‘The Bowl and the Pipe’

   

Title page.

This edition of The Magpie Mason is a long one. I share with you a chapter from The Evolution of Freemasonry: An Authentic Story of Freemasonry, Profusely Illustrated with Portraits of Distinguished Freemasons and Views of Memorable Relics and Places of Singular Masonic Interest by Delmar Duane Darrah in 1920. This chapter reflects on the convivial traditions of smoking and drinking in lodge during Freemasonry’s early years. Some of it is a little humorous; there are a few mentions of New York Masonry; and it concludes on a happy, hopeful note. I added a few photos and other graphics. Enjoy.

GL of BC&Y

The Bowl and the Pipe

In his indulgences, man has ever sought the bowl and the pipe. The early Masonic fathers, like the balance of the human race, had their weaknesses. An examination of their customs and habits shows them to have been devotees of the banquet board and the bar, as well as generous consumers of the weed.

The first Masonic lodges held their meetings in a tavern where they had ready access to the tap room. It was not so much the absence of proper places of meeting which caused the primitive lodges to assemble in the hostelry of the town, but it was because they could find in the tavern that which contributed to the gastronomic characteristics of the society for conviviality was the dominant feature of those early Masons and the knife, fork, and corkscrew were to them greater in their symbolism than the plumb, square, and level.

At the GWMNM.

Let it be understood that the hour of refreshment was not a mere company of Masons drinking, but the lodge room itself became nothing more or less than a barroom. One of the important pieces of furniture in the early lodge was what was known as the Mason’s glass, or drinking cup, which had a very thick bottom. Its purpose was to permit each brother to drink the other’s health, the heavy bottom enabling the drinkers to pound the table. In the revelry, the Master and Wardens were especially favored with long stemmed glasses called constables, which were capable of holding a quart. The conversation at these festive boards would not bear repetition in polite society, so strongly was it tinctured with profanity, vulgarity, and coarse jests. Dr. [George] Oliver relates that in lecturing a lodge meeting, the volume of smoke arose in the fury of a burning prairie and his address was frequently interrupted by calls to the barkeep for more beer and wine.

Poster at L.J. Peretti in Boston.

Such practices were not confined solely to the lodge. They affected the Grand Body as well, for in 1775, a rule was passed by the Grand Lodge of England that no one should smoke tobacco until the Grand Lodge closed. This rule was evidently ignored, for in 1815, it was revived and reaffirmed.

However shocking these statements may be to the Mason of today, it must not be forgotten that his brethren of two hundred years ago were simply doing whatever everybody else did, and their conduct was but a reflection of the social conditions of those times. The dominant sin of the eighteenth century was that of over indulgence. Dr. Emmons, an eminent divine, preached a sermon in 1719 in which he declared that multitudes might be seen every where wallowing in drunkenness.

On display at the GWMNM.

Even as late as one hundred and twenty-five years ago, drunkenness was a common thing. Nearly everybody drank—ministers drank, deacons drank, and laymen drank, while a church ordination service always had more toddy than prayer. Intemperance was found not only in public houses and in public places, but in private families as well. At an ordination service held in Boston about one hundred years ago, the incidental charges connected with the affair included three pails of bitters, eighteen pails of punch, eleven pails of wine, five mugs of flip and three pails of toddy. It is apparent that the carrying capacity of the divines of that period would make them eligible for membership in the most approved city club of today. As late as sixty or seventy years ago, people raised their barns with whiskey, christened their children with port wine, went to funerals full of toddy, came home and drank more.

The lodge records of the earliest periods make frequent mention of the hour of refreshment. Brother D. Murray Lyon, the Scottish historian, declares the banquet to have been recognized as an institution by the Masonic Craft by reason of an ordinance proclaimed in the year 1599. One reason assigned for the decline of the old operative societies was the failure to hold the annual feasts and the restoration of these customs by those responsible for the revival of Freemasonry had much to do with its future success. The reception of a new candidate appears from the old records to have been generally accompanied by a dinner. Sometimes the bill was paid from the general fund, and, at others, by each participant assuming his share of the cost. When the Grand Lodge was organized at York in 1725, among the rules adopted were the following:

Every first Wednesday in the month a lodge shall be held at the house of a brother according as their turn shall fall out.

