutional religion? 



The criticism that Freemasonry is antagonistic to organized religion is not confined 
to Roman Catholics and certain division of the Lutheran denomination. I have 
heard ministers and religious leaders of other denominations denounce our 
Fraternity on this score. Likewise I have listened to the loose talk from members of 
our Craft which would amply justify such criticism. 


Intolerance and Bigotry in the Sanctum Sanctorum 


Unfortunately, it seems to me, the gates of our lodges are not barred against bigots. 
Nor does initiation into our Fraternity provide a remedy for intolerance. The most 
vociferous and pestiferous bigot I ever encountered was the Master of a lodge who 
was not content to practically disrupt his own lodge by his fault-finding ways and 
holier-than-thou behavior towards his brethren, but, as a Past Master, he managed 
to alienate the interests of a sufficient number of members from their lodge so that 
the group withdrew and formed a new lodge. 


If I have rightly understood our ritual, I have never heard a better or bolder 
pronouncement against bigotry than the words which express the real Masonic 
viewpoint on religion. A bigot, I take it, is one who wants to force his particular 
religious viewpoints upon all others or who fails to respect the religious opinion of 
others. 


Freemasonry should not be held accountable for the acts of some of its bigoted 
members. For instance, the Master of a lodge told me that I was not a good Mason 
because I voiced my hearty approval of the attitude taken by the Past Grand Master 
of New York State, Judge Arthur S. Tompkins, towards the Ku Klux Klan. 


Bigotry may not be un-Masonic but it certainly is nonMasonic conduct. Surely 
there is nothing in the principles or teachings of Freemasonry which could possibly 
be regarded as antagonistic to religion in any way. But certain bigots, who have 



become Masons without being divested of their bigotry, have sometimes drawn 
this unjust criticism against the Craft. 


Freemasonry Mistaken as a Substitute for Religion 


Coming to our second question, we find a criticism that is not so easily defended. 
While I find no statistics on the subject, from my own observation and experience, 
I will freely admit that a very large percentage of our members apparently hold the 
opinion that the broad religious teachings of Freemasonry are superior to those of 
any church and that Masonry, therefore, provides a more than satisfactory 
substitute for any other religious organization. 


For an excellent example to illustrate this viewpoint, you need only turn to the 
letter from Albert F. Block in the Question Box Department of the November 
number of THE BUILDER. Bro. Block very ably presents the views of one who 
regards the teachings of Freemasonry as the last word in religious belief. 
Frequently I have heard other brethren expound the same doctrines. 


I doubt, therefore, if we can deny that many Masons do feel that all their religious 
requirements or obligations are fulfilled by their lodge membership. Whether we 
can justify this attitude is the real heart of the question. It seems to me that it is a 
question deserving of serious consideration. But, I am only asking or repeating it; 
not attempting to give the answer. 


Perhaps the best way to present our third question is to change it a bit so that its 
application is personal instead of general. In brief, are you active in contributing 
personal endeavor as well as financial aid to the welfare of institutional religion? 
Certainly, many of our brethren can answer this question affirmatively. But, there 
are others. How many there are among the rank and file of our Fraternity who 
manifest no interest in any religious activity or institution would be hard to guess. 



But I venture the opinion that the number is by no means complimentary to our 
Craft. 


Again let me repeat the point set forth in our initial article, namely, that the 
objective of this series is, first and foremost, to stimulate discussion so that we 
shall develop a genuine inquiry into the conditions and problems we are reviewing. 
Our purpose is to stir up sufficient interest so that more light will be thrown upon 
each subject under consideration. 


Accordingly, I again urge every reader interested to contribute his views on any 
phase of each topic we take up. I have not made any attempt to draw conclusions 
or to make a complete presentation of all the issues involved in each subject we 
choose for consideration. My sole effort is to hit a few of the high spots and make 
my article suggestive rather than conclusive. 


Why not make this a real Masonic forum, in which the vital problems of our world 
and our Fraternity are viewed from as many different angles as possible? 


— o — 


The Degrees of Masonry; Their Origin and History 


By BROS. A. L. KRESS and R. J. MEEKREN 


(Continued from November) 



WE have seen how Gould and Hughan had arrived at radically different 
interpretations of the real meaning of the terms Master and Fellow Craft in the first 
edition of Anderson's Constitutions. When such a difference of opinion arises it is 
fairly safe to conclude that other considerations, which may be entirely in the 
background, are the deciding factors. We will now have to consider the matter for 
ourselves in order to prepare the way to appreciate Gould's position, though we can 
do this, fortunately, by following the arguments of the latter scholar, collecting 
what he had to say upon the subject from different places. 


He says, in regard to the Constitutions: 


It is the custom of most people to consult a work of reference in its latest form. To 
this rule the Freemasons have not proved an exception, and the second edition of 
Anderson's Constitutions . . . was universally copied from and relied upon in 
preference to the first (1). 


As was remarked above, so far as the second edition was the official code this was 
perfectly proper; but of course Gould has in mind its use as a source of historical 
information. In another place he says: 


Until a few years ago this clause [of the 1723 Regulation XIII] was very 
erroneously interpreted, and the fundamental principle of literary criticism the 
principle that an author's meaning is to be read out of his words, and not into them 
was totally disregarded. All commentators seem to have determined what the 
author of the Book of Constitutions (transcribing the "General Regulations" of 
George Payne) ought to have said, and then they set themselves to prove that he 
practically said it (2). 


This means that, from the time when all personal recollections of the transition 
period had disappeared, until Gould observed the curious discrepancies between 
Anderson's earlier and later statements, or at least until Findel advanced his 



iconoclastic theories, all Masonic authors took it for granted that there always had 
been three degrees, and that there was no significance in the variations of phrase in 
the first and second editions of the Constitutions, even if they so much as knew 
they existed. If anyone of them did notice it he deemed it of too little moment for 
mention. 


Gould then went on to say that the General Regulations of 1721, as published in 
1723, point "with the utmost clearness" to an arrangement 


. . of two and not three degrees, the latter being the number which Dr. Anderson 
was supposed to have had in his mind when publishing his work of 1723. The 
simple fact being that the titles of Fellow Craft and Master Mason, which really 
meant the same thing in the phraseology of Scottish Operative Masons, were also 
used as words of indifferent application by the doctor in his "Book of 
Constitutions." 


The passages in the Regulations which are here asserted to point so clearly to a 
system of two degrees are presumably such as the following: 


Regulation XIII: The Treasurer and Secretary shall each have a Clerk, who must be 
a Brother and FellowCraft.... 


Another Brother (who must be a Fellow-Craft) . . . should be appointed to look 
after the door of the Grand Lodge.... 


Regulation XV: [The Grand Wardens being absent] the Grand Master . . . shall 
order private Wardens to attend as Grand Wardens pro tempore, whose places shall 
be supply'd by two Fellow-Crafts of the same Lodge 



Regulation XVIII: If the Deputy Grand Master be sick or necessarily absent, the 
Grand Master may chuse any Fellow-Craft he pleases to be his Deputy pro 
tempore. 


Gould claimed "weighty authority" for this, as Payne, who compiled the 
Regulations in 1721, was elected Grand Master the year after the formal institution 
of the Grand Lodge in 1717, and he adds (3): 


In my own judgment ... it is not credible for an instant that the symbolism of 
Masonry was tampered with, and expanded at the only meeting of the Grand 
Lodge June 24, 1717 which took place before we find Grand Master Payne in the 
chair of that august body.... 


The "Charges of a Freemason" as "digested” by Anderson also contain several 
passages of the same character. In the fourth we read: 


No Brother can be a Warden till he has pass'd the part of a Fellow-Craft; nor a 
Master until he has acted as a Warden, nor Grand Warden until he has been a 
Master of a Lodge, nor a Grand Master unless he has been a FellowCraft before his 
election 


The last proviso seems to imply that in a Warden an Apprentice might be elected, 
and then "passed" in order to qualify him for office. If this be so it would 
undermine the argument based by Hughan on those minutes which record such 
elections of Apprentices to officer. (4) 


In the fifth charge it is enacted that 



The most expert of the Fellow-Craftsmen shall be chosen or appointed the Master, 
or overseer of the Lord 's Work; 


and, 


When a Fellow-Craftsman is chosen Warden of the Work under the Master he shall 
be true to both Master and Fellows. 


Though we cannot be sure that the Regulations as printed were exactly the same as 
Payne read them to Grand Lodge in 1721, and Gould's contention that the term 
Fellow-Craft was unknown in England till Anderson introduced through the 
medium of his work, if accepted, would point at least to verbal changes having 
been made, yet the main argument is a strong one, for Payne would presumably 
have protested in 1723 had any unwarranted modifications of the text been 
introduced, or for that matter anything that was not quite clear. Of course on the 
supposition that he was one of the inventors of new degrees the force of this 
argument would be materially weakened. But though this has been freely asserted 
in the past and was the line that Mackey, among many others, had taken, it must be 
remembered that it is pure supposition, without a scrap of direct evidence in its 
favor, while the contention made by Gould is strongly supported when we compare 
the above cited passages with the corresponding ones in the 1738 edition. Here we 
find that the term Fellow Craft has been fairly consistently changed to Master 
Mason. In Regulation XV latter term is added, making it read "two Fellow Crafts 
or Master Masons," and in XVII Fellow Craft is changed to Brother. But, as in 
both these cases the New Regulations which supersede the old ones are quite 
different, it was not practically important to make the definite change in the old 
ones. 


In the new version of the Charges we find the same thing has been done; the 
Wardens must be Master Masons, instead of Fellow Crafts, and the Grand Master 



must have been Master of a Lodge; which of course implies his having been a 
Warden before that, and before that again, a Master Mason in the new sense. 


Taking these facts altogether, and a more minute comparison of the two editions 
would strengthen the case, it is hard to avoid the conviction that some material 
change in the Masonic system had come about in the years between 1723 and 
1738. Either the Masonic status, called Fellow-Craft in the first book, was the same 
as that called Master Mason in the second; or else a higher grade had been 
introduced in the interval, to which all the rights and privileges of the other had 
been transferred. Whichever way it was it does seem conclusive that there were 
only two degrees worked in 1723; for it would seem highly improbable that the 
office of Master was at that time a degree, seeing that that of Warden came in 
between it and the Fellow Craft; the Mastership of the lodge being reserved to 
those who had served in the lower office, and no one has ever suggested there were 
any esoteric secrets attached to the Warden's chair. Still this cannot be taken as a 
final argument, as there is no doubt that the Past Master and the Royal Arch 
degrees, when they appeared later, betrayed an origin intimately connected with 
the office of the Master of the lodge; so that it cannot be assumed as logically 
certain that this qualification had nothing to do with the addition of a third degree 
to the Masonic system. Nevertheless, summing up the evidence afforded by the 
two editions of the Book of Constitutions, it certainly seems the simplest and most 
obvious explanation to assume, that in 1723 the first Book presupposed a rite of 
two grades, and that the second one, by a few very small changes of phraseology, 
adapted it to fit the three degree arrangement with which we are now familiar; thus 
avoiding any open acknowledgment that there had been any such momentous 
change or development. 


That to avoid any such acknowledgment was practically necessary we can easily 
realize by imagining some similar occurrence today. It is probable that every 
Grand Lodge has some skeleton that must be concealed, the existence of which has 
been hidden in guarded and diplomatically worded Reports and buried in printed 
Transactions. So we can see that any such alteration or innovation in the "manner 
of communicating Masonic secrets," as Gould puts it, could not possibly have been 
openly and plainly acknowledged at the time and the traditional cloak of Masonic 
secrecy was far more ample and inclusive in the eighteenth century than is 
regarded as necessary now. 



The year 1723 is thus a critical date, and Gould evidently so regarded it. Some time 
after that, and before 1738, a third degree was arranged and added to the two 
original ones. It is immaterial for his theory when this occurred. Thus it is not a 
crucial point to decide whether the curious minute book of the Philo Mustcae et 
Architecturae Societas of 1725-1727 does or does not refer to three degrees. Gould 
in his History seems to accept the view that it does, referring to 


. . . the evidence it affords of the Fellow Craft's and Master's "parts" having been 
actually wrought other than in Grand Lodge, before Feb. 18, 1726 [when old 
Regulation XIII was amended], is of great value, both as marking the earliest date 
at which such ceremonies are known to have been worked, and from the inference 
we are justified in drawing that at the period in question there was nothing unusual 
in the action of the brethren concerned in these proceedings (5). 


In this view apparently most other students have agreed with him; but he later 
changed his opinion, and in a very complex argument sought to show that actually 
only two degrees were really known to the members of the Society, and that they, 
like Drake, Pennell and Prichard, were the victims of Dr. Anderson's ambiguity 
(6). 


We will now try to come to grips with this hypothesis that the innovation was 
founded in the first place upon misconception. But even yet something more has to 
be premised first. That Dr. Anderson was a Presbyterian minister is well known, as 
also that he was a Scotchman. In a brief biographical sketch Gould says: 


There seems however some ground for supposing Dr. James Anderson was bom at 
Aberdeen, or its vicinity, and it appears to me not improbable, that the records of 
the Aberdeen Lodge might reveal the fact of his having been either an initiate or 
affiliate of that body (7). 



In the first Book of Constitutions, at page 74, there is a list of names of Grand 
officers, and officers of lodges, subscribed to a formal "approbation" of the work. 
In this we find the Masters and Wardens of each lodge in numerical order. As 
Master of Lodge No. 17, appears the name, "James Anderson, A.M.," and on the 
next line, in different type, "The Author of this Book." Now there is here a very 
curious coincidence. In the "Mark Book" of the Lodge of Aberdeen, a book bound 
with clasps that could be fastened with a small padlock, we find it recorded that it 
was written by a James Anderson, Glazier and Mason, and Clerk to the 
"Honourable Lodge" in the year 1670. Following the introductory title in which 
this statement occurs, is a list of the members of the lodge with their marks. This is 
prefaced by the following heading: 


THE NAMES OF Us all who Are the Authoires of and Subscryuers of this Book In 
order as Followeth. 


In this list the name of James Anderson appears again, thus: 


James: Anderson: Glassier: and: Meaasson: and: Wreatter: of: this: book: 1. 6. 7. 0. 


and Maister of our lodge in the year of God 1688 and 1694, 


the last evidently being written in at a later date. Gould says, in reference to this: 


In a list before me of "Clerks of the Aberdeen Lodge," but which unfortunately 
only commences in 1709, the first name on the roll is that of J. Anderson, which is 
repeated year by year till 1725. At the time, therefore, when James Anderson, the 
Presbyterian Minister, published the English Book of Constitutions (1723) a J. 
Anderson presumably the glazier of 1670 was the lodge clerk at Aberdeen. Now if 
the author of one Masonic book, and the writer of the other, were both native of 



Aberdeen, the similarity of name will imply relationship, and in this view of the 
facts, it would seem only natural that the younger historian should have benefited 
by the research of his senior (8). 


He adds that of course the J. Anderson may not have been James Anderson, the 
glazier, and that Dr. Anderson may not have had anything to do with Aberdeen, but 
he adds that in extended researches directed to this end he had found nothing 
which would conflict with the supposition that the doctor was an Aberdonian. 
Gould's guess here has been since very considerably confirmed. Bros. Thorpe and 
Dr. Chetwode Crawley produced evidence a good many years ago which showed 
beyond doubt that Dr: Anderson claimed to be a fellow "townsman" with the Rev. 
William Lorimer, who he also said was a native of Aberdeen; and further that he 
was a graduate of Marischal College of the same place. 


Quite recently, Bro. A. L. Miller, author of The Lodge of Aberdeen, No. 13, 
published an article in Ars Quatuor Coronatorum (9) in which he has been able to 
go a great deal further in regard to the antecedents of the "father of Masonic 
history." Indeed he has established a high degree of probability that the author of 
the Constitutions was not only a relative of James Anderson the glazier (and 
burgess of Aberdeen) but was actually his son. We cannot here discuss the 
evidence discovered and so skilfully presented by Bro. Miller, but we fancy it 
would produce conviction to most minds, although it unfortunately falls short of 
absolute demonstration. The records of the lodge are not complete, and though 
James Anderson the junior may have been made a Mason at Aberdeen, yet his 
name is not found in any list now remaining. 


In view of this, the curious note of authorship in the Book of Constitutions of 1723 
might certainly seem to be inspired by that in the Mark Book of Aberdeen. But, on 
the other hand, if Dr. Anderson were not a member of the Aberdeen lodge it is 
practically certain that he would never have even seen the book, much less known 
anything of its contents, as it was strictly provided in the Statutes of the lodge that 
it should be . . . kept in our Box fast locked, except at such times it is to be taken 
out and carried to the place appointed when there is an Entered Prentice to be 
received, and we ordain all our after comers and successors in the Mason Craft to 
have a special care of this Book . . . neither let the Clerk keep it any longer nor he 



is a writing on it; neither let him write upon it but when the three masters of the 
keys shall be present. (10) 


The Lodge of Aberdeen like all the other old Scottish Lodges used the term 
"Fellow Craft" and Master as synonymous terms. The ampler phrase, however, 
"Fellow of Craft," which appears so frequently in the other Scottish records, does 
not seem to have been used, so far as the published excerpts show at least. This 
may be taken as an added item of confirmation, seeing Anderson never uses it 
either. 


Now at last we come to what Gould evidently regarded as of the greatest 
importance to his theory, possibly as its keystone. This may be baldly stated thus: 
Dr. Anderson, through the medium of the Book of Constitutions assuredly, and 
through revision of the ritual probably (or possibly?), introduced (and, one would 
almost judge, deliberately and of set intention) the terminology of the Scottish 
lodges into English Masonry; and thus so confused the minds of the brethren that 
they supposed there were three degrees instead of two. We give a number of 
typical quotations to illustrate for similar passages are to be found all through his 
work wherever he approached this subject. 


Dr. Anderson was certainly a Scotsman, and to this circumstance must be 
attributed his introduction of many operative terms from the vocabulary of the 
sister kingdom into his "Book of Constitutions." Of these, one of the most common 
is the compound word Fellow-Craft, which is plainly of Scottish derivation. Enter'd 
Prentice also occurs . . . 


The word cowan, however, is reserved for the second edition 


Although it is tolerably clear that degrees as we now have them were grafted upon 
Scottish Masonry in the eighteenth century [i.e. from England], a puzzle in 
connection with their English derivation still awaits solution. It is this. The degrees 



in question . . . viz., those of Master Mason, Fellow Craft and Entered Apprentice, 
bear titles which are evidently borrowed from the vocabulary of Scotland. Master 
Mason, it is true, was a term common to both kingdoms, but viewed in conjunction 
with the others the three expressions may be regarded as having been taken en bloc 
from the operative terminology of the northern kingdom. 


The terms or expressions, Master Mason, Fellow Craft, Entered Apprentice and 
Cowan appear, from documentary evidence to have been in common use in 
Scotland, from the 1598 down to our own timed. 


In the introductory article on Catechisms and Revelations in the Collected Essays, 
written some twenty-seven years later, he returns to the same idea. 


It is common knowledge that Dr. Anderson was the author of the English Books of 
Constitutions, 1723 and 1738 and that in the first of these publications he 
introduced into Old Regulation XIII some Scottish terms, the appearance of which 
in the volume led to singular confusion and gave general offense. (12) 


In the paper on the "Antiquity of Masonic Symbolism," we find the following: 


The next question for our consideration is, did Dr. Anderson remodel the ancient 
ritual as well as the ancient laws of the Freemason? ... It is probable that he did, 
and that we owe to him the introduction of the Scottish operative titles, and the 
expansion of the system of degrees though it is quite possible that the third degree, 
by which I do not mean a new ceremony but an alteration in the method of 
imparting the old ones, was the work of other hands. (13) 


Here we have the quite definite expression of opinion that Anderson was a "ritual 
tinker" as well as a codifier of laws. Gould goes on in the next paragraph to repeat 



that in 1723 only two grades are mentioned, as in the Lodge of Aberdeen, and 
adds: 


But about 1725 the titles of Fellow Craft and Master became disjoined, and as Dr. 
Anderson was absent from the deliberations of the Grand Lodge of England 
between June, 1725, and June, 1731, it is perhaps a fair inference that he was not 
concerned in the alteration. 


We see that the imported phrases mentioned come down to three. "Cowan" is too 
late to affect the argument, not appearing till 1738, and as Master Mason 
admittedly was not new there are really only two left. Though we may give some 
weight to the argument that the three terms were introduced en bloc, as Gould puts 
it, nevertheless the fact remains that there was actually only two new ones. Rather 
a slight innovation to create such "general offense" as to cause Anderson's 
retirement from Grand Lodge for six years. There must have been more than this, 
and it seems far more probable that the offense was given, as we have previously 
suggested, first by the printing and publishing the Constitutions, and second by the 
wholesale way in which they had been edited, digested and altered. 


