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MANY books have been written on the subject of Masonry, its history,symbolism and philosophy.  It might seem that there was no room foranother, but a little reflection will show that Masonry is a great fountain oftruth, continually springing up like new waters to refresh the weary seeker. It has many an avenue yet to be explored; many a depth yet to besounded.  It has its appeal to every degree of taste and intelligence.  It haslight to shed on every problem of life.

The purpose of Brother Haywood's book is to present the symbolism ofMasonry in simple language, and at the same time adapt it to the Masonicstudent.  It is especially designed for Lodge Study Clubs, with, the hopethat it may help them to have a better understanding of the relation ofMasonry to the problems of life.  The extracts here given will show hismethod of handling the subject and we trust will stimulate a desire forfurther light in Masonry.


N.R. PARVIN,
Grand Secretary

Cedar Rapids, Iowa,
January 15, 1918

The Apron

COME we now to the Apron.  Having been privileged to read up and downa great deal of Masonic literature I may say that on no other one symbolhas so much nonsense been written. It has been made to mean athousand and one things, from the fig-leaf worn by Adam and Eve to thelast mathematical theory of the Fourth Dimension; and there is little causeto wonder that the intelligent have been scandalized and common menbewildered.  If an interpretation can be made that steers a safe coursebetween the folly of the learned and the fanaticism of the ignorant it willhave some value, whatever may be said of its own intrinsic worth.  Warnedby the many who have fallen into the pit of unreason we shall be wise towalk warily and theorize carefully.

Speaking generally, and without the slightest hint of disrespect to our fellow   (         0*0*0*  workers in this field, it may be said that a majority of the wildest theorieshave been based on the shape of the Apron, a thing of comparativelyrecent origin and due to a mere historical accident.  The body of it, as nowworn, is approximately square in shape and thus has suggested thesymbolism of the square, the right-angle, and the cube, and all arisingtherefrom; its flap is triangular and this has suggested the symbolism of thetriangle, the Fortyseventh Proposition, and the pyramid; the descent of theflap over the body of the apron has also given rise to reasonings equallyingenious.  By this method of interpretation men have read into it allmanner of things, the mythology of the Mysteries, the metaphysics of India,the dream-walking of the Kabala, and the Occultisms of Magic.  Meanwhileit has been forgotten that the apron is a Masonic symbol and that we areto find out what it is intended to mean rather than what it may, under thestress of our lust for fancifulness, be made to mean.  When the Ritual isconsulted, as it always deserves to be, we find that it treats the Apron (1)as an inheritance from the past, (2) as the Badge of a Mason, (3) as theemblem of innocence and sacrifice.

1. - The Apron is an inheritance from the past.

For one purpose or another, and in some form, the Apron has been usedfor three or four thousand years. In at least one of the Ancient Mysteries,that of Mithras, the candidate was invested with a white Apron.  So alsowas the initiate of the Essenes, who received it during the first year of hismembership in that order, and it is significant that many of the statues ofGreek and Egyptian gods were so ornamented, as may still be seen. Chinese secret societies, in many cases, also used it, and the Persians, atone time, employed it as their national banner.  Jewish prophets often woreaprons, as did the early Christian candidates for baptism, and asecclesiastical dignitaries of the present day still do.  The same custom isfound even among savages, for, as Brother J.G. Gibson has remarked,"Wherever the religious sentiment remains - even among the savagenations of the earth - there has been noticed the desire of the natives towear a girdle or, apron of some kind."

From all this, however, we must not infer that our Masonic Apron has cometo us from such sources, though, for all we know, the early builder mayhave been influenced by those ancient and universal custom's. The factseems to be that the Operative Masons used the Apron only for thepractical purpose of protecting the clothing, as there was need in labour so   (        0*0*0*  rough.  It was nothing more than one item of the workman's necessaryequipment as is shown by Brother W.H. Rylands, who found an Indentureof 1685 in which a Master contracted to supply his Apprentice with"sufficient wholesome and competent meate, drink lodging and Aprons." 

