THE PENNSYLVANIA FREEMASON Issued Every Three Months By The Right Worshipful Grand lodge of The Most Ancient and Honora ble Fraternity of Free and Accepted Masons of Pennsylvania and Masonic Jurisdiction Thereunto Belonging, through its COMMITTEE ON MASONIC CULTURE- William E. Yeager, Past Grand Master, Chairman; William E. Montgomery, G. Edward Elwell, Jr., Frank R. leech, William A. Carpenter, Charles A. Young and Ashby B. Paul, Grand Secretary. APPROVED AND AUTHORIZED TO BE PRINTED BY
MAX F. BALCOM Right Worshipful Grand Master
Mailing Address: P.O. BOX 688, WARREN, PA.
District District A (10) (10) B
Change of Address: Notify obove addreu. Your Lodge number must be included.
August, 1960
All 68 Masonic Districts have at least one Lodge 100 per cent in the " PENNSYLVANIA PLAN" in support of The George Washington Masonic National Memorial. As ofAugust l,GrandLodgehad received complete contributions from 367 Masonic Lodges, representing a total collection of $158,481.75. Fourteen Masonic Districts are now 100 per cent- all Lodges in those Districts having met their quota for the Memorial. Many other Districts are nearing completion Lodges in
WILLIAM A. CARPENTER, Editor
Vol. VII
Fourteen Masonic Districts Have Reached Their Quota in Support of ~~Pennsylvania Plan"
No.3
Getting Acquainted with Short Talk Bulletins Is Rewarding Experience The Secretary of every Lodge in Pennsylvania receives each month a copy of the newest SHORT TALK BuLLETIN of The Masonic Service Association of the United States, Washington, D. C. These Short Talks are provided by Grand Lodge, through its membership in the Association, as supplementary materials for information and inspiration in the important work of the Grand Lodge Committee on Masonic Culture. These Bulletins are the property of the Lodge. Kept in the Lodge library for interested readers, they become a valuable tool for Masonic culture. The Worshipful Master, or the Aide to the Committee on Masonic Culture, if the Master so designates, can use these materials for Lodge programs or instruction. The Bulletins deal with Masonic history, Masonic custom and law, symbolism and ritual, general Masonic information, or inspirational ideas. Any Brother can present one of these Short Talks (approximately 20 minutes long) as a reading, or an address to the Lodge. More than 400 of these little Masonic speeches have been published by the Association in the past 40 years. There is a wealth of program material in these booklets, all of which are kept in stock by the Association. Catalogs are free. The Association prints an "Outline for a Short Talk" with most of the Bulletins, so that an interested Brother can give one of these addresses in his own words, by abstracting the contents in shorter form.
c
(9)
D E F
(11) (9)
G
(10) (10)
H I
(9) (9)
J
(10)
1 -ft (12) 2
(14)
3 -ft
(8)
4 -ft 5
(5) (8)
6 7
(10) -ft (11)
8 -ft (10) 9
10 11
(8) (9)
(10)
12 13 14 15
(15) (15)
16 17 -ft 18 19 20 21 22 23
(8)
(6)
(11) (7) (9) (7) (7) (8)
(7)
(5)
and probably will reach the 100 per cent participation goal in September. Brother Ashby B. Paul, R. W. Grand Secretary, also reports that many Lodges have made partial payments. The formula for 100 per cent participation is simple- an average of at least $1 a member and $10 from the Lodge itself. The 367 Lodges completing their quota, based on the checks received by the Grand Secre· tary as of August 1, 1960, are listed as follows: Lodges in
LODGES
51,295 748, 402,723,114, 654,543 . 703,135,67 . 292,380,715,782,81,130 . 125,419,19,211,359,491 368,369,728,686,230,134,441 .2, 72,436 506,296,9 .528, 432,607 . 631,724 286,398,587;665, 551,417,43, 496,764, 476,156,682 464,486,681, 704,756,781, 570, 629, 364, 21,698,775 260,262, 302, 361,443,315, 197, 143 336,348, 423, 465,586 569,343,340,383 . 558, 777 307, 367, 435,660,406,62, 479, 227, 740, 377, 549 245, 308, 410, 25, 596, 427, 776, 778,400, 512 563 .326,689, 469 138,216,222, 409,426,285, 730, 238, 270 . 763, 770, 332, 474, 468 .504, 523, 466,345,579,588 . 305,344,330,218,752 328,338, 445,472,507,438,248, 360,439 .306, 70, 108, 163 350, 317,351, 477,247, 421, 373 . 335, 755 . 203,376, 458, 319,324 281,490,616,282 .391, 515,480, 700,268,574 .566,627,560 316, 363,710,552
District District LODGES 24 (12) 304,455,362,416 25 (7) .234, 754,498,372,473,408 . 433,642,243, 599,727 26 (7) 27 -ft (7) 239,272,540,694,769,577,244 28 (9) . 650,691,735,768,45, 484 29 -ft (8) 153,164, 447,454,604,623,237, 297 30 (8) 225,275,750,601,568,562,331 31 (7) .228,459,651,346,614,252 32 (10) .374,430,223 33 (8) 379,382,532,639 34 (7) .572,688, 774,300, 320,589 .265,349,462 35 (7) 36 (13) .772, 779, 767,625,353,711 . 478,485 37 (8) . 590, 683 38 (7) 39 -ft (7) 313,355,431, 437,534,617,753 40 (7) .595, 741,553,254, 585, 446 .538, 742,658 41 (8) .266, 503,706, 451,649,663 42 (6) 43 (7) 615,337, 461,643 44 (6) 580 45 -ft (8) 242,327,467,611, 621, 677, 687, 771 46 (10) 144,404,702, 22,713,194,632, 619 47 -ft (8) 269,509,608, 652, 684,743,761, 544 48 (10) 699, 783, 787, 766,546,725,634 49 -ft (11) 375, 526, 582, 714, 786,583,731, 765,785, 641, 685 594, 413,565, 622 50 (8) 231,678,762, 696, 705,693, 736 51 (9) 52 (9) .521,559,640 53 -ft (9) 250,290, 424,517, 575, 603,668, 389, 434 548,612,644, 613,448,502,573 54 (9) 55 (8) 253,697,508, 734,760 241, 412,557,633, 726 56 (6) 758 57 (8) 357,378,255,737 58 (8)
*
"(:( Indicates Dis trict is 100%
A Worshipful Master may choose to read excerpts, or a stimulating paragraph from one of these Bulletins, to give his Brothers some "good and wholesome instruction for their labors." This experience will be more meaningful if he follows there ading with though t-provoking questions so that the Lodge Brethern
assembled can enjoy a brief discussion period. Each Bulletin becomes a valuable addition to the Lodge's "Little Masonic Library." As the number of Bulletins grows, a Lodge librarian can stimulate considerable Masonic reading and study by circulating these pamphlets among the Members.