 

Punchbowl c. 1800 at the GWMNM.

The bowl shall be filled at the monthly lodge with punch once; ale, bread, cheese, and tobacco in common, but if anything more shall be called for by any brother, either for eating or drinking, that brother so calling shall pay for it himself, besides his club.

 

The Master or Deputy shall be obliged to call for a bill exactly at ten o’clock if they meet in the evening and discharge it.

In the records of the Witham Lodge, to which reference has already been made, is a bylaw defining the duties of officers and the penalty for non-compliance, a “bottle of wine to be drunk by the brethren after the lodge is closed, to make them some past amends.”

At Warren Lodge 32 a few years ago.

Dr. Oliver, in referring to the time when he served as Master of the lodge in the early part of the nineteenth century, spoke of the refreshments as being abstemious and moderate. The amount for each brother being strictly limited to three small glasses of punch, and this was seldom exceeded except at the annual festival when a pint of wine was allowed. He says the brethren were disposed to increase the allowance but this was forbidden and no lodge addicted to intemperance could be found.

In their revelry, the brethren made a practice of giving to the furniture of the room fanciful titles and to impose a fine of a bottle of wine for calling any article by its proper name. The table was called a workshop; the chairs, stalls; the candles, stars; the bottles, barrels; the glasses, cannons; and the liquor, powder. If person asked “How do you do?” the party challenged, if a Mason, would drink to the other’s health, and when in a mixed company, a member of the Craft who desired to make known his affiliation with the society would, after drinking, turn his glass down.

Lawrence Dermott, in writing concerning the Bacchanalian feasts of the Craft says: “It was thought expedient to abolish the old custom of studying geometry in the lodge and some of the younger brethren made it appear that a good knife and fork, in the hands of a dextrous brother, over proper materials, would give greater satisfaction and add more to the conviviality of the lodge than the best scale and compasses in Europe.”

It is not to be supposed that these assemblages of Masons were wholly for the purpose of satisfying the appetite. The minutes of Witham Lodge, at Lincoln, of the date January 2, 1732, record: “Bro. Every recommended Mr. Stephen Harrison, of the City of London, music-master, as a proper person to be a member of this society, and proposed to give a guinea towards the charges of his initiation; Sir Cecil Wray proposed to give another guinea; Sir Christopher Hales, half a guinea, to which Sir Cecil Wray added another guinea; and in regard that Mr. Harrison might be useful and entertaining to the society, the lodge agreed to admit him for the sum of £3/13/6” or about $17.00 in our money. This goes to prove that our ancient brethren very early recognized music as a liberal art.

Punning was a favorite amusement and was intended to test the mental capacity of the participants. Another pastime was called crambo and required ready wit and keen perception to pass it freely around the board. It consisted in the Master reciting a line of poetry or proposing a toast to which every brother present was expected to improvise a line, and upon his failure to produce a corresponding rhyme he was penalized by being required to purchase an extra round of drinks for the company.

These carousals did not find favor with the entire membership of the Craft. Some of the brothers were very sensitive over the matter and considered that lodges meeting at taverns were guilty of an impropriety. Accordingly in 1778 a proposition was broached providing for the raising of a sum of money to be used in the construction of a Masonic Hall. One of the arguments offered being that the meetings of the fraternity in public houses gave it more the air of a bacchanalian society rather than one of gravity and wisdom.

Humidor on display at the GWMNM.

It must not be understood that the practices under discussion were confined solely to our English cousins. The records of the Grand Lodge of New York disclose the information that in 1772, Master’s Lodge, held at Albany, passed an order that “the Tiler be furnished 12 pint bowls for which he shall be accountable,” and anyone breaking them was to forward 8 pence for each one destroyed. Eleven years later, the Treasurer was ordered to procure for the use of the lodge one quarter cask of Lisbon or Sherry wine, five gallons of spirits, two loaves of sugar and two dozen glasses. Four years later a rule was passed that no brother be allowed to drink more than one-half pint of wine each lodge night and that the stewards be instructed to see that the rule was fully complied with.

Hoffman 412 in New York.

