Interesting Facts About Freemasonry

Freemasonry has its lodges in every city in

the United States, and in almost every town

and village. It has them on the desert, through

the mountains, in the wilderness, and among

what Isaiah described as "the isles of the

sea." It has them in Canada, Mexico, Central

America, South America, Great Britain, Europe,

Africa, the Near East, India, Burma, Indo-

China, Malaya, the Philippines, East Indies,

New Zealand, and Australia; it had them in

many other countries of the Old World until

certain religious and political ideologies forbade

their existence.

Not one of them was ever organized as the

result of any Masonic missionary enterprise, because

Freemasonry has no such enterprise; or

for the purpose of making money, or as the

result of a bargain with the political and ecclesiastical

ruling powers. Each lodge came into

existence of itself, and because a few Masons

desired to have it so.

Freemasonry has spread over the earth as

gradually, as silently, and as naturally as the

light of dawn. So also has it moved down the

long roads of time. There were lodges a

thousand years ago. Long before that date, and as

far back as the Ancient World, there had

been other organizations, called gilds and collegia,

so similar to Masonic lodges that historians

are unable to tell where one left off and

the other began. Few things still existing in the

world are as old as Freemasonry.

During the long period from the time of

Charlemagne (about 800) until the Reformation

any man engaged in the building crafts was

called a mason, and of these were many kinds

including quarrymen, dike builders, wallers,

paviors, tilers, and all who could build cottages

or barns. Among them all there was a special

class of builders who could both design and

construct monumental and public buildings such

as cathedrals, chapels, churches, mansions,

borough halls, etc. These latter were called

Freemasons. The name had much the same

meaning then that architect has now.

When one of the great pub lic buildings was

undertaken, Freemasons were called in from all

parts of the kingdom and often from foreign

countries. As soon as a sufficient number had

signed the rolls, their first step was to erect a

building of their own, called the lodge; their

next step was to construct cottages for themselves

and their families. Each day, all the

workmen received instructions in their lodge

room.

Because these Freemasons came from so many

different places, and even from other countries,

they could not have a permanent local organization

of their own, as other craftsmen did;

instead, they had what we should now call a

society, or a fraternity. There was no single

ruler of it; it had no one capital; the members

were held together by their general observance of

a few rules, regulations, and customs. Modern

Freemasonry, such as is practiced in lodges

across America, is the direct descendant of that

early fraternity.

In those days almost every man admitted to a

lodge was a craftsman who made Freemasonry

his means of livelihood; such men nowadays

are called Operative Masons. As time passed,

however, lodges here and there began to admit

into membership a few men who did not follow

Freemasonry as a means of livelihood, but were

attracted to it for other reasons, and largely

because of its antiquity and its fellowship; such

were called "Accepted" Masons; and also were

called "Speculative" Masons, a name which

always had meant an understanding of the ideas

and principles of Freemasonry. It is for such

historical reasons that members of the Fraternity

today are called Free & Accepted Masons.

By 1700 the number of Speculative (or Accepted)

members had become so preponderant in

most of the lodges in Britain that when the first

Grand Lodge of the world was set up in

London, England, in 1717, the whole Fraternity

ceased to draw any distinction between Operatives

and Speculatives; any man, otherwise

qualified, and regardless of his means of livelihood,

could become a Mason. That has been true

ever since.

The history of Freemasonry therefore falls

into three periods. In the first period all Freemasons,

with very few exceptions, were Operatives,

by which is meant that they made architecture

their means of livelihood. In the second

period the membership of the lodges was a

mixture of Operatives and Speculatives. In the

third period, beginning in 1717, it has been

wholly Speculative. The one principle which

unites the three periods is the fact that through -

out its history Freemasonry has always been a

fraternity - a fraternity, nothing more, nothing

less, and nothing other.

The form of Freemasonry which thus descended

directly from the Operative lodges of a

thousand or so years ago is known as Ancient

Craft Freemasonry; it is organized in Grand

Lodges and local lodges. During the last quarter

of the eighteenth century a number of branches

grew out of that parent trunk, and in the course

of time each one developed an independent

form of organization of its own. Each of these

appendant bodies is called a Rite.