Because the Apron was so conspicuous a portion of his
equipment, it was inevitable that Speculatives should have continued itsuse for symbolical purposes.  The earliest known representatives of these,we are informed by Brother J. F. Crowe, who was one of the first of ourscholars to make a thorough and scientific investigation of the subject(A.Q.C,vol 5, p. 29), "is an engraved portrait of Anthony Sayer. . .  Only theupper portion is visible in the picture, but the flap is raised, and the apronlooks like a very long leathern skin.  The next drawing is in the frontispieceto the Book of Constitution,  published in 1723, where a brother isrepresented as bringing a number of aprons and gloves into the lodge, theformer appearing of considerable size and with long strings." In Hogarth'scartoon "Night," drawn in 1737, the two Masonic figures, Crowe points outin another connection (see his "Things a Freemason should know"), "havea aprons reaching to their ankles." But other plates, of the same period,show aprons reaching only to the knee, thus marking the beginning of thatprocess of shortening, and of general decrease in size and change inshape, which finally gave us the Apron of the present day; for since thegarment no longer serves as a means of protection it has been found wiseto fashion it in a manner more convenient to wear, nor is this inconsistentwith its original Masonic significance.  It is this fact, as I have alreadysuggested, that has made the present form of the Apron a result ofcircumstances, and proves how groundless are the interpretations foundedon its shape.

According to Blue Lodge usages in the United States the Apron must beof unspotted lambskin, 14 to 16 inches in width, 12 to 14 inches in depth,with a flap descending from the top some 3 or 4 inches.  The Grand lodgeof England now specifies such an Apron as this for the First Degree, butrequires the Apron of the Second Degree to have two sky-blue rosettes atthe bottom, and that of the Third Degree to have in addition to that asky-blue lining and edging not more than two inches deep, "and anadditional rosette on the fall or flap, and silver tassels." Grand Officers arepermitted to use other ornaments, gold embroidery, and in some cases,crimson edgings.  All the evidence goes to show that these ornate Apronsare of recent origin.  The Apron should always be worn outside the coat.   (        0*0*0*  Ԍ2. - The Badge of a Mason.

"The thick-tanned hide, girt around him with thongs, wherein the Builderbuilds, and at evening sticks his trowel" was so conspicuous a portion ofthe costume of the Operative Mason that it became associated with him inthe public mind, and thus gradually evolved into his badge; for a badge issome mark voluntarily assumed as the result of established customwhereby one's work, or station, or school of opinion, may be signified.

Of what is the Mason's badge a mark? Surely its history, permits but oneanswer to this - it is the mark of honourable and conscientious labour, thelabour that is devoted to creating, to constructing rather than to destroyingor demolishing.  As such, the Mason's Apron is itself a symbol of profoundchange in the attitude of society toward work, for the labour of hand andbrain, once despised by the great of the earth, is rapidly becoming the onebadge of an honourable life.  If men were once proud to wear a sword,while leaving the tasks of life to slaves and menials, if they once sought,titles and coats of arms as emblems of distinction are now, figurativelyspeaking, eager to wear the Apron, for the Knight of the present day wouldrather save life than take it, and prefers, a thousand times over, the gloryof achievement to the glory of title or name.  Truly, "the rank has becomethe guinea's stamp, and a man's a man for a' that," especially if he be aman that can do; and the real modern king, as Carlyle was alwayscontending, is "the man who can."

If this is the message of the Apron, none has a better right to wear it thana Mason, if he be a real member of the Craft, for he is a Knight of labourif ever there was one.  Not all labour deals with things.  There is a labourof the mind, and of the spirit, more arduous, often, and more difficult, thanany labour of the hands.  He who dedicates himself to the cleaning of theAugean stables of the world, to the clearing away of the rubbish that littersthe paths of life, to the fashioning of building stones in the confusedquarries of mankind, is entitled, more than any man, to wear the badge oftoil!

3. - An Emblem of Innocence and Sacrifice.

When the Candidate is invested with the garment he is told that it is anemblem of innocence.  It is doubtful if Operative Lodges ever used it forsuch a symbolic purpose, though they may have done so in the   (        0*0*0*  Seventeenth Century, after Speculatives began to be received in greaternumbers.  The evidence indicates that it was after the Grand Lodge era,and in consequence of the rule that the Apron should be of white lambskin,that Masons began to see in its colour an emblem of innocence and in itstexture a suggestion of sacrifice.