An evidence of what the conduct of Masons one hundred and fifty years ago may have been is suggested by the first article of a bylaw adopted May 22, 1771, by Solomon Lodge, formed at Poughkeepsie, New York: “In open lodge without order or decency, a dissolution must be the consequence. Therefore, at the third stroke of the Master’s hammer, a profound silence shall be observed, and if any brother curses, swears, or says anything irreligious, obscene, or ludicrous; offers to lay any wagers; interrupts another brother who is speaking to the Master; or hisses at what he is or has been doing; holds private committees; appears unclothed or with his hat on; or smokes tobacco in open lodge; or is disguised in liquor during lodge hours, such offending brother, shall for the first offense, be gently reproved and admonished by the Master; for the second offense, shall be fined one shilling; for the third offense, be fined two shillings; and for the fourth offense, to be immediately expelled from the lodge, and never be admitted again as a member or visitor unless he be balloted for and received in like manner with a strange brother, paying all fines due as per these bylaws; and eight shillings as a new admission fee if he chooses to be reinstated as a member.”

St. John’s Lodge No. 2, of Connecticut, which was organized February 26, 1754, adopted a bylaw providing that any brother guilty of profanity during lodge hours was to be fined one shilling; and any brother so void of shame as to disguise himself in liquor was to be fined two shillings, should he come to lodge in that condition, and be dismissed for the night. But whatever may have been the customs and the practices of those fathers in Masonry in the early and formulative periods of the society there were simply reflected in the lodges the same customs and habits that characterized people generally.

It stands to the everlasting credit of Masonry that it has outlived its ancestors and their environment. It has been a pioneer in the movement toward temperance, and today drunkenness is a Masonic misdemeanor punished by proper discipline. The habit of patronizing barrooms is not in accordance with Masonic ethics. Profanity and coarse jests are seldom heard in a place of meeting. Gentlemanly conduct, intellectuality, culture, and high morality, even to religious severity, are apparent everywhere. Thus by a long process of evolution, Freemasonry has passed from a convivial association to an institution of strong moral force seeking the elevation of the human mind and the cultivation of the social virtues.

     

‘CWLR invades Gettysburg’

    

Most of the brethren present July 8 at Good Samaritan Lodge 336 in Gettysburg.

Before too much time passes and I forget what happened, here is Magpie coverage of last weekend’s visit of Civil War Lodge of Research to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

CWLR 1865 is chartered by the Grand Lodge of Virginia, so its various sojourns outside that state are legalized by dispensations from both the GLV and the grand jurisdiction being visited. And all that is read aloud in lodge, because this is a real lodge conducting a tiled communication. Anyway, the lodge had been to Gettysburg before, but this was my first trip there—and I definitely will be back. My stay lasted only forty-eight hours, and it’s obvious one needs more time than that to enjoy more than a snippet of all there is to see. Between the battlefield, the cemetery, and the town itself, there’s a lot to do. And I don’t think it’s necessary to be passionate about Civil War history to love this place.

A pipe before dinner

So, my itinerary began with a stop about 25 miles west in Chambersburg, where the famous J.M. Boswell’s Pipes & Tobacco shop serves the area’s discerning smokers. It’s one of those destination stores for us—a classic pipe shop, the way the Lord intended—with pipes and tons of tobaccos for sale, and a smoking lounge upstairs.

Some of Boswell’s proprietary pipe mixtures…

…and a lot of its tins.

I’m not really a shopper any more. My tobacco inventory is, uh, enough. But, I can’t walk into the business without putting any cash in the register, so I bought an ounce of something I never ordinarily would smoke: an aromatic mixture. That’s the favored style in the United States (vanilla, cherry, chocolate, rum, whiskey, etc.), whereas my favorites are the English, Balkan, and Oriental styles—again, how the Lord intended. So I purchased an ounce of Boswell’s own Cherry Smash. It’s okay, but I can’t understand the allure of aromatics. A terrific smoke shop, with a walk-in humidor of cigars too, although I didn’t even look at those.

That was the afternoon of Friday the seventh; later, I ventured into Gettysburg’s Lincoln Square to find the brethren at the Blue and Gray Bar & Grill, as arranged by the lodge. Busy place. So busy that they couldn’t seat the group, despite reservations, so the brethren headed around the corner to Borough BBQ, where I eventually caught up with them. This place was empty for some reason, but the food is good, and the service is friendly. (Everyone is friendly around there. Not what I’m used to, coming from the land of mindless, hyper-aggressive crazies and drug addicts.)

