FOR NEWLY RAISED
BRETHREN
edited by:
Robert H. Starr
Samuel Gompers-Benjamin Franklin
Lodge No. 45
Washington, D.C.
You have now
received the three Symbolic degrees
of Ancient Craft
Masonry and, I hope soon, such
instruction in the work of those
degrees as
will enable you to pass a creditable examination therein—whenever you
should visit lodges in
this or other jurisdictions
throughout the world where you
are unknown and cannot be vouched
for as a Master Mason.
You have also
received, I hope, through the Lodge
System of Masonic
Education prescribed by our Grand Lodge an appreciation of the lessons we
are trying to teach and
are versed, at least to some extent,
in the history,
traditions, laws, customs and usages
of the Craft. As a part of the
Masonic
Education program, you have been told of your privileges, your duties and
your responsibilities as a member of
your Masonic Lodge. Some of these
may be enumerated
briefly as follows:
(a) To hold
membership in some lodge.
(b) To pay
regularly and promptly such dues and
assessments as your Lodge may
levy. To attend the
communications of your Lodge, to
join in its deliberations,
to have a voice in its decisions and
to assist in discharging its
responsibilities, among which are:
1.
Volunteer service on committees.
2.
Donations to the Masonic Blood Bank,
if eligible.
3.
Assistance in conferring degrees.
4.
Attendance and assistance at Masonic
funeral services when
summoned.
Your Lodge
needs your help in these and many
other ways. Masonry
makes no demands; she provides
opportunities, she gives you the key
to a door, she opens a path to your
feet, but she forces you neither
to use the key nor travel the path.
She beckons; you may follow or
not as you please. If you follow,
you will travel strange ways, but
you will find them increasingly
pleasant the further you go.
This paper is
limited to providing information
about some of the
courtesies and etiquette of lodge life as generally, although not
necessarily
universally, practiced. Masonry has
developed its own conventions,
governed by tradition,
custom and usage, by which its
members act in lodge and in the
anteroom and live together with the
least friction. Not to proceed
according
to their dictates is not a Masonic offense; it is merely a lack of
Masonic manners.
Unless you belong to a most unusual
lodge, or had a most wise
brother for an instructor, it is
doubtful if you were told much about
these little niceties
of lodge conduct. You are supposed
to attend your lodge and
learn by observation.
A. Entering or retiring from
lodge at labor or at refreshment by
use of the due guard - symbol
of a Mason’s obligations.
One of the
prerogatives of a W.M. is to control
the admission and
retirement of both members and visitors to his lodge. Masons, entering a
lodge give the due-guard to salute
the W.M. at the Altar, if the lodge
is at
labor. This practice assures the W.M. that the brother knows on which
degree the lodge is
open. A brother making a wrong sign
can be instructed
immediately. He can readily
determine this before giving the
due-guard by observing
how the square and compasses are
placed upon the Holy Bible on the
Altar. The salute informs the W.M. that the brother is a Mason of the
degree on which the
lodge is open; if he makes an
inferior sign and cannot, on
request, give the right one, the
W.M. can then use other means to
ascertain that no E.A.
or F.C. is present in a Master
Mason’s lodge. The salute is a
silent assurance to the W.M. and
through him to the brethren: “I
remember my
obligations.”
Brethren give
a similar salute to the W.M. at the
Altar upon retiring in
order to get permission to leave. No one can enter or leave a lodge room
while a lodge is at labor without
permission. If the W.M. does not
wish the
brother who salutes to retire, he tells him so, instead of responding to
the salute.
At
refreshment the lodge is in charge
of the J.W. in the South, which
thus becomes, for the time being, constructively the East. The J.W.’s
pillar is raised and
the pillar of the S.W. is lowered.
The same salutes are given
to the J.W, as are usually given to
the W.M. and for the same reasons,
in the event a brother
wishes to enter or retire.
The W.M. in
the East occupies the most exalted
position in the gift of
the lodge. A lodge which does not
honor its W.M., not because of what
he himself may be, but
on account of the honor given him,
is lacking in Masonic
courtesy. The position he occupies,
not the man himself, must be given
the utmost respect, if
the traditions of the Fraternity are
to be observed. It
is, therefore, to the W,M., not to John Smith who happens to be the W.M.,
that you offer a salute when you
enter or retire from lodge. Like
any other
salute, this may be done courteously and as if you meant it or
perfunctorily as if you
did not care. The man who puts one
finger to his hat brim when he
speaks to a woman on the street
compares poorly with his well-bred
neighbor who lifts his
hat. Taking the hat off is the
modern remains of the ancient custom
of Knights who removed their helmets
in
the presence of those they felt their friends and thus, before those they
wished to honor by showing that they
trusted them. A man removes his hat
before a woman to show his respect.
Touching the brim is but a
perfunctory salute.
Similarly, the salute to the W.M. is
your renewed pledge of fealty
and service, your recognition before all your assembled brethren of your
obligations. It is performed before
the W.M. and the Altar to show him
your veneration for his
authority, your respect for all of
that, for which he
stands. To offer your salute as if you were in a hurry, too lazy
properly to make it, or
bored with its offering, is to be,
Masonically a boor. Moreover,
brethren should not approach the
Altar with bundles or papers in
hand. Some
lodges permit smoking during a business meeting. Even here, however, a
brother is not too respectful who
makes a solemn salute to the W.M.
before the Altar with a
cigarette or cigar either in his
mouth or in his hand.
B. Addressing Lodge
In addressing
the lodge for any purpose, a brother
speaks to the W.M.
The W.M. is the lodge. A brother stands to order when addressing
the chair, gives salute
(due-guard and penal sign) and
begins speech only after the
W.M.’s recognition. A brother does
not turn his back on the W.M. to
address the lodge
without permission from him. He who
seconds a motion rises and
salutes when doing so. No brother
should ever sit while speaking.
