May 2015 Trestleboard
ANACORTES, WASHINGTON! FIDALGO LODGE #77 MAY 2015 TRESTLEBOARD Calendar T 5/12/15 (Tuesday) Temple Board (5:30 PM) Scholarship Awards Dinner (6:30) Stated Meeting (7:30 PM) Official Visit of DDGM, VWB Jim Fulton 5/25/15 (Monday) Memorial Day: Vacant Chair Ceremony & Veteran’s Ap-‐ preciation Luncheon (Noonish, stand by for more details) 5/27/15 (Wednesday) Lodge Leadership Association (7:30 PM) At our last festive board Brother Chuck Manning gave a very good report on the Future Farmers of America and their support of youth shooting programs. In Skagit County these programs have been adopted by several high schools that field air rifle and shotgun teams. 6/12/15 -‐ 6/13/15 (Friday & Saturday) Grand Lodge 158th Annual Communication Kennewick For more info: http://freemason-‐wa.org/?p=31 The Agenda for May. May Masonic Birthdays “Raised to the Sublime Degree of a Master Mason” 5/14/1956 5/04/1965 5/19/1966 5/25/1970 5/25/1971 5/06/1975 5/25/1976 5/03/1977 5/23/1978 5/21/1985 5/29/1985 5/02/1989 5/02/1989 5/15/1989 5/09/1998 5/13/2009 5/29/2013 his past month out of seven scholar-‐ ship applicants we selected Mr. Al-‐ exander Braatz and Miss Brooke Riordan as the winners of our two scholarship awards. I would like to thank WB Eric Johnson and Brothers Cory Stout, Andy McLaughlin and Kevin Magill for assisting in this effort. We will be honoring these two recipi-‐ ents at a dinner preceding our May 12th Communication. April’s Festive Board. 6/9/15 (Tuesday) Temple Board (5:30 PM) Tex-‐Mex Dinner (tentative) 6:30 PM Stated Meeting (7:30 PM) Danny Beatty Bill Ellin Dave Yount Bud Zacher Noel Melcher Terry Johnson W.D. Thatcher E.S. “Red” Bell Dale Fluaitt Cecil Little C.L. White D.M. Brown J.J. Lynch Eric Johnson R.L. Cook Franklin Martis Kevin Magill From the East: W.B. Jerry Meyers • Balloting: At the May communication we will be ballot-‐ ing on the petition of Brother Ralph Corbin for affilia-‐ tion. • Official Visit: VWB Jim Fulton, District Deputy of the Grand Master for District #9 will be making his official visit. The Brethren are strongly encouraged to attend the May communication to show your support for our District Deputy and let him know that Fidalgo Lodge #77 is the strongest Lodge in the district. • Resolutions: It is also that time of year, one month prior to Grand Lodge, when we have to read the resolutions that will be acted on at Grand Lodge. There are some of these resolutions that will generate intense discus-‐ sion, so come on out and enjoy the evening. The Greatness of Our Fraternity “To say much about the greatness of our Fraternity, and it is great! We have the fine and lofty moral and ethical stan-‐ dards as taught us in the ritual and portrayal of our degrees, but are we putting into daily practice those lessons and prin-‐ ciples? Are we telling others, -‐-‐ our associates in our church, school, factory or office, what we stand for, and are we dem-‐ onstrating, by the examples of our lives, those tenets?” (Stanley F. Maxwell) Grand Lodge Resolutions: Last month, WM Jerry sent an email to everyone on his list, providing a link to the resolutions to be presented at the June Annual Communication. We will discuss these at the May Stated Meeting, so bring any questions you may have. You can find the Resolutions here: http://bit.ly/1bvOS7n ! !http://www.AnacortesMasons.org Mail: AnacortesMasons @gmail.com ! PAGE 1 FIDALGO LODGE #77 ANACORTES, WASHINGTON! The Origin of Our Standard Work W.B. Jerry Myers From a presentation made at the April 2015 Stated Meeting A Mason trained under our present system would have considerable difficulty in gaining admission to a lodge conducted precisely as lodges were 300 years ago, or even at the present time, in England or in those on other continents. In fact, even if you did gain admission there would be some debate in your mind as to whether you were really sitting in a Masonic Lodge. While being careful not to deviate from the Ancient Landmarks, we must remember that the true pur-‐ pose of Masonry is to be an institution serving men. Masonry is universal and permanent in its very nature, but rituals are made by men. Which brings us to the question of “Where did our standard work come from? “ As the people moved west the Masons among them formed new jurisdictions, each one claimed for itself the in-‐ dependence of a confederacy and developed for itself a ritual and other tools of organization. The Grand Lodge of Wash-‐ ington passed through this great struggle, against both active and passive resistance, from its inception in 1858 until the acceptance of the Standard Work in 1886. It was in the year 1858 that a convention of Free and Accepted Masons met at the Masonic Hall in Olympia on December 6th to establish a Grand Lodge of F&AM for the territory of Washington. Four lodges were repre-‐ sented, Olympia #5; Steilacoom #8; Grand