TNL-August2008

Vol. 39 No. 3 AUGUST 2008

Taking Historyto New DepthsGround-penetrating radar unearthsaspects of 18th century life page 12

Taking Historyto New DepthsGround-penetrating radar unearthsaspects of 18th century life page 12

2 August 2008 / The Northern Light

CONTRIBUTORS

Other Contributors:Aimee E. Newell is the curator of collections at the National Heritage Museum, located at Supreme Council headquarters inLexington,MA. Steven R. Pekock, 32°, director of development for the Supreme Council, AASR, NMJ, USA.Catherine C.Swanson is the archivst at the Van Gorden-Williams Library.Robert A. Domingue is secretary for St. Matthew’s Lodge,Andover,MA, and editor of The Philatelic Freemason.Leigh E. Morris, 33°,works in corporate communications for a majorutility company. He is a member of the Valleys of Milwaukee and Springfield, IL. S. Brent Morris, 33°, is the editor of TheScottish Rite Journal, a publication of the Southern Jurisdiction, USA, located at Washington, DC.

WayneT. Adams, 33°, isa Past Grand Master inMaine and a member ofthe Valley of Portland.

ThomasW.Jackson,33°,was formerly GrandSecretary for the GrandLodge of Pennsylvania. Heis Executive Secretary forthe World Conference ofMasonic Grand Lodges.

Jeff Croteau is managerof library and archives atthe Van Gorden-WilliamsLibrary, located atSupreme Council head-quarters in Lexington,MA.

Robert F. Ogg Jr., 33°, isthe Deputy for the state ofRhode Island.

FEATURED ARTICLES

Living by DegreeByWayne T. Adams, 33°

Manufactured in OhioMasonic antiques from theBuckeye State.By Aimee E. Newell

One if by Land . . .By Alan E. Foulds, 32°

New Life for aMasonic Landmarkin ProvidenceBy Robert F. Ogg Jr., 33°

EDITORAlan E. Foulds, 32°

GRAPHIC DESIGNERBeth E.McSweeney

PRODUCTION ASSISTANTSonja B. Faiola

MEDIA ADVISORY COMMITTEEWilliam L.McCarrier, 33°, chairman

Richard V.Travis, 33°William Fox Jr., 33°Eric Ginette, 33°

SUPREMECOUNCIL, 33°Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite

Northern Masonic Jurisdiction, U.S.A.

SOVEREIGN GRAND COMMANDERJohnWm.McNaughton, 33°

THENORTHERNLIGHT (ISSN 1088-4416) is published quarterlyin February,May,August, and November by the Supreme Council, 33°,Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite,NorthernMasonic Jurisdiction,U.S.A.,as the official publication.Printed in U.S.A. Periodicals postage paid atBoston,MA, and at additional mailing offices.

POSTMASTER:Send address changes toTheNorthern Light,POBox519, Lexington,MA 02420-0519.

Copyright © 2008 by Trustees of the Supreme Council of the AncientAccepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry for the Northern Masonic Ju-risdiction, U.S.A.

Mailing Address:POBox 519,Lexington,MA 02420-0519

Editorial Office:33 Marrett Road (Route 2A), Lexington,MA 02421

781-862-4410 • Fax: 781-863-1833email: [email protected]

Internet:www.ScottishRiteOnline.org

31415

18192021222425262728293031

Volume 39, Number Three

In This IssueMessage from theSovereign Grand Commander

Word Math

32° Masonic Learning Centers

Notes from theScottish Rite Journal

Brothers on the Net

Scottish Rite Charities

The Stamp Act

Book Nook

HealthWise

South Bend Military Honor ClassIn Memoriam: Ill. Robert N. Osborne, 33°

Views from the Past

Quotables

Today’s Family

More Than Just Books

Readers Respond

Et cetera, et cetera, etc.8

16

12

4

The Northern Light / August 2008 3

John Wm. McNaughton, 33º

Solving a Sudoku Puzzle

Several years ago, the Sudoku puzzle becamea worldwide phenomenon. Most newspapers nowcarry the puzzle in each edition along with the tra-ditional crossword puzzle. Based on a relatively oldgame, the new version has taken advantage ofcomputer technology.

The game is played by arranging nine numberswithin a grid of nine by nine squares so that nonumber is duplicated vertically, horizontally, orwithin a three by three box. It does not requiremathematical skills. It is a test of logic — andpatience.

Recently an Australian jury trial was abortedwhen five of the 12 jurors were discovered playingSudoku instead of listening to evidence in court.Apparently the jurors found the puzzle moreintriguing than legal presentations.

There’s a message here for Freemasonry. Howcan today’s Masonic leaders provide inspirationalmeetings so that the members need not revert toplaying Sudoku during a meeting?

The basic tenets and principles of our fraternityhave remained the same, but the methods ofpresentation must continually evolve with thepassage of time. Certainly, Scottish Rite haschanged from its earliest days, and it will continueto change in the years to come.

Newer generations operate on a different wave-length from previous generations, and it isimportant for all of us to realize the need to keeppace.

Here are just a few points of a Masonic meetingthat lend themselves to puzzle time:

• Lengthy introductions of Masonic dignitarieswho will be offended if they are notrecognized.

• Reading of extensive minutes of previousmeetings that never seem to end.

• Long, boring hack speeches. (If you don’tknow what a hack speech is, you probablyhave given one.)

• Lack of regard for a member’s time.

So how do we turn the traditional meeting intoan inspirational one? Perhaps we might considersome of these points:

• Greet all members on the level.

• Report on members who have made greatstrides in a particular endeavor.

• Select orators who can keep it short andlively.

• Provide time for fraternal fellowship.

Modifying our methods will take some time. Itwill not happen overnight, but it can beaccomplished.

How do we take Scottish Rite to a higher level?Logic and reasoning will help us find the steps, justas it does to solve a Sudoku puzzle.

Sovereign Grand Commander

“Logic and reasoning will help us find the steps”

MM


asonry is a progressive science. Thisterm has been used for at least a hun-dred years. The word “progressive” is

used in the sense of making an advancement or movingforward. The word “science” is used to mean a system ofknowledge. Taken together, “progressive science” connotes making

an advancement in a particular system of knowledge. An-cient craft Masonry and Scottish Rite Masonry are partof a system of knowledge, and there is throughout, fromthe first to the 32°, a familiar pattern, a common purposeand a continuous progression.

Pattern In each degree there is an opening which insulates theparticipants from the hurly-burly of the outside worldand focuses attention on the matter at hand. Preparation of the candidate, both outside and inside

the lodge room, sets the stage for the obligation, the story,the symbols, the allegory or story within the story, andthe lecture or recapitulation to follow. The three craft de-grees follow a very similar pattern and structure. The Scottish Rite degrees place less emphasis on the

individual participation of the candidate — an exemplaris used, for example — but more emphasis on dramatiza-tion with longer speaking parts, costumes, extensive use

of props and very often the accompaniment of music. Butthe basic elements of the degree pattern are therethroughout all the degrees. This pattern or surface similarity is apparent to every

Mason, but there is much more to be found in these de-grees, in their purpose and in their progression.

PurposeThe common purpose of all Masonic degrees is to en-

gage us in a process. One of the characteristics — indeedone of the beauties — of Masonry is that there is no au-thoritative interpretation. This author will suggest one ofseveral possible interpretations of this progress.One of the significant characteristics which sets hu-

mans apart from all other beings is that we know ourtime on this earth is going to come to a close. No one thinks it’s going to happen very soon but,

knowing that it’s going to happen some day, enables aman to stand back and see a life cycle of birth, reproduc-tion and death. An anthropologist can elaborate on this a little bit and

say we’re born, we eat, we mate, we nourish our youngand so forth, but the story always has the same ending. With that realization, men take many different paths.

Each of us has seen it happen. Some men are attracted byfalse beacons and end up on the rocks. Some wander

Livingbbyy ddeeggrreeee

By WAYNE T. ADAMS, 33°

The following was adapted from a paper presented at the winterreunion of the Scottish Rite Valley of Toledo on Jan. 12, 2008.

down the dark alleys of life and become hope-lessly confused. Others spend their lives just run-ning around in circles accomplishing very little,but sooner or later many men say, “There must bemore to my life than this”. From that moment — whether a man realizes

it or not — he is on a spiritual journey. EveryMason is, at least symbolically, on such a journey.It is really more than a journey: he is on a quest todefine some purpose that distinguishes him, thatsets him apart from transitory beings that aresimply born, mate and die. This journey, thisquest, is the expression of a man coming to termswith his own fate.Masonry has no dogma. It doesn’t tell us what

is true or false. It doesn’t tell us what our purposeis, but it does very systematically and progres-sively offer each one of us a means which willpoint us the way to what has proven to be goodand true. In its progression of degrees, it presents a series

of experiences designed to help a man discern,discover and define what he wants his purpose tobe. That is the very crux of the matter. We are at any given point in our lives the per-

son we discover ourselves to be, but Masonry isnot about who we are: it is about what we want tobecome. Masonry is more than a social or athleticclub and more than a service club: it is a thinkingman’s organization. The ritual of all our degrees makes ample use

of the English language, but Masonry speaksmost profoundly in the language of symbol and,very often, the question is not, “What does thisword mean?”, but, “What can this symbol mean?” Instead of telling people what to do or what to

believe, Masonry invites men to see things differ-

ently, confident that if they do, their behavior canchange for the better. It calls on a man’s imagina-tion more than on his reason or his will. If a Mason is to accept this invitation, the place

to which he is invited has to seem comfortableand familiar to him. Most men are, to some degree, familiar with

the basic working tools of the builders’ trade.Consequently, Masonry begins with those con-crete particulars. It speaks of setting mauls, rules, squares, levels,

plumbs and trowels, of rough ashlars and perfectashlars. These items are very much a part of a man’s

world and, consequently, give Masonry an open-ing ring of reality. Then, having gotten a man that far, having got-

ten his attention with things he knows to be true,it carries him on a trajectory of belief. The phrase “trajectory of belief ” is important

for its deepest meaning is that Masonry locatesthe authority for its teachings not in doctrine ordogma but in men’s hearts. Its teachings are true, Masonry holds, not be-

cause they come from doctrine or dogma, but be-cause our own hearts know them to be true.We all start our Masonic career in craft Ma-

sonry. We know that in the Entered ApprenticeDegree we receive instruction in the four cardinalvirtues: temperance, fortitude, prudence and jus-tice; in the three theological virtues; faith, hopeand charity; and in the tenets of our profession asMasons: brotherly love, relief and truth. We know that as Fellowcraft Masons we are

instructed in the seven liberal arts and sciencesand are shown very practical applications of thatknowledge in our daily lives. As Master Masons the example of Hiram

teaches us that at the end of our days — when allelse is gone — the one thing that will still be im-portant to us is the knowledge that we have beenfaithful to our obligations. Understanding those obligations and trying to

live by them is as far in Masonry as many goodmen want to go. Scottish Rite Masons have opted to explore

further into the human experience. The vocation of the Scottish Rite is to take a

Mason to a new level, a level where he is giventhe tools to consider, study and use principles in afairly sophisticated way to the end that he canfind for himself the perfect ashlar within, the ash-lar he wants to be.


Livingby degree

The Scottish Rite builds on craft Masonry andoffers four additional groups of degrees, each de-signed to provide more light in Masonry. There are six essential or core Scottish Rite de-

grees. The 4° is really an introduction to ScottishRite Masonry and explains that the four groupsare the ineffable degrees of the Lodge of Perfec-tion, the two historical degrees of the Council ofPrinces of Jerusalem, the two philosophical de-grees of the Chapter of Rose Croix and the 14chivalric degrees of the Consistory.

