Unseasoned Material.

UNSEASONED MATERIAL .

AT about this time of the year the good housewife looks around for bargains in furniture ; several new pieces are needed in the house . She bought a new sideboard last year ; it was cheap . She thought she had secured a great bargain ,

but during the winter , when a steady fire was kept in the dining room , the bargain creaked and cracked and warped and fell apart—fell to pieces , and the discovery was made ( too late ) that it was no bargain at all ; it was " trash , " one of

those sideboards made in a hurry , of unseasoned wood , made at wholesale rates , in a factory , and made without any regard to durability , only hurried through the factory hands so as to get the cash returns .

So it is with many of our good jbrethren . They take unseasoned wood , unfit material , into their Lodges , and hurry it through their factory hands without due regard for durability , and when the fire of time burns all winter and all

summer , these members fall apart , fall away . They have not been made thorough Masons . They were made at wholesale , at factory rates , at full speed , hence fall apart , fall away from Masonry and from their Lodges .

An experienced housewife will select carefully , will no : buy unless actually needed , and then secure a good , solid piece of furniture , which will be a joy to her , will be useful and durable .

So should our Masters and Brethren be careful in the selection of their material , have it well " seasoned , " made Mason through and through , with an eye to their remaining with us and help us in our good work , and not bring in any trash and discover too late that they have made a mistake ,

that they have injured their Lodge , have injured the Cralt , and have injured their own reputation as good Masons , or as wise , judicious Masters . All for what ? To secure alleged bargains , to swell their membership , to " beat the record " ;

and m return for all their trouble and work they have trash —trash , unfit material , unfit members , who go as fast as they come , and too often leave behind them an odour at once repulsive and injurious to those who have suffered from the presence of this unseasoned wood .

Far better to add five or six good , earnest , true Masons to your roll than twenty careless and indifferent members , who care neither for Masonry , for their Lodge , or , for that matter , care nothing even for the very Master who rushed them through the Lodge ; and they swell the great army of

unaffiliates , and good men among us wonder why so many Masons are annually stricken from the roll . Why ? Because they are not properly seasoned ; they were not subjected to a thorough examination b y the Committee , and were rushed through the degrees to get cash returns , to " beat the record , " as so many silly Masters term it . — " Plebrew Standard . "

Symbolic Language.

SYMBOLIC LANGUAGE .

NO one who has made a study of Freemasonry can doubt that its symbology originated from a true system of

imagery . Its symbolic language is at once primitive and exact . It instructs the mind by speaking directly to the eye . It has its foundation in the very nature of man , and aspires to satisfy some of his absolute wants . Let us exhibit some of the interesting proofs of these assertions .

All the ancient character writings were figurative . Conspicuous examples of these are the Egyptian and Mexican hieroglyphics . We term them picture-writings . Represent ations of animate creatures , birds , beasts and fishes ; the circle , the triangle , the right angle , and other similar figures ,

pictured to the minds of those who beheld them words and ideas supposed to be more or less cognate . Akin to these is the symbolic language of Freemasonry . All of the implements of Masonry speak volumes to the initiate . They have a language that is peculiarly their own . The Square and

Compasses , the Plumb and Level , the Gavel and twenty-four inch Gauge , are not merely the tools that Operative Masons use in their work , but they are spiritualised and elevated to the rank of teachers of truth . No uttered sentence from the mouth of man can speak more forcibly than they do , and few ,

very few , as forcibly . Neither spoken nor written language can supersede them . Originated in the earliest ages of the world , they are suitab ' e for all , and destined to last through all ages . Freemasonry is full of such symbols . Not only the working tools of the Craft , out all of its emblems , teach its lessons b y the same powerful medium of pictorial analogy .

Symbolic Language.

Who in the Fraternity has not beheld , in the language of the immortal Burns , in his " Farewell to the Brethren of St . James' Lodge , " * ' That hieroglyphic bright , \\ hich none but Craftsmen ever saw . " From the opening of the Lodge to its close this

symbology claims the Mason ' s attention . Now it is the sun , the majestic orb of day , then the Holy Bible , God ' s superlative gift to man ; but always it is some representative of a noble and lasting truth , that needs to be indelibly impressed upon the mind and heart of the initiate and Freemason .

Notice , here , how the symbology of the Craft unmistakably testifies to its antiquity . It is the language of primitive man . It is inwrought in Masonry . It is a part of its construction , not of its ornamentation . It is an original creation , not an adaptation . Freemasonry copied nothing ,

while all other secret societies have attempted to copy it . If the Craft had originated in modern times , it might have had some few of the characteristics to which we are referring , but it could not possibly have had them all . To suppose such a thing would be to imply a miracle . Freemasonry has been ,

through all the changes of all the ages , a true restoration , and we know of no instance in the world ' s history where a society , a people , or a religious denomination , has so jealously and successfully perpetuated itself , in spirit and in form . In

this respect it is incomparable . All over its face are the wrinkles of age . Centuries have come and gone , and yet it remains—itself , through all the ages . In the . words of Tennyson ' s exquiste idyl , " The Brook , " it says : " Men may come and men may go , But I go on for ever . "

Say what you will , all men respect that which is honoured with age . A man who is not only a ' good man himself , but whose father and grandfather were reputable and honoured before him , will be respected the more , in a republic as well as in a monarchy . A noble character which has been

perpetuated through a line of ancestry is something to boast of . It is only when Peter the Great is succeeded by Peter the Little , that one is justified in decrying the laudation of ancestry . With all reverence be it said , but is not this very attribute of superlative antiquity , and of unqualified goodness ,

power and glory , one of the elements which go to compose our regard for the Grand Architect of the Universe Himself ? God existed from the beginning— -Pie is without years . He is our Creator and the Creator of all men from the beginning —therefore we worship Plim . He antedates all

thingstherefore we honour Him . And , be it said again with all due reverence , as we worship the Maker of our body , soul and spirit ( for each one of us is a trinity in unity ) , so we honour the Craft that made us a Mason . Without it we

should be unmade , be a profane , be of the earth , earthymayhap even an anti-Mason ; but as it is we are , again in the language of Burns , of the number of "' Ye favoured , ye enlightened few . "

The symbology of Masonry is exact . It speaks no uncertain sound . It cannot be mistaken . Whether the

symbol be the All-seeing eye , or the letter G ; the Compasses or Square ; the setting . Sun or the common Gavel , each and all are object lessons that are taught in no other school on earth save that of Freemasonry . Once taught

they forever after teach themselves . Once seen , they are never forgotten . Worshipful Masters die ; generations of Freemasons pass away ; individual Lodges even perish , but the symbology of the Craft is as indestructible as the Craft itself . — " Keystone . "

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