THE BUILDER NOVEMBER 1916
CORRESPONDENCE CIRCLE BULLETIN -- NO. 2
Edited by Bro. Robert I. Clegg, Caxton Building, Cleveland, Ohio

Note. Evidence multiplies that this Correspondence Circle idea has met the
desires of a great number of our Members. This did not surprise any of us. The
remarkable--and unexpected--feature of the replies to Brother Clegg's
September letter was the universal desire that the Society should from the
beginning lead off in a definite Course of Study. The demand appears to be for
something very like a Chautauqua organization. Our theory of co-operation
between Study Clubs contemplated an interchange of queries and results between
groups of Brethren undertaking to work out programs of their own, suited to
local conditions. This, we felt, would make of the Society's office an
headquarters, a forum, a radiating center, suggestions coming in and being
forwarded everywhere that similar needs seemed to exist. We had hoped to add,
from time to time, references and helpful plans for overcoming obstacles.

But to meet the present unexpected situation requires time and study. We shall
not shirk the problem, but with your help, will tackle it confidently. Our
friends must needs see that it will only be as they present their suggestions
and problems that we shall be able (if at all) to think them through.

This much must be said, in order that the Society's attitude shall not be
misunderstood. We can only work out the outlines of study, papers, etc., which
this new plan will require, in co-operation with our own Members as
individuals, or as voluntary Study Clubs. What is said must be considered as
suggestive and advisory only. Those who go along with us do so for the sole
purpose of self-improvement, even as we expect to be benefited by your
efforts. As light radiates from its central source without producing friction,
but generates warmth and fruition on far-distant bodies, so must we mutually
agree that our united efforts-- we supplying as best we can that which you
will use--shall be always and ever a union with the single purpose of
promoting a better understanding of Masonry, and between Masons. In a word we
embark now into a new enterprise, but as before, with no ulterior motive
whatever. We simply "think out loud" in an effort to help one another.

COMMITTEE READY FOR TOOLS

Your work has, by comparison, taught a number of the Brethren the baldness of
the effort here, and encouraged them to try to better conditions. A Committee
on Masonic Research and Education has been selected but has no tools with
which to work. You would confer a great favor if you be so good as to cause me
to be sent instructions regarding organization, and such literature as would
be helpful during the formative stage. With best wishes, I am, Yours
fraternally, E. M. Walker, Masonic Temple, Winnipeg, Man.

The October issue of The Builder has in the Bulletin section in the center a
letter from S. H. S. His problems were analogous to yours. They are indeed so
closely akin that I might venture in default of further particulars from you
to repeat verbatim what I then said. If in any wise the answer to S. H. S.
does not properly meet all the requirements I shall be willing, yes, anxious
to serve you in every practical manner.

If your plans are local, and of such were my intentions in preparing the
letter for the September issue (vide inside back cover), then the situation is
less awkward for me to handle. I feel very diffident at making suggestions
toward State organizations. Such a group of earnest students as was suggested
in the September issue could very informally but effectively pursue research
studies. Simplest of organizations is all that is necessary. For those who may
consider something more formal I shall be very glad to assist in any way that
is unobjectionable to the Masonic authorities.

With a very few books of reference and a supply of the various publications
issued by the National Masonic Research Society you can easily make a start.
During the initial stages and until your members get the swing of the movement
you can use for discussion some of the papers that will be printed for that
purpose in The Builder and in this Bulletin. Our resources will be at the
disposal of the Society, as long anyway as they will hold out under pressure,
and I am always ready to comfer with any of the members. Kindly call upon me
again as you go along. I am keenly interested in everything you undertake in
study club propaganda. How can I best serve you ?

EARNEST STUDY TO BE ENCOURAGED

I am much interested in Bro. Clegg's proposition for group meetings, and
request a list of the members of the Research Society in my location. If
anyone else in this section should request a list please give him the
preference as I am Secretary of Adelphi Lodge and don't feel that I can really
afford the time and effort necessary for such a proposition, but feel the lack
of real earnest study among the brethren.

I would much rather be an enthusiastic booster for some good leader than to
have to do the leading myself, so even if some other brother requests later
than mine please give him the preference.

We have over 500 members and are doing considerable work, so you can see the
Secretary is fairly busy. Julius H. McCollum, Secy., 40 Shelter St., New
Haven, Conn.

My heart goes out to the active Secretary of a big lodge. What a multitude of
things come his way, all demanding prompt and systematic and continually
courteous attention. Yet who has better chance to bring studious Freemasonry
straight home to the members, old and new? Masters come and go but Secretaries
commonly continue permanent as the famous pillars at the porch, greeting the
guests, cheering sojourners, ever making programmes and seeing them duly
executed.

Your letter was officially acknowledged forthwith. If there is anything that I
can do now to start you off the more successfully please let me know of it.

AWAKEN THE HEART INTEREST OF MASONRY

I wish to make response to open letter from Robert I. Clegg for list of
members of Research Society in my immediate vicinity for co-operative study of
the neglected half of Masonry, the heart part. I very much commend your work.
Yours very truly and fraternally, A. K. Bradley, Tioga, Texas.