ProgressionThe four groups of degrees make sense only

when one understands that they share a commonpurpose with the other degrees in their group,and that the degrees of craft Masonry and the de-grees of the four bodies of the Scottish Rite takentogether offer us a progressive instruction in theformation of personal values and in the making ofpersonal choices. The degrees in each body are not isolated in

purpose from each other, and the five bodies —blue lodge, Lodge of Perfection, Council ofPrinces of Jerusalem, Chapter of Rose Croix andConsistory — offer a progressive advancementworthy of study and contemplation, in answeringthe most fundamental questions a Mason everasked: “From whence come you? Whither are youtraveling? Of what are you in pursuit? And towhat do you allude?” In modern jargon we might say, “Where are

you coming from? Where are you going withyour life? What on earth are you trying to accom-plish? How are you measuring your success?” In answering these questions you will arrive at a

self-knowledge, a knowledge about yourself, thatwill enable you to square your life away. And right there we have the next step because

the symbols, legends, and allegories found in ourdegrees will help you arrive at answers which aremeaningful to you. As you start to put this all together in your own

mind, it is useful to remember the advice of JulianRees in his new book The Stairway of Masonry.He writes, “. . . the (Masonic) journey is con-cerned not with learning other people’s answers,but in working it out for yourself.” The fact that you decided to seek more light in

Scottish Rite Masonry may indicate a curiosity ora desire just to join another body you have heardabout, but I choose to think that most Masons

who approach the Scottish Rite do so becausethey have a desire — a thirst — to learn some-thing about themselves and the way they want tolive their lives.The degrees of craft Masonry offer instruction

in how a Mason should order his own life. In theLodge of Perfection — the ineffable degrees —he is caused to reflect on those divine and spiri-tual attributes which form a good man’s life. Ineffable means indescribable, and in these de-

grees it connotes that God is so great that his di-vine qualities cannot be adequately described inwords. However, with study and reflection of the situa-

tions presented in the Lodge of Perfection, aMason can come to a better understanding of thequalities of our God. For example, in the 14° we learn that one of the

names used for deity is Yahweh which in the He-brew language can mean “I speak” denoting thatone of the greatest qualities of God is that Hecan speak to each one of us individually. He speaks to us from a study of sacred writ-

ings, from the examples of others, and from theinner recesses of our own conscience.The two degrees of the Council are called his-

torical degrees because they present historical sit-uations. In these degrees we witness the interplay of

values and temptations which visit every goodman’s life. There are several characters in the degrees of

Masonry which have a profound effect on us. The first, of course, is Hiram Abif in the 3°.

Hiram offers us the example of a man who wasfaithful to his obligations even in the face ofphysical violence which led to his death. Masons all around the world witness that de-

gree with awe again and again. We wonder if wewould have the same stamina, resolve, determina-tion and sheer will to resist if we were put to sucha test. In the 15° we are introduced to Zerubabbel, an-

other powerful figure in Masonic ritual. Zerubba-bel was confronted with a hard choice. Some wonderful things could happen if he

could just once, in one little way, break faith withhis obligations. We have all been in such situations. Zerubbabel

had to resolve in his own mind if an unworthymeans could justify a worthy end. His fidelity to his obligations was a powerful

influence on Darius, the Babylonian king.



This degree suggests to each of us that fidelityto our obligations is not just the right thing to do,but that it can be a powerful influence on othersand can profoundly influence the way others seenot only us but the world.The two philosophical degrees of the Rose

Croix invite us to reflect that there are certainfundamental values common to every man inevery age and in every culture. Those fundamental values embedded in our

ritual parallel perfectly the founding philosophyof this nation. It is a philosophy which holds that all men are

created equal. It holds that every man is deservingof our help, fairness and plain dealing. It holds that inclusion, toleration and affirma-

tion among men are essential in building strongfamilies and strong communities. The philosophical degrees urge us to be toler-

ant, to overlook superficial differences amongmen, to look for the basic goodness found inevery man and, where possible, to help a manbuild his life on the common values developed inthese two philosophical degrees.The 14 Consistory degrees frequently suggest a

choice — not just a choice between right andwrong or between good and evil. These degrees present situations in which a

man is challenged by competing obligations andhas to make a moral choice. Constans in the 31°is the most powerful figure in the Scottish Ritedegrees. He is faced with several temptations which he

is able to handle easily. Then he is faced with thevery difficult situation of faithfulness to two com-peting obligations over which we will see him ag-onize. All of us have faced choices between right and

wrong as did Hiram. Every one of us has hadslightly more complex choices where we were

tempted to let the ends justify the means as wasZerubbabel. And now with Constans we understand that a

man often has to make moral choices betweentwo inconsistent obligations. The Consistory degrees of the Scottish Rite

give us insight and guidance in finding a balanceamong our many obligations.A full examination of how the characters in

these degrees progressively develop and explainthe fundamental principles of Masonry and ofhow each one handles the difficult choices in lifeis the glory of the Scottish Rite. It is the offer of the Scottish Rite to each

Mason who seeks further light. In the 32° we seeConstans again. Having learned all the lessons and successfully

passed all the tests, he is created a Sublime Princeof the Royal Secret. Scottish Rite Masons sym-bolically receive that degree. It does not mean that you are a prince. It does

not mean you have the royal secret. It does meanthat your own personal value system is a work inprogress, and it suggests a goal. First, master the virtues, tenets and lessons of

blue lodge Masonry. Second, discover the powerof the ineffable divine in the Lodge of Perfection.Third, learn the power of truth and fidelity fromthe historical examples in the Council of Princesof Jerusalem. Fourth, reflect on the lessons of universality

and toleration taught in the Rose Croix degrees,and finally, acquire life experience in the difficulttask of balancing the moral dilemmas as pre-sented in the Consistory degrees. A Mason who follows these steps will indeed

have progressed to a point where he will be re-garded by his fellows as a prince among men andpossess the secret to living a life which is goodand true. NL

I choose to think that most Masons who approachthe Scottish Rite do so because they have a desire —

a thirst — to learn something about themselvesand the way they want to live their lives.

OHIOThe Grand Lodge of Ohiocelebrates its 200th anniversary in 2008, commemoratinggenerations of Freemasons who were raised in the state.Today, there are more than 520 Masonic lodges in Ohiowith a combined membership of 114,000 men.The National Heritage Museum at Supreme Council

headquarters in Lexington,MA, has over 600 items in itscollection that can be documented as made in Ohio.Theseitems range from photographs of Ohio Masons and otherfraternal Brothers, to a unique folk art chair and to regaliacatalogs and decorative prints from many of the regaliahouses that were headquartered in the Buckeye State.Freemasonry came to Ohio in 1790 when a Revolution-

ary military lodge chartered in 1776, American UnionLodge,met in Marietta.Four years earlier, Freemason and General Rufus Put-

nam (1738-1824) met with several other Continental offi-cers at Boston’s Bunch of Grapes tavern and took actionthat would eventually form the Ohio Company which pur-chased 1.5 million acres of land.The men arrived in 1788,establishing their first settlement at Marietta.Within ayear, the capital was moved to Cincinnati.On March 1, 1803,Ohio became the 17th state. By that

time, there were two Masonic lodges in the state.Two yearslater, in 1805,Ohio was home to six lodges, chartered byseveral different Grand Lodges: Connecticut, Kentucky,Pennsylvania and Massachusetts.This pattern is not surprising in light of the diverse

backgrounds of Ohio’s settlers who came from several east-ern states, as well as England, Scotland and Germany. In1807,Ohio Freemasons began to talk about establishingtheir own Grand Lodge.On Jan. 4, 1808, representatives from all of the Ohio

lodges met in Chillicothe.The Grand Lodge of Free andAccepted Masons of Ohio was organized with the abilityto grant charters and dispensations and “shall in all respectsbe clothed with full powers, as a Grand Lodge, according

to ancient and due form, agreeably to the rules and landmarks of Masonry.”In recognition of his importance to the state and to

Freemasonry, Rufus Putnam was elected as the first GrandMaster. Putnam was born in 1738 in Sutton,MA.Appren-ticed as a millwright, he fought for the British in theFrench and IndianWar but enlisted in the ContinentalArmy during the American Revolution.By the end of the War, Putnam was a brigadier-general.

After he moved to Ohio in 1796, he was appointed as Sur-veyor-General of the United States. Putnam declined addi-tional terms as Grand Master due to his health.He died inMarietta in 1824.

Expressing Masonic Identity

One of the moreunusual items inthe museum’scollection has afascinating his-tory associatedwith Ohio.The hand-

crafted Master’schair shows arural style and ispainted withMasonic sym-bols, some em-ploying metallicpowders whichwould haveglowed underthe lodge roomlights.


By AIMEE E. NEWELL

Master's Chair byJohn Luker, VintonCounty, OH, 1871.

Photo:David Bohl

MANUFACTURED INMasonic Antiques from the Buckeye State


The chair was made in 1870 by John Luker (b.1838).The maker’s name is painted on the chairalong with another inscription reading, “JHMHous-ton’s.” Historical records tell us that Houston wasMaster of Swan Lodge No. 358 in New MountPleasant, Vinton County,OH, from 1867-73.The lodge was new, having been chartered in

1866. In 1871, a new lodge building was dedicated, sothe chair may have been made for the new space.Thechair is accompanied by a pair of matching columnsand two candlestands (presumably a third completedthe set originally but is now lost).Records about maker John Luker’s life are sparse.

His Masonic membership is unclear, although aJoseph Luker was initiated into Swan Lodge in 1870.That same year, John Luker is listed on the U.S.

Census as living in Washington Township, part ofOhio’s Hocking County, the neighboring county tothe north of Vinton County where the chair wasused.At the time, Joseph Luker, 21 years old and pre-

sumably John’s younger brother, was living in thesame house. Joseph’s job is listed as “metallic roofingbusiness,” perhaps suggesting a supplier for themetallic powders that John used when painting thechair.The chair, columns and candlestands were found

in a ruined Masonic hall in Vinton County in 1966.Three years later, the man who found the items soldthem to Catherine Hagler, a niece of Henry Ford,who gave the set to her husband, Charles V.Hagler,as a Christmas gift.When Charles Hagler, a Scottish Rite Mason in

Michigan’s Valley of Detroit, died in 1985, the chair,columns and candlesticks, which had been on loan tothe National Heritage Museum, were bequeathed tothe museum’s permanent collection.The chair is decorated with Masonic symbols and

also mixes elements of several furniture styles.Themost prominent symbol appears at top center — asquare and compasses with “G” in the center.When the chair was originally painted, the “G”

must have stood out — it was painted bright blue andhas blue glass mixed in, giving it a textured look thatmay have glinted in the light.The sides of the chair’sback form columns with globes on top. Additionalsymbols are painted on the back, the arms and thefront of the seat.These include five-point stars, candelabra, sabers,

an apron with an all-seeing eye on the flap, and a ca-bletow.In addition, there are symbols for officers — a

square, level and plumb; a slipper representing the

Entered Ap-prentice degree;and symbols forthe Royal ArchMark Master— chisels,crossed malletsand an archwaywith a keystone.The symbols

are painted ontothe chair, butgive an appear-ance that couldbe compared topopular inlaymotifs on high-style furniturefrom the mid-and late-1800s.Inlay was oftenmade of ma-hogany or ivory— materialsthat were ex-pensive andhard to find, sosmall areas wereall that could befilled with them.The inlay is usually darker or lighter than the base

wood to set off these elements and motifs. In the caseof the painted motifs on this chair, many of them arelighter than the darker blue paint.The legs are X-shaped supports known as “Grecian” or “curule” bases.Initially made popular in the 1810s and 1820s by

high-style craftsmen such as Duncan Phyfe (1795-1856), this element enjoyed a resurgence as part ofthe Renaissance Revival taking place in the 1860s and1870s when this chair was made.The “curule” style was originally taken from a

Roman magistrate’s folding chair.The carved paw-shaped feet seem to be inspired by the elegant balland claw feet that were so common on Chippendale-style furniture from the 1760s.By combining these features, the chair is under-

stood today as an example of folk art and rural style.In addition to furniture used in Masonic lodges,

Ohioans made and used furniture decorated withMasonic symbols in their homes.An elegant tall case clock,made between 1816-25,

was probably a prized showpiece in a Buckeye StateMason’s home.

Tall Case Clock byLuman Watson,

Cincinnati, OH, 1816-25.

Photo: John M. Miller

The clock’sface is paintedwith anarrangement ofMasonic sym-bols including acentral archway,checkered floor-ing, and motifssuch as a bee-hive, ladder,square andcompasses andthree candle-stands. It is alsomarked withthe name of itsmaker, Cincin-nati’s LumanWatson (1790-1834).

Like many of Ohio’s early settlers,Watson wasborn in New England, in Harwinton, CT, and movedwest in the early 1800s as land in Ohio opened up.Watson’s boyhood in Connecticut offered him the

opportunity to learn about clockmaking. Connecticutclockmakers ingeniously learned to work with whatwas available, substituting wooden works for brasswhich was hard to find during the late 1700s andearly 1800s.In turn,Watson employed this same type of clock

construction after he movedWest.Watson moved toOhio as a teenager, setting up a partnership with EzraRead in 1809, when he was just 19.The firm was pro-lific, making more than 30,000 tall case clocks be-tween 1815-34, whenWatson died.

