Waller Newsletter 0607

As most of us know the lodge’s income from dues does not pay all of the bills for the year, so we have to find ways to generate more income. Sometimes we keep it in house, like the chicken less bar-b-que sale, however I would rather get the needed funds from the public, such as ticket sales for a meal.

When I first wrote about our upcoming fund-raiser, the pancake supper and silent auction, it was easy to dismiss as it was so far away. Now I look at the calendar and wonder where all those days went, because the event is upon us.

We already have some great items donated for the auction, including 4 tickets to the July 28th Astros vs. Padres baseball game. These are great seats, make sure and bring your glove seats.

We do need more things to auction and we need people to purchase them. Sell the tickets you received through the mail, then ask for more tickets and sell those… you know how it works.

This fundraiser has the potential to be the biggest one, monetarily, that the lodge has in years, but in order for it to work we really need everyone’s participation.

Don’t forget the June stated meeting is the time we elect new officers for the 2007/2008 Masonic year. Please support the lodge you chose to join.

Sometimes, when I look at my children, I say to myself "Lillian, you should have remained a virgin." -- Lillian Carter (mother of Jimmy Carter)

Maybe it's true that life begins at fifty .. but everything else starts to wear out, fall out, or spread out. -- Phyllis Diller

Compact With The Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Texas

Grand Prince Hall Lodge Of Texas At Fort Worth.

Compact between The Grand Lodge of Texas & The Prince Hall Grand lodge of Texas, F. & A.M. To Share Territorial Rights within the State of Texas

On December 1, 2006, The Grand Lodge of Texas in its 171st Grand Annual Communications acted favorable on the July 13, 2005, request by The Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Texas for fraternal recognition, noting that the request in no way was a request to join, merge, interfere, or have visitation between the two jurisdictions. It was only for the two Grand Jurisdictions to acknowledge and formally recognize each other as being legitimate and regular.

Also acted upon favorably in December 2006 was the report of the Fraternal Relations Committee and its recommendation that the two jurisdictions enter into a treaty of mutual consent for sharing territorial jurisdiction within the State of Texas.

On April 23, 2007, the Trustees and a Special Committee of both Grand Jurisdictions met and completed a Compact to Share Territorial Rights. By mutual consent these two Grand Jurisdictions (Grand Lodge of Texas that was formed in 1837 and Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Texas that was formed in 1875) legitimized the fact that both Grand Lodges had shared the same territory since 1875.

Masons of both Grand Jurisdictions should be aware that the actions taken by their Grand Jurisdictions restricts their members from joining, visiting, merging, meeting, or having Masonic communications with each other. These actions guarantee the autonomy of each organization and assure the right to reside and work together in Peace, Harmony, and Brotherly Love.

The Grand Prince Hall Lodge web site added the following paragraph to the announcement.
The ultimate goal for the Prince Hall Lodge of Texas is to obtain mutual Fraternal recognition with the Mother Grand Lodge, the Grand Lodge of England. This is the first step in obtaining that goal.

I've sure gotten old! I've had two bypass surgeries, a hip replacement, new knees, fought prostate cancer and diabetes.

I'm half blind, can't hear anything quieter than a jet engine, take 40 different medications that make me dizzy, winded, and subject to blackouts. Have bouts with dementia.

Have poor circulation; hardly feel my hands and feet anymore. Can't remember if I'm 85 or 92. Have lost all my friends.

But, thank God, I still have my driver's license.

A Mason and a Man

(Author Unknown)

Brother, Masonry means much more
Than the wearing of a pin,
Or carrying a paid-up dues receipt
So that the Lodge will let you in.

You can wear an emblem on your coat,
From your finger flash a ring,
But if you are not sincere at heart
This doesn't mean a thing.

It is merely an outward sign
To show the world that you belong
To that great fraternal brotherhood
That teaches right from wrong.

What really counts lies buried deep
Within the human breast,
'Til Masonic teaching brings it out
And puts it to the test.

If you practice out of Lodge
The things you learn within,
Be just and upright to yourself
And to your fellow men.

Console a brother when he's sick,
Assist him when in need,
Without a thought of personal reward
For any act or deed.

Walk and act in such a way
The world without will see,
That only the best can meet the test
Laid down by Masonry.

