The charm of good manners! Like love, or beauty, or music it conquers where it stands, without force or argument, by its own inherent shining, and is its own justification and reward. If we study etiquette, which is its code and principle, it is because we have been already won to its claims and desire to shape ourselves to its appeal, whether it be in the uses of politeness, gracious behavior, pleasing conduct, deportment, courtliness or any other of those amenities of word and act by which among his fellows a man is distinguished a gentleman.

Masonry, like every separate circle in human society, has an etiquette of its own. Its foundations were laid by those Operative Masons to whom, being cathedral builders, architecture was more an art than a trade, and who learned refinement from their daily work. Its super-structure arose, generation by generation, through the decay of cathedral building, the two centuries of transition, through the formative period of the Speculative Craft, and has been completed, to the stage we have it by two centuries of experience in tens of thousands of Ancient Craft Lodges, each of which, since it binds a man in many contacts to his fellows, has been itself a school of deportment, teaching the art of gentle manners more by practice than by precept.

In principle Masonic etiquette belongs to the empire of good manners, that code by which gentlemen the world over govern their conduct; but this principle with us is found to apply in two directions: on the One it becomes a manifestation of respect for the Craft as a whole; on the other hand it is a form of courtesy to the individual.

Freemasonry solicits no man to join it; it permits no man to make innovations in its body of principles and landmarks; its candidates come of their own free will and because they have heard good reports of its reputation and formed a favorable opinion of its work. And by all means throughout its entire system, and through all its bodies and degrees whatever, by tradition, landmark, usage, custom, law, rule, edict, regulation, and constitution, it is in every way secured that a Mason Shall stand to it in an attitude of reverence and respect. Of that reverence and respect etiquette is one of the forms.

From among the many who feel a desire for the honor of membership in its assemblies it selects the few who are shown to have the necessary qualifications; and once these are admitted they are by that fact signed each and every one with the seal of equal fellowship, and placed in a relation of the same rights, privileges, and duties with all others, no distinctions of wealth, station, rank, race or creed being then permitted. Among these members it is a principal effort of the Craft to sustain unity and harmony, and it is one of the sovereign duties laid on every one of its officials to be responsible for avoiding or prohibiting act or conduct on the part of any that might militate against the Craft's being "a centre of union, and the means of conciliating true friendships among persons that must have remained at a perpetual distance." When this spirit and intent of the Fraternity being itself to focus upon the individual it takes the form of a sincere courtesy, and it is to give expression to this courtesy that much of Masonic etiquette exists.

There is a certain grave beauty in the practice of Masonic etiquette. The Masonic life as it is lived out in our assemblies is a conscious work of art, with each and every part coordinated to every other, and instinct with the feeling of the whole; if a man enters into that system without preparation or forethought, and trusting only his instincts, his manner will strike an awkward note, like a discord jangling across a strain of music; but if he has trained himself in his part and caught the spirit of the whole, the genius of Freemasonry will shine through his actions, will express itself through him, just as, under other conditions, it expresses itself through ritual, symbol, law, philosophy, fellowship and daily deed. To have one's self thus become a part of a great and living whole is a kind of satisfying pleasure nothing else can give, a participation in the very life of beauty, appreciated as much by the beholders as by the actor. This ability to confer please upon ones fellows when gathered in communication or in ceremony is not the least of etiquette's rewards.

Harmony is the first law of the Lodge as it is of heaven. Where discord enters Freemasonry leaves. For One man to live in unity with another belongs to the very essence of our Royal Art; if unity is destroyed fellowship becomes a pile of ashes, and the sun, moon and stars of brotherhood are eclipsed by fog or storm. Since it is the nature of decorum to nurture and protect harmony, etiquette is a bulwark of the Craft, a certain insurance against many of those schisms and discords by which so much of the good work of a Lodge may destroyed in so short a time. "You talk about forms," exclaimed Goethe to a disciple, "as if substance could be formless; neglect form and see how long you will have any substance!"