Freemasonry as anOhio Industry

Over 100 items in the National Heritage Museumcollection are marked with a label from M.C. Lilleyand Company, which was headquartered in Colum-bus from 1865 to 1951.Just 20 years after starting his business,Mitchell

C. Lilley (1819-97) employed 420 people and by1924, the company was the largest regalia and swordmaker in the United States. Ohio’s domination of theregalia business was also helped by several companiesin Cincinnati: the Cincinnati Regalia Company; Pet-

tibone Brothers Manufacturing Company and Stro-bridge and Company.In addition, the C.E.Ward Company in New

London,OH,was active from 1905 until 1967; in1951 it absorbed M.C. Lilley and Co.These compa-nies offered a vast array of Masonic and fraternalgear, as well as decorative items and prints — and ex-amples from each of these companies are now in-cluded in the National Heritage Museum collection.M.C. Lilley, along with companies in other re-

gions of the country, made swords for several frater-nal groups.In the late 1890s, the company conducted at least

one design competition for a new sword.Over 200entries competed for three prizes.The winning entrywas published in Lilley’s catalog and offered for sale.The National Heritage Museum is fortunate to

have one of these so-called “Prize Swords” in its col-lection. Decorated with Knights Templar symbols,the sword has a gilt brass hilt and scabbard, a steelblade and an ivory grip.The sword’s blade is marked with the name of its

original owner, “George E. Parsons,” and also showsthe maker’s name and logo, “The M.C. Lilley & Co.”The regalia companies published frequent catalogs

of their wares, which were sent to lodges all over thecountry.


Knights TemplarSword, known as"The Prize Sword,"M.C. Lilley & Com-pany, Columbus,OH, 1896-1910.

Photo:David Bohl

King Costume,original artworkfor fraternalcatalog, TheCincinnati RegaliaCompany,Cincinnati, OH,ca. 1900.

Photo:David Bohl


Today, these catalogs offer an invaluable resourceto study the objects in the museum’s collection, aswell as to help guide our collecting, alerting museumstaff to the types of items that were manufactured butmight not yet be part of our collection.The Van Gorden-Williams Library & Archives

holds more than 130 Masonic regalia catalogs fromalmost 30 different companies.The catalogs range indate from the 1860s to the present.There is a similar selection of non-Masonic frater-

nal catalogs as well. In addition to the printed cata-logs, the museum holds over 200 drawings of originalartwork from at least two companies which were usedto produce the printed catalogs.One watercolor drawing shows an elegant king’s

costume in purple and yellow complete with crown.The drawing is marked on the bottom with themaker’s name, “The Cincinnati Regalia Company.”

Remember the Ladies!

Just as in other areas of the country, many Ohio wivesand daughters supported the membership of theirhusbands and fathers in the local lodges.Many par-ticipated in Masonic auxiliary groups, such as Orderof the Eastern Star and Rainbow Girls.The first Eastern Star chapter in Ohio was char-

tered in March 1869, but did not survive, perhaps dueto the fact that the Grand Lodge of Ohio had out-lawed Eastern Star degrees in the state’s lodge roomsin 1868.

Almost 15 years later, Eastern Star took a morepermanent hold. In 1883, Lorraine Chapter No. 1,was organized in Columbus, and other chapters soonfollowed. In 1889, an OES Grand Chapter for Ohiowas established.Around the same time that Eastern Star was tak-

ing hold in the state in the 1880s, a striking quilt,now in the National Heritage Museum collection,was being made.The quilt’s blocks show solid-color red, green and

yellow Masonic symbols appliquéd (or applied) to awhite ground fabric.The central motif in each blockis a square and compasses with a “G” in the center.Each block also shows five-point stars, possibly in-

dicating an Eastern Star connection, crescent moonsand triangle shapes that may be simple delta symbols,or may have been intended to symbolize the Masoniclevel.The center block shows two three-step ladders.

The bed covering is heavily quilted with parallel linesand feather patterns.The Masonic symbols continuein the borders with trowels at the corners, and alter-nating mauls, plumbs and levels along the edges.A second quilt, now in a private collection is very

similar to this one, but shows a different border anddoes not have the ladder motifs in its central block.Unfortunately, we do not know who made either

quilt, although they are thought to have been made inOhio during the late 1800s or early 1900s. Bothquilts show a relationship to more traditional floralappliqué quilts that were made in Ohio between 1850and 1900.Red and green were popular colors beginning in

the 1840s.Quilt scholar Barbara Brackman suggeststhat this color scheme may have been inspired by na-ture due to the attractive contrast between red flowersand their green leaves.As part of its bicentennial celebration, the Grand

Lodge of Ohio is planning a special exhibit inColumbus,OH, over the weekend of October 17-19.The National Heritage Museum is pleased to lend

five objects from its collection to this mini-exhibi-tion, including the Master’s chair and the quilt dis-cussed here.The museum continues to collect objects and doc-

uments that tell the story of Freemasonry in everystate.

If you would like to discuss a donation to ourcollection, please contact Aimee Newell, Curator ofCollection, by email at [email protected] or byphone at 781-457-4144.

NL

Masonic AppliqueQuilt, probably Ohio, 1880-1920.

Photo: David Bohl


How do you make an 18th centuryFreemason’s home

compatible and usable today? How do you take a nationallandmark and upgrade it for a modern world without de-stroying it? One thing you do is call on a 21st centuryMason.That is exactly what happened when the PaulRevere House in downtown Boston needed upgradingfor use by school groups and made handicap-accessiblewhich all needed to be done without disturbing the past.Enter Dr. Allen Gontz, a coastal geologist and geo-

physicist, assistant professor at the University of Massa-chusetts, and a member of Brownstone Lodge No. 666, inHershey, PA.Bro. Paul Revere, who was Grand Master of the

Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, participated at the verybeginnings of our nation and is a hero of song and poetry.He lived in a house that exists today and is visited bythousands each year.The Paul Revere Memorial Association, which curates

the American patriot’s home in the city’s North End, re-cently purchased a building adjacent to the property. Ac-cording to executive director, Nina Zannieri, LathropPlace, as the newly acquired property is called, is not initself historic. Built in 1835 as a two-family row house, itwas used as a boarding house for years. Its value comesfrom its proximity to the Revere House. She says “Thereis a huge demand for school programs, visitor orientation,and office space.”Much of that has taken place in anotherbuilding under the association’s care.ThePierce/Hitchborn House, built in 1711 has served wellbut the high traffic — and strong interest in Paul Revere— has been tough on the old structure. A new solutionwas needed and so a third building was purchased.Theorganization hopes to connect Lathrop Place with thePaul Revere House in a way that does not destroy orobscure the past.

Before any construction can take place, the associationis required by city, state, and federal regulations to assurethat no area with archaeological potential is disturbed.Zannieri says also that “as good historians, we want thestudy done.” She says a nice byproduct of the project isthat “we get a good sense of the property and are alertedto underground features that might be problematic.”How can such an underground study be accomplished

without destroying the property? That is where AllenGontz and his co-workers come in.Using high-resolution ground penetrating radar

equipment Bro.Gontz and his team are able to performtheir archaeological work without any digging.Theirnon-invasive equipment sends radar signals into theground. Readings are interpreted by noting the changesin the radar waves caused by changes in the sediment en-countered. The findings are a result of the relationship ofnatural earth to disturbed earth.They pose the question,

One If by Land . . .By ALAN E. FOULDS, 32°

“How does it relate to its surroundings?”Gontzsays “Imagine the earth as a seven-layer chocolatetorte.Then imagine someone eating a sectionfrom the middle, and filling it back in with an-other type of cake. Every time a new type of layeris hit the system recognizes the change. If there isa disturbance in the layers — a different type ofpastry, in this example — the radar would pick upon that.”He also adds, “There is some art in-volved. There are no perfect answers.”The radarmay show changes, but without the interpretationof historians and experts of the time period theremight not be a way to tell what has been found.For example, finding a rounded hole lined withrock — probably cobblestones — indicates theexistence of a former well.The team would makethat educated guess because of an awareness ofwell construction in the era.On the other hand, ahole with an irregular shape more likely repre-sents a privy.He likened their work “to some-thing you would see on one of the CSI programs— with less gruesome findings, of course.”Working on the project are a host of experts

ranging from staff members at the Paul RevereHouse, to Boston’s city archaeologist, Ellen Berk-land, to surveyor,Michael Feldman. Also in-volved is StephenWilkes, project manager forHarry Feldman, Inc., the firm that donated use ofthe radar equipment.He says a great part of their work is that it can

be accomplished without causing damage. “It isno more intrusive that running a lawn mowerover the property.”Nina Zannieri agrees. Shesays, “other than a couple of nails tapped in for

use as reference points, there is no sign that theywere there.”Dr. Allen Gontz has an extensive background

in this field and also possesses an enthusiasm forthis and other similar projects that combine sci-ence, history, and even a little detective work.Hehas undergraduate degrees in applied geology, en-vironmental geology; a master’s degree in geolog-ical sciences, and a PhD. in earth science.Heheads up the geoSTRAT lab at the University ofMassachusetts.The multi-disciplinary group,originally comprising earth and environmentalsciences and anthropology, was established towork on such projects as the one at the RevereHouse. At the university he teaches such coursesas coastal processes, landscape change, glacier ge-ology, and recently added “Evolution of theBoston Harbor Islands” to the curriculum.Gontz was able to integrate his class work

with the project.He brought his students to thesite to study the process of digging into the pastwithout digging into the ground and affordedthem the opportunity to examine some of thefindings.One facet of his course is the study ofcoastline changes, so the house presents anotherteaching opportunity.The city of Boston wasonce much smaller than today as bays, inlets andchannels have been filled to create more space.The Revere House is not near the ocean today,but at one time it sat just a couple of blocks fromthe shore line.The Revere House project got underway

through a confluence of fortunate events. AllenGontz says that he became involved through “afriend of a friend of a friend.”His wife, LarissaFawkner, was director of marketing and commu-nity events with the Island Alliance, a non-profitgroup that supports the Boston Harbor IslandsNational Park. She was helping with an eventheaded up by the city archaeologist, Ellen Berk-land, who was, in turn, helping the Paul RevereMemorial Association with the planning for itsunderground survey, and the connection wasmade.Meanwhile the surveying firm,Harry R. Feld-

man, Inc., was doing work for a new downtownhotel and a high-rise office building. Its presi-dent, Michael A. Feldman, felt it was importantto give something back to the city and looked forhistoric sites where he could offer his services freeof charge.When he contacted Nina Zannieri atthe Paul Revere House, the timing was perfect.


Dr. AllenGontz andPaul RevereHouseexecutivedirector NinaZanneridiscuss thegroundpenetratingradar whilegraduatestudentChristopherMaiooperates theequipment.

Laser linescan image,courtesySteve Wilkesof Harry R.Feldman, Inc.Ground-penetrating radar,Dr. Allen Gontzof UMass-Boston.

She told him of the boundary survey that wasplanned, so he offered his equipment and expert-ise.The survey team still has some site work to

complete but, for the most part, the remainingtasks involve piecing everything together.The in-formation needs to be reviewed and interpreted.The final result will be a complete historicalrecord of what has existed on the propertythough all of its incarnations.Zannieri concludes, “The relationship with

Dr.Gontz is great.He is absolutely enthusiasticabout his work.He is careful of the site as itstands today and respectful of its past.His fellowteam members spoke to the Paul Revere Housestaff of the potential teaching opportunities thisaffords. In short, he gets the importance of theproperty.” She also says their presence, with theirhigh-tech equipment and their excitement, is areminder that this is “a special place with a specialhistory.”

. . . Two Ifby Sea

Another project in the works involvesa Freemason looking to find a Freema-son — or “The Freemason” to be pre-cise. The Freemason was a Revolution-ary War era privateer which sailed fromMarblehead,MA.On Sept. 30, 1779, while moored in

the harbor, the crew decided to fire theevening gun. Apparently, a spark ignitedthe barrel of gunpowder, the ship ex-ploded, and sank to the harbor floor.Bro.Gontz, together with Victor Mas-tone, archaeologist for the state, andRaymond H. Bates Jr., author of Ship-wrecks North of Boston, set out to findthe wreck.Initially they hoped to secure a grant

to help defray the costs of the quest, butwhen it did not come through, they

made other plans.Mastone explained, “Ray saidhe had a boat and offered to take us out to huntfor the brig.”Bates first learned of The Freema-son when he found references to its demise in alocal diary.Victor Mastone continued to research the ship

via libraries and the Internet. Allen Gontz loadedthe tools of his trade on board and they sailedinto Marblehead Harbor. Seismic reflection pro-filing equipment uses sound to create an image ofthe structure of the sediment and objects con-tained in the sediment. Side scan sonar is used toproduce images on the sea floor.He explains,“They are much like air photos.”Finally, his ma-rine magnetometer senses objects that containiron alloys.Mastone said that they have not yet found the

wreck, but they have not given up.He said, “Weneed to look at Allen’s data and do more researchto narrow down the possible sites.”He said he isalso very interested in why it was called TheFreemason.


