‘A symposium of symbolism’

    

Joseph Fort Newton by Travis Simpkins.

If the influence of Masonry upon youth is here emphasized, it is not to forget that the most dangerous period of life is not youth, with its turmoil of storm and stress, but between forty and sixty. When the enthusiasms of youth have cooled, and its rosy glamour has faded into the light of common day, there is apt to be a letting down of ideals, a hardening of heart, when cynicism takes the place of idealism. If the judgments of the young are austere and need to be softened by charity, the middle years of life needs still more the reinforcement of spiritual influence and the inspiration of a holy atmosphere. Also, Albert Pike used to urge upon old men the study of Masonry, the better to help them gather up these scattered thoughts about life and build them into a firm faith; and because Masonry offers to every man a great hope and consolation. Indeed, its ministry to every period of life is benign. Studying Masonry is like looking at a sunset; each man who looks is filled with the beauty and wonder of it, but the glory is not diminished.

Joseph Fort Newton

The Builders

1914

Born on this date either in 1876 or 1880, depending on your source, in Decatur, Texas was Joseph Fort Newton.

He was made a Mason in Friendship Lodge 7 in Dixon, Illinois in 1902. His is one of those Masonic stories that weave together the man, the vocation (a minister and doctor of divinity; attorney; author), and the Masonic life. Newton is remembered for one particular message: “We can never have a religion of brotherhood on earth until we have a brotherhood of religion.”

He was the author of books. The Builders was not the only one, but may be the most famous due to its ubiquitous gifting to new Masons, its frequent reprintings, and translations into diverse languages. From his The Religion of Masonry: “In its modern form at least, our Masonry is a symposium of symbolism in which three streams or strands of faith unite, by which man is a Builder of a Temple, a Pilgrim in quest of a lost Truth, and, if he be worthy and heroic, a Finder of the Sublime Secret of Life.”

Making him especially dear to my own heart, Newton was editor of the two finest periodicals in early twentieth century American Masonic publishing: The Builder and The Master Mason. He also was a popular and well traveled lecturer—all the above in addition to his ministerial labors and family life and other pursuits.

We’ve all read a great many books about Freemasonry, tracing the changes in speculative focus over the generations, from the personal use of symbols to various mystical interpretations of the rituals to the psychology of Craft teachings to the cultural anthropology of it all and more. Recent years have brought us ideas on occultism, “magick,” and even psychotropic drugs(!). I’m as guilty as anyone when it comes to seeking the next shiny thing (ergo the title Magpie), but now that I’m not only between forty and sixty but actually am very near the latter age, I find myself taking more comfort in the Masonic messages bequeathed to us from more gentle times.

Newton’s The Builders was published in 1914, The Year of Creation of the world we today inhabit, with our hindsight of world wars, the “isms” that begat genocides, and the polluting byproducts of wondrous sciences and technologies. I leave you with the most quoted words of The Builder, its concluding paragraph actually:

When is a man a Mason? When he can look out over the rivers, the hills, and the far horizon with a profound sense of his own littleness in the vast scheme of things, and yet have faith, hope, and courage—which is the root of every virtue. When he knows that down in his heart every man is as noble, as vile, as divine, as diabolic, and as lonely as himself, and seeks to know, to forgive, and to love his fellow man. When he knows how to sympathize with men in their sorrows, yea, even in their sins—knowing that each man fights a hard fight against many odds. When he has learned how to make friends and to keep them, and above all how to keep friends with himself. When he loves flowers, can hunt the birds without a gun, and feels the thrill of an old forgotten joy when he hears the laugh of a little child. When he can be happy and high-minded amid the meaner drudgeries of life. When star-crowned trees, and the glint of sunlight on flowing waters, subdue him like the thought of one much loved and long dead. When no voice of distress reaches his ears in vain, and no hand seeks his aid without response. When he finds good in every faith that helps any man to lay hold of divine things and sees majestic meanings in life, whatever the name of that faith may be. When he can look into a wayside puddle and see something beyond mud, and into the face of the most forlorn fellow mortal and see something beyond sin. When he knows how to pray, how to love, how to hope. When he has kept faith with himself, with his fellow man, with his God; in his hand a sword for evil, in his heart a bit of a song—glad to live, but not afraid to die! Such a man has found the only real secret of Masonry, and the one which it is trying to give to all the world.