NOTES 


(1) Gould, Essays, p. 223, reprinted from A.Q.C., Vol. xvi, p. 48. 

(2) Concise History, p. 395 

(3) Ibid, p. 396. 

(4) THE BUILDER (1928), p. 197. 

(5) Gould, History, Vol. iii, p. 133. 

(6) A.Q.C., Vol. xvi, pp. 37 and 1 12. Reprinted in the Collected Essays, pp. 214, 
235 



(7) Op. cit., Vol. iii, p. 44. 

(8) Ibid, Vol. iii, p. 45. 

(9) A.Q.C., Vol. xxxvi, p. 86. 

(10) Miller, Notes on the Early History and Records of the Lodge, Aberdeen, p. 18. 

(1 1) Op. cat., Vol. iii, pp. 45, 69, 71. 

(12) Gould, Essays, p. xx. 

(13) Ibid, p. 139. 


— o — 


American Army Lodges in the World War 


By BRO. CHARLES E. IRWIN, Associate Editor 

Lahneck Lodge No. 1186, of Texas, Stationed at Coblentz, Germany in the Army 
of Occupation 


THE city of Coblentz, Germany, will forever be closely associated with the history 
of the American Forces that aided in the winning of the World War for the Allied 
Nations. This same city will be forever associated also in the most intimate manner 
in the Masonic History of the World War. For within Coblentz and its area 
flourished many Masonic Clubs and at least three American Military Lodges, each 
of which will be represented in this series of studies. 


Lahneck Lodge is the third and last of these American Military Lodges within the 
Army of Occupation. The story of its inception, life and demise is told in the 



official records of the various proceedings of the Grand Lodge of Texas as well as 
in incidental references to the same on the part of other Grand Lodge reviewers. 


APPLICATION FOR DISPENSATION TO FORM A LODGE AT COBLENTZ 


We will begin with the following, taken from the Address of M.W. Bro. D.F. 
Johnson to the Grand Lodge of Texas at the Annual Communication in 1922. Bro. 
Johnson has since then passed to the Grand Lodge Above, to the deep regret of all 
who knew him. The following is his account of the circumstances leading to the 
formation of Lahneck Lodge: 


In January I received the application of forty-one Master Masons, also 
accompanied by the demit of each of them for a dispensation to form a Lodge at 
Coblentz, Germany. This application was accompanied by a certificate from the 
Grand Lodge having jurisdiction over the Masonic territory in which Coblentz is 
located, certifying that they did not claim exclusive jurisdiction. I, therefore, 
granted their application and issued a dispensation. As reference is also made to 
this under the heading of "Application for Dispensation to Form a Lodge at 
Coblentz, Germany," in which a more complete description of all the proceedings 
is given, I will not burden the record with a further description under this section. 


The more extended account to which M. W. Bro. Johnson here refers comes at a 
later page of the report. 


"Shortly after my installation as Grand Master, I received an application from 
American Soldiers of the Army of Occupation, located at and near Coblentz. 
Germany, asking for the right of forming a Lodge at that place. This petition was 
signed by eleven brothers, holding membership in Texas, and by seventy-nine 
Masons holding membership in various Lodges scattered over the United States. 



"After many days and nights of consideration and taking counsel from some of the 
best informed Masons in Texas, I wrote to the Masonic Club at Coblentz, the I 
would grant them a Dispensation when they had conformed to certain formalities 
required by the Constitution and Laws of the Grand Lodge of Texas. 


"On Feb. 22 these brethren wrote me as follows: 


To tell you that your letter of Jan. 16 brought joy and happiness to the hearts of all 
American Masons on the Rhine is expressing it mildly. When Bro. Forbes 
presented your letter to the Club on the 3rd of February, it marked a turning point 
in our history, and the enthusiastic, appreciative manner of its reception by the 
American Masonic Club would have brought tears into your eyes, when a result 
that we have hoped for, worked for, and prayed for seemed to be at last realized, 
the singing of the Doxology seemed to be the only thing that answered. We hope 
the notes someway reached across the ocean to you. 


"Before writing them that I would grant a dispensation I wrote to United States 
Senator Bro. Morris Sheppard and secured through him a statement from the War 
Department at Washington that the Army of Occupation would remain on the 
Rhine for almost a indefinite period and would probably be several thousand in 
number. 


"These matters had scarcely been adjusted, and the details of the matter worked 
out, when it was announced through the press the the entire Army of Occupation 
would be returned to the Unite States at once. 


"The news also reached the brethren at Coblenz, who immediately sent a 
cablegram notifying me of this fact, and asking me to hold up the granting of the 
dispensation, which I did, for several months, during which time there was sent to 
me from all over the United States demits from various Lodges, and finally on June 



22 (1922) I mailed a Dispensation to the following named brothers, whose demits 
had been received: 


John F. Griebel, a Past Master and life member of Independence, Mo., as special 
representative of the Grand Master, with powers coequal to that of a District 
Deputy Grand Master; C.O. Bailey, First Worshipful Master; H.B. Jordan, First 
Senior Warden; H.L. Kingston, First Junior Warden, and the following named 
brothers: Melvin G. Brownston, Gottfried Buettschle, T.H. Burwell, Barney 
Forbes, Roy M. Hare, W.H. Saddler, John Sasser, Wm. L. Wylie, Paul Audus, 
Walter S. Bennett, F.W. Brown, F.O. Bryson, Paul J. Casey, E.E. Cole, D.H. 
Finley, Andres Florin, J.E. Grimes, G.F. Hobson, L.W. Hulet, J.H. Johnson, Aaron 
Kapler, E.E. Lockhart, W.A. Lowenburg, J.H. McFall, J.W. McKeesver, C.E. 
Macey, J.W. Marshall, V.E. Miltonberg, J.H. Cross, J.A. Dolan, J.T. Priestly, H.S. 
Purnell, J.H. Walton, R.J. Pahnke, J.S. Patrick, H.H. Siff, J.M. Yallor, W.B. 
Wisely. 


"This Dispensation was received in due time and on July 4 (1922) the American 
Lodge, working under a dispensation from the Grand Lodge of Texas, was set to 
work in the presence of two of the most distinguished Masons of the United States, 
Bro. John H. Cowles, Sovereign Grand Commander of the Southern Jurisdiction 
(Scottish Rite Masons), and Past Grand Commander Edward C. Day, of Montana, 
who were sojourning in Germany. 


"And though I had understood from the first report that still another distinguished 
Mason and statesman, former VicePresident Thomas R. Marshall, was also 
present, a later letter informs me that Bro. Marshall was one day late in reaching 
Coblentz, and failed to witness the establishment of the Texas American Lodge in 
Germany on the historic day of the birth of the nation. 


NAME OF THE LODGE AT COBLENTZ 



"At the request of the petitioners for the dispensation, the Lodge was christened 
'Lahneck Lodge, U. D.,' the petition reciting the following reason for naming it 
'Lahneck Lodge': 


We desire to have the Lodge named Lahneck Lodge, in commemoration of those 
sterling Masons (Knights Templar), twelve in number, who made the last sacrifice 
in defense of their beliefs. It is fit and right that on these historic grounds our 
Lodge should perpetuate the memory of the last of the Noble Order of Knights 
Templar, for it is within a stone's throw almost of our meeting place, that the last of 
the Knights Templar laid down their lives in the defense of those principles which 
we hold dear. 


Phillip and the Pope conspired to destroy the organization in order that they might 
share between them the property which had belonged to the Knights for centuries. 
The Grand Master and fifty of his followers were burned at the stake by those 
whose chief motive was rather a desire to confiscate the possessions of the 
Templars, than any religious war against heretics and sinners. 


The Archbishop of Maine had long cast covetous eyes on Castle Lahneck (whose 
ruined precincts are now hallowed by martyr blood), which shielded twelve 
Knights Templar, and their retainers, and armed with papal authority he proceeded 
down the Rhine, with many vassals and mercenary soldiefs, and reaching Castle 
Lahneck commanded the defenders to yield or die a shameful death on the gallows. 
Well aware that this would be their fate in any case the oldest Templar cried out in 
a loud voice that they were all prepared to suffer, like their brethren in France, and 
were resolved to fight to the last drop of their blood. 


Against overwhelming numbers they fought, day after day, and right being on their 
side destroyed great numbers of their attackers, their own ranks suffered severely. 



Prominent in all the hand-to-hand struggles were the heroic figures of the twelve 
Templars, in their white mantles adorned with the blood-red Cross. At last, 
overwhelmed by superior numbers, one by one they fell beneath their shattered 
shields and bleeding from many wounds, closed their eyes in death. Finally, only 
one veteran stood, with blood- flecked sword, among the dead bodies of his valiant 
comrades, the last survivor. 


He was called upon to surrender but knowing that such enemies could not be 
trusted, he called down the curse of heaven on worldly priests and their greed for 
land, and lifted on high his sword, rushed upon his foes, and fighting heroically, 
fell to earth never to rise again. Thus perished the last of the Noble Order of 
Knights Templar. But their story is remembered by the faithful to this day. Could 
any more suitable or appropriate name for our Lodge be possible? 


"So in acknowledgment of the wishes of our soldier Masons the name 'Lahneck 
Lodge' was granted them in the Dispensation. 


"Immediately following the setting to work of Lahneck Lodge the members and 
distinguished brothers present, the Lodge was called from labor and repaired to the 
historic Castle, where the Lodge was called to labor, and the officers duly placed in 
charge. 


JURISDICTION 


"Doubting the authority of the Grand Master to form a new district I gave no 
specific territory for this new Lodge, and am referring that point to the Grand 
Lodge, should it approve my action in granting the dispensation to form the Lodge. 


ELIGIBILITY TO MEMBERSHIP 



"In order to clarify this point until the Grand Lodge could make further 
investigation, I ruled that any American citizen who had been on duty in Germany 
with the American Army, or who had lived in Coblentz district for more than six 
months after his discharge from the American Army, or any soldier or sailor who is 
an American citizen without a fixed place of residence, and who was located in an 
area not nearer to any working Lodge under any Grand Jurisdiction of the United 
States would be eligible, I also cautioned the brothers to carefully guard the latter 
clause, in order to prevent conflicts with friendly sister jurisdictions. 


NO INVASION OF TERRITORIAL RIGHTS 


"Before granting this dispensation to form Lahneck Lodge at Coblentz, I received 
the following certificate from the German Masonic Lodge located at Coblentz: 


Coblentz, Germany, Feb. 14,1922. Friederich zur Vaterlandsliebe Lodge 


To the American Masonic Club Coblentz 


Dear Brethren: In the name of St. John's Lodge, Friederich Zur Vaterlandsliebe, at 
Coblentz, under the jurisdiction of the Grand National Mother Lodge in the 
Prussian States called "Three Globes" at Berlin, we hereby certify that we have no 
objections to the establishment of an American Lodge, which is legally under the 
jurisdiction of a recognized Grand Lodge in America, and will only work among 
Americans, resident in the Rhineland. 


The newly established American Lodge will also be permitted to work in our 
Temple, in accordance with terms to be agreed upon later. 



We would further state that our Grand Lodge has no exclusive rights to erect 
subordinate Lodges in this territory, and that all Grand Lodges in Germany are 
independent of each other, as far as the establishment of subordinate Lodges is 
concerned, and have the right to install subordinate Lodges in the entire German 
territory, even at such places where subordinate Lodges under the jurisdiction of 
other Grand Lodges already exist. 


Fraternally yours. 


For the Council of the Friederich Zur Vaterlandsliebe Lodge, (seal) (signed) A. 
Duckwitz, Wor. Master 


"At the request of the brethren who petitioned for the dispensation, I appointed 
Bro. John P. Griebel, a Past Master of Independence Lodge, No. 76, Mo., as a 
special representative of the Grand Master with powers co-equal to that of a 
District Deputy, sufficient evidence having been furnished me to show his 
knowledge of the Arts of Ancient Craft Masonry as well as a knowledge of the 
Masonic Laws, and on my direction the Grand Secretary furnished the Lodge with 
a dozen copies of the 1921 Constitution and By-laws, together with sufficient 
number of the new Monitor. 


OFFICERS 


"Practically all officers of the Lodge at Coblentz are officers in the American 
Army of Occupation, ranking from Colonel down, and all are genuine American 
citizens with American ideals and American training. 



"These brethren were so very anxious to establish the Lodge that they notified me 
that they would pay as much as $2000.00 of the necessary expenses to send a 
representative there to set the lodge to work, and though I had planned to have 
some distinguished Mason of the Grand Lodge of Texas do this, developments 
described, necessitating the long delay, made it advisable when the decision was 
finally made to keep the Army of Occupation in Germany, to act promptly and 
with the assurance that those on the ground were possessed of the proper 
knowledge of the laws and the ritualistic work, I dispatched the dispensation by 
mail without sending the delegate from Texas. 


"In granting this dispensation I realized that it was fraught with many dangerous 
possibilities. I found no law to authorize it, but I also found that there were no laws 
preventing it. I, along with thousands of other Masons, had felt incensed that 
Masons were unable to send their delegates into Europe during the War, and work 
for the common cause of humanity; I had felt that Masonry had been done an 
injustice when Masons were denied the privilege of working in the army training 
camps, while thousands upon thousands of the young manhood of America were 
mobilized to fight for the cause which Masonry has always held as one of its 
cardinal virtues. I recalled that it was Masons who had founded the American 
Government and had written the principles of Masonry into the organic laws of the 
land; I thought of the stories and traditions of the traveling masons of medieval 
times, who had lived in huts around the buildings under construction, the 
cathedrals and castles on the Rhine, and the historic cities of middle Europe, who 
had taught and guarded the secrets of Architecture from the vulgar stone cutters 
and wall builders, the cowans and rough masons, and had given aught of their 
earnings to a worthy brother in time of distress, and I was unable to understand 
why our own gallant American and Texan soldier boys should not be able to teach 
and to guard our modern lessons of Architecture in Character Building, in 
benevolence and civil liberty, even when clothed in the khaki, and under the tents 
of the American soldier, and while located in the same old cities and towns of the 
ancient days. 


"So, my brothers, I had this wonderful opportunity presented to me, to afford our 
soldier boys the privilege of forming this Lodge, and I would forever afterward 
have closed my lips against further criticism and bowed my head in everlasting 
shame had I refused this wonderful chance which has come to but few Masons, and 



no matter what may be the decision of the Grand Lodge as to the wisdom and 
advisability of establishing the Lodge at Coblentz, it will always stand out in my 
mind as the crowning event of my Masonic experience and the year it has been my 
privilege to serve the Craft as Grand Master. 


"A report under date of Aug. 21 (1922) shows that the Lodge is going along in fine 
shape, and to that date had conferred twelve E.A. Degrees, with two more elected 
to receive the same, and had affiliated three more, and had several more 
applications on file." 


The Grand Lodge received the Grand Master's account of what he had done in the 
matter with approbation. The Committee on Grand Officers' Reports commented as 
follows: 


COBLENTZ LODGE 


"Since the M.W. Grand Master has himself so amplified the subject of the granting 
of a dispensation for the instituting of Lahneck Lodge at Coblentz, Germany, we 
would refrain from a restating of the facts and circumstances, save that in addition 
to the offering of our findings we crave the privilege of mingling the truest 
sentiments of our hearts with those of his own in this splendid exhibition of 
patriotic love for country and loyalty to duty as a man and a Mason. 


"We most heartily join with him in the sentiment that seldom, if ever, has so 
marked a privilege come to one in his position as that of providing Masonic Lodge 
privileges to our brethren of the Army of Occupation during their enforced stay at 
Coblentz, Germany. 



"It is also gratifying to your Committee that the first Master of the new Lodge is 
Major C.O. Bailey of Quinlan, Texas, who is now in attendance on this Grand 
Lodge. 


"We would approve the granting of this dispensation as being amply justified in 
policy and having the necessary constitutional warrant, feeling that this Lodge 
U.D. has been formed for the convenience of our American Army of Occupation, 
and others in the service of this country. We offer the following, viz.: 


" 'Resolved, That the act of the Most Worshipful Grand Master in granting 
dispensation for the instituting of Lahneck Lodge at Coblentz, Germany, is hereby 
approved; and be it further Resolved, That the personal jurisdiction of Lahneck 
Lodge No. 1186, shall be confined exclusively to the soldiers, sailors and marines, 
and other citizens of the United States of America, who may be sojourning in 
Germany as attaches of the said Army of Occupation, or as representatives or 
employes of the government of the United States of America.' " 


The Committee on Lodges under Dispensation presented a report also in which it 
was stated that: 


The Committee has carefully examined the minutes, records and returns of 
Lahneck Lodge, U. D., located at Coblentz, Germany. 


We find all records to be in excellent condition and books have been neatly kept. 
They have been very active in their work, having initiated twenty-four, passed 
sixteen, and raised twelve from July 4, 1922, to Oct. 23, 1922. 


We therefore recommend that a Charter be granted Lahneck Lodges No. , 

located at Coblentz, Germany, with the following officers: Harry L. Kingston, 



Worshipful Master; Matthew A Reasoner, Senior Warden; and Wm. L. Wylie, 
Junior Warden. 


Following the reading of this portion of the report of the Committee on Lodges 
under Dispensation the strand Master said: 


My brethren, this is the Lodge that I referred to you in my annual address, and 
which was also discussed briefly with you yesterday, in which I stated that I had 
granted a dispensation to this Lodge. This Lodge does not at this time have the 
original officers to whom the dispensation was granted, for the simple reason that 
some of them have been called back to the United States. 


Now, brethren, I have recited the facts in the case, and I realize that the 
establishment of the Lodge U. D. in a foreign country, possibly, has only one or 
two previous cases of like nature in the Grand Lodge of Texas. This dispensation 
was granted to the American soldier boys, many of them from our own great State 
of Texas, and if there is no objection, or do vou wish to discuss this in any manner? 
The motion is now made that we grant them a charter at this time. Are you ready 
for the question? 


Whereupon the recommendation of the Committee was unanimously adopted by 
the Grand Lodge, and this portion of the report, together with that read previously, 
ordered printed in the proceedings, after which the Grand Master made the 
following announcement: 


Brethren, it has been unanimously adopted, and I shall now call upon the first 
Master of Lahneck Lodge, if he is in the room. I would like to introduce Major 
C.S. Bailey to this Grand Lodge (extended applause). Bro. Bailey, and members of 
the Grand Lodge of Texas, I now take great pleasure in introducing to you a native 
of Texas, the first Worshipful Master of Lahneck Lodge, U.D., Coblentz, Germany 
(much applause) . 



Whereupon Major C.S. Bailey, the first Worshipful Master of Lahneck Lodge, No. 
1186, Coblentz, Germany, made the following Address to the Most Worshipful 
Grand Lodge of Texas: 


"Most Worshipful Grand Master, Right Worshipful Grand Senior and Junior 
Wardens, Worshipful Members of the Grand Lodge: It is difficult indeed for me, 
after listening to the beautiful speeches that I have heard since I have been in this 
Grand Lodge, to make a response before this body, but it is an opportunity that I 
have never dreamed, in my fondest ambitions, would come to me, to stand before 
this great assembly. 


"I want to thank you, and I want to thank you on behalf of Lahneck Lodge, to 
whom you have granted this charter, and for the boon that you have given us. We 
are on the Rhine five thousand miles from here, but we are Masons (applause). As 
members of the American Masonic Club we could meet and have our social 
pleasures, but we missed one thing, and there it is, that altar of Freemasonry to 
which every Mason loves to get down and bow and worship before, and now that 
you have given it to us and our Grand Master has given it to us before you did, 
under dispensation, I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart and assure 
you at this time that if the Masons in Coblentz knew of your action there would be 
crowds and it would spread at once throughout the camp, and the men would try to 
express in every way they know how their appreciation of this grand thing which 
you have done for them. I want to assure you today that as the American Army is 
guarding the Rhine and guiding those native people's feet into the ways of self- 
government, which is the only way to help them, there are Texas Masons there 
who are wearing the uniform and performing that duty and fulfilling their 
obligations to the flag, and today, just as the organic laws of our country were 
written into our Constitution, the same is being written into the laws of that 
Province. Surely if Charlemagne returned to earth today and saw that things are not 
as they were when he was there, when his loyal subjects were indeed loyal, but 
now their descendants are being governed by those Freemasons whom he 
suppressed as they worked along the Rhine and built those beautiful castles, I am 
sure that he would feel that that great Master above, whom we all serve so loyally, 
had at last come into his own, and he would feel that he had certainly lost some of 



his prestige, and that the Masons of the world are now reaping results from the 
fruits of their labor begun years ago in the Rhine Province. 


