THE BULLETIN JANUARY 1919

CORRESPONDENCE CIRCLE BULLETIN -- No. 24

Edited by Bro. H. L. Haywood

THE BULLETIN COURSE OF MASONIC STUDY FOR MONTHLY LODGE MEETINGS AND
STUDY CLUBS

FOUNDATION OF THE COURSE

THE Course of Study has for its foundation two sources of Masonic
information: THE BUILDER and Mackey's Encyclopedia. In another
paragraph is explained how the references to former issues of THE
BUILDER and to Mackey's Encyclopedia may be worked up as
supplemental papers to exactly fit into each installment of the
Course with the papers by Brother Haywood.

MAIN OUTLINE:

The Course is divided into five principal divisions which are in
turn subdivided, as is shown below:

Division I. Ceremonial Masonry.

A. The Work of the Lodge. 
B. The Lodge and the Candidate. 
C. First Steps. 
D. Second Steps. 
E. Third Steps.

Division II. Symbolical Masonry.
A. Clothing. 
B. Working Tools. 
C. Furniture. 
D. Architecture. 
E. Geometry.
F. Signs. 
G. Words. 
H. Grips.

Division III. Philosophical Masonry.
A. Foundations. 
B. Virtues. 
C. Ethics. 
D. Religious Aspect. 
E. The Quest. 
F. Mysticism. 
G. The Secret Doctrine.

Division IV. Legislative Masonry.

A. The Grand Lodge. 
1. Ancient Constitutions. 
2. Codes of Law. 
3. Grand Lodge Practices. 
4. Relationship to Constituent Lodges. 
5. Official Duties and Prerogatives.

B. The Constituent Lodge.
1. Organization. 
2. Qualifications of Candidates. 
3. Initiation, Passing and Raising. 
4. Visitation. 
5. Change of Membership.

Division V. Historical Masonry.

A. The Mysteries--Earliest Masonic Light.
B. Studies of Rites--Masonry in the Making. 
C. Contributions to Lodge Characteristics.
D. National Masonry.
E. Parallel Peculiarities in Lodge Study. 
F. Feminine Masonry. 
G. Masonic Alphabets. 
H. Historical Manuscripts of the Craft. 
I. Biographical Masonry.
J. Philological Masonry--Study of Significant Words.

THE MONTHLY INSTALLMENTS

Each month we are presenting a paper written by Brother Haywood,
who is following the foregoing outline. We are now in "First Steps"
of Ceremonial Masonry. There will be twelve monthly papers under
this particular subdivision. On page two, preceding each
installment, will be given a list of questions to be used by the
chairman of the Committee during the study period which will bring
out every point touched upon in the paper.

Whenever possible we shall reprint in the Correspondence Circle
Bulletin articles from other sources which have a direct bearing
upon the particular subject covered by Brother Haywood in his
monthly paper. These articles should be used as supplemental papers
in addition to those prepared by the members from the monthly list
of references. Much valuable material that would otherwise possibly
never come to the attention of many of our members will thus be
presented.

The monthly installments of the Course appearing in the
Correspondence Circle Bulletin should be used one month later than
their appearance. If this is done the Committee will have
opportunity to arrange their programs several weeks in advance of
the meetings and the brethren who are members of the National
Masonic Research Society will be better enabled to enter into the
discussions after they have read over and studied the installment
in THE BUILDER.

REFERENCES FOR SUPPLEMENTAL PAPERS

Immediately preceding each of Brother Haywood's monthly papers in
the Correspondence Circle Bulletin will be found a list of
references to THE BUILDER and Mackey's Encyclopedia. These
references are pertinent to the paper and will either enlarge upon
many of the points touched upon or bring out new points for reading
and discussion. They should be assigned by the Committee to
different brethren who may compile papers of their own from the
material thus to be found, or in many instances the articles
themselves or extracts therefrom may be read directly from the
originals. The latter method may be followed when the members may
not feel able to compile original papers, or when the original may
be deemed appropriate without any alterations or additions.

HOW TO ORGANIZE FOR AND CONDUCT THE STUDY MEETINGS

The lodge should select a "Research Committee" preferably of three
"live" members. The study meetings should be held once a month,
either at a special meeting of the lodge called for the purpose, or
at a regular meeting at which no business (except the lodge
routine) should be transacted--all possible time to be given to the
study period.

After the lodge has been opened and all routine business disposed
of, the Master should turn the lodge over to the Chairman of the
Research Committee. This Committee should be fully prepared in
advance on the subject for the evening. All members to whom
references for supplemental papers have been assigned should be
prepared with their papers and should also have a comprehensive
grasp of Brother Haywood's paper.

