There were four of them in the Ante Room besides the Tiler; a Past
Master, a Junior Officer, the Oldest Member and a newly raised
brother. They had been telling the newly made brother what they
could of the Ancient Craft, what he night expect from it and in it,
and how he could proceed to get the greatest benefit from it.
When they had finished, he asked: "Tell me, you are old and
experienced in Masonry, what does it really mean to you?"
"What does Masonry mean to me? The Past Master stopped to weigh his
words. "I think it means the chance of being of service to my fellow
men.
"I have had the distinguished honor of being selected, at one time,
to preside over this lodge. The honor, deserved or not, came because
I was willing to serve my fellow members and work for the good of the
Order. As I look back on it, I see that readiness to serve was
created in me by my feeling of gratitude to the Fraternity for what I
had received from it. Yet, all that I did receive - friends, good
times, instruction and a new idea - came to me from serving. So, in
a way, I have to say that a desire to serve came from serving!
I think every man has a desire to be of use in the world. It may be
in the big outside world, or some inner, restricted world; but the
desire to serve is the same. The teacher in the schools is not one
because of the rewards; a good teacher has to teach. He or she can't
be happy doing anything else. The Minister in the church is seldom
rewarded materially as he might have been in some other profession.
His reward has to come from the consciousness of having been of use.
I have talked to a great many men who are distinguished successes in
their several lines, and none of them ever considered their material
success as their greatest reward. I know a railroad builder who is
far more proud of his success in tunneling a mountain than in the
riches he has won for his family. I know a banker who points with
much more pride to the businesses he has helped to build than to his
own substantial fortune. And so I find it in Masonry - there is a
much greater joy in the actual feeling that one is of use to his
fellows, than there is in the honor of being selected as one to lead,
for a while, an organization.
"I am still active in this lodge. There are no more honors for me to
win here. I shall never be anything but a Past Master. Yet I find
real pleasure in working on the Educational Committee, and in being a
member of the Instruction Committee.
"I believe that many men, especially those whose vocations in life do
not appear, on the surface, as being of conspicuous service to
mankind, find in Masonry an opportunity to express that altruism
which is deep in every man's heart. They here express themselves as
servants of men. They learn in order to teach. They work, in order
that other men may have a better time, be happier and more
comfortable. They call on the sick, not because it is the thing for
a Mason to do, but to render to their unfortunate brethren some mead
of comfort from their own state of health and happiness.
"The lodge to me is place of labor - a place where I can be of some
use in the world without thought of reward or hope of any material
pay. Yes, I think I can answer your question by saying; "Masonry
means to me the chance to be of service."
The Junior Officer took up the conversation.
"To me, Masonry means inspiration," he stated. "I am a Municipal
Court Judge. My daily work is concerned entirely with the lower,
harder, meaner and dirtier side of life. I spend my day with
bootleggers, wife-beaters, thieves, sneaks and dope-peddlers. I hear
only the sadder sort of stories. If I believed all life was like
what I see of it, I wouldn't want to live.
"But, I don't believe it. A very wise old Judge, with whom I talked
before I went on the bench told me that the most important thing a
Judge had to do was to keep a sane viewpoint. He said a Judge who
allowed himself to become warped in his valuation of human beings was
not a good Judge. Masonry is the inspiration that keeps me from
allowing what I see, to be, to me, all there is of life.
"In Masonry I find only an altruistic viewpoint. There is not,
anywhere in Masonry a single thing that is selfish. There is in it
not a prayer for self. There is in it not a single act which a
Brother does which is for himself. Officers in the Lodge, of whom
I'm proud to be one, work hard to put on a good degree, doing the
work correctly, trying to make it impressive - why? Not for
themselves, Not that they may get anything out of it, but in order
that the candidate be properly impressed and instructed - so that he
can make something of Masonry his own and thus be a better man.
"Brethren appointed on an investigating committee must go out and
work. They must take time from their own pleasures or labors to look
into the qualifications of anyone who wants to be a Mason, and has
submitted a petition. There is nothing in it for them. They do it
unselfishly, for their fellows, and the petitioner. That is
inspiring. It shows that there is another side to life than the one
I see all day long.
"Anyone who sits all day in my sort of a court might well be excused
for thinking that God has deserted a part of the earth, and some of
His people. It's hard to believe that the drunken sot who beats an
innocent child, the dope-peddler who deliberately tries to turn a
school boy into a cocaine fiend so he can sell him "Snow," the
bootlegger who deliberately sells, to unsuspecting fools, booze he
knows to be poisonous; can have any good in him. Masonry teaches me
that there is good everywhere, in every man, if you only hunt deep
enough. Masonry never lets me forget that a Perfect Ashlar is made
of a Rough Ashlar - that the perfect stone is inside the rough stone
all the time, only waiting the cunning hand of the workman to knock
away the rough-nesses to reveal the perfection underneath. Masonry
teaches me there is a perfect ashlar under the rough exteriors I see.
I am not sure I could keep on knowing that, if it wasn't for
Freemasonry raising my eyes upward and keeping always in my heart the
knowledge that more men are good than bad, more men helpful than
hindering, more men God-Fearing than God-Hating. So I must answer
you, my brother, that to me Masonry means inspiration, a holding
constantly before my inner eyes a spiritual ideal, so that I can
forget the material wrong and evil which is so rife in the world in
which I live."
