Frequently in the ritual of the Lodge we observe statements that seem obscure, that appear, some of some of them, hardly applicable to the life of today - even threadbare, if we fail to consider them in the light of a hidden meaning. So often we hear them repeated that we come to regard them as commonplace; so many times we fail to look at the allegorical significance of these things - things that, after all, are the important considerations.

"Travel in foreign countries!" Let us examine this homely phrase and see if we can discover the richness of its inner meaning. Time was, in the period of Operative Masonry, when the Mason was required to broaden his knowledge and experience not to be found in one place. He must travel in foreign countries - in neighborhoods unfamiliar to him. He must know how other men thought and did. He must learn how to solve problems of his trade, as he could not in the restricted experience of his locality. Great is the man who goes out in quest of these things!

Time now is in the period of Speculative Masonry, when we too must "travel in foreign lands" - in a symbolic sense. We must explore the minds of others, that we may come to a finer understanding of our fellow-man. For we cannot live within ourselves and achieve growth - growth of the spirit broadening the mind.

There, clearly, is the call to every man who becomes a Master Mason, if his Masonry is not to become a static thing, useless to himself and to the world about him. The Operative Mason, as he wielded his tools, saw a beautiful cathedral taking form above him, slowly, day by day, but always reaching a height and exhibiting new beauties in its design. We are Speculative Masons, and unless we see, each of us, the temple of our character and personality reaching to new heights of strength and beauty, all of our professions are in vain.

Let me tell of Brethren of my acquaintance who have "traveled in foreign lands." Neither of these men has ever been far from home. Others also, through circumstances beyond their control, have been confined during their lives within the narrowing influences of their communities, yet all have traveled mightily in the things of the spirit, their influence in turn spreading out until men, brought in contact with them, have been the richer because these have lived.

In a little village in this state lives a Brother whom I consider one of the most successful men I have ever known. I do not measure his success in terms of dollars and cents, but rather in terms of human values. He will never have to worry lest he be in want, because through care and thrift, and by wise investments, he has saved a modest portion. For over thirty years he has taught the boys and girls of his village. He has never journeyed far from home, but in the minds of others
he has traveled far and wide. In his county he is well known. He is a member of, and an officer in, up-words of a dozen organizations - religions, social, political and fraternal. His services are in the demand because his associates know that when a task to him and will without question the properly done. Dependability is his middle name.

I first became acquainted with him when he was history that the Grand Master. Clear thinking and sound judgment characterized his work and that station, just as it did in every other walks of life. And, with all these qualities, he combined a modest and an essential humanness that rounded out a man. One day in a conversation with me he made this statement: "In all the years I have taught school I have never known a boy who has been a pupil of mine to go wrong!"

What an accomplishment, and what a record! He said it with no thought of boasting, but as a simple statement of fact.

This man, your Brother, my Brother, a Mason, has truly traveled in the minds of others and been an inspiring influence. An influence for good rather than a record in mileage and stickers of European hotels covering his bags! Sojourners in the lives of others! Building that glorious house not made with hands. Traveling far in the accomplishment of things worth while. Men will tell their children, and their grandchildren, of this man who so influenced them for good. And our modest Brother will say, "Father, when did I all these things?"

And then there was a man whom I will call John. He came into missionary when he was perhaps forty-five years old. Until that time his life had been spent within Showa restricted says, his contacts not as to broaden his concept of life. He looked at the world pretty much through one pair of eyes. His was a good life so far as principle was concerned, but his difficulty lay in the fact that he had never traveled in foreign countries, either actually or allegorically; his sphere of influence was restricted and his understanding and sympathy with others limited.

He rose in the morning, ate his breakfast while his wife packed his dinner pail, and trudged to work. At the dose of the day he returned home, ate his supper, read his evening paper, and went to bed, that he might rise next morning to do it all over again. He had little opportunity to grow intellectually or spiritually, although the capacity for growth was there but latent.

One day changed all that. John became a Mason! I don't recall the circumstances that led him to present his application, but that is unimportant. What matters is that he did so...and then he began the travel. Far beyond the stretches of his own imaginings he into the realms of men's minds. In his Lodge he met the President of the firm that employed him. And, to his astonishment, on the level! To his startled mind there seemed no barriers in that quiet place. Men prominent in the cultural life of the village became his friends. He formed contacts he had never dreamed possible. And presently the observing began to be aware that John was growing, acquiring a broader outlook on life. Dormant qualities of mind began to and his influence began to be felt, and his associates.

Then something further occurred - he was started in line of the Lodge as a Master of Ceremony. And that moment on John was a changed man. Through years he gradually approached the East, was in time elected Worshipful Master, and then (for all except John) catastrophe! Before he could be installed he passed on to the Grand Lodge of. But John lives on in the hearts of his Brethren, a living influence for good. And he still travels on in the lives of those whom influence, even as did our Brother the school teacher.

I could go and tell this jury of the others of our Brethren who seldom leave their neighborhoods, but who travel mightily in terms of good influence; of your Brethren and I do, in modest, unassuming ways, have not well in the quarry's, who have traveled for him to foreign countries in search of those wages of consciousness of jobs well done and of the everlasting satisfactions that come of the accomplishment of things worth while. Having obtained the Master's word they toil on, in a "hope of blessed immortality."

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