Vol. XI. 


SEPTEMBER. 









// 




22 







CONTENTS : 

The c ource of Masonic Symbolism 387 

Old Friends 39° 

General Albert Pike 390 

The Hand of a Friend 393 

Washington’s Oath as a Freemason 393 

Now 395 

The Doctrine of Exclusive Jurisdiction 395 

Kiss Her and Tell Her So '97 

Triumphant Woman 397 

Speak Nae 111 399 

Fresh Air Mission 399 

What Might be Done 401 

An Indian Legend 401 

A Mysterious Theft 402 

Contentment 403 

Look Out Father 403 

A Serpent Under the Bed 40s 

Rev. W. E. Smith at Ferndale 406 

Widow of a Mason 407 

Freemasonry and Religion 407 

Masonic Veterans 40S 

Masonry Exemplified 409 

A Queer Little Hen 410 

Woman and Masonry .410 

Tears Were Forbidden .... 412 

His First Case 413 

Freemasonrv as a Secret Society 4 T 4 

The Sign of Distress Recognized 414 

A Chapter of Masonic History 4t5 

Editorials, Etc. 

Business in Masonrv 4 16 

Sectarianizing Masonry 417 

What is Religion 4i s 

Dangers of Masonic Railroading 41 7 

Masonry r and Masons 419 

No Fee or Ballot for Membership 419 

Sectarianism is Not Religion 

Right of Masonic Intercourse 420 

Dues and Contributions 421 

Can Pay and Won’t Pay 421 

Scottish Rite in California 422 

Editorial Chips 422 

Local Cnips • 4*5 

Chips From Other Quarries 427 

Literary' Notes 434 

Deaths 434 




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THE 







A MONTHLY MASONIC AND FAMILY MAGAZINE. 


Vol. XI. 


SEPTEMBER, 1897. 


No. 9. 


The Source of Masonic Symbolism. 


A South African paper reports that a 
successful attempt has been made to estab- 
lish on the Diamond Field a “Local Cor- 
respondence Circle’ * in conection with the 
Lodge Quatuor Coronati, No. 2076, Lon- 
don, with the object of encouraging and 
advancing Masonic and archaeological re- 
search. At the first meeting of the Kim- 
berly Correspondence Circle, which was 
held in the Masonic Temple, Bro. Da 
Silva, read a highly interesting paper on 
“The Source of Masonic Symbolism/ ’ in 
the course of which he said: 

“In this age of progress, when the pur- 
suit of science is the aim of almost every 
portion of civilized society, the study of a 
science that tends to consolidate and in- 
tensify the spirit of religion and the true 
essence of divinity, should be the one 
most studied by the grand majority. The 
various theories that have been put for- 
ward of late years by professed philos- 
ophers, such as Tyndall, Spencer, Huxley, 
Darwin, etc., have tended in some degree 
to destroy the true and absolute religious 
belief of many; and the theory of evolu- 
tion by itself must be considered a direct 
attack on Biblical history. Is it, there- 
fore, to be wondered that a science such as 
Freemasonry whose aim is to ‘beautify 
and adorn the inward man,’ should, at the 
present day, be making such vast strides 
in its work of propagation ? Freemasonry 
raises itself as a barrier against infidel 
science in aid of true religion, and by its 
teachings serves to prepare the mind of 
man for the due appreciation of the in- 
finite. Many of the uninitiated look upon 


Freemasonry as a kind of solemn farce, 
combined with fantastic orgies; but we who 
are initiated into its mystery know that it 
is a system full of intellectual beauties and 
moral precepts, and there are again many 
among us who, looking deeper below the 
surface, find in all its s\ mbols greater 
beauties, greater truths, and still greater 
virtues. When the neophyte, standing 
at the threshold, scknowledges the belief 
in a Divine Creator, the spirit of religion 
is aroused, which is continued through 
each graduation of the mystic ceremony. 

“Mysticism in every form, from the 
earliest days, has been associated with the 
propagation of religious ideas and the- 
ories. And there can be no doubt that 
Symbolic Freemasonry, as a mystic science, 
has been brought down from the various 
mystic doctrines of the tenth to the thir- 
teenth centuries. The studies of the Pytha- 
goreans, as also the Eleusinian doctrines 
had, as their primary object, the adoration 
of a Supreme Being. The great secret so- 
ciety of Islamism, in the twelfth century, 
called the ‘Assassins/ had the worship 
of Allah continually enjoined on them. 
The Pythagorean theory, or rather belief, 
was that all things are number, or that 
number is the essence of everything. Aris- 
totle says: ‘The Pythagoreans seem to have 
looked upon number as the principle, and, 
so to speak, the matter of which existence 
consists.’ They supposed the elements of 
numbers to be the elements of existence, 
and pronounced the whole heaven to 
be harmony and number. In addition, 
they believed in a peculiar system of as- 
tronomy, basing their ideas on the exist- 
ence of a central fire, round which moved 


388 


THE TRESTLE BOARD 


the heavenly bodies known to science in 
those days. The principal object by which 
the Pythagorean theory is known in these 
days was their belief in the transmigration 
of souls; this, however, need not concern 
us here this evening. The Eleusinian 
Rites were held at Athens to commemorate 
certai n events i n Grecian mythology. They 
had one great feature, apart from the most 
inspiring mysticism in the dramatic sym- 
bolism, which described the revivication of 
the earth after the death of a winter. This 
symbolEm assumed forms which could ex- 
plain their meaning even to the uninitiated. 
The grand ceremony of initiation, etc., in- 
to these mysterious rites lasted nine days, 
and were attended only by those who had 
been previously initiated into the lesser 
mysteries. The whole of the inhabitants 
of Athens attended some further ceremonies 
which lasted until the eleventh day. Many 
of these rites and ceremonies were adopted 
by the followers of Pathagoras, and be- 
came part of the Pythagorean creed. The 
Assassins were a military branch of that 
secret religious sect of Islamism, whose 
first Grand Lodge was held at Cairo at the 
commencement of the tenth century. The 
Assassins, being more advanced, left the 
main body of this Order, and migrated to 
Persia, where they obtained possession of 
a strong fortress, called Alamet, and un- 
der this Great ‘Sheik at Jebal,’ or ‘ Old 
Man of the Mountain,’ gained immense 
power over the surrounding countries. 
The peculiar tenets of this body were 
marked by the distinctive feature of secret 
assassination against all their enemies, and 
this formed the essential characteristic of 
the sect. They were ruled and governed 
on true Masonic lines. Under the Old 
Man of the Mountain were three Grand 
Priors who ruled over the three provinces 
to which their power extended. Next came 
a body of Priors who were fully initiated 
into the mysteries, but the main body were 
the Assassins proper; these were kept un- 
initiated, and the blindest obedience was 
exacted and yielded by them. They it was 
who would perform long and arduous 
journeys to assassinate those who had of- 
fended their Order. Their lives they con- 
sidered as nothing, and they would resign 
them at word from their Sheik. In order 
to preserve subordination in their ranks, 
the Islam religion was rigidly enforced. 
A long list of their victims could be enum- 
erated, and their power lasted nearly two 
hundred years. In the year 1255 their 


stronghold was destroyed, and over 1,200 
Assassins were massacred, the rest were 
scattered far and wide; many returned to 
Cairo and Alexandria, where they, to- 
gether with the other mystic societies, 
flourished side by side for many years. 
Although the Assassins could not in any 
way be called a Masonic body, yet their 
system of organization and some of their 
ceremonies were afterwards adopted by 
the Cabbalists, and introduced into their 
teachings. 

“Thus, we find in Alexandria, during the 
twelfth and thirteenth centuries, socie- 
ties of religious teachings — Pythagoreans, 
Eleusinians, Islamistic, Jewish and Pagan 
— each differing in creed, yet all basing 
tbeir various ceremonies on symbolism. 
Thus it came about that these gradually 
became merged into each other, and striv- 
ing to penetrate through the impenetrable 
barrier of nature, they found a semi-neu- 
tral body, which by absorbing most of their 
symbols, became the one great school of 
teaching for that and many succeeding 
ages, and, although at first founded on cos- 
mopolitan opinions, became, before long, 
the recognized school of Jewish faith and 
tradition. This was the ‘Cabballa,’ that 
mystic form of doctrine which, by sym- 
bols, was supposed to point out the true 
duty of man in every situation through 
life. These symbols were arranged in 
what we should term Masonic devices by 
square and by triangle, by the formation 
and peculiar arrangement of the letters 
of the alphabet, the combination of words 
in their Sephiroth, together with various 
symbols and signs used by the seers of old 
(the flight of birds, the force and duration 
of the wind, divination and second sight). 
Bro. Gould, in his ‘History of Freema- 
sonry,’ refers to the origin of the Cabballa 
as follows: ‘Alexandria was an emporium, 
not only of merchandise, but of philoso- 
phy, and opinions as well as goods, were 
bartered there to the grevious corruption 
of sound wisdom, from the attempt which 
was made by men of different sects and 
countries — German, Egyptian and Oriental 
— to frame from their different tenets one 
general system of opinion. The respect 
long paid to Grecian learning, and the 
honors it now received from the hands of 
the Ptolemies, induced others, and even 
the Egyptian priests, to submit to this in- 
novation. Hence arose a heterogeneous 
mass of opinions, which, under the name 
of eclectic philosophy, caused endless con- 


THE TRESTLE BOARD 


389 


fusion, error and absurdity, not only in the 
Alexandria schools, but also among the 
Jews (who had settled there in very large 
numbers) and Christians; producing among 
the former that spurious philosophy which 
they called the Cabballa, and among the 
latter a certain amount of corruption for a 
time at least, in the Christian faith also.’ 
Bro. Gould then proceeds to point out 
how those doctrines became adopted by 
the Jews in particular. ‘From this period 
there can be no doubt but that the Jewish 
doctrines were known to the Egyptian, and 
the Greek to the Jews. Hence, Grecian 
wisdom being corrupted by admixture with 
Egyytian and Oriental philosophy, as- 
sumed the form of Neo-Platonism, which, 
by professing a sublime doctrine, enticed 
men of different countries and religions, in- 
cluding the Jews, to study its mysteries 
and incorporate them with their own. The 
symbolical method of instruction, which 
had been in use from the earliest times in 
Egypt, was adopted by the Jews who, ac- 
cordingly, put an allegorical interpretation 
upon their sacred writings. Hence, under 
the cloak of symbols, Pagan philosophy 
gradually crept into the Jewish schools, 
and the Platonic doctrines mixed first with 
the Pythagorean, and afterwards with the 
Egyptian and Oriental, became blended 
with their ancient faith, in their explana- 
tions of traditions. And the Cabbalists 
formed their mystical system upon the 
tenets taught in the Alexandria schools.’ 

“The Cabballa treated of the mysteries of 
divine nature and other sublime subjects, 
which after the manner of the Egyptian 
and Pythgorean mysteries were revealed 
only to those who were bound to secrecy 
by tbe most solemn oaths. The cardinal 
doctrines of the Cabballa comprise the 
nature of the Deity, the divine emanations 
of Sephiroth, the cosmogony, the crea- 
tion of angels and import of the revealed 
law. The divine emanations or Sephiroh 
are divided into ten parts, corresponding 
with the ten heavenly bodies of the Pytha- 
goreans, and they are named the Crown, 
Wisdom, Intelligence, Love, Justice, 
Beauty, Firmness, Splendor, Foundation 
and Kingdom. The principal book, what 
may be termed the Bible of the Cabbalists, is 
named ‘Zohar,’ which means light, from 
the words, * Let there be light.’ The 
Sephira are arranged in symbolical triads, 
and the Deity is called ‘En Soph.’ The 
Zohar says: ‘Tust as the ‘En Soph’ is rep- 
resented by the number three, so all the 


lights; i. e ., Sephiroth are of a three- fold 
character.’ The Cabballa, since the thir- 
teenth century, has likewise become the 
exclusive application of that system of 
theosophy which claims to have been 
transmitted uninterruptedly by the mouths 
of the patriarchs and prophets ever since 
the creation of man. 

“Thus I have shown how these mys- 
teries became adopted by the Jews, was in- 
corporated into their religion, and became 
part of their teaching. The Jews, in their 
commercial pursuits, soon brought them to 
Europe, and many Cabballistic schools 
were opened. In Italy especially, the 
Cabballistic doctrines took firm hold of 
the people, not only of the Jewish faith, 
for many of their symbolical observances 
were adopted by the Romish church, and 
still continue to flourish; we read that in 
1450 a number of Jewish converts in Spain 
published compilations of the Cabbalistic 
treatises to prove from them the doctrines 
of Christianity, and in the sixteenth cen- 
tury Pope Sixtus was so convinced of the 
importance of these doctrines that he had 
them translated for the use of divinity stu- 
dents. These doctrines were eagerly adopt- 
ed by the various Masonic Bodies, and the 
Benedictines in particular, who had ever 
made geometry their favorite study, now 
with the sanction of their Pope, adopted 
the Cabballistic teachings, and incorporated 
many of their symbols into their religious 
practices.” 

Having shown the importance of the 
Cabballa to symbolical religion, Bro. Da 
Silva proceeded to point out its import- 
ance to symbolical Freemasonry, and he 
concluded by saying: “The Bible history 
permeating our ceremonies points to' a 
source beyond the mediaeval age, and to a 
source that had Biblical symbolism as its 
basis. This is a sure proof that the Cab- 
balistic doctrines engrafted on Freema- 
sonry had given the Order the substratum 
of religion as its ground work. Its foun- 
dation has been deeply laid in the adora- 
tion of the Deity, and he has cemented 
and adorned it with every moral and social 
virtue.” 

o 

There are manuscripts of Masonic “Old 
Charges,” in existence dating from 1390 
up to 1852, some of which are preserved 
in the British Museum, and others are in 
the possession of Masonic Lodges and 
members of the Fraternity. 


390 


THE TRESTLE BOARD . 


Old Friends. 


There are no friends like old friends, 
\nd none so good and true, 

\Ve greet them when we meet them 
As roses greet the dew. 

No other friends are dearer 
Though born of kindred mold, 

And while we prize the new ones 
We treasure more the old. 

There are no friends like old friends 
To help us with the load, 

That all must bear who journey 
O’er life’s uneven road; 

And when unconquered sorrows 
The weary hours invest, 

The kindly words of old friends 
Are always found the best. 

There are no friends like old friends 
To calm our frequent fears, 

When shadows fad and deepen 
Through life’s declining years; 
And when our faltering footsteps 
Approach the Great Divide, 

We’ll long to meet the old friends 
Who wait the other side. 

O 

General Albert Pike. 


My first knowledge of General (then 
Mr.) Albert Pike was in the “forties/ ’ be- 
fore the Mexican war. When that came 
on, he went into the field under General 
Taylor as a captain of a company, of what 
were then known in the army as dragoons. 
I often saw notice in the paper of the “Ar- 
kansas Poet” in letters from Mexico. The 
company was incorporated into Governor 
Yell’s regiment. Governor Yell was killed 
at Buena Vista. 

My first personal acquaintance with him 
was in the fall of 1851, when I was pres- 
ent in a Chapter of Royal Arch Masons 
where he was a visitor, and it was the 
first time those present ever heard a lec- 
ture on the Royal Arch degree. Three 
candidates were exalted that night. Later 
on, in 1859, I became more intimately as- 
sociated with him. At that meeting of the 
Supreme Council, there was present Bro. 
Pike as Grand Commander. He had only 
a few months previously been elected to 
the office that he filled until April 2, 1890, 
when he passed to a higher life. The 
other officers present were Bros. A. G. 
Mackey, the Secretary- General, and Achille 
Le Prince, the Treasurer-General. Other 
members were in the city, but did not at- 
tend the meeting. 

There were three candidates elected, and 
who received the 33 0 ; viz.: Bro. Benjamin 
Rush Campbell, P. G. M., of South Caro- 
lina; Bro. Henry Buist, G. M , or D. G. 
M., I do not remember which; and the 
present Secretary- General of the Supreme 
Council; all of those named, save the latter, 
having joined the great majority. I re- 


peatedly met and corresponded with him 
ever after. 

On January 9, i860, the Supreme Coun- 
cil met in Charleston, and adjourned to 
meet in Washington, D. C., on March 28th 
following. It was a memorable year, and 
politics ran high — four Presidential candi- 
dates were in the field. It was the first 
time a Lodge of Sorrow was ever held by 
the Rite. Bro. Wm. D’Arcy Haley was 
made a 32 0 Mason. He was a Unitarian 
minister, and furnished his church, now 
the police court, for the purpose. There 
was a fair attendance, and the church was 
packed with visitors curious to see what 
.was then a noveltv. It was held in mem- 
ory of General John A. Quitman, 33 0 , of 
Mississippi. At the session, among those 
crowned was John C. Breckenridge, Vice- 
President of the United States. 

On March 30th, the Supreme Council 
paid a visit to Mount Vernon, escorted by 
Washington Commandery of Knights 
Templar, where a Lodge of Sorrow was 
opened by Bro. Mackey, acting as vener- 
able Master, after which an address was 
delivered by Bro. Charles Scott, 33 0 , the 
author of several celebrated works on Ma- 
sonry, now but little known. It was a 
novel and interesting meeting, and, at this 
date, not one who participated in the ses- 
sion and Lodges of Sorrow lives but the 
writer of this, and but one other member 
of the Supreme Council, who was not 
present, Bro. Parvin, of Iowa. 

On April 1, 1861, the Supreme Council 
met in New Orleans. It was a memorable 
meeting. Side by side sat men who, a few 
months later, were engaged in mortal com- 
bat, or, at least, on opposite sides of the 
“little unpleasantness” that lasted for over 
four years. 

A P. G. M., of Massachusetts, (I forget 
his name), was present, compelled to leave 
Texas and all he had on account of political 
feeling. I believe the ordinance of se- 
cession had just been passed there. The 
meetings and the partings at that session 
will .never be forgotten by those who sur- 
vive, and they are very few. The war 
cloud soon burst — Bro. Mackey on his 
way home, while at Branchville, S. C., 
early in the morning waiting for his train, 
heard the first gun fired at Fort Sumpter. 
He often spoke to me of his feelings on 
hearing it. Bro. Pike, as was natural, liv- 
ing in the South, and all his interests 
there, entered the service of the Confeder- 
acy, yet, in spirit, he was a Union man, as 


THE TRESTLE BOARD. 


39i 


many have heard him say. The State of 
his adoption knew his value, and in May, 
1861, sent him to treat with the five civil- 
ized tribes of Indians; but all this, and 
much more of his war history, has been 
written, and this, perhaps, is not the place 
to say some things that might be said even 
in his behalf. 

On February 16, 1862, four brethren, 
citizens of Charleston, met, but no quorum 
being present, no meeting was held. The 
Grand Commander was in the West with 
the troops. 

Another effort to have a meeting was 
made on November 16, 1862, when Bro. 
Pike and five others were present. Some 
nominations were made, and the Grand 
Commander delivered an address which 
covers ninety- four pages of closely printed 
matter, and shows that even wdth the duties 
devolved upon him during the four years 
previous, his love for Masonry and this 
Rite especially was always before him. 
The Supreme Council then adjourned to 
meet in Washington on the 16th of April 
following. 

There, for the first time, met men — as 
brothers — who were lately hostile to each 
other, battling for what each believed to be 
right. Representatives were present from 
the far-off golden shores of California, the 
great Northwest, the Middle and Southern 
States — all met in love and harmony. It 
was a veritable love feast, and the banquet 
at the Metropolitan hotel was one of the 
best and largest ever spread for a Masonic 
body up to that time, jt was the begin- 
ning of great prosperity for the Rite, and 
from that session may be dated the spread 
of the Scottish Rite all over the world as 
the rituals adopted by the Supreme Coun- 
cil were more or less accepted by Supreme 
Councils of the Latin races. 

From that on Bro. Pike presided at ev- 
ery meeting, even including the session of 
1890, when he was very feeble, and had to 
call upon Bro. Frankland to read his al- 
locution, which, like a few previously de- 
livered, breathed a spirit of love for all, 
and the belief that he could not preside at 
any more meetings. Indeed the writer 
knows that he did not think he would ever 
preside after that session (1890 ) His fre- 
quent expressions after the session breathed 
a desire for a few years more, but little 
hope. His great desire w^as to live until 
1901, which would be the centennial of 
our Supreme Council, when he at once 
said to me, “If alive I will be in Charles- 


ton then if I have to be carried there on a 
stretcher.” Alas ! that God willed other- 
wise. 

He was a devoted father and friend. 
His closest friends were not men whose 
position in society was on top of the lad- 
der, but, like Christ, he preferred to 
gather around him men and brethren who 
would listen to the words of wisdom that 
fell from his lips. He was equally at home 
with the learned, and here let me give you 
an example. In Washington there still re- 
sides an old man who is a scholar and 
linguist, and is a very remarkable man. 
He had never met Bro. Pike, but in a con- 
versation with Bro. N., the latter referred 
to Bro. Pike and his wonderful powers. 
The sage smiled, but finally consented to 
be introduced to him, which Bro. N. did 
a day or two later. May I say the literati 
sat and listened for over two hours, scarce- 
ly speaking except when he had to in the 
conversation, and went away with the con- 
viction that he w'as certainly one of the 
most extraordinary men he had ever met, 
and ever afterward when opportunity pre- 
sented itself was proud of the privilege of 
visiting him. As a man of tender feelings 
for those suffering or in distress, I can say 
I have known him to give the last cent he 
had in his pocket, and the writer has had 
more than a dozen times to escort tramps 
from the room, and in one instance had to 
call in the police to prevent his being an- 
noyed by them. 

As I said, his conversational powers 
were remarkable. He would sit for hours 
recounting his various experiences and 
journeys over the country from the time 
when, as a boy of fifteen years of age, he 
taught school on the shore of Massachusetts 
bay; how he was unable to enter Harvard 
for want of the money to pay for his two 
years fees, and had to learn and educate 
himself, and here I may add that the col- 
lege that denied to him, a poor boy, the 
opportunity he sought, w r hen he was prom- 
inent in the world, in later years, tendered 
him a college honor of some kind, which 
he declined. 

He left home and traveled West, and 
with a train started across the plains in 
1831, on the Santa Fe trail, to that ancient 
city, and which, in 1884, he again visited 
with great pleasure and astonishment. He 
has often spoke of his residence there for 
over a year, how he clerked in a store, 
and slept on the counter with a big dog 
for a companion, and how, in September, 


392 


THE TRESTLE BOARD . 


1832, he joined a trapping party at Taos, 
went down the Pecos river and into the 
staked plains, where he and four others 
left the party; two or three of the compan- 
ions were lost on the way. He and one 
other kept together, and, later on, parted, 
his companion going into Louisiana and 
he into Arkansas, where he arrived at 
Fort Smith on December 10, 1832. His 
subsequent life is a part of the history of 
Arkansas, military, legal and civil. He 
was then twenty-three years of age. I 
have often heard him speak of his early 
married, life, and how simple was the fur- 
niture of his home, and compared it with 
what the present young men expect when 
they get married, and try to maintain. 

He edited the Advocate , doing a large 
part of the typesetting himself, as well as 
the editorial work. Many of his articles, 
it is said, were copied as editorials by 
Horace Greeley, and so polished were 
they that when read outside of the State 
they were attributed to James Woodson 
Bates, who was styled the Chesterfield of 
the West. During his spare hours from 
the paper he was preparing for his admis- 
sion to the bar, rarely sleeping over six 
hours a day. On presenting himself for 
admission some of the old lawyers said he 
had not studied long enough, but Judge 
Lacy, who was Judge of the territorial 
Supreme Court, and who knew of Bro. 
Pike’s ability, after asking him some 
questions, granted him license to practice, 
remarking that a law license was not like 
a medical one, for it did not give permis- 
sion to take one’s life and fall back on the 
parchment for defense. 

After running the paper for some time 
he sold it out for $1,500, and after many 
efforts to collect the various accounts due 
him, became so disgusted that he put them 
in the stove to help kindle the fires, he 
said, to save further trouble. This is 
characteristic of him in later years, and I 
knew similar instances myself and of larger 
amounts. In 1849 he was admitted to the 
Supreme Court of the United States at 
Washington, at the same time as Abraham 
Lincoln and Hannibal Hamlin. A curious 
thing that both the men, eleven years 
later, should be President and Vice-Presi- 
dent of the United States. In 1853, he 
moved to New Orleans. When presented 
to the court for admission — bear in mind 
that Louisiana law is slightly different 
from the laws of the States, as many of 
the old French laws are still in force — the 


Judge, an old Frenchman, asked him what 
works he had read on the Roman law. 
His answer was: “I have read the Pan- 
dects, made translation into English of the 
first book, and’’ — but the judge stopped 
him, and said that was satisfactory, and he 
was at once admitted. 

He was then engaged in large Indian 
claims in Washington in the Supreme 
Court, and had to give up his practice in 
New Orleans, as he was compelled to be 
absent a great many months at a time. 
After the war he edited the Memphis Ap- 
peal, and in its pages can be found his re- 
plies to the controversies between Bro. 
George F. Gouley, of St. Louis, and him- 
self, and which were afterwards published 
in a pamphlet styled ‘ ‘Vindication. ’ ’ Again 
th fc e spirit of kind and| brotherly feeling 
was brought out. This pamphlet was pub- 
lished at considerable cost, but after Bro. 
Gouley and he came to an understanding 
he burnt all of them that he could lay his 
hands upon, remarking it did no good to 
perpetuate hard words said in debate. 

From Memphis he moved to Washing- 
ton, which was his home ever after. He 
went into partnership with ex- Senator Rob- 
ert Johnson, and then prepared and com- 
pleted fourteen large volumes of maxims 
of the Roman and French laws, but as no 
publishers would risk their publication 
they are now the property of the Supreme 
Council library. Had he succeeded in re- 
ceiving the money he earned on the Choc- 
taw suits he would have printed them him- 
self, but that fee was paid to an attorney 
by the nation for him, and it was never 
paid over, the attorney taking it and other 
similar payments, and changing his local 
habitation, thus defrauding him of money 
earned before the war. 

I have often listened to him about his 
project of a Pacific railroad, for he was 
really the projector of the scheme. He 
represented Arkansas in a commercial con- 
vention in Charleston. There he opposed 
the resolution in favor of a renewal of the 
slave trade, and later when he addressed the 
legislature of Louisiana, and obtained the 
passage of the charter for the Pacific road. 

