‘Minutes That Live Through the Years’

    

In the March 1927 issue of The New York Masonic Outlook, Grand Lodge’s recently launched first magazine, edited by the great H.L. Haywood of Publicity Lodge 1000.

Monday night was the occasion of the election of officers for the ensuing year at Publicity Lodge 1000. The night of June 1 will see the installation of our officers, at which time W. Bro. Kevin will return to the East to set the Craft at work, where he’d served two terms already in the previous decade; and W. Bro. Gary will be our Senior Warden in the West again, paying the Craft our wages. Bro. Jonathan remains in the South. (If I’m standing where the sun is at its meridian, I wouldn’t move either.)

The circumstances of these staffing decisions causes me to think about lodge minutes and the institutional memory that those records ensure. Is the whole story and complete truth being recorded? That doesn’t seem to be the way lodges do it any more. But a century ago, Publicity Lodge, which then was comprised of the advertising professionals who founded the lodge and, consequently, were inclined to record, if not extol, the lodge’s doings in great detail, had a fitting philosophy. Every event deserved journalistic reportage with mementos and ephemera appended thereto.

The Masonic author Bro. H.L. Haywood was brought to New York from Iowa during the Roaring ’20s to serve as editor of our Grand Lodge’s first magazine, The New York Masonic Outlook. Being an editorial professional, he naturally affiliated with Publicity 1000. The magazine co-sponsored a contest, seeking essays on things accomplished by individual Masons, lodges, or other groups. Publicity’s secretary, W. Bro. Louis W. Bleser, won the top prize (a hundred bucks—more than $1,900 in today’s money!). The judges read the entries not knowing the names of the writers, so I wouldn’t say Haywood prejudiced the judges in his lodge brother’s favor.

In the Knights of the North decades ago, we were fond of saying If listening to the minutes is boring, then your lodge meetings are boring, so fix that. Anyway, here is that winning essay:

Minutes That Live Through the Years

By Louis W. Bleser

The entrance to the Porch of King Solomon’s Temple were two pillars of brass. They were cast in the clay grounds on the banks of the River Jordan, and made hollow for the purpose of containing the rolls and records of our ancient brethren so that they might be preserved for future generations.

I have the honor to be a Past Master and secretary of a lodge which I believe is the only one in the world composed almost entirely of advertising men. It has come to my attention, however, that since our formation five years ago, a lodge was formed in London, and another in Boston, for newspaper men. Our lodge embraces all branches of the advertising profession. So that, while we are Master Masons, we are primarily advertising men, and our training in this great field of endeavor asserts itself prominently in all our Masonic work.

The most outstanding example of this is the minute book of our lodge. It is in itself a history, rather than the usual drab, unemotional and colorless recital of facts so common to the records of any organization—Masonic or otherwise.

I most certainly sympathize with lodge or club historians if the proceedings of their organizations are in the shape of most records that I have seen. A man would have to be a genius to make any sort of an interesting story from the usual hodgepodge called “the minutes.”

Like our ancient brethren, we wish to preserve to posterity the records of our lodge, because we think they are “different”—but then, as I have said before, we are advertising men, and why shouldn’t they be?

Let me cite, briefly, some of the ways in which I think our minutes differ. If this will help that great “brotherhood of overworked secretaries” to win a little more appreciation for their work, I leave this story with them for what it is worth.

W. Bro. Bleser, as mentioned in the September 20, 1938 edition of The New York Times.

To begin with, no detail, however small, is omitted from our minutes, either to save space or “get the reading of the minutes over with.” The records of our meetings, therefore, are a little longer than in most lodges—maybe half again as long—but we try to make them interesting.

The question might rightly be asked, “Isn’t it tiresome for the brethren to listen to long minutes?” If they are the usual kind—Yes! But when they are humanized and interesting—No!

And, too, our members are “different.” They are all professional men—advertising men—and the proper recording of the proceedings of our lodge is but a written exemplification of their life’s work.

When a new member (initiate or affiliate) is taken into our lodge, we find out everything we can about him. Not just the ordinary things required on an application blank—sidelights, you might call them—but things about his family, his hobbies, his various accomplishments, et al. These facts are not gotten from the applicant as a rule, but from his proposer and others who know him intimately.

A brother dies. Usually it is customary to drape the altar for thirty days, stand in silent prayer for a minute or so, and carry a brief note in the minutes. The secretary is instructed to write a letter of condolence. Fine! But we go further. Either the secretary or one of the intimate friends of the deceased writes a beautiful memorial for the lodge minutes. Many letters are sent to the widow. A record is kept of the names of brethren attending the funeral. Newspaper clippings bearing on the death of the brother are attached and made part of the record, and any other write-ups in newspapers or magazines.

