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VOL. 1.
GLEENSBORO, C., FRIDAY, MAY 26, 1876
NO 37.
Dispensing with Masonry.
It is told of the jiotorious Mrs. Parting
ton that she once said : “Nothing does
me so much good as to go to Church and
hear a populous minister dispense with
the Gospel,”
Doubtless there are some clergymen,
who do not so mush dispense gospel in
their polite sermons as they dispense with
it. Mrs. Partington, then, was not alto
gether WTong in her use of words.
We have in past times known a few
Lodges, the members of which seemed to
think them festive clubs, organized for
purposes of eating and drinking, and
where the monthly supper and the annu
al dinner were paramount objects of con
sideration, This was once a very com
mon fault. Happily we now see but
little of it. Indeed we seem to be get
ting on the other extreme, and are begin
ning to cultivate too little the social sen
timent and habit, which if not carried to
excess, are healthy elements of all human
associations, and more especially of Free
masonry.
But there are other ways in which a
Lodge may dispense with Masonry. It
may do so by conducting its work and
its business withor.t any reference to the
principles and objects of the great system
■of ivhich it forms an integral part.
The great objects of Freemasonry are
the brotherhood of man, the fatherhood
of God, and the elevation of humanity.
Its legends, its symbols, its allegorical
ceremonies, are all directed to the incul
cation of these great designs.
A Lodge meeting merely to transact
its secular business, such as the collec
tion of dues, the appropriation of money
to purchase new clothing and decorations,
or perforcfiing its work listlessly, dispen
ses with Masonry,
Such a Lodge may grow rich ; it may
increase in members; it may have a
constant influx of candidates; but it its
members waste their energies in the ef
fort to increase its numbers and a-ugmsmt
its trea.-iury, neglecting altogett-er the
cultivation of a true Masonic spirit and
the elevation of the Masonic character
by an enlargement of Masonic knowledge
then, like the scribes of old, they “pay
tithe of mint and cummin, and have
omitted the weightier matters of the
law.” Such a Lodge dispenses with
Masonry.
There may be a Lodge where the work
of initiation is badly done, where the
ceremonies are abbreviated, and the lec
tures abridged or omitted, because they
are wearisome; where many members
retire as soon as the ceremonies begin,
i-jijjd those who remain seem to know noth
-'ing 9i.the true soul and spirit of the cer-
,emonies. .Such a Lodge disj-euses with
Masonry.
There.may be a Lodge -whose mem'bers
are Masons only in name; who.do not
■suppose that there ,jS anything more in
Speculatiye Masonry than there is in an
ili^urance company;; who letain their
membership because they think it politic
to belong to so large and powerful an as.so-
ciation, whose protection they might need
in the hour of danger or distress. Such
a Lodge dispenses wdth Masonry.
Finally there may be a Lodge which
has existed for many years, but which at
the end of each year, has found no record
on its minutes of any great deed accom
plished by which its members have been
made better, and wiser, and happier;
which for all that it has done toward the
elevation of the brotherhood, might as
well have not existed at all. Such a
Lodge dispenses with Masonry.
Freemasonry is not a selfish association
whose Lodges are mere clubs organized
for the gratification of the personal feel
ings of their members. It is a fraternity
founded on the great principle of human
brotherhood, teaching man to love his
fellow man, to strengthen him in his
weakness, to aid him in his necessity, to
elevate him by education, and with him
to cultivate the religious dogmas of a
belief in the Grand Architect of the uni
verse, and in the ■'mmortality of the soul.
Every Mason should know this. He
should be taught to respect and even to
venerate hi.s institution, for the elevated
objects in w'hioh it is engaged. It is the
duty of the Lodge to teach these lessons.
We do not expect every Lodge to be as
the Germans have sometimes called them,
“Academies,” We do not suppose that
they can become learned. But we do
believe that it is possible to make them
le.=s ignorant.
By appropriate lectures from time to
time, by the discussion of questions eon
nected with the history and the philoso-
phy of Speculative Masonry—by the
possession of a Masonic library, which
each member would be expected to use,
and by the inculcation of the duty of
reading—our Masons need not become
pedants, but they may avoid the eotidi-
tion of ignoramuses.
The Lodge which shall cultivate this
spirit of inquiry, will soon interest its
members in the study of our scie'nce ; and
each year will find the Lodge, if not
larger in numbers, more united in its
harmony, and more elevated in its char
acter simply because such a Lodge would
dispense Masonry and not dispense with
it.— Voice ■of Masonry
Dom Pedko and the Monkeys.—The
Emperor Dom Pedro visited the Bmith
sonian Institution, and while gazing in
tently at a large case of monkeys of all
sorts and sizes, remarked that they re
minded him more of Brazil than anv-
thing he had seen in this country. To
this a little, diminutive, dried up, dark-
skinned bystander made bold to inquii-e.
“ ’Spose you got plenty of them in Bra
zil?” To which the Dom instantly an
swered. “Yes, a ‘wilderness of monkeys
plenty; and I see you’ve got
a few i-n this country.” The whole party
laughed; but perhaps the Dom didn’t
mean anything, and perhaps he did.
The little man said no more, ’cause the
big Dom looks, if he got riled, as if .he
might strike from the shoulder.