     

‘Of all the gin joints: The Masonic Temple’

    

Warren Inn

Gin and July go together like, well, gin and any warm weather, and a famous cocktail served icy at a landmark destination in Vermont could be what you need to lower the body temperature on a summer day. While dubbed The Masonic Temple, this mixture is named for Mason, a barman at the Pitcher Inn, located in the Town of Warren, itself named for Masonic legend and Revolution martyr Joseph Warren.

Its recipe is mistake-proof. As the Inn’s website puts it:

If you’ve had Mason for a server at 275 Main, it’s more than likely that you’ve tried his signature cocktail, The Masonic Temple. Combining English gin, grapefruit juice, lime, and Cointreau, this is the perfect beverage for Wednesday around 5:30 p.m.

Recipe:

 - 1 1/2 ounce Bombay Dry Gin

 - 3/4 oz. Cointreau

 - 1/2 oz. fresh lime juice

 - fresh grapefruit juice

Fill Old Fashioned glass with ice, combine first four ingredients, top off with grapefruit juice. Shake in a cocktail shaker until metal begins to frost. Coat rim with sugar, pour in cocktail, and garnish with a lime.

It’s 5:30 Wednesday somewhere.

    

‘Chess: Geometry is the key’

 

Magpie file photo

Remnants of Albert Pike’s chess set are displayed in the House of the Temple. They look to predate the standardization of chess pieces in the nineteenth century by chess master Howard Staunton.

Of course every day is a chess day, but today is International Chess Day. Have a great, or Magnus, day!

The closing paragraph of the “An Analysis of the Tarot Cards” chapter in Manly Palmer Hall’s The Secret Teachings of All Ages (Page CXXXII) reads:

In its symbolism chess is the most significant of all games. It has been called “the royal game”—the pastime of kings. Like the Tarot cards, the chessmen represent the elements of life and philosophy. The game was played in India and China long before its introduction into Europe. East Indian princes were wont to sit on the balconies of their palaces and play chess with living men standing upon a checkerboard pavement of black and white marble in the courtyard below. It is popularly believed that the Egyptian Pharaohs played chess, but an examination of their sculpture and illuminations has led to the conclusion that the Egyptian game was a form of draughts. In China, chessmen are often carved to represent warring dynasties, as the Manchu and the Ming. The chessboard consists of 64 squares alternately black and white and symbolizes the floor of the House of the Mysteries. Upon this field of existence or thought move a number of strangely carved figures, each according to fixed law. The white king is Ormuzd; the black king, Ahriman; and upon the plains of Cosmos the great war between Light and Darkness is fought through all the ages. Of the philosophical constitution of man, the kings represent the spirit; the queens the mind; the bishops the emotions; the knights the vitality; the castles, or rooks, the physical body. The pieces upon the king’s side are positive; those upon the queen’s side, negative. The pawns are sensory impulses and perceptive faculties—the eight parts of the soul. The white king and his suite symbolize the Self and its vehicles; the black king and his retinue, the not-self—the false Ego and its legion. The game of chess thus sets forth the eternal struggle of each part of man’s compound nature against the shadow of itself. The nature of each of the chessmen is revealed by the way in which it moves; geometry is the key to their interpretation. For example: The castle (the body) moves on the square; the bishop (the emotions) moves on the slant; the king, being the spirit, cannot become captured, but loses the battle when so surrounded that it cannot escape.

If I win the lottery, I’m going to open a chess retail and playing parlor on Thompson, between West Third and Bleecker, and name it The Pawn Shop. In the meantime, “Make Evans Great Again!”

THIS JUST IN: Grand Master Magnus Carlsen announced on his podcast today that he will not compete next year to defend his world championship, which he has held since 2013. While not retiring from chess, he says he has no motivation to continue playing at the FIDE top stratum. The end of an era.

     

‘2023 World Conference of Regular Masonic Grand Lodges’

    

The details are still to come, but mark your calendars for the 18th World Conference of Regular Masonic Grand Lodges next year in Jerusalem.

