177 lines
10 KiB
Plaintext
177 lines
10 KiB
Plaintext
SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.I December, 1923 No.12
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FOR THE GOOD OF THE ORDER
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by: Joseph Fort Newton
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(The substance of an address by Bro. Newton, Educational Director; at the
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Annual Meeting of The
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Masonic Service association, Washington, D.C. Oct. 29th, 1923; following
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the report of the Executive
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Commission.)
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After listening so intently to this remarkable Report, no one wishes to
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hear a long speech from anybody. But, in as much as the Report referred so
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kindly to me, perhaps I may be allowed a personal word, if only to tell in
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what mood I take up the work, and the spirit in which I hope to do it.
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First, let me tell a story. During the American Civil War a young Captain
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in the army of the South was taken prisoner and brought up the Mississippi
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to Rock Island. The northern climate was severe on the southern men, proof
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of which can be found in the files of the War Department. The young
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Captain fell ill, desperately ill. He made himself known as a Mason to an
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officer of the prison. The officer took him out of the prison to his home,
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and nursed him back to life. When the War ended he put money in his pocket
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and gave him a little pistol to protect himself on his way back to his
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southern home. That young Captain was my father!
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So, as far back as I can remember, I have had a great admiration for a
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Fraternity whose spirit could soften the horrors of battle and mitigate the
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lot of a prisoner of war. By the same token, I hope I have done a little
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for Freemasonry in return, trying feebly to repay a measureless obligation.
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For the same reason I should like to do more in its behalf before the day
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ends.
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Since those far off years all of us have lived through a Great War, and no
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man can pass through such an ordeal and be the same man he was before.
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Something died in me and was buried with the boys I buried in Flanders -
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five hundred and twenty-seven of them in one day. All bitterness, bigotry
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and all ill-will if I ever had any toward any race or creed, lie dead and
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buried with the War. Never have I had a deeper pity for my race, a greater
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love for my country, or a firmer faith that Freemasonry can do something
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for the re-building of the broken brotherhood of the world that nothing
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else can do.
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It was in the old gray city of London, at that time an arsenal and a
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hospital, that I first heard of the
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organization of the Masonic Service Association of the United States. It
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was one of the best bits of news that came in the days when good news was
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rare. When I learned of the basis on which the Association was organized,
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and the program it meant to carry through, it was like a dream come true.
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Now, at last, I felt that American Masonry had begin to realize both its
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opportunity and its obligations; and I had a great longing to have a part,
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however small, in such a work.
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The purpose of the association. as I understood it, sought to fulfill three
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basic principles of Freemasonry. Brotherly Love, Relief and truth - the
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doing of good and the spreading of light in the spirit of good will.
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Living under the shadow of a vast tragedy - trying to think and pray in the
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rhythm of its guns - it seemed to me that what the world needed was more
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Light, more Love, More Understanding; and that is what it needs today.
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Our program is two-fold, first to bring American Freemasonry together in
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cooperative fellowship and service in a time of need and calamity; and
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second, to educate Masons in Masonry that the gentle, kindly light which
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shines on our Altar may find its way through our lives and through our
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lodges into the world of partisan strife and sectarian feud where it is
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needed. What we want is a service that
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educates and an education that serves.
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The whole principle of Freemasonry is that "Brotherhood of Man begins with
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the Manhood of the Brother." It seeks to build men, and then to make them
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Brothers and Builders. Any other kind of brotherhood is weak, if not
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futile, either a flabby sentimentalism or a calculating selfishness.
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Masonry is made up of strong men, picked men - they cannot be picked too
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carefully - sworn and trained to make righteousness and good will prevail.
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By that very fact a great responsibility rests upon us, which we cannot
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escape even if we desired to do so. Whatever needs to be done in any
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community the Masons ought to be the leaders in doing it, because they are
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Builders. Every Masonic lodge ought to be a social and civic center, where
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designs are drawn upon the Trestleboard for the common good, regardless of
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sect or party.
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At first glance, our program may seem to be rather academic and high-brow,
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but it can be modified and adapted to our real needs and problems. No man,
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no set of men, can make such a program outright; it is by doing things that
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we learn what needs to be done and how best to do it. If we work together
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wisely, keeping the human touch and the spiritual vision, our experiments
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will ripen into a fruitful experience of how the spirit and principles of
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freemasonry can be practically applied to the life and service of our
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generation; as Washington and Franklin wrought its genius into the organic
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law of our new Republic.