In the United States there are four such appendant

Rites in addition to Ancient Craft

Freemasonry. The Cryptic Rite is organized in

the form of a General Grand Council, a Grand

Council for each of the larger number of states,

and local councils. The Capitular Rite, which is

better known as the Royal Arch, is organized in

the form of a General Grand Chapter, a Grand

Chapter for each of the larger number of states,

and local chapters. Knight Templarism

is organized in the form of a Grand Encampment

for the nation, a Grand Commandery

for each of the larger number of states, and

local commanderies. The Ancient & Accepted

Scottish Rite has a system of four local bodies

which are under the general government of

two Supreme Councils. One of these, called the

Southern jurisdiction, has in it the states west

of the Mississippi River and south of the Ohio

River. The other, called the Northern jurisdiction,

has in it the states east of the Mississippi

and north of the Ohio.

Thus, that which is sometimes called the

American System of Freemasonry consists of five

Rites, each of which is separately organized,

enacts its own laws, has its own officers, and

its own treasuries. A man may join one of

these other four Rites, or all of them together,

good standing of an Ancient Craft lodge, and in each

instance must pay the fees and dues of another

Rite after he has been elected to its

membership, in addition to his lodge dues.

Alongside the five Rites which comprise Freemasonry

properly so called are a number of

Side Orders, each of which also is independently

organized. Among them are such as the Order

of the Eastern Star, the Ancient Arabic Order

Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, the Grotto, etc.

Upon the organization of the first Grand

Lodge in London, 1717, Freemasonry, as already

stated, became a fraternity wholly Speculative.

In 1723 that Grand Lodge published a volume of

laws, rules, and regulations called the Book of

Constitutions which made it clear that a Mason

must believe in God but that he was also free

to belong to any religion or church of his

choice consistent with such a belief. The

paragraph in which that provision was made is

probably the most influential and famous single

piece of writing in the whole literature and

history of the Fraternity:

"A Mason is oblig'd, by his Tenure, to

obey the moral Law; and if he rightly

understands the Art, he will never be a

stupid Atheist, nor an irreligious

Libertine. But though in ancient times

Masons were charg'd in every Country

to be of the religion of that Country

or Nation, whatever it was, yet 'tis

now thought more expedient only to

oblige them to that Religion in which

all Men agree, leaving their particular

opinions to themselves; that is, to be

good men and true, or Men of Honour

and Honesty, by whatever Denominations

or Persuasions they may be distinguish'd;

whereby Masonry becomes the

Center of Union, and the means of

conciliating true friendship among

persons that must have remain'd at a

perpetual Distance."

Since Freemasonry is a Fraternity, all matters of

theology, creeds, doctrines, and ecclesiastical

organizations lie outside its province, so that it

never pronounces upon any of them or takes sides

with one against the other. In its lodges

around the world are men of many religions,

and as Rudyard Kipling wrote in one of his

most famous Masonic poems, men of many

religions may sit down together in the same

lodge. Freemasonry makes war on no church,

nor does it champion any church, and if some

church should chance to make war on it, it

would let it pass by and would not retaliate.

In all the Landmarks, Constitutions, general

laws, rules and regulations of all the regular

and duly constituted Grand Lodges is no mention

of any church. A member of any Ancient Craft

Lodge who might seek to introduce religious

controversy into his lodge would stand in danger

of being immediately suspended or expelled.

The people of the Middle Ages were confronted

by a very difficult problem, as far as

skilled work was concerned. On the one hand,

there were no public schools, no printed books,

no scientific manuals, no trade schools, and no

factories in which things could be made by

machinery. On the other hand, almost all of

the trades and crafts called for highly specialized

skill; many of them used raw materials

dangerous to handle. In processing those materials

they often employed chemicals, fire, etc.,

hazardous if not understood. Their tools oftentimes

were tricky, dangerous, and only an

expert could make them or keep them in

condition. An untrained man might finally

produce something but it was not safe to use

because it might turn out to be poisonous, or

go to pieces, or fall down.

A workman had to be educated and trained

and yet there were no schools or books; how

to do it? The people of the Middle Ages solved

the problem by organizing all men each craft,

trade, art, or profession into gilds. Each gild

had a complete monopoly of its own kind of

work. It had local organizations but these observed

general rules and practices common to

them all. To enter any one of the crafts, to

become a carpenter, weaver, leather worker,

carver, pharmacist, etc., etc., a youth had to

enter a gild as an apprentice without pay, and

thereafter prove himself willing to be trained

and educated by his master and other master

workmen; and he was not permitted to become

free to work for himself until after that long

apprenticeship, and the apprenticeship itself was

not declared ended until he could successfully

meet a test to prove his skill.

Freemasons had more reason for demanding a

long and rigorous apprenticeship than other

crafts because their work was especially hazardous.

