175 lines
10 KiB
Plaintext
175 lines
10 KiB
Plaintext
SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.XI February, 1933 No.2
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A MASTER’S WAGES
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by: Unknown
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“. . . travel in foreign countries and receive Master’s Wages.”
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Our Operative brethren received their Master’s Wages in coin of the
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realm.
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Speculatives content themselves with intangible wages - and
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occasionally some are hard pressed to explain to the wondering
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initiate just what, in this practical age, a Master’s Wages really
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are.
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The wages of a Master may be classified under two heads; first, those
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inalienable rights which every Freemason enjoys as a result of fees,
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initiation and the payment of annual dues to his Lodge; second, those
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more precious privileges which are his if he will but stretch out his
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hand to take.
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The first right of which any initiate is conscious is that of passing
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the Tiler and attending his Lodge, instead of being conducted through
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the West gate as a preliminary step to initiation. For a time this
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right of mingling with his new brethren is so engrossing that he
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looks no further for his Master’s Wages. Later he learns that he
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also has the right of visitation in other Lodges, even though it is a
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“right” hedged about with restrictions. He must be in good standing
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to exercise it. It will be denied him should any brother object to
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his visit. If he is unaffiliated, in most Jurisdictions, he can
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exercise it but once in any one Lodge. If private business (such as
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election of officers or a lodge trial, etc.) is scheduled, the Master
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of the Lodge he would visit may refuse him entrance. But in general
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this right of visiting other Lodges is a very real part of what may
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be termed his concrete Master’s Wages, and many are the Freemasons
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who find in it a sure cure for loneliness in strange places; who
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think of the opportunity to find welcome and friends where otherwise
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they would be alone, as wages of substantial character.
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The opportunities to see and hear the beautiful ceremonies of
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Freemasonry, to take from them again an again a new thought, are
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wages not to be lightly received. For him with the open ears and the
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inquiring mind, the degrees lead to a new world, since familiarity
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with ritual provides the key by which he may read an endless stream
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of books about Freemasonry.
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The Craft has a glorious history; a symbolism the study of which is
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endless; a curious legal structure of which law-minded men never
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tire’ is so interwoven with the story of the nation as to make the
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thoughtful thrill; joins hands with religion in the secret places of
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the heart in a manner both tender and touching. These “foreign
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countries” have neither gate nor guard at the frontier . . . the
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Master Mason may cross and enter at his will, sure of wages wherever
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he wanders within their borders.
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Master’s Wages are paid in acquaintances. Unless a newly-made Master
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Mason is so shy and retiring that he seeks the farthest corner of his
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Lodge Room, there to sit and shrink into himself, inevitably he will
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become acquainted with many men of many minds, always an interesting
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addition to the joy of life. What he does with his acquaintances is
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another story, but at least the wages are there, waiting for him.
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No honest man insures his house thinking it will burn, but the
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insurance policy in the safe is a great comfort, well worth all that
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it costs. It speaks of help should fire destroy his home; it assures
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that all its owner has saved in material wealth will not be lost
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should carelessness or accident start a conflagration.
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No honest man becomes a Freemason thinking to ask the Craft for
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relief. Yet the consciousness that poor is the Lodge and sodden the
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hearts of the brethren thereof from which relief will not be
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forthcoming if the need is bitter, is wages from which comfort may be
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taken.
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Freemasonry is not, “re se,” a relief organization. It does not
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exist merely for the purpose of dispensing charity. Nor has it great
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funds with which to work its gentle ministrations to the poor. Fees
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are modest; dues are often too small rather than too large. Yet, for
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the brother down and out, who has no coal for the fire, no food for
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his hungry child, whom sudden disaster threatens, the strong arm of
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the Fraternity stretches forth to push back the danger. The cold are
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warmed, the hungry fed, the naked clothed, the jobless given work,
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the discouraged heartened.
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Master’s Wages, surely far greater than the effort put forth to earn
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them.
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Relief is not limited to a brother’s own Lodge. In most
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Jurisdictions there is a Masonic Home, in which, at long last, a
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brothers weary body may rest, his tired feet cease their wandering.
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No Freemason who has visited any Masonic Home and there seen old
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brethren and their widows eased down the last long hill in peace and
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comfort; the children of Masons under friendly influences which
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insure safe launching of little ships on the sea of life; comes away
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thankful that there is such a haven for him, should he need it, even
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if he hopes never to ask for its aid.
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Stranded in a strange place, no Freemason worries about getting aid.
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In all large centers is a Board of Masonic Relief to hear his story,
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investigate his credentials and start the machinery by which his
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Lodge may help him. In smaller places is almost invariably a Lodge
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with brethren glad to give a sympathetic hearing to his troubles. To
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the brother in difficulty in what to him is a “foreign country,”
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ability to prove himself a Freemason is Master’s Wages, indeed.