Start with the first word. Add to it the letters of the second word.Then add or subtract the letters of the following words. Total theremaining letters and unscramble them to find a word associatedwith Masonry.

M A S O N I CWORD MATH

(HUMANITY) + (TREMENDOUS) –(TRUST) + (STREAMS) – (MANDATORY) +

(COFFEE) + (WINTER) – (CHIEF) +(STRAIN) – (SUNRISE) + (GROUNDHOG)– (MOTE) – (ANGER) + (PERCEIVE)– (THROWING) + (STORM) – (VOID) +(LAND) – (PRETEND) – (MUSCLE)

Clue for this puzzle appears on page 14. Answer from previous issue: LIGHT

=

NL

He [Gontz] likened their work “to something youwould see on one of the CSI programs — with lessgruesome findings, of course.”


32° Masonic Learning Centersfor Children, Inc.

It is not often that you are visited by one of thepioneers in your field. Say, for instance, you area pilot and Amelia Earhart flies in for a chat,

or a telephone company executive and you get acall from Alexander Graham Bell.

In a way, thatis what hap-pened at the an-nual conferenceof learning cen-ter directors inApril whenAnna Gilling-ham showed up.ActuallyGillingham, wholived from 1878to 1963, was

represented by Tamara Cole, our Evansville, IN,center director, playing the role of the famousdyslexia research pioneer.The real Anna Gillingham was an educator and

psychologist. Working with Dr. Samuel Orton, shehelped develop the Orton-Gillingham approach toreading instruction. The Orton-Gillingham approach is language-based, multisensory, structured, sequential, cumulative cognitive,

and flexible. It is alphabetic- phonetic as it teaches the sounds that letters make. This approach is the basis for in-struction at the 32˚ Masonic Learning Centers for Children, Inc. The idea for the presentation was hatched when Dr. David C. Winters, 32˚, executive director of clinical affairs

for the learning center program, was on a site visit at Evansville earlier in the year. They discussed the possibilityand mechanics of creating a “visit” from Gillingham for the conference. He gave a monograph by Gillingham toTamara Cole. It contained papers, articles, and history. Cole, who has given storytelliing performances before liveaudiences, liked the plan and studied Gillingham’s writings in order to present a story in the first person.The 17-minute performance was kept secret from the attendees and was an after-lunch surprise. It was a

highlight of the conference.

A Visit from an Icon THE RITE’S RAP

The Scottish Rite’s done right by meThose Masons know their literacy

The tutors blend and interactWith Lynda and co-pilot Mac

To help out kids who learn like meWith lessons that make sense to thee

With Suzanne steady by my sideEach month I made a bigger stride

New sounds, new words, I understoodThis reading gig is pretty good!

Two days a week I came and readTopped with a slice of homemade bread

And now it’s time to graduateGet on their list, it’s worth the wait!

— presented by Cole Bickford, May 2008,at his learning center graduation ceremony


It stood for over eighty years on a hillsideoverlooking the capital city of Providence,RI. It was a hulking and forlorn reminder

that some dreams don’t come true; not right away atleast.

e beautiful white marble Statehouse was itsneighbor, and the statue of the Independent Mansitting high atop the gleaming capitol dome lookeddown in sadness knowing what could have been.

In the giddy 1920s, the Freemasons of RhodeIsland developed plans for a grand Masonic com-plex, complete with lodge rooms, office areas, func-tion facilities, and a large auditorium, built by theScottish Rite Freemasons. It was to be the crownjewel of Rhode Island Freemasonry.

An artist’s rendering showed a graceful structurerivaling in size and beauty the temples of ages past.Viewed from the vantage point of College Hill, itwas to look as if a wonder of the ancient world hadbeen transported to Providence.

A dozen massive ionic columns were to grace thestructure’s long sides, while the front and rear eleva-tion were to have four columns each.

e temple complex had a 2.5 million dollar pricetag which was a sizeable sum for the time. Moneywas raised throughout the state. Rhode IslandFreemasons were asked to make outright cash con-tributions as well as to purchase Masonic TempleTrust Bonds of various denominations in support ofthe project.

e ground breaking took place on Nov. 11, 1926,and the project was underway.

e day was Sunday, April 24, 1927, and Most

Worshipful Grand Master William Luther Sweetpresided over the laying of the cornerstone of thebuilding; its steel skeleton already beginning to takeshape.

e cornerstone displayed the square and com-passes and was inscribed with the year 1927. A Ma-sonic parade, such as the state of Rhode had neverseen, was planned.

Sunday was a day for worship, and arrangementswere made for the attendees to participate in servicesat various downtown churches directly following thecornerstone laying ceremonies.

e parade featured six divisions, representingevery part of the Masonic family. Marching bands ofevery type and description were included, and they,along with various military units, would marchproudly past the statehouse to the cornerstone site.

Contingents from 40 blue lodges and five com-manderys would take their place in the line ofmarch.

Marchers carried columns displaying the variousorders ofarchitec-ture andalsobroughtwine, corn,and oilwhich wereused in thecorner-stone cere-mony.

New Lifefor a

MASONICLANDMARK

in ProvidenceBy ROBERT F. OGG JR., 33°

The Masonictheme usedthroughoutthe building ishighlighted bya function hallcalled the33rd DegreeRoom.


Even letter carri-ers had a unit inthe parade.

Marching inthe place of honorwas the GrandMaster, attendedby the GrandLodge officers,which includedthe seven DistrictDeputy GrandMasters.

As part of theceremony a metalbox containingMasonic docu-ments of all kindsand descriptions

was deposited. Rhode Island’s greatest Masonic ora-tors poured forth words to move even the most stoichearts.

Pictures taken on that day show a flood of peopleon Francis Street along the side the of the State-house. Many more spilled out onto the Statehousesteps and walkways.

Oddly enough it appears that few, if any, stood onthe Statehouse lawn. Perhaps “keep off the grass” wasthe rule of the day. It was a magnificent time forFreemasonry

Sadly, the building which was begun with suchfanfare, pride and enthusiasm was not to be com-pleted. e simple truth is that the fundraising effortfell short.

Perhaps the difficulty of raising such a large sumof money in a small state was underestimated. Per-haps in their enthusiasm, some Brothers may havepledged more than they were actually able to give.

Some say that a Brother’s betrayal may have con-tributed to the halting of the project. Whatever thereason, the workers laid down their tools and workceased about a year and a half after the laying of thecornerstone.

Whatever hope there may have been of resumingthe work was crushed by the Great Crash of 1929,those four infamous stock trading days that broughtthe American stock market and economy to itsknees.

e partially completed building stood deserted.ieves took what they could. It is said that even thecopper from the roof was stripped and taken away.

Year after year the abandoned structure deteriorated.In 1944, the voters of the state of Rhode Island

authorized the building’s purchase for a sum of$754,000 to be used for state offices.

e theater section of the complex, the nearest tocompletion, was reborn as Veterans Memorial Audi-torium.

e rest of the complex became a haven for allsorts of denizens of the evening. Graffiti artistsadorned every possible surface with their dubious ef-forts at decorative art.

e most famous — or infamous — of these wasJuner, who dubbed the building the “Temple ofJunerism.” e inscription was clearly visible fromRoute 95 and no doubt many a traveler wonderedjust what Junerism was.

It must have been an eerie place to visit at night,the time when taggers do their work. Was that noisethe ghost of some since departed Freemason, or per-haps a ghostly Constans keeping a sad vigil? Whocould be sure?

Various plans surfaced to do something with thenow unsightly shell, but none succeeded until theSage Hospitality Group put forth a plan to use fed-eral and state historic tax credits to make the build-ing into a luxury hotel, keeping three sides of theoriginal structure intact.

What has emerged is a breathtaking structure nowknown as the Renaissance Hotel. e Sage Groupdecided to honor the structure’s original purpose anddisplay Masonic themes throughout the hotel. ereis even a function hall known as the 33° Room inwhich Masonic regalia is prominently displayed.

When in Providence visit the Renaissance, andperhaps try out the Temple Room, where the foodand beverages are superb. NL

Masonic TempleTrust Bonds of various donationswere sold to supportthe project.

Artist’s rendering of the completed structure.


N O T E S F R O M T H E

On Saturday, May 24, theFort Scott, KS, Scottish RiteTemple conducted the “Race forthe Hidden Treasures of FortScott,”which coincided with therelease of the DVD version ofNational Treasure, Book of Secretson May 20. The local racewas organized by a group ofBrethren along with mem-bers of the Fort Scott Recre-ation Commission; FortScott Area Chamber ofCommerce Tourism De-partment; the Youth Activ-ities Team; the Fort ScottNational Historic Site; theSupreme Council, andWaltDisney Pictures.

Sixty-two people in eleventeams of three-to-six people tookpart. They ranged in age fromeleven to 70. After an orienta-tion, the teams were handedenvelopes with their firstinstructions of the day—and theracewas on.Everyonemade their

way to the high school stadium insearch of their next clue. Thiswould be the last time that alleleven teams were in the sameplace at the same time until theend of the race as each team’s cluesent them in different directions.

After the stadium therewere 13 stops with challenges ateach before the race was com-pleted six hours later at theScottish Rite Temple. Eachteam finished in the upstairsauditorium and was greeted byKing Solomon in his treasure

room. One racer noticed, “If abuilding had a Square andCompasses cornerstone, it wasa clue.”

Following the completionof the race the teams and staffwere treated to supper at the

Scottish Rite Temple andNational Treasure, Book ofSecrets was shown.Most ofthe teams had never beeninside the temple nor seenthe auditorium and theywere most impressed.

During the supper,eight blue lodge petitionswere requested, and onehas been returned. Planshave been made with the

tourism department for this tobecome an annual communityevent, and nine of the partici-pating teams have signed up fornext year.

— Rayma SilversFort Scott Tribune, and

Don Wheeler, 32°, KCCH

Photo: William “Buck” Fischer, 32°, KCCH, Personnel Rep., Fort Scott, Kans.

King Solomon in his treasure room atthe Ft. Scott, Kansas, Scottish Rite Templetalks with Team Gray.

Race for the Hidden Treasures of Ft. Scott, Kansas

More than 800 Scottish RiteMasons attended the 2008 biennial Scot-tish Rite Leadership Conferences held in Birmingham, AL; Dallas, TX;Minneapolis, MN, and Seattle,WA.The theme was “On the Rite Track:Are We There Yet?” Attendees were presented with a follow-up of theSupreme Council’s Strategic Plan, originally introduced at the 2006 lead-ership conferences. The goal of the 2008 conferences was to discuss howthe plan is being implemented throughout the Southern Jurisdiction andwhere improvements and changes can be made.

Are We There Yet?: 2008 Leadership Conferences


A few days before I wrote this in June, I was drivinghome after spending a day in Peoria, IL, on

business when I spotted gasoline for just $3.85 a gallon.Wow! I was so elated that I found myself wishing I haddriven my big and somewhat thirsty pickup so I could havetaken greater advantage of this bargain-priced fuel.That temporary retreat from the

steady rise in fuel prices got me think-ing about the impact of driving costson our fraternity.I do not believe rising gasoline pump

prices will have much of an impact onblue lodge stated meeting attendance.In fact, the price of gas just might helpget members back into their locallodges as folks stay closer to home.On the other hand, $4-plus pump

prices may adversely affect attendanceat larger meetings that draw Brothersfrom greater distances, such as districtmeetings.High fuel prices were on the mind of

Wisconsin Grand Lodge District 2Deputy Frank Struble. Rather than re-quire members to attend the districtmeeting, Bro. Struble decided to cre-ate a virtual meeting online.Here’s what Bro. Milt Helmer wrote

about Bro. Struble’s idea: “The idea wasdeveloped as a new way to disseminateinformation, provide ideas and expandMasonic education . . .”Struble succeeded. The Wisconsin vir-

tual meeting site includes a lot of valuable information, in-cluding a downloadable PowerPoint presentation entitled“Curious About Masonry.” It is a nice piece for those whowant to know more about our craft.All in all, I am quite impressed by Bro. Struble’s virtual

meeting site and encourage each of you to take a look foryourself. The Web address is

www.wi-d2masons.org/2008_winter_meeting.html

If you wish to learn more about the Wisconsin District 2virtual meeting project, visit the site and submit your ques-tions along with your contact information.Of course, there will be a time when the virtual meeting

concept can be taken to the next level — live online meet-ings. I participate in such sessions for business severaltimes a month and believe live online sessions are a greattool for blue lodges and Scottish Rite, as well as other Ma-sonic bodies.There are a number of online meeting services. WebEx is

the one with which I am most familiar. I like it because it isaffordable, easy to use and compatible with both Windowsand Mac operating systems. Another popular service is of-fered by GoToMeeting. Though affordable, it is not compat-ible with Mac operating systems at this writing. I invite youto perform a Google search to find other services.