A brother goes to Florida with his family. He is there a few months when the great hurricane strikes. The secretary finally manages to get word to him and finds that he is safe, although everything he owned was practically ruined by the storm. This brother did not need our help in any way, but he wrote a long story of the havoc wrought by the hurricane, and it was printed in a magazine and a copy attached to our minutes.

Another brother is re-elected president of one of the largest and most influential business clubs in the country by a unanimous vote. It is made part of the record.

On the occasion of the celebration of Benjamin Franklin’s birthday, a number of our brethren journeyed to Philadelphia, where they took part in impressive ceremonies at the Poor Richard Club, the Bellevue-Stratford Hotel, and at Bro. Franklin’s grave. A wreath was placed on his grave in the name of the lodge, honoring him first as a Mason, second as a man, and third as an advertising man. A full record, including the names of the brethren attending, appears in the minutes, together with numerous photographs which appeared in newspapers throughout the country.

In order to make it easy for the secretary (or anyone else, for that matter) to find things in our minutes, everything carries a heading. We find such things as Sickness and Distress, Degree Work, Testimonial, Petitions, Amendments, etc. Then, too, the secretary’s ledger, where a full record of each brother is kept, is cross-indexed with the minute book, so that if he dimits, or any other change occurs, a record is made in the ledger with a note referring to page so-and-so in the lodge minutes. This makes it very easy to trace things, and is a saver of time.

One of our brothers visited a lodge in Canada, and like many lodges in the jurisdictions of Canada, its members eat before their meetings. Our brother got the signature of everyone at the table and this is attached to our lodge record.

Five of our members were honored by the French government for signal work in the great business of advertising. A record of their names and decorations, and other interesting data concerning the presentations, appear in the records.

To break the regular monotony of lodge meetings, we meet regularly once a month for luncheon at which time we are addressed by some prominent speaker on either a Masonic or a business subject. And during the warm summer months the divot-diggers of our lodge hold one, two, or sometimes three golf tournaments. There is no better way of getting to know your brothers better than by things such as these away from the lodge room. Of course a record is made for the lodge minutes.

Our lodge is fortunate in having Masonic affiliations in both England and Scotland. In fact, one of our Past Masters is one of two Americans living in the States here who has been master of an English lodge. Therefore, on the occasion of the great Advertising Convention in London two years ago, we arranged to have the British Masons work a Third Degree. The affair was by invitation, and arranged by our lodge insofar as getting in touch with American Masons was concerned, informing them what to wear, etc. We also sent over our lodge aprons, suitably marked for the occasion, as British lodges do not furnish aprons as we do. Every brother has his own apron and brings it with him. They meet in full dress and enjoy a banquet. There were toasts to the King, to the President of the United States, to the Worshipful Masters, et al., including a scroll which our lodge presented as a memento of the occasion. Our minutes carry a full report, with copies of the program, menu, scroll, etc. all of which are made a permanent part of our lodge record.

Our lodge had a return visit from our British brethren the following year, and it was named “British Night.” It was a memorable occasion, some of the Scottish brethren among them being attired in their kilts. They even brought a piper.

A copy of the annual reports of the master, treasurer, secretary and others is made in the records, their original report being filed, and they are asked to sign the same so that their signatures, as well as their reports, may be preserved forever. While the method outlined above makes more work for the secretary, the lodge record is thus kept intact, and many documents are preserved that would otherwise be lost.

The most outstanding departure from the usual course of recording minutes appears in the proceedings on the occasion of the annual election of officers. For the first time, so far as the knowledge of the writer goes, the nominating speeches of all the elective officers and their speeches of acceptance appear verbatim in the record. This is, we believe, a very unusual departure, and we realize that as most secretaries do not write shorthand, this usually would be well-nigh impossible. They could make notes, however, in longhand, and check up with the brethren making the nomination and acceptance speeches later. This is especially interesting as it will give persons, who might read our record twenty years hence, a picture of the type of men holding office in our lodge in these days.

A brother is going to take a three-month trip around the world. He will write an account of his experiences for the lodge record.

On top of all this, the master (who, by the way, is a well known copywriter) is preparing a history of the lodge to be printed and named The First Five Years. It will include everything that appears in the minutes, together with photographs of members, their age, occupation, nativity, dates of initiating, passing, and raising, and affiliations with other Masonic bodies. I believe it will be one of the most interesting and unusual histories of a Masonic lodge ever printed. We plan to do this every five years.

Interesting events, such as those noted, tend to make “minutes that live through the years,” and, I believe, entitle us to say that they are “different.”

     

‘Lodges unite for Burns Supper’

     

Click to enlarge.

The graphic above has all the information currently available (tickets not yet on sale), but I’m going!