Of his literary labors I would like to say 
something, but if you have space some 
time I can tell you more about them later 
than I can well now do, and will be glad 
to do so in an article separate from this. 
They will go back many years, and end 
only with April 2, 1890. 

— Square and Compass . 


THE TRESTLE BOARD. 


393 


The Hand of a Friend. 


We struggle through life, with its sorrows and cares, 
Before us its pitfalls, around us its snares. 

And often the heart would adrift cast its load, 

And leave it forever alongside the road; 

Though many the shadows that meet o’er the way 
Across it f ills often a hope-giving ray, 

And the clouds disappear which so dark o’er us bend 
At the magical touch of the hand of a friend. 

It lightens our cares and it strengthens the weak, 

The hue of the rose it brings back to the cheek, 

The cords of the soul that were silent so long 
It strikes with the notes of a wonderful song; 

The grasp of a hand that is honest and true 
Refreshes the mind like the orient dew, 

And it seems that the blessings of cvcles descend 
When we feel the soft touch of the hand of a friend. 

O’er mountain and desert we wander afar, 

Our couch is a cot ’neath a pitiless star; 

But there, even there, In the stranger’s abode, 

We dream of the touch that can lift sorrow’s load; 

For Friendship the hearts of the faithful doth bind 
With the ties t at forever unite human kind; 

With an ocean between us and home we can blend 
Ourjoys with the touch of the hand of a friend. 

I would not exchange for the diadems of old 
The grasp of the hand never sordid or cold; 

It never betrays one for wealth or for fame. 

In sunlight and shadow ’ tis always the same; 

How quickly disaster would meet us half way 
If the hand that we love should desert us to-day; 

But of all earthly things it is true to the end. 

And we crown with our blessing the hand of a friend. 
O 

Washington's Oath as a Freemason. 


An interesting feature in connection with 
New Bedford’s celebration of its incorpora- 
tion as a city, which will occur on October 
ioth to 14th, will be a reproduction, with 
as large a measure of historical accuracy 
as is possible, of the British invasion of 
1778/ 

On the fifth day of September, in that 
year, a hostile English fleet landed, de- 
stroyed the shipping and burned the town. 
The British acted in the matter, there is no 
doubt, from motives of retaliation and pun- 
ishment, rather than for purposes of plun- 
der. The same expedition afterward pro- 
ceeded to Marthas’ Vineyard, and carried 
off large numbers of cattle, with consider- 
able money, but there is no account that 
any money was taken from Bedford, as 
the village was then called. New Bed- 
ford’s harbor had from the beginning of 
hostilities been noted as a rendezvous for 
privateers, and the damage inflicted upon 
English commerce by the whalemen had 
excited the deepest resentment. As early 
as May, 1775, but a few weeks after the 
battle of Lexington, the British cruiser 
Falcon had captured in the bay three ves- 
sels belonging to Sandwich. A vessel was 
fitted out from Bedford under command of 
Captain Egery, which recaptured two of 
these vessels with fifteen British officers 
and sailors. The privateer Providence , 


whose name was associated with many 
brilliant naval achievements, had her ren- 
dezvous in New Bedford. She was a 
sloop of about ninety tons, and, at one 
time, it is said, was under the command 
of Captain Paul Jones. Her most famous 
exploit was with his majesty’s brig, Dili- 
gence, of eighteen guns, which she captured 
and brought into the New Bedford harbor 
after a most determined and bloody en- 
gagement. 

Major General Grey, under orders from 
Sir Henry Clinton, at New York, arrived 
in the bay and anchored off Clarks point, 
a jutting headland which makes out into 
the bay, about noon of Saturday, Septem- 
ber 5, 1778, with two frigates, a brig of- 
war with some thirty-six transports, with 
about 5,000 men. The main body of the 
troops was landed on Clarks point that 
afternoon, and marched in the course of 
the night past the head of the river, a 
small settlement at the extreme north end 
of the town, and passing on a road east of 
the village of Fairhaven, which is on the 
opposite side of the Acushnet river from 
New Bedford, direct to Sconticut neck, a 
headland somewhat similar in contour to 
Clarks point and about three miles dis- 
tant, re- embarked, and were all on board 
the fleet by Sunday noon, the 6th. On 
the march a detachment turned from the 
county road, now County street, in these 
days a famous residential center, down to 
the wharves, burning the "stores and ves- 
sels at their moorings. A good many of 
the ships destroyed were prizes, and large 
amounts of prize goods were burned. An- 
other party proceeded further up the river, 
and destroyed the shipping there. A fort, 
which stood on the Fairhaven side of the 
river on a huge natural boulder command- 
ing the approach to the inner harbor, was 
blown up by the invaders, after its guns 
had been spiked. 

Major General Grey, in his official re- 
port, stated to the Commander-in-chief of 
the British forces, that the expedition de- 
stroyed “eight sail of large vessels, from 
two hundred to three hundred tons, most 
of them prizes; six armed vessels, carrying 
from ten to sixteen guns; a number of 
sloops and schooners of inferior size, 
amounting in all to seventy, besides whale- 
boats and others; amongst the prizes were 
three taken by Count D’E^taing’s fleet; 26 
storehouses at Bedford, these filled with 
very great quantities of rum, sugar, mo- 
lasses, coffee, tobacco, cotton, tea, medi- 


394 


THE TRESTLE BOARD. 


cines, gunpowder, sail cloth, cordage, etc. ; 
two rope walks, with their contents.” 

Among the several dwelling houses de- 
stroyed, of none of which the British com- 
mander makes mention, was the habitation 
of Bartholomew West and his two sons, 
whose domestic affairs were managed by 
Hannah Sogg. All the time of the inva- 
sion the old man was feeble, helpless and 
unable to leave his bed, and thus the 
Britishers found him. On entering the 
dwelling the soldiers treated the inmates 
with great rudeness because of the patriot- 
ism of the old man, who was an enthusi- 
astic supporter of the American cause. 
While looting the house they informed 
the Wests that they intended to burn it, 
and refused the request of Miss Sogg to re- 
move the old man to a place of safety. 
She, like a true heroine, carried him out 
herself, and placed him on a feather bed 
against a wall in the orchard, from which 
he watched the house burn to the ground. 

Among the many articles carried away 
from the old man’s home by the invaders 
was a Bible, which was destined to have a 
history. It is to this day in the possession 
of the 46th regiment, now known as the 
Duke of Cornwall’s regiment, light in- 
fantry, through whose Chaplain, Rev. R. 
Stewart Patterson, its history was finally 
traced. 

The family traditions regarding this 
famous Bible have been well preserved, 
for down through the successive genera- 
tions the story has been told that the old 
man Bartholomew held the book in great 
veneration, and to his death spoke of its 
loss with great regret. He supposed that 
it was burned with the other household 
goods; and so during the long century in- 
tervening, the family of Wests had no 
knowledge of the sacred volume’s exist- 
ence. 

Upon this Bible, as Chaplain Patterson 
has discovered during his long search for 
facts in regard to it, Washington took 
one of the degrees of Masonry. 

The 46th regiment was originally num- 
bered the 57th, and was raised in 1741. 
Six year’s later, by the disbandment of 
eleven regiments, it became the 46th Foot, 
by which name it was known until 1881. 
In 1752, when quartered in Ireland, a Ma- 
sonic charter was obtained from the Grand 
Lodge of that country. The regiment 
Lodge was numbered 227 and was also 
known as the Lodge of Social and Mili- 
tary Virtue, its motto being, “ Lib ens solvit 


merito votiim . ’ ’ Both name and motto, it 
is to be remarked, have the same initials, 
“L. S. V. M.” 

The regiment formed a part of General 
Grey’s expedition to New Bedford, and it 
was soldiers belonging to its ranks who 
carried away the West family Bible. It is 
stated that the volume was once retaken 
by the Americans, but they, not knowing 
its value as a keepsake of their own Com- 
mander-in chief, returned it to the 46th be- 
fore that corns sailed for England in 1782. 

After having been quartered in Ireland 
for several years, the 46th proceeded to 
Gibraltar in 1792; thence to the West In- 
dies in 1794, and back to England in 
1796, where it remained until 1804, when 
it proceeded to garrison the Island of 
Dominica, which was shortly after attacked 
by an overwhelming French force. The 
English commander was forced to evacuate, 
and the Bible had to be abandoned, but 
was afterwards restored to the regiment 
under a flag of truce, as is set forth on a 
silver plate attached to the walnut case, 
with glass lid, in which it is kept in the 
ante-room of the officers mess, the inscrip- 
tion on which reads as follows: “On this 
sacred volume Washington received a de- 
gree of Masonry. It was twice taken by 
the enemy, and both times returned to the 
regiment with all the honors of war.” 

This Bible followed the fortunes of the 
corps afterwards to England, Jersey, the 
Isle of Wight, New South Wales and 
India. Here the Masonic Lodge, which 
appears all along to have been the cus- 
todian of the book, ceased working in the 
year 1827. The Bible and jewels were 
taken to England by the regiment in 1833, 
when the Lodge was revived. 

Some sixteen or seventeen years ago, 
when the regiment was quartered in Ber- 
muda, the case was opened to display the 
book to some guests, when the page which 
contained the signature of General Wash- 
ington mysteriously disappeared. The 
Bible is about ten by twelve inches, is 
handsomely bound in morocco, and is 
richly stamped in gold, with Masonic em- 
blems. H. W. B. 

o 

In the old lectures a Freemason was de- 
scribed as “a free man, born of a free wo- 
man, brother to a king, fellow to a prince 
or companion to a beggar, if a Mason.” 

When you dispute with a fool he is cer- 
tain to be similarly employed. — Ex. 


THE TRESTLE BOARD. 


395 


Now. 


Look not with mourning to the past, 

“It comes not back again’”; 

The course of time, with portents vast. 

Moves on in ceaseless train. 

Thine only is the present time. 

The future dimiy seen; 

Go meet with earnest thought sublime, 

With holy faith serene. 

Present call to present duty 
Our souls and lives should fill: 

Zeal that glows with life and beauty 
Should everv fiber thrill. 

— G. W. Worthen. 

O 

The Doctrine of Exclusive Juris- 
diction. 

The doctrine is essentially modern and 
almost exclusively American. There has 
always been, as far as we know, some 
general principle governing the inter- 
jurisdictional relations of Grand Lodges 
with each other, and as Bro. Chetwode 
Crawley, in his “Notes on Irish Freema- 
sonry/ * No. II, in Volume VIII, Part 2, 
“ Ars Quaticor Coronaioru 77 i ,” points out, 
“at the present time almost every Grand 
Lodge in the world has given its implicit 
or explicit adherence to some modification 
of the principle which may thus claim to 
that extent, and no more, the force of an 
Established Usage, though it can never be 
classed as an Ancient Landmark.” But 
the extent to which this principle was, and 
outside Freemasonry in the United States 
and British North America still is, limited, 
is shown in the pas-age he quotes from an 
anonymous pamphlet published in London 
in 1765, and entitled, “A Defense of Free- 
masonry as Practiced in the Regular 
Lodges, Both Foreign aud Domestic, un- 
der the Constitution. of the English Grand 
Master” : 

“But the English Masons should be cau- 
tious with whom they converse, as there 
are many irregular Masons; i. e ., modern 
Lodges under the title of Ancient or York, 
who, some time ago, pretended to be con- 
stituted or authorized by the Grand Mas- 
ter of Ireland, who, bv-the-bye, I am 
credibly informed, refused to countenance 
them, as it would be highly absurd for one 
Grand Master to constitute Lodges in the 
territories of another.” 

“ The same writer, in the same article, 
quotes a case noted in the minutes of the 
Grand Lodge of Ireland in 1796, in wdiich 
sundry brethren of the “Loyal Inverness 
Fencibles” applied for a warrant of the 
said Grand Lodge, and were referred by it 
to their own Grand Lodge in Edinburgh; 


and though we cannot lay our hands for 
the moment upon the reference, we have 
read of a similar case in which certain 
Scottish brethren, residing in London, ap- 
plied to the Grand Lodge of Scotland for 
a warrant, and were referred to the Grand 
Lodge in London. This principle of the 
territorial jurisdiction of Grand Lodge was, 
indeed, as Bro. Speth points out in a note 
on Bro. Crawley’s article, established, so 
far as the Grand Lodge of England was 
concerned, in 1770, when “in acknowledg- 
ing the new Grand Lodge of the Nether- 
lands, it agreed to refrain in future from 
establishing any new Lodges in that coun- 
try, but it explicitly insisted upon the 
right of such Lodges of its Constitution in 
Holland as chose to adhere to their Eng- 
lish jurisdiction being allowed to do so un- 
distured.” 

The principle thus laid down in 17 70 
has been consistently followed by the 
Grand Lodge of England ever since, and, 
as far as we know, by the Grand Lodges 
of Ireland and Scotland, which have con- 
current jurisdiction with it in those parts 
of the British Empire in which there are 
not recognized local Grand Lodges. 

In the United States of North America 
each State has its Grand Lodge, whose 
territorial limits are coincident with those 
of the State. In British North America — 
exclusive of Newfoundland, which remains 
under the jurisdiction of the Grand Lodges 
of the United Kingdom — there are seven 
separate and independent Grand Lodges, 
each with its territorial limits clearly 
enough defined, but in Nova Scotia there 
is one Lodge and in the Province of Que- 
bec three Lodges which have elected to 
remain in their own allegiance to the 
Grand Lodge of England. 

Turning our attention to the Craft at 
the Antipodes, we find one Lodge in New 
South Wales and one in Victoria still re- 
maining in allegiance to the Grand Lodge 
of England, and in South Australia one 
which retains its connection with the 
Grand Lodge of Ireland; while, as showing 
that we adopt towards other Masonic pow- 
ers the principle we have laid down for 
ourselves, there is in Cape Colony and ad- 
joining territories a considerable body of 
Dutch Lodges under the administration of 
a Deputy Grand Master, notwithstanding 
that Cape Colony has been British territory 
ever since the early years of the present 
century. 

As we understand it, the American doc- 


30 


THE TRESTLE BOARD. 


trine of Exclusive Jurisdiction lays it down 
that when a local Grand Lodge has once 
been set up by a majority of the Lodges 
located within a certain territory, the 
Lodges constituting the minority, though 
deriving their warrants from the identical 
Grand Lodge or Grand Lodges which set 
up the majority, cease, ipso facto, to have 
any will of their own. They are no longer 
free agents, nor have they the right to say, 
we derive our existence from the Grand 
Lodge of England, Ireland or Scotland, 
as the case may be, we have flourished un- 
der her banner, we desire no change, much 
less do we wish for a severance of the con- 
nection with our parent Grand Lodges. 
You claim the right to secede and set up 
your own Grand Lodge, and, we trust, you 
may have before you a long and prosper- 
ous future; but, we claim, with equal right, 
to remain as we are, and as we have been, 
from the very outset of our existence. 
The Laws of the Grand Lodge or Lodges 
which warranted us sanction our adoption 
of this course, nor will those bodies accord 
you recognition as a supreme authority un- 
less you allow us that freedom of action 
which you are exercising for yourselves. 

But we demur emphatically to the claims 
thus set up in favor of this law of Exclu- 
sive Jurisdiction. We say that in the form 
which it is now sought to give it, no such 
general law has ever existed in Freema- 
sonry. It may or may not be accepted as 
such among the Grand Lodges of the 
United States, but it does not follow that, 
if or because it is so accepted, all the other 
Grand Lodges in the world must accept it 
likewise, and so elevate it to the dignity of 
a universal law of Masonry. Bro. Crawley 
has shown that the law of territorial juris- 
diction was enacted in the first instance by 
the Grand Lodges of England and Ireland, 
while the interpretation placed upon the 
law by the bodies which enacted it has 
been consistently the same as shown by 
Bro. Speth in the case of the Grand Lodge 
of the Netherlands in 1770, and by the 
course adopted by England and Ireland 
when recognizing the Grand Lodge of 
Canada and Grand Lodges of later crea- 
tion. As Bro. Crawley very pertinently 
remarks: “It seems impossible to resist the 
conclusion that when the law is to be inter- 
preted, the limitations laid down by the 
authorities that enacted it must be accepted 
as part of the law.” This, however, is 
just what the supporters of this law of 
Exclusive Jurisdiction decline to do. They 


take the law, put their own interpretation 
upon it — ignoring all other interpretations 
— and christening it a Landmark call upon 
all other Grand Lodges to accept it or re- 
ject it at their peril. This, or something 
very much to the same effect, is what we 
have said in former articles on the subject, 
and this is what it will be our duty to re- 
peat in any further discussion that may 
arise. 

There is, however, just one remark 
which it may be convenient to add. No 
agreement will ever be possible between 
the advocates and opponents of this sup- 
posed law of Exclusive Jurisdiction until 
the former are prepared to allow that a 
Masonic doctrine which is taught almost 
exclusively in America is not on precisely 
the same level as a doctrine that is accept- 
ed universally by the whole body of Ma- 
sons. When this point has been conceded, 
the greatest difficulty in the way of an ex- 
act definition of the law will have been 
overcome. — The Freemason, of London. 
o 

Not long ago we listened to a severe de- 
nunciation of a Craftsman who has been a 
faithful member of the Fraternity for a long 
term of years, the special offense charged 
against the brother so criticised being that 
he put a cube into the box instead of a 
white ball, on the occasion of a recent bal- 
lot. As to the particular case under dis- 
cussion we have no knowledge, and would 
not express an opinion. But there was 
one statement which fell from the lips of 
the harsh critic which has lingered in our 
mind ever since, and concerning which we 
have a word to offer. The remark was 
this: “No Mason has a right to cast an ad- 
verse ballot on the petition of an applicant 
unless he knows him to be a man of un- 
worthy character If he has a respect- 
ability as a citizen, and wants to become a 
Mason it is a shame for a member to keep 
him out.” We dissent from these conclu- 
sions. Not every man of upright character 
is by nature, education or associations fitted 
to enter the lines of Freemasonry. It is 
the part of wisdom to keep him out. A 
Masonic Lodge is a pri\ ate society, having 
the right to choose its own members. If 
the coming in of a man from the outside 
would seem to interfere with the good fel- 
lowship of those within, or if his presence 
would be seriously objectionable to even a 
single member, it does not seem either base 
or unkind that the application should be 
rejected. — Freemasons Repository. 


THE TRESTLE BOARD. 


397 


Kiss Her and Tell Her So. 


You’ve a dear little wife at home. John. 

Whose affection you won years ago, 

She’s the dearest of all in this life, John, 

Just kiss her and tell her so. 

Mayhap she is weary to-night, John, 

And thinking of days long ago; 

Let her know that you, too, remember, 

By kissing and telling her so. 

The tired hands are folded to-night, John, 

As she gently rocks to and fro. 

Is she more to you than life, John ? 

Then kiss her and tell her so. 

There’s a sad, tired look in her eyes, John, 

There are furrows of care that show 
How much she has been to you, John — 

Then kiss her and tell her so. 

You are not growing cold. I am sure, John, 

You are only forgetful, I know, 

Of the one you cherish the most, John — 

Then kiss her and tell her so. 

The years that have come and gone, John, 

Are turning her tresses like snow, 

But the heart always warm for > ou. John, 

Craves the kiss of the days long ago. 

— A. L. Cotton. 

O 

Triumphant Woman. 


A change in public sentiment on the 
question of feminine occupations have taken 
place in the last decade, and the jokes per- 
petrated' at their expense have turned on 
their perpetrators like boomerangs. At 
no class have these shafts been levelled as 
upon the typewriters, but they have stood 
the test, and are now riding on the top 
wave, enjoying the comforts that come 
after a hard fight. She has proved with 
satisfaction to the business world that ac- 
curacy, punctuality and capability are not 
questions of sex, but of training. 

Typewriter girls are not well paid, but 
they receive more for their services than 
do shop girls, cashiers or seamstresses, and 
they lead much freer lives and have better 
opportunities for physical and. mental de- 
velopment. The average salary of the 
typewriter girl is twelve dollars a week, 
though in exceptional cases she may earn 
from tw’enty to thirty dollars weekly, and 
some as low as five or six dollars. 

A great many typewriter girls have 
chances, through their employers, to make 
money outside of their salaries. Particu- 
larly is this true of those employed in 
bankers’ offices. They often get points 
from writing the brokers’ letters, and make 
some very successful deals. It is said that 
one young woman in New York has profit- 
ed $30,000 by buying stocks, and content- 
ing herself with selling at a slight advance. 
Many a mother to-day finds herself with a 
little home in the suburbs, in her old age, 
as the result of her tvpew’riter girl’s suc- 


cessful speculations. Some people have 
an idea that the typewriter girl is a friv- 
olous creature who gets through with her 
work so that she can draw’ her pay, which 
she spends for cheap finery, and that she 
is ready to flirt with every man who comes 
along, and to marry the first one who asks 
her. This is not true. These girls, if 
they receive their business education at a 
really first-class institution, imbibe with 
their studies the knowledge of how’ to meet 
a man on strictly business grounds, and 
learn not to expect those courtesies that 
make up so much of social life. They 
learn that success means always being in 
one’s place, alw’ays giving the closest at- 
tention to even the smallest duties, ahvays 
being amiable, gentle mannered and neat. 

It is an undisputed fact that the type- 
writer girl has revolutionized the offices 
of this city. There are people w’ho hold 
that the mere fact of a woman doing w*ork 
for w’hich she is paid in money takes some- 
thing aw’ay from her, and that men do not 
feel the same tow’ard her. When asked if 
this was true, a New York merchant, who 
employs thirty stenographers, all girls, in 
his offices, replied most emphatically: 

“No, and the man w’ho says that is a 
cad — a snob. I used to employ all men 
in my office, and it was by accident that I 
changed to girls. One day one of my 
boys secured a better place. I had the 
greatest confidence in him, and asked him 
to recommend some one who he felt sure 
could do the w*ork satisfactorily. To my 
amazement he recommended his sister. 
‘What ! have a girl in my office ?’ I ex- 
claimed. ‘Never.’ He said: ‘ I’m sure 
you would get more comfort out of her 
than you say you have got out of me.’ 
After a good deal of talk I gave her a 
trial 

“She came the next day and took her 
place at his desk, and there’s been a dif- 
ferent atmosphere in that musty old office 
ever since. Her gentle presence changed 
things as if by magic, and the boys grew’ 
more gentle and courteous, and my head 
men seemed to go about their work with a 
new’ enthusiam. The little girl attended 
strictly to her business, but when she looked 
up it was always w’lth a smiling face, and 
when she tripped from desk to desk the 
very swish of her skirts seemed to make 
things different. Gradually this, that, and 
the other boy dropped into places in other 
offices, or w’ent into business for themselves; 
some of them became managers in my 


398 


THE TRESTLE BOARD 


office, until, finally, I found all my type- 
writers girls. They do the work more 
satisfactorily; they get along pleasantly 
with one another, and they are always in 
their places cheerful and amiable. Men 
who come in now to transact business, 
when they see my array of bright- faced, 
tastefully dressed, trim looking girls, act 
like gentlemen, and refrain from smoking, 
spitting all over the floors, and swearing, 
and this without a word trom anybody. 
I don’t say that all typewriters are per- 
fect. Some of them are pretty bad, but 
so are some of the society girls. We find 
imprudent, immodest women in every 
Walk of life, in every line of business; 
but, on the whole, I think that the type- 
writers of this city deserve much credit 
and much respect. Of course I mean 
those who are competent and are filling 
places that give them a fair living.” 

Many typewriter girls have chances for 
marriage that young women, supported by 
fathers in moderate circumstances, may 
well envy them. Often they marry men 
connected with the firms for which they 
work, or, oftener still, captivate customers. 

“About one hundred young women go 
out from this institution every year,” said 
the President of one of the oldest commer- 
cial colleges in New York to a Sun re- 
porter, “and find excellent places as type- 
writers. It has always interested me to 
note what excellent marriages they make 
as a rule. This is easily accounted for, I 
think. They become very much interested 
in their work, and are not absorbed with 
the idea that they must marry the first man 
who offers himself. They wait until love 
comes to them, as a rule, and by this time 
their knowledge of the world and human 
nature is such that they do not fall in love 
with a ne’er do well. I remember so well 
one case that interested me very much. 
A young woman came down from a back 
part of the State, and perfected herself in 
stenography and typewriting. She had a 
most attractive personality and a most 
comprehensive and sympathetic mind. I 
was casting my eye about for the kind of 
place I knew she would fill well, when I 
received a message from the editor of a 
magazine to send him a competent type- 
writer at once. I told the office boy to 
tell him that I had the very girl he needed. 

“The boy declared that the editor had 
said distinctly, time and again, that he 
would not have a girl around, and finally 
said he knew his employer wouldn’t even 


see her. As the editor was a friend of 
mine I told the boy to tell him I knew 
better what he wanted than he knew him- 
self, and I was sure that this girl, who 
would call next morning, would fill the 
bill. The girl went, and was employed. 
In a few weeks I met the editor, and he 
told me that he had never in all his life 
had any one take such care of his affairs 
as did this girl. Things went on this way 
for two years, and then I received cards 
to their wedding. A day or two afterward 
they called together. She said laughingly 
he married her to keep her, because she 
had had an offer of a much larger salary. 

“That case is a typical case. Every 
little while my old girls come in to tell 
me of their engagements, and never yet 
have I known of a case where a marriage 
has turned out badly.” 

Of course there are unsuccessful type- 
writers, and hundreds of them are glad to 
work for a pittance, but there are excep- 
tions to all cases and in every department 
of labor . — Saturday Mail. 

o 

We give an account of the way the 
Craft in England celebrated the Queen’s 
Diamond Jubilee, by spending $75,000 in 
aid of charity. This is the way our Ma- 
sonic Shriners are reported to have spent 
their funds at the recent meeting held in 
Detroit: 

“There were 35 Temples represented — 
about 3,000 ‘Shriners’ in all. The expense 
of entertaining the visitors by Moslem was 
about $7,000. Here is the way our in- 
dustrious accountant figures out the total 
bill of the Shriners: 

Hotel bill $ 24,000 

Railway fares 35 , 000 

Expense of Moslem Temple . . . 7,000 

Spent in Detroit bars 20 000 

Expended for liquor and cigars 

outside the bars 80,000 

Incidentals 80,000 


$250,000 

The railroad fare paid by the Shriners 
would probably average $10 apiece, and 
the fares of the 5,000 people who came to 
Detroit from nearby points to see the fun 
was easily $1 each, so that the transpor- 
tation companies gathered in about $35,- 
000 . ” — Canadian Craftsman . 