PROGRAM FOR STUDY MEETINGS

1. Reading of the first section of Brother Haywood's paper and the
supplemental papers thereto.

(Suggestion: While these papers are being read the members of the
lodge should make notes of any points they may wish to discuss or
inquire into when the discussion is opened. Tabs or slips of paper
similar to those used in elections should be distributed among the
members for this purpose at the opening of the study period.)

2. Discussion of the above.

3. The subsequent sections of Brother Haywood's paper and the
supplemental papers should then be taken up, one at a time, and
disposed of in the same manner.
4. Question Box.

MAKE THE "QUESTION BOX" THE FEATURE OF YOUR MEETINGS

Invite questions from any and all brethren present. Let them
understand that these meetings are for their particular benefit and
get them into the habit of asking all the questions they may think
of. Every one of the papers read will suggest questions as to facts
and meanings which may not perhaps be actually covered at all in
the paper. If at the time these questions are propounded no one can
answer them, SEND THEM IN TO US. All the reference material we have
will be gone through in an endeavor to supply a satisfactory
answer. In fact we are prepared to make special research when
called upon, and will usually be able to give answers within a day
or two. Please remember, too, that the great Library of the Grand
Lodge of Iowa is only a few miles away, and, by order of the
Trustees of the Grand Lodge, the Grand Secretary places it at our
disposal on any query raised by any member of the Society.

FURTHER INFORMATION

The foregoing information should enable local Committees to conduct
their lodge study meetings with success. However we shall welcome
all inquiries and communications from interested brethren
concerning any phase of the plan that is not entirely clear to
them, and the services of our Study Club Department are at the
command of our members, lodge and study club committees at all
times.

QUESTIONS ON "THE WORKING TOOLS OF AN ENTERED APPRENTICE."

I
What can you add to the quotation from Carlyle? What particular
accomplishment of man is cited by Bergson to distinguish man from
brute ? In what manner do the tools of the brute differ from those
of man ? How has man's superiority over the brute developed? Where
does man's superiority lie?

What is the key to Masonry's use of the "working tools"? What is
their use ? How are they symbolized ? What is the ultimate design
to be accomplished by the use of the working tools of Masonry ? Can
a Mason shape his own destiny or be instrumental in shaping the
destiny of others without the aid of his Masonic working tools?

Why is not the newly initiated candidate at once intrusted with all
the working tools or implements of Masonry? With what tools is he
intrusted and instructed in the Masonic application of, in the
Entered Apprentice degree? in the Fellow Craft degree? in the
Master Mason degree ?

II
What is a "twenty-four inch gauge"? Of what is it the symbol, in
our Monitors? Give the Monitorial exposition of the twenty-four
inch gauge in the language of the standard "work" of your Grand
Jurisdiction. What reference to it was made by the old writers in
connection with Saints Ambrose and Augustine and King Alfred? Do
you agree with what Brother Haywood says regarding the right use
and division of time ? If not, why not ?

What is your definition of "Time"? What definition of it does
Brother Haywood give? Does Time symbolize to you opportunities to
be grasped and improved upon ? Who wastes time, the laggard or the
successful man ? Do you consider it a waste of time to attend the
Study Club meetings of your lodge or Study Club? Are you wasting
time by not attending these meetings ? Are you applying the
twenty-four inch gauge to your time as did Abraham Lincoln and
Albert Pike and other busy men?

What is the fundamental reason for so many men devolving into
"human failures" ? How may we protect ourselves against becoming
failures in life ? How has man heretofore divided his actions ?
What test should we apply to our actions? What foundation are
Masons laying for the morality of the future? What great secret
have we to learn from the twenty four inch gauge?

III
What was the symbolism of the gavel in the Middle Ages? Whence was
this symbolism derived? Of what was the gavel a symbol in
Scandinavian mythology? What other peoples attribute to it the same
symbolism? What is the Masonic derivation of the gavel? Give the
Monitorial reference to the gavel as used in the standard "work" of
your Grand Jurisdiction. Is the common gavel a symbol of authority
? How is it distinguished from the implement of authority wielded
by the Master of a lodge? What functions are combined in the common
gavel? What is Mackey's explanation of its probable derivation?

What use did the operative masons make of the common gavel ? What
is a "knob" on a stone ? an "excrescence"? What do these suggest to
Brother Haywood ? Do you agree with him in his deductions? If not,
why not?

