THE BUILDER JUNE 1916

DISCUSSING THE PREVIOUS QUESTION

BY BRO. R.I. CLEGG, OHIO

That is an oblong square? These things make me wonder." "And no
wonder, for as the old farmer said when he saw a giraff for the
first time, 'There ain't no such animals.' Such errors no doubt
crept in by virtue of the law of exaggeration for the sake of
emphasis, and may easily be corrected."

This is the sort of question and answer the text of ritual and
monitor must withstand. These comments are typical. How far are
they justified?

At the outset I confess to a very cordial attitude toward both the
inquiry and the response. Much may be said by way of excuse for
them. In fact the position of inquiry and of wonderment is an
excellent foundation for research. Granted a respectful persistence
in regard to the subject and starting from such a point of
departure, the inquirer can unearth material of great importance.

But that happy outlook is not always the result. Well do I recall
a very industrious effort made by an esteemed co-worker of mine to
obtain the approval of one Grand Lodge Committee for certain
drastic changes in our ceremonies. It took long argument before it
was at all possible to make him see any reason for sundry
expressions. His was essentially the modern iconoclastic view, mine
that of retaining whatever could be justified by ancient or present
day usage.

My plea was and is for the retention of everything Masonic, unless
it could be shown that in the olden days it was as incongruous as
it may seem to be in the light of today. Now as it is obvious that
this position calls for ample and exceedingly difficult
investigation, there would be few changes if the attitude were
universally adopted. To say the least, it is emphatically the one
prescribed by the charge to every Master Mason.

Let it not be understood that in all respects I am a "Standpatter."
Whenever a change is universally approved is ample time for its
adoption, and when conservatives like myself cannot show some
excellent reason for stemming the tide of innovation, perhaps we
ought not to protest overmuch at the laying of hands upon the
structure of ceremonial formulas. We would nevertheless hope that
even in such cases the alterations be made in none but a reverent
manner, rather as a repair for some ageworn weakness than as a
movement of drastic renovation. If alteration be done at all let it
be done tenderly and with affection.

But returning to our topic, what do we find ? How far is this
particular expression a mere exaggeration? To the offhand glance
there is probably a contradiction in the terms. A four-sided figure
having its sides equal in length and all its angles of ninety
degrees is commonly called a square, and such a figure cannot be
oblong. Manifestly we must seek in some other direction for an
explanation of the phrase "oblong square."

Mathematically the word "oblong" can be applied to intersecting
axes of unequal length. For the same reason it may properly be also
descriptive of the working tool known as a square when the latter
has arms of unequal length. Is there any other brief phrase that
could so well be employed for the purpose? And to what else could
the term be so pertinently applied as to the unequally armed tool
familiar to every workman in all lines of industry? Mention the
word to any workman and his mind at once visualizes the same thing
in every case, and that not an enclosed figure.

While it is true that the square with us is usually with arms of
equal length, and as far back as the painting of "Night" by
Hogarth, Grand Steward in the early part of the eighteenth century,
the Master's square was so represented, yet there are as in the
familiar "gallow's" square and in the square adopted by the
Continental brethren an oblong form to be found. This is very
probably selected from the operative form.

A plain square having its arms measured off as integral quantities
and in units well known to a special class of workmen would have an
extraordinary significance. Some studious brethren, Lawrence for
example, have attacked the custom of placing graduations of length
upon the arms of the square. To my mind this suggests the
foundation of the forty-seventh proposition. Given the graduations
on the square blades and then with the help of another rule across
the hypotenuse you have the measurements of a right-angled
triangle, and on multiplying these by any one number you possess
the direct dimensions of a large figure; the larger the dimensions
of course the less likelihood of inaccuracy creeping into the
fundamental layout of a building.

There are those who hold that the oblong square represents the
early civilized world, when as in the case of the Roman Empire it
stretched due East and West to about twice its Northern and
Southern limits. This has seemed to me more fanciful than
demonstrative. It might as easily be supposed to represent the
famous double cube, that puzzle of the centuries. I refer of course
to the ancient problem requiring the determination of the size when
the cubical altar of Apollo was to be made with twice the former
volume.