The world is our Lodge, and among all 
classes of mankind are our brethren. 


THE TRESTLE BOARD. 


399 


Speak Nae 111. 


Other people have their faults, 

And so have you as well; 

But all ye chance to see or hear 
Ye have nae right to tell. 

If ye canna speak o’ good, 

Take care, and see and feel; 

Earth has all too much o’ woe, 
And not enough o’ weal. 

Be careful that ye make nae strife, 
Wi* meddling tongue and brain; 

For ye will find enough to do 
If ye but look at hame. 

If ye canna speak o’ good, 

Oh, dinna speak at all; 

For there is grief and woe enough 
On this terrestrial ball. 

If ye should feel like picking haws, 
Ye better go, I ween, 

And read the Book that tells ye all 
About the mote and beam. 

Dinna lend a ready ear 
To gossip or to strife, 

Or, perhaps, ’twill make for ye 
Nae sunny things of life. 

Oh ! dinna add to others’ woe, 

Nor mock it with your mirth; 

But give ye kindly sympathy 
To suffering ones of earth. 

o 

Fresh Air Mission. 


“Take a fresh air girl ! ’ said Farmer 
Bruce, “Well, I’ll be — ” “Father !” said 
Mother Bruce sharply. Then Farmer Bruce 
gave a discreet cough, and looked at his 
wife for further directions from the letter 
she held in her hand. 

“I told you summer boarders would bring 
bad luck, and now you see what comes of 
taking that young minister to board last 
summer. Wants us to open our heart and 
home to a little city waif, does he ? Wal, 
I fer one don’t see as we’re called on to 
keep a poorhouse for any one jest yet. 
You’re so wrapped up in that young feller 
and his schemes though, I suppose you’re 
goin’ to consent.” 

“I am, ’ ’ said Mother Bruce firmly, though 
in her heart she was far more afraid of a 
fresh air girl than her husband was. But 
she had always made it a point to be on the 
opposite of the question, and she was carry- 
ing out her principles. 

And so little Peggy Trumble, freckles, 
dirt and all, came to stay as long as cir- 
cumstances and her own good behavior 
would allow her to at Bruce farm. Now, 
take Peggy amid the stones, bricks, fire 
escapes and crowds of her own city, and 


her peculiarities would only be character- 
istic traits which thousands of her own 
companions had. But set her down alone 
in the country, with two elderly, honest 
people devoid of any guile, and she loomed 
up as a very striking and amazing person. 
Her slang, her grimaces, her general reck- 
lessness and her shocking views nearly 
drove good Mrs. Bruce wild. It was full 
a month before she could make Peggy un- 
derstand that she could sit down at the 
table and eat all the food she wished. She 
would grab a roll or other food from the 
table, and run out into the orchard to eat. 
Her views were intensely practical. She 
plainly told them “tree times a day was 
too often to eat; no wonder dey waz fat.” 

After a month she toned down a little, 
and then Mrs. Bruce really began to grow 
fond of her. The parlor with its hair- 
cloth furniture and crocheted “tidies” was 
kept closely locked, and the blinds had 
not been opened for so long that the honey- 
suckle vine had grown over them. One 
Sunday afternoon, as a rare treat, Mrs. 
Bruce unlocked the door, and let Peggy 
accompany her into the parlor. Peggy 
shivered as the damp, musty air struck 
her. She looked at the fearful crayon por- 
traits and cheap chromos on the wall. In 
one frame was a wreath made of the hair 
of departed members of Mrs. Buce’s fam- 
ily; under a glass case on a little table 
w^as a vase of wax flow f ers, and on the 
mantel, reposing by a china dog was — yes 
actually — was a coffin plate. That settled 
poor little Peggy. 

“Let’s git out,” she said, “it’s like der 
undertaker’s.” 

Mrs. Bruce was troubled and hurt. 
Peggy surely had never seen as grand a 
place as her best room, yet the child 
seemed actually to be afraid. 

“This room,” she said, intending to 
impress Peggy, “ is never used except 
when we have company.” 

“Why not?” asked Peggy. 

“Why, child, it’s too fine. Those chairs 
have been in my family ever since my 
mother was married. This carpet is brus- 
sels; do you suppose I’d let Hiram come 
in here with his heavy boots ? There isn’t 
a finer best room in the whole country 
than mine.” 

“Bet I’d use it den,” said the irrepress- 
ible Peggy. “You and him’s a getting 
old, and there haint no kids to muss any- 
tin’, and from de front windows you kin 
see clear dow r n the w'alley, and it’s heaps 


400 


THE TRESTLE BOARD , . 


cooler in summer and gayer (she meant 
more cheerful) in winter. Why don’t 
youse ?” 

The result was that good Mrs. Bruce 
actually did turn her musty parlor into the 
pleasantest sitting-room in the county, for 
she was forced to admit she had no earthly 
reason for keeping it sacred. It was the 
same way with her best china and silver. 
Once she had shown it to Peggy, the latter 
insisted that “ nuthin” was too good for 
Farmer Bruce and his wife. She loved 
Farmer Bruce because he let her run riot 
in the big barn, drive with him, and “en- 
couraged her rowdyism,” his wife said. 
Well, Peggy’s sharp common sense or her 
frank “Why not ?’ when she was told the 
best things must not be used, had its ef- 
fect. The whole of the farmhouse was 
thrown open to the sun and air, the coarse 
china and pewter gave way to the best 
china and silver for the family. The old 
carryall that had been mended and re- 
mended also gave way to a more modern 
and better carriage, for Peggv had laughed 
when told they couldn’t afford a better 
one. ‘ ‘What’ re yer savin’ yer money fer ?’ ’ 
she asked. “Someone’ll spend it fer yer.” 

Farmer Bruce felt this might be so, and 
began to look out to make things more 
comfortable for mother. The old chain 
pump which made her back ache gave 
way to a windmill which pumped the water 
right into a tank in the kitchen, and made 
a bath-room possible, and also made it 
more convenient to water the stock in the 
barnyard. 

Peggy’s two weeks lengthened into two 
months. Her joy over the fruit and flow- 
ers knew no bounds. But the fact that so 
much of it went to waste caused her much 
worry. 

“If we could only get it in town,” she 
said, “ I knows lots of kids that never 
tasted cherries.” 

The vegetables and the flowers, the 
birds and the bees made her wild with de- 
light. She thought how poor little Davy, 
lying alone in a back room with a bad 
hip, would love the flowers, and she puz- 
zled her little brain to think how she could 
get them to him. Finally, one evening, 
as she trotted along bare- footed with 
Farmer Bruce, helping him keep the cows 
n the straight and narrow path, she slipped 
her little brown hand into his, and said: 

‘ ‘I knows lots of kids what never did see 
the flowers and fruit, and I can’t sleep 
’cause I keeps tinkin’ of dem. S’pose we 


load a big wagon, and take ’em in lots of 
tings.” 

Peggy saw no difficulties, and by the 
time she had told Farmer and Mrs. Bruse 
of the different families to whom a gift of 
flowers and fruit would be a rare treat, 
they became interested too. There were 
loads of fruit going to waste on the place, 
and there were many other things that 
could be spared at a pinch, and when Mrs. 
Bruce was once interested in Peggy’s do- 
nation party, as she called it, it was won- 
derful the practical things she found stored 
away in the chests. Blankets and quilts 
that she never would find use for, and 
many other comforts. Farmer and Mrs. 
Norris, living on the adjoining farm, be- 
came interested, and by the time every- 
thing was ready, there was the big farm 
wagon full of fruit, vegetables and bundles 
of bed clothes, with a big hamper full of 
old-fashioned flowers. Peggy, Mrs. Bruce 
and the farmer rode in the family carriage, 
and Jonas drove the big wagon. Peggy’s 
heart nearly burst with pride, as she made 
a triumphant entree into the dingy city 
court with her carriage and her wagon of 
gifts. It was the red letter day of her life, 
and she thoroughly enjoyed it. She picked 
out her special friends, and grandly be- 
stowed her favors upon them, and they 
were too overcome to “call her down.” 
Her biggest and best gifts were for Davy, 
but when Mrs. Bruce climbed the six 
flights of stairs, and went into the dark, 
bad-smelling little closet of a room, and 
saw the poor little shrunken frame and big 
eyes staring at her with piteous appeal, 
she decided at once that Davy should go 
back with them to the farm. She had 
long ago decided that Peggy should stay, 
but she could not leave Davy. 

So Peggy’s cup of happiness fairly bub- 
bled over in her delight when she saw 
Davy clean and happy in a little white bed 
in a small room off the sitting-room at the 
Bruce farm. 

When the young minister came out to 
spend a few days at the farm, he said: 

“Well, you certainly have been doing 
some blessed missionary work, my friends.” 

But Farmer Bruce pulled one of Peggy’s 
little red braids: 

“Peggy’s been the missionary,” he said. 

— Laura A . Smith . 

o 

Masonic members throughout the coun- 
try are objecting strenuously to the use of 
Masonic emblems in and about saloons. 


THE TRESTLE BOARD . 


401 


What Might be Done ? 


Dr. Winslow Lewis was Grand Master of Ma- 
sons in Massachusetts in 1S55, and was present 
at a notable celebration of St. John’s Day, by 
Montgomery Lodge of Milford, Mass., on Satur- 
day, June 23d of that year. In response to a 
toast complimentary to the Grand Lodge he 
made a felicitous address showing what might 
be accomplised if men were banded together in 
good works. Xear the close of his address he 
quoted Bro. Chas. Mackay’s suggestive words, 
and added a stanza most appropriate for the oc- 
casion. We present, herewith, the original poem 
and the added lines.— Repository. 

What might be done if men were wise — 

What glorious deeds, my suffering brother, 
Would they unite, 

In love and right, 

And cease their scorn for one another ? 

Oppression’s heart might be imbued 
With kindling drops of loving kindness, 

And knowledge pour, 

From shore to shore, 

Light on the eyes of mental blindness. 

All fraud and warfare, lies and wrongs, 

All vice and crime might die together; 

And milk and com, 

To each man born, 

Be free as warmth in summer weather. 

The meanest wretch that ever trod — 

The deepest sunk in guilt and sorrow, 

Might stand erect, 

In self-respect, 

And share the teeming world to-morrow. 

What might be done ? This might be done, 
And more than this, my suffering brother, 
More than the tongue 
E’er said or sung — 

If men were wise and loved each other. 

May it be done ! Let the mild sun 
Of love Fraternal warm each other, 

So mote it be 
Eternally, 

With each and every faithful brother ! 

An Indian Legend. 


An Indian chief, growing old and weary 
of life, determined to set out for paradise, 
or the place of rest, which he believed to 
lie beyond the winding and blue hills in 
front of his dwelling. 

He started, accompanied by his wife, his 
son, and two faithful followers — his favor- 
ite dog keeping close at his heels. 

The way was long. The track lay up 
steep hillsides, and across parching plains, 
then through the deep snows of mountains. 

After a time the chieftain’s wife left his 
side, and returned. The dog, after look- 
ing back with a low whine, followed his 
master. 


The way grew more difficult, till at 
length the son, too, faltered, fell back and 
left his father. 

The chieftain’s dog and two of the ser- 
vant still remained; but, after a while, 
their courage failed. They besought him 
to turn homewards; but the chieftain turned 
towards the brilliant light streaming from 
the setting sun, where he could already 
see the pearly gates of the Golden City, 
and said: 

“Return if you will; I will struggle on- 
ward alone.” 

The men turned back, sorry to leave 
their chief, yet glad to have his permission 
to go; but the faithful dog lifted his wist- 
ful eyes to his master’s face, nestled his 
rough head under his hand, and refused to 
leave him. 

Day by day, night after night, the pair 
went on together over crag and swamp, 
and hill and valley, till at length there lay 
but one snow-capped peak between the 
chief and his long desired journey’s end. 
The rosy and golden light from the Heav- 
enly City streamed over the snow; but that 
did not make it less cold and deep. 

As he bravely ploughed a passage across 
the chill height, against the freezing blast 
laden with snow' flakes, he fell overpowered 
by the wind’s icy breath. 

But the dog, which had kept close to 
him all the while, now sprang forward, 
and lying on his breast kept the warmth 
in his feeble heart, and licked his beloved 
master’s face and hands, making sharp 
cries to rouse him from the drowsiness 
which was creeping over him. 

The chief awoke, and stumbled to his 
feet, patted the good dog, which by joyful 
gambols and cheerful barking tried to lead 
him onward. 

In another half hour the chief stood 
knocking at the gate of Paradise, and a 
shining winged one looked over the glit- 
tering door. 

“I wish to come in,” said the chief. 

“Willingly,” replied the angel of the 
gate. “But what is that in the shadow be- 
hind you ?” 

“It is my faithful dog,” replied the 
chieftain. 

“He cannot enter here,” replied the 
angel. “You may come in, but you must 
leave him outside.” 

The chief pleaded earnestly with the 
angel, begging that his companion might 
be admitted; but all in vain. 

“It is forbidden — it must not be,” said 


402 


THE TRESTLE BOARD, 


the keeper at the gate. “Enter, but the 
dog must remain without.” 

“Then I will stay with him,” said the 
Indian. “This creature has been faithful 
when all others forsook me. He saved my 
life; where he goes I will go. I will share 
his fate as he shared mine.” 

The chieftain was turning to leave the 
gate when, lo ! at his side instead of the 
trembling limbs of the frightened dog with 
upturned timid face, there stood a bright 
form with white wings and a radiant coun- 
tenance, but with clear eyes full of just 
such mild love as the creature’s had been. 
Smiling, this fair vision took the hand of 
the chief, and leading him in at the open 
gate, said: “I was your guardian angel. If 
you had not been true to me, I could never 
have guided you within these gates. We 
will enter together, and be happy for- 
ever. ’ ’ — St. Nicholas . 

o 

A Mysterious Theft. 


Harold Ames was proud and happy 
when Mr. Jones, the great newspaper agent, 
took him on as one of the boys. Not a 
moment late was he with any of the papers, 
and the wages were a quarter more than in 
his last place. Every one of those quarters 
should be put aside to buy mother the new 
dress she needed. 

Harold’s mother was a widow, and he 
was her only child. 

Five weeks had Harry kept his place, 
and five quarters rattled in his money-box 
— the rest of the money he always handed 
over to his mother to buy his food and 
clothes — when a terrible trial befell the 
boy. Subscribers complained that their 
papers were not left regularly, and one 
man even sent word that, though paid for, 
his paper had not come for a whole week 
past. Of course Harrv was sent for and 
reprimanded, but he could only say, earnest- 
ly: “Please, sir, I always did leave the pa- 
pers at every house.” 

“And the answer was: “Don’t make 
matters worse by telling a lie.” 

He was not dismissed, but was to have a 
week’s grace. 

Poor Harry ! Tears of indignation welled 
into his eyes. As to the missing papers, 
he knew nothing about them. It was a 
mystery, and it was a mystery that con- 
tinued. He lett the papers regularly in 
Mortimer street, yet again people called 
at the office, and said they had never got 


them. At the end of the week the boy 
was called up and dismissed. 

In vain Harry’s mother pleaded for her 
child, a good boy, with a good character 
for honesty wherever he had been in a 
place; it was of no use. 

Poor Harry was sobbing bitterly at 
home, when Mr. S., the photographer 
round the corner, knocked at the door to 
ask Mrs. Ames to send his wash home a 
little earlier. He was surprised to see 
Harry in tears, and asked the reason. Mrs. 
Ames explained. 

“Look here,” the young man said, “I’m 
fond of mysteries, I’ll take the boy,” and 
the photographer laughed. “Cheer up,” 
he said to Harrv. ‘ ‘Come and work for 
me, and we’ll find out this riddle.” 

He knew Harry; knew him for a good 
boy. 

A few days later Mr. S. called at the 
newspaper office. ‘ ‘Papers gone regularly 
since you dismissed young Ames?” he 
asked. 

“Not a bit of it. Worse complaints 
than ever,” was the reply. 

“Ah, a mystery,” said Mr. S., and 
went away. 

Next day he got up very early, and 
walked up and down Mortimer street. 
Plarry’s successor was dropping the morn- 
ing papers on every doorstep. Mr. S. 
leaned against the portico of No. i and 
waited, keeping an eye on the whole 
street. Then he went home chuckling 
and staring hard at No. 8, where the door 
stood open to air the house. You could 
do that in this quiet street. 

He asked Harry if No. 8 had ever com- 
plained of his papers coming irregularly, 
but Harry shook his head. 

“No. 8 was too ill,” he said. “They 
thought he was dying all last week. The 
girl told me so.” 

“Do they keep a cat,” he asked. 

Harry stared. “They keep a dog,” he 
said, “a jolly one; it can do heaps of 
tricks.” 

“It is too clever, by half,” said Mr. S. 
“Come with me, my boy. You and I will 
go and ask how No. 8 is.” 

Harry wondered, but got 4 his cap and 
followed. 

To this question the girl answered joy- 
fully that her employer was a great deal 
better; out of danger. 

“Can he read the papers yet,” asked 
Mr. S. 

“Well, now, how odd !” said the girl. 


THE TRESTLE BOARD 


403 


“I was just going to get it for him when 
you rang. Rover takes it always off the 
doorstep, and lays it in the little smoking- 
room; but this two weeks past we’ve 
none of us thought of the paper, or even 
gone into the room, we’ve been so dread- 
fully anxious about poor Mr. Orr.” 

“May I see the smoking room?” asked 
the photographer. 

“ Certainly, sir,” said the girl. 

But when Harry, Mr. S. and Sarah en- 
tered the room there was still a greater 
surprise, for the floor was littered with pa- 
pers, yet folded, carried in from various 
doorsteps by the busy Rover. During his 
master’s illness no one had taken the pa- 
per from him, and praised him for doing 
it, so he must have tried to earn praise by 
bringing in more papets, searching every 
doorstep up and down the street. 

“And we all too upset to notice it !” 
said Sarah. “Well, I never !” Rover, 
you’re a thief! This will be news for 
your master.” 

“The mystery is discovered,” said the 
photographer. “Could I ask as a favor 
that this room be left as it is for Mr. Jones 
of the newspaper office to see? I think 
your employer will not object when he 
hears that a boy has been accused of tak- 
ing the papers.” 

“Certainly, sir,” said Sarah. 

The agent was taken to No. 8. He 
found there all the missing papers, and 
. Rover was kind enough to make things 
clear by bringing in another stolen paper 
during his visit. 

“You are entirely cleared, my lad,” he 
said. “We must have you back. This 
is a queer affair,” and he patted Rover on 
the head. 

“Thank you; but I can’t spare my boy; 
he suits me,” said the photographer. 

“Well, then, we must give Ames a 
present, for he has suffered unjustly.” 

“I don’t want anything, sir; I’m only 
too glad to be cleared. ’ ’ 

“The boys said you were saving money 
for some purpose; perhaps I could help 
you to that.” 

“Oh, nothing, sir, for me; but I did 
want to get mother a dress.” 

“Ah, yes ! I won’t keep you now. 
Good-bye, Mr. S. You have done us a 
valuable service by clearing up this affair.” 

That evening a knock came to the 
Ames’ door, and a parcel was left directed 
to Harry’s mother. It contained a beauti- 
ful dark dress “from Rover.” 


Contentment. 


“I have learned in whatsoever state I am, 
therewith to be content,” same as Jim. 

Everything pleased my neighbor Jim; 

When it rained 
He never complained, 

But said wet weather just suited him, 

“There never was too much rain for me, 
And this is something like,” said he. 

\\1ien earth was dry as powder mill 
He did not sigh 
Because it was dry, 

But said if he could have his will 

It would be his chief, supreme delight 
To live where the sun shone day and night. 

When winter came, with its snow and ice, 

He did not scold 
Because it was cold, 

But said: “Now this is real nice; 

If ever from home I’m forced to go 
I’ll move up north with the Esquimaux.” 

A cyclone whirled along its track 
And did him harm — 

It broke his arm — 

And stripped the coat from off his back; 

“And I would give another limb 
To see such a blow again,” said Jim. 

And when at length his years were told, 

And his body bent 
And his strength all spent, 

And Jim was very weak and old — 

“I long have wanted to know,” he said, 
“How it feels to die” — and Jim was dead. 

The angel of death had summoned him 
To heaven, or — well, 

I cannot tell. 

All I know that the climate suited Jim, 

And, cold or hot, it mattered not, 

It was to him the long-sought spot. 

o 

Look Out, Father. 

“Ah, that you, Mr. Mildway, up here? 
Bless me, yes, it’s you on this ere moun- 
tain !” 

And in his fulsome, half sincere, pat- 
ronizing way, Squire Clipper went on to 
greet his pastor, the Rev. John Mild- 
way. 

“There’s no man nor woman I am so 
glad to see as my own pastor. How — dy 
—do ?” 

“I thought, squire, I would climb ‘Old 
Bald’ to get the view.” 

“And it is as purty a sight as ever you 
will see,” said the squire, “and all of them 
things do about as han’sum as they pos- 
sibly can.” 

Here, with a patronizing air, he nodded 
toward the valleys and the hills and the 
forests and the villages, thereby encourag- 
ing them to do as well as they could. 


404 


THE TRESTLE BOARD. 


The two men here walked to the edge 
of “Great Cliff,” that had a high, impos- 
ing, beetling front. The portly parish- 
ioner allowed his big foot to play with a 
small boulder, and then he gave it a push, 
and sent it rolling over the edge of the 
cliff. 

It went clattering and shattering down, 
sending up the sharp echoes of a small 
avalanche. ♦ 

“That’s the way to start a landslide, 
squire.” 

‘ ‘Sartin true !’ ’ Many a big slide starts, 
I suppose, in jest that ere way; a push and 
a kick, and away it goes. Dreadful easy 
to set things agoin’ in this world. I’ll 
try another. Hark !” 

This second beginning of an avalanche 
went rattling, rushing down, arousing a 
flood of echoes. 

Suddenly a clear ringing cry came up 
from the abyss. 

“Look out, father ! You’ll be hitting 
me ! Look out, father !” 

“Why,” exclaimed the squire, “that’s 
my Jimmy ! I forgot he went down that 
way. He came up with me.” 

Holding on to a stout bush, Simon 
Clipper looked down over the edge of the 
cliff 

“You down there, Jimmy? I can’t see 
ye. All right ! Meet me at the hotel 
soon.” 

“I will, father; but I shan’t if you keep 
starting things, and sending them down 
this way. They get quite big by the time 
they arrive, and I may be hit. Look out, 
father.” 

The father was glad to change the sub- 
ject, and he called out: 

“I’ll see you at the hotel !” 

He turned to his minister: 

“Now I am ready to go down.” 

“I am stopping at the hotel, too, while 
my family is away on a visit.” 

“You are? Then I want you to be my 
guest to-day. Let me pay the bill, and 
you take dinner with me. I want you to 
see my Jimmy, too. He is at home on a 
vacation from school. As bright a boy as 
you’ll see. Yes, I’m dreadful glad to see 
you.” 

Here the squire gave the minister with 
his big hand several affectionate bear-pats 
between the shoulders. The parson was 
thin and slender, and Simon Clipper’s 
energetic affection threatened to send all 
the breath out of the Rev. John Mildway. 
The latter braced up, though, and took 


good-naturedly this bruin-like demonstra- 
tion of love. 

“You are very kind, squire, but what if 
you dine with me ?” 

“Oh, no — no — never !” 

He hemmed and he hawed and shouted. 
“Never ! never !” and rubbed his hands 
together as if they were two washboards 
and “never” was an article of soiled cloth- 
ing promptly to be made clean. “Never, 
never, no — ” 

The minister here assented, and so the 
washing came to an end. 

As they entered the hotel the squire 
called out to the landlord: 

“Dinner for two — no — three — and none 
of your minister-dinners ! Give us one 
fit for a king.” 

Winking and smirking and doing still 
more work with his two washboards, he 
led the meek man of the cloth into the 
dining-room, now and then lovingly pound- 
ing his companion on the back. 

They were in the midst of palatial 
courses, Simon’s plate bountifully loaded 
with turkey, suggesting a battle with hun- 
ger behind a stout fortress of center plat- 
ters, while dishes of corn and peas and 
tomatoes and potatoes were the outlying 
works, on whose seasonable support Simon 
might rely. 

In the midst of a bravely fought battle 
a boy with a bright sparkling face ran up 
to the squire, saying: “Here I am, father I” 

“So I see, Jimmy ! Mr. Mildway, this .. 
is my boy, Jimmy. Jest shake hands with 
him. He has a good grip, like his father.” 

The clergyman and the boy shook hands 
promptly, and were warm friends at once. 
Jimmy was a boy that people labeled 
“handsome.” 

The squire was very hospitable, and was 
not backward in proclaiming it to the col- 
ored waiter. 

“Waiter, I say, your best ! This is to 
be a dinner for a king, three of ’em.” 

“Yes, sah !” 

“Waiter, I say !” 

“Bring me a bottle of that beer I like, 
the kind you know you can taste.” 

The waiter returned, and set down be- 
side the squire’s plate a bottle of beer 
never yet known to be weak, but appar- 
ently strong enough to stand up withuot 
the help of a bottle even. 

“Parson, lemme pour ye a glass of this 
ere beer.” 

“You are very kind, squire, and I thank 
you, but I never indulge in beer.” 


THE TRESTLE BOARD , . 


405 


The squire hawed* hawed and laughed, 
and said it was all a good joke.” 

“Why, this beer,” he said, “why it 
makes as little trouble, it goes down as 
easy as the rocks I started down the moun- 
tain; yes, goes down easier than the rocks.” 

Here he smacked his lips, and called 
out: 

“Jimmy, come here !” 

Jimmy stepped to his father’s side. 

“Try this beer, Jimmy.” 

With a troubled face, he looked at his 
father. What would he do ? It is a hard 
place to put a boy in — a temperance boy. 