You have indeed hit the spot. It is the heart interest we seek to encourage.
Too much of Freemasonry has been allowed to push the research intimacy of it
aside. Advise us o your progress. Easy as it is to start something, it takes
vim to keep agoing Your letter lings so true that I shall expect further light
upon your advance. Please keep us posted on your progress. Highly value your
complimentary words.

HOW SHALL WE START SOMETHING?

I see in the September BUILDER something about clubs for the purpose of
studying Masonry. I am writing for information and as to how to get started.
Fraternally yours, A. G. Templen, Greeneville, Mo.

Your desire for information on the best way to make a start - is met fairly
well in the Bulletin accompanying the October BUILDER. Other particulars as to
local members were sent to you direct. Much more than these details are
necessary and will be supplied in due course as my opportunities and the
resources the Society are capable of dealing to the best of our respective
abilities with the situation. We want to start right in all we attempt but we
shall avoid all possible delays.

DENVER IS UP AND DOING

If there is to be a study club organized in Denver, Colo., I would like very
much to become a member of it. I have been ying to get into something like
this for a long time. Have been doing a lot of Masonic reading lately, but
don't get out of it hat I should and am sure that what we need is some
definite plan of study along some certain line. Very truly yours, W. A.
Reynolds, 1079 So. Corona, Denver, Colo.

If there is not a study club organized in Denver it will not be because of any
lack of the finest material for membership therein. Be sure and get my old and
highly esteemed friend, Henry F. Evans, the secretary of Rob Morris Lodge, to
join it. Where there is one like Evans there must be others of the same kind.
In him is the true instinct of evangelism. He cannot help but be a missionary
of Masonry. You won't have to interest him. Long ago he was vaccinated and it
took for keeps.

A definite plan of study along some certain line is as you noint out
essentially necessary. In the October issue I briefly resented an outline for
the student of Freemasonry. Any one of the topics enumerated would require a
lot of study before apoaching exhaustion.

But such an outline will not meet all the necessities of the case. What I am
considering, and what I hope to make an actual start at in this issue, is a
paper or two in some such convenient form as to be read at any study club. It
ought to be complete in itself. Have plenty of references so that the diggers
among us may go ahead with their own pursuit of the Masonic quarry, but
independent of the literary frills so that every brother can understand and
appreciate fully. But proceed along the lines laid down in the October issue.
Make a start. Meantime we must as we are able provide for all the needs that
are being so suddenly developed on the heels of that pioneering letter of mine
in September.

ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS IN BUILDER

Note the series of questions running in The BUILDER. Would appreciate
information as to how to procure answers to same. If published in book form
please advise where same can be procured. I understand that there is to be a
study club organized here as soon as Temple No. 4 can arrange and fit up a new
home. Reply at your convenience appreciated. Yours fraternally, W. H. McEwen,
2106 Providence street, Houston, Texas.

The series of questions may be answered by referring to the book pages quoted
in the articles published in the BUILDER. Perhaps you refer to the inquiry
that once in a while waits in the correspondence columns. Such instances are
few, very few.
So I rather think your reference is to the lists of questions emanating from
study clubs. The questions are really in the nature of a review, quickening
the interest and impressing the memory with what has been the purposes of the
book on which the questions are founded.

Why let the study club wait for a new home for the lodge? Lodge business is
going on while the tenancy is fluid. Pending the change you might plan with
your local brethren the initial meetings of a study club eminently deserving
the excellent quarters that I hope are in store for you. Please start
something. Surely there can be no better time. Can I help you?

AN EXCELLENT PLAN OF CAMPAIGN

Have read Bro. Robt. I. Clegg's letter on inside back cover of September
number of BUILDER and it's just what I have wanted for a long, long time. Will
you please send me a list of the members of the Society in this immediate
vicinity so that I may write them calling their attention to Bro. Clegg's
letter and arrange for a meeting in the near future ?

As to the course of study we will want to pursue, I am afraid that we will in
a way be obliged to begin with the ABCs of Masonry, but will write you in
regard to this after we have our first meeting.

If you have on hand a supply of Bro. Clegg's letter that I may enclose in
letters to Brothers who are interested in the study side of Masonry but are
not at this time members of the Society, I would be glad to receive about five
of same and through the study club they may be made to realize what they are
missing by not receiving the BUILDER. Fraternally thine, J. A. Stiles,
Morganfield, Ky.

Many thanks. All that we could send your way has been forwarded from Society
headquarters. Do not fail to ask me for anything that will help you in making
a start. I have in prospect the publication of just such papers as I fervently
hope will meet your requirements. These will appear soon, perhaps a beginning
may be made in this issue. Meantime it is most cheering to note how thoroughly
you have caught the spirit of the enterprise. Your club is certain to be a
success.

STARTING STUDY CLUBS BY WIRE

TELEGRAM--Will you please send me paper regarding lecture course of outline in
September issue by Clegg ? Will appreciate a prompt reply as subject to come
before our Lodge September 18th. Wire me collect if I am too late. H. M.
Marks, Jr., W. M., Lodge 148, F. & A. M., Ft. Worth, Texas.

All the available information went your way as quickly as possible. We hope
that it was of service to you though probably too hurried to do what could
have been done with a greater expenditure of time.
The October issue of the BUILDER contained an article or two written with your
telegram in mind. If they did not give exactly the data of which you were in
search I trust you will write us again and go more thoroughly into details of
what is wanted.

