In presenting the following pages the author does so without apology. Many excellent books have been written upon Freemasonry, each of them presenting the subject as it has appealed to the writer.

In the EVOLUTION Of FREEMASONRY the author has endeavored to lift the Society out of the realm of speculation and mysticism and to account for it as the result of those natural causes which have produced all the great ethical institutions of the world. An honest endeavor has been made to tell the truth concerning the origin and development of the Fraternity and as far as possible to dispel the many myths which have grown up in connection with the Society and which for nearly two hundred years have been presented to the unsuspecting as fact. There is nothing complex in the story of Freemasonry however much it may be overburdened with misleading ideas and over-zealous symbolism.

The author has striven to relate the salient facts concerning Freemasonry in a simple, interesting manner. Numerous illustrations have been employed in order to enhance the interest of the reader and to add to the value of the work. The matter contained in these pages is the result of thirty years exhaustive study of the institution and has been selected after a wide range of investigation. No claim whatever is made as to originality. Much that appears in this volume has been the subject of extended discussion on the part of other Masonic writers. The known facts concerning Freemasonry are not numerous. It is therefore impossible for any writer to produce a voluminous treatise on the subject without indulging in much speculation, as well as riotous imagination.

This book has been produced in response to a general demand for a short, concise, interesting, readable story of the greatest fraternity in the world today. The author has refrained from speculating upon the teachings of the institution and has studiously avoided any symbolic interpretation, leaving those subjects to each reader to work out to his own satisfaction. The author acknowledges a debt to many other writers and historians for much of the data which appears in this work and offers THE EVOLUTION OF FREEMASONRY to those members of the Society who want to know the truth about the Fraternity of Freemasons without taxing their minds with irrelevant dates and tiresome details.

DELMAR D. DARRAH.
Bloomington, Illinois.

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