Jimmy’s thoughts were in rapid motion 
He did not want to take the beer, and yet 
his father offered it. What ought he to 
do ? He could see only one way. 

“Father,” he said, in a slow, hesitating 
voice, “you just now spoke about the 
rocks you started down the mountain.” 

“Well, of course. I did; but what has 
that case got to do with this case ?” 

“The rocks came pretty near hitting 
me, and I said, ‘Look out, father,’ for I 
knew you were up there. Things get 
agoing, and you can’t stop them — and — 
and—” 

Simon Cooper looked very troubled. 

“Yes,” said the minister, “it is a moun- 
tain-slide that you can start so easy.” 

Here the father rose from the table, 
hemmed, wiped his face and looked in a 
bewildered way about him. Then he sat 
down, covered his face with his hands, 
murmured: 

“My boy is right. This is the way to 
start things, and I don’t want them started 
in him, and end like an avalanche. No ! 
no ! I don’t want ’em.” 

“And you don’t want them for your- 
self,” said a voice.” 

It was the squire’s minister. 

“No, no, it won’t pay,” said the squire. 
“Here, waiter,” he called aloud. 

The waiter came promptly. 

“Take this bottle and this glass aw T ay. 
No more for me !” 

“Yes, sah.” 

Bottle and glass were quietly removed. 

“Thank God !” said the minister in his 
heart. Thank God for a boy who can 
stand up and say, “No !” 

— Edward A. Ra?id. 

o 

A man must get a release from the 
Maryland Lodge which rejected him thirty 
years previously before he can petition a 
Delaware Lodge for the degrees. 


A Serpent Under the Bed. 


“What’s the matter with you, Harry? 
You act as though you were afraid.” 

“Oh, papa,” burst from the lips of the 
trembling boy, “there’s something under 
the bed, a burglar, or — ” 

“Maybe a big snake like we read about 
in — ” 

“Sh, Harry !” whispered his brother. 

“Let’s go and see,” said their father, 
quietly taking up the lamp and bidding 
them follow him. 

“Shure an’ it’s somethin’ bad we’ll find 
under the mattress,” said Bridget. 

Instead of poking under the bed, or 
calling on the burglar to come out, or 
holding his revolver ready to shoot, Mr. 
Martin set down the lamp and began strip- 
ping off the bed covers. 

1 Papa,” said Fred nervously, “don’t 
you think you’d better call a policeman ?*’ 

“I think not,” said Mr. Martin, lifting 
the mattress. 

Harry became very much excited. He 
turned pale. 

“I — I — wouldn’t look any further,” he 
stammered. 

“I’m not going to,” answered his fath- 
er. “Bring me the tongs. Here is the 
serpent.” He took the fire tongs and 
lifted out a book, an exciting tale which 
Harry had been reading to his brother, 
and which had so filled their imaginations 
with silly notions as to make them afraid 
to be in the dark. 

“There,” he said, dropping it into the 
open fire, “that snake will not bite another 
boy as he has bitten you. It is a more 
dangerous kind than the rattlesnake. 
Where did you get it?” 

“Charlie Sherman loaned it to me,” 
whimpered Harry. 

“You see the mischief it has already 
caused. A book that makes a boy afraid 
to go to bed is not going to do you any 
good. Promise me you will never bring 
another book into the house without me 
seeing it. I prefer to kill the snake in the 
street.’ And Harry promised, as every 
boy should. 

Boys, never read a book that makes you 
afraid of the dark. — Our Morning Guide . 
o 

Wife — I mended the hole in your pock- 
et last night after you had gone to bed. 
I am a careful little woman am I not ? 

Husband — Yes, but how did you know 
there was a hole in my pocket ? 


406 


THE TRESTLE BOARD . 


Rev. W. E. Smith at Ferndale. 


Bro. Rev. W. E. Smith, Prelate of Cali- 
fornia Commandery, No. i, is frequently 
heard as a workman in the last section of 
many of the degrees of Masonry in San 
Francisco, and as he is not confined en- 
tirely to the ritual, his addresses are pecu- 
liarly characteristic of the brother. We 
do not recollect of seeing any of his im- 
promptu productions in print, and finding 
the following in the Eureka Standard , 
place it on our pages to be preserved for 
future ages to read, and realize the beauty 
and grandeur and dignity of Masonry as 
exemplified and explained in the cycles of 
the past. The occasion was at the institu- 
tion of Ferndale Chapter, No. 78, during 
the recent trip of California Commandery 
to Humboldt county. Bro. Smith said: 

“The antiquities are of interest, not 
only to scientists, but to every man and 
woman of intelligence. Questions of vital 
moment have been solved by the study of 
hieroglyphics traced on tablets of brass, 
and chiseled on imperishable stone. Light 
has been shed on the civilization of ex- 
tinct nationalities by the researches of the 
antiquarian. The impressive lessons of 
the early ages are ours. They are not ob- 
scure in their presentations of truth. They 
come to us from the hoary past, down 
throngh numberless centuries with the 
tread of an athlete, and emphasize to us 
the inspiring fact that man has been a 
thinker, a worker and a success under all 
the varying phases of his splendid devel- 
opment. 

“To some types of mind there is an 
eminent fitness in preserving relics and re- 
taining curios, but when it comes to the 
perpetuation of antique institutions, a pro- 
test is voiced. The present age, it is said, 
is one of quickened impulse and remark- 
able activity, and the law of correspond- 
ence must be illustrated in the fostering 
of the new, which harmonizes with the 
progress of our development. The new is 
unquestionably in order, but there is in 
this no reason why the old should be dis- 
placed to find entombment in our archives. 
It does not follow that the new is an im- 
provement of the old. The sea is old, so 
are the tall, dark mountains. The stars 
are very old, but who can improve upon 
sea, mountain and star ? 

“Men say, Why plant upon American 
soil an institution like Masonry, whose 


principles, purposes and spirit are ancient ? 
Why go back to far distant lands and early 
forms of civilization for inspiration for 
seed to plant upon virgin soil ? 

“The reason is simple and significant. 
Masonry, though as old as the hills, has 
the spirit of the morning. There is noth- 
ing appertaining to the Order that is on 
the line of the effete. Masonry teaches the 
imperishable truths voiced in the well- 
known phrase, “The Fatherhood of God 
and the brotherhood of man.” Can any 
improvement be made upon such teaching ? 
Masonry cherishes the sublime principles 
inhering in this two fold proposition, and 
presents them to her novitiates with im- 
pressive ritual and solemn ceremonial. 

“The instituting of a Chapter of Royal 
Arch Masons by Companion Frank Pierce, 
the Grand High Priest of this magnificent 
jurisdiction, in the delightful town of Fern- 
dale, is not only in order, but eminently 
befitting his station, and every way worthy 
of the high spirited gentlemen who are to 
manage its affairs. 

“This Chapter will not only conserve 
the best interests of each man identified 
with it, but will prove a blessing in his 
home and become an honor to the town, 
and, I trust, an inspiration for nobler liv- 
ing by all who come within the sphere of 
its influence. To accomplish these ends 
unanimity of action is necessary. Each 
member of the newly formed Chapter 
must do his part, whatever it may be. The 
ladies comprising the Eastern Star can be 
of great service in this direction. The 
ladies of Ferndale are capable. The splen- 
did collation spread for us this afternoon, 
and the feast yet awaiting us, tell what 
these ladies can do. If you co-operate 
with the Companioi.s of the Royal Arch 
in the maintenance of this Chapter you 
will be crowned with success and Masonry, 
as exemplified here, will become a per- 
petual blessing to this community. 

“I am confident that the companions 
identified with this newly constituted Chap- 
ter will realize that much depends upon 
their individual faithfulness. If you are 
true to your vows of fidelity the future of 
your Chapter will be a brilliant one. 

“There is an old legend which comes to 
me freighted with significance. It is said 
that during the erection of King Solomon’s 
Temple one of the Workmen hard by the 
quarries was assigned a stone to fashion 
by his chisel into peculiar form. He was 
a man of trained eye and skilled hand. 


THE TRESTLE BOARD. 


407 


At first he murmured as he studied the 
design. He could see no use for such a 
stone, and was about to cast it aside, on 
the supposition that a mistake had been 
made by the supervising architect, when 
the thought came to him, ‘This work has 
been assigned me by the master builder. 
He makes no mistakes. I will cut the 
stone into form according to the design.’ 
He proceeded with his work, and in due 
season it was creditably finished. Months 
passed, and in the untiring industry of his 
vocation he had about forgotten the pecu- 
liarly shaped stone he had chiseled into 
form. 

“The day came for the dedication of 
the magnificent Temple. Straightening 
himself up, removing the dust of his toil 
from his beard, he worked up the mount 
to the edifice which bore the imprint of 
his chisel. He wondered in what part of 
the structure his handiwork had found 
place. He questioned as to whether it had 
been cast over into the rubbish by the in- 
spectors of the work. 

“As he stood before the Temple, that 
splendid pile of architecture, which has 
since been immortalized in song and story, 
he raised his eyes, and to his great sur- 
prise discovered that the unique stone he 
had cut according to design was the key 
to the magnificant arch at the main en- 
trance to the sacred edifice. The legend 
says he was so profoundly moved that the 
tears coursed down his cheeks, and bow- 
wind. No one but a true brother can 
know them. But of this the world may 
be* sure: There is a Mystic Tie which 
unites members of the Craft into a Fra- 
ternity which, while world- wide, is really 
only one family. This, after all, is the 
great secret of Freemasonry — our secret 
bond of sympathy. 

o 

Freemasonry and Religion. 


Freemasonry is a religious institution. 
Its religious character cannot be well un- 
derstood and defined unless we draw a dis 
tinction between subjective religion, the 
religion of the heart, and objective relig- 
ion, the religion of the mind. 

By subjective religion, the religion of 
the heart, we understand that divine dispo- 
sition and influence instinctively dwelling 
in man, the voice of God within, manifest- 
ed by piety and devotion, by love and 
reverence, adoration and worship, of the 
Supreme Being, the Father of us all. It 


is the religion — emotional in character — 
which changes, purifies and sanctifies the 
heart. Having its source and origin in 
God, it is purely divine, and therefore 
immutable; being common to all men, it 
binds man to man; it is the religion in 
which all men agree. This is the religion 
of Freemasonry. 

By objective religion, the religion of the 
mind, we understand religion objectively 
treated and scientifically reduced to a sys- 
tem, called theology. 

It is the product of the human intellect, 
and therefore varies and changes in ac- 
cordance with the condition and standard 
of the mind. It is the religion of ecclesi- 
astical dogmatism of the various churches, 
religious institutions, denominations and 
creeds; as, for instance, of the Unitari- 
ans, Trinitarians, Uni verbalists, Calvinists, 
Romanists, Jews, Mohammedans, etc. 

Although having a common basis is 
subjective religion, being the work of the 
human mind, it is truih mxed with error; 
it is the religion of creeds, in which men 
disagree, which estranges man from man, 
productive of intolerance, hatred and per- 
secution, of bigotry, hypocrisy and fanati- 
cism. In this religion Freemasonry has 
no part. 

The aim and object of Freemasonry is 
not to make the Christian more Christian, 
the Jew more Jewish, and the Mohamme- 
dan more Mohammedan, but to make the 
Christian a better Christian, the Jew a 
better Jew and the Mohammedan a better 
Mohammedan. 

— E. R ., in Hebrew Standard. 

o 

Widow of a Mason. 


Question . — Is the widow of a deceased 
Master Mason who remarries entitled to 
the protection and assistance of Masons. 

Answer . — The decisions of the Grand 
Lodge are, that a widow marrying again has 
no claim as a widow until after the death 
of her second husband. 571-1852; when a 
widow marries a profane she loses the 
right to aid and assistance from the Fra- 
ternity, her widowhood being merged in 
the wife. She has a new protector, and 
the Lodge is under no further obligations 
to contribute to her relief, except as in- 
dividuals, and. then, only under the ordi- 
nary obligations of charity, 55-1873. 

This is all wrong, proceeding as it does, 
upon the idea that the covenant runs to 
the widow, whereas, it was to the deceased 


408 


THE TRESTLE BOARD . 


husband, who was our brother, that the 
promise was made to protect and assist 
her. She was then the wife of that broth- 
er, and she still is the person described in 
the contract made with him; she is still his 
widow, notwithstanding her subsequent 
marriage. If she has been called by her 
name of Jane Smith, there could not have 
been a more complete identification of the 
person intended in the mind of every in- 
dividual present who witnessed the solemn 
pledge given to the dead man. Her sub- 
sequent remarriage does not make her in 
law any the less the widow of the man who 
preceded her to the grave, and a legacy 
describing her as John Smiths widow 
would be held valid in any court of Christen- 
dom, notwithstanding that she is now Jane 
Jones. Is she any the less so in that High 
Court of Equity, the Masonic Lodge ? Is 
she not still the object of the affectionate 
solicitude of the dead brother who has left 
her but for a time, to the tender care of the 
brethren who remain ? And would he not 
claim for himself, as his right, if he were 
permitted to do so, the performance of the 
promise given to him by Masonry, to throw 
the strong arm of brotherhood around her, 
a shield and buckler, against every stormy 
wind that blows ? ‘ ‘Once a Mason, always 

a Mason,' * is not a piece of pretty senti- 
mentality, for its covenants run forever. 
A widow of a Mason is, so long as she lives, 
notwithstanding a subsequent marriage, 
entitled to every right and privilege she 
obtained by the contract entered into with 
the brother with whom we contracted to 
shield and protect his wife, his widow and 
his child, and nothing on earth can abate 
the binding force and effect of the relation- 
ship which was then established. 

— G. L . , of Mississippi, 

o 

Masonic Veterans. 


The veteran movement throughout the 
country is continually gaining in strength. 
In Minnesota, as in other States, the time 
is surely approaching when to become a 
member ol a Veteran Association will be re- 
garded as the crowning honor of a Blue 
Lodge Mason. This opinion has been 
greatly strengthened through observations 
made during a recent visit in the East. 

On the 27th of June, 1895, I attended 
the twenty-fifth annual meeting of the 
Connecticut Masonic Veteran Association 
at New Hartford, Conn. At every station 
and junction between New Haven and the 


place of assembly, the cars were invaded 
by crowds of old men, displaying the 
badge of their association. The local 
Lodge at New Hartford was opened on the 
third degree, and then in grand proces- 
sion, two by two. these old sons of Hiram 
were ushered into the Lodge, and moved, 
“with the sun," around the altar to the 
strains of a march played by the organist. 
Having completed the triple circumambu- 
lation, all faced the east, while they were 
fraternally welcomed by the Worshipful 
Master. This formally accomplished, the 
venerable Master of the Association as- 
sumed the chair, and the regular business 
of the body was transacted behind tiled 
doors. Never in my life have I been seat- 
ed in a more venerable assemblage. Of 
those present, the oldest had reached the 
age of eighty-six, and four others were 
over eighty, nineteen were upwards of 
seventy, fifty had passed sixty, and of the 
rest all had gone beyond the half-century 
mark. In due season, I was called upon 
to apologize for my youth, anc^ to confess 
I was by five years the youngest veteran 
present. In Masonic age, again I stood at 
the foot of the list, with only a paltry 
twenty- five years to my credit, while one 
of their members had been a Master Ma- 
son twice that period and ten additional 
years. Just as the veterans of Grant and 
Sherman, of Lee and Stonewall Jackson, 
travel across half a continent to grasp each 
other by the hand and fight again their 
battles, so came these veterans of the 
Mystic Tie from the remotest corners of 
old Connecticut to meet once more in 
brotherly concourse before the span of life 
was ended. With most of them, perhaps 
with all, official aspiration and personal 
ambition were forever left behind. They 
had but one thought, and that the exem- 
plification of the power of Masonry in 
molding men of varied interests into a 
complete brotherhood, and teaching their 
because they are workers of iniquity. It 
is not so with Freemasons. 

Freemasonry is not a secret society, be- 
cause its purpose is a matter of common 
knowledge. In this it has nothing to con- 
ceal. Recognizing the fact that Freema- 
sonry should be above suspicion, it openly 
admits as much to the world. We are the 
friends of humanity as well as of the in- 
itiated; we acknowledge the Fatherhood of 
God and the brotherhood of man; and, 
hence, are ready to do good to all men, 
while we love most and best those who are 


THE TRESTLE BOARD . 


409 


encircled with us by the Mystic Tie. Many 
are the charities, in all Masonic Jurisdic- 
tions, bestowed upon us by the worthy 
profane after great public calamities. This 
is our positive, practical acknowledgment 
of the brotherhood of man. 

Freemasonry is not a secret society, be- 
cause its principles are well known to the 
public. The “Constitutions” of the Craft 
are in print, its history is in print, and ev- 
ery Jurisdiction has its proceedings printed 
annually. From all these the public can 
readily gather the principles of Freema- 
sonry. These are in no sense Masonic se- 
crets, and we do not strive to hide them. 

Now, can a society whose stated places 
of meeting are known, whose membership 
is known, w r hose purpose is known, and 
whose principles and history are known, in 
any proper sense be styled a secret so- 
ciety. 

But, on the other hand, Freemasonry is 
a secret society, because while the public 
know a part of it, they do not by any 
means know all of it. A Masonic Lodge 
is not like a tavern, with the latchstring 
hanging out, and into w r hich any one may 
enter. It is for the elect alone. Every 
applicant must be closely examined. His 
moral character must be free from flaw. 
He must be of good repute in the com- 
munity. This is no secret, for it prevents 
many from seeking Masonic initiation, and 
it causes some who do seek it to be re- 
jected. 

Freemasonry is a secret society, because 
its charities are, in large part, unknown to 
the world. What transpires in a lodge 
room is not a matter of public news. Ev- 
ery meeting night the various Masonic 
bodies are aiding those of its members 
who are in distress, and. although not only 
the aggregate, but the individual sums 
gathered are often large, the profane never 
hear of them. Such facts are confined to 
the knowledge of the initiated. These se- 
crets of Freemasonry are of the utmost 
value to the world, without their being 
aware of it. Our charities often exceed 
those of the Church. The Craft deserves 
to be honored in the highest degree, both 
for having and for treasuring such secrets. 

And, then, Freemasonry is a secret so- 
ciety, because it has other secret s. What 
are they ? The world has long been try- 
ing to discover them. It has often said it 
has discovered them — but has it ? To 
profane search they are as elusive as the 
ing his head upon his breast he breathed 


out a prayer for forgiveness for moment- 
arily questioning the wisdom of the Master 
Builder in assigning him the work of fash- 
ioning that stone into shape. Then rais- 
ing his head with a happy light into his 
now clear visioned eye, he gave thanks to 
God that he had been found worthy to 
have had assignmeut of duty in connection 
with the erection of such a splendid Tem- 
ple. 

“Companions ! We have been assigned 
to duty along honorable lines of toil. Let 
us be wise, so that no matter how unim- 
portant our work may seem to be, we will 
measure up to our tasks like men, for it 
may be that our work will bear a more 
vital relation to the whole than we imagine. 
If it is not beneath the dignity of the In- 
finite God to assign us a piece of work, it 
cannot be unworthy of us, if we do it, and 
do it well. 

“You have a splendid valley; your sur- 
roundings are superb. Heaven has been 
gracious unto you. I am told that your 
grasses are always green. Yes, your rich 
soil responds to the kisses of God, as the 
flowers and fruits and other products of 
your labor illustrate. May it be thus 
with this community in other respects. 
May the establishment of this Chapter of 
Royal Arch Masons be as a benediction of 
God to you, and may the outgrowth there- 
from be pure, rich and abundant, in every- 
thing that gives tone and character to in- 
telligent men and advancement to civilized 
communities. May the blessing of God 
rest upon you and our regular Masonry 
now and forevermore.” 

o 

Masonry Exemplified. 


An incident has just occurred in Rome, 
Georgia, which beautifully illustrates the 
universality of Masonry. Last fall Bro. 
William Milne came to Rome from Min- 
nesota, and procured employment at the 
Lindale Cotton Mills. Here he met with 
an accident which disabled him, and in a 
short time he became a victim of consump- 
tion. Being a stranger and without means, 
he was taken to the county almshouse. In 
a short time the Master of Cherokee Lodge, 
No. 66, received a letter from Bro. H. S. 
Goff, Secretary of Minnehaha Lodge, No. 
165, of Minneapolis, Minn., stating that 
Bro. Milne w r as a member in good stand- 
ing at that Lodge, and asking the Rome 
brethren to administer to his wants, and 
that Minnehaha Lodge would be respon- 


4io 


THE TRESTLE BOARD 


sible for all expenses incurred in caring 
for the distressed brother. Bro. Milne was 
thereupon at once taken from the alms- 
house, and for a week sojourned at a pri- 
vate hospital, after which he became an 
inmate of the home of Bro. J. P. Earle. 
Here he received every attention from Bro. 
Earle and his family, and was surrounded 
by all the comforts of a home. Minnehaha 
Lodge donated a generous amount for the 
sick brother’s care, and the Rome brethren 
also contributed for the same purpose. 
Bro. D. T. McCall gave all necessary 
medical attention, free of charge. On 
August 17th, Bro. Milne died, and was 
buried with Masonic honors by Cherokee 
Lodge on the following day. 

Bro. Goff, in one of his letters to the 
Master of Cherokee Lodge, beautifully 
says: ‘‘Truly, Masonry is not sectional, 
but country and world-wide. It has the 
compass, but no points of compass. Our 
hearts are warm towards you, brethren in 
the South.” 

The Rome brethren were more than 
glad to contribute to the relief and com- 
fort of the Minnesota brother, who had 
met with accident and misfortune far from 
home — a stranger in a strange land. And 
yet he was not a stranger, for the hands of 
brothers smoothed his couch of pain — ten- 
derly ministered to his wants, and when 
the last summons came, closed the weary 
eyes, whose light had gone out forever. 

At the cemetery the scene was sad yet 
beautifully impressive. Bro. Milne had 
no known relatives, and not a mourner 
stood beside the open grave And yet 
around that stranger’s bier, with uncovered 
heads and reverent mien, stood forty of 
Rome’s best and truest citizens, clad in 
white gloves and aprons — the insignia of a 
great and noble brotherhood. Sadly the 
last words were spoken — tenderly the sprig 
of acacia, the emblem of hope and im- 
mortality, was thrown upon the coffin — 
solemnly the last prayer ascended to the 
throne of grace, and as the sun sank to 
rest behind the western hills, the voice of 
the choir, mingling with the rustling leaves 
o’erhead, sang the final requiem — 

Lord of all below — above, 

Fill us with thy truth aud love; 

When dissolves our earthly tie, 

Take us to Thy Lodge on high. 

— Masonic Herald. 

o 

Experience keeps a dear school, but 
fools will learn in no other. 


A Queer Little Hen. 


There was once a little brown hen, 

A dear little, queer little hen, 

Her work was to lay 
Just one egg every day, 

And she did it, this good little hen. 

She’d fly up in a tree, and right then, 

Seated high on a branch, this queer hen, 

Her egg she would lay, 

Her one egg every day, 

This good little, queer little hen. 

’Twas a strange thing to do, I must say, 

Lay an egg from a tree every day. 

And what good was the egg ? 

Just tell that, I beg — 

That fell from the tree in that way ? 

But some people do things just as queer; 

I know it; I’ve seen it, my dear. 

They have a good thought, 

But it just comes to naught; 

From the wrong place they drop it, my dear. 

There’s a lesson for you and for me 
From the hen that laid eggs in a tree. 

If we do a right thing, 

If a good thought we bring, 

Let’s not choose a wrong place, you and me. 

— G. S. Sharp . 

o 

Woman and Masonry. 


There is a picture hanging in the low 
reception-room of the Masonic Temple, on 
the corner of Twenty -third street and 
Sixth avenue, New York, that seems to in- 
vite the threatened invasion of women into 
the ranks of Masonry. 

The movement began about a year ago, 
in England, the home of the Masonry of 
to day, but so far no successful progress 
has been reported, the whole matter limit- 
ing itself to a great deal of brave talk on 
the feminine side and an equal amount of 
voluble parrying on the other. However, 
the ladies rest content with the thought 
that if ever a real ladies’ man gets into the 
office of Grand Master they will obtain a 
charter for founding a Lodge, and after 
that they will have easy sailing. This 
hope and explanation has only one weak 
point, if one so may express himself with- 
out offering insult to majesty. Of the 
English Lodges the Prince of Wales is 
Grand Master; therefore the question is 
pertinent: Has H. R. H. ceased to be a 
ladies’ man, or does he take no active in- 
terest in his great office, ruling it by proxy, 
like other sovereign Grand Masons?^ 

The portrait above referred to, hanging, 
as it does, among a dozen or more fine 
likenesses of past Grand Masters,- past 
Grand Secretaries and Grand Treasurers, 


THE TRESTLE BOARD 


1 1 


is that of Elizabeth St. Leger, afterward 
Lady Aldsworth, the only woman Mason, 
if we may believe her male brethren, of 
to-day. As there was only one female 
Pope (Johanna, styled John VIII, reigned 
one ytar, 855-856), they say, so there was 
only one female Mason, both female Pope 
and female Mason being products of acci- 
dent. 

Historical investigation does not quite 
agree with this theory regarding the only 
female Mason. 

In 1771 the Duke of Chartres, afterward 
Duke Orleans Egalite, became Sovereign 
Grand Master of all French Masons, nam- 
ing the Duke of Luxembourg as his rep- 
resentative, and conferring upon the Grand 
Lodge, Orient de France, the right to issue 
charters. The Orient divided itself into 
two councils, the one containing only 
members of the nobility, the other com- 
posed of ordinary mortals. 

In 1774 the Grand Council of the nobil- 
ity — Orient — issued a decree recognizing 
“Masons by adoption/’ males and females, 
and expressly stipulating that females 
might obtain even the highest degrees of 
Masonry. 

Thus, it seems, Elizabeth St. Leger was 
not the only woman Mason, though she 
was probably the only English woman 
Mason that ever lived. 

The story of how she attained that dig- 
nity and how she lived up to her vows is 
well worth telling, the more so as it con- 
tains a lesson to those Masons of to day 
who are loud in declaring that woman is 
Utterly unfit to embrace Masonry. 