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Freemasonry is strong in defense of the helpless. The Widow and the
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orphan need ask but once to receive bounty. All brethren hope to
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support their own, provide for their loved ones, but misfortune comes
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to the just and unjust alike. To be one of a world wide brotherhood
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on which widow and child may call is of untold comfort, Master’s
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Wages more precious than the coin of gold.
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Finally is the right of Masonic burial. At home or abroad no
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Freemason, know to desire it, but is followed to his last home by
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sorrowing brethren who lay him away under the apron of the Craft and
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the Sprig of Acacia of immortal hope. This, too, is Wages of a
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Master.
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“Pay the Craft their Wages, if any be due . . .”
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To some the practical wages briefly mentioned above are the important
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payments for a Freemason’s work. To others, the more intangible but
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none the less beloved opportunities to give, rather than get, are the
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Master’s Wages which count them.
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Great among these is the Craft’s opportunity for service. The world
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is full of chances to do for others, and no man need apply to a
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Masonic Lodge only because he wants a chance to “do unto others as he
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would others do unto him.” But Freemasonry offer peculiar
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opportunities to unusual talents which are not always easily found in
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the profane world.
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There is always something to do in a Lodge. There are always
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committees to be served - and committee work is usually thankless
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work. He who cannot find his payment in his satisfaction of a task
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well done will receive no Master’s Wages for his labors on Lodge
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committees.
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There are brethren to be taught. Learning all the “work” is a man’s
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task, not to be accomplished in a hurry. Yet it is worth the doing,
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and in instructing officers and candidates many a Mason has found a
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quiet joy which is Master’s Wages pressed down and running over.
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Service leads to the possibility of appointment or election to the
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line of officers. There is little to speak of the Master’s Wages
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this opportunity pays, because only those who have occupied the
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Oriental Chair know what they are. The outer evidence of the
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experience may be told, but the inner spiritual experience is
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untellable because the words have not been invented.
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But Past Masters know! To them is issued a special coinage of
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Master’s Wages which only a Worshipful Master may earn. Ask any of
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them if they do not pay well for the labor.
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If practical Master’s Wages are acquaintances in Lodge, the enjoyment
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of fellowship, merged into friendship, is the same payment in larger
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form. Difficult to describe, the sense of being one of a group, the
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solidarity of the circle which is the Lodge, provides a satisfaction
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and pleasure impossible to describe as it is clearly to be felt. It
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is interesting to meet many men of many walks of life; it is heart-
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warming continually to meet the same group, always with the same
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feeling of equality. High and low, rich and poor, merchant and
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money-changer, banker and broom-maker, doctor and ditch-digger all
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meet on the level, and find it happy - Master’s Wages, value
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untranslatable into money.
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Ethereal as a flower scent, dainty as a butterfly’s wing, yet to some
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as strong as any strand of the Mystic Tie all Freemasons know and
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none describe, is that feeling of being a part of the historic past.
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To have knelt at the same Altar before which George Washington
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prayed; to have taken the same obligation which bound our brethren of
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the Mother Grand Lodge of 1717; to be spiritually kin with Elias
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Ashmole; to feel friendly with Oliver, Preston, Krause, Goethe, Sir
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Christopher Wren, Marshall, Anthony Sayer to mention only a few; to
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be a brother of Craftsmen who formed the Boston Tea Party; to stand
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at Bunker Hill with Warren and ride with brother Paul Revere; to be
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an apprentice at the building of St. Paul’s; to learn the Knot from a
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Comacine Master; to follow the Magister in a Roman “Collegium,” aye,
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even to stand awed before those mysteries of ancient peoples, and
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perhaps see a priest raise the dead body of Osiris from a dead level
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to a living perpendicular - these are mental experiences not to be
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forgotten when counting up Master’s Wages.
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Finally - and best - is the making of many friends.
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Thousands of brethren count their nearest and their dearest friends
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on the rolls of the Lodge they love and serve. The Mystic Tie makes
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for friendship It attracts man to man and often draws together
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“those who might otherwise have remained at a perpetual distance.”
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The teachings of broth-erly love, relief and truth; of temperance,
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fortitude, prudence and justice; the inculcation of patriotism and
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love of country, are everyday experiences in a Masonic Lodge. When
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men speak freely those thoughts which, in the world without, they
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keep silent, friendships are formed.
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Count gain for work well done in what coin seems most valuable; the
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dearest of the intangibles which come to any Master Mason are those
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Masonic friendships than which there “are” no greater Master’s Wages.
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