      

Robert Burns, Scotland’s most beloved historic Freemason, was born January 25, 1759. Among his most famous works is “A Man’s A Man for A’ That,” wherein he speaks of virtues in terms every Mason can understand—despite the Scots Gaelic tongue! It is dated 1795, the year before his death at age 37.

A Man’s A Man For A’ That

by Robert Burns

Is there for honest poverty
That hangs his head, an’ a’ that
The coward slave, we pass him by

We dare be poor for a’ that

For a’ that, an’ a’ that

The rank is but the guinea’s stamp

The man’s the gowd for a’ that

What though on hamely fare we dine

Wear hoddin grey, an’ a’ that

Gie fools their silks, and knaves their wine

A man’s a man, for a’ that

For a’ that, an’ a’ that

Their tinsel show an’ a’ that

The honest man, though e’er sae poor

Is king o’ men for a’ that

Ye see yon birkie ca’d a lord

Wha struts an’ stares an’ a’ that

Tho’ hundreds worship at his word

He’s but a coof for a’ that

For a’ that, an’ a’ that

The man o’ independent mind

He looks an’ laughs at a’ that

A prince can mak’ a belted knight

A marquise, duke, an’ a’ that

But an honest man’s aboon his might

Gude faith, he maunna fa’ that

For a’ that an’ a’ that

Their dignities an’ a’ that

The pith o’ sense an’ pride o’ worth

Are higher rank that a’ that

Then let us pray that come it may (as come it will for a’ that)

That Sense and Worth, o’er a’ the earth

Shall bear the gree an’ a’ that

For a’ that an’ a’ that

It’s coming yet for a’ that

That man to man, the world o’er

Shall brithers be for a’ that

     

‘Happenings Ten Years Time Ago’

    

Happy anniversary to…me!

It was on this date ten years ago—probably at this very hour—when I was elected to membership by affiliation in Publicity Lodge 1000 in the Fourth Manhattan District.

I’m taking time off from lodge while I’m in the East of The ALR, and my work schedule isn’t helping either, but I keep up with current events. Very sorry to hear of Bro. Al’s passing last week.

In retrospect, I wish I had joined the lodge much earlier—like twenty-five years earlier—but things worked out in the end. Can’t wait to be back, comfortably on the sidelines, soon.

     

‘Parade of Planets heralds Publicity installation’

    

Let me now beg of you to observe, that the light of a Master Mason is but darkness visible, serving only to discover that gloom which rests on the prospect of futurity; it is that mysterious veil of darkness which the eye of human reason cannot penetrate, unless assisted by that light which is from above…

Charge of the Third Degree

The Perfect Ceremonies of Craft Masonry

1871

From where I now stand, just before sunrise, darkness visible is about all I get from looking skyward, as the impenetrable light pollution of the metropolitan area veils the heavens in artificial lumens. So, I can’t see the Parade of Planets currently on display.

Maybe you have better luck.

Still, the timing is impeccable. Later today, but well before sunset, my lodge will host its annual Installation of Officers. A celestial spectacle on the morning of our installation. Coincidence? I think not!

While I cannot attend this evening, I wish everyone all the best and a happy, successful year.

Astronomy is that Divine art by which we are taught to read the Wisdom, Strength, and Beauty of the Almighty Creator in those sacred pages, the Celestial hemisphere. Assisted by Astronomy, we may observe the motions, measure the distances, comprehend the magnitudes, and calculate the periods and Eclipses of the Heavenly Bodies. By it we learn the use of the Globes, the system of the World, and the primary laws of Nature, and while we are employed in the study of this science, we may perceive unparalleled instances of wisdom and goodness, and on every hand may trace the Glorious Author by His works.

Ibid.,

Second Lecture, Fourth Section

     

‘Dennis Daugherty, R.I.P.’

    

Just days before Grand Lodge’s Annual Communication comes the sad news of the death of RW Bro. Dennis Daugherty yesterday. There will be better informed and more personal eulogies than I can offer, but I can say without any hesitation, mental reservation, etc. that Dennis was for many of us the embodiment of how Masons ever should meet, act, and part. Always an understated role model, for sure, but inspiring nonetheless.

Dennis affiliated with Publicity Lodge 1000 in 1991, and served in the East in both the 1997-98 and 2010-11 terms. Although he resided in Utica in recent years, Dennis still attended Publicity’s Communications until the pandemic, riding Amtrak five hours each way. He also was a Corresponding Member of The ALR for many years.