Be always faithful to your trust
And do the best you can,
Then you can proudly tell the world
You're a Mason and a man.

Happenings At Waller Lodge
by John "Corky" Daut
P.M. Waller Lodge #808 AF & AM A.F.& A.M.

DON’T FORGET June 12 is the stated meeting night for Waller Lodge and the day we elect new officers for the 2007/2008 Masonic year. If we don’t vote, we shouldn’t complain about the results.

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I talked to Janet Garrett a couple of weeks ago and she was proud to announce that the Bill Garrett Memorial Scholarship Fund had finally reached its goal of $20,000.00 .

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Bob Scarborough is feeling much better every day as he recovers from the knee surgery.

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Doris Bozarth had a very serious reaction to a bee sting had to be hospitalized a couple of weeks ago and still having some problems.

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Corky is doing excellent. He is also recovering from knee replacement surgery on the 30th..

Freemasonry At Work

From the Skull and Phoenix Masonic Lodge’s web site
in Berlin, Germany .

The Brethren of the Johannisloge “Zum Todtenkopfe and Phoenix“ meet each Wednesday for the work of Freemasonry in the house of the Grand Landesloge, Peter-Lenné-St. 1-3.

The Freemason work is a real work. It is actually the work of improving ones inner self. It is the goal of Freemasons to encourage the fraternization of all humans in humanity, and promote tolerance. Contributing to, and acknowledging the equality of all human beings. Fraternity, humanity and tolerance are the key terms, and to these aims we work together for itself and for the common good in the Lodge.

It is a mental work. This work of the mind takes place, through the exchange of thoughts and values mutually energizing us to live our lives by these principles. Each individual opinion is welcomed, through this “brainstorming“. We gladly discuss and treat many different topics. Often one leaves the Lodge house as something different to that, which one was, when one entered it. One took up, and on realization won new perspectives.

Then it was a good work on the path to attaining our goal.

Remember Me?

It amuses me now to think that your Masonic Lodge spends so much time looking for new members -- when I was there all the time. Do you remember me?

I am the fellow who came to every meeting, but nobody paid any attention to me. I tried several times to be friendly, but everyone seemed to have his own friends to sit and talk with. I sat down among some unfamiliar faces several times, but they did not pay much attention to me.

I hoped somebody would ask me to join one of the committees or to somehow participate and contribute.-- no one did.

Finally, because of illness, I missed a meeting. The next month no one asked me where I had been. I guess it did not matter very much whether I was there or not. On the next meeting date I decided to stay home and watch a good program on television. When I attended the next meeting, no one asked me where I was the month before.

You might say that I am a good guy, a good family man, that I hold a responsible job and love my community.

You know what else I am? I am the member who never came back.

Editors Note
In my opinion, the above story has no relation in any way to the Waller Masonic Lodge. In my experience Waller Lodge Brothers do their best to make new members feel welcome and involve them in our activities. However, it wouldn't hurt us to remember the story.

This Month's Humor

Hospital regulations require a wheel chair for patients being discharged.

However, while working as a student nurse, I found one elderly gentleman already dressed and sitting on the bed with a suitcase at his feet, who insisted he didn't need my help to leave the hospital.

After a chat about rules being rules, he reluctantly let me wheel him to the elevator.

On the way down I asked him if his wife was meeting him.

"I don't know," he said. "She's still upstairs in the bathroom changing out of her hospital gown."

Is Walt Wallet Skeezix's Real Father?
By Leon Hale

Nearly every reader of this newsletter is old enough to remember Gasoline Alley and some may even remember when it started back in 1920. It's one of my favorite comic strips and where my nick-name, "Corky" came from, back in 1928. The story was a Leon Hale column in the Houston Post back in 1982. Leon is my favorite newspaper columnists.

A few days before Christmas one of the customers wrote a letter to make a comment about the comic strip Gasoline Alley. Customer remembered that Skeezix Wallet was a foundling, left when a few days old on the doorstep of Walt Wallet. The comment was, “Isn't it somewhat strange that Skeezix grew up, and is now growing old, to look so much like Walt, who is not his natural father”.