FREEMASON AN OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE RIGHT WORSHIPFUL GRAND LODGE OF FREE AND ACCEPTED MASONS OF PENNSYLVANIA VOLUME VII
NUMBER 3
AUGUST • 1960
A Message from Our Grand Master Rarely does the passing of time impress us so forcibly as when we look at the early hist or y of the Grand Lodge of the Most Ancient and Honorable Frat ernity of Free and Accepted Masons of Pennsylvania. On the rolls of the early Lodges are Brethren who labored for the Craft and helped to mold the destiny of our new nation. These faded r osters whisper of another time, a time of great beginnings, of honest toils and grand dreams . For instance, the occupations of many Brethren in the early days included such tasks as wheelwrights, coppersmiths and carriagesmiths. But these early years of Freemasonry in Pennsylvania were brave days, too, for the spirit of the times was r es tless. P eople were t alking about new frontiers, Indian wars and independen ce. W e defeated the Indian s, gained our independence and pushed our borders to the Pacific Ocean. The population growth of this great nation kept pace. Along with our fantastic growth came many changes . Listen to the occupation s on our present rosters : ion ospheric propagation, technicians, stereophonic equipment salesmen, industrial psychologists a nd many others. None of these occupations were even wildly imagined when Freemasonry was founded in Pennsylvania. But today, the carriagesmith and the radar t echnician aren' t really different at heart. They sh are a gr eat interest in Symbolic Masonry . This can be called a " Kinship with Freemasonry ." You might wonder if Freemasonry has kept pace with th e progress through the years. I believe it has. You also might wonder if Freem asonry is different today . I don' t consider it is. The basic teachings and philosophies of Freemasonry haven ' t changed . We h ave improved our thinking, per haps, to keep pace with a changing world, but the basic concept of Broth erhood will never change. However, we must always be r eminded that a free people are in a crisis when they become soft and concern themselves only with selfish interests and selfish pleasures. T o enjoy the freedom our Masonic Brethren h elped to mold, we must be willing to make the necessary sacrifices. Freemasonry can only live and prosper in a free nation and in a free civilization. So, today, we n eed mor e than ever beforein our home life, in our church life and in our political life- t o make certain t hat our Brethren understand our philosophies and our ideals . W e also must make certain that the coming gen eration ob-
tains from us and keeps th e philosoph y upon which Freemasonry was built. We must learn to serve our community and our nation effectively, and at the same time not lose sight of individuality, initiative, liberty and freedom, which so long h ave been the cherished possessions of Masons even in the carriagesmith days. We must learn t o understand our own welfares and to subordinate our selfish m otives for the general good of Freemasonry everywhere. We must r·ealize the responsibilities that are ours and exercise our franchise with intelligence . Here, Freemasonry, because of its l ong-established and recognized standing, has an obligat ion to perform in t he community and in t he nation through the intelligent and effective u se of the privileges which we enjoy. How can we as Masons do something about this? First, I believe it is the duty of ever y Mason and his family to attend church and be ac tive in civic affairs. I also believe that every Mason and h is family should register, go to the polls on election day and cas t their ballots for the candidate of their choice. I believe every Mason should make a special effort to attend at least one Blue Lodge m eeting a month. Every Mason should t ake more interes t in the Ritualis tic and other Lodge Work. Finally, I believe that Freemasonry mus t be out from under the so-called " bushel" and that it be publically known that the fundamental teaching of Freemasonry is the Brotherhood of Man. A Mason, is well described on a plaque in a foreign country. It reads : " A Mason is a Man and a Brother whose Trust is in God. He meets you on the Level an d acts upon the Square. Trust is his Compass, and h e is ever Plumb. He has a true Grip on all that is Rite. " He is loyal to his Order, and whatever his Degree, he is a Master of himself. In the Lodge of Life h e wears unstained the White Lambskin of Innocence. " From his Initiati on as an Entered Apprentice he travels toward the Light of Wisdom u ntil he receives the final- the Divine P assword that admits him in to the ineffable presence of the Eternal Supreme Grand Mas ter of the Universe-God." Cordially and fraternally,
MAX F. BALCOM, R . W. Grand Master