From the Office of the Grand Secretary:

SAD TIDINGS

RW Bro. Dennis A. Daugherty

Has Laid Down

His Working Tools 

New York - 2 hours ago 

Dear Brethren and Friends,

It is with a very heavy heart that we announce the passing of Right Worshipful Dennis Allan Daugherty, the Grand Representative of the Grand Lodge of Kansas near the Grand Lodge of New York. R.W. Dennis Daugherty was a 63-year member of the Craft with plural memberships in Bestor G. Brown Lodge 433 in Wichita, Kansas; St. John’s Lodge 1 in New York City; Publicity Lodge 1000 in NYC; Kane Lodge 454 in NYC; and The American Lodge of Research.

R.W. Brother Dennis was Initiated on December 6, 1960; Passed on January 31, 1961; and Raised on February 28, 1961 in Bestor G. Brown Lodge 433.

He faithfully served our Grand Lodge on several committees, including the Credentials of Members & Returns of Lodges Committee, the Publications Committee, and the Masonic Hall Tours Committee.

R.W. Brother Dennis was a Senior DeMolay, having actually met and served with Dad Frank Sherman Land the founder of the Order of DeMolay in Kansas City, Kansas.

R.W. Bro. Dennis was 85 years young and he presently resided at the Masonic Care Community in Utica.

We will provide information pertaining to funeral arrangements as soon as they are known. 

Ted Jacobsen photo

MW Bill Sardone, Dennis, and Grand Master Kessler at Grand Lodge last May.

Our Grand Master, MW Richard J. Kessler; Grand Secretary and Senior DeMolay, RW Richard T. Schulz; and the Past Grand Master of DeMolay, MW William M. Sardone, PGM, share in their expressions of sympathy and sadness on behalf of all of our Brethren and DeMolay for this great loss.

May our Almighty Father welcome our dearly departed Brother into His celestial home above. Amen.

     

‘The first law of the lodge’

    

At the Fourth Manhattan District’s Protocol Class yesterday.

You think you know something about Freemasonry, but then attend a Masonic Protocol class.

That’s where the Magpie Mason was twenty-four hours ago, joining three lodge brothers and others from the Fourth Manhattan District at Masonic Hall for instruction in the finer points of dos and don’ts. Actually, I shouldn’t have written “lodge brothers.” It’s lodge brethren.

If you think yourself above protocol instruction because you’ve read Waite, Wilmshurst and whatever, get used to the idea of being wrong about that. Approaching my twenty-seventh anniversary in Freemasonry, even I was very curious about what would be imparted to us yesterday. Sure, I knew most of the material already—even I can learn osmotically over time—but a lot of it contradicted what I had learned earlier in life as a—cough—“New Jersey Mason,” and some of it was new to me.

It was in 1924 when Grand Lodge, at the suggestion of MW Arthur S. Tompkins, made the Bible presentation part of lodge life. ‘I am glad to report that my recommendation…has been adopted by many lodges,’ he said before Grand Lodge in May of that year. ‘I hope it may become a universal custom, one that shall indelibly impress upon the mind of every new Mason the fact that the Holy Bible is the Great Light in Masonry; that the doctrine of the Fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man is the cornerstone of our fraternity; and that our first duty to is to God, and the Sacred Book should be the lamp to our feet and a light to our paths.’ 

“We study Protocol because we are convinced of its powers to help maintain harmony,” said RW Bro. Tomas Hull, Grand Director of Ceremonies. “It is a form of courtesy to the individual and a manifestation of respect to the Craft. Harmony is the first law of the lodge. Where discord enters, Freemasonry leaves.”

In the I Knew That category, for examples:

 - No one may tread across the Master’s Carpet.

 - No smoking, food, or drink is permitted in the lodge room.

 - The Inner Door may be used only during degrees.

In the Contradictions Department:

 - Never say “Blue Lodge” or “Symbolic Lodge,” but say “Master Mason Lodge” or “Masonic Lodge.”

 - Do not say “Worshipful Sir” or any other “Sir.” (I’ll never be able to break that habit!)

 - Do not say “To you and through you.” (I can break that habit.)

Under New (to me) Material:

 - There are no “Open Installations” or other events, but instead are “Public.”

 - Do not say “grace the East,” which I’ve never heard before.

 - Do not say “Sitting Master,” although I never knew where that came from anyway.

There was an awful lot more. As my lodge’s tiler, much of the instruction was idiomatic to my responsibilities. Make sure you avail yourself of this and the other courses offered in your district!