To walk around Lincoln Square is to realize you could reside in Gettysburg. Tons of nineteenth century (and some eighteenth) brick architecture along narrow streets forming a historic town that has benefitted greatly from preservation. Yeah, there’s a fast food chain represented somewhere in there, but Gettysburg is a smart example of planning.

CWLR meets

The lodge meeting was Saturday morning (July 8) at Good Samaritan Lodge 336, perfectly situated on Lincoln Square. The Master of Good Samaritan and others from the lodge were on hand to greet CWLR.

Good Samaritan dates to January 1, 1825 (its original number was 200). It was a popular and prosperous lodge in its early years, but during the anti-Masonry hysteria of the ensuing years, membership was halved. Read their history here.

Our research lodge meeting was brief. What CWLR 1865 does is more sightseeing than publishing. Research lodges basically are historical societies that hold warrants from competent Masonic authorities, and CWLR likes to get into the historic sites, be they battlefields or whatever, and soak it in.

When a lodge takes multiple trips per year, I think you have to expect spotty attendance among its members, and the CWLR officer line was batting about .500 that day. The Master, Treasurer, Secretary, Junior Deacon, and Tyler (Virginia spelling) were present, but the others couldn’t make it. Diverse Masons filled in where needed, resulting in a unique Opening ritual where each officer performed what he knew. It all works, of course, because the differences in some words and gestures do not interfere with the overall practice. The intended Virginia ritual is a lot like our New York, except with a certain due guard in the place of the Sign of Fidelity. Twenty-three were in attendance.

Research papers are welcome, but none were presented that day. The business was tackled. Seven petitioners, representing lodges in Maryland, New York (me), Pennsylvania, and Virginia were elected to membership. This research lodge has 330 members now. That’s a lot.

‘This is my appendant body’

Gary Laing, PM

Probably the highlight of this meeting was the presentation of a ceremonial replica saber to Tyler Gary Laing by Worshipful Master Andy Wilson commemorating Past Master Laing’s silver anniversary with the lodge. Wow! Most lodges give just a pin. Gary made an impromptu acceptance speech in which he explained how much CWLR means to him as a Mason and as a man. Through this lodge, he and his wife have built deep friendships with other CWLR couples. And he likened his initial attraction to Freemasonry to that of Union Army officer William McKinley’s, if you know that story. And he spoke of finding in CWLR the satisfaction that others seek through Masonry’s appendant bodies, which he declined to join. “This is my appendant body,” he said of this lodge. (As one who has sampled nearly all the groups in mainstream Masonry, finding most of them pointless, I certainly empathize.) Past Master Richard Burkman, one of those dear friends (and who kind of resembles Robert E. Lee), arose from the Senior Deacon’s place and spoke in tribute of Bro. Laing, and later told me about the many memorable times they and their wives have shared together over the years.

The battlefield and cemetery

Michigan Cavalry Brigade Monument.

Click here for more information.

The meeting was closed and we individually headed to Gettysburg National Military Park—the battlefield—to visit several specific sites. Not being a Civil War historian, most of what lodge Secretary/tour guide Bennett Hart imparted went over my head, but simply walking the grounds, and approximately on the dates of the fighting too, is an experience. We were in the East Cavalry Field, where U.S. and Confederate forces repeatedly clashed on July 3, 1863.

The monuments, statues, markers, cannons, and other historical spots are too numerous to see in any single visit. Those dedicated only to New York’s combatants number eighty-seven, if I understand. I couldn’t even find the New York State Monument, the 110-footer dedicated in 1893.

Click here for more information.

Monuments to New York soldiers are everywhere.

Later in the afternoon, the group had plans for a cookout elsewhere in the park, which I’d intended to attend, but the heat got to me. I returned to the hotel for a shower and change of clothes, and then returned to the Blue and Gray, successfully this time, for a seat at the bar for food and hard cider. I reported that already here.

Before heading home

The stock photo everyone shoots.