Mound #21, and Washington #22. Over a period of two days, after some discussion and amendments the Constitution of the Grand Lodge of F&AM of WA was adopted. In Section 1, Art. 4, we find the following: “The Grand Lodge is the supreme Masonic power and authority, in this territory, possessing all attributes of sovereignty and government – legislative, executive, and judicial – limited only by a strict adherence to the ancient landmarks of the order, and to provisions of its own constitu-‐ tion and regulations.” Thus we see that from the beginning the Grand Lodge took to itself absolute and final authority to establish a Standard Work of ritual and lectures for the operation of all lodges in this jurisdiction. On December 9th 1858 this author-‐ ity was put into action when WB T. M. Reed introduced the following resolution: “ Resolved, that the MWGM, RWGWs and RWG Secretary take measures forthwith, after the adjournment of the Grand Lodge, toward the establishment of Uniformity in MAY 2015 the work and lectures in subordinate Lodges of this jurisdic-‐ tion.” In the 1859 proceedings we find that the GM re-‐ ported that he had met with a majority of the Grand Officers and after due deliberation they adopted the work to be taught in this jurisdiction and appointed RWB T. M. Reed as Grand Lecturer. In May and June the GM in company with the Grand Lecturer had visited Steilacoom #2, Grand Mound, #3, Franklin U.D. and Port Townsend U.D. and “found the breth-‐ ren willing and anxious to receive the work as adopted.” There was no mention what work it was that was adopted or what were the sources from which it was taken. There was no mention of other lodges in the jurisdiction except for Washington #4 which was not visited because of it being more remote and travel not so convenient. In 1860 a special committee on “Uniformity of the Work” was formed. They called for a Grand Lecturer to be appointed to teach the work adopted, to individual members at a Masonic School at Grand Lodge and to certify the qualifi-‐ cations of pupils before they are authorized to teach their brethren. They also recommended that any subordinate Lodge or member who neglected to become informed to the extent to which his relations to the fraternity required should be subject to discipline. Lodges began to multiply and the burden of imparting the Work increased rapidly. Jurisprudence, 1861 recommended that “the authority and complete control of the work shall be cen-‐ tralized in the Grand Lecturer and such Deputy Grand Lecturers as he may deem necessary to appoint; that he shall have power to establish schools of instruction, and that he shall exemplify the work before Grand Lodge for its ap-‐ proval.” The Committee on Uniformity of the Work also rec-‐ ommended that some brother be authorized to attend a Ma-‐ sonic School for Instruction in the Atlantic states for the pur-‐ pose of learning the Webb-‐Preston Work as taught by Bro. Robert Morris of Kentucky. In 1862 it was reported that arrangements had been made to send a brother to receive the Webb-‐Preston Work; but the Grand Lecturer reported that although the work has been received kindly, the gold excitement has drawn away many active and intelligent brethren. “The migratory habits of a large class of our more enterprising population preclude the possibility of Uniformity of the Work imposed by Grand Lodge, until the country becomes so far settled as to insure the control of Lodges by permanent and well qualified breth-‐ ren.” See Standard Work, page 3 From the Secretary’s Table: May Day Message from the Department of Collections Only five Members still owe dues for 2015, and here’s a list of those who have not paid their dues/assessments: J.B.H. O.L.J. D.C.K K.G.S. J.W. Dues: $65 / Assessment: $20 Mail to Eric Johnson, Secretary/Treasurer, 2017 Piper Circle, Anacortes, WA 98221. Questions: email me at [email protected] Thanks, Eric ! ! ! http://www.AnacortesMasons.org Mail: AnacortesMasons @gmail.com PAGE 2 FIDALGO LODGE #77 ANACORTES, WASHINGTON! From Standard Work, page 2 In the settlement of the country, in widely sepa-‐ rated localities, by brethren coming from various jurisdictions among which the work differed so widely as to render it well nigh unrecognizable, and each brother insisting that the work as he had learned it was right and the only correct work, plus the hard labor of unlearning that which is old and learning that which is new, all indicate the almost insurmountable difficulties in the endeavor of Grand Lodge to establish Uni-‐ form Work. Many plans and schemes were tried and recom-‐ mendations made again and again but the problem remained unchanged. In 1864 the Committee on Correspondence re-‐ ported that California, New York, Pennsylvania and certain New England jurisdictions were starting the Herculean task of establishing a Uniformity of Work. The Grand Master of