Email addressesOne of the truly great things about our fraternity is that it

is a melting pot. We count among our members men of allages. There are men of every income level and job descrip-tion. Among our members are those who practice Christi-

anity, Judaism, Islam, American Indianreligions, numerous other faiths andthose who have no religious affiliation.Politically, there are conservatives, lib-erals and those who fall somewhere inbetween.As Masons, our differences must

not matter. We meet on the level andact on the plumb. We celebrate the in-dividual, recognize the worth of eachperson, build on our shared values anddo not allow mere differences of opin-ion to divide us.Thus, I am troubled by certain

emails I receive from brothers who useobvious Masonic references in theiremail addresses.I am referring to messages that are

sent to dozens if not hundreds of re-cipients offering viewson a variety of highlycontroversial subjects,including politics, reli-gion and various so-cial issues, as well asthose who want me tobuy something ormake a donation.

Indeed, these men are most certainly entitled to theirviews, even though some I have seen are at odds with Ma-sonic principles. What concerns me is these views will beassociated with our craft because the sender has incorpo-rated a Masonic reference into his email address.What sort of message are these Brothers giving to non-

members or new members who still have so much to learnabout our fraternity?To those who send out such emails: I ask that you drop

the Masonic reference in your email address. And if you re-ceive such email, ask the sender to drop the Masonic refer-ence.We leave partisan politics at the door when we enter the

lodge. We do not argue religion. We do not use Masonicemblems to promote our businesses. When you make itclear you are a Mason through your email address, you runthe risk of violating these and similar common sense rules.Remember — you are the face of Masonry.OK, my nag is finished. Have a great summer.

As always, please send you questions and comments tome <[email protected]> or, if you prefer, youcan send a letter to me at PO Box 42, Virginia IL 62691.

By LEIGH E. MORRIS, 33°

virtual meetingsand email addresses


Iused to think of myself as somehow unique.Then I read a very funny editorial from a guyabout my age. He was interested in a car that

reflected his individualism. When he went to thedealer to test drive the car of his dreams, the sales-woman mentioned that the car was designed to beattractive, “particularly for people in your demo-graphic.” So much for individuality.

I mention this to say that I am probably not uniquein my concern for the future. These are times that areless predictable than many in recent memory. Thehousing market is in a persistent slide. My stocks areall over the place. Gas prices and food costs are risingdaily, it seems. The front page of the June 25 issue ofthe Wall Street Journal showed that consumer confi-dence is at a low ebb.

It is during a time like this that I truly seek some-thing to rely on — something certain among the manyuncertainties. Perhaps you feel as I do.

Well, this may be the perfect time for you to con-sider a charitable gift annuity (CGA), with the benefici-ary being your nearest 32° Masonic Learning Centerfor Children. Combined, they are two of the mostpredicable things I know.

First, consider the CGA. This is a tax-favored invest-ment that provides consistent income for life, often atvery attractive rates. For example, a 75-year-old friendof mine recently established a CGA. At his age, I wasable to set up an annuity which guaranteed him life in-come of 7.1 percent — far better than the dividendshis stocks were providing.

Speaking of stocks, he funded the annuity bytransferring shares. This way, he avoided capital gains.

And because this is a charitable gift annuity, he wasable to deduct 40 percent of the investment on histaxes.

Two-thirds of his income this year is tax-free as well.It is also comforting to know that because the fundsare in trust through Scottish Rite Charities, if illness orother expenses cause him to drain his estate in futureyears, he may still be able to depend on this annuity toprovide income.

This excellent opportunity is available only becauseit ultimately benefits a qualified charity — in this case,your local learning center. Which brings me to the sec-ond great certainty on my mind.

The 32° Masonic Learning Centers for Children,Inc., is the most reliably successful program I know.Over the 14 years of the program’s existence, morethan 6,000 children with dyslexia have been enrolledat one of the 59 centers across the Northern MasonicJurisdiction.

And, amazingly, more than 98 percent of the chil-dren in the program have been helped. I can’t think ofany more consistent program nor one that is more im-portant.

Nearly every child who enters one of our centers issuffering and at risk of losing future potential becauseof dyslexia. Yet once in the program it is close to a surething that the child will gain the ability to overcomethis disorder.

In these times that may test our confidence, thereis reason to be sure through the charities of the Scot-tish Rite. Charitable Gift Annuities and the 32° Ma-sonic Learning Center for Children are certainties youcan count on.

Promoting Knowledge and Learning

By STEVE PEKOCK, 32°

The Builders Council is comprised of donors whohave made commitments of $10,000 or more to thelong-term funds of our charities. Most of these giftsand pledges benefit the 32° Masonic Learning Centerfor Children, Inc. The program has grown faster aseach year goes by. We now mark the largest increasein membership since the program began more than adecade ago.

This year, more than 40 new members of theBuilders Council have enrolled. Membership spans thecountry. The greatest concentration of members, how-

ever, hail from the Pittsburgh area, boasting 45 mem-bers. The work of Ill. Ray Dietz, 33°, along with the en-thusiastic support of Active Member Ill. Tom Sturgeon,33°, and others, has contributed to the impressivegrowth of the Builders Council in and around the Val-ley of Pittsburgh.

Recently the Valleys of Pittsburgh and New Castlejointly held a Builders Council Dinner to thank their fel-low members and encourage additional participation.Several new members came forward which surpassedthe program’s 400-member milestone.

Builders Council Membership Tops 400

Certainty in a Time of Uncertainty


Born in Moldavia in 1820,Alexander Iona Cuzawas educated in Paris,France and Bologne, Italy,part of the time in a militaryschool. Returning homewith western ideas, he waselected prefect of Gelatzserving from 1850-57 thenjoined the army.He became Minister of

War in 1858 and becamethe ruler of the states ofMalachia and Moldavia thefollowing year. He freed thefarmers of serfdom duringhis reign. In 1859, these twostates combined into thenew nation called Romaniaand he was elected the gov-erning prince.He served in that role

until 1866 when conspira-tors broke into the palaceand compelled him to abdi-cate. He died in Heidelberg,Germany in 1873.Prince Cuza served as

Worshipful Master of theLodge “Star of the Danube”in Gelatz, Jassy,Walachia.He appears on severalstamps issued by Romaniain the 1860s, and the cente-nary of his death was notedphilatelically by Romania in1973.

��

George BrydgesRodney joined a Masoniclodge and club located onRue St. Nicaise in Paris inthe late 1770s — but underan assumed name.Jamaica has issued

stamps which depicts a stat-ue memorializing AdmiralRodney flanked by two can-nons taken from the warshiphe conquered, “Ville deParis.”

Born in 1719, GeorgeRodney entered the navy asa “Gentleman’s Volunteer”— actually a Naval CadetOfficer. He served as Gover-nor of Newfoundland from1748-52.As a Rear Admiral he at-

tacked Le Havre in 1759and destroyed a flotillapreparing for an invasion ofEngland.He captured Martinique,

St. Lucia and Grenada in1762. He was elected toParliament in 1768.After serving as Com-

mander-in-Chief in Jamaicafrom 1771-74, he returnedto England at half his paylevel, got into debt and went

to France in 1775 under anassumed name.When he returned again

in 1779, he went back to fullpay and commanded asquadron securing a series ofvictories. He was created aBaron in June 1782 and diedten years later.

��Karlheinz Bohm wasborn in Germany in 1928.His brief studies were inter-rupted by the call of the the-atre, making his debut at theNational Theatre in 1949.Between 1974 and 1975 heappeared prominently infour films.He returned to the the-

atre again in 1976. Deeplymoved by the plight of thepeople in the refugee campsof Ethiopia, Bro. Bohmfounded “Menschen furMenschen,” (People for Peo-ple) an aid organization inGermany, on Nov. 13, 1981.He has worked for it in

an honorary capacity sincethe start, spending severalmonths a year living in themost primitive conditions inEthiopia and using the restof the year for media eventsand lectures to draw publicattention to his foundation’sactivities.He is helped by his wife,

Almaz, an Ethiopian whomanages the aid operation.He was awarded the WorldSocial Award in 2002.

Bro. Bohm is a memberof the Lodge “Zur Kette”(The Chain) No. 430, in theOrient of Munich.He was initiated into the

craft on his 46th birthday,March 16, 1974, and wasraised on March 13, 1978.

Austria issued a stamp onMarch 30, 2006 which pic-tures him and his wife,Almaz, whom he married in1991; it marks the 25th an-niversary of the charity“Menschen fur Menschen.”

��

Dr.Ruy Barbosa deOliveira was initiated onJuly 1, 1869 in the Lodge“America” in Sao Paulo,Brazil and received his 33°.He is pictured on a stamp is-sued by Brazil in December1949 to commemorate thecentenary of his birth.Born in 1849 he graduat-

ed from the University ofSao Paulo with a degree inlaw but got involved in jour-nalism and politics.He soon became well

known as a symbol of thelaw, and after being electedFederal Deputy in 1881, hedistinguished himselfthrough electoral reformwhich he sponsored and hisre-organization of the edu-cational system.He was also a great

champion of freedom, op-posing slavery. As Brazil’srepresentative at the SecondPeace Conference held atThe Hague, he played amajor role in the establish-ment of a Permanent Courtof International Law there.He was elected a Judge in

1920, and his rulings incases involving habeas cor-pus became a basic part ofBrazilian jurisprudence. Hedied in 1923.

By ROBERT A. DOMINGUE


Committed to the Flames; The Historyand Rituals of a Secret Masonic Rite

by Arturo De Hoyos and S. Brent Morris. Published in 2008by Lewis Masonic an imprint of Ian Allen Publishing Ltd.

Hersham, Surrey KT12 4RG.

One can assume that any book written by collusion ofthese two authors is going to be an academic treatise and in-deed, this is exactly what this text is. It is also, however, anextremely interesting and revealing transcription of the Fol-ger manuscripts.Robert Benjamin Folger, 1803-92, a medical doctor, was

an extremely committed Freemason whose passions not onlydrove him to be one of the most prominent Freemasons ofhis day but also caused him to be expelled twice fromFreemasonry by the Grand Lodge of New York.To mostFreemasons today, he remains a forgotten man except to thestudents and researchers of Freemasonry, and yet, his contri-bution to the knowledge and academics of ritualism far ex-ceeds those of but a few.He lived in a period of turmoil inNorth American Freemasonry when there were numerousMasonic bodies competing for dominance and when theanti-Masonic movement was in full bloom. For good or forbad, Folger was in the middle of it.He might well have gonedown in history as one of the giants of Freemasonry. Instead,his involvement with those who became the losers of thepower struggles resulted in him and his contributions beingconsigned to the archives.He left behind three small books which were written in a

combination of a cipher and in English text.The first bookor manuscript, dated in 1827, contained a ritual of the firstthree degrees of the rectified Scottish Rite.This Rite, recon-

stituted in North America in 1934 survives here today as theKnights Beneficent of the Holy City (CBCS) with a limitedmembership of 81.The second manuscript contains a ritual with the title “Se-

crets of the Egyptian Priest Ceremonies” and perhaps refersto the pseudo-Egyptian “Ancient Mysteries”which Folgertranslated. It also contains a ritual of the Order of the RedCross Degree and the Knights Templar Degree.Manuscript number three likewise contains the ritual of

the three degrees along with an address to the Knights Tem-plar at the Resurrection scene and the Chamber of Reflec-tion.Amazingly, the first manuscript was written when Folger

had been a Master Mason for a period of only 17 months.The cipher used by Folger was not known to have been bro-ken until the 1950s. It was “unlike any other Masonic ci-pher” and the authors concludethat “Folger was a self-taughtamateur who stumbled on arather good cipher.”Folger had several close asso-

ciates including Henry ClintonAtwood who was also expelledby the Grand Lodge of NewYork and had his name re-stored to membership and tothe role of a past Grand Mas-ters only after nine monthsfollowing his death. A second was HansBurch Gram, also a medical doctor.Folger introduced Gram to Ferdinand Little Wilsey.