Well, actually we. don't know for sure that Walt is not Skeezix's natural father. The public has assumed it all these years but the fact is we don't know who the father is. It might in fact be Walt.

Skeezix about two and Walt. They sure look kin to me.
Because Skeezix didn't just grow up, as the customer suggests, to took like Wait. He looked like him from the jump. Right this minute I am studying an old Gasoline Alley published when Skeezix was about 8 or 9 (I am Just guessing). His profile is a carbon copy of Walt Wallet's.

Their heads are shaped almost exactly the same, and they both have that unruly cowlick at the hairline. If they are not kin, this is a great coincidence Indeed.

This matter interests me because I have kept up pretty closely with Skeezix's mild adventures ever since I got the funny paper habit in the 1920s. Skeezix and I are the same age, give or take a few weeks, and that has accounted partially for my interest. Also accounting for it was the unmentioned mystery of Skeezix's origin.

Even yet I am a little intrigued by the fact that Walt Wallet was a bachelor when Skeezix was parked at his front door that time in a baby basket. That happened on Feb. 14,1921. Walt did not get married until five years later.

Remember Phyliss Blossom? She was Walt's lady friend. Skeezix called her "Auntie Blossom" when he was a cute little kid. She and Walt were married in June of 1926 when Skeezix was 5.

I said a while ago that Skeezix's origin was not ever mentioned. It was his father who never was mentioned. The question of his real mother came up hi the strip several tunes, early in the game.

One Mme. Octave came ghosting onto the scene when Skeezix wasn't anything but a runny-nosed toddler and claimed she was his mother. She showed up with that claim a good many times but nothing much ever came of it. By the fall of 1924, the matter had been dropped.

I never did buy Mme. Octave as Skeezix's real mama. But I did figure Walt for his real father and I do still.

The way I had it doped, Walt being a bachelor and all, he had sown a crop or two of wild oats and maybe he'd sired Skeezix and didn't even know it.

And the mother didn't tell Walt. Didn't tell anybody she didn't just have to tell, because in the early 1920s having babies out of wedlock wasn't anywhere near as popular as it is now.

So when the baby was born the mother stuck it in this basket and put it on Walt's doorstep and went on south. What she was saying Is, "Here, it's yours, you raise it."

I bad all this doped out by the time Skeezix and I were 17 years old but I didn't let on about it. You didn't speak of such matters then, except behind the barn or in the gym after basketball practice.

You may now be thinking this: If what I say is true, why didn't the pregnant party confront Walt and say, "OK, pal, I'm in the family way. Take me to the church."

Sure I have thought of that. And I think she didn't do that because she didn't want to marry Walt Wallet. If you will take a close took at that big dude when he was a bachelor,, you might understand why. He was about 110 pounds overweight. His feet were the size of tennis rackets. He had no chin. And he wore, all the time, a silly little sailor hat about six sizes too small, so that it perched on the back of his noggin and threatened constantly to fall off.

I mean what kind of maturity could a person like that have, when he's still wearing a toy hat at age 25? I'd guess the mother asked herself, "Why should I marry that tub of lard?"

Walt Wallet turned out to be a lot more agreeable old man than he was a young one,/ Skeezix Is a great deal like him in appearance" except he did manage to keep his weight within reason, And his feet aren't as big as Walt's. Still I have been disappointed in Skeezix. He's a hard worker and he's honest but he has become a tightwad and a griper, always singing the blues about money. I get tired hearing him.

To know all the answers about Skeezix, we would need to talk to Frank King, the cartoonist who originated Gasoline Alley. But King died in 1969. The strip was drawn now by Dick Moores until Jin Scancarelli took it over in 1986 and neither had have much to do with Skeezix or Walt.

The Famous Masons Series

Sir Walter Scott

August 15, 1771 - September 21, 1832

Scottish novelist, Sir Walter Scott, was born in Edinburgh. Scott created and popularized historical novels such as Ivanhoe as well as writing much poetry.

Scott's amiability, generosity, and modesty made him popular with his contemporaries, as can be seen in The Life of Sir Walter Scott - edited from his memoirs in 1848 by J.G. Lockhart.