While I missed the New York State Monument, I was not going to leave before seeing the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania’s Friend to Friend Masonic Memorial. Luckily, it is very easy to reach. Just head to the vicinity of Tommy’s Pizza at 105 Steinwehr Avenue, cross the street, and enter the Gettysburg National Cemetery Annex. It’s right in front of you. (Aaaand it turns out that New York Monument is right near the Friend to Friend, but I still missed it!)

A future edition of The Magpie Mason will be a pictorial of this Masonic masterpiece.

On the downside

There was one negative to the weekend, something beyond our control: It was Bike Week!

This bike, with the S&C, was
parked in the garage all weekend,
and thus was silent
(as Masons are taught!).

I hear Gettysburg Bike Week is the biggest Bike Week in Pennsylvania, and I believe it. Unless it was the same hundred or so flabby old white guys with matching gray goatees riding in circles all weekend, there were maybe a thousand or more Harley-Davidson enthusiasts ceaselessly roaring around town the entire time. Whether it was one biker popping and thundering past or a herd of the hogs rumbling along, the cacophony was too much. It was clearly audible upstairs in the lodge room, and deafening on the street. And literally endless. The biker population likely more than doubled the traffic volume, making getting around difficult and annoying. Don’t schedule your visit knowing this.

And that’s it. I will return to this beautiful historic town before long for deeper sightseeing and other pleasures. (Union Cigar is owned by a Mason.) Good Samaritan 336 meets on second Thursdays, except summertime, if you want to attend.

     

‘Monk Tabaco and the Square & Compasses’

    

Monk Tabaco

An online discussion of rope tobaccos for the pipe led me to the existence of an Argentine tobacco company named Monk that, for reasons I cannot discover, employs the Square and Compasses for a logo. I thought I’d share some info here.

Monk Tabaco

I gather Monk adheres to the boutique approach, offering its mixtures in small quantities, so the oligarchy of pipe tobacco makers should fear no danger. Maybe success will produce growth. (I don’t find any distribution in the United States.)

Monk Tabaco

It uses ingredients with which we are familiar, and it makes pipe mixtures in the forms we know. There are ribbon, flake, and—impressively—the rope tobaccos. Monk sells aromatics and the usual traditional blends, so there’s something for just about everyone. They manufacture cigars also, but pipe mixtures seem to be Monk’s emphasis. Actually, I’m only assuming they make the goods.

Monk Tabaco

No hablo español, so I can’t decipher its website, but some of its Facebook posts are translated into English.

Monk Tabaco

When looking at the prices, don’t have a heart attack. The goods are valued in Argentine pesos, which is denominated with the same dollar sign we use. For example, the 100-gram tin of Mediterráneo Edición Especial retails for $3,450.00—and, in U.S. dollars, that’s $15.52. (If you think inflation here is debilitating, you won’t believe what’s happening in Argentina!)

The Grand Lodge of Argentina is among the recognized family comprised of most Freemasons. From what I’ve read, I would say our Argentine brethren practice the variety of Freemasonry favored by the Grand Orient of France, as opposed to the Anglo-American type. Click here and check it out.

     

‘Géométrie at 3 on 4/5’

   

smokingpipes.com

Speaking of geometry (see post below), today will see the release of a new tobacco mixture for the pipe from the prolific Gregory Pease. Géométrie is a Virginia-Oriental mixture which will be perfect for the imminent return of warm weather. Are you excited?

From the publicity, via Cornell and Diehl:

smokingpipes.com

A blend of aged Red Virginias layered with vintage Basma and Izmir leaf, G.L. Pease’s Géométrie reinvigorates the Virginia/Oriental archetype in a pressed, plug-cut format, offering exceptional aging potential and a deep, matured flavor right out of the tin: Notes of freshly baked goods overlap planes of subtle spice, rich, malty sweetness, and a hint of floral zest on the palate.

Géométrie is the second blend in G.L. Pease’s Zeitgeist Collection of pipe tobaccos, a line celebrating the often avant-garde and rebellious themes of the modern era. These are innovative mixtures designed to challenge preconceptions and to incite contemplation through their modern artwork, unique formats, and components.

The online retailers advertising this blend say Géométrie will become available this afternoon at six o’clock our time, which is 3 p.m. on the West Coast. So?