"I thank you again, brethren, and will not take up more of your time now, but I 
shall go at once to the telegraph office and send a cablegram to Lahneck Lodge 
telling them of the good news." (Applause.) 


Later in the proceedings of the Grand Lodge, W Bro. Bailey, the first Master of 
Lahneck Lodge, presented to the Grand Master, on behalf of the lodge, a 
beautifully engraved watch charm as a token of their gratitude and appreciation of 
all he had done for them. Bro. Bailey spoke as follows: 


"Most Worshipful Grand Master, Grand Wardens and Brethren of the Grand Lodge 
of Texas: As I said today, in the few minutes I had before its closing, it is an 
exceptional opportunity to be presented to the Most Worshipful Grand Body, and I 
would that I had the power of oratory to express these emotions which stir the soul 
upon an occasion like this, but, being a soldier, I have been taught that in the 
presence of my superiors to remain just as silent as possible and many of you have 
had the same lesson. (Applause.) 


"However, I cannot refrain from making a few remarks concerning this occasion. 
Four years ago the United States Army had just finished up the biggest task ever 
assigned to an army since the dawn of history (applause). They had just gotten 
their breath and stretched their legs, so to speak, and the THIRD AMERICAN 
ARMY, under Dickman, was marching to the Rhine, to put the finishing touches 
upon this task. (Applause.) In this organization were some Army Masonic Lodges, 
and during the time that the Third Army was on the Rhine, there was Masonic 
Light, at Coblentz, and in the American area. But upon the withdrawal of the Third 
Army, and the organization of the American Army of Occupation, all of the 
Masonic Bodies returned to the United States. Immediately thereupon a Club 
known as the American Masonic Club of Coblentz was organized. At that time it 
held its weekly meetings in the German Masonic Temple, through a purely 
business arrangement with the German brethren in Coblentz. 



"At each meeting of this Club the Chaplain of this Club would always in offering 
his devotionals to the Supreme Grand Architect of the Universe mention the fact, 
and offered a prayer that at some time in the future a charter would be granted to us 
that we might hold a Lodge in Coblentz, Germany. (Applause.) At our banquets, 
which we held every month, a moment of silent prayer was always offered and in 
that moment and in every heart present, there was always that feeling and desire 
that some way, some day, we will have Masonic Light in American Army of 
Occupation. As to the effect of these prayers I leave that to our theological 
brethren, but the prayer was answer just the same, and it came from Texas the 
answer did (applause), and every Texan in the American Army of Occupation at 
last swelled with pride that Texas should come and bring us Masonic Light. 
(Applause.) 


"In our correspondence with the M.W.G.M. of the G.L. of Texas, in his first letter 
to us, was wrought a lively admiration for him, and for the principles for which he 
stood, and for his courage and the willingless to step out into the unknown territory 
and take the responsibility of giving a dispensation to the soldiers at Coblentz. 
There were tears of joy shed upon the reading of his letter, and my brethren, it 
would have done your hearts good to have been at that meeting. (Applause.) In all 
our correspondence with him we found him to be a man who would inspire the 
love and affection and trust of anybody on earth, and we were more than gratified 
that this Grand Lodge should have such a man at its head. 


"Without creating precedent, or without conceding anything for the future, upon 
my departure from Coblentz, Lahneck Lodge asked me as a special favor to them, 
and as a mark of appreciation and affection for our Grand Master, to present him 
with a small token, representing the great affection for him which is represented by 
a watch charm which has upon its unfolding the working tools of a Master Mason, 
all of them. (Applause.) 


"It is our trust and prayer that you, Most W.G.M., will wear this and ever 
remember and ever feel in your heart that in Coblentz, Germany, there are loyal 
hearts beating for you, and whatever may arise in the future we know that your 



Masonic Work is just beginning and we know that you will carry on, and we trust 
that the working tools depicted herein will assist you more and more as you go 
onward and upward. (Much applause.) 


"Now, Most Worshipful Sir, representing Lahneck Lodge our prayer is that God's 
choicest blessings may rest upon you in your future life." (Much applause.) 


To this presentation speech Most Worshipful Grand Master Johnson made the 
following reply: 


"Major Bailey and Brethren: I recall reading a wonderful letter from Coblentz, 
telling me that when they received my letter advising them that I would grant them 
a dispensation, that the only fitting tribute that seemed appropriate at that time was 
the closing heir meeting with the Doxology; they told me in that wonderful letter 
that they hoped that somehow it would get across the way to me, into my humble 
home in Brownwood. I thought of that night and in my wn heart there came an 
echo of that song: 'Praise God from whom all blessings flow.' If nothing else had 
ever happened in my life to make me feel glad of the opportunity I had to grant this 
dispensation, it was somehow a feeling in my heart that I could feel the echo of 
that song and sing with them: 'Praise God from whom all blessings flow' and so, 
tonight, Major Bailey, I want you to feel that I hope, somehow over here in 
Coblentz, those brethren who are remainng there could get the echo of a prayer, as 
it ascends on high, and know that my heart shall allways be with them. I thank you, 
my brother." (Applause.) 


We now come to the Annual Communication of 1923, and in the Proceedings of 
the Grand Lodge of Texas for that vear we come upon another reference to 
Lahneck Lodge. It has to do with the termination of this historic Lodge. 


LAHNECK, NO. 1186, DEMISED 



"By reason of the fact that the U. S. Government withdrew its Army of Occupation 
from Germany early in the year and all of the members of the above Lodge being 
with the forces, this Lodge automatically demised at that time. In contemplation of 
this demise, Bro. J. P. Griebel wrote me on Jan. 27, requesting a ruling upon the 
status of the members in the event of a demise, it being necessary that they know in 
advance of the Evacuation from Germany just what their standing would be, as the 
members would be scattered all over the United States upon their return to this 
country. 


"This was clearly defined by law which was quoted. He also desired to know what 
would be the status of those who had applied to their Lodge, their fees accepted, 
elected, but had not received the degrees. 


"To this I replied that in as much as these applicants had been legally elected by a 
Lodge duly constituted by the Grand Lodge of Texas, that they were entitled to 
receive the degrees and that their names should be made known to our Grand 
Secretary, who would upon further information make arrangements with a Lodge 
of the locality where the elected applicant was situated to have the first degree 
conferred, as a courtesy to this Grand Lodge, after which because of the demise of 
their Lodge they would be in the position of dimitted Masons as is provided for by 
our laws. 


"This was a ruling without precedent so far as I could tell, being what I considered 
an emergency ruling to cover an emergency which could hardly be avoided as the 
soldiers who composed the Lodge had no voice in the date of their removal from 
Germany. 


"I was advised that the belongings and funds of the Lodge would be shipped to the 
Grand Secretary Pearson, at the proper time. The belongings were few as the 
Lodge Room occupied and furnishings used were not of their own. I was advised 
that it was the wish of the Lodge that whatever funds it had on hand at the time of 



demise be reverted to the Masonic Home. However, from the date of Bro. Griebel's 
letter mentioned above, I have heard nothing further from any of the brethren, and 
never having been advised further nor have I ever had the American addresses of 
any of the members so that I could make inquiry of the final outcome, do not 
positively know, although all troops were withdrawn, if the Lodge actually 
demised. 


"This suggestion of doubt is expressed because of a statement by Bro. Griebel that 
'there will be a number of us here for some time to come and we are going ahead 
and work as long as we can.' This was shortly after the order of withdrawal from 
Washington." 


The final notice we have is found in this same volume of Proceedings. Under the 
head of "Charters to New Lodges" we are informed that "the fifteen charters 
granted to new lodges at our last Annual Communication were all issued promptly 
and sent out upon instructions from the Grand Master." In the list is the entry: 


Lahneck, No. 1 1 86, Coblentz, Germany. 


Next, under the heading of "Donations" we are informed that the sum of one 
hundred dollars had been received from the lodge as "Campaign Subscription," and 
finally in the list of demised lodges the following entry: 


Lahneck Lodge, No. 1186, Coblentz, Germany. Charter 1922. Demised 1923. 


In closing this remarkable record which in its way stands unique in the history of 
American Military Lodges, I wish to give full acknowledgment to the unfailing 
courtesy and genuine cooperation of Grand Secretary W. B. Pearson; of the 
kindness of W. Bro. District Dep. Grand Master L. B. Russel, of Comanche, Texas, 



for his interest in and practical advice in gathering this material for the history; and 
P. G. M. Andrew L. Randell of the Masonic Service Association. It is my hope that 
this record may arouse in brothers who belonged to either Masonic Lodges or 
Masonic Clubs during the time our American Forces were in France and other 
countries to get into communication with me and furnish me with a copy of 
whatever Magonic material they may have in order that I may give other papers as 
complete as the present one. 


Moreover if perchance this story falls under the notice of any of the former 
members of Lahneck Lodge who were present at the last meetings, we shall regard 
it as a real contribution of Masonic value to write me so that we may aid the Grand 
Lodge of Texas in closing up its record of this Lodge. We have tried to obtain 
contact with Bro. Griebel. Does any reader know where we may locate him? 


APPENDIX 


DISPENSATION TO FORM A NEW LODGE (Emblem) 


In the Name and by the Authority of the M.W. Grand Lodge of Texas, A.F.&A.M. 


WHEREAS, a petition has been presented to me by sundry brethren, to-wit: 


Brothers C.C. Bailey, Melvin G. Brownson, T. H. Burwell, Gottfried Buettschle, 
Barney Forbes Roy M. Hare, W.H. Saddler, John Sasser, Wm. L. Wylie, Paul 
Audus, Walter S. Bennett, F.W. Brown, F.C. Bryson, Paul J. Casey, E.E. Cole, J.H. 
Cross, J.A. Dolan, D.H. Finley, Andres Florin, J.E. Grimes G.F. Hobson, L.W. 
Hulett, J.M. Johnson, H.B. Jordan, Aaron Kapler, H.L. Kingston, E.E. Lockhart, 
M.A. Lowenberg, J.H. McFall, J.W. McKeesver, C.E. Macey, J.W. Marshall, V.E. 



Miltenberger, R.J. Pahnke, J.S. Patrick, J.T. Priestly, H.H. Siff, H.S. Purnell, J.M. 
Taylor, J.H. Walton, W.B. Wiseley, 


Residing at Colbentz, Germany, in the Army of Occupation, and praying to be 
congregated and form a Lodge, promising to render obedience to the Ancient 
Usages and Landmarks of the Fraternity and the Laws of the Grand Lodge; and, 


WHEREAS, said petitioners have been recommended to me as Master Masons in 
good standing by the Master, Wardens and Brethren of St. Johns "Three Globes" 
Lodge of Germany, under our... 


Therefore, I, D. F. Johnson, Grand Master of the M. W. Grand Lodge of the State 
of Texas, reposing full confidence in the recommendation aforesaid and in the 
Masonic integrity and ability of the petitioners, do, by virtue of the authority in me 
vested, hereby grant this Dispensation, empowering and authorizing our trusty and 
well beloved Brethren aforesaid to open and form a Lodge, after the manner of 
Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and therein to admit and make Freemasons, 
according to the ancient custom, and not otherwise. 


THIS DISPENSATION is to continue in full force until the next Annual 
Communication of our Grand Lodge aforesaid unless sooner revoked by 
Constitutional authority. And I do hereby appoint Brother C.C. Bailey to be the 
first W. Master Brother H.B. Jordan, to be the first Senior Warden and Brother 
H.L. Kongston, to be the first Junior Warden of said new Lodge. And it shall be 
their duty, and they are hereby required to return this DISPENSATION, with the 
original record of all proceedings had under the authority of the same, together 
with their returns of work, members and contributions, and an attested copy of the 
By-Laws adopted, to our Grand Lodge aforesaid, at the expiration of the time 
herein specified, and for such further action in the premises as shall then be 
deemed wise and proper. 



GIVEN UNDER MY HAND under the authority of the Grand Lodge at 
Brownwood, Texas, this the 12th day of June, A. D. 1922, A. L. 5922. 


(signed) D. F. Johnson, Grand Master. 


Item: Notation on the back of this Dispensation: Lahneck Lodge, U.D. 6-14-1922 
Pd 25.00 (copy) 


LAHNECK LODGE U.D., A.F.&A.M. OF TEX.A.S 


W. M„ C. C. Bailey. Secy., H. H. Siff. 


Coblentz, Germany, Oct. 20. 1922. 


To the Grand Lodge of Texas A.F.&A.M. 


Lahneck Lodge U.D., A.F.&A.M., working since July 4, 1922, under a 
Dispensation granted by the Most Worshipful Master of the Grand Lodge of Texas, 
most respectfully pray and petition the Grand Lodge of Texas to grant us a Charter 
empowering us to meet at Coblentz, Germany, in the Area of the American Army 
of Occupation, on the first and third Fridays of every month and thus permit us to 
continue to promise and diffuse the genuine principles of Freemasonry and to 
enjoy that fraternal fellowship to which, as members of the Craft, we believe we 
are entitled. 



And we have nominated and do reeommend Brother H. L. Kingston to be the First 
Master, Brother M. A. Reasoner to be the first Senior Warden and Brother Wm. L. 
Wylie to be the first Junior Warden of said Lodge. 


The prayer of this petition being granted, we promise strict obedience to the 
Commands of the Grand Master and the laws and regulations of the Grand Lodge 
of Texas. 


Signatures attached. 


MEMBERS OF LAHNECK LODGE RESIDENT IN COBLENTZ 


Q.J. Barker, F.W. Brown, R.J. Casey, J.H. Cross, J.A. Dolan, A. Florin, J.P. 
Griebel, J.E. Grimes, R.M. Hare, H.M. Herff, H.L. Kingston, J.A. Lackey, E.E. 
Lockhard, C.E. Macey, M.A.S. Ming, R.J. Pahnke, J.T. Priestley, M.A. Reasoner, 
F.H. Rivers, W.H. Sadler, W.B. Shutt, H.H. Siff, J.A. Sprenger, J.T. Steffen, J.H. 
Walton, E.B. Whisner, M.H. Wilson, W.B. Wiseley, Wm. L. Wylie, T.F. Fieker, 
W.W. Sidwell, T.J. Davis, H.M. Pinkerton, C.W. White, E.E. Hagan, A.R. Crooks. 
Willem B. Wilton, C.O. Bailey. 


The following lists of names were also appended: 


FELLOWCRAFTS OF LAHNECK LODGE 


Lawrence A. Deitz, Noah G. Halfton, Charles H. Voight, George J. Winters. 



ENTERED APPRENTICE OF LAHNECK LODGE 


Thomas J. McGrath, Tom Randel, Wm. G. Schoenwald, John F. Stever, Edward 
Theurich, Stewart R. Trout, Chas. H. Tooze, Russell C. Woethington. 


MEMBERS OF LAHNECK LODGE RETURNED TO UNITED STATES 


Paul Audus, C.O. Bailey, W.S. Bennett, M.C. Brownson, F.O. Bryson, G. 
Buettschle, T.H. Burwell, D.H. Finley, B. Forbes, G.F. Hobson, W.L. Hulett, B.W. 
James, H.B. Jordan, J.J. Johnson, A. Kaplan, W.K. Lloyd, M.A. Lowenberg, J.W. 
Marshall, J.H. McFall, J.W. McKeever, V.E. Miltenierger, F.E. Cole. J.S. Patrick, 
H.S. Purnell, J. Sasser. 


Lahneck Lodge U. D., Original Petition for the Lodge received June 14, 1922. 
Waco, Texas. Petition granted at Brownwood, Texas, June 12, 1922, by M. W. D. 
F. Johnson, Grand Master. 


Report of Committee No. 1, Lodges U. D. Grand Lodge 1922. 


Your Committee has carefully examined the minutes, records and returns of 
Lahneck U. D., located at Coblentz, Germany. 


We find all records to be in excellent condition, and books have been neatly kept. 
They have been very active in their work having initiated twenty- four (24), passed 
sixteen (16) and raised twelve (12) from July 4, 1922, to Oct. 23, 1922. 



We therefore recommend that a Charter be granted Lahneck Lodge No. located at 
Coblentz, Germany, with the following officers. 


W. M., Harry L. Kingston; S. W., Matthew A. Reasoner; J. W., Wm. L. Wylie. 


Respectfully submitted, (Signed) W. S. Cooke, E. W. Feierabend, J M Ranth 


The following news item appeared in the press on Jan. 26, 1923, with the Coblentz, 
Germany, heading: "Coblentz is a city of sadness; we are lonesome because the 
Americans have gone," which was the declaration of Lord Mayor Russell today. 
"Everyone was sorry to see them depart." Only General Henry T. Allen, 
commander of the departed American Army, and a handful of officers and men 
remained behind to clean up pending business. They probably will leave in a 
fortnight. 


— o — 


Three Pioneer Masons 


BY BRO. HENRY BAER, Ohio 
(Concluded from November) 


A FEW months after the raising of Captain Kibby, came the induction into N.C. 
Harmony Lodge of another hero of the early West Captain Robert Benham. Like 
the first named, he was born in New Jersey, about 1750, from whence, as a young 
man of twenty-two, he removed to southwestern Pennsylvania, and eventually 
settled on Ten-Mile Creek. During the Revolution he served as captain in the 



backwoods militia; those hardy whites who guarded well our frontiers against the 
incursions of the savage, throughout this struggle. In such capacity Benham 
underwent one of the most strange, thrilling and terrifying experiences ever 
recorded in the annals of border warfare in America. 


Early in October, 1779, a party of about seventy westerners under Major David 
Rogers, with Captain Benham as second in command, were ascending the Ohio 
River in keel boats with a large quantity of ammunition and other supplies for use 
of the Continental army that had been brought up from New Orleans. After a rather 
uneventful journey, as they were passing the mouth of the Licking, opposite to 
where Cincinnati now stands, their attention was drawn to a small group of Indians 
landing from a canoe on a sandbar some distance ahead on the Kentucky side, who 
apparently had not noted their approach. Immediately there was a cry for an Indian 
hunt, and to satisfy the craving of his men for excitement and action Rogers 
ordered the boats landed. 


Leaving about a dozen men in charge, he rushed with the rest of his force, all well 
armed, up the shore and into the forest where they had seen their quarry disappear. 
Spreading out to surround the place, and never dreaming of encountering more 
than 1 5 or 20 of the enemy, they were thunderstruck to see an overwhelming 
number of redskins, dressed and painted for the warpath, springing up on all sides 
in their rear. Pouring in a close discharge of rifles, the savages with horrid yells 
sprang upon the survivors with the tomahawk. The surprise was complete and the 
slaughter prodigious, the commander and 45 of his men being killed and scalped in 
but the shortest time. In desperation the remain fought their way toward the boats, 
but to their dismay found that all save one were in possession of the Indians, with 
most of the occupants slain. The one which got away they saw with sinking hearts 
pulling for midstream, manned by a crew five, to head for Louisville, over 100 
miles down river. Turning furiously on the red foe and fighting for their lives, the 
little handful of borderers, aided by the approach of darkness, finally succeeded in 
breaking through the lines, with the loss of several severely wounded. Those who 
were able fled to the nearest Kentucky settlement, Harrodsburg, scores of miles 
distant, while the injured ones were run down and promptly dispatched. One of the 
wounded, however Captain Benham, was saved from slaughter in an almost 
miraculous manner. 



In the last few minutes of the fighting he had been shot through both hips, and the 
bullet breaking bone, he fell to the ground. From the many instances noted in 
accounts of battles with the savages in those days, it seemed the favorite practice 
on both sides to aim for the middle of an opponent's body, a hit of this nature not 
only completely crippling an adversary but producing a greater agony and 
suffering. Such a shot had brought Benham low. Fortunately, in the fast descending 
gloom he perceived a large tree that lately had become uprooted in a storm. A man 
of powerful strength, he, with much pain, dragged himself into the top and lay 
concealed in the leafy branches. The redskins, eager in pursuit of the others, passed 
him without notice, and by midnight all was quiet. 


On the morning following they returned to the battle ground to strip the dead and 
confiscate the boats and their valuable cargo. Benham, though in danger of 
famishing, permitted them to pass without making known his condition, knowing 
he would be tomahawked on the spot. He lay close, therefore, until evening when 
seeing a raccoon descending a tree near him, and wisely having held on to his rifle, 
he shot it, hoping to devise some means of bringing it within reach, when he could 
kindle a fire and make a meal. 