In so doing they fell into line with ancient practices for of old, white "hasbeen esteemed an emblem of innocence and purity." Among the Romansan accused person would sometimes put on a garment of white to attesthis innocence, white being, as Cicero phrased it, "most acceptable to thegods." The candidates in the Mysteries and among the Essenes weresimilarly invested, and it has the same meaning of purity and innocence inthe Bible which promises that though our sins be as scarlet they shall bewhite as snow.  In the early Christian church the young catechumen (orconvert) robed himself in white in token of his abandonment of the worldand his determination to lead a blameless life.  But there is no need tomultiply instances for each of us feels by instinct that white is the naturalsymbol of innocence.

Now it happens that "innocence" comes from a word meaning "to do nohurt" and this may well be taken as its Masonic definition, for it is evidentthat no grown man can be innocent in the sense that a child is, which reallymeans an ignorance of evil.  The innocence of a Mason is his gentleness,his chivalrous determination to do no moral evil to any person, man, orwoman, or babe; his patient forbearance of the crudeness and ignoranceof men; his charitable forgiveness of his brethren when they willfully orunconsciously do him evil; his dedication to a spiritual knighthood in behalfof the values and virtues of humanity by which alone man rises above thebrute, and the world is carried forward on the upward way.

It is in token of its texture - lambskin - that we find in the Apron the furthersignificance of sacrifice, and this also, it seems, is a symbolism developedsince, 1700.  It has been generally believed until recently, that theOperatives used only leather aprons, and this was doubtless the case inearly days, but Crowe has shown that many of the oldest Lodge recordsevidence a use of linen as well.  "In the old Lodge of Melrose," he writes,"dating back to the Seventeenth Century, the aprons have always been oflinen, and the same rule obtained in 'Mary's Chapel' No. 1, Edinburgh, theoldest Lodge in the world; whilst Brother James Smith in his history of theold Dumfries Lodge, writes, 'on inspecting the box of Lodge 53, there was   (        0*0*0*  only one apron of kid or leather, the rest being of linen.' As these Lodgesare of greater antiquity than any in England, I think a fair case is made outfor linen, versus leather, originally."

It can not be said, however, that Brother Crowe has entirely, made out hiscase, for other authorities contend that the builders who necessarilyhandled rough stone and heavy timbers must have needed a moresubstantial fabric than linen or cotton.  But in any event, the Fraternity hasbeen using leather Aprons for these two centuries, though cotton cloth isgenerally substituted for ordinary Lodge purposes, and it is in no sensefar-fetched to see in the lambskin a hint of that sacrifice of which the lambhas so long been an emblem.

But what do we mean by sacrifice? To answer this fully would lead us farafield into ethics and theology, but for our present purpose, we may saythat the Mason's sacrifice is the cheerful surrender of all that is in him whichis unmasonic.  If he has been too proud to meet others on the level hemust lay aside his pride; if he has been too mean to act upon the squarehe must yield up his meanness; if he has been guilty of corrupting habitsthey must be abandoned, else his wearing of the Apron be a fraud and asham.

Carrying with it so rich a freightage of symbolism the Apron may justly beconsidered "more ancient than the Golden Fleece or Roman Eagle, morehonourable than the Star and Garter," for these badges were too oftennothing more than devices of flattery and the insignia of an empty name. The Golden Fleece was an Order of Knighthood founded by Philip, Dukeof Burgundy, on the occasion of his marriage to the Infanta Isabella ofPortugal in 1429 or 1430.  It used a Golden Ram for its badge and themotto inscribed on its jewel was "Wealth, not servile labour!" The Romansof old bore an eagle on their banners to symbolize magnanimity, fortitudeswiftness, and courage.  The Order of the Star originated in France in 1350,being founded by John II in imitation of the Order of the Garter; of the lastnamed Order it is difficult to speak, as its origin is clothed in so muchobscurity that historians differ, but it was as essentially aristocratic as anyof the others.  In every case, the emblem was a token of aristocraticidleness and aloofness, the opposite of that symbolized by the Apron; andthe superiority of the latter over the former is too obvious for comment.