Initiated, Passed & Raised:
March 2, 1801
Lodge Saint David, No. 36, Edinburough,
Hyndlords Close, Nether Bow

Peter Sellers

September 8, 1925 - July 24, 1980

Born Richard Henry, but called Peter by his parents in memory of an older brother, Peter Sellers was a major entertainment presence in the 1960s and 70s, appearing in over 60 films as well as on numerous radio and television shows.

One of the BBC Radio comedy team on The Goon Show (1951-1960), Peter Sellers had his first major film role in I'm All Right Jack(1959). He is remembered for his Oscar nominated multiple roles in Stanley Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove (1964), his role in Woody Allen's first film What's New Pussycat (1965), and his character, Inspector Clouseau in six Pink Panther movies directed by Blake Edwards. His portrayal of Chauncey Gardener in Being There (1979) gave him his second Oscar nomination. His cover of the Beatles' 'A Hard Day's Night' released in 1965 reached 14 on the UK pop charts.

Raised: Chelsea Lodge No. 3098, London

Red Skelton

July 18, 1913 - September 17, 1997

"Good night, and may God bless."

The son of a former circus clown vaudevillian, comedian Red Skelton left home at ten to travel with a medicine show through the Midwest, and joined the vaudeville circuit at fifteen. He debuted on Broadway and radio in 1937 and on film in 1938. "The Red Skelton Show" premiered on NBC in 1951. For two decades, until 1971, his show consistently stayed in the top twenty, both on NBC and CBS. One stand-up comedy routine, "A wee dog", is reputed to be of especial interest to freemasons. Skelton was a major supporter of children's charities, including the Shriners' Crippled Children's Hospital and the Red Skelton Foundation in Vincennes, Indiana.

Raised: September 20, 1939
Vincennes Lodge No. 1, Indiana

1955

These comments were made in the year 1955, only 52 years ago! How many of them did you make?

"I'll tell you one thing, if things keep going the way they are, it's going to be impossible to buy a week's groceries for $20.

"Have you seen the new cars coming out next year? It won't be long before $2000 won't buy nothing but a used one."

"If cigarettes keep going up in price, I'm going to quit. A quarter a pack is ridiculous."

"Did you hear the post office is thinking about charging a dime just to mail a letter?"

"I never thought I'd see the day all our kitchen appliances would be electric. They are even making electric typewriters now."

"It's too bad things are so tough nowadays. I see where a few married women are having to work to make ends meet."

"It won't be long before young couples are going to have to hire someone to watch their kids so they can both work."

"Marriage doesn't mean a thing anymore; those Hollywood stars seem to be getting divorced at the drop of a hat."

"I'm just afraid the Volkswagen car is going to open the door to a whole lot of foreign business."

"Thank goodness I won't live to see the day when the Government takes half our income in taxes. I sometimes wonder if we are electing the best people to Congress."

"The drive-in restaurant is convenient in nice weather, but I seriously doubt they will ever catch on."

"There is no sense going to Lincoln or Omaha anymore for a weekend. It costs nearly $15.00 a night to stay in a hotel."

"If they raise the minimum wage to $1.00, nobody will be able to hire outside help at the store."

"When I first started driving, who would have thought gas would someday cost 29 cents a gallon. Guess we'd be better off leaving the car in the garage."

"Kids today are impossible. Those duck tail hair cuts make it impossible to stay groomed. Next thing you know, boys will be wearing their hair as long as the girls."

"I'm afraid to send my kids to the movies any more. Ever since they let Clark Gable get by with saying "damn" in "Gone With The Wind," it seems every new movie has either "hell" or "damn" in it.

"I read the other day where some scientist thinks it's possible to put a man on the moon by the end of the century. They even have some fellows they call astronauts preparing for it down in Texas."

"Did you see where some baseball player just signed a contract for $75,000.00 a year just to play ball? It wouldn't surprise me if someday they'll be making more than the president."

"No one can afford to be sick anymore; $35.00 a day in the hospital is too rich for my blood."

"If they think I'll pay 50 cents for a hair cut, forget it."

I recently discovered an excellent source of cartoons that were printed in newspapers during the 1900's, 1910's and 1920's. I thought we might enjoy seeing the "funnies" our grandparents enjoyed.