Our etiquette also is a guarantee of equality in the Craft's treatment of its members. Imagine it to be destroyed by a stroke over night, and Masons left to act out of prejudices or whims! The poor man would be snubbed by the rich, the timid overwhelmed by the brazen, the elected official would lord it over the layman, favoritism, class-consciousness, vanity, snobbery, and all the forms of an ugly secular worldliness would cut this way and that across each Lodge until Freemasonry would at last succumb to those very passions it now exist to control. Equality would be gone, that equality in which each man is treated with the same courtesy as every other; the sword would replace the Level among the Working Tools.

At the same time, and by the same token, Masonic etiquette possesses a utility, the full extent of which has often escaped notice; that utility consists in the power to enable many men of different abilities, and without rehearsal, to act in concert through elaborate ceremonies or complex activity - a power etiquette shares with ritual. Consider some such ceremony as the conferring of a Degree, the instillation of officers, the reception of a Grand Lodge officers, a funeral ceremony, a public procession; the part each is to play is to a large extent prescribed in the Standard Work, or in some other form of words or acts committed to memory, but over and above this are a hundred and one required observances belonging to etiquette which are necessary to the harmonious exemplification of the whole. These observances exist already, beforehand, each of a careful design that fits it exactly for its function. By means of these preexistent forms, learned by the participants, a large number of men, unrehearsed, are an old to work smoothly in unison. This requirement, were there no other, would make etiquette a necessity in such a society as ours.

In speaking of Masonic etiquette it is necessary to emphasize the word "Masonic." Our etiquette is a unique Creation, peculiar to the Fraternity, flesh of its flesh and bone of its bone, absurd, as all misfits are absurd, if used outside of its own setting, but complete and beautiful within the Craft's own framework; some parts of it are optional, left to the good taste of the individual; other parts are prescribed by usage or by law, written or unwritten; the whole of it belongs integrally to the organic body of Freemasonry and as such stands on a level with the Landmarks, the Constitutions, the Ritual, and the Symbols. Why it is that thus far it has not received adequate treatment in our literature is difficult to understand; perhaps our writers have labored under the impression that it is a dry subject for which there would be no readers; if so, they are in error. Be that as it may, books on the subject have been few in number and not satisfactory in material, a fact that leads us to believe that the present manual, prepared for the Craft by the present Grand Lecturer, will meet with a welcome beyond the borders of our own Jurisdiction.

During the past few years special stress has been laid on the subject of Masonic etiquette. There was need for this. Certain amenities which are really currencies had been too long neglected. Some ceremonies of parentally established through usage lacked authority, and many times the dignity, which we should expect. The first edition of the booklet on "Masonic Etiquette," written by the author, and published by The Board of General Activities, was prepared in the hope of stabilizing those forms and ceremonies of the Lodge to which too little heed had been given. In that booklet appeared some instructions pertaining to the reception of a District Deputy Grand Master on the occasion of an official visit. Here it may be well to elaborate this matter more than space permitted in that booklet.

First, let us consider the - status of a District Deputy Grand Master. He is the official and the person representative of the Grand Master. It is impossible for a Grand Master to visit each Lodge in the State, to have personal supervision of its workings, and to know each Lodge at all intimately, wherefore he appoints a Deputy, whose task it is to visit each Lodge in his District at least once each year, and then to report annually to the Grand Master concerning the state of Masonry in the District. The Book of Constitutions defines the duty of a District Deputy Grand Master more fully than space will permit here. But the point I wish to make is that on the occasion of an official visit to a Lodge, the Deputy of the Grand Master out-ranks every other Grand Lodge Officer except the Grand Master whom he represents. This is apparent from the
very nature of the cue.

But on an occasion other then an official visit, or when the District Deputy Grand Master acts for the Grand Master, the Deputy is out-ranked by every elected Grand Lodge Officer.