     

‘A few words on the EA°’

    

We have a Ritual of Initiation upcoming at lodge in November, and our monthly magazine, The Herald, includes a few pages of educational reading focusing on a certain aspect of the EA° excerpted from Symbolical Masonry: An Interpretation of the Three Degrees by H.L. Haywood. (He was a member of our lodge a century ago, oddly enough.) Also in mind is Grand Lodge’s appeal on behalf of the Grand Lodge of Israel. Here are the relevant paragraphs:

Before a man can be persuaded to learn an art, he must realize his ignorance thereof; before he can be made to enter into a new life, he must be made to feel that he is in a natural state of ignorance in regard to that life. There is a certain method by which the candidate is prepared in our ceremonies that is designed to cause the Apprentice to know that, whatever may be his title and possessions in the world, he is poor, and naked, and blind as regards that new life which is Masonry. There is in this method no desire to humiliate him, as that word is understood, but there is every need that he experience humility, a very different thing.

Humiliation may come from disgrace, or some check of adverse fortune; humility is that lowliness of mind in which one becomes aware of his real position in the universe. To know one’s self is to be humble, for in the presence of the infinities of the universe an individual, be he the greatest of the great, is pitiably small and weak; “what is man that thou art mindful of him” is his cry, and he will be the last to strut with pride. A mere sense of humor alone would preserve a man against vanity, did he not also know that he is a frail creature, compounded of dirt and deity, hemmed in by ignorance, and weak every way. When a man compares himself with his fellows he may find cause for pride, but when he stands in the midst of that lodge which is itself a symbol of the cosmos, surrounded by emblems and images on which rests a weight of time more than that which lies upon the pyramids, where the All-Seeing Eye, symbol of omniscience, looks down upon all, he can but feel how frail, how unspeakably helpless and frail, he is. The worldling may eke out a modicum of pride in considering how much wealthier he may be, or more learned than another, but the Mason, acknowledging a law that demands he be perfect as the Father in Heaven is perfect, will be more inclined to cry “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.”

Black Cat Caboodle

“Among the ancients,” writes Pierson, “the ceremony of discalceation, or the pulling off a shoe, indicated reverence for the presence of God.” The Pythagorean rule, that an initiate must “sacrifice and worship unshod” applied throughout the religious customs of antiquity. The priest removed “his shoes from off his feet” before entering the place of worship even as does the Muslim of today. Of this Mackey gives an interpretation as simple as it is wise! “The shoes, or sandals, were worn on ordinary occasions as a protection from the defilement of the ground. To continue to wear them, then, in a consecrated place, would be a tacit insinuation that the ground was equally polluted and capable of producing defilement. But, as the very character of a holy and consecrated spot precludes the idea of any sort of defilement or impurity, the acknowledgment that such was the case was conveyed symbolically by divesting the feet of all that protection from pollution and uncleanness which would be necessary in unconsecrated places. The Rite of Discalceation is, therefore, a symbol of reverence. It signifies, in the language of symbolism, that the spot which is about to be approached in this humble and reverent manner is consecrated to some holy purpose.

In the beginnings of the moral life of man, a place was made holy by being set apart, as the word literally means. The Sabbath was kept separate from other days; the Temple from other buildings; and the altar from all other spots of earth. This was a necessary teaching to cause men to recognize the mere existence of sacredness. But the floor of a Masonic lodge room is not made sacred in order to render other places defiled by contrast; rather is it to convince us that as the lodge is a holy place, so also should the whole world be, of which the lodge is a symbol. When men walk the common ways of life with bare feet, when they undertake every daily task with clean hands, when they seek out their fellowships with a pure heart, then will all life shine with the sanctity God intended, and the Universe be in fact, as well as theory, the Temple of Deity. In the days before our era when astrology and alchemy were seriously received by great minds, the planets were believed to rule variously over the fates of life, and each planet was supposed to be in some wise linked up with a corresponding metal. Lead was Saturn’s metal, iron belonged to Mars, copper to Venus, gold to the sun, etc. To keep one of these metals in one’s possession was to invite the influence of the planet to which it was sacred. Consequently, as a Candidate came to the Mysteries, he was divested of metals lest he bring some unwelcome planetary influence into the sanctuary.

If we find a far-off echo of this custom in our own ceremonies, we may understand that the lodge would thus symbolically exclude every jarring element from its fellowship. We may further understand it in another sense, as meaning that the possessions which secure us the services of the world have no potency in the lodge.

Of this, as we may read in his booklet on “Deeper Aspects of Masonic Symbolism,” A.E. Waite has written with characteristic insight. His words have a finality of wisdom that may fitly conclude a study of destitution:

“The question of certain things of a metallic kind, the absence of which plays an important part, is a little difficult from any point of view, though several explanations have been given. The better way toward their understanding is to put aside what is conventional and arbitrary—as, for example, the poverty of spirit and the denuded state of those who have not yet been enriched by the secret knowledge of the Royal and Holy Art. It goes deeper than this and represents the ordinary status of the world, when separated from any higher motive—the world-spirit, the extrinsic titles of recognition, the material standards. The Candidate is now to learn that there is another standard of values, and when he comes again into possession of the old tokens, he is to realise that their most important use is in the cause of others. You know under what striking circumstances this point is brought home to him.”