With the crack of his gun the captain heard a human cry. Believing it to be an 
Indian he hastily reloaded his rifle and silently awaited his approach. Presently the 
voice was heard again, but much nearer. Still Benham made no reply, and with 
weapon cocked sat ready to fire should it prove to be an enemy. Then a third halloo 
came and with it the entreaty, "Whoever you are, for God's sake answer me." 
Satisfied now that it was one of his own party, the captain answered and soon they 
were together. It proved to be a border youth named Basil Brown of Pennsylvania, 
who was shot through both arms. Truly an oddly assorted and luckless pair, with 
Benham deprived of the use of his legs and unable to move, while his companion 
could walk, but with two broken arms was equally helpless. 


However, it developed that each could supply what the other wanted, the captain 
being able to load his gun and kill game with great readiness, and young Brown, 
having perfect use of his legs, could kick the game to where his commander lay or 



sat. Raking up brush with his feet the latter also propelled this within his superior's 
reach and together they managed to start their fires. Water was secured by the 
captain placing the brim of his hat firmly in Brown's teeth and having him wade 
into the Ohio up to his neck. Bending his head, he would fill the hat and return to 
the stricken Benham. Then, their single-course, and saltless meal, ready, the latter 
would feed his young friend. He also dressed his wounds with slippery elm bark, 
as well as his own, tearing up both of their shirts for that purpose. In this strange 
fashion the hapless twain subsisted for several weeks, in the midst of the mutilated 
and decaying remains of their comrades, suffering greatly from exposure and the 
lack of proper medical attention. 


At last, their wounds having healed sufficiently, they made their way slowly down 
river to the mouth of the Licking, with Captain Benham dragging along painfully 
on rude crutches. Here they put up a rough shelter and lay encamped until late in 
November. Finally, after six weeks in the wilderness, a boat hove in sight on their 
side, headed down the Ohio. Hoisting his hat on a stick, Benham hallooed loudly 
for help. The crew, however, with one look, pulled hastily for midstream, believing 
them to be Indians in disguise or else white prisoners placed there as decoys, a 
trick successfully worked at times by the wily foe. The two were now in the 
deepest despair, for the vicinity was one much frequented by war parties from the 
North on their raids into Kentucky, and besides the coming of winter threatened 
them with destruction unless they were speedily relieved. 


After the boat had passed down nearly half a mile, their hopes again rose as they 
saw a canoe put forth from the stem. This approached cautiously along the shore 
and reconnoitered them with great suspicion. Benham now called to its occupants, 
telling who he was and making known his own and his companion's condition. The 
boatmen, though, were still doubtful and refused to come closer. Finally it was 
arranged that young Brown approach the water's edge, within gunshot, and tell 
their story, his life to be immediate forfeit should any suspicious move be made. 
Only then, and with the crew not yet wholly convinced, was the canoe landed and 
they were assisted aboard. 


A close-up of the scarecrow pair scarcely conduced to a lulling of suspicions, for 
both were almost entirely naked, dirty and unkempt, their faces garnished with six 



weeks' growth of beard. The one, Benham, was yet barely able to hobble on 
crutches, though Brown, by now, could manage to feed himself with one hand. 
Their stories at last believed, they were taken to Louisville, where Colonel George 
Rogers Clark and his heroic frontiersmen were camped, freshly returned from their 
conquest of the Illinois country. Here their baggage, carried off in the boat which 
had gotten away, was restored to them. A man of iron constitution, following a few 
weeks' confinement in recuperating from his terrible injury, the captain fully 
recovered his former health and condition. Then at the first; opportunity he 
returned to his home and family, whom he had not seen for more than eighteen 
months, and who doubtless were mourning him as lost. Poor Brown, however, a 
lad of but sixteen, was left a cripple to the end of his days, which were many, he 
surviving until 1837, being pensioned by the government shortly after the 
Revolution. 


The ill-fated ending of Rogers' journey, and the loss of the boats and their sorely 
needed contents, were severe blows to the American cause and brought great; 
gloom and dejection along the border. While making their way in boats down the 
Mississippi, after having left Fort Pitt (Pittsburgh) in June, 1788, at the trading post 
on the Arkansas River, the commander learned that the supplies already had been 
convoyed to St. Louis from New Orleans. However, an order being necessary from 
the Spanish authorities at the latter place, Rogers, together with Benham and five 
other picked men, proceeded ahead in a canoe to procure the same and complete 
other arrangements. On this trip they had the experience of nearly being captured, 
when in the dead of night they passed the British fort at Manchac. 


At New Orleans, in the spring of 1779, the reliable Benham was chosen by Rogers 
to carry dispatches and letters to Louisville, probably for Clark, General Edward 
Hand, commander of the western forces, and Patrick Henry, Governor of Virginia, 
all vitally interested in the safe delivery of the supplies and return of the party of 
volunteers. This was a most dangerous and trying undertaking, entailing travel of 
hundreds of miles through a wilderness country infested with hostile savages, with 
the captain subsisting principally on Indian corn boiled in lye to preserve it from 
the weevil. Shortly after his arrival Rogers and his men came with the boats from 
St. Louis. Strengthened by a score of more of Clark's borderers, the entire party, 
now swelled to the number of some seventy, started up-river for Fort Pitt, and in a 
few days ran into the massacre narrated in the foregoing. 



Captain Benham afterwards became one of the earliest settlers at Cincinnati, where 
he is said to have built the first hewed log house in 1789. He saw service 
throughout the Indian war in the Northwest (1790-95), accompanying the 
expeditions of Harmar and Wilkinson, shared in the disaster of St. Clair (1791), in 
which campaign he served as commissary-general, and wound up his lengthy 
career of Indian fighting as a member of Wayne's victorious army. In the terrible 
defeat of St. Clair, after the savages had completely surrounded his force of 1,500 
and were engaging in wholesale slaughter, Benham at the general's request 
mounted his horse and was among the foremost in leading the bloody charge which 
broke through the enemy's lines and saved the remnant of the American troops. He 
was at this time again severely wounded . 


For a time the captain lived in northern Kentucky, on the same ground where had 
occurred the butchery of the whites in 1779, from which fight he had so 
miraculously escaped with his life. Later he removed to a farm at Lebanon, Warren 
County, Ohio, from where in 1799 he was elected to the first territorial legislature. 
This brave old pioneer and Mason, a man of great muscular strength and activity, 
died in 1809, the same year witnessing the passing of Captain Kibby. 


MAJOR BENJAMIN STITES 


The third and last of the famous early Indian fighters and settlers to become 
members of N.C. Harmony Lodge was Major Benjamin Stites, descendant of one 
of America's oldest families. John Stites, the founder was born in England in 1595, 
lived in three centuries and died in 1717, at the astounding age of 122. Benjamin 
Stites, of the fifth generation in this country, was bom in New Jersey in 1747. 
When still a young man he removed in 1772 to the backwoods of Virginia, in 
Berkeley County (now W. Va.). The beginning of the Revolution found him living 
on Ten-Mile Creek in extreme southwestern Pennsylvania, the outskirts of 
civilization, where also resided Robert Benhan and later, very likely, Ephraim 
Kibby. 



Already of experience and prominent in actions against the troublesome Indians, 
Stites became captain and then major of a company of frontier militia during this 
struggle, with headquarters at Jackson's Fort, near the present Waynesburg, in 
Green County. So remotely situated was this point, in reality but a log stockade 
enclosing cabin homes, to which settlers fled at times of Indian alarm, that but 
scant reference to it is to be found in history. Laying close to the home land of the 
tribes in Ohio, Ten-Mile Creek was the region where Logan, the celebrated 
chieftain and friend of the whites, aided by his Mingoes, first glutted his vengeance 
following the murder in cold blood of his entire family and relatives in 1774, by a 
band of border roughs. 


Many adventures and narrow escapes befell the lot of the intrepid Stites during his 
long years in the West, but, as in the cases of Kibby and Benham, only a scattering 
few of his experiences have come to hand, and they likewise disappointing in their 
want of details. In a fight with the redskins at Jackson's Fort in 1778, following 
their killing and scalping one of the settlers, Stites was shot in his side by a savage, 
but the ball luckily was stopped by his powder-hom and bullet-pouch and he was 
left with but a severe shock. The remarks of the major at this, directed at the 
particular Indian who had centered his aim upon him, have not been preserved, and 
perhaps all for the best. 


Two years later the enemy came on a plundering raid down the Ten-Mile, driving 
the settler families to shelter within the fort. So soon as they were assembled, Stites 
set off with his men in hot but unsuccessful pursuit and was gone for three days. 
Leaving in too great a hurry to take along any provisions, the party had nothing to 
eat on the way save roots. On another occasion, but this time coming to grips with 
the foe, the redoubtable leader, who apparently needed no introduction to the 
savages and seemed their especial target, received bullets through both his hat and 
clothing. 


Following the Revolution the major engaged in the business of trader. While he 
was at Washington, Kentucky, in 1786, a band of Indians marauded in the 
neighborhood and ran off a large number of horses, an unpardonable sin on the 
border. Furious at their loss, the Kentuckians hastily raised a force of mounted 



volunteers and started in pursuit, with Stites, a man of courage and of known 
reputation in trailing redskins, one of their number and the chosen leader. 


The chase led hotly along northern Kentucky to the mouth of the Little Miami 
River, when, after crossing the Ohio on rafts as had the Indians with the stolen 
horses, it was continued for 70 miles up the Little Miami Valley, until within sight 
of their big town near where is now Xenia. Being of insufficient strength to 
advance farther, the whites wheeled to the left and after a cross-country ride of 
some length, returned to the Ohio down the valley of the Great Miami. The 
homeward trip, being more leisurely, gave Stites a better opportunity of making an 
examination of the land. Struck with its wild beauty and fertility, the idea of 
founding a settlement became fixed in his mind. 


Closing out his business, he hurried to far-off New Jersey, walking most of the 
distance, it is said, and succeeded in interesting Judge John Cleves Symmes, then 
an influential member of Congress. As a result the East Jersey Company was 
formed, which in 1787 secured by purchase from the government several hundred 
thousand acres fronting on the Ohio and stretching northward between the two 
Miamis. This tract henceforth was called the Symmes or Miami Purchase. To the 
Kentuckians it long had been known as the "Miami Slaughter House," from their 
many years of bloody battle with the red enemy, for this reason being considered 
by them too dangerous for settlement. However, through the efforts of Major Stites 
and Judge Symmes and his associates, steps toward this end were now soon taken. 


By the summer of 1788 several contingents of immigrant families had been 
assembled at Limestone (now Maysville), Ky., where they awaited a favorable 
opportunity for their advance down the Ohio to found their wilderness homes. This 
at last arrived cold weather and with the Indians hibernating in their towns to the 
North or otherwise absent from their beloved "Beautiful River." During the 
ensuing winter, beginning with November, three separate detachments of the 
pioneers made their way cautiously downstream and effected as many settlements 
on the riverfront of the Purchase, in turn Columbia, Cincinnati and North Bend. 
The first, comprising some score men, women and children led by Major Stites, 
was made in the face of reports from hunters that 500 Indians awaited their coming 
at the mouth of the Little Miami, where they intended founding their village. 



Holding the boats to the Kentucky shore, Stites, Ephraim Kibby and two others 
crossed in a canoe to reconnoiter the neighborhood. A close examination proved 
the report unfounded and the little party was signaled to come over. Evidence was 
discovered later where a band of about fifty redskins had but very recently been 
camped a half-mile away. Columbia, the first white settlement in southwestern 
Ohio and the second in the state, being but seven months younger than Marietta, 
nearly 300 miles up-river. In after decades it was absorbed in the steady growth of 
Cincinnati, first settled in December, 1788. 


From the beginning Major Stites, as leader, was kept busy with the defense and 
other affairs of his village, which until the placing of Fort Washington at 
Cincinnati gave promise of blossoming into a sizable town. Thus he found it 
impossible to take any active part in the various campaigns against the Indians 
from 1790 to 1795, as had his old trail companions Kibby and Benham. 
Notwithstanding, this veteran borderer had his share of adventures, in common 
with others, in the settlement of Ohio. Perhaps more so if all were known, as the 
savages, with ample cause to remember him from Virginia and Pennsylvania days, 
had nursed a hatred of many years. This feeling was intensified by his settling on 
their home land, the Indians' hitherto exclusive domain. They now promised him 
the warmest reception within their powerburning at the stake should he ever be 
caught. However, the wily old major was able to thumb his nose in derision at all 
their attempts to capture him, and "kept his hair" to the end. 


At least two such attempts on his person are known to have been made, following 
his leaving Pennsylvania. The first was in the summer of 1791, when a group of 
warriors fired upon a canoe bound up-river for Columbia and killed, wounded or 
captured all the occupants save a lone woman passenger, Mrs. Coleman, who 
escaped under circumstances that, while fortunate, certainly were not without their 
aspect of comedy. In the confusion and excitement of the moment the craft 
overturned and all were thrown into the water. Mrs. Coleman, a person large and of 
most generous proportions, would appear to have turned a complete somersault as 
she went over the side, for she landed feet first at her immersion. Immediately she 
set off afloat on the broad bosom of the Ohio, buoyed up by her voluminous skirts, 
which ballooned on the surface and bore her away from the scene. Great must have 
been the wonderment of the savages at such a strange spectacle, as they stood on 
the bank with hands shading their eyes from the glare of the afternoon sun, and 



with open mouths watched the fat lady making her comfortable descent down 
"LaBelle Riviere." Shortly arriving at Cincinnati, Mrs. Coleman began to yell 
lustily for help and gallant rescuers were prompt at hand to pull her from the water. 
Had Major Stites been on board, these lines concerning him in all probability 
would never have been written. 


The second attempt, recorded in brief backwoods fashion in the Centinel of the 
Northwestern Territory, took place in 1794, when he and a settler named Reeder 
set off on their horses for Cincinnati. As they rode along, keeping careful watch as 
usual, they suddenly were beset by half a dozen Indians, who had lain in wait along 
the trail. At the first intimation of danger Stites, with his border training, was over 
like a flash on the far side of his horse, by the narrowest margins escaping several 
bullets fired at him. Seemingly the major bore a charmed life. Reeder, however, 
was not so fortunate, being wounded in his leg and suffering a broken right arm. 
Seeing his friend was hard hit, the brave old pioneer swung his horse around that 
of the former's and kicking him in the flanks to a greater speed, rode in between as 
a shield against the red devils. These, their guns empty, now rushed upon the 
whites with a brandishing of tomahawks and uttering fierce yells, intent on taking 
them prisoner. But being on foot they soon were left behind, and what proved to be 
their last chance at the major's capture was gone glimmering, peace being brought 
about by the victory of Wayne in this year. 


Bringing the wounded Reeder to Cincinnati, after seeing to his proper care, the 
indomitable Stites that night rode alone over the same trail to his home at 
Columbia. Evidently he took this experience to be all in a day's journey. In this 
connection it is perhaps in order to quote from the excellent work, Western Pioneer 
Biographies, by John McDonald, one of Kibby's men: 


History in no age furnishes so many instances of repeated acts of bravery as were 
performed by the frontiermen of western Pennsylvania, western Virginia and 
Kentucky; yet these acts of apparent desperation were so frequently repeated by 
numbers that they were scarcely noticed at the time as being any other than the 
common occurrence of the day. 



Bro. Stites lived to enjoy the benefits of his Masonic membership for but 
comparatively a few years, passing away at Columbia in 1 804, after a life of the 
greatest activity and usefulness, at the age of fifty-seven. In this village which he 
founded he was the first justice of the peace, and other ways was engaged in the 
leadership from the beginning. From a note in a small manuscript book on the 
Stites family, now in the possession of the Ohio Historical and Philosophical 
Society at Cincinnati, the major died a violent death in the aforesaid year when 
returning to his home from Fort Washington. However, further than this meager 
statement the record does not show. 


“UNSUNG HEROES” 


In Bros. Stites, Benham and Kibby, N. C. Harmony Lodge had as members the 
three most noted characters in southwestern Ohio, a trio who were of the breed of 
hard-fighting backwoodsmen, long known to and feared by the Indians as the 
"Long Kn ives," celebrated in all works on the early West. From their many years 
of activity in its affairs, it is most probable that they became well acquainted with 
those other leading figures on the frontier Colonels George Rogers Clark, Daniel 
Broadhead and William Crawford, the latter of whom was burned at the stake by 
the savages in 1782; dashing Major Samuel McCollogh, killed in the same year 
and whose heart was tom out and eaten by the enemy, "to make them bold, like 
him;" Daniel Boone, Simon Kenton, Captains William and James Harrod and 
others of like renown. 


Though greatly experienced and of widespread reputation in woodcraft and border 
warfare, they yet did not take up the business of pathfinder, hunter and scout in a 
professional capacity, as did Washburn, McClellan and Wetzel. Rather were they 
of the tme type of pioneer, homeseekers who were forced through necessity to 
leam the ways of the redman and match savage skill and cunning in defense of 
their firesides and families. The moment that this danger was removed, they laid 
down the rifle and scalping knife and turned to the more peaceful pursuit, and their 
natural vocation of tilling the soil. 



During their lengthy residence on the rim of settlement, Stites and his two 
associates responded to numerous alarms of Indian attacks and raids and had many 
encounters with the dusky foe. With what keen and thrilling interest one would 
read a full account of their adventures and exploits ! Unfortunately, their isolation 
kept them out of touch with civilized communities, and so, having no 
contemporary biographers, as had Boone in Filson, the complete stories of these 
Masonic pioneers are lost. The same reason of remoteness explains their tardy 
knocking at the door of Freemasonry, a step taken by many of their time before 
they left the East, the homes of this trio laying hundreds of miles removed from the 
nearest Masonic lodge. 


All three were fine types of the frontiersman tall, extremely active, and possessed 
of almost unlimited strength and endurance. That they passed away in their fifties 
and did not reach the great age attained by some of those who came later, is 
undoubted testimony of the fearfully hard life of danger, exposure and harrowing 
experiences they were forced to undergo in the winning of the West. In remarking 
on the heroism, sufferings and sacrifices and accomplishments of America's 
backwoodsmen, Mann Butler, in his History of Kentucky, says in partial tribute, 


But few have braved more, and endured more, and contributed more in the 
exploration, conquest and settlement of the western country than these adventurous 
pioneers. 


To this nothing can be added. 


— o — 


The Beloved Community 



By BRO. LORNE PIERCE, Canada 


WHAT is the greatest thing in all the world?" asks the Master Builder, and Hilda 
replies, "Castles in the air, of course." Man forever builds his world of dreams, 
some ideal Republic, Utopia, New Atlantis, or some mythical yet perfect state 
upon Mars. Thither he transports himself and other kindred spirits, for in that 
fanciful commonwealth it will at last be less difficult to follow truth, find justice, 
experience beauty, and love to the utmost. Back through mystics and 
metaphysicians one may go to the beginning of time, yet always will one find the 
dream of some kingdom of heaven, some beloved community, where perfection 
has not only become desirable but also possible. 


Benjamin Kidd's The Science of Power has been followed by a strange horde of 
books boasting the omnipotence of the new psychology. The junior clerk, 
dreaming of a chief executive's mahogany desk, has only to hypnotize himself with 
a magic formula, and the thing is done. There is nothing in common between The 
Science of Power and such books as You Can, but Will You? except that both 
make dreams and desires the antidote to the rather deadening prospect of the 
infinitely slow and tedious reform of the evolutionist. Many a man having read 
Kidd has turned a new leaf in his diary, and written Anno Lux 1. This thing is true: 
the kingdom comes along the highway of expectancy. 


Take an outstanding illustration. We are told that there was an expectation in 
Israel. For ages the wistful dream of all the tribes had been that war and strife 
should give way to peace and compassionate understanding. Prophets declared that 
the Crowned One, who would be lord of the new day, would be a man of marked 
insight, a see-er, who would establish new standards of world values. Priests 
assured the people that he would institute the sacrament of a vastly more vital 
experience of God. Psalmists sang of the advent of one who would be sensitive to 
all beauty, divinely aware of true loveliness in nature and in the heart of man. The 
multitude of common men desired that in him they would find an advocate, who 
would see that justice was done to all, justice tempered with mercy and loving 
kindness. 