Elizabeth St. Leger was the daughter of 
the first Viscount Doneraile, who died in 
1727, his son, who succeeded him, being 
Grand Master of a Lodge of aristocrats, 
styled Lodge No. 44, and which was com- 
posed of the country gentlemen and 
wealthy inhabitants of the people belong- 
ing to the township of Doneraile, Ireland. 

Lord Doneraile held the chapters us- 
ually in a large hall of his castle, one side 
of the hall being separated from an unused 
dark passage by a so called “false wall” 
of stucco. Elizabeth had often questioned 
her brother about the strange rites con- 
nected with Masonry, and, receiving no 
satisfactory answer, resolved to see for 
herself. On the day preceding the meet- 
ing she removed part of the stucco at a 
point which could not be observed by the 
people in the hall, but which commanded 
a full view of the mysterious room to one 


standing on an old chest of drawers w hich 
the young lady had placed against the par- 
tition. 

As soon as the Masons assembled Eliza- 
beth put herself into position. On that 
particular occasion two degrees in Masonry 
were being conferred, and the curious w r o- 
man watched the proceedings trom begin- 
ning to end. Finally, when the meeting 
w r as about to break up, she stepped from 
the box, but in doing so upset the old 
chest, which, as is often the case with un- 
used pieces of furniture, had one leg miss- 
ing. 

The commotion that followed was aw r - 
ful. The sergeant at-arms first appeared, 
flourishing a sw r ord in one hand and a 
torch in the other; all the members of the 
Lodge ran in after him in their full regalia, 
their faces white with anger. 

Lord Doneraile was as mad as the rest of 
the brethren, but, recognizing the offender, 
placed himself before the prostrate form of 
his sister, who was half dead with terror. 
He commanded the Masons to withdraw, 
and then, aided by his bosom friend, the 
Hon. Richard Aldsworth of New’market, 
county of Cork, applied himself to the 
task of resuscitating the girl. Then the 
two drew from her the story of intrusion, 
learning, to their relief, that she had been 
prompted by curiosity. 

This information his lordship carried to 
the brethren, leaving Mr. Aldsworth and 
the sergeant behind to guard the unhappy 
criminal, for such his unfortunate sister 
was, according to the rules of Masonry. 

Another chapter was then held, w'hich 
took the form of a court of law, the pre- 
siding judge, the Grand Master, being the 
advocate of the absent defendant. Two 
long hours Lord Doneraile pleaded for his 
sister, but could not change the stern sen- 
timents of his brethren, w ho insisted that 
the usual penalties of offenders of that 
kind, death, should be inflicted without 
delay. Lady Elizabeth, they said, should 
be strangled, and her body carried away 
and thrown into the river. 

Meanwhile Mr. Aldsworth had become 
greatly enamoured w r ith his fair prisoner, 
and, learning the desperate state of affairs, 
bethought himself of the only possible 
remedy; that of initiating her ladyship into 
Masonry. 

Leaving his post, he entered the council 
and submitted this proposition in the usual 
form, offering to stand sponser for the new 
sister, together with Lord Doneraile. 


412 


THE TRESTLE BOARD. 


This solution of the perplexing situation 
was accepted after long debate, and toward 
midnight Lady Elizabeth was led to her 
initiation, instead of to her death. 

After a year or so she married the Hon. 
Richard Aids worth, and in the course of 
time she received the second degree of 
Masonry. Her biographers say that from 
the time of her initiation she became a 
true sister of mankind, seeking out the 
poor and needy and spending her great 
fortune in works of true charity. 

Lady Elizabeth, as her portrait in the 
Masonic Temple proves, was a very beau- 
tiful woman, with a high forehead, and a 
face full of gentleness and intelligence. 
The picture represents her clad in a white 
flowing dress with an overdress of dark 
material, open in front. Around her neck 
she wears a Stuart collar and a chain of 
pearls. She wears the Mason’s apron and 
a ring exhibiting the insignia of the Order 
on her right hand, which is pressed to her 
heart. The index finger of the left hand 
points to the page of a book with the badge 
of the brotherhood of '‘Free and Accepted 
Masons.” 

Opposite to Lady Elizabeth’s picture 
hangs that of Colonel E. M. L. Ehlers, 
Grand Secretary of the Masonic Order in 
New York, who seems to keep a kindly 
eye upon this ancient and “only” sister. 
The Colonel, by the way, is heartily op- 
posed to the admission of women into Ma- 
sonry, and though singing the praises of 
Lady Elizabeth, rejoices in the fact that 
she sleeps in the chapel of Doneraile. 
Grand Master John Stewart also promises 
to make trouble for any woman or body of 
women attempting to invade what he con- 
siders man’s sole domain, one of his argu- 
ments being that women have never been 
Masons and builders at any time. But 
this reasoning holds good for the period 
when Masonry originated only, while the 
last census of the United States shows that 
there are hundreds of female architects, 
designers and master masons, and in some 
parts of the country thousands of women 
are directly engaged in the building trade. 
Besides, the Masons of to-day do not pre- 
tend to adhere to their old vocation. 
They claim as one of their objects in life 
the building of noble character, and that, 
say many progressive women, is right in 
our line, is in fact a task justly accorded 
to us. The greatest writers and finest 
minds of all ages have upheld women as 
builders of characters. 


Some silly enemies of woman’s progress 
assert that women are not tligible to Ma- 
sonry because they cannot keep a secret. 
But is there really so much secrecy about 
Masonry nowadays ? In Austria Masons 
are treated like any other society and a 
police official attends each of their meet- 
ings. And bringing the matter nearer 
home, Grand Secretary Colonel Ehlers 
employs a very pretty girl typewriter in 
the very office that is associated with such 
awful secrecy. 

But it would be a dangerous innovation, 
cry others. 

This objection has already been met by 
the foregoing historical reminiscences, 
and, furthermore, it might be stated that 
Masonry is not constitutionally opposed 
to progress. 

Twenty -five years ago, for instance, Jews 
were strictly excluded from Masonry in 
Prussia, Hesse, Sweden and Denmark, and 
then the only Jewish Lodge in Germany, 
having headquarters in Frankfurt-on -the 
Main, was under the protection of the 
Grand Lodges of England, Besides, there 
is a sort of secret Society of Masons and 
their wives, mothers, sisier and daughters 
and the widows of Masons, flourishing in 
our very midst, the Order of the Eastern 
Star, which will hold its annual conven- 
tion shortly. The Eastern Star rejoices in 
many secret rites, a ceremonious initiation, 
with peculiar grip, signs and passes. One 
hundred and twenty-five thousand women 
belong to this organization, but its many 
quaint customs and symbols are to-day no 
more known than at the time of its foun- 
dation in November, 1870. In New York 
and Brooklyn live 10,000 members of the 
Eastern Star, some of them pretty society 
women, like Miss Annie Demarest, Mrs. 
Jennie Americus, Winston- Joanson and 
others. 

Will the portrait of either of them ever 
hang in the reception room of the Masonic 
Temple ? — Henry W. Fischer \ 

Tears Were Forbidden. 


She was a dainty little thing, and the 
old gentleman appeared to be prepos- 
sessed in her favor right from the start, 
but there was evidently something that 
made him pause. 

“Look here,” he said in his blunt 
fashion. “I like you and your references 
are all right. You run the typewriter as 
if you knew all there is to know about it, 


THE TRESTLE BOARD. 


4i3 


and you don’t look like a girl who would 
be sick every third day and want to get 
away an hour or two early all the rest of 
the time, but before I engage you I want 
to have a clear understanding with you on 
one subject.” 

“Yes, j*ir,” she replied, looking at him 
inquiringly. 

“Of course,” he explained, “I expect 
you will be perfectly satisfactory, but if 
you are not there must be no doubt about 
my right to discharge you.” 

“Certainly not.” 

“If I want you to go, I’ll just have one 
of the clerks put a note on your desk or 
leave it with the cashier for you, and 
you’re to take that as final.” 

“Naturally,” she said, looking at him 
in some surprise. 

“You’re not to enter any protest or file 
any objections,” he persisted, “and most 
of all you’re not to weep.” 

“Why, I suppose I can ask you why” — 

“You can’t ask me a thing,” he broke 
in. “If you get a note asking you to quit, 
you re just to put on your things and walk 
out without a whimper or question of any 
kind. Is that understood?” 

“It is,” she replied. 

“Have I your promise to live up to that 
agreement ?” 

“You have. But it is such an extraor- 
dinary request that I — I” — 

“Young woman,” said the old gentle- 
man impressively, “I’ve been in business 
here for fifty years, and up to the time 
woman got a good foothold in the busi- 
ness world I was in the habit of engaging 
and discharging clerks as seemed to me 
best from the standpoint of my business. 
In an unguarded moment, however, I was 
induced to hire a young woman to run a 
typewriter for me, and after I found that 
she wasn’t satisfactory to me it took me 
over eight weeks to discharge her. I left 
a note on her desk and she promptly came 
in and wept on mine. I turned the job 
over to various subordinates, but each 
time she came into my private office to do 
her weeping, and inside of a week she had 
the whole force wrought up to a point 
where business was being neglected, and 
she was still drawing salary just the same. 
Woman in business mav be all right, but 
when it comes to getting her out of busi- 
ness somebody else can have the job. 
However, if you’ll make a solemn promise 
to go without a single weep if vou don’t 
suit, I’ll try you .” — Chicago Post. 


His First Case. 


“I am often amused when I think of my 
first patient,” said a prominent doctor. 
“For days I had waited for some one to 
call upon me, and he or she didn’t call. 
I w r ould go out every morning with my 
medicine case as if in a prodigious hurry, 
to convey the impression that my services 
were very much in demand. But I thought 
that people smiled when they saw me, as 
though they divined my little artifice. One 
day, when I had about given up hope, 
there came a ring at the door. ‘A patient 
at last,’ I thought, and arranged my table 
as though I had been very busy among 
my books and papers. Then I went to 
the front door. 

“ ‘Be you the doctor,’ said a small 
voice, and looking down I beheld the 
owner, a golden-haired child, with bright 
blue eyes. 

“ T am,’ I said in answerjto her question. 

“ ‘Then come quick!’ she urged breath- 
lessly. * 

“ ‘Is it so important ?’ 

“ ‘Indeed it is; he may die. 

“ ‘What’s the trouble, my child ?’ 

“ ‘He’s got something in his froat and 
it’s choking him.’ 

“ ‘I will follow you, my dear. We 
will soon see about it.’ 

“I followed the child to a handsome 
house and she led me in the side door. 

“ ‘This way,’ she said, ‘he’s up in my 
playroom.’ 

“I thought this strange, but made no 
observation. She threw open the door of 
her playroom, and there, among dolls and 
other toys, was a French poodle dog, 
choking and gasping. 

“ ‘Can you keep my Fido from dying, 
Mr. Doctor?’ implored the little one. 

“I was highly indignant, but accepted 
the situation with the best possible grace. 

“ ‘I will trv,’ I answered,* and putting 
a hand down the blessed poodle’s throat 
extracted a good-sized bone. Fido at 
once became easier. 

“ ‘Will he need any medicine?’ she 
asked. 

“ ‘I think not.’ 

“As I was leaving I met her stately 
mother, who stared at me in surprise. 
The child told her why I had been called, 
and the lady apologized to me for the 
child’s presumption, as she called it. I 
answered with as good grace as possible 
and then departed. But one’s fortune 


414 


THE TRESTLE BOARD . 


may hang on a slender thread. The child 
was taken sick some weeks afterward and 
insisted upon my being sent for. They 
resisted her; she became worse; she 
wouldn’t speak to the other doctor; I had 
cured her dog and she wanted me. So 
finally they sent for me — ostensibly to 
consult with the other physician. The 
family doctor was very agreeable; the girl 
got better, and told everyone how I had 
cured her, when really she had cured her- 
self. At any rate such was the beginning 
of a practice which I may say with a cer- 
tain pride is probably second to that en- 
joyed by few doctors in the State. My 
little miss is now a handsome matron with 
a good-sized family. I am their family 
physician, and if a call comes from them 
you may believe I do not delay answering 
it.” — Detroit Free Press . 

o 

Freemasonry as a Secret Society. 


Is Freemasonry a secret society ? asks 
the Keystone , ahd replies: You may answer 
either yes or no, and be correct. 

Freemasonry is not a secret society, be- 
cause its members assemble in a place 
known to the public, open to the public at 
certain times, and occupying a site so 
marked as to be familiar to all citizens. 
Secret societies, obnoxious to criticism, 
are such as meet in secret places for secret 
purposes. They hide from observation be- 
cause their deeds are evil. The fact that 
they hide condemns them. Freemasons 
have no reason to conceal their places of 
meeting because their purposes are all 
commendable and noble. 

Freemasonry is not a secret society, be- 
cause its individual membership is open to 
public observation. Brethren openly visit 
the Masonic Temple, openly march in pro- 
cessions of the Craft, openly participate in 
the laying of corner stones, the dedication 
of Masonic Temples and the burial of the 
fraternal dead. No brother seeks to ob- 
scure the fact of his Masonic membership; 
he is proud of it rather than ashamed of it. 
It is otherwise with the members of organ- 
izations which have not the common weal 
at heart. Conspirators seek to be unknown 
younger brethren the joys of perfect fra- 
ternal intercourse. 

Two evenings later, at the solicitation 
and in the company of Ven. Bro. Daniel 
Sickels, I went to the regular monthly 
meeting of the Brooklyn Masonic Veter- 
ans. The temperature was high, the street 


lamps were dim, the rain was pouring and 
the mud was deep. Under these circum- 
stances, I expected to find an attendance 
of perhaps a score of the faithful, who are 
always the supporters of a Masonic body. 
Imagine my surprise on being ushered into 
a room filled to overflowing by nearly 
three hundred of the liveliest, jolliest, 
most enthusiastic Masons it has ever been 
my good fortune to meet. I will not at- 
tempt to describe at length the extremely 
interesting order of exercises. One feature, 
however, struck me as particularly happy. 
Reports were called from and made by dis- 
trict committees, covering the entire city, 
in regard to the sick, or those in any way 
distressed among the large membership of 
the Association. But that meeting, as a 
whole, I shall never forget. It was worth 
a trip of thirteen hundred miles to be 
present. I have attended no end of Ma- 
sonic gatherings of every kind and every 
degree, but over that one the spirit of gen- 
uine Masonry and brotherhood was brood- 
ing, felt but unseen, indefinable, but no 
less real. — Geo. R . Metcalf ] of Minn. 
o 

The Sign of Distress Recognized. 


A writer, in a copy of the Democrat , of 
London, Ohio, in detailing various scenes 
and incidents occurring during the ‘‘Kansas 
Border Warfare,” writes thus of an incident 
wherein the Masonic sign of distress was re- 
cognized in a peculiarly opportune manner: 

“Although Governor Geary’s heroic ef- 
forts at pacifying all parties and disarming 
and mustering out the quasi militia had 
brought about apparent peace to distracted 
Kansas, lawlessness was by no means sup- 
pressed. Marauding parties of border 
ruffians would slip over the border from 
Missouri, drive off the stock and burn the 
houses of Free Soil settlers. Some of these, 
more bold than the rest, would even take 
up claims and fortify them, while they 
made it unpleasant for all anti-slavery men 
within a radius of several miles. A party 
of this kind, under the leadership of one 
Colonel Saunders, an Alabamian, had lo- 
cated about six miles from Lecompton, and 
built a small log fort. The persecution in- 
flicted on peaceful settlers by these men 
soon became unbearable, and two com- 
panies of the Lane Guards were called out 
to disperse them, commanded by Colonel 
Sam Walker. Lieutenant Peck’s company 
was one of these. The men and officers 
were very bitter against Saunders and his 


THE TRESTLE BOARD . 


4i5 


marauders, and had agreed that when the 
fort was taken the men who resisted were 
to be shot, while Colonel Saunders was to 
be hung to the nearest tree. Among those 
who expressed themselves most strongly in 
favor of stringing Saunders up was Colonel 
Sam Walker. He could hardly find lan- 
guage strong enough to express his hatred 
of the Alabamian. The fort was surround- 
ed, the door battered down, and the attack- 
ing party rushed in. Colonel Saunders, 
seeing that further resistance was useless, 
threw up his hands as a sign of capitulation, 
crying, “Don’t shoot !” The Lane men 
were then astonished to see the late blood- 
thirsty Colonel Walker throw himself be- 
tween the prisoner and the ready guns of 
his own men, crying: “Til protect this 
man with my life !’’ The men were dumb- 
founded, and could not understand the 
cause of the sudden change in their leader, 
nor did they understand it fully until long 
afterward, when it was developed that the 
Colonels were both Freemasons, and that 
in giving himself up Saunders had given 
the Masonic sign of distress, which Walker 
felt in honor bound to respect. The pris- 
oners were protected, and escorted over the 
Missouri line. Lieutenant Peck was not a 
member of the Order at that time, but the 
incident made a lasting impression on him, 
and confirmed him in his early determina- 
tion to join the Masonic Fraternity, which 
he did at his first opportunity.” 

o 

A Chapter of Masonic History. 


The following extract from an address 
delivered by Bro. William G. Mazyck, 
32 0 , of Charleston, S. C., at the centen- 
nial celebration of Philanthropic Lodge, 
No. 32, A. F. M., in Yorkville, S. C., on 
Thursday, December 27, 1894: 

“At the beginning of the 18th century 
Freemasonry was in a highly prosperous 
condition in England, and, doubtless, in 
an unorganized form was more or less 
familiar to the inhabitants of the colonies 
in America, but there is neither evidence 
nor tradition of the existence of a Masonic 
Lodge in the province of Carolina, prior 
to the year 1736; the first Lodge in the 
confines of the present State of South Car- 
olina — our Solomon’s; No. 1 — having been 
opened in Charleston, on Thursday even- 
ing, 28th of October, in that year. John 
Hammerton, Secretary and Receiver Gen- 
eral of the province being chosen W. M. 
The fact that he was appointed “Provin- 


cial Grand Master’’ by the Grand Lodge 
of England in the same year would seem 
to indicate that the zeal of the brethren 
who were engaged in the work of the in- 
troduction of the Order into Carolina was 
too great to be confined to the organiza- 
tion of a single Lodge, and caused them 
to ask for a deputation which should con- 
stitute the colony into a Masonic province, 
and it is especially noteworthy that from 
the first, men high in position and dignity 
in the civil affairs of the colony were 
chosen as the recipients of the high hon- 
ors, distinctions and trusts of the Craft. 

“Freemasonry thus instituted in Charles- 
ton rapidly became urominent amongst the 
societies and other benevolent institutions 
of the city, and as evidence of the prosper- 
ity of the Order in the youthful colony, it 
may be mentioned that in 1737 only nine 
months after the formation of the new 
Lodge, it is recorded that there were thirty 
members present at a communication, and 
in the issue of the South Carolina Gazette 
of Friday, December 29, 1737, we read 
that ‘On Tuesday last, being St. John’s 
Day, all the members of the Ancient and 
Honorable Society of Free and Accepted 
Masons in this place met at Mr. Seaman’s, 
Master of Solomon’s Lodge, from whence 
they proceeded, all properly clothed, un- 
der the sound of French horns, to wait on 
James Greene, Esq., Provincial Grand 
Master, at his house on Broad street, where 
they were received by all the members of 
the Grand Lodge. After a short stay 
there they all went in procession, and with 
the ensigns of their Order into the court 
room, at Mr. Charles Shepherd’s house, 
making a very grand show. Here, to a 
numerous company of ladies and gende- 
man, who were admitted by ticket, the 
Grand Master made a very elegant speech 
in favor of Masonry, which we here uni- 
versally applauded.’ This is the first no- 
tice which we have of the existence of a 
Provincial Grand Lodge. The great feast 
was celebrated in the next year, 1738, 
with unexampled splendor, ‘the day be- 
ing ushered in with the firing of guns at 
sunrise from several ships in the harbor, 
with all their flags flying. At 11 o’clock 
both Lodges (this, I presume, means Sol- 
omon’s Lodge and the Grand Lodge) 
went in procession to church to attend 
divine service. Later in the day a very 
eloquent speech was delivered by the Pro- 
vincial Grand Master at the court room to 
a numerous assembly of ladies and gen- 


416 


THE TRESTLE BOARD. 


tlemen, and later still, after an elegant 
dinner, all the brethren were invited by 
Capt. Thomas White on board the Hope\ 
there several loyal healths were drank, and 
at their coming on board and return on 
shore they were saluted by the discharge 
of thirty-nine guns, being the same num- 
ber observed in each of the different salutes 
of the day, so that in all, there were about 
two hundred and fifty guns fired. The 
evening was concluded with a ball and en- 
tertainment for the ladies, and the whole 
was performed with much grandeur and 
decorum.’ 

A celebration such as this furnishes the 
most irrefutable proof of the popularity of 
the Institution at that time and of the 
lively interest taken by the public in its 
affairs. 

In 1741 the Grand Lodge of England 
enacted a law, forbidding any brethren to 
print, or cause to be printed, the proceed- 
ings of any Lodge, or part thereof, or the 
names of persons present at such Lodge, 
and thenceforward until 1750, there is not 
the slightest item of Masonic interest to be 
found in the pages of the contemporary 
newspaper. The Order, however, although 
it had retired from public view in obedience 
to the mandate of its superior, continued 
to exist, and, doubtless, to flourish, as it 
is stated that in 1743 the Grand Lodge of 
England granted a warrant for Prince 
George Lodge at Georgetown, S. C. In 
1751 the long silence is broken, and we 
read in the Gazette of an elaborate cele- 
bration of the festival of St. John the Evan- 
gelist by a Lodge of Free and Accepted 
Masons at Beaufort. In 1755 St. George’s 
Lodge at Dorchester celebrated the feast, 
and in the next year we learn that there 
were six Lodges in the Province. In 1759 
Solomon’s Lodge evinces its prosperous 
condition by public advertisement that ^600 
belonging to the Lodge ‘‘are to be let up- 
on interest.’ 

“So ends the first quarter century of 
Masonic history in the Province. The ac- 
tivity of the Order, though doubtless af- 
fected by the disturbed political condition 
of the country continued vigorous, and at 
the Annual Communication in 1777 the 
Hon. Barnard Elliott was elected, and 
duly installed ‘Grand Master of Masons 
in this State,’ this being the first use of 
the word State in place of province, which 
had been formerly employed, and thus 
was the Grand Lodge of the State of South 
Carolina, the first independent Grand 


Lodge on the continent of North America 
formally organized.” 


THE TRESTLE BOARD. 

A National Masonic and Family Magazine. 

PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY THE 

TRESTLE BOARD ASSOCIATION. 

Terms — $1.00 per year sent in United States, Mexico and 
Canada, and other Countries $1.25 strictly in advance. 

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How to Remit. — Send Cashier’s Check, Express Or- 
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Letter. Receipts will always be sent enclosed in the next 
number issued after the receipt of the remittance. 

C. MOODY PLUMMER, Manager. 

Alvin Plummer, Advertising Manager. 

408 California St., San Francisco, California. 


Business in Masonry. 


From oft-repeated occurrences in Ma- 
sonic organizations, which are not only of 
interest on the line of morals, but of busi- 
ness, there is need of better application of 
business methods in the business affairs of 
some Masonic bodies. Human nature is 
not entirely transformed from the imper- 
fect to the all perfect by the process of in- 
itiation or the administration of obliga- 
tions. Masons are liable to err with 
temptation, and, as is said in a trite and 
somewhat correct phrase, that “every man 
has a price,” it would seem that Masons 
are not exempt from allurement. If tempt- 
ation was never placed in the way, there 
would be no falling from grace. In all the 
business affairs of Masonry there would 
seem to be no reason for temptation to be 
laid in any one’s way if the ordinary 
methods of good business principles were 
followed. There is a small degree of re- 
sponsibility and faithfulness required, but 
the checks which frequent reports and re- 
turns would evidence, would reduce the 
evils to a minimum. It is not a safe busi- 
ness way for a merchant to leave his check 
book around with his signsture attached to 
blank checks for anybody to fill out ad 
libitum . It is not a correct business meth- 
od to have a secretary or a treasurer to re- 
ceive and disburse, or otherwise account 
for thousands of dollars without bonds, 
especially if he is engaged in business 
himself, where the temptation to misappro- 
priate could possibly occur, nor without 
frequent verification by auditing commit- 
tees of the correctness of his records and 
accounts, and funds in his possession. It 
is not a safe proposition for a merchant to 


THE TRESTLE BOARD. 


4 1 7 


give his collector a duplicate of his ledger 
with his business blank receipts to be used 
in collections without daily requiring an 
accounting and strict comparison with his 
stubs. It is not a safe business method to 
employ any one in a fiduciary position 
whose habits and expenses are not well 
known and vouched for, or guaranteed by 
some good responsible surety company. 
These safeguards should be thrown around 
Masonic organizations that the sacred con- 
tributions given for the relief of the dis- 
tressed brother, his widow and orphans 
shall not be misappropriated, and also to 
protect the brother who might not, had 
temptation never been placed in his path, 
have been disgraced and expelled from 
this grandly charitable and magnanimous 
Fraternity. No degree of confidence or 
high standing should permit a delinquency 
or disregard of strict business methods in 
the accountability of every brother acting 
in a fiduciary capacity, and which, if he is 
honest, will be no hardship to him. It is 
no hardship to keep one honest, while the 
way of the transgressor is always after- 
ward a path of thorns. 