Time and Place.
One of the pithy saying.9 of Solomon is
to this effect; “To every thing there is a
season and a time to every purpose.”
Evidently it was in the thought of the
great king that there was a fitness of time
and place for all the concerns of life. If
Solomon had intended to speak a woid of
caution to the Craft he could hardly have
uttered a more wholesome reminder than
the sentence above quoted. And its sig
nificance still abides.
There is too much promiscuous talk
about Masonry, In the horse oar and on
the street in shop and store and office, an
unguarded speech is often carried on res-
peciing the doings of Lodge, Chapter or
Commandery, while important questions
of Masonic prooeedure are discussed with
as much freedom as though the brethren
were gathered within the tyled precincts
of the Lodge room. Thus everything
that is done or proposed to t>e done, is
canvassed in the presence of outsiders;
manner of work, the names of candidates
the disagreements and differences that
sometimes affect the Fraternity which,
above all things, are’to be held sacred as
family secrets,—these things are tossed
about ill an unrestrained speech when
Brethren meet each other in public pla
ces. And so, not choosing the right
time and place for their discourse. Ma
sons of this sort unwittingly bring dis
credit on the Institution they would
serve, and furnish to its enemies the most
effective weapons that can be used
against it.
A reform is needed in this direction ;
there should be less street talk among
Masons, more prudence in selecting the
proper occasions for discussing the affairs
of the Institution, and a stricter circum
spection marked out by the very nature
of a society such a.s ours. Silence and
secresy are virtues to be scrupulously
observed by the true Mason.—Freema
son's Repository.
London to Edinburgli, or vice versa, a
distance of close on four hundred miles,
in a little over nine hours I Breakfast
in London, and dinner in Edinburgh the
same day ! How the bare idea of such a
fact being possible would astound our
easy-going forefathers. The Virgilian
hero’s exclamation, "Obstupwi, steterunt-
que comee^ would not be half strong
enough to express their wonderment on
being told this was an every day fact.
Yet, thanks to the energy and enterprise
of the directors of the Great Northern
Railway, this journey is daily accom
plished, au.l when, during the season that
has just commenced, any of our London
friends are anxious for a change from the
dm and smoke of London to the pure air
of Scotland, they have but to charter a
hansom to reach King’s Cross at the ap
pointed time and in less than ten hours
they will be stretching their legs under
the comfortable mahogony of some wor
thy host in “Auld Pueekie.”—London
Freemasorts Chronicle,
About 1860, one D. 0. was made a
Mason in Mississippi. During the war
he moved to Tennessee, where he was
expelled in 1860. In 1873 his mother
lodge (not having heard of his expulsion J
wrote to him for his dues, which he paid
promptly-and got a dimit. For four
years he has lived here in Missouri, and
won the esteem of his fellow citizens ;
now, can our Lodge here receive hi.s
petition on the strength of his dimit,
ignoring the expulsion in Tennessee, of
which we have never been officially no
tified?
In answering this general question, we
will state that the expulsion by the Lodge
in Tennessee is good, as against all other
Lodges, his own included, and the party
must have willfully withheld from his
lodge the fact of his expulsion when he
got his dimit, else they could not have
granted it. During the war and the
interruption of mails and linesof transit,
communications of all kinds were neces
sarily very uncertain, hence his mother
lodge may never have had an opportuni
ty of learning of the action of the Ten
nessee lodge, and was, therefore, excus
able in granting the dimit. But, taking
it for granted that she did know of the
expulsion, and in defiance of it, issued
the dimit it is worth nothing, for she
could not legally grant a dimit to any
expelled Mason without the case first
being adjudicated and the Grand Lodge
of Mississippi is not the kind of a body to
ignore the legitimate and legal action of
a subordinate to her sister jurisdiction,
without a full and fraternal understand
ing. This not having taken place, Mr,
D. C, is still an expelled Mason, and car.
only be restored to good standing by the
lodge which expelled him, and after such
a vote, he falls back into membership in
his own lodge, which may then dimit or
try him, as it sees proper.
To accept his petition with this fraud
ulently obtained dimit, would be a double
offense, one against the Craft at large,
and another against the Grand Lodge of
Tennessee, for doing which you would
most certainly lose your charter, if the
fact became known to the Grand Master
of Missouri.—Geo. Frank Gouley in
Voice-of Masonry.
Miss Jennie Patterson, wlio made the tour
of the South a few y.-ars ago, giving her select
readings so successfully, was married in St.
Louis recently to Dr. Kalpli Walsh, of IPash-
ington City. The ceremony was performed at
the church of the Holy Communion, and the
Times speaks of it thus ;
“Miss Pattereon had recently returned from
an extended tour in the South and Soutliwest
giving- in each city a selection of her popular
readings in which she attained a .success of no
ordinary degree. Her betrothal having been
announced ainong her numerous friends. Gov
ernor and i/rs, Hardin teu.lered the use and
hospitalities of the Executive'mansion for the
wedding ceremony, liut the bride gracefully
declined the compliment ns it Would liave de
barred many of her Gt. Louis friends from be
ing present. The nuptials were conducted in
a simple but imp.essive manner and the
churcli was Crow ded withfashionabecompany
of ladies and gentlemen.”
,--4,
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