It’s just my theory, because I don’t get out much and I’m tired all the time, but Pease got his start in the tobacco business at Drucquer & Sons in Berkeley, California, ergo the three o’clock. And today, April 5, in American standard notation, is written 4/5. (Every product has its release date, but I’ve never heard of a pipe tobacco being embargoed until a specific hour in the middle of a workweek.)

3:4:5 should remind Freemasons of a certain geometrical theorem we hold dear.

That company was founded in London by Bro. John Drucquer, shown here in an old catalog:

Drucquer & Sons

Is Greg Pease a Mason? I have no idea, but I’m ordering a tin or three of Géométrie!

     

‘Scottish Freemasonry Symposium, Part III’

    

One of many slides, packed with dazzling facts, on the screen.

I’ll wrap up an enjoyable year with this overdue post on the George Washington Masonic National Memorial’s Scottish Freemasonry in America Symposium (the title seems to vary here and there, so I’m going with what’s on the front cover of the program) eight weeks ago. An enjoyable year mostly because of the more-than-the-usual travel, compensating, I guess, for the period of pandemic lockdown. There was Masonic Week in Virginia in February; Royal Arch Grand Chapter in Utica in March; the Railroad Degree in Delaware in April; Masonic Con in New Hampshire in June; and back to Virginia for this conference on November 5—which happened to have been the twenty-fifth anniversary of my Master Mason Degree. That whole weekend was the perfect way to celebrate the milestone.

This actually is the third in a series of Magpie posts about the events, and there are sidebars also, if you care to scroll through the posts from November. Pardon the poor quality of the photographs. So, here we go.

At the Washington Memorial, introductions, welcomes, and remarks were tendered by Executive Director George Seghers, President Claire Tusch, and Director of Archives and Events Mark Tabbert. The roster of presenters was a balance of Masonic and non-Masonic speakers who gave explanations of how Scots impacted British North America by emigrating to the colonies and bringing their Freemasonry with them. I think it is a neglected subject thanks to our anglocentric understanding of early American history. We think of things “Anglo-American” at the exclusion of the Scottish people, philosophies, religion, and more that also came to the American colonies.

Professor Ned Landsman

Professor Emeritus Ned Landsman, of SUNY-Stony Brook, discussed “Mobility and Stability in Scottish Society and Culture in the Eighteenth Century.” The Scottish influx into North America was not as large as England’s, he explained, mostly because the Scots were as likely to emigrate to Ireland and other destinations, and many who did cross the Atlantic were apt to return home after earning some money. But shifting economic and political fortunes in Scotland prompted enough to make the journey to find work, to trade, and to secure greater freedom. In the eighteenth century, it was Highlanders mostly, representing a “broad segment of intellectual life” (including a number of medical doctors) who established in America societies for sociable, charitable, and convivial pursuits.

Professor Hans Schwartz

Professor Hans Schwartz of Northeastern University in Boston presented “Migration and Scots Freemasonry in America, from the Stamp Act to the Revolution.” Schwartz is a Freemason and, more importantly, he is the liveliest and funniest lecturer I possibly have ever seen. I don’t know his availability to travel to lodges, but if you can book him, you’ll be a hero in your lodge. He explained how Scots lodges in British America were fewer than English lodges, but the Scots were influential beyond their numbers. George Washington’s lodge, Fredericksburg, was a Scottish lodge, as were others in Virginia, such as Port Royal and Blandford. The rolls of their memberships in the 1700s and beyond are filled with Scottish names. In Boston, Lodge of St. Andrew, which met in the Green Dragon Tavern, was the first lodge in British North America chartered by the Grand Lodge of Scotland. In only Fredericksburg and St. Andrew, you have George Washington, Hugh Mercer, Paul Revere, Joseph Warren, Samuel Adams, John Hancock, and a host of lesser known revolutionary patriots and local heroes. And there were Scottish lodges on the length of the Atlantic seaboard, even down into the Caribbean.

Bro. Bob Cooper

Bob Cooper was next, but sadly his talk was cut short. We learned later that he was in pain (his bad knee) and had to get off his feet. From what I can recollect about his talk from eight Saturdays ago, he spoke of the importance of there being a Grand Lodge of Scotland after the union of Scottish and English parliaments as Great Britain in 1707, and that the Grand Lodge served as something of an extension of Scottish nationhood, particularly when it issued warrants to lodges in America.