Gram translated the rituals into English and Folger enci-phered them and hence the beginning of the Folger manu-scripts. In Folger manuscript number one, dated July 12,1827, Folger directed that upon his death that if the book befound among his earthly remains that it be given to Gram. Ifhe was not in America at the time it should be given toWilsey “who will know what it contains and also how to pre-serve the substance in his mind while he commits the manu-script to the flames,” thus the title for this book.Each of the manuscripts presents preparation, ritualism

and the lectures of the first three degrees as well as additionaldegrees to be found in the Rectified Scottish Rite and whatwe know today as Knight Templar orders. It was interestingthat in some of the ritual, Folger included comparative pas-sages to cover variations of it.The authors state that, “it is instructive to see who is re-

membered by history, who is forgotten and who is vilified.They showWashington as being not only remembered butdeified, Joseph Cerneau as vilified and Folger as forgotten.Much of Folger’s commitment to Masonic irregularity wasto Cerneauism.The oath for the admission of a visitor to aMasonic Lodge in Pennsylvania still contains a requirementto vow no association with the Cerneau Rite.

Reviewed by Thomas W. Jackson, 33°


As stated on the dust cover, “this book gives full transcrip-tions of all of his rituals, and analysis of their place in Ma-sonry and biography of Folger and his major contempo-raries.” I found the book to be a scholarly work and the Rec-tified Scottish Rite, although including some similarity toPennsylvania ritual, to be far more extensive and containingfar greater and more instructive lectures. Indeed, I found my-self wishing that I could have experienced, personally, someof the degrees.The impact must have been monumental.Although Folger and his “co-conspirators” deserved the

condemnation that they received, if we examine them incontext of this period in history, they simply bet on thewrong horse.The Folger manuscripts deserve their place inhistory.The book is extremely interesting, intriguing reading, dif-

ficult to review and contains stimulating exposure to thebeauty of Masonic ritual. I recommend it for any Masonic li-brary.

The Knights Templar of the Middle East— The Hidden History of the Islamic

Origins of Freemasonry

by HRH Prince Michael of Albany andWalid Amine Salhab.Published in 2006 By a RedWheel/Weiser, LLC, 500 Third

Street, Suite 230, San Francisco, CA 94107..

I am not sure from where I received this book but it ismarked, “uncorrected proofs not for sale.”The title soundedvery intriguing and indeed the contents of the book are justas intriguing, although, from this book, it is a stretch to saythat Freemasonry had Islamic origins.The opening sentencein the introduction states, “This book is about much morethan the Templars. Like it or not, when one wishes to findout about them, the researchers will end up becoming en-thralled with Judaism,Christianity, Islam, and secret soci-eties, and will find themselves on a journey that will takeboth writers and readers towards Freemasonry.”Also the au-thors imply that the roots of Templarism and thus Freema-sonry are actually deeply linked not so much to Christianity,but rather to Islam and particularly to Muhammadism.Prince Michael is, “a Grand Master of the order of

Knights Templar of St. Anthony, the senior legal descendentof the Stuart kings of Great Britain and head of Scotland'slegitimate Royal House of Stewart, president of the Euro-pean Council of Princes and a member of the diplomaticcore of the government of the Knights of Malta.”His firstbook was,The Forgotten Monarchy of Scotland.Sir Walid Salhab, born in Lebanon, is a television broad-

cast instructor, graphic artist, and filmmaker currently lectur-ing at Queen Anne University in Edinburgh.He was edu-cated in both Islamic classicism and the Christian Maronitereligion. I get the feeling in reading this book that PrinceMichael is the principal author and is supported by Salhab.

There can be little doubt that this book will stir up con-siderable controversy both within Freemasonry and with re-ligious institutions.Their profound commitment to the in-volvement of the Knights Templar in the structure ofFreemasonry and the Templar support of Robert Brucealong with the symbolism to be found in Rosslyn Chapel initself will stir debate.Their belief in the marriage of Jesusand Mary Magdalene resulting in living descendents knownas Rex Deus as well as the belief that the origins of Judaismbeing in Makkah and western Arabia, will definitely irritatesome religious leaders. In addition, they indicate that theOrder of the Templars was fundamentally Islamic in bothessence and practice. Also implied is that the “Grail storiescan be traced back to the foundations of Islam, and Chris-tianized along the way.”A tremendous amount of time had to be committed in

preparation for this book.They trace a lineage from the pre-Christian era through the Egyptians, Islam and the Templarswith its influence in structuring Freemasonry. It is their con-tention that under the aegis of the Templar workforce theearly guilds would be formed and would become the Tem-plars unofficial Secret Service resulting in their excommuni-cation. It was from this move of excommunication “thatwould see Templarism evolve into a Masonic entity in Scot-land.”Several chapters are devoted to the commitment of Eng-

lish Freemasonry to the restoration of the Stewarts (CharlesEdward) to the throne of Scotland and the tie-in of theScots Guard to that purpose, as well as the guard’s strong re-lationship to Freemasonry.They also discuss the relationshipof Stuart princesses to the tradition of female-led Freema-sonry in France.According to them, one Alexan-

der Deuchar, a Scots engravermade the decision that ScottishFreemasonry should follow anEnglish ritual known as the YorkRite and was responsible for de-stroying the original rites ofFreemasonry. None of the origi-nal rituals were thought to haveexisted until the discovery ofMasonic files confiscated by theNazis from France, who had adopted these rituals, and con-sequently taken them to Russia. Research may rediscoverthem.This is definitely a scholarly work in which the required

research must have taken years to compile. It is possible thatit may be fiction or partly fiction but some of it might be ac-curate. It is not an easy book to read and is complex due tothe intricate tracing of family ties and the diversity of thesubjects covered to present a comprehensive review. It is abook that stimulates one to think, and I recommend it forreading for that reason.


Another reasonto get goingIt seems like every day you hear a newreason to exercise. Add this to your in-centives to do it: You'll have longertelomeres. Telomeres are caps at theends of chromosomes, which tend toshorten as people age.

Who needs them? Anybody whowants fewer wrinkles, stronger musclesand more resistance to disease.

Studies by the University of Medicineand Dentistry of New Jersey and else-where show that people who exercisethe most have longer telomeres.

Authorities at the National Instituteon Aging say the finding is “provoca-tive.”

Testing grumpy menDoctors at Harvard Medical School saytestosterone restores sexual function inmen, makes them stronger, builds theirbones, reduces fat and could get rid ofthe blues and grumpies.

Testosterone levels decline in menbeginning at age 40.

Though deficiency is often treated inolder men, endocrinologists at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center feel that men ofall ages should be tested for deficiency.

There is also some concern that defi-ciency could be involved in prostatecancer, according to the National Can-cer Institute.

Computer a pain inthe neck?According to Arthritis Care & Research,strength training exercises that focuson the neck and shoulder muscles canhelp relieve persistent neck pain.

Study subjects with chronic neck

pain were employed in various work-places where jobs included repetitivetasks such as working at a computer allday.

Strength training for 20 minutesthree times a week included using fivedumbbell exercises.

Study authors said the supervised dy-namic strength training of the painfulmuscles led to prolonged decreases inpain or elimination of neck pain.

A caution onflavored watersThey look good, taste good and are hy-drating. But some have almost as manycalories as a soft drink. And the sugarand fructose corn syrup sweeteners areabsorbed differently.

Purdue University reports that whentwo groups were fed the same numberof calories from jelly beans or drinks,the candy group compensated by eat-ing less, but the soda group gainedweight.

Don’t depend on flavored watersthat are fortified with vitamins, herbs,minerals and caffeine.

Some have no studies backing uptheir claims.

Others may take you over the recom-mended daily allowance when com-bined with food and a daily supple-ment.

If you must have water in a bottle,plain water is good enough on its own.

Protect your teethfrom acid in foodand drinksThe acid in food and beverages cancause tooth enamel to erode. Salivahelps to restore it, but it goes only sofar.

To minimize the damage, dental au-thorities at the Mayo Clinic recom-mend:

• Consume fewer acidic productsbetween meals, including citrus fruits,regular sodas, fruit juices, wine, tartcandies and anything containing vine-gar.

• Eat or drink these products with ameal. Food neutralizes acids and helpsto eliminate them from your mouth.

• Avoid consuming acidic foods anddrinks before going to bed. Saliva pro-duction decreases when you sleep.

• If you must have a soft drink dur-ing the day, drink it through a straw tominimize contact with your teeth.Never hold the liquid in your mouth.

• Neutralize acid with a bit ofcheese, water or fluoride mouthwash.

• Wait to brush your teeth. After anacidic item, wait 30 minutes to brush.Brush with a fluoride tooth paste 30minutes before or after consumingacidic items.

• Sugarless gum stimulates saliva.

“You may think smoking is cool now,but when you start huffing and puffingand you’re not even trying to blow a

pig’s house in . . .”


Ill. Robert N. Osborne, 33˚, Active Member for thestate of Michigan, died on Saturday, June 14.Bro.Osborne, the son of Earl and Elizabeth (Eldridge)

Osborne,was educated in theMichigan Public School sys-tem. He attended Henry Ford Community College andthe University of Michigan.He had a long career in computer operations with the

Ford Motor Company.On June 27, 1959, he married the former Isamay Eliz-

abeth Addis, who survives with their son,Mark. He waspredeceased by a daughter, Laurie.He was a member of the Cherry Hill Presbyterian

Church where he was a deacon and elder.Bro.Osborne was very active in civic and educational or-

ganizations. He was a member of the Citizens AdvisoryCommittee for Data Processing Education for the Dear-born,MI public schools and was on theWayneCounty In-termediate School Technical and Vocational EducationCommittee.Community efforts included the chairmanship of Ex-

plorer Post No. 1803, B.S.A., and Scout Troop No. 1111,and he was treasurer for Cub Scout Pack 111 of Dearborn.Robert Osborne was also a member of the Association for

Retarded Citizens of Dearborn and of the Howe SchoolParent Teacher Association.In 1959, he answered the call from Uncle Sam and re-

ceived basic training at Fort LeonardWood. He served thenation through the Berlin Wall crisis.His commitment to Freemasonry was long and dedi-

cated. He was raised aMasterMason inDearborn LodgeNo. 172 in 1957 and became its Worshipful Master tenyears later. He was also a member of Michigan Lodge ofResearch No. 1 and became Master there, as well.He was electedGrandMaster for the state ofMichigan

in 1980, serving with great distinction. Both the Michi-gan Lodge of Research and the Masonic Foundation ofMichigan were chartered under his leadership.He completed the degrees of the Scottish Rite in the

Valley of Detroit in 1962, becoming Thrice Potent Mas-ter in the Detroit Lodge of Perfection in 1974 and Com-mander-in-Chief of Detroit Consistory in 1984.On Sept.28,1977,he was created a SovereignGrand In-

spector general, 33˚, at Pittsburgh. In 1992,he was electedan Active Member and was Deputy for Michigan from1994 to 2002. Bro. Osborne was awarded the Medal ofHonor on June 10, 2008.

Ill. Robert N. Osborne, 33°In Memoriam

The Cable Tow ceremony following the Master Mason

degree was impressive and extremely moving.