While the utmost caution and placing 
all the safeguards around the precious con- 
tributions for charity should be used, we 
should not, where delinquency and de- 
falcations have occurred, forget that tempt- 
ation has, through our confidence and neg- 
lect of the common business methods, led 
and betrayed them into that temptation. 
We should consider all the circumstances 
carefully, and, in imagination, place our- 
selves in their position, and ask ourselves 
whether or no we should have done as 
they did. If so, should we not be charit- 
able in our dealings with them ? Should 
we render any other justice to them than 
we would have renderd to ourselves ? 
There are minds whose sense of justice 
is so exactly straight that it leans back- 
ward. They forget that infinite justice is 
always tempered with mercy, and our 
criterion should be to imitate the Great 
Teacher of every creed and faith, and al- 
ways to deal kindly with the erring broth- 
er. We have known a brother who was 
thus made a delinquent, and expelled, to 
make restitution afterward, remain for 
years in the same community, yet have no 
sign of forgiveness, or receive restoration 
to the body from which he had been ex- 
pelled. We have known brethren through 
well-known adverse circumstances or sick- 
ness in family and other causes to be 


tempted to misappropriate funds in their 
possession, little by little, hoping to re- 
trieve themselves without exposure and 
met failure, which were in violation of 
Masonic obligations to individual breth- 
ren as much as Lodge. While the offense 
was recognized and punished as against 
Lodge, it would be ignored sometimes 
when against brethren it being deemed a 
matter for the civil or criminal courts to 
adjudicate. These should all be dealt 
with by our own Fraternity, and never 
allow it to go unnoticed more than we 
would an offense against Lodge. It is 
equally an offense, whether against Lodge 
or individual, and is equally a scandal 
against the honor and reputation of the 
Institutton. We indite these thoughts for 
the consideration of brethren who are 
prone to speak occasionally about these 
matters, hoping it may aid in more careful 
attention to business affairs, and more 
charitable and merciful dealing with of- 
fenders. 

o 

“Sectarianizing Masonry/’ 


The Tyler has the fairness to print our 
article in the June issue making accusation 
of its sectarian proclivities. Its readers 
are competent to judge of its truthfulness. 
We have no reply to its opinion of us — of 
“stupidity and ignorance,” or of “impu- 
dence.” We make no pretensions, and 
leave that peculiar argument to our broth- 
er. The pages of The Tyler speak for it, 
as w r ell as our own for us. Denunciation 
is a “cheap” argument, but not always 
truth or convincing. The comments of 
our brother confirm our statement that The 
Tyler would sectarianize Masonry so as to 
bar out all the world except those who 
profess a “firm belief’ in Christianity, 
and, we will now add, also, that of his 
owm particular creed and dogmatic belief. 
This is contrary to the Masonry which we 
have had taught us for almost two score 
years. And the fact that men of every 
nation, color and religious belief are mem- 
bers is an irrefutable proof of its univer- 
sality. The invocations and extracts from 
the old manuscripts used in the charges 
and ceremonies of the Craft of to day were 
from the “Book of the Law” of those who 
placed them there, and prescribed their 
use because they had the power to do so, 
the same as our brother would, if he could, 
prescribe the requisite of a “firm belief” 
in his peculiar sectarian creed. For aught 


418 


THE TRESTLE BOARD 


we or he know, we both may be of the 
same faith in all particulars. But we ob- 
ject to the prescribing our, or his, particu- 
lar creed in the ritual and ceremonies, or 
the requirement of a “firm beliet’ , in more 
than a Supreme Being, as a matter of 
faith, to entitle a good man to become a 
Mason. As a Mason, we stop there. The 
faith of Jesus Christ is not a requirement 
of Masonry, although it is permitted , as is 
any other which recognizes a Supreme 
Being. The requirement of faith in Jesus 
Christ was not required in American Tem- 
plary until 1883, and previous to that year 
only a preference for the Christian religion 
in case of a religious war, an advance hav- 
ing been made by sectarians to sectarianize 
Teihplary almost without protest. Now 
come sectarians with a purpose to sectari- 
anize the great body of Masonry, and if 
an objection is made then the protestant is 
called “stupid,” “ignorant,” “impudent” 
and “mean thief.” While Bro. Brownell 
is all right in other things, this is his error 
and his weakness. We cherish no ill feel- 
ing toward him for his views; those he can- 
not help. We are creatures of our educa- 
tion. But there is no use of losing temper 
— never — and no excuse among gentlemen. 

o 

What is Religion ? 

M. W. William A. Sutherland, Grand 
Master of New York, at the laying of 
Richmond Lodge corner-stone, Staten Is- 
land, said: 

“I sometimes hear it remarked by Ma- 
sons that they are Masons, and therefore 
have no use for any other religion. There 
is but one answer to such a remark: The 
man who utters it knows nothing about re- 
ligion and very little about Freemasonry. 
While they are separate and distinct, each 
can help the other to make the world bet- 
ter. * * 

We would respectfully ask theM. W. 
brother to kindly tell us what religion is. 
The Trestle Board writer has been in- 
dustriously seeking for religion for over 
three score years, most of that term in 
the places of worship of the multitude, 
and has failed to find in any of these the 
principles o {pure and undefiled religion as 
taught by Christ and exemplified in his 
life. In all these, religion is preached, 
but too much was required of faith in 
some pet theory or dogma, interpolated 
without basis or authority from the Great 
Teacher, and we were lost in the mists of 


doubt, intolerance and uncharitableness 
toward dissenters in matters of minor im- 
portance. Notwithstanding our ill success 
we continued our search, and though our 
ideal has not been fully discovered in 
practice, we have, after close analysis and 
comparison, found a system perfect in 
theory, and, when carefully exemplified, 
free from adverse criticism except where 
sectarian or mercenary influence has con- 
trived to introduce its sinister legislation 
to suit its own purpose. The great Insti- 
tution of which our M. W. brother, the 
Grand Master of Masons of New York, is, 
in theory, the one we refer to, and we 
wonder that one who has attained that 
eminence should not have discovered its 
perfection. If he has not, we would again 
repeat our request for more light, and not 
permit it to be hidden under a bushel, 
that the wayfarer though a fool can read 
and understand. 

o 

Dangers of Masonic Railroading. 

There is little doubt but that Masonry 
is much too rapid nowadays, greatly to the 
detriment of the Order. A newly raised 
Master Mason, long before he is able to 
stand a creditable examination in the third 
degree, is railroaded through the Chapter, 
quickly followed by being dubbed a 
Knight, then he has the Scottish Rite from 
the fourth to the thirty-second degree com- 
municated, takes a whirling journey across 
the burning sands to the Shrine, is decked 
off with gorgeous emblems and charms in- 
indicating his “high degrees” attained 
through the only merit of a plethoric 
purse, but a perfect Masonic ignoramus 
except in the first two degrees, if, indeed, 
he has not, in the crowding and jumble, 
forgotten what he learned there. 

All this tends to reduce the “high de- 
grees” into a Masonic farce. Is this class 
of Mason a wiser and better man by reason 
of his Masonic eminence ? He poses as a 
shining Masonic light, while he even could 
not give a rational explanation of the Mas- 
ter Mason’s obligation, much less repeat 
it verbatum. Through proficiency and 
tried worthiness only should he be ad- 
vanced in Masonic rank, and if this rapid 
way of conferring degrees is allowed to 
continue, growing from bad to worse, we, 
in the United States, will soon reach the 
point charged against the Supreme Coun- 
cil of Mexico 33 0 of giving the 33d 0 to a 
profane. — Texas Freemason. 


THE TRESTLE BOARD. 


419 


There are too many examples of that 
kind in St. Louis. We have in mind one 
whom we recently asked to attend his 
Lodge, and received a reply that he didn’t 
care for the Lodge; the only body he at- 
tended was the Shrine. It was there he 
advised all his friends to go, as ’twas the 
only degree in the lot he cared for. He 
could not pass an examination for admis- 
sion as a visitor to a Blue Lodge. Let us 
be thankful that there are not more, and 
try to make those that have not yet “got 
there” go slow. Don’t lay the foundation 
loosely, but put in plenty of cement. 

— Sprig °f Acacia. 

There is only one method for checking 
the indiscriminate increase of membership 
in the Masonic Fraternitv; that is, to pull 
up one of the “landmarks,” and abolish 
the practice of receiving applications “un- 
biased by friends and uninfluenced by 
mercenary motives,” and adopt the more 
business like and sensible method of select- 
ing the material with which to erect the 
edifice with due consideration and deliber- 
ation without giving any one the oppor- 
tunity to gratify petty spite or private ani- 
mosity through the secret ballot, which so 
often rejects men better than those who 
cast the blackball. In every other sphere 
of life this plan would be practiced. Why 
should it not he so in Masonry? 

o — 

Masonry and Masons. 


Masonry will not discard any man for 
liis sectarian views. — Trestle Board. 

„ History says The Trestle Board is not 
good authority. For years after 1717 no 
Jew could gain entrance into the Mother 
Grand Lodge of England. In this coun 
try, the Grand Lodge of Illinois expelled 
Brigham Young and 1,400 of his followers 
at one kick, and The Trestle Board can 
not warrant that his Lodge would admit a 
Mormon to day even. — Tyler . 

It was sectarian Masons who refused ad- 
mission to Jews, and not Masonry. Ma- 
sonry has ever taught toleration and lib- 
erty, and all good men and true were 
eligible to enter the Fraternity. Sectarian- 
ism is not taught or even permitted in the 
true teachings of Masonry, but sectarians 
have interpolated and interlined precepts 
and sentiments entirely at variance with 
the spirit and object of the Institution; for 
instance, the requirement of the “ firm be- 
lief” in any dogma taught by any one or 


more sects of the world except the “firm 
belief” in Diety and the brotherhood of 
man. The Jew and the Mormon are mem- 
bers of the Craft, now, and more may be- 
come members, if eligible, if the capricious 
ballot does not stop them. The Grand 
Lodge of Illinois expelled Brigham Young 
and 1,400 of his followers at one kick, not 
for their sectarianism, for some Mormons 
are now members of the Fraternity, but 
because a portion of them scandalized Ma- 
sonry as well as civilization by the prac- 
tice of polygamy and other evils not con- 
sistent with the law of the country in which 
they lived. No, Brother Tyler , we cannot 
warrant that our or any other Lodge will 
admit a Mormon to-day or any one else, 
not as long as the secret ballot is the 
gauntlet to pass and human nature is the 
same. There is sometimes a difference 
between the acts of Masons and the teach- 
ings of Masonry. It is not a matter of his- 
tory at all. Masonry is not responsible 
for all the acts of Masons. 

o 

No Fee or Ballot For Membership. 

There is one thing we would rejoice to 
see done in California Jurisdiction more 
than any others. It is the abolishment of 
the ballot on affiliation. There has been 
more exhibition of un-Mason spirit in the 
use of the blackball in affiliation than in 
any other way within our knowledge. 
Brethren filling the highest stations in other 
Bodies and in the community are as per- 
sistently blackballed as if they were the 
lowest in general estimation. It is not 
safe for anyone to take out a dimit and 
expect to gain admission to membership 
in another Lodge. Brethren who stand 
high and have held the highest positions 
in constituent and Grand Bodies have told 
us they dared not take out their dimits to 
change membership, and several such now 
affiliated have freely stated that they knew 
they could not. The spectacle of unex- 
ceptional good men being denied admis- 
sion is of monthly occurrence. To such 
extent has this evil attained that Grand 
Master Orme recommended the abolish- 
ment of the ballot on affiliation in his an- 
nual address, but for some reason the 
Committee on Jurisprudence took no cog- 
nizance of the matter which was referred to 
them for action. Brethren have been de- 
nied readmission into the Lodges in which 
they were initiated, and many more dare 
not attempt a change in membership to 


420 


THE TRESTLE BOARD. 


Lodges nearer their residence because of 
the fear of being blackballed. Without 
exaggeration, it may be asserted that the 
Craft are demoralized more in consequence 
of this evil than anything else, for a large 
proportion of the attendance at Lodges are 
visitors from other Lodges who are denied 
the opportunity of attending their own 
Lodges by reason of distance of residence 
or occupation, and attend as visitors be- 
cause more convenient. All such should 
be allowed to transfer their membership 
unrestricted by affiliation fee or ballot. 
o 

Sectarianism is Not Religion. 

A writer in the Masonic Herald of 
Georgia, over the signature of ‘‘Tubal 
Cain,” says Masonry “cannot be a relig- 
ion because all religions must of necessity 
be sectarian.” The Trestle Board be- 
lieves the converse of this statement, and 
that Masonry is true and undefiled relig- 
ion because good men and true of all sects 
and opinions can gather under its banner, 
and no sect has any claim upon it. Pure 
religion and undefiled by sectarianism is 
to love God and our neighbor and visit 
the widow and the fatherless in their afflic- 
tion and keep unspotted before the world. 
This, Masonry teaches fully and divested 
of all sectarian dogmas or creeds, unless 
trammelled by local influences which bias 
its action in its immediate vicinity, and as 
if to disprove his own statements the same 
writer indites in a succeeding paragraph 
the following well known facts: 

“Over forty years ago I read in a Ma- 
sonic publication of the conclusion the 
Grand Orient of France reached in adju- 
dicating on the action of one of its subor- 
dinate Lodges. An eminent and virtuous 
man, known to be a Deist, but a believer 
in a future existence, was expelled from 
his Lodge on account of his peculiar be- 
liefs. The Grand Lodge ordered the sub- 
ordinate Lodge to restore him. He was 
guilty of no unMasonic conduct. No man 
must be punished by any Lodge for not 
believing in the divinity of our Bible. 
The Jews ignore the New Testament which 
Christians venerate sincerely. Moham- 
medans deny the authority of our Bible, 
Old and New Testaments, and only vener- 
ate the Koran. Buddhists disown any 
allegiance to any authority but that of 
Buddha. The wild Indian Masons (among 
whom are many) have no Bible or book of 
any sort on which they found belief, or 


serve as a rule and guide to conduct or be- 
lief. Among the savages of Africa Ma- 
sons are found. All these people are rec- 
ognized by Masons in every country. The 
decision of the Grand Orient was approved 
the world over. Masonry includes in her 
wide fold all sects in religion, all systems 
of philosophy save Atheism, all nations of 
people. Masonry is the one and only 
universal bond of Union among men. Its 
tenets are brotherly love, relief and truth.” 
o 

Right of Masonic Intercourse. 

Question. Has a Mason the right to 
visit any Lodge ? 

Answer. No. Visitation is by cour- 
tesy. Any member of the Lodge can ob- 
ject to a Mason seeking to visit his Lodge. 

— Grand Lodge of No. Dakota , i8p 7 . 

The Trestle Board is aware that this 
decision is in accordance with the general 
regulations of perhaps all Jurisdictions, 
but does not understand how it agrees with 
the spirit of the assurance given every- 
where to every novitiate when he is com- 
mended to the kind care, love and protec- 
tion of the Craft whithersoever dispersed 
around the globe, and that in every coun- 
try and every clime Masons are to be 
found; also that on the principle of broth- 
erly love, Masonry unites men of every 
country, sect and opinion, and causes true 
friendship to exist among those who might 
otherwise remain at a perpetual distance; 
also that Masons are linked together by an 
indissoluble chain of sincere affection, and 
on this basis we form our friendships and 
establish our connections. Is it not a sin- 
gular inconsistency for an Institution based 
upon such oft repeated maxims and teach- 
ings to exclude any brother from the so- 
cial intercourse of Lodge meetings because 
one member out of several hundred may 
take it into his head that the harmony of 
the Lodge will be disturbed by one \isitor 
who is perhaps as good a member of some 
other Lodge as himself? Where does 
brotherly love come in ? 

These questions are not asked Grand 
Masters on imaginary cases. They are 
real, though they seldom occur. We 
never encountered one personally in nearly 
two score years experience, though we 
often see brethren excluded because they 
do not have their last receipt for Lodge 
dues about them as proof that they are 
telling the truth on the Tyler’s oath. But 


THE TRESTLE BOARD. 


421 


the same spirit that will exclude a brother 
from Lodge visits by an objection, will 
not fail to seek some point of law to cover 
the secret motive. Charity and brotherly 
love, as taught by Masonry and concisely 
stated in the 13th Chapter of 1st Corin- 
thians in the Great Light, does not behave 
itself so unseemly as to exclude a brother 
from his own home, which is wherever 
Masons are to be found. 

o 

Dues vs. Contributions. 


Some of the Lodges in Kansas City are 
occupying their time these red-hot evenings 
in raking over the ashes of the past, and 
bringing their books and memberships 
down to date, with the result that their 
rosters fail to show as large a membership 
as formerly, owing to suspensions for non- 
payment of dues. These are very un- 
pleasant duties for the officers in charge, 
and for that reason they are too often neg- 
lected, greatly to the detriment of the 
Lodges guilty of such neglect. However 
unpleasant they may be they are unques- 
tionably duties which are just as necessary, 
imperative and important as any duties 
pertaining to Lodge work. Unless the 
dues are kept equitably adjusted, and the 
financial and business features of Lodge 
work are carefully looked after, the Lodge 
will soon be unable to meet its current 
and legitimate expenses, its loyal mem- 
bers, who have always stood by it and sup- 
ported it, will lose heart and interest in 
the work, and the result will inevitably be 
a Lodge so dead that it only requires the 
edict of the Grand Master to end its use- 
less existence. To suppose that an active, 
successful, up-to date Lodge could exist 
with a lot of drones in its hive who are de- 
linquent for four, six and eight years dues, 
is simply a contradiction of terms, an ab- 
surdity, an impossibility. — The Orient . 

We venture the statement that if the 
Lodges of Kansas City will abolish the 
system of charging dues, and substitute 
that of contributions, under proper induce- 
ments, every brother will continue his 
membership, and contribute as much as he 
can without serious injury to himself, and 
those dependent upon him, and the Lodges 
will pay their dues to Grand Lodge with- 
out defalcation, and perform the duties of 
brotherly love and relief to their indigent 
brethren in an entirely satisfactory manner. 
In Lodges where the dues are merely 


nominal, this is done more agreeably than 
by the method of high dues. Brethren 
will perform their duties of their own free 
will and accord much better than when 
compelled by law, especially those which 
relate to charity and sympathy. From an 
abundance a man can give, but if in ad- 
verse circumstances, charity begins at 
home which claims his protective care. 
This writer has known instances where 
men would neglect their dues for years, 
and yet their purses were ever ready with 
five or ten dollars for the relief of worthy 
indigent brethren at the request of the 
Master. We believe in “passing around 
the hat” a few times every year, and 
soliciting donations of absent brethren. 

o 

Can Pay and Wont Pay. 


Comp. Ross, Grand Z. of the Grand 
Chapter of Canada, says “the army of 
unaffiliates keep up its everlasting and 
endless march. We hear the ‘tramp, 
tramp* of these batal lions as they pass our 
door. * * * We make recruits at the 

one end, and our average is low because 
we cannot hold those who should be with 
us. Some can pay and wont pay. * * * 
The business community has its opinion of 
those who can and won’t pay their debts , 
and the Craft community has its opinion 
of men who can but won’t pay their dues. 
Is a man who can and won’t pay his dues 
better than the man who can and won’t 
pay his debts ? The lessons of the Craft 
have indeed been wasted upon the man 
who can and won’t pay his dues. Debts 
and dues are synonymous terms. The 
man who can but won’t pay the latter is 
apt to pursue the same course with regard 
to the former.” 

Bro. Ross says nothing in justification 
or extenuation of the conduct of those who 
don’t pay because they cannot do so with- 
out serious injury to themselves or those 
dependent upon them. Fully ninety per 
cent, if their statements are accepted as 
truth, say that they become unaffiliated 
because of this reason. Yet, brethren 
ignore their complaint and class them with 
the ten per cent crowd who can but won’t 
pay, and they are all indiscriminatelv 
placed under the ban of condemnation. 
The Grand Master’s issue then tirades 
against them and the Committees on Cor- 
respondence echo and endorse the dia- 
tribes. There is no mercy for them. Ma- 
sonry is no longer a charitable institution, 


422 


THE TRESTLE BOARD . 


but, like a relentless creditor, exacts its 
pound of flesh as per contract. We be- 
lieve there should be more mercy for such. 

o 

Scottish Rite In California. 


The Grand Consistory of California 
held its final meeting on Thursday even- 
ing, September 2d, Bro. Webb N. Pierce, 
Grand Prior, presiding. This body was 
organized in 1870, and has therefore been 
in existence about twenty seven years. 
During this period it has been the govern- 
ing body of the Scottish Rite in California, 
occupying a position similar to that of 
other Grand Bodies in the American or 
York Rite, but with its powers limited 
somewhat by the Supreme Council 33 0 at 
Washington, being supervised by the In- 
spectors General for the State. The 
growth of the Rite has been restricted in 
the State thereby, as constituent or Partic- 
ular Consistories have not been encour- 
aged or established as freely as is essential 
to the growth of the Rite. The Grand 
Consistory has until recently had the ex- 
clusive right to confer and retain the mem- 
bership of brethren of the 31 0 and 32 0 . A 
Particular Consistory was chartered by it 
at Los Angeles about four years ago, 
which has grown faster than the parent 
body, and this fact and the demand for 
Consistories in other places in the State 
has led to the surrender of the Charter of 
the Grand Consistory of California and 
the granting of a Charter by the Supreme 
Council for a body to be called San Fran- 
cisco Consistory, No. 1, with jurisdiction 
co-ordinate with other Consistories sub- 
ject to the Supreme Council 33 0 at Wash- 
ington. The membership, property, etc., 
of the old body is transferred as a whole 
to the new organization. At the opening 
of the meeting, the Grand Prior presiding 
in the place of the Grand Master, the late 
Bro. Charles Fred Crocker, referred to the 
death of the Grand Master, and on motion 
a committee was appointed to draft suit- 
able resolutions to be printed in the final 
report of the proceedings of the Grand 
Consistory. . Some further action was had 
upon matters connected with the transfer 
of membership and the settlement of af- 
fairs and conveyance of assets to the new 
body. The Grand Prior, Bro. Webb N. 
Pierce, then resigned his office, which was 
accepted, and the Grand Preceptor, Bro. 
Charles W. Conlisk, assumed the position 
of presiding officer. A petition for de- 


mits was presented by all the brethren be- 
longing in Oakland, except Bro. Edwin 
A. Sherman, which was granted, it being 
understood that they were to transfer their 
membership to a new Consistory which has 
been petitioned for and a Charter granted 
for at that place, and which is to be con- 
stituted at their new Temple on Thursday, 
September 9th, next. Thus there will 
soon be two Consistories — one in San 
Francisco and one in Oakland. Other 
Consistories will doubtless be established 
in other places in the State. The Consis- 
tory in San Francisco will simply continue 
its existence and hereafter be known as 
San Francisco Consistory, No. 1. 

o 

Editorial Chips. 


Iowa Grand Lodge recognizes Grand 
Chapter, Grand Commandery, Eastern 
Star, Scottish Rite and Mystic Shrine as 
Masonic Bodies in its legislation, and also 
in its association with them in building a 
Masonic Temple at Cedar Rapids. Why 
not ? The members of those Bodies are 
all members, or beneficiaries, if need be, 
of the Masonic Fraternity, and all work 
together on the same line of brotherly love 
and relief. 


Why should not Lodges, and even Grand 
Lodges, associate themselves together in 
the performance of the great work of 
charity ahd relief among each other as 
well as individuals ? Why not ? If so, 
then the “Wisconsin Plan” should become 
general, though it will not until the Na- 
tional Grand Lodge is established, and 
legislation is had. 


Bro. Bun F. Price says all international 
meetings of the Craft are tending toward 
the establishment of one International or 
General Grand Lodge, which he depre- 
cates. We think Bro. Price should pre- 
pare himself for the inevitable, for sooner 
or later it will be accomplished. 


There is a seeming inconsistency in a 
journal opposing parochial schools and 
advocating the justice of prescribing a 
“firm belief” in the dogmas of any sect as 
a requisite for membership in a Masonic 
Body. If the last is right, then the educa- 
tion of the child in the teachings of that 
sect is right, and will surely accomplish 
the fact. The Tyler should not oppose 
Archbishop Hennessey, of Dubuque, who 


THE TRESTLE BOARD. 


423 


favors education in parochial schools, or 
else oppose the “firm belief * in Masonry. 
The Tyler is inconsistent. 


Hon. Irving B. Dudley, United States 
Minister to Peru, on Tuesday, July 24th, 
at San Diego, was elected, and received 
the first three degrees of Masonry in the 
short space of twenty-seven hours, under 
a special dispensation from the Grand 
Master of California. This is almost the 
same as making a Mason at sight. He 
was about to depart for his post of duty, 
and there being no objection, it was the 
proper thing to do. 


The form of government of any institu- 
tion should conform to the form of the 
civil government of the country in which 
it exists, especially if the civilization of 
the people therein has established a repub- 
lican or liberal government. The govern- 
ment of the Masonic Institution should be 
no exception to this rule. If the Grand 
Master, or presiding officer of any Masonic 
body has prerogatives inconsistent with 
the institutions and civil government under 
which it exists, these prerogatives should 
be restricted further. 

Question . — Would a Lodge of Masons 
be permitted to pronounce the Masonic 
burial service over a brother whose inter- 
ment was in a Catholic cemetery ? 

Answer . — Why not ? Masonry asks no 
questions concerning a man’s church or 
creed. There is no reason why Masons 
should not perform the funeral rites over a 
dead brother in a Catholic cemetery any 
more than in a Presbyterian . — Illinois 
Freemason . 

There is no reason why they do not, ex- 
cept the fact that Catholics will not allow 
the Masonic funeral service to be performed 
either in their “churches” or their conse- 
crated cemeteries. 


The Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania has 
paid in the past twenty- one years $979, 275 
of principal and $1,661,357 of interest, 
making a total of principal and interest 
paid of $2,640,632.08. The revenues of 
the Grand Lodge justify the belief that 
the present debt can be materially reduced 
annually, so that we can reasonably hope 
to see it extinguished in a few years. It 
being now reduced to $500,000, by pro- 
vision of the Ahiman Rezon, the dues and 
fees from constituent Lodges revert to 


what they were in 1S71, which is a well- 
earned relief to the Lodges which have so 
long and so patiently borne the burden and 
heat of the day. 


The following decision by the Grand 
Master and concurred in by Grand Lodge 
of Oregon shows how a brother who di- 
mits is disfranchised and denied the privi- 
leges of working and receiving the wages 
of even a Fellow Ci aft through the caprice 
of the blackball: 

‘ ‘A Master Mason who has been regularly 
dimitted from a Lodge within the Juris- 
diction of the Grand Lodge of Oregon, 
presented his dimit, with application for 
affiliation, to this Lodge in October of last 
year, and his application was rejected. 
Said brother Master Mason has, on several 
occasions since, visited the Lodge, and at 
the stated communication held last evening 
(June 21) said brother stated that he de- 
sired to cast his ballot on the petition for 
the Masonic degree which was being voted 
on. Objection was raised by a member of 
this Lodge, on the ground that said broth- 
er, being a non-affiliate, had no right to 
vote. My answer was: A brother entitled 
to vote must be a member in good stand- 
ing, and a member of a subordinate Lodge 
in this Jurisdiction.” 