(I think what happened was it had been scheduled for Nazareth in 2020, but the Chinese Virus kiboshed that. The 17th went ahead in Berlin last November, and now they’re planning again for Israel next May.)

     

‘Mt. Vernon to host Mark Tabbert’

    

Mt. Vernon will host Mark Tabbert next week for a discussion of George Washington the Freemason.

UPDATE: Click here to watch the recording of Mark’s talk.

Tuesday, July 19

7 to 8 p.m.

Fred W. Smith

National Library

Free admission

Register here

Mark Tabbert

Mt. Vernon is the historic site in Virginia where George and Martha Washington resided; now it is privately owned but in the public service as a cultural treasure. Tabbert is the Director of Archives and Exhibits at the George Washington Masonic National Memorial in Alexandria, Virginia. He is the author of the recently published A Deserving Brother: George Washington and Freemasonry.

If you think Washington’s presence in U.S. Masonic history is overdone, it may be because you hear only the same few facts and misunderstandings repeatedly, and they fail to impress. I think Mark’s book can enthuse the fraternity with his comprehensive study of all the known Masonic activities of America’s most famous Freemason.

The talk, free and open to the public, both in person and online, will explore the facts chronicled in the book.

      

‘Scottish Masonry registration is open’

    

Registration is open for the Scottish Freemasonry in America Symposium. That’ll be at the George Washington Masonic National Memorial in Alexandria, Virginia from November 4 through 6. Click here.

From the itinerary, this obviously will be an unforgettable weekend. The organizers should be proud. In short, a roster of impressive Masonic and academic speakers will present historical details of the varied roles Scottish Freemasonry played in the early years of Freemasonry in America. Plus, there will be a reception, banquet, day trip to Fredericksburg Lodge 4, golf, and more. Read it all here.

To compensate for the period of pandemic lockdown, I’ve been treating myself to more than the usual Masonic travel this year, and this gathering will be the perfect capstone to 2022. Hope to see you there.

     

‘Grotto grows beyond the U.S.’

    

Central America’s smallest nation would not have been my first guess at where the Grotto would take root outside the United States, but I’m usually wrong about most things, and El Salvador it is.

The Grotto is the Mystic Order of Veiled Prophets of the Enchanted Realm—don’t ask me to attempt that in Spanish—and the 132nd Annual Supreme Council Session of Grottoes of North America has been underway this week in Cincinnati. The announcement of Mixtlan and Xibalba Grottos being established in San Salvador came the other day, resulting in a change of name: Grottoes International.

In the family tree of Freemasonry, the Grotto is a frivolous group that leavens the solemnity of our labors in the Craft lodge. It was a group of New York Masons at Hamilton Lodge 120 who started it all. You can read the history here.

In other exciting news, Azim’s very own Victor Mann proceeds up the officer line to Grand Deputy Monarch. Huzzah!

And we have a new District Deputy in Frank Sforza. Congratulations! (I didn’t even know we had District Deputies, but when your Order is growing as rapidly as MOVPER, you get District Deputies.)

Also, on the humanitarian side of the Order, legislation was approved to raise the maximum age of patients receiving dental care from 18 to 21. MOVPER’s main philanthropy is providing dentistry to children with special needs, many of whom require treatment beyond the abilities of most dentists.

I bet they’ll announce where next year’s session will take place, and I’ll update this with that info when I hear it.

     

‘Millions for Manchester’

    

Happy anniversary to the Grand Lodge of New Hampshire! It was on this date in 1789 when the Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of the State of New Hampshire was organized at the William Pitt Tavern in Portsmouth.

John Sullivan

Five brethren from St. John’s Lodge in the town were present and voted for several resolutions to give their creation form. For Grand Master, they elected John Sullivan, Esq., President of the State of New Hampshire.

Commemorative token courtesy of Bro. Tim.

The Grand Lodge met again on the sixteenth of the month with additional brethren from St. Patrick’s Lodge in Portsmouth and Rising Sun Lodge in Keene present. They addressed a few jurisprudence items.

But this edition of The Magpie Mason concerns today’s needs, namely millions of dollars to restore the Manchester Masonic Temple and keep it in service, perhaps to 2089 and beyond.