Next up was Jim Ambuske from the Center for Digital History, Washington’s Library, at Mount Vernon, who brought to light an aspect of American Revolution history unknown to most. He explained the War of Independence as a civil war among Scots living in America. Citing a family named McCall as an example, Ambuske explained how Archibald McCall settled in Virginia in the 1750s and became a successful merchant and farmer. Politically, he sometimes sided with Washington and Jefferson, but he also supported the Stamp Act. When the war started, he placed himself on the side of the Loyalists, and so the rebels deemed him a traitor and eventually seized his properties. McCall appears to have been a supporter of Lord Dunmore who, of Scottish heritage, was colonial governor of Virginia and a very active agent of British policy. (When Patrick Henry said “Give me liberty or give me death,” he was speaking at Dunmore.) This was bad enough, but it also put him in the uniquely shameful position of asking the Crown for financial relief due to the loss of his wealth and income. As I understand it, he spent the rest of his life trying to square away these financial disasters, but, in death, he was able to bequeath his daughter two plantations.

Bro. Gordon Michie

The fifth speaker was Gordon Michie, another Mason, who spelled out the migration of Freemasonry to the United States, Canada, and the Caribbean. I scribbled some notes, but most of what he told us is well known Masonic history so I won’t transcribe it here. I think the important historical information from Michie’s talk comes from Scottish Masonic Records, 1736-1950 by George Draffen, if you can lay hands on it.

And that was it for Saturday. There was a black tie banquet with a whisky tasting later, but I skipped it, preferring to get downtown for a meal and to duck into John Crouch Tobacconist, Alexandria’s oldest cigar and pipe shop, established 1967. I haven’t been there in ages, and somehow it looks like a smaller shop now that all the floor space is cleared of the Scottish souvenirs and tchotchkes. I bought some pipe tobacco: two ounces of Virginia Currency and, keeping with the Scottish theme, two ounces of Hebrides, a Latakia-heavy mixture that I’m smoking right now.

The conference resumed Sunday morning with Heather Calloway, Executive Director of Indiana University’s Center for Fraternal Collections and Research, who spoke on “Aye, Right Beyond the Haggis Dinners, Old Nessie, and Yonder in America.”

Dr. Heather Calloway

Speaking from not only a Masonic perspective, but from a broader American fraternalism outlook, she told of how Scottish culture was filtered into America through certain fraternal orders, like the Benevolent Order of Scottish Clans, the Daughters of Scotia, and others. (Back in the day, there were more than 300 fraternal societies in this country, with aggregate membership of about 6 million, she said.) Heather shared a few anecdotes, including one of a visit to Federal Lodge 1 in the District of Columbia, which invited her to look at some “cool old stuff.” The lodge didn’t know it had one particular item they found in a closet: the Bible used at George Washington’s funeral.

Bro. Ewan Rutherford

And the final presentation brought to the lectern Ewan Rutherford, Deputy Grand Master of the Royal Order of Scotland, who gave a Scottish history of Freemasonry. Beginning in 1475, with the incorporation of masons in Edinburgh, and continuing through more familiar facts about William Schaw, the Mary’s Chapel minute book, and to the Royal Order of Scotland, Rutherford brought the affair to a tidy conclusion, making clear how Scotland has been central to the identity of Freemasonry.

It was a great event that Claire Tusch, the Memorial Association’s President, said he hoped could be the first of more such conferences. And I agree! (Easy for me to say. I don’t have to do any of the work.) But I’ll be back in Alexandria in February for the Memorial’s centennial anniversary celebration. More on that later.

I’m sorry for the lack of content and detail on the presentations, and, as always, any errors or omissions are attributable to me.

Happy New Year!

     

‘Faithful steward of the mysteries’

    

Steward and Tyler.