Illi-‐ nois argued for the adoption of the Webb-‐Preston work as taught by Barney. Thus we find there was a general awaken-‐ ing to the necessity of a Uniform Work and the desirability of securing as far as possible the lectures as given by Webb. During the years 1865-‐1871 the question of Stan-‐ dard Uniform Work seems to have languished without supervision until the adoption of a resolution repealing a former resolution providing for the appointment of a Grand Lecturer. At the 1872 Grand Session a resolution was adopted to restore the office of Grand Lecturer. Still no Standard Work but things were looking up. The stand-‐ ing committee on Work and Lectures continued to be ap-‐ pointed from year to year but with no particular work of a definite nature being accomplished. Any recommendations made usually met with indifference and neglect, or having been adopted, were allowed to languish without either the funds or disposition on part of the Lodges to carry them into effect. Each Lodge seemingly preferring to continue in its old way, officers delivering the work as it had been handed down from previous generations and various jurisdictions. At the 1885 Annual Communication the question was again defeated, but WB Walter Thompson successfully introduced a resolution “that the GM elect and Grand Secre-‐ tary with three others shall at the earliest date form a special committee to investigate the manner in which the various jurisdictions in America have treated the question of rituals and lectures and report on the same at the next Grand Com-‐ munication. The members of this committee were Louis Zie-‐ gler, GM, Thomas M. Reed, Grand Secretary, Platt A. Preston, Joseph Smith and Walter Thompson. Before proceeding further we have to look and where these brethren had learned their work. GM Ziegler was schooled in the work of Illinois and very forceful in pre-‐ senting it to the committee. Brother Reed had learned his work in California and continually reminded the committee of its beauty and accuracy. Brother Thompson had come from Nebraska while Brothers Preston and Smith came from other Eastern Jurisdictions. Let’s look at what information was available to this committee. The Grand Lodge of England was formed in 1717 ! ! http://www.AnacortesMasons.org MAY 2015 and the three degrees were fabricated, reduced to writing, and made available within the next twenty years. Since that time till now the standard work of all jurisdictions has been published. In the early days of our jurisdiction, when travel was slow and expensive, the brethren settling this new terri-‐ tory used these published rituals to help them remember the work. A copy of the published ritual that Brother Thomp-‐ son used to made his notes and recorded revisions as they were agreed upon by the committee, a volume of the Ecce Orienti 11th edition, can be found in the Grand Lodge Museum and Library. This, together with a rather careful study of the reports of various committees of correspondence who have pursued the same study, gave the committee the widest and most accurate knowledge that was possible to obtain. GM Ziegler in his report of 1886 says: “We have, as directed, inquired into the merits of the various systems of work known and practiced in different jurisdictions of the Atlantic and Middle State and of the Pa-‐ cific Slope, so far as time and opportunity would permit, and find that they all have a common origin in the untiring efforts of that distinguished Craftsman and eminent Ritualist who has done so much for Freemasonry in America, namely: Tho-‐ mas Smith Webb. The immediate disciples of this re-‐ nowned ritualist were Benjamin Gleason and Carding Jackson: the former taught the work in Massachusetts for many years and finally imparted it with slight changes or modifications to Phillip C. Tucker and Samuel Wilson who disseminated the work throughout New England and from whom Robert Morris received his information, whereupon he devised and constructed his system which he called the true Webb-‐Preston Work, commonly known as the Conservator’s work which was by him carried to and taught in some of the Northwestern States.” (Notably Illinois and Iowa. This was the work for which GM Ziegler made such strenuous efforts and fought such valiant battles in the committee.) “The second of the disciples of Webb, Carding John-‐ son, brought the work as received from Webb to Ohio and Indiana where he taught it to Barney and Fielding who dis-‐ seminated it throughout the Middle and Southern States.” From whence it found its way to California and was the work in which Reed had been so thoroughly schooled. From the minutes of the committee, kept by Bro Thompson, the sessions became very heated and contentious at times with discussions led by GM Ziegler on the one hand and Grand Secretary Reed on the other. The GM’s report further states “The committee