TEXAN TAKES HOLD IN FINE STYLE

We desire to get Masonic Lectures started in the various organizations here. I
note "An Open Letter to our Members " Sept. 16th, The Builder. We desire a
lecture once a month, given by our Masonic Club in their rooms, fostered by
Master Masons. We may be able to start study units. We have a place to meet.
The Brethren will come together on call of the Club the Third Tuesday in each
month. The elements are all here. The Club has a small library already. We
need something for that Third Tuesday and you can supply the need I'm sure.
Cordially, K. Robey, Fort Worth, Texas.

Your letter in connection with the telegram from your neighbor, Bro. Marks, is
conclusive that Masonic activity in your vicinity is most progressive. You
have the opportunity in shape and are prepared to go on with the work. We hope
to publish the very material of which you are in search and shall endeavor to
time our labors so that they will fit in nicely with the Tuesday,s on which
you hold meetings. Your plans strike my fancy very favorably. Every
contingency seems anticipated. My heartiest congratulations on your
perseverance and your foresight.

A STUDY CLUB OF ONE, PLUS

Kindly forward me such information as you may have at your command in
compliance with Robert I. Clegg's suggestion in your September issue of the
BUlLDER. I am much interested in such work and hope within a year or two to be
in a position so that I can mingle with Brother Masons more than I am
permitted at this time or for the last five years. In the meantime I can be
preparing for the future as I have much time that can be devoted to study.
Waiting your early reply, I am, Fraternally yours, Lem L. Gaghagen, Pelican
Bay Woods Camp No. 2, Odessa, Oregon.

Your message somehow gives me the impression that at the moment you are too
isolated for study club purposes with the companionship of many Masons.
Consider yourself therefore a member-at-large, entitled to receive all the
information that goes to any study club and participating in such long-range
benefits as can possibly be deflected your way.

This Bulletin department should be of particularly direct help to you in
maintaining a close acquaintance with the brethren. Many who cannot join study
clubs must be cared for here. Their independent study will through the BUILDER
have excellent vehicle for carrying the results of their investigations
afield.

Let no brother lament that near him there can be no study club. He can, as
does the good brother here, look ahead to the approaching and favoring
prospects and in the meantime make the best possible use of our current
advantages in the study of Freemasonry.

LOCAL AND NATIONAL MEMBERSHIPS

Enclosed find check to cover membership fee of Bro. J. R. Hunter. Will say in
behalf of the BUILDER that we find it very helpful in our Club work and we
hope that by the first of January, 1917, all our Club members will be members
of the N. M. R. Society. Thanking you for past favors, I am, Fraternally
yours, N. T. Roach, Winslow, Ariz.

The benefit from membership in a national organization is very evident. If it
were only that we can spread our inquiries over the larger field, membership
in the countrywide body is preeminently worth while. We need you, and in the
proportion that our membership nationally is larger than is yours locally so
do you get the greater outlook with us.

In every manner practicable we plan to make the contents of the BUILDER
minister to the better knowledge of Masonry and your approval of it is
appreciated warmly.

BOOKS, PROGRAMMES, MEMBERSEIIPS

Upon the repeated solicitation of a number of the Brethren of the Craft of
this city, I am making a canvass among the membership to ascertain whether or
not it would be possible to organize a Masonic study club. With that purpose
in mind I have approached one of our very brightest Masons to assist us in the
work should we succeed in starting a club of that kind. He consented.

I now ask you, if I am not asking too much of you, to please send me such
literature as is being sent out to such clubs in your state. Or state whether
we ought to affiliate under the Research Society. I should like to have a
study program or outline of work. Also what books, if any, we must purchase.
Any information necessary to thoroughly start us to working will be
appreciated. Kindly send me a couple of blanks for brethren who desire to join
the N. M. R. Society. Thanking you in advance, I am, Yours fraternally, E. W.
Cruss, 32d, 2314 Ave. M., Galveston, Texas.

For the reasons stated in the immediately preceding letter and my comments, it
does seem highly desirable that you and your brethren should become members of
the National Masonic Research Society. A further argument is that this body
has already collected a fund of information that has been given the light of
print in the BUILDER and in other publications. This data is available for all
of you as members. In the first volume of the BUILDER, in Dean Pound's book oL
the "Philosophy of Masonry," and in various other reprints, the Society has
now at your command enough for alluring discussion at many meetings.

The October issue had a briefly expressed line of work laid out with a number
of references to topics and to authorities. We expect to supplement this with
a series of papers in this month's Bulletin. Such papers will not be too
weighty but will

be arranged for ready use at any study club. They will have a fund of
references for deeper and further inquiries.

My own preference as to books is given in the October issue. If I could afford
to buy but one book I would get Mackey's Encyclopedia, the very latest
edition. I am doubtful about study club libraries; the individual member's own
set of books is the thing to aim at. I do not profit by the sale of any book
and therefore my opinion is all the more that of a buyer of volumes. Lodge
libraries are usually stagnant. Perhaps study club libraries may not run into
the same ruts. But anyway I have more faith in every member having his own
books and slowly adding to their number. Please refer to what is said on the
question of books here and there in the Bulletin of October.