Gen. Logan was a member of Oriental 
Consistory, Scottish Rite and Chevalier 
Bayard Commandery, Knights Templar of 
Chicago. On July 22d the Logan mem- 
orial statue was unveiled in Lake Front 
Park, and in the evening the Consistory 
entertained the Commandery with a ban- 
quet, at which over three hundred were 
present. 

The Lodges in Western Illinois are be- 
coming a little restive over the dues of 
seventy-five cents to the Grand Lodge and 
are proposing to ask a reduction to fifty 
cents. The brethren in Illinois should 
show sympathy with brethren in California 
by adopting the “Wisconsin proposition” 
of reimbursement among Lodges. 

Grand Master Henderson, of Pennsyl- 
vania, in his annual address, referring to 
physical fitness for the degrees, makes the 
remarkable statement that “the only place 
to draw the line is where perfection would 
be on one side and imperfection, however 
slight, on the other. Once cross the line 
but a hair’s breadth and the landmark 


424 


THE TRESTLE BOARD. 


falls.’ ’ This comes perilously near being 
the apotheosis of a ramrodism that has no 
warrant in the fundamental law of the 
Craft. If all the absolutely physically 
perfect Masons in Pennsylvania were 
brought together there wouldn’t be enough 
of them to man all the offices and commit- 
tees provided for in the Ahiman Rezon. 


The Grand Lodge of Maine has made a 
proposition to all other Grand Lodges to 
have a general limit of jurisdiction over 
candidates of five years, and asks its adop- 
tion. This is a hopeless task, and it will 
result the same as every other proposition 
for unity of action among Grand Lodges. 
The success of the “Wisconsin proposi- 
tion of reimbursement among Lodges” is 
an example. There is only one effectual 
remedy for such confusion of regulations, 
that is a National Grand Lodge. 


When you allow yourself to be suspended 
for non-payment of dues, you not only in- 
jure your Masonic standing, but often hu- 
miliate your family, who are usually proud 
that you are a Mason, and feel very crest- 
fallen when confronted with the fact that 
you are not in good standing, which is 
greatly intensified should you die in such 
a condition . — Masonic Chronicle . 

We did not know before that it was a 
disgrace to be poor. 


Bro. Samuel G. Hilborn, member of 
Congress from California, gives it as his 
opinion that before the present century 
shall expire that gold will become so* 
plenty that it will become demonitized, 
the same as silver. As The Trestle 
Board is a greenbacker, it hails the 
omens of the day as favorable to that re- 
sult. Gold and silver are only a com- 
modity, useful in the mechanical arts and 
useless for convenience as a currency in 
business in comparison with paper. Ninety- 
nine one hundredths of the business of the 
world is transacted with paper. The dis- 
covery of so many new gold mines is 
solving the monetary question. 

«r ’tt 

An exchange asks : “Are there too many 
Masons?” We answer: “No, there are 
not, and there cannot be, too many Ma- 
sons, but there may be, and there are, too 
many members of the Fraternity. There 
are members who are not sincere in their 
Masonic professions, and who do not even 
try to practice Masonic principles. They 


disregard moral and Masonic obligations, 
and disgrace the Fraternity. Of that kind 
of Masons there are too many, and some 
thousands of them ought to be disciplined 
out. The fellow who takes your paper 
and refuses to pa y for it is among them. 


The Grand Commandery of Pennsylvania 
voted to do away with the white sash or 
baldric suspended from the right shoulder 
to the left hip, one of the conspicuous por- 
tions of the uniform. Hereafter this sash 
will be worn only by Sir Knights and offi- 
cers of subordinate Commanderies under 
the rank of Commander. 


The regulations of the Grand Lodge of 
Connecticut provide that Lodges are per- 
mitted to receive and act upon applications 
for affiliation unaccompanied by a demit, 
provided, however, that such action, if 
favorable, should not take effect until the 
demit of the applicant shall have been de- 
posited with the Secretary of the Lodge. 


The Grand Lodge of New York pre- 
sents a magnificent Masonic Home Report. 
The expenditures of the year were: For 
additions and betterments, $54,170.16; for 
maintenance, $28 482.94; for repairs, 
$1,591.20; on farm and barns, $2,377.51; 
making a total disbursement of $88,- 
126.94. The cost of the Home to date is 
$323,633. The Home has a Reserve 
Fund of $202,041, and an annual income 
of nearly $90,000. 

In Oklahoma when a non-affiliated Ma- 
son applies to join a subordinate Lodge 
and is rejected, he shall have the right to 
demand an investigation, and if upon in- 
vestigation it shall appear that no cause 
for objection exists that could affect the 
standing of the applicant, then another 
ballot shall be held, and if again rejected, 
the party or parties making such objection 
shall, within one month thereafter, prefer 
charges against the applicant, and if charges 
are not preferred, or, when preferred, are 
not sustained by trial, then said applicant 
shall be enrolled a member of said Lodge, 
but in no case shall the proceedings herein 
required be unnecessarily delayed. 

In Illinois so long as a Lodge is in pos- 
session of its Charter from Grand Lodge 
its constitutional and inherent right to 
representation in Grand Lodge cannot be 
denied, even if its dues remain unpaid, 


THE TRESTLE BOARD. 


425 


for the Lodge is an integral part of the 
Grand Lodge. On the same theory, as 
long as a brother is a member of a Lodge 
and has not been suspended or expelled, 
he cannot be denied participation and rep- 
resentation in its affairs though his dues 
remain unpaid, for the brethren are an in- 
tegral part of a Lodge. On this principle 
all by-laws disfranchising brethren for dil- 
atory payment of dues are unMasonic. 


Relative to the Wisconsin proposition 
touching Masonic relief, the Grand Master 
of Delaware says : 

“I submit this for your consideration, 
but it seems to me if we place ourselves in 
a position that would bind us as a Grand 
Lodge to be responsible for the return of 
alms that may be given to a poor and dis- 
tressed brother in obedience to a funda- 
mental principle, then one of the founda- 
tion stones on which our structure is 
erected crumbles into dust. On becoming 
Masons one of the first lessons we are 
taught is ‘charity. ’ Masonry is a charitable 
institution and not a beneficial one; there- 
fore, when it becomes necessary to relieve 
a distressed brother, let us do so freely 
without thought of reimbursement. The 
adoption of this ‘proposition,’ in my opin- 
ion, would reduce our Fraternity to a mere 
beneficial organization.” 

The Grand Lodge took the same view, 
and refused to ratify the Wisconsin prop- 
osition. 

The Trestle Board would ask in this 
connection, What is organized Masonry 
for? 


At a recent meeting of the Board of 
Directors of the Grand Lodge of Massa- 
chusetts plans were adopted for the erec- 
tion of a new Temple to take the place of 
the one destroyed by fire a short time ago. 
The structure will show a front of 81 feet 
on Tremont street and 100 on JBoylston, 
covering a lot of about 10,150 square feet, 
and will be nine stories in height. The 
exterior of the building will present a 
handsome appearance, and will be of cut 
Hallowell granite. The ornamentation 
will be classic, and, while not distinctively 
Masonic, will present a fine appearance. 
The building will be built with steel frame, 
and will be fire proof throughout. Toilet 
rooms will be placed on all the principal 
floors, finished in marble. The floors of 
all the corridors and toilet rooms will be 
of marble mosaic, with ornamental bor- 


ders. Altogether the building will be one 
of the most convenient Masonic buildings 
in the country, and will provide for the 
needs of the Masonic Fraternity of Boston 
for many years to come. 


At the eighth annual convocation of the 
Grand Chapter of Indian Territory, held 
in Perry, Oklahoma, August 12th and 
13th, the following grand officers were in- 
stalled: 

SUIie M. Scott, Muskogee, G. Matron; Henry Rucker, 
Perry, G. Patron: Emmeretta Lankford, Atoka, A. G. Ma- 
tron; M. W. Lafayette, Checotah, A. G. Patron; Carrie M. 
Perkins, Guthrie, G. Secretary; Rebecca M. -wain, Yinita, 
G. Treasurer; Mollie Clark, Durant, G. Conductress: Laura 
Lafayette, Checotah, A. G. Conductress: May C. Dowell, 
El Reno, G. Lecturer: Mary L. Herrod, Eufaula, G. Chap- 
lain; Lulu Waldrond, Muskogee, G. Organist; Alice Rambo, 
Pawnee, G. Adah; Ella Fisher, Norman, G. Ruth; Martha 

R. Dent, Chickasha, G. Esther; Maggie E. Thomas, White- 
field, G. Martha; Emma Cotton, Durant, G. Electa; Eliza 
Cole Shawnee, G. Marshal; Harriet E. Geary. Oklahoma, 
G. Warder; A. N. Green, Vinita, G. Sentinel. 

The Grand Chapter of New York, O. E. 

S. , was declared a clandestine Grand 
Chapter, and all O. E. S. intercourse with 
said Grand Chapter, or with members 
holding allegiance thereto, by members of 
this Grand Jurisdiction, is forbidden. 

The General Grand Council of Royal 
and Select Master Masons of the United 
States will assemble at Baltimore, Octo- 
ber nth. 


The General Grand Chapter R. A. M. 
of the United States will hold its triennial 
and centennial convocation at Baltimore 
on Tuesday, October 12, 1897. An ad- 
dress appropriate to the occasion will be 
given by Bro. Josiah H. Drummoud, of 
Maine. 

o 

Local Chips. 

In California the fees for a Dispensation 
and Charter of a new Lodge is $125; for a 
Royal Arch Chapter, $150; for a Com- 
mandery of Knights Templar, $200. The 
Trestle Board believes these figures are 
too high, and not demanded by the needs 
of the Grand Bodies, and militate against 
the growth of those Masonic Bodies. We 
do not know the figures elsewhere, but we 
believe no Masonic Jurisdiction in the 
world can show such figures. 

San Francisco has some Masons who 
seldom or never visit their Lodge, but are 
punctually and regularly in attendance at 
‘‘higher degrees,” where occasionally the 
social amenities are cultivated by refec- 
tions and touching toes under the table. 


426 


THE TRESTLE BOARD . 


There are some Lodges which seldom or 
never use this method of sociability, and 
if it were not for the ballot on affiliation 
there would be a large exodus from such 
to those more socially inclined. As it is 
now the Craft dare not risk the chance of 
affiliation, for with the attempt would cer- 
tainly result in a great increase of numbers 
of unaffiliates. 

The comfort of electric lights in Ma- 
sonic Temple is greatly observable since 
their introduction, and scarcely any com- 
plaints are heard about hot weather there- 
in. As a consequence the numerical at- 
tendance is greater. 

At a stated meeting of a Lodge in San 
Francisco recently, an application for de- 
grees was recommended by two brothers, 
and the references were two other brothers 
of the same family, who were all members 
of that Lodge. 


At an unusually large meeting of an Eastern 
Star Chapter during the past week it was noted 
that only 10 per cent of the attendance were 
Freemasons, 90 per cent being sisters of the Or- 
der. The brethren seem to like late hours very 
well, but we are of the opinion that the Chapter’s 
late hours of opening are one strong objection in 
the minds of Master Masons and is a potent fac- 
tor in decreasing their attendance. 

For one dollar we will deliver prepaid twenty 
assorted copies of back issues of The Trestle 
Board magazine. This will give* an immense 
amount of -good reading for a comparatively 
small amount. Each number is complete in it- 
self. 

The question of the unemployed Mason is a 
grave one, and should receive the attention of 
those who are in regular employment. You 
may not be in distress to-day, but you may be 
in such circumstances before you know it. While 
in different circumstances see that a portion, of 
your time is devoted to the distressed worthy 
brother. 

Bro. Herman Schoene, Tyler of Hermann 
Lodge, Mo. 127, has a collection of photographs 
that we believe cannot be equalled. His son, 
Charles Schoene, was born January 3d, 1877, and 
on the 3d of each month since that date a photo 
has been taken of him. 


The word “team” used in connection with 
Royal Arch Masonry fs inappropriate and un- 
Masonic. It has no Masonic signification and 
in the New England and other Eastern States is 
seldom used. The word sounds too much like 
the vernacular of the horseman. 


To such an extent has the desire to “hit back” 
attained in the O. E. S. that recently a brother 
who had been suspended for non-payment of 
dues and desired to be reinstated, could not ob- 


tain reinstatement for the capricious blackball. 
There is no possible reason therefor, for he is 
well known as an officer of a Symbolic Lodge. 
We call attention to such instances to remind 
objecting members of the un Masonic spirit 
evinced in refusing worthy men and Masons 
their just rights of membership. There is only 
one remedy for it all, and that is to abolish the 
secret ballot on membership. A brother should 
alway be considered worthy until charges are 
made and conviction had. 


We learn that the Committee on Ritual, ap- 
pointed at the last communication of Grand 
Lodge of California, have about completed their 
labor, and will report at the meeting in October. 
From what we can learn, the work will give bet- 
ter satisfaction than now. 

The fees for the degrees of the Scottish Rite, 
in this city, from the 4th degree to the 14th de- 
gree, inclusive, to which all Master Masons are 
eligible, are $35. 


We would suggest that upon the next visit of 
a Master Mason to his own Lodge, after having 
been made a member, the Master insist that he 
be not admitted until he has passed a regular 
examination before an examining committee as 
though an entire stranger. This would, in a 
great measure, remove the dread of visiting 
other Lodges, so common among brethren who 
fear their first examination. 


California, Occidental and South San Fran- 
cisco Lodges are without affiliation fees, while 
the amount charged by the remainder ranges 
from $1 in Mission to $25 in Doric. 


The fees for the degrees of the Order of the 
Eastern Star, in this city, is $5; a small sum, but 
keeps lots of desirable members out. The dues 
would sustain the Chapter much better. 


We hear a rumor that a new Royal Arch Chap- 
ter will be established in this city, to work in 
conjunction with Mission Lodge, No. 169, after 
its removal to its new building. We can assure 
the Craft that such an organization will make a 
record for itself in the Mission, and hope the 
rumor is true. 

Masons are divided into two classes, purchas- 
ers , who prefer to deal with their brethren, and 
believe that Masons should make themselves 
known through the advertising columns of The 
Trestle Board, and advertisers , who refuse to 
use our columns for fear of being accused of try- 
ing to secure business on the strength of being 
members of the Craft. Which are right ? 


According to the proceedings of the Grand 
Chapter, Order of the Eastern Star, for Califor- 
nia, for 1896, there are 117 brethren in good 
standing in the four Chapters which existed at 
that time; viz., Ivy Chapter, No. 27, has 35; 
Beulah, No. 99, has 33; Golden Gate, No. 1, has 
27; and Harmony, No. 124, has 22; and the two 
new Chapters, taking an average, raises the 
number of brethren to less than 156 as a total 
number now on the rolls in this city. The last 
report of Masonic Lodges show a total member- 


THE TRESTLE BOARD, 


427 


ship of 3,409 in good standing on the Lodge rolls 
thus giving the O. E. S. less than five per cent. 


We are told every day by Masons that if The 
Trestle Board was not a Masonic publication 
they would advertise in it. We may be tempted 
to drop its distinctive Masonic character some- 
time. 

Bro. John D. Spreckles, who has recently as- 
sumed control of the San Francisco Call , is a 
member of Oriental Lodge, No. 144, San Fran- 
cisco Chapter, No. 1, R. A. M., and California 
Commandery, No. 1, K. T. 


Bro. Palmer Cox, the celebrated “ Little 
Brownie” originator, is a member and Past Mas- 
ter of Mission Lodge, No. 169, of this city. 


Verba Buena Lodge of Perfection, No. 1, A. & 
A. S. R., held its stated meeting Friday even- 
ing, August 3, Bro. Wm. J. Smith, V. M., pre- 
siding. About 70 members were present. One 
candidate for degrees was elected, and one ap- 
plication for reinstatement in membership was 
granted. The usual routine business was tran- 
sacted. The proposition to change the time of 
meeting from Friday to Thursday evening was 
defeated. The same proposition was entertained 
and with like result several years ago. It would 
seem that the day of meeting is now permanent- 
ly fixed, and that no change will be made from 
the day which has been the one for over twenty- 
seven years. The argument advanced that Fri- 
day was generally considered an unlucky day 
lost somewhat of its force when the fact was 
shown that persistent effort and loyalty* had 
overcome the power of fate and superstition, for 
the past five years has seen much growth in this 
Lodge in numbers and interest. It is not well 
to change so important a matter as the date of 
meeting when it is achieving success under ex- 
isting auspices. 

In this connection we note as a singular fact 
that although Masonry* has been adjudged by 
most of the religious sects of the world to be a 
system of religion and its adherents a sect of 
religionists, that they are not so devoted to their 
creed as to attempt to use the day generally used 
for religious service for their purposes, but per- 
form all their religious duties except the burial 
of their dead and Easter Sunday service on the 
other six days of the week. If they have the 
name they should have the game is an old adage, 
and knowing something about Masonry we have 
often thought there was no impropriety in the 
Fraternity meeting for their ceremonies and 
duties on Sunday the same as other religious 
and sectarian organizations. But woe to the 
brother who would attempt in earnest to bring 
such a custom into use. It would be better that 
he was never bom. An attempt was made a 
few years since in the Past Masters Association 
to establish a course of Sunday evening lectures 
and other appropriate services, but it met with a 
most ignominous failure, causing almost hari 
kari to be committed. The subject is too deli- 
cate to be handled by the Craft. 

o 

Men are often beaten with rods of their 
own making. 


Chips from Other Quarries. 


I do not fully concur in the proposition. 
I do not agree to the principle that one 
Lodge may have the power to create a 
debt and compel another to pay it, with- 
out previous assent thereto, and in this age 
of telegraphs and quick communication, I 
cannot see the potency of tne excuse for it, 
even though it be strictly confined to actual 
necessities. A body of Masons which will 
not contribute to the necessities of a worthy 
sojourner in distress until they can com- 
municate with his Lodge, it seems to me 
is not worthy to hold a Masonic Charter. 

—Bro.f IV. Boyd, G. M., of Fla. 

Some of our contemporaries are having 
a great deal of trouble vith their subscrip- 
tion accounts. There is but one way to 
conduct a Masonic newspaper, and that is 
upon strictly business principles. The sub- 
scription account is a just debt, and should 
be collected just the same as are all ac- 
counts in the commercial world. 

— Illinois Freemason. 


One Worshipful Master wrote to this 
effect: “We have in our Lodge an old 
brother who was always a very zealous 
Mason, but he has become totally deaf. 
He was a regular attendant upon the Lodge 
meetings until he lost his hearing, since 
which he does not come so often. He has 
become so poor that he is unable to pay 
his dues. He wants to be in good stand- 
ing when he dies, so he can have a Ma- 
sonic burial. What shall we do with 
him?” I do not desire to report all that 
I said in reply. I wrote, however, in sub- 
stance, the following, after looking to see 
the number of members in said Lodge: 
“It will cost your members about one and 
a quarter cents a year each to pay the good 
old brother’s dues. Carry him on till he 
reaches the brink of the river and God will 
carry him safely over, and you will all feel 
better by even having given the good old 
brother a cent and a quarter apiece, for a 
short time. Bury his remains with Ma- 
sonic honors when he dies, and in the 
sweet bye and bye, when his hearing is 
restored to him in the celestial Lodge 
above, where he can hear the voices of the 
angelic hosts, may he never hear that you 
asked the Grand Master the question, 
‘What shall we do with him ?’ Go learn 
again the early taught lessons in Masonry, 
of brotherly love and relief.” Akin to 


428 


THE TRESTLE BOARD , . 


this, was a question from another Lodge, 
“What shall we do with a brother who 
was in good standing and became deranged 
and is now in the insane asylum, and left 
no one to pay his dues ?” I answered: 
“In the name of charity, remit his Lodge 
dues, and carry him on the Grand Lodge 
roll, and you will never die poorer for 
having done so.” I try to think that it 
was thoughtlessness in the brethren of 
these Lodges to raise the question as to 
this poor old brother’s dues, as well as 
that of the insane brother, and in charity 
withhold the names of the Lodges asking 
the questions, trusting that no such little- 
hearted stinginess will ever enter another 
Masonic Lodge, nor either of these again. 
Let us not forget, always, to meet our 
brethren, whether rich or poor, upon the 
level. — Bro. Geo . H Morgan , G. M. of 
Tenn . 

The unpleasantness between Indiana and 
Pennsylvania over the making of a man in 
an Indiana Lodge — in conformity with In- 
diana regulations — who had been rejected 
by a Pennsylvania Lodge, still continues. 

The postal savings bank idea is taking 
a firm hold on the people of this country, 
and by the time for the election of an- 
other Congress should assume the im- 
portance of a party issue. The people 
want postal savings banks, and the party 
that promises to take steps to secure them 
should receive on that account alone a 
large measure of popular support. The 
lessons of hard times have been severe 
ones. There are prospects of better con- 
ditions. The people are ready for some 
years of economy, but the tendency to 
save is discouraged by the insecurity of 
savings banks conducted as private enter- 
prises. — Chicago Journal . 

There are many brothers who will never 
forget a defeat for an office in a Lodge.” 
Yes, they become disgusted with every- 
thing, and make up their minds never to 
do any work for the Lodge again. They 
will not support the brother who was elect- 
ed. It sometimes happens that the dis- 
gruntled brother is again solicitous for 
office, and is successful. Once installed, 
he expects those whom he did not support 
during their term of office to jump into 
harness and do all they can for him, and 
if they hesitate about doing so, he again 
complains of unfair treatment. Our ad- 


vice to such brothers is to take your de- 
feat gracefully, and keep on working as of 
yore, and you will gain in the end any- 
way, and you will find many brothers who 
will support you in your efforts to increase 
the efficiency of the Lodge. You must be 
more patient, then you will become deserv- 
ing and appreciated. 

— Square and Compass . 


Masonry is too popular in one sense, 
and not sacred enough in another. It has 
been bartered away too much as if an ar- 
ticle of merchandise. The idle and curi- 
ous, the passive and perverse, with an ease 
and readiness distasteful and repulsive. to 
nobler manhood, have been permitted to 
purchase Masonic privileges as if they 
were no more than toys from a curiosity 
shop. There should be an end to this 
thing; then we may hope that many of the 
difficulties of non affiliation and non-pay- 
ment of dues will be solved and disappear. 

— Bro . lhos. M Reed . 

The retiring Grand Master of the Grand 
Lodge of Utah recommended a discontinu- 
ance of the removal of the altar from the 
Lodge rooms in order to permit dancing 
to be indulged in. The five Past Grand 
Masters to whom the address was referred 
were divided in opinion thereon, and ren- 
dered a majority and minority report. Up- 
on consideration the Grand Body voted to 
continue the dancing as heretofore. 

— Constellation . 

That is a peculiar kind of Masonry they 
have in Utah. We don’t think any Lodge 
in America, outside of Utah, would per- 
mit dancing in the Lodge room. 

— Masonic Herald . 


Rev. Bro. C. W. Ayling, an ardent 
member of the Craft, now pastor of the 
M. E. church at Lexington, relates a little 
circumstance that carries with it an impor- 
tant lesson. During the conferring of one 
of the degrees in a town in the western 
part of the State, the candidate, a devout 
member of the church, volunteered an oral 
prayer. Such a thing being somewhat un- 
usual, some of the brethren regarded it as 
humorous, and laughed so loud that it 
reached the brother’s ears. The effect was 
such that when the brother left the Lodge 
room that night he left it never to enter it 
again. Levity has no place in a Masonic 
Lodge, and that brother who attends 


THE TRESTLE BOARD 


429 


Lodge in the hope of finding something to 
amuse him had better stay away. 

— Illinois Freemason. 


One of the most important committees 
of the Grand Lodge is that of Masonic 
Jurisprudence, yet because of its import- 
ance, the position should not be made one 
of life tenure. The policy should be in- 
augurated by placing the retiring Grand 
Master upon this Committee, and allowing 
the oldest member of the committee to re- 
tire. As it is now this would give each 
member about ten years’ service, after 
which he should be willing to gracefully 
step down and out. — Illinois Freemason. 

♦ 

Certainly the most novel Lodge room 
ever occupied by any fraternal organization 
will be one where the Masonic Grand 
Lodge of Arizona meets this year — in 
the great cave of Bisbee — the most beau- 
tiful cavern ever discovered. Whispers 
are distinctly heard for hundreds of feet in 
this cavern; in fact, there seems to be no 
limit to the range of the voice except the 
sublime walls of this natural theater. Stal- 
actites, rare, beautiful and delicate, more 
gorgeous than ten thousand chandeliers, 
overhanging the roof of the pit. Especial- 
ly is this true in the principal room of the 
cave. Comparatively few have entered this 
beautiful cavern, which is situated several 
hundred feet below the surface of the Cop- 
per Queen mine the greatest copper mine 
in Arizona, perhaps in the world. After 
years of working, this subterranean cavity 
of great extent was discovered while run- 
ning a drift to develop new fields ol min- 
ing exploration. What a revelation it must 
have been to the discoverer ! No grander 
or more sublime sight has ever been wit- 
nessed by man. In various parts of the 
cave was found rich copper ore, and from 
this at least five millions of dollars have 
been taken, including the rare specimen 
weighing several tons, the grandest mineral 
monument at the World’s Fair. There is 
but one way to enter the cave, through a 
shaft at the mine by going down in a cage. 
As the mine works constantly, few visitors 
are admitted and newspaper men who have 
been allowed to fea^t their visions, secured 
such privilege under the solemn pledge 
not to write what they had seen. This 
pledge was wholly unnecessary, as no pen, 
however trenchant, could picture the beau- 
ties of the scene. At any rate Ben Williams 
has offered the cave as an asylum for the 


Masonic Grand Lodge, and were the full 
knowledge of the beauties of the place 
known, pilgrims from foreign lands would 
be present to commune with the favored 
Masons of Arizona’s fair land. 

Quite a number of our exchanges, and 
especially those of the secular press, with 
a so-called Masonic department, as herald- 
ing the very important information that 
President McKinley is a Shriner, and that 
blatherskite Sam Jones is a Knight Tem- 
plar. While the Shrine may regard it as 
an honor to have so distinguished a per- 
sonage enrolled as a Shriner, it is far from 
being an honor to the President of the 
United States to have his name thus en- 
rolled, and to have that fact thus publicly 
proclaimed to the world. But to think of 
Sam Jones as a Knight Templar, after 
reading the speech he made at the ban- 
quet after receiving the Order of the Red 
Cross, is particularly nauseating. It is 
nip and tuck between them which is most 
out of place — President McKinley as a 
Shriner, or Sam Jones as Knight Templar. 