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Frankly, my first thought is not of the men who are already Masonic
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students. We need them, of course, and I believe they will rally to out
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help, as they did when we founded the Research Society. No, we are
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thinking of the throngs of young men - shock-headed boys, God Bless them! -
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who are crowding into our Temples all over the land. We welcome their
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youth, their energy, their enthusiasm; but we want them to be Masons, not
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merely members. We want them to know something about Masonry, not only its
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ritual, but what the ritual means, and what Masonry can do and ought to do
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in the World. Otherwise, as is so often the case, they will drift away and
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become "Bread and Butter Masons;" attending "The Big Meets and the Big
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Eats," using the Masonic Apron for a napkin. Such men ought to have a
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special Apron of their own, adorned with a knife and fork as emblems!
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Perhaps it is not altogether their fault - the lodge that simply makes
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Masons, and does not teach Masonry, does only half its work, or does its
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work only half way. If we do not know Masonry ourselves, if we do not know
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how to teach it to our young initiates, if our lodges become simply mills
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grinding out degrees; our freemasonry will sink to the level of a club -
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useful as such but in no way unique - losing its original purpose and
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power, and its great opportunity in our own day.
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Always the first principle of education is to excite curiosity, to awaken
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interest; hence the plan of this
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Association, a few items of which I wish to mention without going far into
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detail. The moving-picture program seeks to make use of one of the
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greatest arts of our time to enlist interest in Freemasonry, by showing
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what it means when actually worked out in modern life. In the same way,
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the M.S.A. National Masonic Library will bring the best thought of the
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Craft within the reach of lodges and members; and our proposed journal,
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"The Master Mason," will be a medium for the exchange of ideas, plans,
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methods and good-fellowship; and a means of learning the present state of
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Freemasonry in all lands, its aspirations and its difficulties.
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Besides, we hope to enter the strangely neglected field of fiction, using
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another great art in the service of the Craft. Hitherto, except for the
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stories of Brother Kipling, we have had few Masonic stories. The men of
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the Craft, like all other Americans, read stories, and it will be good news
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to know that one of the greatest of American novelists has promised to
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write, as only he can write, the story of Freemasonry in the American
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Revolution. When our young men read that story their blood will tingle and
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their hearts will beat faster as they see and realize what a part Masonry
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had in the creation of our Republic. Also, there wail be short stories
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dramatizing the meaning of Masonry and its creative influence in the
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practical life as we know and live it.
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Masonic research. as I understand it, means to search again for something
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we may have forgotten or overlooked. There are treasures of truth in our
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Freemasonry, and sources of power we have not yet dreamed of much less
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used. We need to know the past of Masonry in order to keep us true to its
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spirit, its purpose and its methods; and I think I have shown a not
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unworthy interest in the history and archaeology of the Craft. But we must
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also make research into the present meaning, power, and application of
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Freemasonry, the better to know what our great order of Builders ought to
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do and can do for the making of a greater and better America. The
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philanthropies of the Craft are munificent and its opportunities are
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magnificent!
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Brethren, I believe in America as I believe in God, and I know that as
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Freemasonry did a great work in the past of America, so can it do a still
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greater work in the future of our country. With the utmost respect and
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regard for other lands and peoples, our care is for America - our America,
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God's America - to keep it true to its high, heroic tradition. Three
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Ruffians threaten the safety and sanctity of America- racial rancor,
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religious bigotry and a disintegrating spirit of lawlessness!
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Here is our challenge and our opportunity, lest our Temple of Liberty and
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Fraternity be injured or destroyed before it is completed and dedicated -
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for it is not yet complete. Racial rancor is a thing slithered with blood
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and the mother of feuds and wars. Religious bigotry is one of the most
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horrible things in history. Its story is a tragedy too terrible to tell.
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As for lawlessness, it strikes at the Altar of liberty, undermines all our
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institutions, and opens the floodgates of anarchy. These Ruffians, if they
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have they way, will wreck Freemasonry, as they came near doing long ago,
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and they will ruin America.
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Freemasonry, by virtue of its spirit and its teachings, can do for America
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what no other Fraternity can do. Without entering into political debates
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or sectarian disputes, as in the past so in the future, let us build upon
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the foundations laid by our fathers, and make America what its poets and
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prophets have dreamed it should be; and to have even a little part in such
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a work is honor enough - IT IS HONOR
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ENOUGH!
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