FIRST AN ORGANIZATION, THEN FOR THE REST

In answer to the Open Letter in the September issue of the BUILDER I write
asking for a list of the members of Research Society who receive the BUILDER
at Onawa. I would like very much to get a Study Club started. Unless the list
has already been sent I would like to have it. After we get an organization,
we will no doubt need assistance as to topics and programs. I think the study
club idea is the genuine fruit that should be the result of the Society and
the BUILDER. Fraternally, Mark H. Dobson, Box 476, Onawa, Iowa.

Any way that we can help you from headquarters, or anything that I can do
personally, will be cheerfully done with all the speed and conscientiousness
that is ours. Emphatically you are right. We are ready and must go forward.
The accepted time is now. Please call on our facilities as if they were in
very deed your own.

GRAND LODGE URGES MASONIC STUDIES

North Dakota Grand Lodge passed a resolution during the recent session of
Grand Lodge favoring the aggressive pushing of Masonic study during this
coming winter. We, in the library, are making every effort to get reading
lists, study outlines, etc., with that in mind. We are advised that the N. M.
R. S. has just such lists and outlines which may be obained for the use of its
members. If such is the case, may we hope to receive from you some assistance
of this sort? Personally, I should be very glad to learn just what the
resources of this sort are which are available for the use of the members of
the association. Yours very truly, Clara A. Richards, Librarian in Charge,
Fargo, North Dakota.

Let me ask you please to examine the present Bulletin and also the one that
appeared in the October issue of the BUILDER. There was in the latter a reply
to S. H. S. which gave with some degree of detail what I was venturesome
enough to offer to one Grand Lodge Committee on Masonic Education. I offered
the suggestions with considerable diffidence. I again do so. If they contain
anything of worth to the brethren of North Dakota and to the Librarian, I
shall be abundantly repaid.

An outline of Masonic study is given in the October Bulletin and some
references are given to books as well as topics. In general, and maybe for the
bookish and scholarly Mason, this October outline would serve roughly as a
guidepost at the very least.

It does not satisfy me. As the writer of it I have every right to criticise
it. If we are to make Masonic study really attractive we must go a long way
beyond the point of directing the other fellow's footsteps. Many must be led
for a while. This calls for actual papers to be presented to the study clubs
and so thorough and so interesting that everybody will go away afterward
feeling that all could understand and also be inspired to do some digging on
his own account.

Masonry has at its command the best men of our own generation. As their minds
are gradually turned toward the literary delights of Masonic investigation we
may count upon an unearthing of rare possessions. I therefore rejoice
exceedingly in the activity planned by your Grand Lodge and I anticipate we
shall be greatly benefited by your co-operation with us. I hope your Grand
Lodge and its subordinate bodies will become allied with us in the most useful
of studious associations among Masons in America.

THE REVELATION

What we call degeneracy is often but the unveiling of what was there all the
time; and the evil we could become, we are. If I have in me the tyrant or the
miser, there he is, and such am I--surely as if the tyrant or the miser were
even now visible to the wondering dislike of my neighbors.--George MacDonald.

A SIGNIFICANT CHAPTER IN THE EARLY HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY

BY R.I. CLEGG

I HOPE to present some facts of very general interest to the brethren.
Whatever use may be made of them is a matter for each of you to determine for
himself There are those who will value these details as most important
contributions to the ever wondrous story of the Craft. Others will I daresay
hold them as mere coincidences, incidents of only accidental import and of
minor pertinence at best. 

Be that as it may, the field is open to you all. Many ts are already
available. Many more are doubtless waiting for you. It is the purpose of our
organization, the National Masonic Research Society, the individual as well as
the collective forces of the body, to take up these admittedly slender threads
of testimony and her them into whatever cord of evidence is proper and
practicable.

Two points of consequence should first be mentioned: First, It is impossible
in a paper written for publication to say many things relative to the ritual
that could readily and properly be communicated by word of mouth within the
inner door of a Lodge. My brethren must therefore apply for themselves much of
what I shall say, having the ritual constantly in mind, continually asking
yourselves if the words written do apply in any wise to what each of you has
experienced either as a candidate or as an officer in the conferring of the
Masonic ceremonies. Please therefore add to what I shall here utter your own
knowledge of the work. Much will in that way be made clear.

Secondly, in a paper such as this I must not be too technical. For those who
desire to carry forward the study of the subject I shall elsewhere in the
Bulletin of the Society submit a selection of authorities to be consulted.
This list can easily be lengthened to elaborate proportions. Such an array of
authors and of literary productions adds strength to any paper but if too
freely quoted the effort becomes cumbrous and burdensome to speaker as well as
to hearers.

I am convinced that the really interesting and instructive things to be said
and to be treasured about Freemasonry need be neither tiresome nor appalling.
Whatever success we may meet in our endeavors toward this end, successful or
unsuccessful as any of us may be, we should honestly make the effort. Too
often the study of Freemasonry is hidden behind a cloud of words or weakened
by a poverty of facts.

Returning to our topic after thus clearing away the path, let me state my case
briefly.

Today the blessings of education are about us. Common is the ability to read.