The cornerstone was laid with Masonic ceremony on St. John Baptist Day 1925, but as its hundredth birthday nears, the temple shows its age and is in need of extensive modernization. I was there last month for Masonic Con; despite never having seen the place before, I recognized it intimately.

The growth of the Masonic fraternity in the United States during the 1920s was fantastic and almost incomprehensible to today’s Mason. To accommodate the tens of thousands of new brethren nationwide, our rapidly multiplying lodges acquired and developed real estate all over the place, in many instances constructing two or three-story temples of marble or limestone or granite or whatever. Buildings that could stand for centuries.

They contained multiple large lodge rooms, with murals on the walls, decorative carpeting, balcony seating, and other clues indicating a big and monied membership. A spacious banquet hall and impressive commercial kitchen. An elevator, coat room, billiard parlor, library, sitting room, and more.

In their prime, these temples silently boasted of Freemasonry’s prominence, but today those which remain standing and in Masonic custody are in “the days of trouble,” as Ecclesiastes 12 phrases old age.

The Manchester Masonic Temple’s caretakers aim to raise about $5 million to transform a faded palace of the Roaring Twenties into a proper home for today’s Masonic Order. Out with hazardous electrical wiring, and in with LEDs. Do away with century-old plumbing, and go with twenty-first century flushing. And the HVAC? They didn’t even have the AC back then, and the HV are antique curiosities.

Elevator operator station.

A heating vent beneath each seat in lodge.

With only about 4,400 Masons comprising the jurisdiction, the Grand Lodge of New Hampshire, I’m certain, would appreciate your support. Donations may be mailed to:

Manchester Masonic

Community Center

1505 Elm St.

Manchester, NH 03101

Or click here.

I wouldn’t be surprised if the brethren are seeking community block grant dollars, but every bit you contribute will get all the work done.

     

‘Masonry disrupted’

    

MBC photo

Frontispiece and title page, autographed by Arturo de Hoyos and S. Brent Morris, are ready to go. That’s Harry Carr, as rendered by Travis Simpkins, at left. Carr edited the MBC’s first imprint of Masonry Dissected in the 1970s, and his commentary is updated for this edition.

Masonry Dissected, the 1730 English ritual exposure to be published anew this month by the Masonic Book Club, is delayed, according to an email sent today to us subscribers.

Shortages of both white paper and colored binding materials are disruptive enough, but a ransomware attack on the printing company delayed the job. If you’ve been waiting with anticipation, you may remember yesterday would have been the shipping date but, as Brent Morris explained in today’s email newsletter, the printer now says July 19 sometime in August.

“We haven’t yet decided on the 2023 volume because we want to see the costs of paper, ink, and other materials,” he also said. “As a point of reference, the manufacturing costs today for [last year’s book] are about 70 percent higher than they were in 2021!”

And so it goes.

Click here for some background.

      

‘The cornerstone of a Temple of Justice’

    

MW John Hodge

Happy Independence Day to Magpie readers across the United States. Today I am sharing a gem of a speech that was delivered in public on this date in 1894 when MW John Hodge, our then Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of New York, led the cornerstone dedication ceremony at the Monroe County Courthouse in Rochester.

Hodge was a highly prominent citizen, a leader in business (Merchant’s Gargling Oil!) and government in his part of the state. He died August 7, 1895. His widow funded construction of a hospital in Lockport and named it in his memory.

Hodge served five years as Junior Grand Warden, two as Senior, and one as Deputy Grand Master before being installed into the Grand Master’s chair in 1894. John Hodge Lodge 815, now of the Ontario-Seneca-Yates District, was set to labor in 1897.

The speech says a lot, without running too long, as it weaves Americanism and Masonic theory—the kind of oratory you just don’t hear anymore—at a time when greatness still was thought to be good. Enjoy.

Fellow Citizens:

In accordance with the time-honored custom of the Masonic fraternity, we, who represent that ancient, honorable, and patriotic order, have assembled with you here today, and with the solemn ceremonials of the Craft have laid the cornerstone of a new Temple of Justice for the large community of Western New York, of which the City of Rochester is the geographical, social, and political center.

