The newly made Mason usually craves to know what it is all about, - what it all means. We have long felt that there should be made available for him a single book-readable-concise, comprehensive. This is just such a book; it covers briefly but adequately the origin, history, philosophy, symbolism, organization and operation of the Order. It answers all his ordinary questions. His lodge itself or his relatives, friends or business associates should present it to him at his raising and start him off right.
Some knowledge of the laws and customs of the Middle Ages is an absolute essential to a clear understanding of present day Masonry. We know of no one better informed or more able to furnish this background than Brother H. L. Haywood, the author of this book. He has spent his entire lifetime in the study of Masonic and Mediaeval history and has written many authoritative and interesting books on these subjects. In this book he ably and interestingly presents the generally accepted conclusions of modern Masonic Scholarship. He also advances and strongly defends some theories and ideas essentially his own. These are based on his wide and general knowledge of the literature of the Craft. While we, as his publishers, do not always agree with his conclusions or his enthusiasms (for example we are not at all enamoured of Laurence Dermott nor do we share his yen for the Antients) yet we greatly admire Brother Haywood's erudition and ability.
The Newly Made Mason is so written that each chapter is an essay or entity in itself and may be read separately. However there is a chapter continuity, and a logical sequence runs through the entire book. It is written throughout in interesting and attention arresting style. We are publishing in the near future a continuation or sequel or supplementary volume of about the same size. It is already written and is by the same author and will be entitled "More about Masonry." It treats of Lodge offices, officers and of the organization and operation of Lodges and Grand Lodges, - matters which are not of immediate interest or importance to a newly initiated brother.
While this book is primarily for the Newly Made Mason, any Mason can read it with interest and profit to himself, as it contains much new material and many original viewpoints. The two books while they will be complementary to each other are separate and separable but they will also fit together into a complete panorama of the entire field of Masonic knowledge.
Previously the only Masonic books available for presentation to a candidate were either sketchy and incomplete, or included excursions into occultism or mysticism, or made reference to characters in ancient history or mythology not familiar to the average man, or erroneously based Masonic origins upon Ancient Mysteries or Mediaeval organizations like the Comacines or the Collegia, which while they had certain resemblances were in no sense actual origins. Brother Haywood is nowhere more forcible or emphatic than when he urges Masons to put their faith and trust only in provable facts and well authenticated truths.
We take pleasure in offering this book for your consideration and hope it may meet with your approval.
THE MASONIC HISTORY COMPANY
L. B. BLAKEMLORE, President
(Past Grand Master of Ohio Masons)
"The Servant in the House"
"I am afraid you may not consider it an altogether substantial concern. It has to be seen in a certain way, under certain conditions. Some people never see it at all. You must understand, this is no dead pile of stones and unmeaning timber. It is a living thing. . . . When you enter it you hear a sound-a sound as of some mighty poem chanted. Listen long enough, and you will learn that it is made up of the beating of human hearts, of the nameless music of men's souls - that is, if you have ears. If you have eyes, you will presently see the church itself-a looming mystery of many shapes and shadows, leaping sheer from floor to dome. The work of no ordinary builder! - The pillars of it go up like the brawny trunks of heroes; the sweet human flesh of men and women is moulded about its bulwarks, strong, impregnable; the faces of little children laugh out from every corner-stone: the terrible spans and arches of it are the joined hands of comrades; and up in the heights and spaces there are inscribed the numberless musings of all the dreamers of the world. It is yet abuilding - building and built upon. Sometimes the work goes forward in deep darkness: sometimes in blinding light; now beneath the burden of unutterable anguish: now to the tune of a great laughter and heroic shoutings like the cry of thunder. Sometimes, in the silence of the night-time, one may hear the tiny hammerings of the comrades at work up in the dome-the comrades that have climbed ahead."
By CHARLES RANN KENNEDY
(The above is taken from the pixy "The
Servant in the House")
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