It is the duty of the Steward and Tyler—usually both offices, in small lodges, are conferred upon the same person—to remain behind when the lodge closes, and see that every thing is made safe, secure, and orderly: Safe by extinguishing fires and lights; secure by closing all locks and fastenings; orderly by gathering up aprons, jewels, &c., from the places where impatient hands have strewn them, and depositing each in its proper receptacle. For want of this, books become prematurely torn and defaced; jewels bruised, bent, and broken; aprons soiled to absolute defilement. It is not the wearing that brings these things to such a speedy end, it is the careless manner in which they are used. Our observation of lodges brings us to the conclusion that nothing is so extravagant as neglect.

Visiting a certain lodge one morning early, the meeting having closed about midnight before, we remarked the aprons are lying, white and clean, in the wardrobe; the jewels hanging on a hook in proper order, the square outwards; the candlesticks in a row on a shelf; the books closed and neatly piled; the Masonic carpet covered by its curtain; the spittoons in the corner; chairs set back against the wall; bylaws gathered up on the secretary’s table; and the whole as fresh and systematic as a lady’s parlor. Inquiring of the Steward and Tyler how he found time for all of this last night, he very sensibly remarked: “That he was paid by the lodge to perform certain duties, and whenever he found that he could not get time to be honest, he would resign his office.” Thinks a friend who stood by, “what a difference there is between men!”

And so there is. For on a visit to another lodge, we observed every thing in disorder and running to waste. The aprons were lying like autumn leaves, wherever they happen to fall—on tables, chairs, and floor. Some of them were defiled with the contents of the spittoons, all of them were in a condition disgraceful to the curator or the wearers. The jewels lay in higgledy piggledy confusion, as extravagant in its results as it was discreditable to the lodge, for some of them were bent, one was broken, and all were rusty and dingy. The bits of candles lay here, there, and every-where, smearing books and furniture. The good old Bible having been left open, had received a thick deposit of dust, which contrasted painfully with its sacred character. The spittoons in the darkened room formed capital stumbling-blocks, which we happily took advantage of, and found a corresponding horizontal benefit. In fact, the whole scene resembled “a banquet hall deserted,” from which the guests had all retired intoxicated, and the servants had incontinently locked the door.

And yet, that Tyler was paid a dollar a night to do the duties of the office of Tyler and Steward. His not doing those duties cost his lodge not less than fifty dollars a year in damages. Was he a faithful steward of the mysteries? Certainly not. Soon as the lodge was declared closed, he barely took time to blow out the lights and was off to bed, leaving the costly paraphernalia of his lodge to the moles and the bats. Such conduct is reprehensible. Who is responsible for such a waste of property?

The policy is to select a careful, experienced man for Tyler—one to whom the fees of the office are an object, and one who will conscientiously earn those fees. Many such an one have we found in our journeys. One in New York has served for twenty years as Tyler; one in Boston for forty. Such men are beyond all price, and when they pass beyond the dark valley they are honored as the best of the Brotherhood.

Rob Morris

The American Freemason magazine

1858

     

‘Fascinating Masonic fact!’

     

While there may be a lot to say for Masonic online activities, there is no substitute for getting out and visiting in person. In May, I had reason to travel to Cape Cod, and while there, I enjoyed attending both King Hiram’s Lodge and DeWitt Clinton Lodge. Don’t ask why I still haven’t posted photos after two months, but those will come in the next editions of The Magpie Mason. Today’s Magpie post imparts a fascinating Masonic fact:

The Grand Lodge of Masons in Massachusetts, on Boston Common, is just a few hundred feet from L.J. Peretti!

Located at 186 Tremont Street, this headquarters of the hemisphere’s eldest grand lodge actually is its third location, dating to 1898. L.J. Peretti, nexus of avid enthusiasts of tobacco, opened for business in 1870.

I think we can see why our brother Masons settled on that neighborhood!

But now, some photos:

A tobacco scale featuring pillars, an arch, and a keystone!

Various Dunhill straight shapes.

My purchase consisted of an ounce of each of various English, Balkan, Oriental, and Cavendish mixtures. The quality is superb! If you’re agonizing over trying to get a sample of any Esoterica mixture, do yourself a favor and just order L.J. Peretti house blends. They’ll ship to you. I’ve been puffing happily since I left the store. 

I was on my way home, and it was almost past visiting hours at the grand lodge, so I didn’t knock on the door. Nor did I have time to get to Leavitt and Peirce in Cambridge. Definitely next time.