Postcard of the courthouse.

In peace we have laid this cornerstone, and without fear have performed our work, because the laws of our country which are to be here administered, and the principles of Masonry are in unison in favoring equal justice to all men. The flag of our country, that glorious emblem of freedom floating proudly above us, which today is receiving special honors throughout the length and breadth of the land, like the Masonic creed, shields no favored class, but proffers the assurance of justice alike to the Jew and Gentile, the representatives of all nationalities, and the adherence of all religious and political faiths.

It is peculiarly appropriate that the magnificent structure, whose foundation we have this day laid, should be erected in this beautiful City of Rochester. From the earliest period of the pioneer history of Western New York, Rochester has been foremost in everything pertaining to the development of all the material interests of the State upon the immutable principles of justice. Nature’s bounty of scenic beauty and wealth of material resources have been well supplemented by a patriotic, God-fearing people, whose untiring industry and noble spirit of heroism and self-sacrifice enabled them to patiently pursue to the end the arduous work of subduing the wilderness, and supplementing the virgin forest with beautiful homes and well organized society, now presenting to the world a city which includes industrial and commercial interests, educational, religious, and beneficent institutions, of which any nation of the globe might justly be proud. And especially, in view of her record in educational work in every field of intellectual activity, which has given the country not only many eminent scholars and divines, but also a long list of jurists of well-earned fame for the extent of their legal lore, and the wisdom and justice that have marked their decisions, Rochester may will claim the privilege and distinction of erecting a Temple of Justice that shall be second to none in the land.

Another postcard.

And what of the future? As meritorious as has been the work done by your judiciary in the old courthouse which this new and elegant building is to supersede, much more important, doubtless, to the peace and prosperity of the community will be the decisions to be handed down from the bench of the new courthouse in the far distant future. Law is declared to be the product of human experience. We are living in an era when questions of great importance, not only to individuals, but to aggregations of individuals, and to the peace and good order of society, are constantly arising. Many of these questions, whose solution is of the greatest importance. Law is declared to be the product of human experience. We are living in an era when questions of great importance, not only to individuals, but to aggregations of individuals, and to the peace and good order of society, or constantly arising. Many of these questions, whose solution is of the greatest importance to the parties interested, must be settled for the first time by the courts.  Which, under our system of government, constitute the last resort for the redress of real or imaginary wrongs, and the settlement of differences between the employer and the employees, the rich and the poor, alike.

And is it not at all improbable that some of the very important issues presented by this situation may be argued and decided by the courts to be held in your new courthouse. The future of your new Temple of Justice is, therefore, full of promise, not only in the assurance that it will present an ample field for the full display of all the powers of the most learned and brilliant advocates, but also bring to the bench the opportunity of rendering decisions, which, by their justice and their importance to the welfare of society, will invest the judiciary with an enduring fame, whose luster will stand undimmed through the many successive generations.

Modern times!

Fellow citizens and brethren, our work is done. The cornerstone of this building has been tested by the working tools of our Craft. It has been found square, plumb, and level. The cement that unites it with its brother stone has been spread, and all has been pronounced perfectly done.

This speech and several score more are found in the pages of Jewels of Masonic Oratory, anthologized by L.S. Myler; printed in New York in 1900.

May this be in truth a Temple of Justice, where all men may come and have their wrongs redressed; where oppression and intolerance may be throttled, and the rights of every man, from the humblest citizen to the highest official, be honored and respected. Justice is the platform for all mankind. The people who live upon this great round globe are the creatures of one Great Father, and have equal and inalienable rights, duties, and obligations. Those rights must not be disregarded. Those duties and obligations must not go unperformed. This building whose walls will be reared upon this cornerstone is to be a city of refuge to which the oppressed may flee; and we pray God that it may in truth deserve to prosper, and become the place of concourse for all good men, and from this house the spirit of harmony and brotherly love be disseminated throughout the whole community.

     

‘Pennsylvania Academy’s new team’

    

An announcement yesterday from the Pennsylvania Academy of Masonic Knowledge proclaims its newly reorganized leadership team. (Hey, I know some of these guys!)

Congratulations to you all!