Suppose that the contrary was true. Assume that Freemasonry was active but
that the common people were little informed as to moral truths in the manner
that the church and Craft desired them to be known. It would under those
conditions be a likely prospect that Freemasonry would attempt a means of
bringing the instruction of religion to the masses.

To make the contents of the Book of Law vivid to the people there is no more
striking method of presentation than the pictorial one employed by the devout
peasantry and townsfolk of Oberammergau who for so many years exemplified the
tale of the Christ on the stage. That Freemasons should have done this is by
no means out of the question as I shall hereafter show to some extent.

Now carrying this picture in your mind's eye, the early Freemasons staging the
episodes narrated in the Scriptures, permit me for a moment to take you a step
further. After several scores, yes, hundreds of years, of such labor by the
Craftsmen we find the people gradually acquiring a learning sufficient to meet
their needs in the study of the Bible for themselves. Then there would be less
necessity for the public instruction of the multitudes by Freemasons. The
field properly tilled, the Craft would then in all probability withdraw.

But would it entirely abandon its dramatic presentations? Not necessarily.
These very probably would in some form be continued. Spectacles and pageantry
delight the eye and make a very vigorous appeal to the mind. Many who listen
with dull ears are keenly alive to impressions upon the eye.

Did the brethren of old desire to select some most striking lesson to teach a
great truth then what could they have preserved of more consequence out of the
many known so well to them than the one acknowledged as the climax of the
Craft degrees and which reappears in various forms in so many of the grades
Masonic of every rite, old or new?

You may now ask for proof of these speculations. Backward we turn the pages of
dramatic history. What do we find ? Among the trustworthy chronicles brought
down to our own times is the account of the city of London written by William
Fitzstephen who died in 1191. He is quoted freely by Stowe who flourished some
four hundred years afterwards. Well, what says Fitzstephen, the monk of
Canterbury?

"London," says he, "instead of theatrical shows and scenic entertainments, has
dramatic performances of a more sacred kind, either representations of the
miracles which holy confessors have wrought, or of the passions and sufferings
in which the constancy of martyrs was signally displayed."

Who took part in these staged moralities, these dramatic episodes of religion?
The artisan corporate bodies. Stowe is unmistakable when in his "Survey of
London" he enumerates the "Skinner's well, so-called for that the skinners of
London held there certain plays yearly, played of Holy Scripture, etc."

Snell in his "Customs of Old England" points out a very noteworthy conclusion
as to the origin of these religious ceremonials. "As far as can be
ascertained, the earliest miracle play ever exhibited in England-- and here it
may be observed that such performances probably owed their existence or at
least considerable encouragement to the system of religious brotherhood
detailed in our opening chapter--was enacted in the year 1110 at Dunstable."

Incidentally, I may here allude briefly to the religious orders, such as the
followers of Saint Benedict. The initiation of a member of the Order of Saint
Benedict has been described by our late and greatly lamented Brother Gould.
Further details may be found in the various histories of the Order. The
ceremonial includes a dramatic teaching of the impressiveness of death and the
hope of immortality.

Early artisans and merchants of England (legally chartered by the government
to carry on their respective trades and professions) joined hands with the
religious orders to adequately represent these Scriptural incidents. Each
Craft took some important episode and we can readily understand that there was
involved a lively trade rivalry, a competition that brought out a remarkably
effective result.

Eventually these isolated plays, crude as they must originally have been, grew
into pageants, each extending over several days, and the degree of elaboration
meant an expense of labor and of money restricting these exhibitions to the
larger centers of population and of wealth. Thus there came about the planning
and the presentation of the four great cycles, those of Chester, York,
Wakefield, and of Coventry. The cycle was a series of plays forming a
compendium of history. Commencing with the Creation, the cycle proceeded to
unfold the story of earth and the people thereof unto the times of the New
Testament. Movable stages were devised so that the several sections of every
locality could be reached and the halt or lame accommodated conveniently.

Says Archdeacon Rogers of the stage itself, as quoted by Snell: "A high
scaffolde with two rowmes, a higher and a lower, upon four wheeles. In the
lower they apparelled them selves, and the higher rowme they played, being all
open on the tope, that all behoulders might heare and see them." Wood and iron
were used in the construction of these portable stages. Trap doors were in the
floor of the stage covered with rushes.

Roger Burton, the town clerk of York, has enumerated for us the various trades
taking part in the Play of Corpus Christi in that city. It reads as if an
inventory of all the industrial crafts. The cycles were a glory of the city
and it became a point of honor not to be outclassed by any other city; or for
any participating guild, or "mystery," to be outshone by a competitor.


Sometimes the sections of the play cycle were appropriately apportioned to
some particular craft or organization. Thus there are instances where this
aptness of assignment of duties is very marked. Take the scene where Noah is
warned to undertake the making of the ark, this part of the representation
being given to the "Worshipful Company of Shipwrights"; and then when the
patriarch appears in the completed ark this was done by the Mariners, a
special touch of realism and of trade propriety being afforded by this
division of duties.

