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Correspondence.
history of the origin of all the degrees . This , of course , disturbed the equanimity of some , and as soon as the lecturer descended from the platform he was assailed by one of the ritualistic luminaries with , « What is the use of telling all that ! What
good will it do ? " etc . Bro . G ., be it known , had taken all the high degrees , but he is one of the exceptions to that class . He was neither ashamed not afraid to tell
the truth . But most of the high degreers , when called upon to address a public body , will not only repeat complacently the old nonsense , but will even now add something new of their own invention . Thus , a P . G . M . recently asserted before a
public meeting that the first Masonic Lodge was held in King Solomon ' s Temple , and that St . Paul was a Freemason . These men will of course spurn any Masonic literature which conflicts with their notions . Bro . D . M . Lyon truly stated in one of his letters to me , that if his book had been filled with humbug instead of facts , it would have met with
more success among certain classes . The case then stands thus : ninety-five per cent of our American brethren cannot be induced , even with aid of puffing and bluffing , to pay eight shillings a year for a Masonic magazine , and the five per cent ., who by hook or crook can be made to
subscribe are divided into two bands . On one side we have the K . Ts ., or the 33 with the little circle , who put implicit faith in the legends of the Chapters , Commanderies , Consistories , etc ., and would not take a magazine that did not advocate the
antiquity of Masonry and its connection with lemplarism , Mysticism , Rosicrucianism , *• And on the other side stands the rationalist , who regards all these legends as fables , and when he finds that his opponents ai'e impervious to reason logicbe
or , resorts to sarcasm , and makes Sir K . Ts ., & c ., appear ridiculous . The only options left to a Masonic editor under these circumstances , is either to side exclusively with ° ne of these parties or to allow both parties equal freedom to fight it out . There s
no objection even for the editor to enter « " > arena , but if he takes part in the discission he must not assume dictatorship , ° »* must submit to the same rules of "lUcism which he accords to himself gainst his opponents . Now the editors of
the American short-lived magazines above referred to , would not adopt either of the above methods ; they tried to perform a miracle . Each attempted to ride two horses in opposite directions . They thought that they could satisfy both parties b iving a little common sense
y g here , and a great portion of the old nonsense there . They persisted in defending sectarianism in the ritual , opposed the rights of the coloured Masons with quibbles , and would allow no discussion upon their dietumshence both parties were
, disgusted , and their magazines died very little regretted . The following will illustrate the fact : A highly-esteemed P . G . B 1 . attempted to induce the brethren in his lodge to sustain the Boston publication . He eloquently
dilated on the ability and disinterestedness of the editor . " We have now a live magazine , " said he , etc . As soon as the speaker finished his remarks another brother rose , and , after admitting that the magazine was an improvement on its predecessor , bluntly added , " but there is too much humbug in it for the 19 th century . " The result was no subscription was tendered .
Another incident bearing upon the subject under discussion will reveal another cause of this complained of apathy to Masonic literature . During one of my trips across the Atlantic I made the acquaintance of a brother Mason , whom I found
exceedingly well informed upon a great variety of subjects and conversed very pleasantly about different countries he visited , authors , books , etc . He also told me that he owned a very valuable library . On asking what he thought of Findel ' s
and Lyon ' s histories of Freemasonry , to my great surprise , he answered that he had never heard of them . Upon further questioning him as to whether he ever reads any Masonic magazine he answered in the negative . And he then went on to tell
his Masonic experience . He was initiated in America about twenty years ago , he said . During the early heat of his Masonic zeal he was recommended to read "Oliver ' s Antiquities , " and he also subscribed to a Masonic magazine . But these
gave him such a sickening to so-called Masonic literature , that he could never again be prevailed upon to invest a cent in that kind of rubbish , and then added with Y 2
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Correspondence.
history of the origin of all the degrees . This , of course , disturbed the equanimity of some , and as soon as the lecturer descended from the platform he was assailed by one of the ritualistic luminaries with , « What is the use of telling all that ! What
good will it do ? " etc . Bro . G ., be it known , had taken all the high degrees , but he is one of the exceptions to that class . He was neither ashamed not afraid to tell
the truth . But most of the high degreers , when called upon to address a public body , will not only repeat complacently the old nonsense , but will even now add something new of their own invention . Thus , a P . G . M . recently asserted before a
public meeting that the first Masonic Lodge was held in King Solomon ' s Temple , and that St . Paul was a Freemason . These men will of course spurn any Masonic literature which conflicts with their notions . Bro . D . M . Lyon truly stated in one of his letters to me , that if his book had been filled with humbug instead of facts , it would have met with
more success among certain classes . The case then stands thus : ninety-five per cent of our American brethren cannot be induced , even with aid of puffing and bluffing , to pay eight shillings a year for a Masonic magazine , and the five per cent ., who by hook or crook can be made to
subscribe are divided into two bands . On one side we have the K . Ts ., or the 33 with the little circle , who put implicit faith in the legends of the Chapters , Commanderies , Consistories , etc ., and would not take a magazine that did not advocate the
antiquity of Masonry and its connection with lemplarism , Mysticism , Rosicrucianism , *• And on the other side stands the rationalist , who regards all these legends as fables , and when he finds that his opponents ai'e impervious to reason logicbe
or , resorts to sarcasm , and makes Sir K . Ts ., & c ., appear ridiculous . The only options left to a Masonic editor under these circumstances , is either to side exclusively with ° ne of these parties or to allow both parties equal freedom to fight it out . There s
no objection even for the editor to enter « " > arena , but if he takes part in the discission he must not assume dictatorship , ° »* must submit to the same rules of "lUcism which he accords to himself gainst his opponents . Now the editors of
the American short-lived magazines above referred to , would not adopt either of the above methods ; they tried to perform a miracle . Each attempted to ride two horses in opposite directions . They thought that they could satisfy both parties b iving a little common sense
y g here , and a great portion of the old nonsense there . They persisted in defending sectarianism in the ritual , opposed the rights of the coloured Masons with quibbles , and would allow no discussion upon their dietumshence both parties were
, disgusted , and their magazines died very little regretted . The following will illustrate the fact : A highly-esteemed P . G . B 1 . attempted to induce the brethren in his lodge to sustain the Boston publication . He eloquently
dilated on the ability and disinterestedness of the editor . " We have now a live magazine , " said he , etc . As soon as the speaker finished his remarks another brother rose , and , after admitting that the magazine was an improvement on its predecessor , bluntly added , " but there is too much humbug in it for the 19 th century . " The result was no subscription was tendered .
Another incident bearing upon the subject under discussion will reveal another cause of this complained of apathy to Masonic literature . During one of my trips across the Atlantic I made the acquaintance of a brother Mason , whom I found
exceedingly well informed upon a great variety of subjects and conversed very pleasantly about different countries he visited , authors , books , etc . He also told me that he owned a very valuable library . On asking what he thought of Findel ' s
and Lyon ' s histories of Freemasonry , to my great surprise , he answered that he had never heard of them . Upon further questioning him as to whether he ever reads any Masonic magazine he answered in the negative . And he then went on to tell
his Masonic experience . He was initiated in America about twenty years ago , he said . During the early heat of his Masonic zeal he was recommended to read "Oliver ' s Antiquities , " and he also subscribed to a Masonic magazine . But these
gave him such a sickening to so-called Masonic literature , that he could never again be prevailed upon to invest a cent in that kind of rubbish , and then added with Y 2