Generations came and went, the torch of hope being flung from the expiring hands 
of the last to the newest. Finally the time was fulfilled, the world was ripe, and he 
came! He entered into his kingdom along the highway of expectancy, of wistful 
desire, of great and anguished longing. All that was best in the ideas of kingship 
accumulating through the ages was crowned in him. All that was divinest in the 
notions of chief prophets and high priests was fulfilled in him. Justice too lofty for 
purchase, truth too high for compromise, met at last in him. The humble citizen 
looked up and found in him a man, all that a man could be when he desired and 
dared the best. A thrill ran through the old world. The gods were dead, Marduk, 
Osiri Zeus and the rest. Beauty had withered. Justice and love were lifeless. Then 
the miracle happened. All that was best of what had survived the winnowing of 
time was preserved in the new Master Builder. As for the rest they yielded up their 
spark of life and expired. A new era had begun. Some declared that the time was so 
great with change that the heavens opened, that the stars moved in new orbits, that 
the graves were opened and death cheated, that there was music in the air. Others, 
sensing the fact that the dream of the ages was at last consummated, ran and 
shouted joyfully: "It is he! It is he!" 


The chief thing to be remembered is, that the king came riding into his own upon 
the wings of expectancy. All that was willed and hoped and dreamed of good, to 
paraphrase Robert Browning, all that was divinely longed for through the 
generations, did at last exist. 


What was possible then is equally possible now. Let a community earnestly and 
continuously desire and prepare for a fresh revelation of the best, and as surely as 
the stars obey the urge of the central sun, so shall the dream come true, "not its 
semblance but itself." In this all men have an important part. The new heavens and 
the new earth depend not so much upon parties and philosophies, upon armies 
arguments, as upon the earnest desire of the “chosen people." This is where 
Freemasonry came in. 


While Masonry is, in a sense, open to the world, not all men may join its 
brotherhood. There are no barriers of creed, color or caste, but only those should 
join who are able to grasp its hidden significance. For this reason our lodges must 
ever remain close tyled. The process of selection must be still more perfect. The 



temple we would raise is based on justice, justice operative in the daily lives of 
men. Our walls are built of that material out of which Parsifal, Sir Galahad, Prince 
Muishkin and the Carpenter were conceived, plain and substantial goodness. Broad 
avenues lead up to it from North, East, South and West, significant of hospitality 
and expectancy to universal truth. Beauty is the "dome of many colored glass” 
which roofs it in. And the banner over it is brotherhood. 


Either we mean this, or our ceremonies are a mockery, and our obligations a farce. 
But we do mean it, and therefore counsel our initiates that they make a daily 
advancement in these truths. Daily, yet even eternity will be required to exhaust all 
their implications. Less time at our regular convocations should be occupied with 
initiatory work and business routine, and more opportunity allowed for working 
around the trestle-board of our ancient and divine science. Our new brethren must 
be received with that impressiveness for which our ceremonies are universally 
known. Their instruction may begin in degree work, and be continued by coaches, 
but it should be enhanced by the earnest questing of the whole lodge. The 
beginning and the end of many a lodge is degree work and the conviviality of the 
midnight cold lunch. What began as a community force dare not end there! What 
originated as a science and an art, discovering truth and erecting dreams in marble, 
must not deteriorate into any such insipid thing. Lodge attendance will increase in 
proportion as the designs of the master gain in interest and imperativeness. 


The chief thing about Masonry is that it contains not so much a system of morality 
or ethical philosophy, as that it offers a challenge by many means to the attainment 
of its age-old dream the dream of a masterbuilder in a company of brothers, in 
other words a beloved community. Blind Homer saw more clearly than anyone else 
an ideal Greek. So he hung Achilles in the heavens above his people, not an 
argument, not a syllogism, not a creed, but a living symbol. That dream became 
effective in all the Greek states bordering the Aegean. Now Masonry's glory is just 
that. It offers no organized religious, social, ethical or other system, but it does 
present something much more vital and important. It consists of a beloved 
community held together for generations, not by an elaborate symbolism and a 
lofty ritual, by secret signs and words, but by an eager expectancy. 



This community of desire creates an atmosphere in which the high hopes of men 
can reasonably be achieved. Water lilies do not flourish in the desert. Neither do 
truth, beauty and love blossom in uncongenial conditions. It is for this purpose we 
are pledged. We obligate ourselves to think truth, and thereby create an atmosphere 
friendly to the great teacher, when at last he shall have appeared. We bind 
ourselves to think beauty, and thus prepare the highway for the radiant feet of the 
poet and artist when finally they come with fresh surprises of loveliness. We 
solemnly swear to think love, and thereby cast up bridges to span the hearts of 
men, so that when the king comes he may find the world on the tip-toe of 
expectancy to receive the newest law of brotherhood. 


And who shall say that the need of Masonry has been exhausted? It does not 
pretend to compete with select clubs and insurance societies. It offers no rivalry to 
the church. Although many of its ideas and symbols may be familiar to the 
religious denominations, it has wisely reserved for religion the most sacred 
characters, symbols and names known to men. On a lower plane however, and only 
a little lower, it carries on its supplementary enterprise. Where as religion requires 
confessions of faith, and subscription to clearly defined creeds, Masonry allows no 
such barriers. It says to all men: "Your complexion is not mine. Your language is 
strange. Your garments are different. But you desire truth, beauty and love; then 
hand to hand I greet you as a brother." 


This, then, is the Beloved Community. It is the trystingplace of the best of the 
nations. It is a communion of likeminded people who perpetuate the dream of the 
ages for the best of all possible men, in the best of all possible worlds. It believes 
that this dream is not a mockery planted in the hearts of succeeding generations of 
men, but, on the contrary, it is a promise and pledge that these things shall be. It 
understands that society progresses only along those highways prepared in the 
minds of hopeful men. It is convinced that its duty is not merely to announce the 
coming advent, but to build a throne in the east for the worshipful master when at 
last he appears. He comes, the supreme artist! Can his beauty blossom in this 
atmosphere? He comes, the master teacher! Will his new and startling truths have 
half a chance in this soil? Shall he be welcomed home, or shall he be greeted with 
the old cries of "Heretic!" "Traitor!" and the other trite phrases of intolerance? He 
comes, the guileless one! Will the newest word from the Father on the value and 
destiny of man be heard gladly? 



That is the final test. Men are still intolerant, obstinate and jealous. They do 
unlovely things. They fail to love to the limit. But if Masons, in the smallest lodge 
as well as in the most beautiful temple, would but establish the Beloved 
Community, this league of friendly minds, our portals would become increasingly 
the gateway of the elect. When the son of the highest arrives he will most surely 
come to his own. Some of the most eminent master builders the world has known, 
in art, literature, science, philosophy and religion, have possessed the passwords of 
our lodges. Others are on their way, each with a fragment of that truth which was 
lost and which we desire. Eager expectancy in the North, reverent inquiry in the 
East, loving solicitude in the South, beautiful tolerance in the West, desire at the 
Gates then a challenge ! Who knocks? A Presence crowned with beauty, robed 
with light! We have held fast the dream and lo! "It is he! It is he!" 


— o — 


EDITORIAL 

R.J. MEEKREN, Editor in Charge 
E.E. Thiemeyer, Research Editor 

BOARD OF EDITORS 

LOUIS BLOCK, Iowa 
ROBERT I. CLEGG, Illinois 
GILBERT W. DAYNES, England 
RAY V. DENSLOW, Missouri 



GEORGE H. DERN, Utah 


N.W.J. HAYDON, Canada 

R.V. HARRIS, Canada 

C. C. HUNT, Iowa 

CHARLES F. IRWIN, Pennsylvania 

A. L. KRESS, Pennsylvania 

F. H. LITTLEFIELD, Missouri 

JOSEPH E. MORCOMBE, California 

ARTHUR C. PARKER, New York 

J. HUGO TATSCH, Iowa 

JESSE M. WHITED, California 

DAVID E. W WILLIAMSON Nevada 


OUR LITTLE FAMILY QUARREL 


THE Editor is making plans to gloat and if polite he would like to be able to say "I 
told you so." 


Members of the Society are informed of the difference of opinion between the 
Executive Secretary and himself, for the matter was submitted to them individually 
in a recent circular letter. They are now engaged in determining whether the 
Editor's contention was well-founded. One brother only, so far, has cast his vote on 
the contrary side. He sent in a brief note inviting us to fight all we wanted to and 
stop sending him THE BUILDER. It takes all kinds of people to make a world! 



This particular letter was the cause of much innocent merriment and we are 
thinking of having it framed. 


But the campaign is by no means yet won. It is still possible that the hope of the 
Editor for triumph is premature, for those who have responded are far from 
forming a majority. If every member would only regard himself as a missionary, if 
he would undertake to try and get one new member at least every year, difficulties 
that hamper the work of the Society would be overcome. For example, the 
consolidated index to THE BUILDER could be printed. And there are a number of 
other matters of real importance that are being held up. 


We might make another suggestion. This is the season of gifts - a subscription to 
THE BUILDER would in many cases be much appreciated as a Christmas present, 
and perhaps those brethren thus receiving it would become interested members of 
the Society. We are sure that there are thousands of Masons in America who would 
be glad to belong if they only knew about it. 


We frequently get letters telling us that by such and such an accident the writers 
had seen a copy of THE BUILDER, or heard of it. It is only through the 
missionary activities of the present members that these potential members can be 
reached. 


* * * 


THE BICENTENNIAL OF AMERICAN MASONRY 


THREE years ago, Bro. Robert ]. Newton, of Texas, suggested that the year 1930 
should be chosen to celebrate the two hundredth anniversary of the Craft in 
America. The letter in which he made this proposal was published in THE 



BUILDER for July, 1925. Five years was probably too far in the future for the idea 
to take root, but now it is only twelve months or so away, it should be considered if 
any adequate celebration is to take place, or whether 1930 would be the fitting 
date. 


There are probably other reasons for Bro. Newton's suggestion having met with no 
response. The apparent difficulty of deciding upon any year in view of some 
controversy as to where Freemasonry was first organized in this country, 
intensified by the amour propre of two of our elder jurisdictions, each naturally 
interested in the matter. Into that controversy we do not now propose to enter, 
though we should like later to present the respective cases in the pages of THE 
BUILDER, if competent brethren can be prevailed upon to prepare them. The date 
Bro. Newton suggested is frankly a compromise one. It is that of the granting of a 
deputation to Daniel Cox as Provincial Grand Master for the colonies of New 
York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. This deputation was for the period of two 
years, and apparently Bro. Cox was in England most of this time, so that 
apparently the authorization was without any result, so far as we know. But the 
point lies in the fact that in this document the Grand Lodge of England officially 
recognized, for the first time, the existence of Freemasonry in America. 


It is obvious upon reflection that no man could then, any more than now, be 
deputed to go to any place and there plant Masonry all by himself. Such 
deputations to individuals as we find mentioned by Anderson and others, or 
recorded in the minutes of the Grand Lodge, always imply the presence of other 
Masons in the city or country for which authority is granted. But in this case the 
fact is explicitly stated - in three several places - that there were brethren resident 
in the American Colonies. 


That there were Masons in the Colonies before this date we know more or less 
certainly from a number of indications, and even that in some places they had 
formed lodges and made new brethren. Benjamin Franklin was initiated in a lodge 
meeting by "inherent right," though it has been claimed that this lodge was 
constituted under the authority of the deputation of Daniel Cox. As a matter of fact 
it is quite possible and even probable, merely on the basis of the mathematical laws 
of chance, that Freemasons were among the emigrants to America in the 



seventeenth century, and if so it is also probable that they here and there formed 
"occasional" lodges, if not bodies of a more permanent character. In every country 
we find there is a period before definite history begins - not only in the British 
Isles, but in France and the Netherlands, as well as America. 


The Bicentennial of Modem Freemasonry, Masonry organized under the Grand 
Lodge system, was celebrated in 1917, so far as the World War, then raging, 
permitted. But that was a compromise date. It was certainly not the date of the 
establishment of Masonry, it was not even the date of the momentous decision to 
organize anew, for that was taken not in 1717 but in 1716. But 1717 was the date 
of the election (if we may believe Dr. Anderson) of the first Grand Master of 
Masons, Anthony Sayer. It thus seems that this date of 1730 is equally significant 
to American Masonry. Without prejudice to investigations into the previous 
manifestations of Masonic activities, or the later "regular" constitution of lodges, 
June, 1730, is definitely the date when the first Grand Lodge specifically 
recognized that Masonry existed also in the American Colonies, and took action to 
take it under its wing. 


The specific suggestion made by Bro. Newton in regard to such a celebration may 
be best stated in his own words: 


The leaders of American Freemasonry should now begin, if they have not already 
done so, to plan for a fitting national or international celebration of this important 
bicentenary. A national committee, with representatives from every Grand Lodge, 
and from the York and Scottish Rite bodies should be formed to organize this 
celebration. 


A Masonic World Congress should be held at some central point, or perhaps at the 
National Capital, with a Masonic exhibition or exposition in connection, showing 
the work of Freemasonry throughout the world. 



We have five years to make this a worthwhile exhibition, five years to finish up 
work now under way, and five years in which to begin and carry through a 
program of constructive work which we shall be proud to exhibit to the world. 


The five years is now reduced to one. But that will be time enough if action be 
taken without undue delay. The 1917 celebrations in Europe might be taken as a 
starting point in arranging plans. In London a huge meeting of the Craft was held 
in the Albert Hall, accounts of which will be found in the third volume of THE 
BUILDER. There was another celebration held under the auspices of the 
International Bureau of Masonic Affairs and the Grand Lodge Alpina of 
Switzerland. A tangible result of this was the publication of Two Centuries of 
Freemasonry, a collection of essays and statistics both valuable and interesting. In 
England Bro. Calvert published The Grand Lodge of England, 1717-1917, in 
commemoration of the same event. 


The initiative should properly come from one of the older of our Jurisdictions, and 
it might possibly come from the Grand Master of either New York or New Jersey, 
seeing they are neutral in the friendly dispute as to where Masonry was first 
established in America. Perhaps better yet, if it could be arranged between them, 
would be to have the call come from the Grand Masters of three states mentioned 
in the Deputation of Daniel Cox together with Massachusetts. We submit the 
proposal to the Craft. 


* * * 


THE ORDER OF ST. JOHN NOT MASONIC 


HASTY readers often jump to erroneous conclusions. It has been very definitely 
stated in the articles that have appeared in our pages about the Order of St. John 
that it was not an organization requiring Masonic affiliation as a qualification for 
membership. The fact that it accepts women as members implies so much to begin 



with. It happens that, all its members, so far, with almost no exceptions, are either 
Masons or the near female relatives of Masons,, but this is accidental. There is no 
limit in its Constitution but that of good character and interest in the work. 


We have gathered that its founders would have preferred to have made it Masonic 
in the same sense that the Order of the Eastern Star is Masonic, but any idea of 
such limitation was given up for very good practical reasons, one of the principal 
of these being that the Masonic Fraternity is overloaded with appendant, 
organizations. 


As we understand the sentiment of those active in this new organization, they feel 
that at the present juncture there is little likelihood of any general action, on the 
part of the Fraternity as a whole, looking toward the solution of the tuberculosis 
problem. Those who, have worked for this have decided to take a new and. 
independent line; and in order to be independent it was necessary to cut loose 
entirely from any formal connection with the Craft. We have given it space in our 
pages not because it is a Masonic organization, but because it had its origin in a 
movement that was Masonic, and because many of our readers are interested, in 
the problem and desire to see it solved. They, with us, are very sorry, and perhaps 
depressed, to find that nothing could be done within the Craft; but, accepting this 
state of affairs, they will be glad to know that there is still the hope of doing 
something outside and apart from it. Though studiously avoiding any formal and 
technical connection with Freemasonry, it is undoubtedly inspired by Masonic 
ideals and teachings. 


We therefore beg all our readers, and especially those, in important official 
positions, to take due notice that the Order of St. John is entirely independent and 
is. open to all men and women of good will. 



INFORMATION WANTED 


“EARLY and accurate information is the secret of success in war," said Napoleon 
or Frederick or Julius Caesar or some other great captain. He (whoever it was) 
might have gone further and said it was the secret of success in any undertaking. 
For this reason we are seeking information, for we really do want our work to be 
successful. 


So at the end of another year, before plans for the. new one are fully completed, we 
want to make a very definite appeal to members of the Society. Most of them seem 
to take THE BUILDER as part of the fixed order of nature, that it will come out 
every month just as there will be a new moon. Or as city dwellers have pretty well 
forgotten what the moon is, we may use the electric lights in the streets as a simile. 
Perhaps a better one, because there is a lot of hard work, thought and constant 
attention behind the regular appearance of the electric lights - so also there is 
behind the publication of THE BUILDER. 


Our magazine differs from the great majority of periodicals, in that it is not only a 
"class" journal, but is definitely the organ of a Society, the main link between its 
individual members. But it must be confessed that we are very much in the position 
of the officers of a lodge which has a very large membership upon its roll of whom 
only a handful ever attend the meetings. We are not gifted with second sight, or 
prophetic power of correctly interpreting what may lie beyond a dead silence. 
Unless members of the Society will communicate with us, we cannot tell what they 
think or what they would like. 


THE BUILDER belongs to the Society; each member has a share in it, but like the 
indifferent voter at an election, if he stays away from the poll he will have no 
representation. What we are especially desirous of knowing is whether lack of 
communication means tacit approval. 



It is a well known fact of human nature taken in mass, that objection, and criticism 
in the adverse sense, are far more quickly and fully voiced than satisfaction or 
approbation, but it would be of very great assistance indeed to the editorial staff to 
know more definitely. Have our fellow members interest enough in the work of the 
Society to let us know? 


We would like those who are moved to respond to this request, which is not, we 
think, at all unreasonable, to be as specific as they can. We would like to know, for 
example, how the Study Club Department meets the needs of those actively 
engaged in that work. We know it has been of value to many, and only one brother 
has criticised it in any way. But we would like to know more. 


Then there is the Library. Are enough of our members sufficiently interested in 
new books to make it worth while to continue to publish reviews; not only works 
of a strictly Masonic character, but others dealing with subjects more or less 
connected with it, or even merely of general interest? Again, we know that some 
brethren greatly appreciate the work of our reviewers, but we would like to know 
more about the attitude of the silent majority. 


Then in regard to the general articles - do the members find these of a type they 
appreciate? It must be understood that here we have not so much scope to make 
changes. Our contributors are voluntary, the Society has no funds to pay for 
articles, and consequently we have to do the best we can with what is submitted, 
with very little opportunity to get specially written articles. Still if we knew how to 
classify our readers we could make some charges if they were desirable. For 
instance, a certain number of Masons are interested in the occult and mystical, 
others in history, others in present day problems, and so on. We try to provide 
matter for all tastes, no one can reasonably expect everything in THE BUILDER to 
be always what he is interested in; but he is entitled to find something, and to an 
extent commensurate with the number of others of similar tastes. But how can we 
decide unless we know? 



It is perhaps a bad time to ask our brethren to write to us, when everyone is 
overwhelmed with the task of sending Christmas letters and greetings to friends. 
But it would not take much effort to send a postcard to say which number of THE 
BUILDER in the year 1928 appeared to be the most interesting. Even so much as 
that would be of great help if a really substantial number of our readers would do 
it. May we ask you to do this at least, and more if you can? 


— o — 


THE DEPUTATION TO DANIEL COX 


On another page there is a reference to the "Deputation" granted in 1730 by the 
Duke of Norfolk, Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of London in 1730, to Daniel 
Cox. As it is not generally accessible we reproduce it here. The original document 
has long since vanished, but it was transcribed in full on the pages of the minute 
book of the Grand Lodge. 


It must be remembered that the procedure at that time was totally different from 
what it is today. Dispensations to form lodges had not yet been considered 
necessary, and "warrants" or "charters" were still unknown. In other words the 
lodges in America would be recognized as "just and perfect" and their members 
received as lawfully made. "Regularity" was in effect the adhesion of independent 
lodges to the obedience of the Grand Lodge in London. To interpret the records of 
the early eighteenth century in the light of our Constitutional and Statute law is 
misleading to the point of falsification. 


To all and every our Right Worshipful, Worshipful and loving Brethren now 
residing or who may hereafter reside in the Provinces of New York, New Jersey 
and Pensilvania. His Grace Thomas Duke of Norfolk Earl Marshal and Hereditary 
Marshal of England, etc., etc. . . . Grand Master of the ffree and accepted Masons 
of England Sendeth Greeting. 