Towns were for the time being turned into theaters. The huge stage was drawn
from one station to another. Again we may quote from quaint Archdeacon Rogers
in what he says of Chester: "The place where they played was in every streete.
They begane first at the abaye gates, and when the first pagiant was piayed,
it was wheeled to the high crosse before the mayor, and so to every streete;
and soe every streete had a pagiant playinge before them at one time, till all
the pagiantes for the daye appoynted weare played; and when one pagiant was
neere ended word was broughte from streete to streete, that soe they might
come in place thereof excedinge orderlye, and all the streetes have their
pagiantes afore them all at one time playeing togeather, to se which playe was
greate resorte, and also scafoldes, and stages made in the streetes in those
places where they determined to play their pagiantes."

Sometimes the elaborate arrangement of the plays so enacted by the craftsmen
was by no means unworthy of mention in the same breath with our modern scenic
triumphs. For example we are told that at one portrayal of the "Trial of
Jesus" two stages or scaffolds were simultaneously employed. One of these
displayed the judgment hall of Herod, the other was reserved for that of
Pilate. Messengers on horseback passed between the two halls of judgment. By
no manner of means was this an unambitious exposition of Biblical story, but
one that compares quite favorably, as I am sure you will agree, with what has
in our own times been attempted in that direction.

When the pageants passed from the churches into the streets for their
rendition they gradually became less dominantly controlled by the churchly
authorities and were the more closely governed by the civic and guild
officers.

Pope Gregory held in the year 1210 that the priests must no longer participate
in what had in his belief ceased to be an act of public worship.

Devotees of the church in a strict construction of the edict lost regard for
the Craft plays but it is very significant for us as Freemasons that Manning
who in his translation of a French manual upon sins denounced such
representations and regarded it sinful to look upon them, yet held as
allowable that the resurrection might be played for the confirmation of men's
faith in that greatest of mysteries. Manning's prejudice was not universal.
More than a hundred years later, in 1328, the Bishop of Chester counseled his
flock to resort "in peaceable manner, with good devotion, to hear and see"
these stagings of the Scriptures.

Moreover the Grey Friars of Coventry had a cycle of Corpus Christi plays of
their own. These they exhibited outside the town. Exactly what was the reason
for the selection of this place of portrayal is not clear. Shell records the
conjecture that it was so chosen because of the competition of the trade
guilds.

The fifteenth century found at York a famous preacher, William Melton. He
declared that it was necessary to have certain changes made in the conduct of
the pageants. Accordingly, the mayor, William Bowes, on the 7th of June, 1417,
issued an ordinance that has some elements of interest for us. Among the
various regulations we find "that no man go armed to the disturbance of the
peace and the play, and the hindering of the procession, but that they leave
their weapons at the inns, upon pain of forfeiture of their weapons, and
imprisonment of their bodies, save the keepers of the pageants and officers of
the peace." So were they duly and truly prepared.

Hone in his "Ancient Mysteries Described" tells of the practices followed in
the church. These suggest the fount from whence the greatly embellished plays
of the guilds were evolved. As for instance we may take "The Making of the
Sepulchre," as it was termed. This custom, founded upon old tradition, taught
that the second coming of Christ would be on Easter eve. Therefore Jerome
conceived that the people should await until midnight in the church for the
Redeemer's appearance.

The "Making of the Sepulchre" and the watching of it remained in England until
the reformation. An account of it by Davies follows:

"In the abbey church of Durham, there was very solemn service upon Easter Day,
betwixt three and four o'clock in the morning, in honor of the Resurrection;
when two of the oldest monks of the choir came to the Sepulchre, set up upon
Good Friday after the passion, all covered with red velvet, and embroidered
with gold, and then did cense it, either of the monks with a pair of silver
censers, sitting on their knees before the Sepulchre. Then they both rising,
came to the Sepulchre, out of which with great reverence, they took a
marvellous beautiful image of our Savior, representing the Resurrection, with
a cross in His hand, in the breast whereof was enclosed, in most bright
crystal, the holy sacrament of the altar, through which crystal the blessed
Host was conspicuous to the beholders. Then after the elevation of the said
picture, carried by the said two monks, upon a fair velvet cushion all
embroidered, singing the anthem of "Christus Resurgens," they brought it to
the high altar setting it on the midst thereof, the two monks kneeling before
the altar, and censing it all the time that the rest of the whole choir were
singing the aforesaid anthem; Which anthem being ended, the two monks took up
the cushion and picture from the altar, supporting it betwixt them, and
proceeding in procession from the high altar to the south choir door, where
there were four ancient gentlemen belonging to the choir, appointed to attend
their coming, holding up a most rich canopy of purple velvet, tasselled round
about with red silk, and a goodly gold fringe; and at every corner of the
canopy did stand one of these ancient gentlemen, to bear it over the said
images with the holy sacrament carried by the two monks round about the
church, the whole choir waiting upon it with goodly torches, and great store
of other lights; all singing, rejoicing, and praying to God most devoutly till
they come to the high altar again; upon which they placed the said image,
there to remain until ascension day."

These early practices of the church are not extinct. Particularly at Christmas
there are many observances to be found that remind us strongly of these
ancient customs from whence the craftsmen of old drew the inspiration for
their great public displays of theatrical skill.