put in a two week session at Walla Walla and a longer session at Olympia, where we critically examined and carefully analyzed and compared the merits and demerits of the systems above referred to, and after careful comparisons and eliminations of apparent inconsistencies, yet strictly adhering to the parent stem and closely observing the dictates of the landmarks, have prepared and agree upon a system of Work closely fol-‐ lowing the work as taught by Barney and others which we believe is best calculated to unite the heterogeneous See Standard Work, page 4 Mail: AnacortesMasons @gmail.com ! PAGE 3 FIDALGO LODGE #77 ANACORTES, WASHINGTON! From Standard Work, page 3 elements of our Jurisdiction into one system acceptable to all.” An additional important change was made; chang-‐ ing the lectures of each degree from the old catechetical form, which we have preserved in our posting lectures, to the lecture form as given in Mackey’s Ritualist of 1867. In closing this section of his report, GM Ziegler stated “Your committee, therefore, recommends that this Grand Jurisdiction boldly declare in the adoption of a Ritual by dismissing error, however old it may be, and installing in its stead a truth that cannot be denied or gainsaid, a truth to be taught by us and those that come after. We cannot afford to include error and exclude truth from our Ritual, for we MAY 2015 further hold that Freemasonry from its very spirit and es-‐ sence is either truth unalloyed or it is nothing at all.” This Monumental work was presented to Grand Lodge and after its exemplification and thorough considera-‐ tion was unanimously adopted by the Grand Lodge on June 3, 1886. To exemplify the Standard Work it was necessary to have a candidate. Bro Reed remembering a man by the name of John P. Tweed in the Land Commissioner’s Office who had expressed a desire to become a Mason; went to the Land Office and asked Mr. Tweed if he still desired to become a Mason. Mr. Tweed hesitated, and said that he did not have the funds, where upon Bro Reed said not to worry and pro-‐ vided the funds. Without further formality Mr. Tweed was hurried to the Masonic Hall and was made a Mason, one, two, three and no questions asked. Meals on Wheels Turkey Shoot Brother Chuck Manning, J.S. “Congratula7ons, you won” was heard by young & old alike Saturday, April 11th at the Moose Gun Club. Ma-‐ sonic Lodge #77 & Moose Lodge #1640 teamed up beKer than ever to raise funds for Meals on Wheels again this year. Mother Nature blessed us with a gorgeous spring day to orchestrate a turkey shoot at our club on the Josh Wilson Road, here in the valley. We had a great turn out that exceeded our expecta7ons handsomely. Men & women on the high side of seventy shot side by side with young folks easily their grandchildren’s age. One could not imagine an opportunity to mentor young folks & compete in a more sportsman-‐like venue. The fairness of trap shoo7ng is un-‐ paralleled as a clay target has no percep7on of age or gender. We had a wonderful group of 6 folks from the Moose Lodge prepare an awesome tradi7onal turkey dinner. Last report was 2 scoops of mashed potatoes were leV over aVer 81 meals & I assure you if you leV hungry, it was your own damn fault. Folks paid by dona7on only & I assured them that only God would know what they put in the bucket, which was over $550.00. A couple of frugal young ladies went out to purchase the 150 some turkeys, hams, bacons & assorted other goodies for prizes. This was no small undertaking to shop & compare plus this was their first 7me on a venture of this scale. A couple of guys who had always done the shopping thought it was 7me for the ladies to see how hard they had been working. Our sincere thank you to the boss in the meat department over at Fred Meyers, here’s a man with community spirit in his heart. Anacortes Safeway, the Market, Rock Fish Grill & Cabella’s all bellied up to the bar when dona7on 7me came. Many thanks go to those firms & the ladies that persevered to secure these giVs. There’s a man at Fidalgo Lodge #77 that just flat amazes us all & I hope his efforts are dually noted on Judge-‐ ment Day. This guy travels all over Skagit & Island Coun7es & sells turkey cards or targets & brought in over $550.00 single handedly. He apologized for a smaller than normal sales number this year due to the passing of some of his more generous contributors. When the dust seKled & all debts were re7red, we neKed $2589.00; however, I am sure the bookkeeper would prefer to write $2600.00 in the ledger, so we’ll find another $11. Sally Hill at the Anacortes Senior Ac7vity Cen-‐ ter runs Meals on Wheels in Anacortes, and I hope when we give her the check, she’ll let us do this again. Fraternally, C.S. Manning ! ! http://www.AnacortesMasons.org Mail: AnacortesMasons @gmail.com ! PAGE 4
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