The symbol of the line-the stretched line
and the measuring line occurs frequently in the books of
the Old Testament. We read of "a man with a measuring
line in his hand" (Zechariah ii, 1); that "the
measuring line shall yet go forth over against it"
(Jeremiah xxxi 39), that "he marketh it out with a
line" (Isaiah xliv, 13); and so forth. To the
freemason the stretched line connotes the skirret, or
skirrit, one of the working tools of the Third Degree; it
emblematically represents the straight and undeviating
line of conduct laid down for our guidance in the V.S.L.,
and further teaches the criterion of moral rectitude, that
we should avoid dissimulation in conversation and action,
and seek the path that leads to immortality.
The skirret, or some implement like it, must have been in
use for thousands of years. Paintings at Thebes, Egypt,
dating back to, say, 3000 B.c., show masons holding a
stretched cord by means of which a line is being drawn. A
limestone 'stela' ('slab' or 'tablet') set up in the
capital Ur of the Chaldees more than two thousand years
before. A simple Form of the Skirret. The Everyday
Skirret
A line-holder, rotating on a centre-pin. The gardener's
line-reel and stake. Christ shows a measuring rod and line
in use by a deity acting as architect. But, while this is
so, we have no evidence of the actual existence of the
implement itself earlier than a painting, The Backgammon
Players, by the Flemish painter David Teniers the younger,
who may be assumed to have produced his picture in the
middle of the seventeenth century. We find no reference in
print to the word 'skirret' until after the United Grand
Lodge, 1813, and then as a masonic word only, and not as a
word in general literature.
The skirret familiar to every freemason is a spool, or
cord-holder rotating freely on a centre-pin. The loose end
of the cord is attached to a second pin-a short
stake-which, in use, is driven into the ground at one end
of the intended line. Next, the workman walks towards the
other end of the proposed line, the rotating holder giving
off the cord as he moves, and he then drives the centre-pin
into the ground where required, taking care to stretch the
cord tightly. In this way he produces a straight line for
his guidance "
in marking out the ground for the foundation of an
intended structure."
Some rituals speak of the skirret as being an implement
from which the line "is drawn, chalked and
struck"-that is, the stretched and chalked cord is
'plucked,' so as to print a white line on the surface
below it. We may well believe that the use of the
chalk-line has been known for thousands of years. The
ancient Greeks said that the chalk-line produced a line
"more exact than rectitude itself" -
symbolically it was the boundary line of human life.. But
for use on an earth surface, the only purpose of the
skirret, the chalked line would not often be suitable.
We know the implement well enough, but we know nothing of
its name. General dictionaries appear to have drawn their
information on the subject from masonic sources, and
therefore do not help us. (It is fairly certain, by the
way, that freemasonry gave this word 'skirret' to the
technical vocabulary or, at any rate, rescued it from
oblivion.) Some erudite and elaborate interpretations
giving the word a symbolic meaning have been attempted,
but can be ignored. One writer has said that the word is
"genuine English although almost obsolete." Yes,
genuine English for certain things botanical, but not for
a rotating line holder! Dictionaries of the present
century give the word 'skirreh' as meaning a cord, but it
is doubtful whether this has genuine antiquity. A few
years ago an author occupied much space to explain that
the word .skirret' meant 'pure,' but this looks very much
like a case of taking the masonic meaning of a word, and
seeking to derive it accordingly. 'Purity' is an extremely
unlikely association with the name for an operative's
linespool.
The word 'skirret' was not known, it is believed, until
about 1825, and appears to have no literary history; we
must conclude that if the word itself was not an
invention, then it must have been derived from some fact
or circumstance relating to the implement itself.
There is a bare possibility that the familiar word
'skewer'-the butcher's skewer-is allied with the word 'skirret.'
One old-fashioned meaning of 'skewer' is that of a spindle
fixed to a cloth-spinner's creel, and carrying a rotating
bobbin from which the yarn was unwound; here we get both
the sound' of the word and the meaning closely allied to
those of 'skirret.'
The Scots word 'skirr, meaning 'scurry or rush,'
conveys the exact mental impression caused by the sudden
rotation of the cordholder when the pull comes upon it.
Then, in eighteenth century slang, to 'skirry' was to 'run
quickly' or to 'scurry.' We may suspect that 'skirret' was
originally a colloquial word which owed its origin either
to the 'scurry' of the line-holder or to the 'skirl,' or
shrill sound, which it makes when in action.
Masonry is one of the most sublime and
perfect institutions that ever was formed for the
advancement of happiness and general good of mankind;
creating, in all its varieties, universal benevolence and
brotherly love. It holds out allurements so captivating as
to inspire the Brotherhood with emulation to deeds of
glory, such as must command, throughout the world,
veneration and applause, and such as must entitle those
who perform them to dignity and respect. It teaches us
those useful, wise and instructive doctrines upon which
alone true happiness is founded; and at the same time
affords those easy paths by which we attain the rewards of
virtue; it teaches us the duties which we owe to our
neighbor, never to injure him in any one situation, but to
conduct ourselves with justice and impartiality; it bids
us not to divulge the mystery to the public, and it orders
us to be true to our trust, and above all meanness and
dissimulation, and in all our vocations to perform
religiously that which we ought to do - DUKE OF
SUSSEX.
|