You may ask if there is record of the Masons having taken part as an
organization in the city cycles of pageants. There is a carefully prepared
account still extant of the York pageants. This is entitled "The order of the
Pageants of the play of Corpus Christi, in the time of the Mayorality of
William Alne, in the third year of the reign of King Henry V. anno 1415,
compiled by Roger Burton, town clerk."

There are fifty-four scenes, some of which are depicted by more than one class
of craftsmen. For instance, the Pewterers and the Founders were associated in
the rendition of the thirteenth scene. The first scene was assigned to the
Tanners, and was "God the Father Almighty creating and forming the heavens,
angels and archangels; Lucifer and the angels that fell with him into hell."
So we go on to the eighteenth scene, alloted to the Masons. This was of "Mary
with the child; Joseph, Anna, and a nurse with young pigeons; Simeon receiving
the child in his arms, and two sons of Simeon."

You will be interested to learn that some of these old morality plays are even
yet of record and are by no means trivial. In fact the conditions under which
they were produced, and the time spent upon them for some hundreds of years,
must have brought them to a very high plane.

Take the Cornish Mystery of the Crucifixion:

Jesus--
Woman, seest thou thy son?
A thousand times your arms
Have borne him with tenderness. 
And John, behold thy mother; 
Thus keep her, without denial,
As long as ye live.

Mary--
Alas ! Alas ! Oh ! Sad ! Sad ! 
In my heart is sorrow, 
When I see my son Jesus,
About His head a crown of thorns. 
He is Son of God in every way,
And with that truly a King; 
Feet and hands on every side
Fast fixed with nails of iron. 
Alas ! 
That one shall have on the day of judgment
Heavy doom, flesh and blood, 
Who hath sold him.

John--
Oh sweet mother, do not bear sorrow,
For always, in every way
I will be prepared for thee;
The will of thy Son is so,
For to save so much as is good,
Since Adam was created.

Jesus--
Oh Father, Eli, Eloy, lama sabacthani?
Thou are my dear God,
Why hast Thou left me, a moment alone,
In any manner?

First Executioner--
He is calling Elias;
Watch now diligently
If he comes to save him.
If he delivers him, really
We will believe in him,
And worship him for ever.

(Here a sponge is made ready, with gall and vinegar. And then the Centurion
stands in his tent, and says:)

Centurion--
I will go to see
How it is with dear Jesus:
It were a pity on a good man
So much contumely to be cast.
If he were a bad man, his fellow
Could not in any way
Truly have such great grace,
To save men by one word. 
(The Centurion goes down.)

Second Executioner--
It is not Elias whom he called;
Thirst surely on him there is,
He finds it an evil thing. 
(Here he holds out a sponge.)
Behold here I have me ready,
Gall and hyssop mixed;
Wassail, if there is great thirst.

Jesus--
Thirst on me there is.

Third Executioner--
See, a drink for thee here;
Why dost thou not drink it?
Rather shoulds't thou a wonder work !
Now, come down from the cross,
And we will worship thee.

Jesus--
Oh, Father, into Thy hands
I commit my spirit;
By Thy will take it to Thee,
As Thou sent it into the world.

(Then Jesus shall die. Here the sun is darkened.)

You have here, my brethren, a story of the cross that for simple strength is
not easily excelled. Not for a moment is it to be marvelled at that great
throngs saw these spectacles. Theatrical skill in abundance was lavished upon
them. Devoted craftsmen contributed freely of their means in money and
histrionic ability. Great religious orders gave them literary aptness. Monks
and Masons, Church and Craft, combined the best that in them was for the
portrayal of the Scripture story from the creation to the cross, from the Fall
to the risen Lord.

This co-operation of forces has curiously given some things in common to the
Catholic and Protestant Churches and the Masonic organization. Think of the
similarity of symbolism, particularly of colors as with blue, red, purple,
white, etc. Consider the ritual of the Mass, its obvious teaching and the
signs and ceremonies that are its accompaniment. Ponder over the joint uses of
such words as warden, deacon, chapter, council, consistory, and so forth. Do
these not tell us of the days when the brotherhood of Freemasons held up the
hands of the church with dramatic fervor, with an ornate stage, showing the
Scripture and saying its story in so simple and strong a style that the least
informed might be made wise unto biblical truths and all fundamental
philosophies ?

This fact I hold to be one of the greatest significances of Masonic history, a
heritage to be proudly possessed and passed onward.

* * *

NOTES FOR FURTHER RESEARCH

Readers of the Bulletin will have observed the suggestion made on the fourth
page in the October issue for a "Course in the Study of Masonry."

Under the head of "Ritual" I mentioned several items for consideration. One of
these was the "Mystery Plays of the Middle Age." Promptly I received a request
that I say something further on this topic as at least one good brother had
never thought of these plays in that connection. The above article was at once
prepared. It is not intended to be comprehensive. Time for its preparation has
been so limited that I have been unable to cover to my liking certain phases
of the subject that demand critical attention. Yet it may serve for the
present. And it may also provide a paper that can be submitted at any study
club. Frankly do I admit that it is not my ideal of a paper for study club
consideration. I shall have other papers and I hope papers of even more
general appeal and perhaps more pertinent significance. When we get to the
stage where we are receiving papers from study clubs everywhere we shall
indeed have a finer quality of production.