— Masonic Advocate. 

The Tyler has been repeatedly asked if 
the Shrine is not the “highest body” in 
Masonry. The answer is here given for 
the last time — “Yes.” It is for this rea- 
son “the Arabs of the United States use a 
rope and have claws, and carry a scimiter. 
The latter is used to cut the fellow down 
when he becomes a “ high degree” Mason 
— he who is so often told about in the 
“profane” press. It is because it is the 
“highest” Masonry that the average 
Shriner is so averse to water — water gave 
him fits when he came down from his high 
altitude. Yes, it is the “highest” body 
in Masonry, and when you become a 
Shriner you have to “ come down” all the 
time. Yes, if you want high Masonry, 
join the Shrine. It is a passport to credit, 
a cinch on political office and a guarantee 
of an occasional “high” old time — Tyler. 


Seems passing strange that a body of 
Masons should fall all over themselves in 
their endeavors to memorialize, prepare 
resolutions and deliver addresses, after the 
decease of one of their number who had 
been affiliated less than three years, and 
had not attended the meetings three times 
and enjoyed the acquaintance of less than 
three times three members; while, at the 
same time and place, the death of one of 


430 


THE TRESTLE BOARD . 


their members, who had been such for 
more than forty years, was passed by. 
This is not overdrawn, and the young par- 
ticipants should be ashamed of it. 

— Constellation. 


The Committee on Jurisprudence re- 
ported a resolution, which was adopted, 
prohibiting “the use of Masonic emblems 
by Masons as business signs or cards un- 
less such business be exclusively or largely 
in Masonic goods, and the use of the word 
‘Masons’ or ‘Masonic’ or ‘Free and Ac- 
cepted Masons,’ or the letters ‘F. & A. M.’ 
in connection with any private business 
hereafter established, by solicitor, princi- 
pal or employer.” — G. L . of Mich . 


It is said that there is one, and only one, 
work extant written in the language in 
which Jesus commonly spoke. The au- 
thority for this statement is Dr. Meyer, of 
the University of Bonn, who has made a 
special study of the question. The work 
is known as the “Jerusalem Talmud,” and 
it was written in Tiberias in the third cen- 
tury after Christ. According to this au- 
thority Jesus spoke a Galilean dialect of 
the Aramaic tongue. The Aramaic is one 
of the Semitic family of languages, a sis- 
ter tongue of the Hebrew. Aramaic was 
at one period the language of business be- 
tween Syria and the countries further east. 


Among the dispensations issued by the 
Grand Master of Colorado was one to a 
Lodge to attend divine service, on which 
subject he says: 

“I believe the attending of church by a 
Lodge in a body must necessarily result in 
good, and, for this reason, I would advise 
giving the Grand Master authority to issue 
dispensations to Lodge, for this purpose, 
without fee. It is a practice that should 
be encouraged, and the Lodges should, in 
my opinion, be allowed to attend church 
without paying a fee for the privilege.” 

This found favor with the Jurisprudence 
Committee, upon whose concurring recom- 
mendation the by-laws were amended as 
advised. This, it will be seen, is a con- 
clusion just the opposite of that contem- 
poraneously reached by California, where 
the granting of such a dispensation was 
disapproved on the safe ground that a 
Lodge should not appear in public except 
on a Masonic occasion. No Masonic fee 
is required to enable the individual Mason 
to attend divine service as often as he 


pleases, and there is no Masonic regula- 
tion discouraging him from so doing. 
Neither should there be any regulation 
placing even an implied constraint upon a 
brother to attend a church other than that 
of his choice because a majority of his 
brethren decide to do so. 

— Bro . Joseph Robbins , of III . 

A short time ago we stated that in Cali- 
fornia the use of wines and other intoxi- 
cants at Masonic banquets was forbidden. 
The Trestle Board asks for our authority. 
We found it floating around in the ex- 
changes, and supposed it was true. It 
ought to be true if it is not. No Grand 
Jurisdiction comes up to the^rue standard 
of Masonic dignity and morality that per- 
mits the use of intoxicants at banquets. 

— Orient 

Missouri Lodge, No. i, of St. Louis, 
at a special meeting held Saturday, March 
27, 1897, conferred the 3 0 on Bro. Dan 
Gillespie. His brother, W. D. Gillespie, 
Senior Warden of Missouri, No. 1, pre- 
sided in the first section; another brother, 
A. S. Gillespie, Worshipful Master of 
Charity, No. 331, presided in the second 
section, and his father, Wm. Gillespie, 
Past Master of Missouri, No. 1, delivered 
the lecture and charge, and, what is better 
than all this, the work was done without 
skip or halt; fully up to the standard of 
grand old Missouri ! Next. 

— Missouri Freemason. 


Some old Past Masters seem to take ob- 
jection to a practice indulged in by some 
Worshipful Masters of calling upon subor- 
dinate officers to assist them in portions of 
the ceremonies, instead of calling to their 
aid the Past Masters, such as asking a 
Deacon to give a charge or an address in 
the presence of Past Masters. The conten- 
tion of the Past Masters is untenable. The 
Worshipful Master has the right of de- 
manding the assistance of every officer, 
and, for that matter, of that of every mem- 
ber in the Lodge to assist him in every 
way he thinks proper, so long, of course, 
as the work does not belong to a higher 
degree than the brother. — Keystone. 

In Mexico an Entered Apprentice is a 
member of his Lodge and pays dues. He 
has to serve seven months before he can 
be passed to the Fellow Craft degree, and 
five months more before he can be raised 


THE TRESTLE BOARD. 


43i 


A decision made by the managers of the 
Masonic Orphans' Home of Illinois, at 
Chicago, appears to have raised a little 
disturbance. Only the orphans of Ma- 
sons can be admitted. It seems a Mason 
died, leaving a wife and children. The 
widow married a man not a Mason, after- 
wards applied for admission of the children 
to the Home. The refusal of the manage- 
ment was on the ground that the children 
were not the orphans of a Mason. 

— Constellation . 


to the sublime degree of Master, thus re- 
quiring a year to pass before he became a 
full fledged Mason. In this country some 
of them are 32 0 Masons in half that time. 

A writer in the Indian Freemason , of 
Calcutta, India, asks: ‘‘Is it lawful for 
Christians to join in prayer addressed to 
the ‘Great Architect of the Universe,' 
omitting all reference to our Lord’s medi- 
ation, and using language purposely, such 
as Mahometan, Parsee, Buddhist, or any 
false believer can join in?" This fellow 
should get a copy of the “Lord’s Prayer," 
and study it on his knees. If not of vin- 
dictive mind he won't have to ask such a 
question again. 

In the “Story of My Life," which re- 
cently appeared in the Ladies' Home Jour- 
nal , Rosa Bonheur, the eminent painter, 
speaks of her father as a Knight Templar, 
and says of him: In 1835 my poor, dear 
mother died, and I can say that her death 
has been the great sorrow of my life. 
After that my aunt took charge of me, and 
placed me to board with one of her old 
friends, Mme. Pelerin, who lived in Alle 
des Veuves, near the Champs Elysees. 
But I could not bear the separation from 
my people, and father had to take me with 
him, for he had left Menilmontant, and 
was living on the Quai de l'Ecole, only a 
few steps from the Cafe du Parnasse, kept 
by old Carpentier, whose daughter had 
married the famous Danton. At the cafe 
my father made the acquaintance of Fabre- 
Palaprat, Grand Master of the Knights 
Templar. Palaprat had at his home the 
sword, the helmet and the breastplate of 
Jacques De Molay, the martyr of his faith, 
who had been burned for his creed in 1314, 
in front of Notre Dame Cathedral. Need 
I say what enthusiasm my father had for 
his Order ? I was baptized by the Knights 
Templar. They had a gothic chapel situ- 


ated on the very spot of the Cceur des 
Miracles, now crossed by the Rue Daniette. 
Midst the remnants of a pristine splendor 
they had their altar, their pulpit and the 
baptismal fonts. And it was in that chapel 
that I was baptized anew under an arch of 
steel formed by the swords held aloft by 
the Knights dressed in full regalia. This 
impressive ceremony suited my tempera- 
ment and chivalrous instincts so well that 
for the while I believed myself a true 
Knight. 


Near the city of London alone there are 
three great Masonic benevolent establish- 
ments supported by voluntary Craft con- 
tributions approximating, and sometimes 
exceeding, $250,000 annually. Oneofthese 
institutions is a home for aged Freemasons 
and their wives. The two others are for 
the sustenance and education of the needy 
sons and daughters of departed Freema- 
sons (founded ninety-eight years ago). Of 
the culture received therein by the two lat- 
ter classes it will suffice to say that many 
of these youths (boys and girls) pass with 
credit examinations in the University of 
London. Situations, too, are found for 
many of them at the close of their tute- 
lage, and others are given a start in busi- 
ness for themselves. 


During the session of the Grand Lodge 
of Michigan a resolution was offered grant- 
ing a per diem of three dollars and mile- 
age of three cents for all members of the 
Grand Lodge. Fifty Lodges seconded the 
motion. Immediately thereafter an appeal 
was made to these same members for the 
Masonic Home, and the enormous sum of 
twenty-six dollars was realized. Verily, it 
is more blessed to receive than to give — in 
certain portions of the Masonic vineyard. 

A gentleman in the country, who had 
just buried a rich relation who was an at- 
torney, was complaining to Foote, who 
was on a visit to him, of the very great 
expense of a country funeral. “Why," 
said Foote, “do you bury your attorneys 
here?" “Yes, to be sure we do; how 
else?" “Oh, we never do that in Lon- 
don !" “No !’’ said the other much sur- 
prised, “how do you manage?" “Why, 
when the patient happens to die, we lay 
him out in a room overnight by himself, 
lock the door, open the sash, and in the 
morning he is entirely off!" “Indeed !" 
said the other in amazement. “What be- 


432 


THE TRESTLE BOARD . 


comes of him ?” “Why, we cannot ex- 
actly tell, not being acquainted with the 
supernatural cause. All that we know of 
the matter is that there’s a strong smell of 
brimstone in the room the next morning/ ’ 


Willie Smith was playing with the Jones 
boys. His mother called him, and said: 
“Willie, don’t you know those Jones boys 
are bad boys for you to play with ?” 

“ Yes, mamma,’’ replied Willie, “I 
know that, but don’t you know I am a 
good boy for them to play with ?’’ 


We respectfully submit that a Grand 
Lodge cannot rightfully forbid its subor- 
dinates to extend Masonic charity, or to 
bury a non-affiliate Mason — one who has 
simply dimitted from his Lodge. Lodges 
have rights which, in our opinion, the 
Grand Lodge cannot (properly) take from 
them, and the matter of extending its 
charity is one of those rights. 

— Bro. E. T. Schultze , of ML 


The ritual and old usage contemplates 
that the objects of Lodge meetings are 
something more than to transact business 
and do work. In former times, refresh- 
ments were practically as necessary to hold- 
ing a Lodge as the presence of the Charter. 
Excesses, unworthy of Masons, resulted, 
and we went to the other extreme. As I 
now see it (for, I confess, that it has taken 
years to make me see it), this departure 
from ancient usage was a perilous mistake. 
There is no doubt whatever that the relax- 
ation from labor given by assembling 
around the table and breaking bread to- 
gether, adds a charm to our meetings, 
which they cannot otherwise gain. I would 
by no means restore the use of intoxicants, 
and we may now have the full benefit of 
refreshments without their use. It was a 
tradition in my Lodge that when the cus- 
tom of providing refreshments was entire- 
ly abolished many of the older members, 
who had been accustomed to the use of 
liquors on such occasions, preferred to 
have no refreshments than to make a par- 
tial change; at the same time, they ad- 
mitted that the state of things was injuri- 
ous to Masonry, and willingly voted to 
take away the cause; but it was also said 
that these members soon lost their interest, 
and ceased attending the Lodge. But even 
with this knowledge, I failed to see the 
importance of the old custom; one reason 
was that it was soon after the revival of 


Masonry, when the Lodge was small and 
almost all its members were newly made 
Masons, and needed nothing to arouse or 
keep alive their interest. I am of the 
opinion that a similar state of things pre- 
vailed in nearly all our Lodges, and that 
the custom of having refreshments was 
not revived after the Morgan excitement. 
But I believe it would benefit Masonry to 
revive it now. — J. H Dritmmond \ 


What do instructions amount to if the 
party instructed is not required to carry 
them out ? In the opinion of your com- 
mittee the Master must vote on a measure 
pending in Grand Lodge as his Lodge 
may formally instruct him to do. The 
old regulations expressly say: “The ma- 
jority of every particular Lodge, when con- 
gregated, shall have the privilege of giving 
instructions to their Masters and Wardens, 
before the assembling of the Grand Lodge, 
etc., because their Masters and Wardens 
are their representatives, and are supposed 
to speak their minds.” 

— Bro. E T Schultze , of Md. 


A special dispensation was granted to 
Fidelity Lodge, No. 32, of Michigan to 
enable them to confer the degrees upon a 
Mr. Russell, waiving all fees and the usual 
requirements. The occasion of granting 
this dispensation was that this gentleman 
was present, and witnessed a portion of the 
work during the conferring of the second 
section of the third degree. Under the 
circumstances, I considered it my duty to 
remove all obstacles, and make a Master 
Mason of him as speedily as possible, 
which was done. 

The circumstances attending the case 
were peculiar. It appears that on the after- 
noon and evening of October 15th, Fidel- 
ity Lodge, No. 32, held a meeting for 
work on the third degree. Six Lodges of 
the county of Hillsdale were present, and 
participated in the work, and a large num- 
ber of brother Masons from different parts 
of the county; that Edward Russell, not a 
Master Mason, was admitted to the ante- 
room by the Tyler, who stated he was 
vouched for; he entered the Lodge room, 
and shortly after was discovered, and, on 
being questioned, acknowledged that he 
was not a Master Mason. He was prompt- 
ly removed, and, on being questioned as 
to how he happened to be there, stated 
that he was there by invitation, supposing 
that the meeting was open to the public. 


THE TRESTLE BOARD . 


433 


On receiving information in an indirect 
way of what had occurred, I went to Hills- 
dale for the purpose of holding an investi- 
gation; but, on my arrival there, I found 
all of the parties connected with the affair, 
including Mr. Russell, out of town. On 
my return home I sent the dispensation re- 
ferred to, and ordered a thorough investi- 
gation to be held. The investigation has 
been held, and I have received the report 
of the committee, and from their report I 
believe that it was an honest mistake of 
the parties who vouched for him. 

— Bro. E. L. Bowring , G. M., of Mich . 


The plan of Masonic charity, that is, the 
manner of its dissemination and the obli- 
gation of brother to brother, may be termed 
a landmark, and anything tending towatd 
its removal or material change should be 
considered very critically. While it is true 
that Masonry is a charitable institution, 
its charity is not given like that of any 
other Fraternity. It is not a question of 
the dollars and cents of return for the dol- 
lars and cents invested. The only thing 
that gauges Masonic charity is worthiness 
coupled, with need, and this considered 
with the ability of the donor. It is not 
an institution in which by the payment of 
a stipulated sum in dues the member 
knows just how much he will receive in 
“benefits” when disabled. If such a thing 
should be allowed to enter the Masonic In- 
stitution Masonry would cease to be Ma- 
sonry, and sink to the level of modern 
charitable associations, in which for a speci- 
fied investment there is a stipulated mome- 
tary return. — G. L. of Kansas. 


They (non-affiliates) have the right of 
petitioning for re instatement. They shall 
not have Masonic aid, nor be permitted to 
visit Lodges, walk in Masonic processions, 
or receive Masonic burial, but shall still 
be subject to Masonic discipline, and are 
under those obligations which can never 
be repudiated nor laid aside. 

— G. L . of Iowa. 

Ah, we find that the definition was nec- 
essary, only the slight distinction in name 
is altogether unnecessary. In Iowa ex- 
pelled, suspended and non-affiliated Ma- 
sons are placed on the same level ; a broth- 
er too poor in his own judgment to belong 
to a Lodge is placed by this law on a level 
with the one expelled for violating Ma- 
sonic obligations. “They shall not have 
Masonic aid, nor be permitted to visit 


Lodges.” Where, oh, where, was Bro. 
Parvin with his views of “the inherent 
rights of Lodges ?” We have not agreed 
with him in his views, but this law almost 
converts us. That a non- affiliate shall have 
no right to those privileges is sound doc- 
trine; but that a Lodge or a Mason shall 
not be allowed to grant Masonic aid to one 
is simply monstrous; a Lodge may aid a 
profane, but not a non-affiliate. But the 
grim irony of the climax of this law, that 
they “are under those obligations which 
can never be repudiated nor laid aside” 
would be laughable, were it not so terrible. 
The Grand Lodge, the Lodge and the 
Mason who is a member of a Lodge, have 
no obligations towards the non-affiliate, 
that may not be “repudiated nor laid 
aside”; it is the latter class only that are 
not the fortunate possessor of that power. 
We protest against this legislation, not 
only as an attempt to authorize individual 
Masons to “repudiate and lay aside” their 
obligations, but to compel them to do so. 
The tendency to make Masonry an article 
of merchandise, to be sold to select paying 
customers, has given us great anxiety, but 
that such a Masonic body as the Grand 
Lodge of Iowa should give in its adhesion 
to the doctrine makes us heart sick. And 
what’s the good ? The non affiliate will 
still be there. If the promoters of this 
law had studied the statistics, they would 
have known that this forcing policy utter- 
ly fails to prevent, in the slightest degree, 
the evil of non-affiliation. It may prevent 
the annoyance of a few appeals for aid, 
but even that is doubtful. 

— J. H. Drummond. 


The dispatches tell us of two men who 
were fined fifty dollars each, a few days 
ago, for being drunk. Now we would 
like to inquire why this was done ? Isn’t 
that what our authorities license drunk- 
eries for — for men to drink and get drunk ? 
Then, why fine them for doing exactly 
what the authorities virtually say they 
ought to do — patronize the saloon, which 
they make respectable by throwing over 
them the mantle of law and protection ? 
Could greater inconsistency be shown ? 
If it is wrong for men to get drunk, then 
it is certainly wrong for our law-makers to 
invite them to do so by licensing saloons 
for that purpose. The saloon is the focus 
of all that is evil. Any definition and de- 
scription of the saloon must be an indict- 
ment. It is the enemy of mankind, the 


434 


THu TRESTLE BOARD . . 


enemy of the home, the enemy of the 
State, the last ditch of municipal misrule 
and the enemy of the church. It builds 
an impassable barrier between man and his 
God, filling his heart with hatred for 
things good and pure — Idaho Mason . 

A brother who so far forgets himself as 
to declare his candidacy and electioneer 
for office in the Grand Lodge, is unworthy 
of your confidence and support. 

Attorney — “How many secret societies 
do you belong to ?” 

Witness — “Do I have to answer that 
question, your honor ?” 

The Court — “It can do no harm.” 

Witness — “Well, I belong to three.” 

Attorney — “What are they ?” 

Witness — “The Odd Fellows, Knights 
of Pythias and a gas company.” 

“I have a cat,” said a lady to me the 
other day, ‘ ‘ that knows when a letter 
comes to her.” 

“A letter !” I exclaimed in surprise. 

“Yes, a letter; and if you don’t believe 
it, I will prove it to you. Just wait a 
minute until I direct one.” 

My friend left the room, and in a few 
minutes returned with a sealed envelope, 
addressed to Miss Pussy, No. — , Marlboro 
St., city. 

“Now,” said she, “if you will kindly 
post that for me to-night, and be here 
when the postman comes around on his 
first delivery to-morrow morning, you will 
see that I am telling you facts.” 

I mailed the letter as she asked, and 
was at my friend's home promptly the 
next morning. 

Soon the bell rang, and shortly after- 
ward the servant entered with a bundle of 
letters, among which was that for Pussy. 

Placing them near the cat on the floor, 
my friend said: “Now, Miss Pussy, pick 
out your letter.” 

Sure enough, Pussy at once showed an 
interest, and in a moment had pushed 
aside with her paw the envelope addressed 
to her. 

“I was almost too surprised to speak, 
when my friend said: 

“Wait a moment. She'll open it and 
eat up all that is in the envelope.” 

Scarcely had she said this, when Miss 
Pussy had torn the envelope open, and was 
enjoying her letter very much. The en- 
velope was filled with catnip. 


Literary Notes. 


We have received printed copies of the 

proceedings of the following Grand Bodies for which the 
Secretaries have our thanks; Grand Lodges of Oregon, 
Washington, Nevada, South Dakota Texas (four vears), 
and North Dakota; Grand Chapters, R. A. M. of California, 
Georgia, South Dakota, New Hampshire, Nevada and 
Connecticut; Grand Council, R. & S M. of California; 
Grand Commandries, K. f . of California, Kentucky, South 
Dakota and Washington; Grand Chapters, O. E. S. of Ore- 
gon, Colorado and Washington; Council of Deliberation of 
Illinois A. & A. S. R., also to Bro. J. Ross Robertson, of 
Toronto, Canada. 

No. Ill of the “History of Freemasonry in 
California is published and before us. The first 
page opens upon the genial and ever-welcome 
face of everybody’s friend, Bro. Jacob Hart Neff, 
Past Grand Commander of Knights Templar, 
delineated in one of the finest steel engravings. 
Following is Chapter IV, describing the advent 
of Freemasonry into California, the relations of 
the Grand Lodges of Missouri, District of 
Columbia and Connecticut to that advent, in a 
narrative and attractive form. The illustrations 
of Sutter’s Fort in 1848, the first Masonic Hall, 
where the Grand Lodge of California was or- 
ganized, the first Masonic Hall, at 247 Mont- 
gomery street, San Francisco, which Bro. Wm. 
S. Moses, can attest as we have heard him so 
graphically describe. Also a view of the first 
Masonic Hall at Benicia, copy of the Charters 
of Lodge, notices of early Lodge and Chapter 
meetings, aprons, the Bible used at the organiza- 
tion of the Grand Lodge of California and its 
history. This number includes also biographi- 
cal sketches of Bros. Nathaniel Greene Curtis, 
Silas Montgomery Buck, Jacob Hart Neff and 
Charles Egbert DeLong, who are prominent 
among the founders and builders of Freema- 
sonry in California. The publishers have fully 
sustained their promise in the appearance of this 
number which reflects great credit upon them. 

o 

Deaths*. 


In San Francisco, July 30th, Alexander Frank, a native 
of San Francisco, a member of a Lodge in Victoria, B. C., 
aged 32 years, 9 months and 1^ days. 

In San Francisco, July 3*st. Samuel Ostroski, a nati/e of 
Kempen, Prussia, a member of Oroville Lodge, No. 103, of 
Oroville, Cal , aged 61 years. His funeral was attended by 
Fidelity Lodge, No. 120. 

At Half Moon Bay, July 21st, George Riley Borden, a 
member of Hayward Lodge, No. 226, aged 86 years. 

In San Francisco, August 2d, Ch*s. L. Crisman, a na- 
tive of Pennsylvania, a member of Mission Lodge, No. 169, 
aged 81 years. 

In San Francisco, August rst, Jasper Newton Killip, a 
native of Bloomington, 111 ., a member of Excelsior Lodge, 
No. 166, aged 62 years, n months 

In San Francisco, August 10th, Robert E. Chapman, 
late a member of Fallbrook Lodge, No. 317, of Fallbrook, 
Cal., a native of Ohio, aged 47 years. His funeral was at- 
tended by Doric Lodge, No. 2rt>. 

At Phipsburg, Maine, August 9th, Capt. James B. 
Percy, a member of Solar Lodge, No. 14, Bath, Maine, 
aged 70 ye-rs, 10 months. 

In San Francisco, August ifth, Edward B. Rambo, a 
native of Cincinnati, Ohio; a member of Yerba Buena 
Lodge of Perfection, No. 1, and Yerba Buena Chapter of 
Rose Croix, No. 1, aged 52 years. 


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Having the cuts and dies for all the different bodies of Masonry, 
we can furnish same on any kind of stationery at low rates. * '" 7TV 

WALTER H. 


If you wish a Menu for a special occasion write us 
particulars and we will send an appropriate sample. 
Telephone, Main 330 



535 CLAY ST 
San Francisco 
California 








( ( 


THE IMPROVED 


DOM ESTIC.” 


BULBS 


PLANTS 


SEEDS 




m 



Preeminently the Sewing Machine 
for Family Use. 

Send for Catalogue. 

J. W. EVANS, Agent, 


W. 

1021 Market St., 


San Francisco. 


Catalogue for Asking. 

Send To-Day. 

Bulbs fo Fall planting — out of doors. 
Bulbs for Winter blooming in the house. 
Plants for blooming dyring the Winter. 
Plants for decorating. 

Seeds for Fall sowing — out of doors. 
Seeds for Winter sowing in the house. 

Send us ioc to pay postage and pack- 
age and we will aend you 15 Selected 
Bulbs, or six packages of Selected 
Flower Seeds, or six packages (all dif- 
ferent) Sweet Peas, or all three collec- 
tions for 25 cents. 

The PAGE SEED CO., 

GREENE. N. Y. 







CONTINENTAL 

BUILDING & LOAN ASS’N 


ESTABLISHED IN 1 889. 

Subscribed Capital 
Paid in Capital 
Monthly Income, over 


HOME OFFICE 

222 Sansome St., San Francisco. 

WILLIAM CORBIN, 

Secretary and General Manager. 

When you write, please mention The Trestle Board. 


OF CALIFORNIA. 

$ 5,303,400.00 
- 562 , 919.34 

30,000.00 


Growth for the Year 1897. 

Assets Jupe 30th, 1897 ...... $562,919 34 

Assets Jpne 30th, 1896 ... 4 - . . 324^522 07 

Increase 73 per cent, or ... $238,397 27 

Subscribed capital June 30, 1897, $5’3°3>4 0 ° 00 

Subscribed capital June 30, 1896, 2,39 3,100 00 

Increase 122 percent, or . . $2,910,300 00 
Homes built for members during year, 106.