Moreover, the spectacle
of two brethren on their feet at the
same time, arguing over a
motion, facing each other and ignoring the W.M. is not one which any W.M.
should permit. But it is also one
which no W.M. should have to
prevent!
Failure to
obey the gavel at once is a grave
discourtesy. The W.M. is
all powerful in the lodge. He can
put or refuse to put any motion. He
can rule any brother
out of order on any subject at any
time. He can say what he
will and will not permit to be
discussed. Brethren who think him
unfair,
arbitrary, unjust, or acting illegally have redress; the Grand Lodge can
be appealed to on any
such matter. But in the lodge, the
gavel, emblem of
authority, is supreme. When a
brother is rapped down, he should at
once obey, without
further discussion. It is very bad
manners to do otherwise;
indeed, it is close to the line between bad manners and a Masonic
offense.
C. Advancement
If an officer
is absent, the officers below his
station do not
necessarily each move up a chair. There is no “advancement by right” for
any office except that
of W.M. The W.M. fills any vacancy
by temporary
appointment. In the absence of the
W.M., the S.W. presides. In the
absence of both the
W.M. and the S.W., the J.W.
presides. The W.M. may ask a P.M.
or any brother he
believes qualified to fill a
temporarily vacant chair.
D. Altar and East
Except in
procession during a degree, it is
practically universal that
brethren do not pass between the Altar and the East in a lodge at labor.
Why? This courtesy is rooted in the thought that the W.M. should
have the Great Lights
constantly in view. In theory, the
Holy Bible, Square and
Compasses on the Altar are dedicated to God, the Master and the Craft and
are in the charge of
the Master. He draws inspiration
from the Great Lights on
the Altar to preside over the lodge
and, therefore, at no time should
his view of them be
interrupted. This custom is but a
pretty courtesy, but it is
rooted in a fundamental conception
of the Craft - that the Altar is the
center of Masonry and that from it
and the Great Lights it
bears, flow all that there is of
Masonic inspiration, truth and
light.
E. Altar and Lesser Lights
You have
observed that, in our jurisdiction,
the Lesser Lights are
placed in a triangular form about
the Altar. It is customary not to
walk between the Altar
and a light. The theory is that the
Altar and the three
lights about it represent the
Sanctum Sanctorum, or Holy of
Holies, of the original
tabernacle in the wilderness. Into
this the High Priest could go,
but only to return the same way. Brethren enter this symbolic
representation in the
lodge room, but do not use it as a
passageway by passing through it.
F. Altar and West
In passing
from the South to the North side of
the lodge at labor, or
vice versa, between the Altar and the S.W. in the West, a brother should
look to the East and
give the penal sign of the degree on
which the lodge is open.
G. Aprons
Brethren who
respect the formalities of their
lodge will not enter it
undressed; that is, without their apron or while putting on that apron.
Aprons should be put on before entering the lodge room. When, as
sometimes happens on
“big nights”, there are not enough
aprons, a handkerchief may be
tucked in the belt to take its
place. The spectacle of a late
brother
hurriedly entering the lodge room at the last moment, tying on his apron
as he approaches the
Altar is much on a par with a member
of church entering it
while putting on his collar and tie.
As you have
already learned, the use of the
apron is extremely old,
not, as with the operative Masons,
as a protector of clothing and body
against tools and stone, but as a badge of honor. In all times and
climes, it has been a
badge of distinction. It is as such
that a Mason wears it.
The material of the Masonic apron -
lambskin - is a symbol of innocence,
as the lamb has always
been. It is a courtesy much
appreciated by all Tilers if
brethren leaving the lodge room lay
their aprons neatly in a pile or in
the apron box, instead
of dropping them anywhere for the
Tiler to pick up and put
away.
H. Balloting
The etiquette
which surrounds the ballot is a
reflection of Masonic
thought upon its value and importance. Brethren ballot one at a time
after a salute to the
W.M. No one should leave or enter a
lodge room during the
taking of a ballot, with the
exception of the Tyler, if he is a
member of the lodge.
It is customary to present the box
first to the W.M. for his
inspection, then to the Wardens. The three principal officers ballot
without leaving their
seats. In some lodges the box is
passed also to all officers
and P.M.’s. What is customary is
good manners. It is a gentle
courtesy for the Master
to ask the Tyler to enter and vote,
his place being taken by
another meanwhile. This is properly
done after all but the Tyler have
voted.
In all Grand
Jurisdictions the ballot on
candidates is secret and
inviolable. It is considered un-Masonic for a brother to divulge how he
intends to or has balloted or to
attempt to ascertain how another
will or has
balloted. Peace and harmony are the foundations of all Masonic meetings.
For Brother A to learn that Brother
B has balloted or will ballot
against his friend
would disrupt that peace and
harmony.
The rejection
of a candidate is a blow to him who
has applied. If
everyone knew who had cast the black
cube, the rejected man might
speedily learn and
cause of friction in the profane
world would then have come out of
a Masonic Lodge.
It is the
duty of every member present to vote
and the W.M. may oblige
him to do so. A Brother who does not vote, because too lazy, or too
indifferent, or for any other
reason, is discourteous because he
injures the ballot, its
secrecy, its importance and its
value.
I. Conclusion
The thoughts
above outlined will disclose that
good manners in Masonry,
like those in civil life, are rooted in kindness and flower
in good will. They oil the Masonic wheels and enable them to revolve
without creaking. They
smooth the path of all in the lodge
and prove to all the
truth of the ritualistic explanation
of that “more noble and glorious
purpose” to which we are taught to
put the trowel.
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