Stone itself was dangerous to manage not

only because it was a large mass with much dead

weight but also because when being worked, chips

and splinters might go a long distance on all

sides. If an arch or pillar was not perfectly

constructed it might collapse. The workmen

themselves oftentimes were on top of walls, or

high up in a tower, or perched on an arch, or

wooden scaffoldings. Their tools were many,

and frequently were complex, or difficult to

use. And the erection of such a building as a

cathedral required many kinds of arts and skills.

Because it was for these and many other similar

reasons dangerous for an unskilled man to work,

the crafts insisted that their own members should

keep their own skills, arts, and processes strictly

to themselves. These were called "trade secrets,"

and a gild member could be expelled for

betraying them.

Freemasonry had its own "trade secrets." It also

had in common with the other crafts another

form of secrecy which grew out of trade secrets.

This may be described as privacy. Since the trade

secrets were confined to members only, none

but members were permitted to belong to their

organizations, to have a vote or a voice, or to

hold office, or to sit in their meetings. What

went on was necessarily private to the members if

the trade secrets were to be preserved.

Modern society is full of private circles. A

family is one. A club is one. The members of such

a circle enjoy among themselves a form of social

fellowship which has been knit together because

the members of the circle are intimately

acquainted and associated in some activity. The

local members of a gild were similarly knit

together. They and their families might live

together in the same quarter of a town, and

they were all associated closely, over long years,

in their social affairs as much as in their work.

A stranger who might intrude was not welcome

because he could so easily disrupt the filaments

which bound the members and their families

together. This was social privacy.

The Freemasonic lodges of the present day have

the same reasons for secrecy, although the form

of it, and the details, may differ much from five

hundred or a thousand years ago. Such lodges

employ many rites, symbols, em blems, and

signs, none of them intelligible to any man who

has not been initiated, and educated and

trained in their meanings. Nearly all non-

Masons who undertake to interpret such things

end up with notions wildly absurd. Freemasons

have much which they must hold in privacy, and

for obvious reasons; and they have

much among themselves, much that can be described

only as a private circle.

By a secret society is meant an organization

of men which seeks to keep its own existence

dark, which refuses to divulge the names of its

members, or its meeting places, or its purposes. It

is an underground organization. If this be a

correct definition of "secret society" Freemasonry

is almost the exact opposite. It does

not conceal its existence, but meets in rooms

or buildings of its own, which are in the center

of cities and towns. It makes no secret of its

membership, because those members may walk

openly along a public street to a church service,

a funeral, or to some such public ceremony as

the laying of a corner stone. Each year every

Grand Lodge publishes a printed volume of its

proceedings. As for the ideals and purposes of

Freemasonry, they have been openly stated in

more than 200,000 printed books during the past

two centuries. There is nothing dark or

malign in those secrets; on the contrary they

are nearly all secrets of training and teaching,

and therefore are secrets of light.

One of the corollaries of that secrecy is that

which Freemasons know as non-solicitation.

During the long period of Operative Freemasonry

it could never have occurred to any

Master Mason to go about among parents with

eligible sons to petition them to have those

sons pray for admittance to the Masonic Craft.

Such a youth had to come of his own free will

and accord; he had to have his father or guardian

behind him; and he had to have a certain

number of qualifications.

Today, after all these centuries, the same rule

applies. A petitioner now must be at least

twenty-one years of age; he must not permit

any man, Mason or otherwise, to talk him into

petitioning for the Degrees. The whole matter

is one for him himself to choose and decide.

Freemasonry supports no propaganda; it carries

on no missionary enterprise; it has no salesmen;

it offers no inducement.

In the early periods of the Craft when a

bishop somewhere decided to erect a cathedral

he would begin by organizing what was called

a "foundation," and once this was done his next

step was to secure pledges for a sufficient amount

of money. After these funds were in sight, the

Foundation selected a Master Mason to act as

superintendent, and he in turn sent out word

for craftsmen and set a scale of wages.

From that time until this, Freemasons have

never been mealy-mouthed about money; they

have always believed in it; and the whole subject

is one of the major themes in the rituals of

lodges of Ancient Craft Freemasonry at this

time, and comes under the head of "the wages

of a Master Mason."

If a man were to object to this on the ground

that modern Freemasonry is devoted to idealistic

purposes and therefore should leave money

out of its philosophy, he would not know whereof

he speaks. There is no necessary contradiction

between things material and things idealistic.

The food which a man places before his

family, the roof over their heads, the clothing

which he furnishes, and the medicines which

he purchases when they are ill, all these are

material things, as money is, but they prove

that he is possessed of love and affection, which

in themselves are not material things.