Whereas application has been made unto us by our Rt. Worshipful and welbeloved 
Brother Daniel Cox of New Jersey Esqr. and by several other Brethren ffree and 
accepted Masons residing and about to reside in the said Provinces of New York 
New Jersey & Pensilvania that We would be pleased to nominate and appoint a 
Provincial Grand Master of the said Provinces Now Know yee That We Have 
nominated Ordained Constituted and appointed and Do by these Presents nominate 
ordain constitute and appoint our Right Worshipful and welbeloved Brother the 
said Daniel Cox Provincial Grand Master of the said Provinces of New York New 
Jersey and Pensilvania with full Power and Authority to nominate and appoint his 
Deputy Grand Master and Grand Wardens for the Space of two years from the 
Feast of St. John the Baptist now next ensuing after which time It is Our Will and 
Pleasure and We Do hereby ordain that the Brethren who do now reside or may 
hereafter reside in all or any of the said Provinces, Shall and they are hereby 
Impowered every other year on the ffeast of St. John the Baptist to elect a 
Provincial Grand Master who shall have the power of nominating and appointing 
his Deputy Grand Master and Grand Wardens. And We do hereby Impower our 
said Provincial Grand Master and the Grand Master Deputy Grand Master and 
Grand Wardens for the time being for Us and in our place & Stead to Constitute 
the Brethren (ffree and Accepted Masons) now residing or who shall hereafter 
reside in those parts into one or more regular Lodge or Lodges as he shall think fit, 
and as often as occasion shall require He the said Daniel Cox and the Provincial 
Grand Master Depy. Grand Master and Grand Wardens for the time being taking 
Special Care that all and every Member of any Lodge or Lodges so to be 
constituted have been or shall be made regular Masons And that they do cause all 
& every the Regulations contained in the printed Book of Constitutions, except so 
far as they have been altered by the Grand Lodge at their Quarterly Meetings to be 
kept and observed and also all such other Rules and Instructions as shall from time 
to time be transmitted to him or them by us, or Nathl. Blackerby Esqr. our Deputy 
Grand Master or the Grand Master or his Deputy for the time being And that he the 
said Daniel Cox our Provincial Grand Master of the said Provinces and the 
Provincial Grand Master for the time being or his Deputy Do. send to us or our 
Deputy Grand Master and to the Grand Master of England or his Deputy for the 
time being annually an Account in Writing of the Number of Lodges so 
Constituted with the names of the several members of each particular Lodge 
together with such other matters and things as he or they shall think fit to be 
communicated for the Prosperity of the Craft And Lastly We will and require that 
our said Provincial Grand Master and the Grand Master for the time being or his 
Deputy do annually cause the Brethren to keep the ffeast of St. John the Evangelist 



and Dine together on that day or (in case any accident should happen to prevent 
their dining together on that day) on any other day near that time, as the Provincial 
Grand Master for the time being shall Judge most fit, as is done here and at that 
time more particularly and at all Quarterly Communications he do recommend a 
General Chrity to be established for the Reliefe of poor Brethren of the said 
Provinces Given under our hand and Seal of Office at London this fifth day of June 
1730 and of Masonry 5730. 


* * * 


THE FASCIST DICTATORSHIP 


[The following article has been translated and somewhat condensed from L'Acacia 
for September last. It was occasioned apparently by a recent book by Gaetano 
Salveminii, at one time Professor of History in the University of Florence, and now 
apparently a refugee in England.] 


When any one speaks of the Fascist Dictatorship and its shameful and criminal 
proceedings in Italy, there are very few bourgeois, even those of liberal 
inclinations, who will not reply: 


"Mussolini? Certainly - his police are rather rough; his methods are not ours; but 
what a man! Italy in 1922 was the prey of anarchy and Communism. He subdued 
the subversive elements, he has been the savior of order. It is to his vigorous fist 
that the country, since the march to Rome, owes its tranquility and prosperity.” 


If things had really happened thus we would be able to understand the admiration 
and gratitude of the conservative world for the soldier of fortune who rendered it 
such services. But the astonishing thing is that there is nothing, or practically 



nothing, in the myth of Mussolini as the restorer of order that is in accord with the 
actual facts. 


It is entirely false, for one thing, that in 1922, on the eve of the March on Rome, 
Italy was in the grip of anarchy and bolshevism. At this time the middle-class 
reaction had for some time had the upper hand of communism. The morbid 
troubles of the after war period had run their course. There was no problem of 
revolutionary strikes or the forcible occupation of factories. The country would 
have been absolutely quiet except for the bands of fascists, which in order to turn 
the trick, were organizing punitive expeditions, and, with the benevolent neutrality 
of the government, were raiding editorial offices, burning cooperative institutions, 
both socialist and Christian, beating to death with clubs the followers both of 
Turate and of Dom Sturzo. 


In reality it was two or three years before this (1919-1920) that the alleged troubles 
had occurred; that the communist menace, which in any case was very greatly 
exaggerated, had spread panic; that the workers, on strike or locked out, were 
occupying the factories. 


At this time where was Mussolini, and what was he doing? 


Expelled from the Socialist party, exasperated against his old friends, resolved to 
bring upon them (his own expression) "an implacable vengeance," he had set up 
against them his "fighting fascist organizations." But these organizations were 
chiefly composed of ex-socialists, old communists and anarchists, still asserting 
themselves to be revolutionaries, openly proclaiming a policy of taking the side of 
the highest bidder, and participating with other troublous elements in all the most 
insolent manifestations and aggressions against the "established order." 



For example, when the anarchist Malatesta arrived from England, Dec. 25, 1919, 
Mussolini welcomed him in the warmest terms, in opposing these "imbecile and 
infamous socialists." 


In January, 1920, the Popolo d’ltalia [the newspaper of which Mussolini was 
editor] gave its full approval to the general railway strike. In March, 1919, when 
two thousand workmen at Dalmino near Bergams [in Lombardy] occupied the 
factories of the firms Franchi and Gregorini (it was the first case of this kind), 
Mussolini went there himself to felicitate the strikers. 


The Popolo d’ltalia on the first of April following said: 


"The experiment at Dalmino is of the greatest importance, in that it shows the 
potential capacity of the proletariat to manage factories for themselves." 


These facts, among hundreds of others, are given in order by Salvemini. His proof 
is decisive. In 1919-1920 Mussolini was still on the other side of the fence. 


Also it is hardly necessary to be astonished that when, by this most sudden and 
impudent change of front, he would become a game-keeper after being a poacher, 
the reactionary element received him with some reserve and some distrust. 


Salvemini also shows that before the occurrence of the "March on Rome" 
Mussolini only played a secondary part. He was put in the forefront. His popularity 
in certain quarters was weighed, and it was reluctantly decided that it was a 
necessary condition for the success of the enterprise. But what in fact was planned, 
with the imbecile complicity of the last bourgeois cabinet, disturbed at the growth 
of socialism, was a military coup d'etat on behalf of the financial interests, of 
which Mussolini, encompassed by generals, was to be the instrument. Thus it is 



explained how, by renouncing his republican inclinations, he was content to 
become leader of the forces of the reactionary government. 


But after the victory, those who had hoped by a single blow to save the monarchy, 
serve the capitalist interests and crush the insurgent fascists, discovered that they 
had reckoned without their host. 


This successful military adventure appeared under its true colors. Supported by his 
subsidized militia Mussolini more and more took the tone of master, and thus 
inaugurated a new "subbonapartisf ' regime. 


Trains today leave on time; this is understood. Fascist Italy wherever possible is 
following, at great cost, a policy of "prestige." Exchange has been bolstered. The 
"black shirts" keep order in Rome as the Cossacks did in Warsaw. But underneath 
what is there? Behind this "facade" what is really occurring? Salvemini tells us; 
backed by the fullest evidence. It is the "reign of the club" - the "right to kill” - the 
murder of Matteotti. 


Perhaps, after reading these proofs, we may understand better that there are still 
those who are not prepared to see in Mussolini a statesman like others; or in the 
regime he has instituted one of those "free governments" which alone the pact of 
1919 desired to enter the League of Nations. 


A pamphlet by Madame Maria Rygier recently published in Brussels was also 
noticed in the same issue of L'Acacia. Madam Rygier apparently had a part in the 
"campaign for intervention," as a result of which Italy entered the war on the side 
of the Allies. She now reveals the "occult reasons" which explain why Mussolini 
so suddenly abjured the "neutralist principles" that he had been publishing in the 
Avanti during the first months of the conflict, and became, as editor of the Popolo 
d’ltalia, an "agent of interventionism." It seems that the "Duce" had yielded, in this 
performance, to pressure from the French government; a pressure that was possible 



owing to painful episodes in his past. It seems, according to Madame Rygier, that 
Mussolini left Italy in 1904 to escape conscription. Later he was expelled from 
Switzerland on account of having falsified his passport. He then took refuge in 
Savoy, where he became a fervent socialist revolutionary with the functions - of a 
police spy. 


Threatened in 1914 with the exposure of his traitorous infamy he found it advisable 
to accept the offers of the government of Bordeaux; and pretending a sudden 
conversion to patriotic sentiment, he threw himself desperately into the propaganda 
in favor of war. He also found means to obtain generous payment from France for 
this amazing change of front, which has since proved to be the turning point of his 
career and which has led him finally to power as dictator of his native country. 


[This is all very surprising and it is presented here with all due reserve. Not having 
seen Madam Rygier's pamphlet we are unable to judge how credible her story may 
be. We hope to obtain further information on the subject. Ed.] 


It was long ago said that "the price of liberty was constant watchfulness," and also 
"none are free who do not deserve freedom," and to deserve freedom is to set it 
above price, above wealth and honors or ease. The Great War was fought to 
preserve the liberties of the world. Prussian militarism is dead, but its spirit has 
entered into all our free governments and will transform them if we do not heed. 


— o — 


Papers of the Cedar Rapids Conference 


The next three papers dealt with the management and problems of Masonic 
Libraries. The first of these was by Bro. William L. Boyden, Librarian and Curator 



of the Scottish Rite Library at Washington, which is one of the two or three largest 
in the world. His special subject was 


THE OPERATION OF A MASONIC LIBRARY BY BRO. WILLIAM L. 
BOYDEN 


THE subject assigned me for discussion is that of "The Operation of a Masonic 
Library," with particular reference to the larger one; and with this idea in view I 
must necessarily deal with it from the standpoint of my own experience in the 
latter class. 


The past forty years have witnessed a most marvelous growth in the literature of 
Freemasonry, each succeeding year eclipsing the preceding one, until today we 
stand amazed, as it were, at its prolificacy. Every phase of Masonic thought has its 
students, its scholars and its writers. Books and pamphlets are flowing from the 
presses in an ever increasing stream; and as to Masonic magazines a few years ago 
they could be counted on one's fingers; today their number is legion, and the 
multitude of bulletins and similar monthly publications, of both a general and a 
local nature, is astounding. What might be termed learned or literary lodges have 
sprung into being throughout the world, and the papers and proceedings issued by 
them are among the most important and valuable assets of any library. 


In the Bible (Ecclesiastes Xll) we read that "of making many books there is no 
end." If this were true in the olden times, how much more so is it true of the 
present, when the printing art, so wonderfully developed, has traveled to the 
uttermost parts of the world, and where, too, Freemasonry has spread its benign 
influence and its literature. 


To gather and to care for the vast literary accumulations of Freemasonry of more 
remote times, and to collect the teeming output of the present and of the future, is 
the province of the larger Masonic library. 



To do this, it must have means, facilities and accommodations. Where the smaller 
library confines itself to the more important items and those most in demand, the 
larger library must have everything possible; for there is no telling into what 
ramifications a line of research will lead the student, and he naturally expects the 
larger library to furnish whatever he calls for. 


In my opinion the larger Masonic library should use its utmost endeavors to obtain 
a copy of everything printed or produced. I do not except anything, no matter how 
seemingly trivial from the ordinary standpoint. Of course the limitations of the 
finances and the capacity of the library will govern just how far this can be carried 
out; but what a wonderful thing it would be, could we point to some library and say 
that it has all the known Masonic literature of the universe within its walls. 


The day is not yet however when this vision can be fully realized, but some time 
perhaps, when the nations of the world have been brought closer together, and 
Freemasonry, to use a radio expression, "hooked up" with all the Masonic stations 
of the world, represented by the Grand Lodges and other governing bodies, we 
may unite in providing at some determined point, a great International Masonic 
Library, supported by the Masonic Grand bodies of every country, all of them 
interested in seeing that everything Masonic from their own jurisdictions is fully 
represented. You may say that this idea is utterly impracticable and beyond all 
hope and reasoning. Possibly so, but great things are being done these days. 


Granting, however, that this possibly wild thought is too remote for realization in 
the next fifty years or so, is there anyone so void of vision as to argue against the 
possibility and practicability of a great National Masonic Library in our own 
country, and that library possibly located at our national capital? Surely, if the 
National Grand Lodge idea, which has been before this country since George 
Washington's time, is not feasible, at least at present, it cannot be called an 
impossibility this idea of a National Masonic Library. 



But I am perhaps digressing from my subject, and will abandon fancies for facts. 


In addition to the many general works on Freemasonry, and the vast amount of 
proceedings or transactions of Masonic bodies throughout the world, an important 
and highly interesting branch of Masonic literature which only the larger library 
would be justified in collecting is that of the local histories of lodges and other 
Masonic bodies. Subordinate to these are the too often despised by-laws, of which 
there are, of course, thousands upon thousands, the accumulation of nearly two 
centuries. I say "too often despised" because they are generally looked upon as of 
practically no importance; but let me say that probably twothirds of all the by-laws 
that have been printed contain either a short sketch of the lodge, a roster of its 
officers and members, or both, and quite often other Masonic matters of interest 
and importance. In my own researches along historical and biographical lines some 
of these early bylaws have disclosed information of value and the names of world- 
famous people in their rosters. 


Manuscripts, of which there are many, are to be reckoned with in a large library. 
They are usually of the various rites and degrees; some of them embracing an 
entire series; others, of only one or more degrees, dating generally from the latter 
part of the eighteenth century and the early part of the nineteenth. Sometimes these 
manuscripts are works of art, being beautifully written, embellished with 
illustrations, some plain and often some colored, and handsomely bound. 


The literature of anti-Masonry we must also collect, for it is important in many 
ways. Its items are numbered by the thousands and include in addition to the 
general elusions, fraudulent manuals or rituals, so-called exposes dating from 
about 1724, productions of spurious and clandestine organizations, defensive and 
controversial works, political and sectarian emanations, novels, and many other 
miscellaneous topics. 


Many books, non-Masonic in character, contain references to Freemasonry, 
sometimes slight, often at length, and of importance. The discriminating librarian 
will endeavor to get those worth while. Robert Plot's The National History of 



Staffordshire, printed at Oxford in 1686, contains the first known reference to 
Freemasonry and several pages are devoted to the subject. Aside from its 
desirability as a Mason item it is a rarity of the English press. 


It is gratifying to note the trend of present-day biographers, who are incorporating 
in their histories of great men some account of their Masonic connections when 
they happen to be of the Craft. I think I can safely say that it is of much more 
importance to tell us something about their Masonic lives than to impart the 
information that they liked a good cigar or pipe, or preferred ham and cabbage to 
ice cream and cake. Sawyer's Washington; Russel's John Paul Jones, Man of 
Action, and Winston's Andrew Johnson, Plebeian and Patriot, are recent 
biographies which do not hesitate to give us the information about these men as 
Freemasons. In the first-named book about fifteen pages are devoted to 
Freemasonry. 


Quite naturally the large library in time becomes the possessor of many curiosities 
and antiques of Masonic import, as well as aprons, collars, caps, handkerchiefs or 
scarfs, swords, gavels, bottles, flasks, glasses, mugs, pitchers, much of which is 
very suggestive of the older customs of the Craft. 


Then, too, there are numerous Masonic engravings, pictures, photographs and the 
like, patents, diplomas, certificates of all kinds. Many of these are required or 
presented in a framed condition, and were one to keep them in this shape, the walls 
could not accommodate them, and if they did, exposure to the light would ruin 
them. 


Let us not forget that with all these mentioned matters we also have to deal with 
countless thousands of Masonic medals, chapter pennies, badges and souvenirs of 
every description. 



One of the important functions particularly in the large library is to answer 
correspondence from all over the country on questions Masonic and quite frequent 
non-Masonic. These inquiries are as varied as it is possible to imagine. Most of 
them are sane, others saner and still others saneless. But they all have to be 
answered and many of them require hours of research. 


The problems which confront the librarian in the care and disposition of all these 
diversified contents of the library, are many and unusual, and it would reach far 
beyond the limits of this paper to discuss them here. I have endeavored not to 
worry you with details, but only to touch briefly upon the high spots, so to speak, 
of the subject assigned me, leaving these matters for consideration on our program 
as the opportunity and necessity present themselves. Throughout I have stressed 
the vastness of the Masonic literary field, for it is vast, and the uninitiated has but 
to browse a while among the books and pamphlets of a large library to realize this 
fact. Could we have all this literature garnered into a great library, it would be 
numbered in volumes by the tens of thousands. 


In closing permit me to relate just one amusing incident which happened years ago 
in our library while cataloging some nonMasonic books. Among them was one 
entitled Letters from Hell. In just what class to place this book was rather 
perplexing. As we use the Dewey Decimal Classification for our general works, it 
occurred to me to look through some of the sub-headings under Religion, and there 
we found the very thing, namely: "Future Life." 


* * * 


PROGRESS IN MASONIC EDUCATION IN CALIFORNIA 


The article referred to in the following letter was published in March of this year. It 
seems that to some extent the writer of the following document misconstrued the 
purpose of our previous mention of the situation in California. It was our intention 



to point to the new policy in California as a departure from the normal lines in 
Masonic education. There was no thought of being critical. Certainly the 
experiment of introducing subjects dealing with modern life into the educational 
program of the lodge was an interesting one. We said in the course of our previous 
notice that we would be glad to see the effect of this departure from the customary 
practice. It is because the following letter gives us the first information along this 
line that it is published in its entirety: 


Under the heading of Masonic Education THE BUILDER published an article 
classing the Masonic educational program of the California jurisdiction as outlined 
by the M. W. Grand Master, Will H. Fischer, as "something of a radical departure 
from the practice which has been in vogue for a number of years." If the writer of 
the above article had waited to ascertain the effects as well as the results of this 
program, I am sure he would have been convinced that the Grand Master had the 
sole object in view of stimulating and promoting the interest in Masonic education 
among the Craft in California, for as a result the Masonic Educational Nights, as 
we term them, have had a much larger attendance than at any time before. 


Those who have closely identified themselves with Masonic education and with 
the furthering thereof in California are well pleased with the results obtained, and 
for myself I can safely say that the general interest displayed by the members is far 
greater than at any previous meeting for that purpose, and while during former 
years "only" Masonic subjects would be given by the speakers at those meetings, 
this year the various others interspersed have created a double interest, at the end 
of which a desire has evolved among the members present to ask pertinent 
questions of the speaker, these being answered in a most enlightening manner, so 
that questions are put by the members at the end of each Masonic talk as well. 


The result of the interest manifested by the membership at large can be seen 
through the greater demand of books on Masonic history, symbolism, ritual and 
jurisprudence, from the Masonic library of Southern California in Los Angeles, as 
well as from libraries in other centers where Masonic books can be obtained, and 
as a representative of my lodge to the Los Angeles library, I can state that it has 
become necessary to furnish a greater supply of books on Masonry, and steps are 



now taken for the enlargement of this library which may result in the erection of a 
suitable structure to lodge the already overcrowded quarters. 


Although the article above mentioned was published as early as March, I have 
withheld the comment for the reason that I was waiting to see the actual effects, 
thereby satisfying myself of the results. The Grand Master is indeed worthy of a 
vote of thanks. 


Masonic education has always been of first consideration not only with those who 
are furthering it in California but with the Craft as a whole, and the fact that 
"special mention" was given to the California jurisdiction at the last conference of 
Secretaries of Masonic education at Detroit, Mich., is ample proof that it has 
played an important part in our jurisdiction, and I am satisfied that it is still on a 
higher level than ever before. 