     

‘They came from the sixth floor (and Hong Kong & Italy)’

    

You promise that no Visitor shall be received into your Lodge without due examination, and producing proper Vouchers of his having been initiated in a regular Lodge.

Book of Constitutions

United Grand Lodge of England

The VIPs Monday night. From left: RW George, RW Tomas, RW Peter, WM Tom, the Most Worshipful Richard J. Kessler, Grand Master of Masons in the State of New York, RW Wayne, RW Philippe, and Bro. Marco in the red of the Grande Oriente d’Italia.

Our Communication Monday night was supposed to have been a pretty dry discussion and adoption of our operating budget for the year but, as is so ordinary in Freemasonry, things got exciting.

Publicity Lodge still tackled its budget, but we were blessed with the company of Grand Lodge top brass and sojourning Masons from distant locales. For the second time in seven months, Grand Master Richard Kessler joined us, even arriving early to socialize with the brethren. He was accompanied by Grand Secretary Richard Schulz, D.D. Grand Master Philippe Hiolle, and Grand Director of Ceremonies Tomas Hull. Their presence was prompted by the advance notice that two very special guests were coming.

Right Worshipful Brother Peter H.Y. Wong, Past District Grand Master of the United Grand Lodge of England’s District Grand Lodge of Hong Kong and the Far East, was accompanied by RW Wayne Ang, Past District Grand Standard Bearer. As Tiler, I was primed. (That DGL somehow remains in existence.)

In addition, we welcomed an unexpected visitor from Italy: Bro. Marco comes from La Pace (Peace) Lodge 76, under the Grand Orient of Italy in Padua. I know what you’re thinking: “Wait, the English guys can’t sit in lodge with GOI guys!” But that’s not true any longer. In March, the UGLE and the GOI resolved their decades of estrangement, re-establishing recognition, relations, and normalcy, so there was no risk of an international incident erupting in tranquil Publicity Lodge. The English now recognize both the Grand Orient and the Regular Grand Lodge there.

WM Tom, left, greets the delegation from James W. Husted-Fiat Lux Lodge 1068 who journeyed up two flights of stairs to be with us. That’s RW Ron at right.

It really livened things up, having all these eminent Masons with us. What’s more, the meeting of James W. Husted-Fiat Lux Lodge 1068 down on the sixth floor was canceled abruptly because principal officers could not attend, so RW Ron Sablosky brought seven of his lodge brothers upstairs to visit. Pretty good timing, I’d say. What was to have been a forgettable business meeting became a memorable Masonic night. (I, on behalf of the Education Committee, was scheduled to present a discussion on petitioner-interview techniques, but that will be done another time.)

WM Tom, left, and the three PDDGMs: Ron, Rich, and George, with the Grand Master at right.

An additional attraction arose when it became known that RW Sablosky, RW Schulz, and RW George (one of Publicity’s venerable Past Masters) were united in lodge for the first time in many years. The three served together as DDGMs during the 1996-98 term.

I publish a monthly digital magazine of about 25 pages for Publicity Lodge. The November issue will have this photo of the trowel presentation on the front cover. That’s RW Peter Wong on the left and Worshipful Master Tom on the right.

RW Bro. Wong presented our Worshipful Master the gift of a ceremonial trowel, the reverse of which he’d had engraved with a message to commemorate this occasion. Bro. Marco likewise bore gifts: a book, in Italian, about his Grand Orient’s 200+ years; and a reproduction of his lodge’s seal.

And yet, even more serendipitous, RW Sablosky, having no idea RW Wong was present, found himself reunited with his old acquaintance, they having known each other some thirty-five years. Ron invited Peter to his wedding ages ago, and Peter replied with a telegram(!) sending regrets that he couldn’t make the trip. Ron still has the telegram.

Master and Grand Master.

Of course the Grand Master is the last to speak, and MW Kessler praised the civility of our parliamentary budget haggling, segueing into a reminder that we Masons make certain promises to each other. (I’m not the paranoid type, but I wondered if he tailored those remarks for my edification in the wake of the recent Magpie post, about our mayor being made a Mason, that upset some.)

A meeting for the history book, and since I’m Publicity’s Historian, I’d better type this up formally for the permanent record. Can’t wait to see what happens next time.

     

‘From the Library of Publicity Lodge No. 1000’

  

Latin mottos: ‘Let There Be Light’
and ‘Know Thyself.’

Speaking of fine arts (see post below), there was one lot on eBay last week of particular interest to my lodge. I didn’t bid, but I hope one of the brethren won it when the gavel dropped last night. I’d told them about it via our Faceypage.