But let us not get too far from the Lodge room. Recall the occasion
when the term oblong square is used. Consider the immediately
preceding and following locations and positions. Do not forget the
peculiar features of the ceremony of laying a cornerstone of any
building when performed with Masonic auspices, and in connection
therewith compare the ceremonial associated with the North-east
corner. Now let us go a step further, and I use this expression
advisedly.

Having the above in mind, think of the bonding of a wall as it
would be thought of by an operative Mason. The simplest and crudest
way of rough walling would be to throw the squared stones rudely
together hit or miss. Probably the inexpert would lay them end to
end and side by side as the obviously quickest way of getting over
the ground. Does this suggest anything to the reader as being
comparable with the progress made at the entrance and until the
candidate has been properly taught? More I cannot say of that
particular feature, but to the discerning enough has probably been
submitted.

Let us pass on our way. The bonding of a wall calls for the placing
of certain bricks or stones at an angle to the rest, preferably a
right angle as a matter of efficiency and for compactness; the
several parts then lending each other their maximum co-operation
and being more uniformly acted upon by the mortar or cement. In
this position they better resist the load that may be placed upon
them. Their individual and complete strength is firmly a unit, they
stand together in cohesive compactness. Thus should we Masons stand
and so are we taught.

Stones or bricks are seldom cubes for building purposes. They are
oblongs preferably, and invariably squared. The tools to test them
are all the better for having their axes of different lengths, and
especially is this true if the oblong square contains the ready
means of setting up the forty-seventh proposition. Then the workman
is not only equipped to carve the stone but to lay out the area for
the completed walls.

The Masonic student wishing to go further into the use of the
square by the old workmen may well consider the painted and
sculptured representations of the tool itself. He may also examine
the working methods of such as Cellini, Vasari, Vitruvious, etc.,
in the proportional uses of such implements as the square in highly
skilled masons' work, they being architects of antiquity of whom
the oblong square is a fitting symbol.

THE PURPOSE OF MASONRY

"There comes from time to time, with what would seem increasing
frequency, a cry for leadership by Freemasonry and its
organizations, but when these cries are analyzed they seem to
suggest an abandonment of the most sacred of our principles and to
call for a will-o'-the-wisp guidance into the Sorbonian bogs of
politics or down the Gadarenian cliffs of religious controversy.

"Of all those who so insistently demand that Freemasonry shall take
up all the latest fads as they catch the wind of popular favor, or
that we shall zealously attempt to divide the citizens of our
nation into many warring camps, that the sacred walls of our
asylums may resound only with the accents of 'hatred,
uncharitableness and intolerance,' we may wisely ask, 'Whither
goest thou ? What is the way you ask us to travel, and where is the
end of the journey upon which you would have us enter with light
hearts ?'

"It is true that an order without a purpose would be like a body
without a soul, but that purpose certainly need not be to control
or dictate the daily life, the politics, or the religious
affiliations of our fellow citizens.

"Primarily, the great purpose of Freemasonry is the teaching, by
and through its organized forces and its symbolism, of the moral
truths which lie at the foundation of human society. So far as it
performs its great duty to humanity, Freemasonry selects those men,
and those men only, whose character and intelligence fit them for
its teachings; and those men, by most solemn and sacred appeals to
their minds, their hearts and their emotions, it knits into its
great union of friends and brothers and sustains, supports and
encourages them in all that goes to make up true manliness. To
those so selected and so trained we may safely leave the
performance of their duties to God, their country, and humanity.

"It is still true that charity and toleration are cardinal
principles of Freemasonry, and we may proclaim in all honesty and
candor that we practice here and everywhere, to the utmost extent,
the great, generous, tolerant, liberal doctrines of the Ancient
Accepted Scottish Rite."
--Barton Smith 33d

THE SWEETNESS OF A FRIEND
Be sure there is some one to whom you can open yourself, to whom
you can tell everything, and who will be willing to confide
everything. Deserve such companionship, and, where it exists. do
not let it die away. On such intimacy somewhere, all social life
depends.
--E. E. Eale.