SCRIPTURE LESSON   (         0*0*0*  ԌEccl. xii: 1-8

1. Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil dayscome not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasurein them: 

2. While the sun, or the light, or the moon, or the stars, be not darkened,nor the clouds return after the rain:


3. In the day when the keepers of the house shall tremble, and the strongmen shall bow themselves, and the grinders cease because they are few,and those that look out of the windows be darkened,

4. And the doors shall be shut in the streets, when the sound of thegrinding is low, and he shall rise up at the voice of the bird, and all thedaughters of music, shall be brought low:

5. Also when they shall be afraid of that which is high, and fears shall bein the way, and the almond tree shall flourish, and the grasshopper shallbe a burden, and desire shall fail: because man goeth to his long home,and the mourners go about the streets:

6. Or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be broken, or thepitcher be broken at the fountain or the wheel broken at the cistern.

7. Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shallreturn unto God who gave it.


The Golden Bowl and the Silver Cord

The sacred sentences which fall on the ears of the candidate as he makeshis mystic round are so heavy with poignant beauty that one hesitates tointrude the harsh language of prose upon such strains of poetry, solemnsweet. We may well believe that the men who introduced the reading herehad no other thought than that the words might the better create anatmosphere in which the coming drama of hate and doom might all themore impressively come home to the heart of the participants.  If such wastheir purpose neither Shakespeare nor Dante could have found words or   (        0*0*0*  sentiments more appropriate to the hour.  There is a music and majesty inthe twelfth chapter of Ecclesiastes which leaves us dumb with awe andwonder and our hearts open to the impressions of a tragedy alongsidewhich the doom of Lear seems insignificant and vain.

For generations the commentators of Holy Writ have seen in the allegoryof this chapter a reference to the decay of the body and the coming ofdeath; to them, the golden bowl was the skull, the silver cord was thespinal nerve, "the keepers of the house" were the hands, the "strong men"the limbs; the whole picture is made to symbolize the body's falling intoruin and the approach of death.  One hesitates to differ from aninterpretation so true in its application and so dignified by its associations. But it must be doubted wheither the sad and disillusioned man whopenned the lines possessed either the knowledge of human anatomyimplied by the old interpretation or the intention to make his poem into amedical description of senility.  A more thorough scholarship has come tosee in the allegory a picture of the horror of death set forth by metaphorsdrawn from an oriental thunderstorm.

It had been a day of wind and cloud and rain; but the clouds did not, aswas usual, disperse after the shower.  They returned again and covered theheavens with their blackness.  Thunderstorms were so uncommon inPalestine that they always inspired fear and dread, as many a paragraphin the Scriptures will testify.  As the storm broke the strong men guardingthe gates of rich men's houses began to tremble; the hum of the little millswhere the women were always grinding at even time suddenly ceasedbecause the grinders were frightened from their toil; the women, imprisonedin the harems, who had been gazing out of the lattice to watch the activitiesof the streets, drew back into their dark rooms; even the revelers, who hadbeen sitting about their tables through the afternoon, eating dainties andsipping wine, lost their appetites, and many were made so nervous that thesudden twitting of a bird would cause them to start with anxious surprise.

As the terror of the storm, the poet goes on to say, so is the coming ofdeath, when man "goes to his home of everlasting and mourners go aboutthe streets." Whatever men may have been, good or bad, death bringsequal terror to all.  A man may have been rich, like the golden lamp hungon a silver chain in the palace of a king; he may have been as poor as theearthen pitcher in which maidens carried water from the public well, or evenas crude as the heavy wooden wheel wherewith they drew the water; what   (        0*0*0*  his state was matters not, death is as dread a calamity to the one, as to theother.  When that dark adventure comes the fine possessions in which menhad sought security will be vain to stay the awful passing into night. "Vanityof vanities; all is vanity." The one bulwark against the common calamity, thePreacher urges, is to remember the Creator, yea, to remember Him fromyouth to old age; to believe that one goes to stand before Him is the oneand only solace in an hour when everything falls to ruin and the very desireto live has been quenched by the ravages of age and the coming of death.