For such reasons there is no contradiction

between this philosophy of wages that Freemasonry

teaches and the fact that it itself pays

no wages to anybody except to one or two

lodge or Grand Lodge officers who must devote

the whole of their days to the Craft. A Mason

may devote the spare time of his life to his

lodge, and yet never receive any pay for his

time. He is never paid for being a Mason, or

for being a lodge officer, or for his work on

lodge and Grand Lodge Committees; and he will

be fortunate if after many years of service he is

not out of pocket for the years he has served.

Freemasonry attracts men to it as a magnet

attracts metal filings. There is much talk about

the "mystery of Freemasonry," especially by non-

Masons, but the greatest mystery of all is this

hold which it has on its own members.

If a non-Mason were to walk into a lodge room

for the first time, and when it was not in use, he

would find it to be distinctive because each and

every detail of its fittings and its ornaments are

designed exclusively for Masonic purposes, but

at the same time he would see instantly that it

is a very simple room, almost a bare one. There

are no secret passages in it, no hidden stairs,

no caves of darkness, none of the abracadabra

which goes with occultism,

magic, or mystery-mongering, and could not be

because Freemasonry has no similarity to

mystery-mongering nor any connection with any

of its forms. The business and ritual of a

lodge are plain, wholesome, homely, sane,

human, and unafraid of daylight.

If the same non-Mason were to visit a regular

meeting of the lodge (imagining such a thing

to be possible) he might find only a small

number of members present, and these would

carry through certain set ceremonies and a fixed

Order of Business. From this, and from the

simplicity of the room, he easily could come to

the conclusion that Freemasonry is not very large

or exciting, that nothing much appears to be

going on in it, and he might begin to

wonder how it has continued for so many centuries

and where could lie the secret of its wide

influence.

There is a saying that "Freemasonry is largely

invisible." The whole of it is never found in

any one place, or in any one time, or comprised

by any one thing that it does. Much of it

belongs to the inner life of a member, especially

to his heart and his mind. Its charities may be

published or reported, but usually they are not.

When its spirit of benevolence and philanthropy

makes an impress on a community it does so

without proclamations or the ringing of bells.

A Mason may encounter its friendship and

fraternalism wherever he may be, at work or

at home, and they will never be obtrusive.

The practices and teachings of the lodge may at

first glance appear to be bare and of an

almost childish simplicity, but each one of them,

or even one of the elements of which they are

composed, will, when a man works his own

way into one of them, begin to open out, to

grow increasingly large, until at last they seem

to fill the sky; they are inexhaustible. Large

books have been written about a single symbol

or a single law. One Mason may make the

ritual his own specialty (many do); as the years

pass he will find it always enlarging itself in

his mind because in it are depths beneath depths

and a limitless world of meanings; in all probability

no Mason in history has understood it

completely or followed it out to its last horizon.

Another may study the fraternity as he would

study history, philosophy, theology, law in a

university; there are more such students than

might be believed. Another may make Masonic

law his own field; if he does he will never

come to the end of it. Another may devote himself

largely to Masonic charity and relief; if he does

he is likely to find himself absorbed by it, and will

be giving hours and days of his own time to it.

Yet another may find his own forte in such of

the social arts as music and entertainment, all

of which are rich, wide, multifarious. Alongside

of all these special activities, and keeping pace

with them, has been the vast growth of Masonic

literature, in which it is estimated that some

200,000 books have been published in many

languages during the past two centuries, and not

including Masonic newspapers and magazines.

Freemasonry therefore is a world, and not a

monthly meeting, a fact signalized by the lodge

room itself which symbolizes the world of mankind,

and has the sky for its ceiling. Because

there is thus in all strict fact and sober truth

such a thing as the Masonic world it is not

difficult to see why Freemasons always describe

admittance into that world as initiation, a word

which means "born into." A newly made Mason is

one who has been "born" into the world of

Freemasonry. Henceforth he is a citizen of it,

and since he is, it is impossible to describe his

status in any single term, as that he has become

a member, or a dues payer, or what not, because

there comes a time when every member sees

for himself that always there is "much more."

There is literally no end to it.

A new member, once the lodge has approved his

petition, makes his way into that world

gradually, not all at once spectacularly or dramatically,

but in three steps, each of which is

sufficient to occupy his mind, usually for from two

to four weeks. These steps are called degrees.