South Bend Military Honor Class By BRUCE H. METZGER, 33°

Tyrian Lodge,No. 718 and South Bend Scottish Rite helda special military honor class last November for members ofthe 76th Combat Infantry Brigade who have shipped out andare now serving in Iraq. Among the 3,000 men and women atevery level of command, are Brother Masons.Past Masters and current officers came together with the

South Bend Scottish Rite to confer the degrees.The ScottishRite Club of Elkhart County provided breakfast and congress-man Joe Donnelly was the keynote speaker. Past Masters ofTyrian performed the Entered Apprentice and Fellowcraft de-grees after which Indiana Grand Master Duane Vaught andIll.Major General Umbarger, 33°, addressed the lodge.During a special ceremony following the Master Mason

degree,Worshipful Master Jim Radeline, 32°, presented acable-tow and tied a knot in the end, representing the lodge.Each member of the armed forces was then asked to tie hisown knot in the cable-tow.Additional knots were tied forBrothers who had already been deployed or could not be pres-ent. “This cable-tow represents the ties we have to each otheras Masons. Just as you are bound to the fraternity, so is the fra-ternity bound to you. All Brothers are joined to each otherthrough our craft.”TheWorshipful Master told them thecable-tow would be placed on a plaque as an ever-present re-minder to all Masons of our Brothers in harm’s way.Following the blue lodge degrees, many joined the Scottish

Rite and received the 4° and 14°. Sovereign Grand

Commander Ill. JohnWm.McNaughton, 33°, called thoseserving on active duty to approach the altar.He observed thatit was obvious by their service they had already learned the les-sons taught in the 32° and by acclamation made them SublimePrinces of the Royal Secret, 32°.The day was a profound and moving experience of true

friendship and brotherly love that those who attended andparticipated will never forget.Most importantly, our newBrothers will always carry in their hearts the memory of thatspecial day.

On the moral character of Masonryvolumes might be written without ex-hausting the subject.This aspect of ourinstitution is too often slighted, whileits work and jurisprudence monopolizeattention and research.

On the mind of every member who isat all fitted for the position which hehas gained, the principles and preceptsof the order exert an influence potentfor good.

Even the ancients who did not enjoythe blessed light that has beamed on us,revered charity above other virtues."They used to depict it," says Hutchin-son, "in the character of a goddess,seated in an ivory chair, with a goldentiara upon her head and set with pre-cious stones. Her vesture, like the lightof Heaven, represented universal benev-olence; her throne was unpolluted andunspotted by passions and prejudices;and the gems of her fillet representedthe inestimable blessings which flowedvariously from her bounty."

The ancients also represented thecharities — otherwise called the Graces— under three personages. One of thesewas pointed with her back toward usand her face forward, as proceedingfrom us; and the other two with theirfaces toward us, to denote that for onebenefit done, we should receive doublethanks.

They were painted naked, to intimatethat good offices should be done with-out dissembling and hypocrising; theywere represented young, to signify thatthe remembrance of benefits shouldnever wax old; and also laughing, to tellus that we should do good to otherswith cheerfulness; they were repre-sented linked together, arm in arm, toinstruct us that one kindness shouldprompt another, so that the knot andband of love should be indissoluble.

The poets tell us that they used towash themselves in the fountain Aci-dalius, because benefits, gifts and goodturns ought to be sincere and pure, andnot base and counterfeit.

This virtue is the chief characteristicof a good man and covers a multitudeof sins.The Bible inculcates it in the

strongest terms as essential to our well-being and happiness. Masonry teachesus to exercise it in all our dealings withour fellows, in all our relations in life; itteaches us to be charitable toward thedestitute and suffering, charitable in ourthoughts and opinions, in our judgmentof others, What peace, what joy, whatprosperity does the practice of thisvirtue confer?

It subdues strife; it checks bad pas-sions; it makes the indigent comfort-able; it drys the tears of the widow; iteducates the orphan; it sows everywhereseeds which spring up, blossom andbloom and bring forth the choicestblessings.

It is greater than faith, it is greaterthan hope; for our faith may be lost insight, hope ends in fruition, but charityextends beyond the grave through theboundless realms of eternity.TheBrother who fails to regard and exercisethis virtue, so far violates one of thestrongest injunctions of Masonry; be-neath the mantle which he refuses tothrow over the faults and foibles of oth-ers, he will, at no distant day, desire tohide his own short-comings and imper-fections.

— Allyn Weston, The Ashlar,Sept. 1856


Some day, when the cloud ofprejudice has been dispelled by thesearchlight of Truth, the world willhonor Masonry for its heroic serv-ice to freedom of thought and offaith. No part of its mainstay hasbeen more noble, no principles ofits teaching have been more pre-cious than its age-long and unwa-vering demand for the right andduty of every soul to seek that lightby which no man ever injured, andthat truth which makes him free.

— Joseph Fort Newton, CaliforniaFreemason, Spring 1968

FREEDOMO F T H O U G H T

THE GREAT MASONIC VIRTUE

Organized a year and a half ago by theSocial Service Department, the Order ofDeMolay for boys has grown from an or-ganization of nine into a national organi-zation presided over by a Grand Councilcomposed of Masons.

e boys have their own ritual, robes,etc. ey have an orchestra of 17 piecesand a choir. It aims to teach the boysonly the finest in American citizenshipand decency.

Surely a noble institution doing noblework. But why “DeMolay”? is namemeans nothing to American boys, nei-ther inspiration nor example is affordedby it.

Why not “e Order of NathanHale?” Just think what that would say toevery American lad. He was an Ameri-can lad. He was an American patriot.

Tradition has it that although only 20,he had been initiated into Freemasonry.Certain it is that he was worthy. “His lifethey might — and did — take, but hisintegrity never.”

He was a Connecticut boy, was edu-cated at Yale, was a school teacher inconstant helpful association with Ameri-can boys, a captain in the Army of theRevolution, a martyr, regretting that hehad but one life to lose for his country, aworshipper of God, his last request beingfor a Bible.Truly a noble example toAmerican boys. Why not “e Order ofNathan Hale?”

— John Lloyd omas,Valley of NY, Feb. 1921

Please Changethe Name

Please Changethe Name

It's not what you are that holds you back,it's what you think you're not.

— Denis Waitley

If you keep saying things are going to bebad, you have a good chance of becominga prophet.

— Isaac Bashevis Singer

Change by example. Just be the way youwant others to be and hope they pay at-tention.

— Larry Winger

The true measure of an individual is howhe treats people who can do him ab-solutely no good.

— Ann Landers

Humility, like darkness, reveals the heav-enly lights.

— Henry David Thoreau

I don't care how much power, brilliance orenergy you have, if you don't harness itand focus it on a specific target and hold itthere, you're never going to accomplish asmuch as your ability warrants.

— Zig Ziglar

Many of our fears are tissue-paper thinand a single courageous step would carryus clear through them.

— Brendan Francis

Each handicap is like a hurdle in a stee-plechase. When you ride up to it, if youthrow your heart over, the horse will goalong too.

— Lawrence Bixby

The strongest single factor in prosperityconsciousness is self-esteem: believing youcan do it, believing you deserve it, believ-ing you will get it.

— Jerry Gillies

He who forgives ends the quarrel.— African proverb


QUOTABLESAny Fool Can Spout the RitualI attended a lodge where, in the

course of proposing one of the toasts atthe after-proceedings, a Brother said,“Any fool can spout the ritual.”

I knew the speaker to be a very gen-uine person whose honesty and gooddeeds were beyond all question. Yet hemade use of a cliché which, to mymind, is as spurious as it is contentious.Had it flowed from the lips of someMasons I have met, I could have dis-missed it with a shrug.

In this context the words came fromone whose very nature, as I know it, be-lies the least suggestion of insincerity.So what could be the reason for hisstatement? Perhaps it was just thought-lessness — and we are all apt to bethoughtless at times. How often, inother spheres today, we cheer thesesenseless catch-phrases bandied aroundso often until one begins to swear bythem and regards them as the genuinearticle.

Honest reflection makes it all tooclear that “any fool cannot spout theritual.” Neither do we go to the otherextreme, and say that fluency therein isbeyond the compass of all but thegifted Brethren. But somewhere be-tween those two extremes, goes quietlyalong his way the man of average intel-lect but honest endeavour who, if hehas the will and the enthusiasm, cer-tainly does not find insuperable the dif-ficulty of memorising the degrees.

In our ranks we find many thousandsof those Brethren of average intellect,and it is suggested that it must indeedbe galling for them to learn, from a fewinjudiciously chosen words, that whatthey have been able to accomplish, onlyby considerable assiduity, hard work,and sacrifice, can — if we are to believethis easy phrase — be accomplished bythe lower stratum of mentality.

At the same time, it does no harm totry to put one’s self in the mind of thatparticular Brother who made the rashstatement. He was not a ritualist him-self, I know that. He is a Brother whopossesses sterling qualities, and therecan be little doubt that his Freema-sonry is of the practical type ratherthan of the esoteric. Far be it for me to

decry what that Brother accomplishesin the furtherance of our order — hegoes round to the Brethren, and obtainssubstantial amounts for the benevolentfund. He may spend his time quietlybehind the scenes, making discreet en-quiries about the widow of a departedBrother and seeing that she does not goshort in her hour of need — a truly ex-cellent Mason, judged by his gooddeeds and not by his knowledge of theritual.

Such people are the salt of the earth,and I always like to think that theirsphere of industry, so vital in itsessence, is nevertheless complementaryto the efforts of those who try to per-petuate our teachings by painstakingassimilation of the ritual. We all haveour parts to play. Where one finds hisrole eventually in the East, the otherfinds it somewhere behind the scenes,honourable roles, both of them. Butnever, should we, by loose word orphrase, unwittingly make cheap the ef-forts of the other.

After all, in the ceremonies them-selves, the duties of each and every oneof us are complementary to each other— it is not much good, having an ex-cellent Master, if his efforts are going tobe neutralized by the uninspired workof a Deacon, and the same applies inreverse. When you come to think of it,does it not apply everywhere?

— Fred Jones, e Masonic Record,London, Feb. 1966

“Two things Brother Wes nevermisses; his lodge meetings and

yoga practice.”


Space under the vanityIf you have cabinets under your bath-room sink, the space can probably beused more effectively than it's beingused now. Martha Stewart recom-mends adding extra storage by outfit-ting the cabinets with rollout wire trayslike those used in kitchens. They pro-vide easy access to items used at thesame time, such as those for shavingor hairstyling.Put supplies for various activities in

baskets that can be easily pulled outand replaced after you use them.

Using dried herbsThe editors of Cook's Country havesome advice for you. First, they sayyou're better off using fresh herbs ifyour recipe calls for basil, parsley, orchives.Hearty herbs such as oregano, sage

and thyme dry well and are good sub-stitutes for fresh ones. Tarragon anddill do almost as well. They recommendusing half as much dry when a recipecalls for fresh herbs.Rub dry herbs between your fingers

to see if they smell bright. If they don't,

throw them out and buy a new supply.Use oregano in tomato sauces, chili,

Mexican and Italian dishes.Thyme is good for long-cooking

stews with roasted meats and poultry.Sage works well with poultry, stuff-

ings, pork and butter sauces.Marjoram is tasty with beans, lamb

and other red meats.Rosemary should be used sparingly

but is great with Italian flavors and insoups, stews and braises.

'Zero energy' homesThe Department of Energy reports thatmore families are showing an interestin zero-energy homes, a design meantto produce as much electricity as ituses.The Energy Policy Act provides a tax

credit of up to 30 percent of the sys-tem's cost up to a maximum of $2000when purchasing a new home withsolar equipment. It's part of a nation-wide effort to reduce home energyconsumption.For more information about the tax

credits, visit www.energystar.gov.

Put safety first inchildren’s sportsThe American Academy of Pediatricsreports that millions of children are in-jured in sports activities every year. Kidsunder age ten are more likely to be in-jured on the playground. Those elevenand older are more likely to be injured

during an organized team practice.Most injuries are from falls, beingstruck by an object or from a collisionsuch as in football.Bicycling, skateboarding and skating

are the activities where there is mostconcern for head injuries, highlightingthe need for wearing helmets.Generally, girls suffer more sports in-

juries than boys in the same age group.

Simple, inexepensiveways to ‘go green’For just one person, the thought ofsaving the Earth can be intimidating.What can you do?First, you don't have to change your

entire life or spend a lot of money tomake a difference. Every little bit helps,say advisors at the Sierra Club. Startwith the obvious things you can do.• Heat or cool your home a little

less. It saves energy and won't makethat big a difference to you.• Drive fewer miles. Shop at a su-

permarket near you instead of going tothe one across town to save a dollar.• Run electrical equipment only

when you need it. Be sure to turn offyour oven immediately after you use it.• Use compact fluorescent light

bulbs. If you use several, you'll evensee a difference in your electric bill.• Use less water. Don't turn the

shower on until you are ready to getinto it. It takes a lot of electricity topump water and to heat it.• Buy locally grown foods that

won't require energy for transporta-tion. Buy manufactured items madenearby.

Home buyers wantaffordabilityResearchers at Harvard University sayaffordability is moving up in impor-tance with home buyers. They could bemore interested in buying a homewithout a remodeled kitchen, for ex-ample, instead of paying significantlymore for one with a kitchen that hasall the bells and whistles.When selling, paint where needed,

clean and declutter rooms.