I am taking my own lodge (West Lake, No. 392) as an illustration, and the 
following examples speak for themselves: According to the program arranged by 
the Grand Master, on Jan. 16, we had the honor and privilege of receiving him on 
an official visit. He outlined to us his entire program for the year, stressing 
particularly the educational part which, as he expressed it, is so necessary to the 
dissemination of knowledge and light to the young Mason, in particular, and to the 
Craft in general. During the month of February we had a discussion of the first 
subject, "The Automobile in American Life," given by one of our own members, a 
brother who was well qualified to speak on the motor car. His talk was a treat to 
the audience. We also listened to a talk on "Masonry as a Religion," delivered in a 
most forceful manner by Hon. Leo. R. Yankwich, Judge of the Superior Court. In 
March we listened to a talk on "Aviation, Its History and Romance," given in a 
masterly way by one who has been flying since 1908, and was awarded the first 
$10,000 prize for distance, as well as endurance record.. Needless to say his talk 
was very interesting. For April, a scholarly address on "Masonic History in 
California" was very eloquently delivered by Hon. Chas. E. Haas, Judge of the 
Municipal Court. During May, the subject of "Crime" was assigned to our own 
good Bro. Eugene Biscailuz, Undersheriff of Los Angeles county, and he acquitted 
himself in a way befitting to the position which he has occupied for a number of 
years, greatly beloved by his constituents in general and by his brethren in 



particular. For the month of June the subject of "Radium and Rays, the Miracle of 
Modem Science," was well received, same being followed by an address on "The 
Lambskin Apron," delivered to us by our own P. M., Lee T. Mullen, Inspector of 
the 73rd Masonic district, in his usual eloquent and enlightening way. For July a 
patriotic subject was given to us by Lt.-Col. Bro. Le Roy Smith, on "The Better 
America Federation; Its Aims and Accomplishments," with which the audience 
was thrilled. For August we had another treat, the address being ably delivered by 
Mr. Carl Albert, of Alabama, the youthful winner of the recent National Oratorical 
Contest, his subject being the same by which he won his fame, "The Constitution 
of the United States," and to top the climax this was followed by two well prepared 
papers on "The Character of Washington" and "When Is a Man a Mason," read by, 
two of our brothers. For September, a very interesting talk on "Insurance, the 
Safeguard for the Future," was very attentively listened to, and for the month of 
October another treat is in store for us, it being an address which will be given by 
Bro. Reynold E. Blight, the well-known Masonic student and author, on "Masonic 
Costums and Etiquette." And for the month of November the program calls for the 
subject of "California Courts," which will undoubtedly be assigned to the most 
prominent jurists of the Fraternity in California. 


In conclusion I might say that as a member of the educational committee of my 
lodge, I was enabled to closely observe the interest manifested by the members and 
the results accomplished by the above program, and what is true of my own lodge 
is equally true of the other lodges in Los Angeles, and from the reports gathered by 
those in close touch and vitally interested in Masonic education the outcome of the 
above program throughout the entire state is not only encouraging, but most 
satisfactory as well. "Masonic Education" is not only "here to stay," but is making 
wonderful progress, thanks to live interest and foresight of the Grand Master and 
his well chosen committee on Masonic education of the Grand Lodge of 
California, the Executive Director of which is Bro. Reynold E. Blight, 
internationally known as a Masonic scholar. 


Herman Bauling, California. 



EDUCATION AND METHODS 


Referring to page 313 of THE BUILDER for October, which carries a letter, or 
part of a letter, from a D.D.G.M. who "has resigned on account of infirmities of 
age," but who nevertheless, in spite of those infirmities can find time to discredit 
and ridicule the efforts of those many good brethren who are willing to devote 
some of their time and efforts toward study and disseminating the results of that 
study to their various lodges, I can only say that it is possibly a good thing for the 
Craft in general that a D.D.G.M. should resign when he arrives at that stage of 
mental condition where he can make light of any sort of effort tending toward 
education along any Masonic end. 


I speak from experience when I testify to the undeniable fact that in my lodge 
(during two years we were having these short talks by various brethren) the 
attendance on the nights we had them was much better than on any other night, 
excepting of course the evenings when there was work in the Master Mason 
Degree, and of course that means a supper. 


There were never any less than six and at times as many as ten brethren who would 
ask questions after the brother had delivered his "short talk," and at times the 
discussion ensuing would be of the utmost interest and value. I find, however, that 
in few lodges this can be kept up for long, because succeeding Masters do not care 
to foster or encourage anything that was begun by a preceding Master, as they 
seem to fear they may not be thought able to think up anything new. The 
distinguished D.D.G.M. (resigned) also says that a "little horse play is much more 
attractive to the average business man who must be serious during business hours." 
All I have to say in reply to that is that we have already enough circus clowns in 
official positions without encouraging any more, and the more of them that decide 
to resign from their places, the better off the Craft will find itself. 


A. Wagenknecht, Ohio. 



WHAT IS THE MATTER WITH MASONRY? 


Being a member of the Consistory and Junior Warden of my Lodge, I thoroughly 
appreciate Bro. Hungerford's article. I, too, have met with the same excuses that 
Bro. Hungerford enumerated in his article, of some for not wanting to attend lodge. 
Several used the excuse that they did not like to sit in the "side lines" all the time, 
so why don't the older members of the Craft give the youngsters a chance at 
performing the ritual, who will indeed put more "pep" into it. Why do so many 
brothers get up and leave when the Master starts to deliver the lecture, and usually 
all these brethren will be found in the ante-room waiting for the "Fourth Degree." I 
visited a lodge here in San Diego the other night, and if all the Fraternity could 
only have heard Worshipful Bro. Belding deliver the Third Degree lecture they 
would never leave a lodge before it is closed again; of course they say all those 
who are privileged to deliver the lecture are not Beldings. Maybe not, but let "him 
with no sin among you cast the first stone." 


The lodge of which I am happy to be a member and Junior Warden only puts on 
the so-called "Fourth Degree" when the Grand Master visits and the Master is 
installed; our seats are always full of seeking brethren who are seeking for more 
light and not more eats. 


Recently a brother told me that he was on an examining committee on a man who 
should be rejected for good reasons, but he was afraid to report "not favorable" 
because he would be practically ostracized out of his lodge for turning down that 
certain unworthy candidate whom several wished to be elected. I have not heard 
the outcome yet. What is the matter with that brother's lodge ? 



I remember one time when I was on an examining committee on five candidates, 
all of whom several of the Craft hoped would become Masons, I found one had 
been "kidding" the public into believing he was a Mason for years; another told me 
(not knowing I was examining him), "Well, if you want to get by in this world you 
got to belong to something, so I am going to be a Mason first and something later." 
Rather frank about it, don't you think, brothers? And I must say the others were 
equally as bad; anyway all five were rejected. (Remember there are always three or 
more on all examining committees and I am not disclosing my report.) Since this 
happened I have read in the newspapers that one is serving a sentence in a federal 
prison. I have lost account of the others, but just let us suppose the examining 
committee had been less hard-hearted. Terrible to think of, isn't it? And this 
probably happens once a day. 


I say let each member of an examining committee practice the surgeon's law, 
"When in doubt, operate." Let us say, "When in doubt, reject," and be safe. I think 
that there should be a ruling when balloting on a candidate that all Master Masons 
present, whether of that lodge or not, should be allowed to ballot. 


In regards to the "button and ring" Masons that Bro. Hungerford spoke about in his 
article, I say that it is the coach's fault that the newly raised brother puts on a ring 
or button that is large enough to grace the radiator of an automobile. The "youngest 
Master Mason" does not know what it is all about at first, and is then likened to 
soft cement, he can be molded into a "Trestle Board" or a drone. He should be 
properly instructed in the commonplace phrases and words that he can use should 
he desire to know if another is a member of our Fraternity without allowing the 
"secrets of Freemasonry to become unlawfully obtained," without having to wear a 
button or ring. I think the practice of wearing a button or ring should be 
discouraged because he who wears a square and compass is "selling" the Fraternity 
in that light, that he or his pin silently says, "I (the wearer of this emblem) am a 
member of the greatest and strongest Fraternity on earth, and you, wishing to be 
above approach, must follow in my footsteps in doing the thing I do and saying the 
things I say," and some of the brethren are very poor salesmen. 


I treat all people courteously, but when I see a Masonic emblem the adage pops 
into my mind, "Forewarned is forearmed," and I govern myself accordingly until I 



find him to be a member of the Fraternity. Usually you will find a button or ring 
wearer, when you ask him to visit your lodge, has for an excuse that he is afraid 
that he can't pass the examinations, and always wants you to visit his lodge first so 
you can vouch for him in yours. I don't think any man can live up to Masonry if he 
has forgotten so much that he can't pass an examination for admission. So I say let 
the women folk wear the emblems, if they are wife, daughter, mother, sister or 
widow of a Mason, and then they (button wearers) are not kidding anyone, for 
everyone knows that a woman can not be a Mason. 


I hope THE BUILDER Will find space to publish this comment, and I would like 
to hear from Bro. Hungerford and other brothers if they have met with the same 
obstacles I have here enumerated in their "search for light." 


W. W. W„ California. 


— o — 


THE LIBRARY 


The books reviewed in these pages can be procured through the Book Department 
of the N.M.R.S. at the prices given, which always include postage. These prices are 
subject (as a matter of precaution) to change without notice; though occasion for 
this will very seldom arise. Occasionally it may happen, where books are privately 
printed, that there is no supply available, but some indication of this will be given 
in the review. The Book Department is equipped to procure any books in print on 
any subject, and will make inquiries for second-hand works and books out of print. 



A HALF CENTURY OF FREEMASONRY. Being Historical Notes on Mimico 
Lodge, A. F. & A. M. No. 369, G. R. C. Compiled by Austin Evans, M. D. 
Privately printed. Paper, illustrated, appendix, 98 pages. 


A LOCAL history is always of interest to those who know the locality, or have 
connections with it or its inhabitants, but unless unusual literary ability is 
employed it is apt to be dull to those without the personal tie. This is of course true 
of the histories of lodges. It is one of the conditions of such works, and should 
never discourage their preparation and publication. Even if the circle of readers is 
restricted their value as a record of facts that might well otherwise pass into 
oblivion is very hard to estimate too highly. 


But there are exceptions to every rule, and partly due to the circumstances, but 
much more to the style of presentation, and the acumen displayed in selecting 
material, Bro. Evans has succeeded in producing a history of a lodge, not so old 
but that brethren still living might have been present at its formation, yet that has 
seen a frontier settlement grown into a part of a large modern city. 


The lodge met at first in a tavern, the proprietor of the house being the tyler. Very 
soon however it decided to build a ball for itself, one of the members giving the 
land for a site. An old photograph or daguerrotype of the first place of meeting, and 
a drawing of the first building erected, are included among the illustrations. 


Bro. Evans adopted a rather novel method of relating the main thread of the lodge's 
history. For many years it was usual for the D.D.G.M's of the Grand Lodge of 
Canada (which by the way is not the Grand Lodge of the Dominion of Canada, but 
of the old Province of Upper Canada, now known as Ontario) to report on each 
lodge separately. Bro. Evans takes the reports on Mimico Lodge year by year, 
adding his own comments, and thus has made the narrative of what otherwise 
would sometimes be rather dull events very readable, and sometimes even 
amusing. 



We congratulate the lodge on having such a capable historian. Bro. Evans is 
President of the Toronto Society for Masonic Study and Research, a body that has 
done very valuable work in Toronto for the dissemination of Masonic knowledge. 


M. 


* * * 


TRESTLEBOARD SKETCHES OF OLD AND NEW WORLD MASONRY. By 
Denman S. Wagstaff. Published by the Masonic Periodicals Corporation, San 
Francisco. Paper, illustrated, 40 pages. Price 35 cents. 


IN this pamphlet the author treats the history of Masonry in what he calls "pocket 
reference style." Naturally such treatment calls for brevity, condensation and 
selection. The author must perforce be dogmatic also. In respect to the history of 
the Craft in America Bro. Wagstaff has presented the salient facts in a way with 
which few will quarrel, though naturally there are disputable details. We note that 
he still holds the theory that the Chevalier Ramsay was responsible for the 
invention of Masonic degrees and rites, for which there is no proof, and from what 
is definitely known of him, exceedingly little likelihood. In regard to "Old World" 
Masonry there are some statements to which objection must be raised. The Grand 
Lodge of England (of 1 7 1 7) did not charter the Grand Lodges of Ireland and 
Scotland, or for that matter anywhere else in the world. Neither did it charter any 
of the lodges in Ireland or Scotland which formed the Grand Lodges of those 
countries. Those lodges had existed from time immemorial just as the four in 
London had which formed the premier Grand Lodge. Consequently it is not 
accurate to say that Freemasonry derives from England. The Freemasonry of 
Scotland, and still more of Ireland, has had a very large share in propagating the 
Craft throughout the world. 



Another slip may be noticed; Antiquity Lodge, No. 2, has no charter, or rather 
warrant (which is not quite the same thing), and would resent bitterly any 
suggestion that it needed one. 


The printer is doubtless responsible for labeling the cut of "Lodge Candlesticks" as 
of the Thirteenth Century. They are of course obviously Eighteenth Century work. 
On page 1 1 is another matter that escaped proof-reading. In two consecutive 
paragraphs we are told that "Knight Templary" was first exemplified in Stirling in 
1743, and then that it originated in Ireland in 1742. 


The chief purpose for such pamphlets as this is to rouse curiosity and lead the 
uninformed Mason to seek further light in regard to the historic past of the Order, 
and this we may hope Bro. Wagstaff s effort will help to accomplish. 


M. T. 


* * * 


MASKS IN A PAGEANT. By William Allen White. Published by the Macmillan 
Company. Cloth, illustrated, table of contents, index, 506 pages. Price $5.25. 


AGAIN comes the voice from the wilderness and anyone who has been in the town 
of Emporia, Kansas, will agree that the voice does come from the wilderness. It has 
been a few years since I spent "a month one Sunday" in the town whose chief 
claim to fame is the Gazette and its editor, who is the author of the book under 
discussion. 



Mr. Haldeman- Julius and the companionate marriage of his daughter threatened for 
a time to usurp the fame of Emporia and carry it a bit south to Girard, a wilder and 
more "wildemessy" place than William Allen White's home. In fact, if we carried 
out the quip, one could spend a month in Girard during one hour of any day in the 
year. However, it is books and not localities that we seek to discuss. 


Mr. White is so well known as a writer, particularly as a political reporter, that he 
needs no introduction. He has been intimately associated with national political 
tendencies for nearly half a century. He is, therefore, well qualified to speak on the 
subject of politics. For the most part this small town editor has been severely 
partisan in his pronouncements. In the present volume, however, he attempts an 
impartial judgment of the great politicians he has known. To his credit it must be 
said that he succeeds admirably except in one instance. Perhaps, and Mr. White 
confesses the fault, his intimate friendship for Theodore Roosevelt has unbalanced 
his better judgment. One can hardly be blamed for overlooking weaknesses in a 
close friend, but one should be criticized for emphasizing them. That too is one of 
the penalties of having friends. In making any estimate of them we are so afraid 
that we might over-value their strong points that we over-emphasize their 
weaknesses. On the whole, however, Mr. White has succeeded in conveying to his 
readers the idea that he wants to convey, namely, that the work is unbiased. 


Anyone who is acquainted with Mr. White's work would expect to find unusual 
expressions and humorous phrases in places where one is least prepared for them. 
This book is a typical example of the style of the author. And no more need be 
said. 


There is no need to go into detail about the context. It is politics from Harrison to 
Coolidge, with an excursus on Tammany, A1 Smith and "Big Bill" Thompson 
thrown in for good measure. The main theory that stands out is that the Presidents 
of these United States are usually men of the hour and the best men in their time. If 
the order had been changed it would have made a mess of things. Right or wrong, 
it is a thought worth contemplating. 



Those who like Mr. White's work will not have to be encouraged to read Masks in 
a Pageant. Whether we agree or disagree with what is said, we cannot fail to enjoy 
Mr. White's book. 


E. E. T. 


* * * 


THE GRAND CHAPTER OF ROYAL ARCH MASONS OF CANADA. By 
Henry T. Smith. Paper, 24 pages. Privately printed. 


CONTRIBUTIONS to the collection of modern Masonic histories are becoming 
more and more numerous. The present pamphlet belongs to this class and will be 
undoubtedly of no little interest to the members of the body whose story it tells, 
though it may not be of any great interest to the general Masonic reader. This 
statement should not be taken as being in any way a depreciation of the effort 
expended or the value of the result. It is merely a truth that applies to the histories 
of nearly all modern bodies. The importance of such contributions to the bulk of 
Masonic literature lies not in their present usefulness, but in the aid they will 
doubtless give to scholars who will be working in years to come. No one will 
doubt for a moment that histories of the lodges in existence some two hundred to 
two hundred fifty years ago would have been invaluable to those of us who are 
doing our best to piece out the history of the Masonic fraternity in the seventeenth 
and eighteenth centuries. The National Masonic Research Society and its official 
organ THE BUILDER would be the last to discourage the practice of publishing 
lodge histories. We congratulate Bro. Smith upon his industry and trust that others 
will follow in his footsteps. 


E. E. T. 



FEAR: The Autobiography of James Edwards. By John Rathbone Oliver. 
Published by the Macmillan Company, New York. Cloth., Frontispiece, Table of 
Contents, Bibliography, 366 pages. Price, $2.65. 


IN the eighteenth verse of the fourth chapter of the First Epistle General of St. John 
we read that 


"There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath 
torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love." 


If we adopt this as a text we must define three of the terms. It is to such a definition 
that the major portion of this discussion will be devoted. The primary need is pure 
definition; the secondary aim is application of the meanings to every day life. 


The first word in need of clarifying is fear, but we are not going to take them in 
order - for reasons that will become obvious as we proceed. Love is the next term 
and that one we will discuss briefly, very briefly, at the present moment. The 
question is not what we mean when we use the word love, but what St. John meant 
when he said that "There is no fear in love." Very little earlier in the same book 
and chapter, the 1 5th and 1 6th verses of I John, to be exact, we are told that 


Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he 
in God. 


And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he 
that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. 



We see something of what St. John has in mind when he refers to love. It is not 
what we humans generally mean by the word. There is none of the love of a man 
for his wife, nor the love of work, nor the love of fellow creatures; it would be 
better to say that there is some of all of these loves implied in the words of St. 
John. We read that God is love. The two words are synonymous. We are taught 
that we are the sons of God, therefore are we the sons of love. Let us call this 
Divine Love and spell it with capitals to distinguish it from the more worldly 
things we call love. 


We cannot define the intangible with precision. We Pan illustrate what we mean by 
examples of its effects, or we can hint at the definition, but we cannot point to any 
one thing that we recognize and say "This is what I mean." 


The nearest to a definition of Divine Love that I know is to be found in the Songs 
of David, that one that we commonly call the 23rd Psalm. Everyone knows it or at 
least knows the sense of it, but I wish to impress it upon you and will repeat it here: 


The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. 


He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. 


He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's 
sake. 


Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: 
for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. 



Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou ano intest 
my head with oil; my cup runneth over. 


Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell 
in the house of the Lord forever. 


In our references we have gone from the New Testament of the Christian to the 
Old Testament of the Hebrews, we must therefore draw some analogies if we are to 
be clear in meaning. The Lord of the Hebrew psalm is the God of the New 
Testament. That statement is open to severe criticism, I know, and it must be taken 
in a charitable way. The Lord of the Hebrew and the God of the Christian are not 
the same but they are both supreme beings. The difference between the two major 
divisions of the Bible lies primarily in the fact that the Jehovah of the Jews is a 
Lord to be feared while the God of the Christian is to be loved. I am somewhat 
ahead of myself, but an explanation was necessary. Now if we grant the sameness 
of Lord and God as used above, we must also grant their unity with love, the love 
that St. John meant. Substitute love for the Lord in the Psalm of David and the 
result is surprising. "Love (Divine Love) is my shepherd, I shall not want." Do you 
see what St. John meant by love? It is that all protecting something which gives us 
confidence and that enables us to carry on, "Yea, though we walk through the 
valley of the shadow of death." 


We may not know precisely what St. John meant by love, but we do have a better 
conception of the meaning than we had at the beginning. He says next, "but perfect 
love casteth out fear:" As before we will pass the only undefined term in this 
clause. He continues, "because fear hath torment." Torment is new to us, we must 
stop and investigate further. Now the word that is translated "torment" in the 
English is a Greek word, kolasis, and it usually means chastisement or correction. 

It also means the pruning of a tree, the checking of its growth. It is evident then 
that St. John meant something that is not accurately conveyed by the words of the 
King James Version. The torment of St. John is really punishment and the clause 
should read "because fear hath punishment." 



To define fear is not so easy. It may be almost anything. Who has not crawled into 
his mother's arms because he was afraid of a bad dream? Many people refuse to 
drink coffee at night because they fear it will keep them awake. Others, but more 
likely the same ones, will not light a cigar or cigarette, three on one match, because 
of fear of some dreadful calamity to come. There are countless other illustrations 
that might be cited, but these will serve to show that an analysis of our every day 
actions will unearth some secret fear or superstition based on fear that is 
responsible for a part of our deeds. 