The Timid Soul

Masons, both young and old can still benefit from the "Old Tiler Talks" stories that started in 1921. It's funny how these stories (lessons) that taught our Masonic grandfathers, are just as significant today as they were 80 years ago. The book with with 70 of the "Old Tiler Talks" stories and 2 other Carl Claudy Masonic books may still be purchased from Temple Books

Masonic Talk
By Carl Claudy

From the Old Tiler's Talk - by Carl H. Claudy, The Temple Publishers

"I'm seeking a little light," said the New Brother, sitting down by the Old Tiler and reaching for his cigar case.

"I think I have a match-" the Old Tiler felt in his pocket.

"I get you!" grinned the New Brother, "But that's not the light I am looking for. I want light on a Masonic subject."

"I don't pretend to be the only Masonic illuminant," answered the Old Tiler, "but if I have what you want, be sure I'll let it shine."

"Every now and then," began the New Brother, "I hear Masonic talk in public places. At a poker game in a club where I was recently, I heard one man say, 'Them you have passed, but me I shall not pass!' Lots of men say they will do this or that on the square or on the level. I run across 'and govern yourself accordingly' in print every now and then. Are such public quotations from Masonic work against good Masonic practice?"

"It seems to me your question isn't very complete," answered the Old Tiler.

"Why not?"

"It takes no account of motives. If you hear a man say that the stream rose and his house and his children were in danger, but a tree fell across the rushing waters, so that in His mercy God damned the stream, you have heard testimony to His glory. And if you hear some man couple the name of Deity with the word which begins with D, you listen to profanity. Same sounds in each case; the difference is, the motive, the meaning."

"If I declare that I will do what I say I will do 'on the square,' any one understands that I mean I will act honestly. If any hearer knows the expression is Masonic, surely the fraternity has not been injured. But if I say to a stranger, or within a stranger's hearing, 'these are certain Masonic words, and we use them in the degrees' and then repeat various phrases, I skirt dangerously close to breaking my obligation, and by the very fact that I seem to be careless with Masonic business, I am doing it harm!"

"That's very plain, said the New Brother.

"Suppose some man wants to learn if I am a Mason? Suppose I meet a man with a Masonic pin and want to examine him Masonicly? What about that?"

"You shouldn't want to do things which can't be done!" laughed the Old Tiler. You might, indeed, put the stranger through an examination as to what Masonry he knew, but it wouldn't be Masonic. You have no right to constitute yourself an examining committee. That is the Master's prerogative.

"Suppose he wants to talk Masonic secrets with me?"

"No Mason wants to talk Masonic secrets with any man he doesn't know to be a Mason! The man who wants to talk secrets, without having sat in lodge with you, or being vouched for to you, is either very new or a very poor Mason or no Mason at all!"

"But surely one can talk Masonry with strangers; if they wear the pin and have a card they are probably Masons, and-"

"Talk all the Masonry you want! But make sure it is the Masonic talk you could utter in the presence of your wife. Your true Mason won't want you to talk any other kind in public. Not long ago I was on a train, and behind me two men, neither of them Masons, arguing about Masonry. The things they knew which were not so wonderful! But I never opened my mouth. And the conductor, whom I have known for years as a Mason, heard them, and all he did was wink at me. We knew the truth; they didn't. What was the use of stirring up an argument?"

"What about giving some sign or word in a mixed company, so I can let the other fellows know I am a Mason?" asked the New Brother.

"Oh!" cried the Old Tiler. "You've been reading novels! You have an idea that when you go to a card party you should wiggle your ears or something, so that other Masons will know you are one, too! Nothing to that! Masonic recognitions are not for pleasure, but for need and use. You have been taught how to let others know, if you need to. You know how to recognize a Mason when he lets you know. But these are not for social gatherings, and the man who lards his speech with Masonic expressions is merely showing off."

"I asked for light; we could substitute you for one of the Lesser Lights," said the New Brother.

"If you mean that for a joke," the Old Tiler answered slowly, "I shall think my words were wasted."

"I didn't," protested the New Brother. "I was only trying to say, perhaps clumsily, that I thought you'd make a good Master!"

"Then I shall think only of the motive, thank you for the compliment, and forget the way you put it!" smiled the Old Tiler.

See You Next Month

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