If Elizabethtown is prohibitively far for you, the Academy streams its biannual sessions where the top thinkers in Freemasonry take to the lectern every March and October.

     

     

‘Three centuries of British Lodge’

    

Freemasonry Today

The Heraldic Badge granted to the United Grand Lodge of England for British Lodge viii.

I wrote the other day about my lodge reaching its hundredth year, but what do you get the lodge that celebrates its tricentennial anniversary? We would have to ask British Lodge viii in London.

The summer issue of Freemasonry Today magazine reports the February commemoration featured Peter Lowndes, Pro Grand Master of the United Grand Lodge of England, at the installation of officers at Freemasons’ Hall. In addition, the lodge commissioned a writer to compile the lodge’s life story, and a Heraldic Badge was devised for British’s use.

Freemasonry Today

British Lodge viii is one of nineteen ‘Red Apron’ lodges that nominate UGLE Grand Stewards.

That written history, a copy of which was presented to each attendee of the celebration, “gives a fascinating account of key events and personalities over the lodge’s 300 years of existence,” says FMT, “from the first recorded meeting of the lodge at Tom’s Coffee House in London’s Clare Market to the present day. It was clear that the lodge had dined well throughout its long history, and the members had a particular taste for champagne!”

Read all about it here.

(Why should a New York Mason take notice? Daniel Coxe was among its members, according to Hugo Tatsch’s Freemasonry in the Thirteen Colonies.) 

     

‘The ALR: a new understanding of familiar history’

    

Bill, Conor, and Oscar.

The American Lodge of Research met Tuesday night to hear a brilliant presentation and to tend to necessary business.

It was RW Bro. Oscar Alleyne, President of the Masonic Society, who did us the service of introducing to the lodge one John Batt, a soldier who served on both sides in the American War of Independence and who Oscar reveals to have played a remarkable part in the birth of what today is called Prince Hall Masonry.

Batt was a British soldier in North America in the 1770s, being deployed in Boston, Halifax, and Staten Island, as the fortunes of his regiment fluctuated. Oscar delved into British and American military records to illustrate Batt’s hopscotching from one side to the other and back again (I suspect he returned to the British lines upon realizing he wasn’t gonna get paid squat in the Continental Army), and plumbed the archives of Prince Hall Masonry to reveal how—are you sitting down?—it was Batt who initiated the free men of color in Boston who later would organize African Lodge.

As you know, the commonly understood history of the initiations of Bro. Prince Hall and his fourteen companions involves Lodge 441, a traveling military lodge of 38th British Foot Infantry. But wait, there’s more! Oscar shows it was Batt himself who, in accordance with the contemporary custom of degrees for fees, made those men Masons.

I don’t think it’s necessary to be too much of a Masonic history nerd to get excited over such a discovery. This is precisely the sort of thing that compels us to support Masonic research. The brethren’s applause and thanks followed the Q&A.

Next, it was time to elect new members of The ALR, and five Corresponding Members and two Active Members (including Leif from QC2076) were voted in with appreciation.

Being June, it came time to reorganize the officer line. There were a few excused absences, so we’ll install our secretary and senior warden later, but Conor is continuing for another year in the East. (I don’t want to embarrass him, but the truth is he’s a godsend during this encouraging time of rebuilding the lodge.) Dave remains at the treasurer’s desk. Michael is our new junior deacon; Yves moves on to senior deacon. I am now observing the sun at meridian, just in time for tanning season.

MW Bill Sardone honored us as our installing master, with the assistance of RW Oscar as installing marshal.

The new apron for the senior deacon of the lodge.

Conor procured aprons for us officers. Great stuff from Macoy, and based on the design of ALR regalia from generations ago too.

We will meet again in October.

     

‘Our 101st installation’

    

Monday night was the occasion of the 101st Installation of Officers at Publicity Lodge 1000. Vivat!

It was on Monday, October 30, 1922 when Grand Master Arthur Tompkins, assisted by the elected grand line, plus a grand chaplain and the grand marshal, constituted Publicity and installed its officers. The November 11, 1922 edition of Editor & Publisher reports: “The ceremony of constitution was attended by many Masons from other New York lodges, and visitors from abroad, including the past grand master of Masons of Nova Scotia. The master of Saint Nicholas Lodge No. 321, accompanied by a delegation of members, was present and presented Publicity with a handsome ballot box.” (E&P covered the event because the lodge was founded by media professionals.)