“We’re worried about you. Yourteacher called and said you are

actually handing in your homeworkinstead of eating it.”

TheVanGorden-Williams Library &Archives has recentlystarted a blog,which is available to anyone with an Inter-

net connection.A blog, in case it’s unfamiliar to you, is short for“web log”and is a website,usually on a particular topic, that con-tains entries (or “posts”) that are published on a regular basis.The topic of our blog is the interesting and diverse collec-

tions of our library & archives.We’ll be writing about all kindsof items related to Freemasonry, fraternalism,andAmerican his-tory. The friendly bloggers responsible for all of the contentfound on the blog are the archivist,Catherine Swanson,and thedepartment’s two librarians, Jeff Croteau and Kathy Bell.

WHY DID WE DECIDE TO START A BLOG?We want to hear from you.We also want to take the oppor-

tunity to open up the stacks a bit and share our collections withyou.We might include news about acquisitions or interestingmaterial that we come across during the normal course of ourdaily work (and there’s a lot of that, I’m happy to say). It mightalso include in-depth information about the stories of partic-ular books and archival material that are featured in exhibitionshere at the National Heritage Museum.Below are excerpts from a few of the posts we’ve already pub-

lished on our blog. It’s our hope that these “teasers”will get youinterested enough to visit our blog and read and see more.We will be responding to comments and we look forward to

hearing from you.

ALBUM OF MASONIC IMPOSTERSWhy would someone impersonate a Freemason? And why

would someone publish a book showing some of the suppos-edlymore nefarious characters who have impersonatedMasons?

THE JONATHAN POOR MURAL

Gracing one wall of the Van Gorden-Williams Library &Archives is a mural that appears to have been created expresslyfor the space.Upon closer inspection, however, one sees its age

and learns it began on the dining room wall of the Silas Bur-bank home in Mt.Vernon,ME.The peaceful scene, signed ‘J D Poor 1830’ was created byJonathan Poor (1802-45) of Sebago,ME.When Poor was 16he began traveling with his more well-known uncle, RufusPorter, (1792-1884).He started as Porter’s portrait painting as-sistant, but around 1824, they switched from portraits to land-scapes and found a market for painting murals in houses andtaverns in Maine and Massachusetts.

THE 1964-65 WORLD’S FAIR AND MASONRYLots of folks have memories

of the 1964-65 World’s Fair,held in the borough of Queensin New York City, and recog-nized by the fair’s memorableicon, the Unisphere.There werelots of popular pavilions and at-tractions at the fair, rangingfrom the memorable — likeGeneral Electric’s Progressland(developed byWalt Disney andlater transplanted toDisneylandas the Carousel of Progress)— to the perhaps less-than-mem-orable, like the AARP’s Dynamic Maturity pavilion.But did you know that there was also a Masonic pavilion at

the 1964-65World’s Fair?

RALPH ADAMS CRAM: THE APPRENTICEYEARS IN BOSTONIn 1881, at 17, Ralph Cram (1863-1942) left his family inHampton Falls, NH, and moved to Boston,MA.This movebegan a new phase of his life.His father had arranged an ap-prenticeship for him with an architectural firm.Letters held in the VGWArchives from Ralph Cram to his

mother, chronicle the activities of the young apprentice.

VISIT OUR BLOGTO FINISH READING THESE POSTS —AND TO LEARN A LOT MORE:nationalheritagemuseum.typepad.com/library_and_archives

The Van Gorden-Williams Library & Archives is open to the pub-lic Monday-Saturday, 10-5. Reference assistance is provided inperson, by phone, or by email. Youmay contact us at 781-457-4109or [email protected].


More than Just Books . . .Van Gorden-Williams Library at the National Heritage Museum

Blogging at the library and archives


Music and Money

When reading “Views from the Past” (The Northern Light, Feb.2008) one sentence jumped off the page: “In every lodge, whosefinancial condition will admit of it, there ought to be a melodeonor organ.”I have been a Freemason 58 years and time and time again

have seen something proposed, even noteworthy, only to see ahard core group immediately jump up to object. Not against theproposal, just against the thought of spending money.The last time a $50 project was proposed in one of my lodges,

after hearing about seven objections, I rose to ask the Master forpermission to go to Secretary’s table and give him a $50 bill sowe could get on with the business of the lodge. I apologized laterto the Master, but he said he was glad I did it. It should havebeen done before.

Ralph HerboldAshland, OR

Full Moon Fervor

The article “Moon Lodges” (The Northern Light, May 2008),while quite interesting, failed to mention Fellowship Lodge, A.F.& A.M., Bridgewater,MA, constituted in 1797 by M.W. PaulRevere,Grand Master of Massachusetts, which today still con-tinues its proud tradition of holding its regular communicationson the Monday on or before the full of the moon. We are proudto be a “Paul Revere” lodge and a “moon lodge.”

Peter D. Dorr, 32°Valley of Boston

I have just finished reading “Moon Lodges” (The Northern Light,May 2008).Much to my surprise I read that my Lodge, Cler-mont Social No. 29 F.& A.M. of Ohio, is believed to be the sec-ond oldest moon lodge.The article says that we started this tra-dition in 1850; however, our lodge records indicate that we havemet the Friday on or before the Full of the Moon since ourfounding in 1815.Our first Master traveled from Ripley,OH, toWilliamsburg where our Lodge meets, by horseback. Even todayif you drove, that trip would take a solid 40 minutes and that iswithout any traffic. Clermont Social No. 29 is very proud to be asurviving moon lodge and we thank you for the excellent article.

Daniel G. Bainum, 32°Valley of Cincinnati

masonicmomentsPlease submit your own Masonic photos to The Northern Light. We areaccepting submissions of all things Masonic — people, places oroccurrences, to share with our readership. You may send your photo [email protected], or mail your submission to: The NorthernLight, PO Box 519, Lexington, MA 02420-0519. Include your name, ad-dress and Masonic affiliation. Photos will not be returned.

Glenn A. Moulton,32°, Master of

Monroe Lodge No.22, in Blooming-ton, IN, snappedthis photo while

vacationing at theGrand Canyon.

He says the plaque“is on a small

peninsula juttingout into the canyonand commemorates

the site where aMaster Mason de-

gree was conferredin 1913.

While attending ShrineImperial meetings in SanAntonio, Donald R.Farrow, 32°, of Logan,OH, observed this plaqueat the Alamo site. Ithonors several Masons fortheir service during thebattle. Bro. Farrow says,“I imagine most visitorsmiss this as they arelocated on the wall to theleft of the Alamo.”

We welcome letters from ourreaders in response to articlesappearing in The Northern Light andwill reprint them as space permits.Letters must be signed, should bebrief, and are subject to editing.

Prince Hall MeetingPlace on HistoricTourAs part of the city’s Independence Daycelebration in July, rangers at theBoston African American NationalHistoric Site conducted walking tours,to visit the sites where the developing19th century black community“struggled to realize the full promiseof citizenship,” as the park’s websitestates. One of the stops on the tourwas the site where the first Prince HallLodge of Freemasons met. “PrinceHall,” according to Bro. Mark A.Tabbert in his book AmericanFreemasons, “became a Mason in 1775.During the British embargo andoccupation, Hall and 14 other blackmen were initiated into the craft byLodge No. 441, a British militarylodge attached to the 38th Regimentof Foot. Prince Hall and his MasonicBrothers later formed their ownlodge.”

Park officials hope to make thewalking tour a permanent offering atthe national park.

Take Me Out to theHall of FameBro. Kenneth R. Force, director ofmusic at the U.S. Merchant MarineAcademy, writes to tell us that AlbertVon Tilzer has been elected to the hallof fame at St. Cecile’s Lodge No. 568,in New York.

Bro. Von Tilzer, together with JackNorworth, wrote one of America’s all-time classics, and unofficial baseballanthem, Take Me Out to the Ball Game.This year marks a century since it wasreleased. According to Baseball’sGreatest Hit, by Robert Thompson,Tim Wiles, and Andy Strasberg, Nor-worth penned the lyrics while ridingon the subway.

His inspiration came from an ad-vertisement on the train car that read,“Take Me Out to the Polo Grounds,”the home of the New York Giants. Hepresented the completed work to his

musical partner, Von Tilzer, who thenset it to music. The result was a songthat nearly every American knows byheart today. It is hard to imagine aseventh-inning stretch without thecrowd yelling, “Buy me some peanutsand crackerjack.”

It is often thought that the teamwas a “one hit wonder” when actuallythe two men were extremely successfulin their musical endeavors. Togetherand separately they produced many ofthe most popular songs of the early20th century. Other well-known musicby Von Tilzer includes Put your ArmsAround Me, Honey, and Apple BlossomTime. In fact, he attempted a secondbaseball-themed ditty called, Back tothe Bleachers for Mine.

Bro. Von Tilzer was raised a Masonon March 21, 1905. In the early fallhis plaque will be unveiled, puttinghim in the company of such lodgenotables as Houdini, Ferde Grofe, AlJolson, Louis B. Mayer, and manyothers.

Bring Back GeorgeThe Masonic Service Association notesthat Mount Vernon has teamed upwith the George Washington MasonicMemorial in Alexandria, VA, andlaunched a program to distributeportraits of our first president to everyschool in America. Washington’simage was once a staple in every class-room. According to the Memorial’swebsite, “He was there when most ofyou went to school, but today manystudents don’t have his inspiringcountenance to look up to.” Theportrait chosen for distributionis a Rembrandt Peale painting,depicting Washington in hiscontinental uniform.Sponsorship of a print,measuring 24 by 36inches, is $275. For more

information visit the GeorgeWashington Masonic Memorial web-site at gwmemorial.org.

The Northern LightArchivesOur first foray into creating an onlinearchive for the magazine has started.You can now visit the NorthernMasonic Jurisdiction’s website anddownload selected past issues.

To date there is just a sampling, butwithin a few months we hope to haveall volumes, dating back to itsfounding in 1970, available asdownloadable PDFs.

To reach the archive, visitscottishriteonline.org, click on the“Members Center” and go to“Downloads.”

Special thanks go to Bro. JimManuel, who has spent hundreds ofhours creating an electronic file of thepublication. Watch the site for moreavailable issues and faster responsetimes.

Acacia, Not ArcadiaThe May issue of The Northern Lightfeatured a story by Stephen R.Greenberg, in which he shed light onthe tradition of moon lodges.

In his narrative he mentions lodgesthat still cling to the custom. Amongothers, he describes Acacia Lodge No.51 of Cedar Grove, MN, as beingamong those that “have persisted as

true moon lodges.”Unfortunately, due to a

transcription error, it wasprinted as “Arcadia Lodge.” Restassured that Bro. Greenberg had

the name correct in his origi-nal draft.

ALAN E. FOULDS, 32°, editor


The Northern LightP.O. Box 519Lexington, MA 02420

The Heritage Shopat the

National Heritage Museum

SHOP ONLINEnationalheritagemuseum.org

nnaatt iioonnaa llhheerr ii tt aaggeemmuusseeuumm..oorrgg || sshhoopp bbyy pphhoonnee :: 778811 --445577--44110088

A. Polo Shirts. $37.95L, XL, XXL.

Scottish Rite - black withgold emblem. Masonic - black with gray emblem.

Caps. $19.95Scottish Rite - black withgold emblem. Masonic - black or navywith gray emblem.

B. Masonic Tie and Scottish Rite Tie.Navy or Black. $37.95

C. American Freemasons:Three Centuries of BuildingCommunities book by Mark A.Tabbert. $29.95

D. 32° and 33° Unity Tie.100% silk. Navy. $42.95

E. Lapel Pins. $4.50 - $6.50Assorted lapel pins.

F. Masonic Working ToolsWristwatch designed by JulesJergensen, special order.

$110.00

G. Masonic Working ToolsPocket Knife. $11.95

H. Masonic Auto Emblemand Scotish Rite Auto Emblem. $7.95

I. Masonic Symbols Coverlet.48”x60”. $59.95

J. Masonic Magnet $6.00Keychain. $6.00Pewter. Paperweight (not shown)Pewter and glass. $12.00

K. Dress Accessories. Cufflinks. $16.95Tie Tack. $9.95Shirt Studs. $19.95Set. $44.95

Scottish Rite - black withgold emblems. Masonic - blue with silver emblems.

L. Masonic Wallet and Scottish Rite Wallet. $19.95Leather.

G

H

F

B C DA

E

J

I

K L

Documents

TNL-August2008