To the good brethren who seek to pursue this subject further for themselves,
and beyond the confines of the various Masonic publications, I have a few
references to provide.

An excellent chapter on "Miracle Plays" is to be found in Snell's "Customs of
Old England." (1)



Some few references are to be found in Stowe's "Survey of London."

I am especially fond of that volume in "Everyman's Library" entitled
"Everyman, and Other Interludes, including Eight Miracle Plays." (2)

"Everyman," by the way, I have been tempted to reproduce in this Bulletin, and
later may do so. It is a morality play in which the various attributes of
manhood are personified and converse with the individual when he approaches
his death. This exhibition of Wisdom, Strength, Beauty, Good-deeds,
Fellowship, etc., in the shadow of death is of decided interest to the
Freemason, and is peculiarly apt to the era of my paper of which it is indeed
a valuable survival.

Hone's "Ancient Mysteries Described" (3) contains some curious lore upon old
church customs. Allusion to one or two of the many cited by Hone is made in my
paper.

The Encyclopedia Brittannica has an article on the Drama. About a column of it
treats of the old miracle and morality plays. While you are looking through
the Enyclopedia, glance at the articles entitled "Initiation" and
"Mutilation." While these do not directly touch upon the plays here treated,
they have marked interest to the student of primitive ceremonies. From the
consideration of these peculiarities we may derive light upon society, secrecy
in the earliest stages of its evolution.

F.H. Stoddard's "References for Students of Miracle Plays and Mysteries" (4)
furnishes a bibliography that up to the date of publication, 1887, is ranked
as full. The little volume, "Everyman," already mentioned, has in the
introduction a very useful set of references.

The two volumes of Taunton's history of the "English Black Monks of St.
Benedict" (5) can be consulted for some additions to the references I have
made in the above text to what is said on the subject by Gould.
R.I. CLEGG.

(1) [Snell] Charles Scribner's Sons, New York
(2) [Everyman] E. P. Dutton & Co., New York.
(3) [Hone] William Hone, London, 1823.
(4) [Stoddard] University of California Bulletin No. 8.
(5) [Taunton] Longmans Green & Co., New York.


THE MEASURE OF GOODNESS

Be good at the depths of you, and you will discover that those who surround
you will be good even to the same depths. Nothing responds more infallibly to
the seret cry of goodness than the secret cry of goodness that is near. While
you are actively good in the invisible, all those who approach you will
unconsciously do things that they could not do by the side of any other man.
Therein lies a force that has no name; a spiritual rivalry that knows no
resistence.--Maurice Maeterlink.


CHIPS FROM THE QUARRY

Human improvement is from within outwards.-- Froude.
In this world a man must either be hammer or anvil.--Longfellow.
Architecture is frozen music.--De Stael.
Greek architecture is the flowering of geometry.-- Emerson.
A Gothic church is petrified religion.--Coleridge.

A MAN'S MAN

CHARLES BAYARD MITCHELL

A man's man must be his own man. I mean by that he must have faith in his own
integrity. He does not discount himself. He knows himself. He has surveyed his
own estate and knows his limitations and boundary lines; but knows his powers,
as well. He has studied himself. He has discovered within himself a duality;
one side of him tending downward, and the other upward. He aims to be true to
his better self. By restraining the evil and giving vent to the good within
him, he has seen the better forces coming to the throne of his life. He can
trust the scepter in the hands of his own better nature. He dares trust
himself. He can trust his instincts. He yields quickly to his intuitions. He
feels strong in the sense of his own integrity. He knows he is a true man--
others may think what they please. He knows he rings true. When a great
question is to be decided he dares take it to the bar of his own better
judgment and abide its decision. His mind is superior to doubt and
fluctuation. He can laugh at opposition. He feels within himself the power to
will and to do. He dares to do what others fear. He initiates where others
follow. He has a sublime confidence in his own power to carry out whatever he
wills. He knows no timid lingerings. Neither doubts nor misgivings keep him
back from the trial. He is larger than his vocation and superior to opinion.
He is impervious to contempt and ridicule.

No man can be a man's man who is not his own man. Discount yourself and the
world will take you at your own estimate. A divine self respect, a sane
selfconfidence, must mark the man who aspires to win the confidence of his
fellow men.

THE SPIRIT OF MASONRY

It is one of the most difficult things in the world for one to be just, while
suffering from injustice. It is not an easy thing to permit one who attacks
another's reputation to go on with his own reputation apparently unsullied. It
is not a simple matter to be non-partisan when one is being held up to scorn
by partisans. It is not a pleasant thing to stand aside, inactive, while
designing persons are telling lies about us. But the man who can be JUST under
trying conditions, and the man who can refrain from showing resentment when
assailed, and the man who can still be non-partisan when subjected to partisan
attack, and the man who can resist the temptation to talk back when he knows
that some one is Iying about him--all of these men are exemplifying the spirit
of Masonry. --John W. Hill, 33d.


THE SWEETNESS OF LIFE
There's night and day, brother, both sweet things; sun, moon, and stars,
brother, all sweet things; there's likewise a wind on the heath. Life is very
sweet, brother; who would wish to die ?"--George Barrow.