I wonder if that ballot box is the one we currently use. It’s handsome, but doesn’t look that old.

A unique cake for a special night.

What I do know is our lodge is in for a dynamic year. Almost the entire officer line are Masons of relatively few years, having been in the Craft an average of about, I think, five years, except for myself and the Brother Senior Warden who are well past the twenty-year mark. Our Worshipful Master is young in age and in Masonry, and he’s keen on education, and I am to take the lead on that. (I withhold names because I don’t know if they want to be known publicly as Freemasons.) The trestleboard for the year is in the works, and it’s guaranteed to be a busy mix in celebration of our centenary.

     

‘Right Worshipful bourbon’

    

Not to be outpaced by the scotches, gins, beers, and other potable products sponsored by various grand lodges and brethren here and there, the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania now has a locally distilled bourbon for sale under its name. Pennsylvania Grand Master’s Blend, a “Pennsylvania Craft Straight Bourbon Whiskey,” is produced by Hidden Still Spirits in Hershey.

Yes, it is possible to purchase online ($42/bottle) and have it shipped to you. I don’t know the volume (750ml?) of the package. Hidden Still also serves as a restaurant, and its spirits can be found in stores in the state.

A poke around the web shows this idea has been in development at Hidden Still for several years. And, yes, there are Pennsylvania brethren in Hidden Still Spirits.

Is it any good? I’ll have to get back to you on that. I don’t doubt this will be found in the mix in the hospitality suites of various Masonic hotel stays.

     

‘St. John’s Day planet alignment’

    

New York Post of June 8.

I’ve been watching the skies in recent weeks, enjoying the visibility of Venus, Mars, and Jupiter, which is remarkable given the light pollution around here. I didn’t know an alignment was in the offing, but today I read how in fact six of our nearest celestial neighbors presented themselves linearly today, St. John’s Day.

Read all about it at space.com.

Despite the Second Degree’s encouragement to study astronomy, I don’t know what this means.

Maybe I’ll play the lottery.

     

‘For the Freemason who has everything’

    

What to give the Brother Mason who has everything? How about a reproduction lodge membership patent signed by none other than Benjamin Franklin? Or perhaps your lodge would want to display it? Or your Masonic museum?

Franklin added his autograph in 1785 in his capacity as Venerable Master of La Loge des Neuf Soeurs in Paris. Speaking of museums, those “Nine Sisters” are the Muses of Greek mythology.

The original membership patent was presented to Bro. Claude-Jacques Notte, an artist. Sorry to say I’ve never heard of him, nor does there seem to be any biographical information on the web, but he must have been plugged into the arts and sciences world of Enlightenment Paris that characterized La Loge des Neuf Soeurs. He seems to be remembered for a portrait of John Paul Jones.

Accompanying the reproduction document is an explanatory booklet penned by Pierre Mollier—a Brother Mason we do know, by reputation if not personally. He is a Masonic scholar and author whose latest book, Masonic Myths and Legends, was published this spring by Westphalia Press. He is the director of the Grand Orient of France’s Museum of Freemasonry in Paris. (Remember Neuf Soeurs was a G.O. lodge.)

It goes without saying, but I’ll say it regardless: I’m only sharing news of this commerce, and I have no connection to the seller or to any transaction.

     

‘Remembering Daniel D. Tompkins’

    

Daniel D. Tompkins

On this date in 1774 was born a great, if historically overlooked, American man and Mason: Daniel D. Tompkins. Biographical highlights include being made a Freemason at Hiram Lodge 72 in Westchester County (later affiliating with Salem 74); serving as Grand Secretary of our Grand Lodge; and becoming the first Sovereign Grand Commander of the Scottish Rite Northern Masonic Jurisdiction. Oh, and he was governor of New York (1807-17) before becoming the sixth vice president of these United States (1817-25). He died June 11, 1825 and was buried in Manhattan.