A degree is an organization of ceremonies and

rites, each of which is relatively independent of

the others; and no man can become a member

of the lodge until he has passed through the

three of them. Masons themselves look upon these

degrees with a certain solemn reverence; they

have an inalienable dignity; and if in some one

lodge anything were done to embarrass a

candidate, the lodge would be in danger of

having its charter removed. There is nothing

whatever in them that is similar to a college

hazing; still less are they similar to ordeals with

which primitive folk still initiate their youth into

tribal secrets.

The three degrees of Ancient Craft Freemasonry,

composed as they are of ceremonies and

rites, are, when taken together, that which

Freemasons mean by their ritual. This ritual is

almost wonderful beyond words; only a

Homer or a Shakespeare could do it justice. A

man who studies it until he has learned it "by

heart" has a treasure for himself which literally is

beyond price. More than one man has risen to

eminence in American public life because he

learned the art of public address through years of

practice in it, or has become a great orator

because the ritual taught him a golden vocabulary

and initiated him into the secrets of

language. If the ritual is taken solely as literature,

then it stands on a par with such masterpieces

Homer's Iliad, Dante's Divine Comedy, and

Shakespeare's plays. If it is studied from its

aspect as something for the mind to think

through, it ranks with the philosophical systems

of Plato and Aristotle. If any non-Mason, greatly

daring, decides to petition for membership in

the Masonic Fraternity he is not to expect a

hazing, or any highjinks; he is to take off his

shoes, he is to bow his head, and, as the

Prophet Samuel said, to stand upon his feet

and be a man. No Freemason now, or at any

time during the past thousand years, has ever

apologized in advance to any petitioner for

what he will find.

What such a petitioner will find, among

other things, will be references, uttered with

awe, to the G.A.O.T.U.. This is not a Gypsy

charm, nor a cabbalistic anagram. The letters

stand for the name Great Architect of the

Universe. This name itself is one used by

Freemasons with all humility for the Being

who is throughout the world called by the

name of God. God stands in the midst of

Freemasonry; therefore a petitioner need not

fear lest, upon entering it, his spirit will ever

be treated with indignity or assaulted by impiety.

No non-Mason who may chance to knock at

the door of a lodge can have his petition received,

still less voted on, unless he has first

proved himself to possess certain qualifications.

All the mystification which have been woven

about the subject can be dispelled at a stroke,

by asking a single question, which also is a

simple one: Qualified for what? It is obvious

that Shakespeare was qualified to write the

greatest plays ever penned; but he may not have

been qualified for membership in the iron

monger's gild. Albert Einstein was qualified to

discover the theory of relativity, but possibly

was not qualified for work in a factory. A lad

who is qualified to enter a liberal arts college,

may not be qualified for a school in medicine

or in law.

Qualified for what? Freemasonry's own answer

to that question is, qualified to be a Mason,

qualified to be the member of a lodge, and to

perform his duties therein.

Among the forty-nine Grand Lodges in the

United States there is a certain amount of

variation in their formulations of the qualifications

required; but the differences are nearly

always in phraseology, not in substance. A

petitioner must be of lawful age; he must be

morally responsible for his own actions; ethically,

he must be "under the tongue of good

report;" he must come of his own free will

and accord; physically he must at least be able

to perform the Masonic duties which will be

required of him, and have sufficient monetary

means to pay his share of expenses; and he

must be personally acceptable to the men already in

the lodge's membership, because he must be

agreeable to them since from then on he will

be bound to each of them by the Mystic Tie.

A non-Mason cannot DEMAND membership

but must humbly seek it. In the language of the

lodge he is called a petitioner and the form

which he signs is called a petition. Even if a

lodge is willing to receive his petition, his

status remains unchanged until the petition has

been balloted on.

The petition itself, along with whatever information

may accompany it, must show that the

petitioner possesses the required qualifications.

This is a fact of the first importance because it

means that a man cannot even begin to apply for

admittance into the Masonic Fraternity unless

he already possesses the reputation

for possessing a sound character. Freemasonry

is not a reformatory. Its purpose is not to turn

bad men into good men, but to make good

men better. Also, it tries to make them happier,

and does so by surrounding them with friends

and fellows, and by opening up vistas and opportunities

for many things both fine and great.