It is a bookplate from what, I suppose, was a library maintained by Publicity Lodge. I don’t know where the stacks might have been, but I’ll guess the lodge once upon a time leased one of those small offices that inconspicuously occupy the odd-numbered floors of Masonic Hall. Maybe part office for the treasurer and secretary, and lodge library, and storage, and smoking lounge. I wish we could do that today.

You’re wondering why the lodge would keep a library when the Livingston Library is on 14. From the look of this bookplate, I’ll guess it dates to the 1930s, and that’s when the Livingston Library was born. Maybe there was no Publicity library. The lodge published a history in the early ’30s, and maybe this bookplate was commissioned specially for the book’s print run. This is all guesswork on my part. I’ll have to delve into the voluminous lodge minutes to see what was going on there.

     

‘Publicity Lodge’s new officers’

    

Publicity and visiting Masons last night.

Publicity Lodge 1000 will enter its second century this fall with its newly installed officer team, they having been made legal last night.

It was a fine affair. And public, so we enjoyed the company of family and friends of Freemasonry.

etymonline.com

The Installing Master, one of our venerable PMs, guided us through the ceremony as Leonard Bernstein would conduct the Philharmonic. Multiple Right Worshipfuls attended to demonstrate their friendship to the new Master. (I withhold his name, unsure if he is known publicly as a Freemason.) A contingent of Prince Hall brethren did likewise. And our Fourth Manhattan VIPs supported our special night too. And Oscar stopped in to say hello as well, before heading upstairs to Allied Lodge, where he had a speaking engagement.

It was a full house in the Doric Room.

Several Publicity Masons we haven’t seen in a while turned out, which is a big part of the fun too.

Past Master Chris transmits Solomonic wisdom to his duly installed successor, Worshipful Master Tom, as Installing Master William looks on.

For my part, I continue as Tiler, keeping away the cowans and eavesdroppers. However I struck out in my bid to serve as Historian also. Apparently our bylaws didn’t create the position, so there’s no way to install anyone as such. I foresee a proposed amendment this fall when we resume our labors. (Our Grand Lodge’s Grand Historian has the goal of seeing every lodge include a Historian.) I’ll keep busy doing the relevant work in the meantime.

Aside from our summer outing, probably one Saturday next month, Publicity Lodge will meet next on September 11. We’re known for hospitality, so come visit—and check in with the Tiler.

     

‘Charges from the old and to the new lodge Masters’

  

From Etsy

’Tis the season of Installations of Officers here in New York Freemasonry. I’m eager to get to lodge Monday night for ours.

The Master-elect has been a Master Mason for more than twenty years, but the rest of the officer line is comprised of Masons who have been around for, I think, five years or less. It’s fun for me to observe their efforts and palpable sincerity, and even to hear their worries and frustrations because they don’t know how good they have it! Without uttering—or perhaps knowing—the “O word,” Publicity Lodge upholds most of the Observant suite of best practices simply from tradition. I guess that makes sense, as in Traditional Observance.

But, while I look forward to Monday, I look back today at one of the essential seminal works of Masonic literature. With the installation of a new Worshipful Master and the “outstallation” of our current Master, I am reminded of two essays by William Hutchinson from The Spirit of Masonry, first printed in 1775.

In my view, there are about ten books from eighteenth century England that are essential reading for those who want to understand what Freemasons do and why, and The Spirit of Masonry is among them. (Without listing all, I’ll just say they are books of constitutions, ritual exposures, and individuals’ expoundings of Masonic thought. Nearly all that have followed are derivative.)

William Hutchinson

These pieces from Hutchinson originally were charges. William James Hutchinson (1732-1814) was a lawyer, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Antiquaries, and an author of poetry and prose. He would come to be dubbed “The Father of Masonic Symbolism,” to give an idea of his significance to what we do in lodge. Sunday, the fourth of June, happens to be the anniversary of his initiation into Freemasonry in 1770—meaning he had composed these orations and published Spirit within five years of being made a Mason.

What follow are, first, an excerpt of one of the charges from The Spirit of Masonry and then the ensuing charge in its entirety. Enjoy.

A Charge Delivered

by the Worshipful Master

on Resigning the Chair

By the rules of this lodge, I am now to resign the chair. But I cannot do this with entire satisfaction until I have testified the grateful sense I feel of the honor I received in being advanced to it.

Your generous and unanimous choice of me for your Master demands my thankful acknowledgments, though, at the same time, I sincerely wish that my abilities had been more adequate to the charge which your kind partiality elected me to. But this has always been, and still is, my greatest consolation, that, however deficient I may have been in the discharge of my duty, no one can boast a heart more devoted to the good of, the institution in general, and the reputation of this lodge in particular.

