‘The Compasses, Quadrant, and Sun’

    

My new ALR Past Master apron from Macoy.

I rarely treat myself to material gifts, figuring I have reached the age when it’s best to stop accumulating things, but I couldn’t resist an apron to commemorate my recent ascent to the East of The American Lodge of Research. As Masonic office-holding goes, this is my last stop.

I’ve been deliberating deeply this year on what my future labors in the Craft ought to look like (i.e., what makes me happy versus what leaves me wanting), and I believe I will limit myself to my three research lodges, unless I join a fourth, while quietly easing away from other Masonic commitments. After twenty-seven years of ceaseless hyperactivity, I am burned out, and there are too many responsibilities that drain my time but bring me little pleasure.

Twenty years ago, I was out of the house seventeen nights a month for this and that meeting; this dropped off steeply long ago but, after I leave the East, it will become more like seventeen per year. The pursuit of happiness for me spells quality over quantity. So, I’m looking at three or four meetings a year of The ALR; four at New Jersey’s research lodge; and maybe one or two with Virginia’s Civil War Lodge of Research, provided it sojourns north of 38° latitude. Plus, it goes without saying, there’ll be time for the occasional lecture here, conference there, the odd symposium, etc.—not to mention table lodges and festive boards. And I want to jumpstart Knickerbocker Chapter of the Philalethes Society. Maybe I’ll stick with AMD. So, possibly, not even the seventeen experiences total each year.

Well, you have to look sharp when you’re that particular, ergo my acquisition from Macoy Masonic Supply Co. shown at top.

Member apron.

Macoy fashions The ALR’s aprons. Not only our officer aprons, but also a smart design for members in good standing. Plus, as of now, because this is the first to be produced, our Past Master apron. They worked with us as we sought to recreate The ALR’s regalia from generations ago, using Harold V.B. Voorhis’ PM apron as a starting point:

Harold V.B. Voorhis’ ALR Past Master apron.

Having this inaugural piece made required patience on both ends of the transaction because I had to be perfectly exact in describing how it must look, and they had to be able to decipher my specs. I thought it would be easy to just request the standard Grand Lodge of New York Past Master design, but rendered in the brilliant colors of the unique materials of The ALR collection—except there seems to be no standard GLNY PM design!

I mean, there are rules—this isn’t Nam—such as how purple and gold are reserved for grand rank (that combo is a bit opulent for my taste anyway), and the Compasses, Quadrant, and Sun may not be joined by the Square (as that composition represents our DDGMs), but the rest seems ambiguous.

Publicity’s PM apron.

The apron presented to our new Worshipful Masters at Publicity Lodge, for example, sport the wreath of laurels surrounding the Compasses, Quadrant, and Sun, but other lodges’ PM aprons do not have the wreath. These aprons are white, with blue trim, and the symbols in silver. Grand Lodge’s law book isn’t demanding on this subject—and that’s good—unless I’m missing it because the tome is hard to navigate.

The ALR Tiler apron.

Also, The ALR has a Tiler this year, so I had to buy him an apron too.

For myself, I prefer the cord & tassel over the elastic belt. I hardly think William Preston wore Spandex!

The process of procuring this apron got me wondering how the Compasses, Quadrant, and Sun combination came to be. Sometimes questions like this can be answered by the Book of Constitutions devised upon the uniting of England’s two grand lodges more than two centuries ago, but it’s not so easy this time. You probably know how, in the end, the English adopted the Square with the 47th Problem of Euclid as their Past Master symbol (Pennsylvania uses it too) but, before that, this C-Q-S design was used for Past Master jewels.

Leicester research lodge’s transactions, Vol. 8.

W. Bro. John T. Thorp, Secretary of Leicester Lodge of Research 2429, presented “The Jewels of the Worshipful Master and the Past Masters” at that lodge’s fortieth meeting on May 28, 1900. Delving into the various official and unofficial literature of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, he found how different rituals, constitutions, illustrations, and other sources document what such jewels supposedly looked like. Several select excerpts:

Here, Thorp quotes the ritual exposure Jachin and Boaz.

And the exposure Mahabone.

And Three Distinct Knocks, obviously.

About that line or string of cords: It surprises me Bro. Thorp was uncertain about this, but then, he didn’t have search engines, but a cord in geometry is “the line segment between two points on a given curve,” according to dictionary.com. Today it is spelled “chord.”

In geometry, the quadrant can give an understanding of the earth’s circumference. In architecture, it is used, for example, in medieval building to add decorative flourishes to already complex designs.

In one understanding of Masonic symbolism, a speech delivered in 1863 puts it beautifully. On November 3 of that year, at Hampden Lodge in Massachusetts, W. Bro. E.W. Clark, upon presenting a Past Master jewel and collar to W. Bro. F.T. Merrick, said, in part:

There is an old adage that “actions speak louder than words.” Accept then, my Brother, this Jewel, not for its intrinsic worth, but as a token of our esteem for you, and when you wear it, may it call to your mind many of those valuable lessons in which you have so often instructed others.

The compass extended on a quadrant will remind you that your sphere of usefulness in this life is only bounded by your ability to perform. Let the Square remind you, although not the symbol of your office, yet God has made all things square, upright, and perfect. And the Sun, in the center of that great light which God has given us to lead us through life, and when you shall have done with life, and shall have passed to your reward, then may that beautiful passage of Holy Scripture be made manifest to you, which says:

‘The sun shall be no more thy light by day, neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee; but the Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory.’

(See The Freemasons’ Monthly Magazine, Vol. XXIII, No. 3, January 1864, for the entirety of that great speech.)

Worthy of a Grand Master, yet fits beneath the driver seat. It’s a ‘half-size’ apron case. Holds an apron or two, writing supplies, cigars, flask, smallish pistol, and sundry items.

Naturally, one needs a case befitting so grand an apron, and I found the above recently via eBay. Sixty-five bucks! Fuhgettaboutit.

So, when you see me in my circumscribed Masonic travels, don’t be surprised if I show off my new regalia. (Andrew says bring your apron to the MRF for the MacBride EA°.) See you around.