Once a man is admitted into a lodge he is

not permitted to run loose in it. Freemasonry

is a CONSTITUTED fraternity. Above and

behind it are the Ancient Landmarks, which

neither a lodge nor a Grand Lodge can alter

or ignore. A Grand Lodge itself has its own

constitution. A lodge has its own installed

officers, fixed orders of procedure, and tolerates

no violation of peace and harmony. Nothing

ever is altered to to suit the position, fame,

fortune, or personal predilections of a petitioner;

he must accept Freemasonry as it is, or let it

alone. A lodge itself cannot come into existence

unless the Masons who will compose it pledge

themselves to abide by the Ancient Landmarks,

the constitutions, and the general laws; it cannot

decide for itself what Freemasonry is or is

not, and could never do so even though its

members might vote unanimously to make the

attempt. It is as if Freemasonry were to say:

"I am what I am. My members must accept

me as I am or not at all. It would be better

for me not to exist than for the members here,

there, and everywhere to keep altering me to

correspond with their own schemes, theories, or

whims."

As a result of that which Masons know as "the

principle of universality"

("a lodge is permitted to exist wherever it CAN") lodges are

at work in remote countries. How can this be? A

Korean cannot converse with an Englishman, nor

could a man of Burma understand the language

of a man of Michigan. From one of these countries

to another there also is an unlimited variety of

costumes, customs, traditions, ways of thought,

and ways of life. How can lodges which must

remain alike take root in the midst of such

unlike conditions? What is Freemasonry

translatable?

There are two large answers. One is that it

consists in essence of a number of fundamentals

which all mankind need, know, and understand,

such as brotherliness, charity, good will, fellowship,

friendship, character, and the search for

the Divine.

The other is that it uses rites, symbols, and

emblems. A symbol says much without saying

anything, and what it says may call for thought

or for exposition but does not need to be translated.

The level, the square and compasses, lights,

the plumb, all such are immediately understood

by any normal man anywhere. Gestures, symbols,

postures, emblems, signs, it would be incorrect to

describe such things as a language;

if they were, they would constitute as nearly

a universal language as language is capable of.

(To this day, white men as well as Indians can

make their way across this continent from one

American Indian people to another by means

of sign language.)

Some years ago, Douglas Malloch, a beloved

Masonic poet, began one of his lyrics with two

stanzas which ever since have thrilled the blood

of Freemasons.

Fine men have walked this way before

Whatever Lodge your Lodge may be,

Whoever stands before the door,

The sacred arch of Masonry, Stands

where the wise, the great, the

good

In their own time and place have stood.

You are not Brother just with these, Your

friends and neighbors; you are kin

With Masons down the centuries; This

room that now you enter in

Has felt the tread of many feet, For

here all Masonry you meet.

For many generations Freemasonry has numbered

among its members an accounted number

of "the wise, the great, the good," and if the

Fraternity has often celebrated the famous men

who have been Masons it is not because it has

ever been self-conceited.

Emperors, kings, presidents, and princes have

been, in the quaint language of a very old

writer, "of this sodality." Frederick the Great,

Garibaldi, Mazzini, Napoleon, and a number of

American Presidents have been Masons, and two

of the latter have been Grand Masters. George

Washington was Master of his lodge at Alexandria

when he was inaugurated first President in

1789. Great composers have been active

members, as represented by Purcell, Mozart,

Samuel Wesley, Sibelius. Books have been written

to list them. They have come from all possible

walks of life, statesmen, scientists, theologians,

scholars, authors, poets, actors, financiers,

industrialists, artists, farmers, and men of the

sea. Even Artic and Antartic explorers have

been drawn to it, and there is nothing to

wonder at the fact that a Maso nic flag was

dropped on each of the Poles by the first men

to fly across them in an airplane. Nor does any

Mason find it a cause to wonder that Benjamin

Franklin was both a Worshipful

Master and a Grand Master and published the

first Masonic book (1734) ever issued in America.

Masons have long since ceased to feel

amazed that such men should be of "their

sodality"; there is no occasion to wonder because

the greatest will find Freemasonry as great as

will the humblest.

The word Freemasonry has entered our language

as a common noun to denote private

understanding, secrecy, mystery, as in the saying

that "There is a freemasonry among railway

workers." (There is such a thing.) But of all

the mysteries connected with that name, and to

Freemasons themselves, the greatest is Freemasonry

itself. It began many centuries ago. It

has ridden out the storms of revolutions and

uncounted wars. It has planted itself in all

parts of the world. What has enabled it to do

so?

If the answer to that question should be that

it has had a clearer understanding and a better

practice of fraternalism than any other organization

in the world, a reader must not be

disappointed. Fraternalism itself is as everlasting

as mankind. It ranks along with religion,

government, science, business, the fine arts. To

discover the heights and depths of it, its length

and its breadth, and the unsearchable riches in it, is

sufficient justification for any man to work in it

throughout his life.