Only one man escorts the Grand Master into a Lodge, and only one man escorts a District Deputy Grand Master into a Lodge. I mention this specifically because in some places the custom has been established that a group of Past Masters shall go out to escort the District Deputy Grind Master. There is to be no introduction at the Altar. Simply the required salutation is given and at once the two - Deputy Grand Master and his escort - to the East, where the District Deputy Grand Master is received by the Master, who leads the Grand Honors. Then, if he wishes, the Master may greet the District Deputy Grand Master with a few well chosen words, and gives to him the gavel of the Lodge. It is a matter of choice with the District Deputy Grand Master whether he chooses to give his addressing then or later. Remember, he has the right to preside over the Lodge and may keep the gavel if he sees fit. Such is his authority that he may enter a in his District, take the gavel from the Master and Preside, if, in his judgment, conditions warrant such action.

During the years that I have been serving the Craft as Grand Lecturer I have been asked many times how a District Deputy Grand Master should be received, and with what specified language. Every year I hear District Deputy Grand Master say that in no two Lodges in their respective Districts have they been received alike. For the sake of enlightenment, then, let me review once more the language of the introduction of a District Deputy Grand Master. The whole matter is so simple and so short that no person who is really desirous of being correct should have the slightest difficulty with it. In fact, let us go over again the entire simple ceremony. Here it is:

First, three knocks by the Tiler. This is reported to the Worshipful Master by the Junior Deacon in the usual manner and the Junior Deacon is instructed to attend to the alarm and ascertain the cause.

Second, the statement by the Tiler, as follows:

"Right Worshipful ………………………, District Deputy Grand Master in the District ………………….., Representing of Most Worshipful ………………………, Grand Master of Mason's of the state of New York, about to enter."

The Junior Deacon then report: to the Worshipful Master, but in so doing he does not close the door in the Deputy Grand Master's face. He leaves the door open as he addresses the Master in this language:

"Right Worshipful ………………….., District Deputy Grand Master in the District of …………………., Representing Most Worshipful ………………………, Grand Master of Masons of the State of New York, is about to enter."

Please observe that the language of the Junior Deacon is the same as the language of the Tiler in this instance.

Immediately after this announcement the District Deputy Grand Master and the Brother is escorting him enter and proceed to the altar. The proper salutation is given, and they proceed immediately to the East where the District Deputy Grand Master is received by the Master, who introduces him to the Brethren a follows:

"Brethren, Right Worshipful ………………….., District Deputy Grand Master in the District of ……………… …………, Representing Most Worshipful Grand Master of Mason's of the State of New York. Grand Honors!"

The Master then gives the gavel to the District Deputy Grand Master with a few words of greeting and then the District Deputy Grand Master proceeds with the message of the Grand Master or he may prefer to wait a short time. That is up to the District Deputy Grand Master.
But there is the entire ceremony. Simple, isn't it! So, why not do it correctly?

Permit me, at this time, to mention a few of the mistakes made in so many Lodges - which ought to be corrected. Let me put the following in the form of a few "don'ts."

Don't come to the sign of fidelity as the District Deputy Grand Master enters, nor as any Grand Lodge Officer enters, save one - the Grand Master. That Is a token of respect we reserve only for the Grand Master as he enters. But we do come to the sign when the Master introduces the District Deputy Grand Master of the Lodge.

Don't fail to observe the simplicity of the language as the Master calls for the Grand Honors. Two words cover the entire case and fill the bill precisely - Honors!"

Don't add to the end of your statement calling for Grand Honors the excess verbiage, "taking time from the East."

Don't you see how utterly superfluous such a statement is? The Master is always to lead Grand Honors in his Lodge, and is never to delegate this task to any other Brother save when the Grand Master is present, on which occasion they will be led by the Grand Marshal.

In naming a District this is the correct nomenclature:

"The District of the Bronx"
"The Tenth District of Manhattan."
"The District of Ontario-Seneca-Yates."

Whenever any Grand Lodge Officer is escorted into the Lodge always call up the Lodge as he enters.

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