"Well, I'll agree that Freemasonry may be all things to all men," the
Oldest Mason began, seeing that the Junior Officer had finished.
"And perhaps you won't think that what Masonry means to me is as big
and as fine as the opportunity for service that the Past Master sees,
and the inspiration that the Junior Officer finds. To me, Masonry
means the chance to make friends.
"The young man thinks that friends are easy to make, and I dare say
many a man thinks he could make them as easily in a club or a board
of trade as he could in a lodge. But there is a great difference
between the friendships made in profane gatherings, and those which
result from meeting ON THE LEVEL.
"As I see it, there must be some sort of mutually shared background
for any real friendship. Two men must have something to which both
can hold if they are to draw themselves together, against the
naturally repellent forces which makes us all suspicious of all the
rest of humanity.
"There is a GOLDEN CORD in Masonry to which we can all hold. We all
have a cable tow about us, and by it we can pull ourselves closer
together. We meet on a common level. We think the same sort of
thoughts at the same time. When we worship the grand Articifer of
the Universe, we do it in the same way, with the same words, at the
same time. It is not germane to say, BUT SO THEY DO IN A CHURCH. for
there are a great many churches, each with its own way of approach to
the throne of the Most High. But in all Masonic lodges, the approach
is one ground of unity, on which friendships may be formed.
"There is another. How says our ritual? To relieve the distressed is
a duty incumbent upon all, but particularly on Masons, who are linked
together by an indissoluble chain of sincere affection. To soothe
the unhappy, to sympathize with their misfortunes, to compassionate
their miseries and restore peace to their troubled minds, is the
great aim we have in view. On this basis we form out friendships and
establish connections. I find the charity and the sympathy of a
Masonic Lodge a great force in the making of friends, and strangely
enough, it makes little difference which end of the golden cord the
individual brother holds. If I sympathize and try to help my
brother, I become friendly toward him. If I am in trouble, and he
sympathizes with and tries to help me, I feel friendly toward him. I
feel friendly to the new young brother just coming into the lodge
because he has won his way against odds, into out charmed circle, and
I wish him well. The mere wishing him good luck makes me feel
friendly. To the older members, with whom I have stood so many times
in lodge prayer, with whom I have joined so many times in degrees,
with whom so many times I have visited the sick, attended funerals or
enjoyed innocent gaiety at refreshment. I am friendly because of our
common interests and feelings.
"I have made, and I think that every good Mason does, some of the
best friends in the world, through Masonic association. Masonry
picks her brethren. We are all alike in a few fundamentals, before
we become Masons. So we have an unusual opportunity to make friends
in Masonry. I think that must stand as my answer to our young
brother's question, what Masonry means to me - an opportunity to make
friends.
"Now that our young friend has heard us, I should like to hear what
he thinks. What, my brother, does Masonry mean to you?"
The newly raised brother flushed a little, embarrassed at being
called on for an expression of opinion in the presence of those so
much older and wiser in the Craft.
"It's all so new to me," he answered, hesitating a little, "I am
quite willing to take your several interpretations of Masonry and its
meaning. But so far none of you has mentioned what it is to me, the
of the opportunity which Masonry gives. To me, Masonry means a
chance to learn. I have been instructed that I should study the
seven liberal arts and sciences, and the several degrees all put a
good deal of stress on the teachings of Masonry. I have read one or
two books which hint at a great deal that is concealed, much more
than is revealed. It seems to me that the world of study and
information which Freemasonry opens up to her initiates is her
greatest boon. I find a great many different interpretations of
Masonic symbols. Unless I conclude that some are right and some are
wrong, a symbol must have many meanings. Yet only one is given in
the degree. That must mean that it is intended that I study them,
and dig into them for myself, and try to find all the various
meanings.
"My business in life is that of a teacher of English.
I know how peculiar is the symbolism of words. Take the word
profane, which one of you used. It comes from pro - without - and
fane, the church. You used it as meaning just that - some one
without the Temple of Freemasonry. Time has corrupted that good old
English word to mean something entirely different - most of us think
of something profane as meaning opposed to what is sacred; to profane
is to make light of, or blaspheme that which is Holy. It seems to me
that some Masonic symbols may have been changed by time, too, as
words are changed, and that the patient digger after facts might
uncover a mine of interesting and valuable information if he is
willing to study. So, without in any way putting my thoughts forward
as better than those I have heard, I think Masonry means to me, at
least so far, an opportunity to increase my knowledge."
"We haven't heard from the Tiler yet!" The Past Master turned to the
Guardian of the Door. "What does Masonry mean to you?"
"You've all wasted a lot of words to say something you all mean!"
responded the Tiler. "One of you thinks Masonry means SERVICE,
another thinks it means INSPIRATION. and another thinks it means
FRIENDS, and still another thinks it means KNOWLEDGE. They all come
from the same source. And that is what Masonry really means.
"You have overlooked what is to me the most significant symbols. If
Masonry means SERVICE, and FRIENDS, and INSPIRATION, and KNOWLEDGE;
what else can you say it means, except just GOD?"