While George Washington is credited for transcribing a seventeenth century book of ethics into his personal journal as a boy, Daniel Tompkins composed a series of philosophical essays while a student at Columbia College. He addressed moral quandaries that impacted American life at the close of the 1700s, from slavery to capital punishment to how best to select government officials. He also expounded on matters of personal growth: education, honesty, prejudice. These essays, some of them fragmentary because of the vicissitudes of time, were anthologized for a book published by Columbia University in 1940 under the title A Columbia College Student in the Eighteenth Century. (The originals are found in the State Library in Albany.)

Of course this is long out of print—I can’t imagine a student at Columbia today even picking up this book with a pair of tongs—so I share brief excerpts here to remember how serious a young mind can be. Daniel Tompkins was a credit to our nation and to our gentle Craft. (I leave it to you to read of how he came to die tragically.)

The only criterion I know of by which to judge of the expediency of electing a man that has filled a station is to inspect into his former conduct. Has his aim hitherto been the good of the people? We may then reason from analogy that such will be his conduct hereafter. In fine so long as the people hold in their hands the chastening rod, the freedom of frequent elections [and] the right of making a change, we need not fear but that the officer will endeavor to secure the happiness and liberty of his constituents.

On Choosing Public Officials, 1792.

’Tis true that many valuable authors have written in the dead languages but I doubt whether there are not equally celebrated ones in the English and French languages and equally valuable…. If four or five years of Virgil’s early life had been spent in the study of languages other than his own, we should not have been favored with such excellent poetry from him so early as his twenty-fourth year.

On the Study of Dead Languages, 1792.

Happy for America that she has been successful in her struggle for Liberty, but unhappy that she has not fully completed her design although it was in her power to have done it. It would seem that the inhabitants of this Country have not that innate love for Liberty which many of them profess; otherwise we should not behold our fellow creatures in Slavery when it is in our power to relieve them. Liberty naturally fits and qualifies us for improvement in knowledge and knowledge allures us to, and gives us a relish for “the ineffable delights of sweet humanity.” Among those who are free and enlightened, if one man promote the happiness of another, his own delight is increased in the same ratio; and no man can enjoy real felicity whilst he beholds others miserable.

On Slavery 1, 1793.

In short if we look into the world, we shall find few men utterly free from prejudice of one kind or another. Local attachments, habit and the like frequently beget and nourish prejudice. I know many who are of this and the other profession in Religion and [profess] a substantial reason for it too, to wit, that their fathers before them were of the same profession. Yet subject as we all are, to be duped by Prejudice, the least appearance of it in others excites our disgust. When we find the historian swayed by prejudice in the relation of facts all our pleasure of reading him is diminished.

On Prejudice, 1794.

In society, every member is bound by the most sacred ties to preserve Harmony and the Tranquility of all the community. This consideration sufficiently evinces the perniciousness of Dishonesty. Besides whatever success Knavery may find for once, it will find it difficult to succeed a second time, for one imposition places all on their guard, and affixes a mark of infamy, which causes the person to be universally shunned. Prodigality generally accompanies dishonesty; and soon consumes what an act of Knavery has acquired. He is therefore reduced to the necessity of having recourse a second time to dishonesty. But as I said before, he will find all prepared for his attack—and even tho’ he should find it necessary to deal for once with probity, he will find none to negotiate with him. For when the wind blows from one quarter we commonly expect it to continue there for sometime.

On Dishonesty and Extreme Indulgence, 1794.

In short, whether Law, Divinity or Physic be your aim—whether Agriculture or Trade is to be made a science, there may you lay the foundation to advantage. Go on then students of Columbia, with eminence and glory in your view. In this land of liberty and peace, genius may extend her wings, unshackled by the restraints of arbitrary power. And real fame, true and lasting honor, belong only to the virtuous and the good. With tender wishes for your prosperity and happiness, we bid you…be virtuous! Be happy.

Valedictory Oration, May 6, 1795.

     

‘AMD Ingathering in NYC’

    

I was trying to limit summertime Masonic activities to just Warren Lodge’s festive board until news of this singular occurrence broke. The brethren of the Allied Masonic Degrees in New York City will host an Ingathering next month! Register here.