Though I am apprehensive I have already trespassed on your patience, yet, if I might be indulged, I would humbly lay before you a few reflections, adapted to the business of the day, which, being the effusions of a heart truly Masonic, will, it is hoped, be received with candor by you.

Title page.

Every association of men, as well as this of Freemasons must, for the sake of order and harmony, be regulated by certain laws, and, for that purpose, proper officers must be appointed, and empowered to carry those laws into execution, to preserve a degree of uniformity, at least to restrain any irregularity that might render such associations inconsistent. For we may as reasonably suppose an army may be duly disciplined, well provided, and properly conducted, without generals and other officers, as that a society can be supported without governors and their subalterns; or, which is the same, without some form of government to answer the end of the institution. And, as such an arrangement must be revered, it becomes a necessary requisite that a temper should be discovered in the several members adapted to the respective stations they are to fill.

This thought will suggest to you, that those who are ratified to preside as officers in a lodge, will not be sated with that honor, but, losing sight of it, will have only in view the service their office demands. Their reproofs will be dictated by friendship, softened by candor, and enforced with mildness and affection; in the whole of their deportment they will preserve a degree of dignity, tempered with affability and ease. This conduct, while it endears them to others, will not fail to raise their own reputation; and as envy should not be so much as once named among Freemasons, it will effectually prevent the growth of it, should it unfortunately ever appear.

Such is the nature of our constitution, that as some must of necessity rule and teach, so others must of course learn to obey; humility, therefore, in both, becomes an essential duty; for pride and ambition, like a worm at the root of a tree, will prey on the vitals of our peace, harmony, and brotherly love.

Had not this excellent temper prevailed when the foundation of Solomon’s Temple was first laid, it is easy to see that that glorious edifice would never have risen to a height of splendour which astonished the world.

Had all employed in this work been masters or superintendants, who must have prepared the timber in the forest, or hewn the stone in the quarry? Yet, though they were numbered and classed under different denominations, as princes, rulers, provosts, comforters of the people, stone-squarers, sculptors, &c., such was their unanimity, that they seemed actuated by one spirit, influenced by one principle.

Grand Lodge of New York Past Master apron.

Merit alone, then, entitled to preferment; an indisputable instance of which we have in the Deputy Grand Master of that great undertaking, who, without either wealth or power, or any other distinction than that of being the widow’s son, was appointed by the Grand Master, and approved by the people for this single reason—because he was a skillful artificer.

Let these considerations, my worthy brethren, animate us in the pursuits of so noble a science, that we may all be qualified to fill, in rotation, the most distinguished places in the lodge, and keep the honors of the Craft, which are the just rewards of our labor, in a regular circulation.

And, as none are less qualified to govern than those who have not learned to obey, permit me, in the warmest manner, to recommend to you all a constant attendance in this place, a due obedience to the laws of our institution, and a respectful submission to the direction of your officers, that you may prove to mankind the propriety of your election, and secure the establishment of this society to the latest posterity.

A Short Charge

Delivered to the Master

on Being Invested and Installed

Worshipful Sir,

By the unanimous voice of the members of this lodge, you are elected to the mastership thereof for the ensuing half-year; and I have the happiness of being deputed to invest you with this ensign of your office, be it ever in your thoughts that the ancients particularly held this symbol to be a just, a striking emblem of the Divinity. They said the gods, who are the authors of every thing established in wisdom, strength, and beauty, were properly represented by this figure. May you, worthy brother, not only consider it a mark of honor in this assembly, but also let it ever remind you of your duty both to God and man. And, as you profess the Sacred Volume to be your spiritual tressel-board, may you make it your particular care to square your life and conversation according to the rules and designs laid down therein.

You have been of too long standing, and are too good a member of our community, to require now any information in the duty of your office. What you have seen praiseworthy in others, we doubt not, you will imitate; and what you have seen defective, you will in yourself amend.

We have, therefore, the greatest reason to expect you will be constant and regular in your attendance on the lodge, faithful and diligent in the discharge of your duty, and that you will make the honor of the Supreme Architect of the Universe, and the good of the Craft, chief objects of your regard.

We likewise trust you will pay a punctual attention to the laws and regulations of this society, as more particularly becoming your present station; and that you will, at the same time, require a due obedience to them from every other member, well knowing that, without this, the best of laws become useless.

For a pattern of imitation, consider the great luminary of Nature, which, rising in the east, regularly diffuses light and lustre to all within its circle. In like manner it is your province, with due decorum, to spread and communicate light and instruction to the brethren in the lodge.

From the knowledge we already have of your zeal and abilities, we rest assured you will discharge the duties of this important station in such a manner as will redound greatly to the honor of yourself, as well as of those members over whom you are elected to preside.