This is only a natural result of our inheritance. Fear is one of the products of 
evolution. There are really two major features contributing to our physical make 
up. One, the well-knows doctrine of the survival of the fittest; the other, not so well 
known, might be termed the survival of the fearful. To illustrate: The clam was 
once an animal capable of sustaining himself without a protective shell. He was 
suited to his environment and was the fittest of his time. But other creatures came 
into being - the environment was changed. These new animals were more powerful 
than the clam, they may have even been meat eaters and thus enemies of the 
primitive mollusk. Without a shell he was not fitted to survive. He feared for his 
life, and because he was fearful he grew a shell to protect him. Thus was a fear 
responsible for his becoming fit and capable of continued existence. 


Another example, closer to our every day life, would be the rabbit. He has a 
burrow, but he must go out for food. On one of his expeditions he sees a dog or 
smells one. In the open he is no match for his enemy. The rabbit becomes 
frightened and scurries for his hole. He survives because he was afraid, but not 
only through fear, but because he was fearful in time. 


We could carry on down through the apes and earliest man. Even today man is 
fearful. He fears snakes of all kinds, perhaps, because he knows some to be 
poisonous. He fears disease and he fears death, or most men do. 



St. John said that "fear hath torment." We have already seen that this should read 
fear hath punishment. What is meant by that? In Jamieson, Fausset and Brown's 
Bible Commentary we find the following statements regarding this passage: 


Fear is always revolving in the mind the punishment deserved. Fear, by 
anticipating punishment (through consciousness of deserving it), has it even now, i. 
e., the foretaste of it. 


That seems reasonably clear, but it can be made more so. The whole of Dr. Oliver's 
book Fear is devoted to the explanation of this one passage. It is not a direct 
explanation that can be read between the lines. Fear through this anticipated 
punishment becomes a disease, one that preys upon the mind and unless it is "cast 
out" it causes real physical disease. 


Let us paraphrase the whole of the verse we took for a text in the light of what we 
have now seen. 


There is no fear in Divine Love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath 
punishment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. 


The span of human life is limited, we all know we must pass from this earthly 
sphere at some time. Some of us fear death, some of us fear incapacitation as a 
result of illness. Why do we fear these things? The worry about them, the fear of 
them brings its own punishment. As long as we are well or think we are in good 
health, we never think to notice whether our heart is still beating or our other vital 
organs functioning. Let us be placed under some tension that increases our blood 
pressure, or gives us an uncomfortable feeling in the stomach and immediately we 
wonder what is wrong. Whether consciously or unconsciously we wonder whether 
this organ or that one is functioning properly. We worry about our physical 
condition, weare fearful lest we be ill. It is a vicious circle. We "fear" ourselves 
into being ill; and the sicker we feel the more we "fear"; the more we fear the 



worse we feel. You say, "That is all bunk, I know when I'm sick." Sure you do. 
You have had a shock, you eat something that doesn't agree with you and you have 
an upset stomach. You know your stomach is upset, naturally, it hurts. 


Have you ever had an experience like this? If you are one of those who won't drink 
coffee in the evening because it keeps you awake, have you ever imbibed 
unthinkingly and wakened the next morning to remember it and wonder why you 
slept? In my own case I'll drink coffee whenever I choose, morning, noon, or 
midnight, and I'll sleep too. It doesn't affect me as it does you perhaps not. But, if I 
drink coffee in company with someone who fears it will keep them awake and I let 
myself wonder whether I'll be awake, too, I'll bet, and I'm no gambler, odds of 100 
to 1 that I'll be awake, too. The thought arouses the fear and fear hath punishment. 
That may be a little thing, but psychiatry tells us that the effects are equally 
noticeable in more serious matters of life. Fear lowers the level of consciousness, 
and because of fear vital functions which were formerly in the realm of the 
unconscious come into the realm of the conscious. Keep yourself unconscious of 
bodily functions, keep yourself unafraid and you will stand a better chance of 
being a healthier individual. 


How are we going to prevent fear from coming over us? Remember that St. John 
says "Perfect love casteth out fear." Acquire that Divine Love, the Love that may 
be substituted for Lord in the 23rd Psalm and believe that "Divine Love is my 
shepherd, I shall not want" and fear will have no place in your mental make up. 


This is, after all, a feeble attempt to convey the message that Dr. Oliver does 
convey in his book Fear. I don't know that I have succeeded in defining it 
precisely, but to describe briefly the remedy for fear that he suggests is not easy. If 
you read his book thoughtfully you will see it. 


From this description you may think the book a dull treatise you are wrong, as 
wrong as you can be. The publishers boas that if you read the first ten pages you 
will finish the book I'll go them one better. If you read the first ten pages you will 
finish the book at one sitting. But please don't stop there Finish it, think about it, 



read it again. Then put it by for ready reference when fear and superstition begin to 
come back into your life. Read it as you would take medicine, study it as you 
would a sermon, but don't lend it to your friends unless you are sure they will 
return it, or unless you wish to make a donation to a good cause. This book should 
take the place of all of the old time home books of medicine. 


E.E.T. 


* * * 


TASCHENBUCH, mit Kalendar. Published by the Verein Deutscher Freimauer, 
Leipsig. Leather, 3x4 1/2 ins. 272 pages. Price Mks: 1.75. 


THE Verein Deutscher Freimaurer (Association of German Freemasons) has 
published annually a pocket book for the past five years, this being the fifth 
edition. Besides a diary and blank pages for notes and memoranda, it contains the 
list of German Grand Lodges, with the names and addresses of the Grand Masters 
and the address of the Grand Secretaries or Grand Lodge offices, followed by the 
lodges with the names and addresses of their Masters, date of constitution, regular 
meetings and so on. The lodges are arranged alphabetically by location and not 
grouped under their Grand Lodges. As exclusive territorial jurisdiction (which in 
its rigid form is purely an American development) is unknown in Europe, this is 
the only practicable method of arrangement. 


In addition are lists of German lodges, or lodges using the German language 
outside of Germany, which includes Switzerland, Bohemia, Africa and America. 
There is a list of Grand Lodges of the world recognized by the German lodges; it is 
regrettable to note with how many of these fraternal relations are still suspended. It 
is surely time that Masonry officially shook itself free of war psychoses. 



The book can be recommended as being within its limits, a valuable work of 
reference. 


* * * 


GENTLEMEN UNAFRAID. By Barrett Willoughby. Published by G. P. Putnam's 
Sons. Cloth, illustrated, Table of Contents, 285 pages. Price $3.65. 


IN rapidly increasing numbers there are appearing from the presses of the country 
books which are teaching us to know Alaska as it really is instead of as a land of 
continual ice and snow. Barrett Willoughby, who has lived in this country all of 
her life, tells us, in this her latest book, something of the men that it has developed 
In the publisher's catalogue it is listed among the new biographies. This is, in 
reality, a mistake. It is neither a biography nor a group of biographies, but a series 
of sketches of the lives and characters of six of the most prominent men in Alaska. 
None of these sketches follow the lines of biography, but it may well be that this 
fact accounts for their ready readability and their constant interest. There is not a 
dull moment in the whole of Miss Willoughby's book. 


It seems that most of the stories are reproduced from magazine articles and are 
now making their formal appearance in book form. I have seen one or two of them 
in the pages of current magazines and perhaps the others have also appeared. This 
does not detract from the general interest of the book. Miss Willoughby has a 
facility of expression that makes for interesting reading and a smooth, easily 
flowing style that entices one to keep the book before him until he has finished it. 


E. E. T. 


— o 



THE QUESTION BOX 
and CORRESPONDENCE 


WHY A MASONIC LODGE? 


I note in the September issue of THE BUILDER that Bro. F. V. J. asks the 
question, why is a Masonic Lodge? 


In my mind and in my experience it is a very great thing. But probably I get more 
out of it than he does, because I belong to the one lodge and no other. I attend 
every meeting and take part in the work, which interests me very much. In the third 
place it gives me an opportunity to visit sick brethren here at Olive View. There 
are eleven of them who are T. B. cases. In fact I get a "real kick" out of this. They 
are all fine men and look forward to these visits. In the fourth place I help the 
younger brethren to learn the work, and finally through the lodge I meet many fine 
men whom I otherwise would never have known, more especially as I am very 
slow to make new acquaintances. 


In regard to my experience I feel very strongly that we should have one large T. B. 
Sanatorium for Masons, and that at once. There are over three million Masons in 
the country, and right here there are eleven brethren who being destitute have had 
to find refuge in a county institution. Practically every Mason could give a dollar a 
year. With that such a place could be built in a year, and I believe would soon 
become self-supporting. Many would be more than willing to give five dollars 
instead of one, or even more. Let us hear from some of the other brothers on the 
subject. I am not a business man, but it makes me feel very bad to see our brethren 
sick and dependent upon others when so small a sum from each one of us would 
take care of them. 



Arthur W. Green, California. 


[Bro. Green is a recent reader of THE BUILDER and so does not know what has 
appeared in its columns upon this very point. We believe that the Masons of the 
country as a whole would gladly support such a project, if they could be reached. 
But they cannot be reached through official channels.] 


* * * 


THE BUILDER IN CHILE 


I read with great interest the article on the formation of the Military Lodge of 
Montana, No. 1, in the last issue of THE BUILDER which I received. Adverting to 
another article, or notice rather, in a former issue, in which you recommended the 
joining of all brethren interested in Research work, or interested in reading the 
proceedings of Research Societies, such as the Quatuor Coronati Lodge, No. 2076, 
of London, I find in their proceedings, the Ars Quatuor Coronatorum, a paper by 
Bro. Lepper, read in 1925, on Ambulatory Lodges, and entitled "The Poor 
Common Soldier." This paper went into the formation of Military Lodges, and it 
was interesting and enlightening to leam that most of these old Military Lodges 
were chartered by the Grand Lodge of Ireland. As a contrast to the formation of 
lodges in the late war, the methods pursued over a hundred years ago, in the 
formation of Regimental Lodges, are very interesting, and I would suggest that if it 
is in line with the policy of THE BUILDER, that some extracts from that article 
might be reproduced. I think that as your intention is to devote a part of THE 
BUILDER to the history of the formation of the Military Lodges during the late 
war, that it would also be of great interest to your readers if extracts from the 
transactions I refer to could be also inserted. These warranted Ambulatory Lodges, 
authorized by the Grand Lodge of Ireland, had a great deal to do with the 
implanting of Masonry in the United States, and for that reason should be 
especially interesting to your readers. 



Another matter I would like to consult you on is the formation of a Study Club. I 
have your leaflet before me, and am taking advantage to ask you to kindly give me 
all the information possible which would make a Study Club attractive under 
conditions at this place. 


You had a copy of my article on the founding of Montandon Lodge here in 
Potrerillos, which was published in the Masonic Digest last year, and you will see 
therefrom that although we have about sixty brethren at this place, they belong to 
jurisdictions all over the United States. Our trouble, as I have already explained, 
with this lodge, was in the first place caused by the fact that the Grand Lodge of 
Chile was not recognized by many of the Grand jurisdictions of the United States, 
and the consequence was that we founded the lodge with only nineteen charter 
members. A better understanding is now showing up, and I have every reason to 
believe that in the course of the next few months all doubts as to the standing of the 
Grand Lodge of Chile will be removed and we shall have the benefit of all the 
brethren visiting us, although not able to join, owing to the ban on dual 
membership outside a few jurisdictions in the United States, such as the Grand 
Lodge of Massachusetts, and recently New York. 


We have a properly constituted lodge and we have also a Masonic Club at 
Potrerillos, and my intention is to establish a Study Club to act in conjunction with 
the lodge, that is, after we have held our regular meeting (we work with the ritual 
of the United Grand Lodge of England), to close the lodge and then go on with 
study, which will be quite regular as we are properly constituted and warranted. 


The difficulty is that our Masonic community is drawn from so many jurisdictions, 
and for that reason I shall esteem it a favor if you will kindly advise me as to what 
in your opinion would be the best course to pursue in the formation of a Study 
Club, having regard to the conditions of a number of brethren, amounting to about 
sixty, and isolated in a foreign country. And also the best method in starting with 
subjects which will give the attraction much more necessary in isolated regions 
than would of course be required in a city under more congenial conditions. 



R. Gordon-Greer, Chile. 


[There have been quite a number of articles, at different times, in THE BUILDER 
on the subject of the Military Lodges of a period anterior to the great war and their 
influence in the foundation and spread of Masonry in America, and elsewhere 
throughout the world; but as most of these are not of recent date it would seem that 
this suggestion is a very good one. However the present series will be running for 
quite a time yet, and it will probably be better to defer this until it is concluded. 


The situation that our correspondent describes is very interesting, and evidently not 
without its difficulties. It shows how a too rigid theory of recognition leads to a 
reductio ad absurdum in many cases. But we do not see how it can possibly affect 
the formation of a Study Club. Such an organization does not need to be sponsored 
by a lodge. Any group of Master Masons, who have satisfied themselves of each 
other's regularity, can form a Club or Circle, or whatever they may choose to call 
it, for the purpose of improving and increasing their knowledge of and about the 
Fraternity. We rather suspect too, that such an isolated group will not be less keen, 
but rather very much more so, than the brethren in most of our cities. At least, as a 
matter of fact, the most useful and active Study Clubs are not found as a rule, in 
large centers of population. "Pity 'tis," but true it is.] 


* * * 


FREEMASONRY IN HINDOO SHRINES 


I was very pleased to receive your letter of the 29th of May, to which I hasten to 
respond. Enclosed is the application for membership properly made out; you will 
see that I have given both my Mother Lodge in Mexico and my home lodge in 
England. 



I agree with you in the necessity of taking with caution all the "travelers' tales" 
which one hears in connection with the non-Christian religious past and present 
and their relationship to Freemasonry. In my opinion (for what it is worth) there is 
none on the level of, let us say, father and son, or brother and brother, but rather on 
that of cousins; that is a common ancestry but so far back that although the 
genealogies converge the point of meeting is still over the horizon of scientific 
history. I had read in Freemasonry and the Ancient Gods, by Bro. J. S. M. Ward, of 
the admission of Royal Arch Masons to the Holy of Holies of an Indian Temple. 
There is outside the chief town, Port Louis, of this Colony, a temple which is 
referred to as the Madrassee Temple. This is probably due to the fact that almost 
all the odd 300,000 persons who form the Indian population came from (or their 
ancestors did) the Madras Presidency or the United Provinces. This temple seems 
to be the peculiar property of the former people in contrast to another in Port Louis 
belonging to the latter. The temple is a large ornate building standing in its own 
grounds consisting of the garden and an inner court which contains the temple 
proper and the priest's house or rather rooms. 


One afternoon I was anxious to see as much of it as possible and presented myself 
at the open unguarded gate of the inner court. The priest and his family, who were 
in front of their rooms, received me with black looks; it was unmistakable that I 
was regarded as an intruder. Then it was that I remembered Bro. Ward's book in 
which he emphasizes the 3rd P. S. and the 2nd (English) threefold S. I tried the 
latter without much success, then switched to the former. At once the atmosphere 
cleared, and the priest approached and asked to show me over the building and to 
explain the questions I put. The temple is dedicated to Shiva, also known here as 
Mahe (pronounced Mahay) and in the temple itself were many holy or allegorical 
pictures of this Being. I can only compare them to similar ones met with in Roman 
Catholic churches. In several of these pictures Mahe is represented in the position 
which had gained me admission. 


Among other things the priest showed me on what I can only describe as an altar, a 
small copper plate, about one and a half by three inches in size, on which was 
inscribed two interlaced equilateral triangles surrounded with a circle at the center 
of which was a point. To him this was very much what the crucifix is to the Roman 
priest. I need hardly point out to Royal Arch Masons that the symbol which was 
first used for Osiris is the equivalent with that from which a Master Mason cannot 



err. I cannot press home what I am leading up to without transgressing the Ob., but 
most Master Masons will understand. 


The information which I have about the Triple Esperence Lodge was supplied by a 
brother who is a member of the English Constitution Lodge here, but before it went 
dormant had been Master of the French ten times. They claimed to be the only 
lodge working under the French Grand Orient which had retained the old 
landmarks. Both he and I would, therefore, be very grateful if you could supply us 
with the details of the other similar lodges which you say exist and the 
circumstances under which they came to retain their original working. 


The ritual of the Triple Esperence has been lent to me by the brother I refer to 
above, and, with the help of a friend of mine who is a Past Provincial Grand 
Chaplain of Aldernay and Guernsey, I am translating it into English. The title page 
states it to be that recommended by the Grand Orient and it is dated 1858. It bears 
a striking resemblance to that in use in the South African Lodges under the 
Netherlandic Constitution which work in English. 


This friend read a paper a few weeks ago before the Mauritius branch of the 
Masonic Study Society of London on the connection between mediaeval witchcraft 
and Freemasonry. In it he showed the various figures ornamented with "names of 
power" at the center of which the person invoking the devil stood. His actual 
position was on the sacred symbol denoting Jesus Christ the Son of God Most 
High. There is in Port Louis a Hindu philanthropic religious society in connection 
with which I run a tuberculosis clinic for Indians; in the society's reading room is a 
framed picture of a double five-pointed star surrounded by a circle. Each of the 
points is labelled with a virtue such as faith, honesty, continence, etc., near the 
center is a further circle of red and white balls inside which at the center is a word 
AUM. In Hindu sacred literature this is generally written . . . but in this case it is 
exactly the same as the European fourteenth century equivalent. . . . The whole 
picture is entitled "the way," the parti-colored balls ... the ups and downs of life. 



Further, the servant of the Hindu gods, Rama by name, generally depicted with the 
monkey head, usually assumes the position of the (English) 2nd degree S., when 
sculptured or painted. In the same position the wizard of the dark ages stood upon 
his sacred symbol above described when desiring supernatural help. I draw my 
own inference but the whole matter is so hedged about with conjecture that I leave 
other brethren to do the same wherever they may lead them. 


You may make use of any of the above in THE BUILDER as you may think fit, 
but if you do I hope that it will be understood that it is only the fruits of exploration 
undertaken with very little Masonic knowledge behind it and that except for the 
facts for which I can stand surety as their being the truth, the more the inferences 
drawn from them, are subjected to discussion the better will everyone be served in 
their attempt "to make a daily advance in knowledge." The more you ask me 
questions, the better I shall be pleased. 


D. Drysdale Anderson, Mauritius. 


It has often been asserted in communications to the Masonic press, and repeated in 
works of a less ephermal character, that here and there throughout the world the 
Masonic signs were known to and understood by members of non-Christian 
religious or of cryptic organizations of a mystical or religious character. The Editor 
has tried for many years, as a matter of personal curiosity, to obtain some first- 
hand evidence of anything of this nature, till the present without success. The 
following most interesting letter from one of our members, a physician in the 
Island of Mauritius, contains the account of an experience that definitely supports 
the stories above mentioned. 


Unfortunately it has not been possible to reproduce the diagrams mentioned in the 
eighth paragraph of the letter, their position has been marked by periods. 



THE MASTER'S AND PAST MASTER'S DEGREES 


In reference to the articles on the development of Masonic degrees, can you tell me 
when the Master's Degree was used simply as an order of Past Masters, and how 
long was it thus used ? 


H. J. K., Minn. 


The authors of the articles referred to expect to discuss this point in due course. 
Here it may be said that the suggestion has been made by various writers that our 
Third Degree originated in this way, though on very slight grounds as we think. If 
so, it could not have been so used after (approximately) the year 1730, when we 
find the three degrees, much as we know them now, being worked in the same 
way. 


* * * 


THE AGE OF FREEMASONRY 


I have been a Mason since 1883 and have been very much interested in the 
Question Box of THE BUILDER. I was always under the impression that Masonry 
could be traced back to the building of King Solomon's Temple, but it seems this is 
not so. 


H. J. K., Minn. 



We are afraid that this is true. It would be very gratifying to be able to show that 
the Craft really could be derived from the builders of the Temple; but it is better to 
adhere to facts and learn to distinguish between history and legend. On the other 
hand, we have a very respectable antiquity assured to us by documentary proof, 
and the probability of an immemorial existence before that. 


* * * 


ROMANISM AND IRISH LODGES 


Are there at the present time any Masonic lodges in Ireland composed of members 
of the Roman Church? 


H. J. K., Minn. 


With possibly an occasional exception, such as are to be found elsewhere, we 
believe all Irish Freemasons are, if not Protestants, certainly not Romanists. This, 
however, was not the case fifty or seventy-five years ago. Bros. Lepper and 
Crossle have shown that in the past many lodges in Ireland consisted almost 
entirely of members of the Roman Church. This state of affairs was not peculiar to 
Ireland, but existed elsewhere, as in France and Germany.