IV
Does Masonry demand more from its members in the foregoing respect
than do other organizations of their members or employees? What is
the first lesson to be learned by a soldier, or an employee of a
corporation? Why must they learn this lesson ? Is "team work" and
"cooperation" necessary to the success of a lodge ? of a Grand
Lodge ? of Masonry as a whole ? Could Masonry successfully cope
with the questions which are arising each day in connection with
the great work of reconstruction which the world is now facing,
without some such united organization as the recently-launched
"Masonic Service Association of the United States"? Did the
necessity of "team work" and "cooperation" demand the organization
of such a Body ?


SUPPLEMENTAL REFERENCES

Mackey's Encyclopedia:
Gavel, p. 290; Twenty-Four Inch Gauge, p. 811.

THE BUILDER:
Vol. I--The Twenty-Four Inch Gauge, p. 94.
Vol. III.--Gavel, p. 79; Twenty-Four Inch Gauge, p. 79.
Vol. IV.--Gavel, p. 156.



FIRST STEPS
BY BRO. H.L. HAYWOOD, IOWA
PART XI--THE WORKING TOOLS OF AN ENTERED APPRENTICE

I
"Man is a tool-using animal, weak in himself, and of small stature,
he stands on a basis, at most for the flattest-soled, of some
half-square foot, insecurely enough; has to straddle out his legs,
lest the very wind supplant him. Feeblest of bipeds ! Three
quintals are a crushing load to him; the steer of the meadow tosses
him aloft, like a waste rag. Nevertheless he can use tools, can
devise tools; with these the granite mountain melts into light dust
before him; he kneads glowing iron, as if it were soft paste; seas
are his smooth highway, winds and fire his unwearying steeds.
Nowhere do you find him without tools; without tools he is nothing,
with tools he is all."

THUS writes Thomas Carlyle, who was not always as Masonic as he is
here. It would be difficult to state in language more forceful the
whole philosophy underlying the Working Tools of Masonry, albeit
reference might also be made to Henry Bergson, who wrote his
"Creative Revolution" many years after Carlyle had penned his
"Sartor Resartus," and when new light had come, and men had grown
wiser in science. In his book, which is the most original
discussion of Evolution since Darwin's "Origin of Species," Bergson
shows that nothing more distinguishes the man from the brute than
his use of tools. The brute has his tools built into his own body
and consequently can neither modify nor change them; the beaver's
teeth, the spider's spinnet, the eagle's talons, the lion's claws,
in every case the brute's tool is a part of the brute's anatomy,
with the result that its operations are confined within very narrow
limits. But man makes his own tools, can modify or change them at
will, and is always free to adapt himself and his work to
ever-changing need; from this has arisen man's superiority to the
brute creation for he can use his tools upon himself and thus
change his own nature as well as the external world. Accordingly,
Bergson defines a man as "The animal that makes things," and he is
careful to show that man's superiority lies in his power to work
upon himself as well as upon things.

Here, in this last clause, is the key to Masonry's use of Working
Tools. In no case are they instruments to be used on external
things, though they are symbolized by the tools of the operative
builders; in which every case they are mental or moral forces with
which a man may reshape himself into a mystic temple, and help
reshape society into a great Brotherhood. With the implements thus
understood, no man or Mason can ever hope to build except he be
equipped with his kit of tools.

But some tools are simpler in use than others, and better adapted
to simpler work; therefore the Craft has wisely distributed the
implements among the degrees, in recognition of the candidate's
increase of skill and responsibility; in the First degree the
Apprentice is given the Twenty-four Inch Gauge and Common Gavel; in
the Second degree the candidate is allowed the Plumb, Square and
Level; while the Master Mason, in token of his task in completing
the building work, is given the Trowel. Necessarily the tools of
the Second and Third degrees will be treated in their corresponding
places; in this connection we are interested only in the working
tools of an Entered Apprentice.

II
The Twenty-Four Inch Gauge. This is nothing other than an ordinary
two-foot rule such as may be found in use among stone-masons of
today; as such we need not go far to seek its origin or dive deep
to find its meaning. Our Monitors make it the symbol of time well
systematized, and our older writers have often referred to Saints
Ambrose and Augustine and to King Alfred as exemplars of the wisdom
of devoting eight hours to the-service of God, and distressed
worthy brethren, eight hours to their usual vocations and eight to
rest and refreshment. This reading of the symbolism may be accepted
without reserve, but is not this right use and dividing of time
itself suggestive of that wider use of law and order so necessary
in the life of the individual and the world ?

What time is in itself we do not know, perhaps we shall never know.
But in every life it is nothing other than our opportunity to live
and work. We have our alloted span of existence; we have our
allotted task; our wisdom consists in making one fit the other.
Time flows over some men as water flows over a stone; to others a
single hour may bring a new depth of experience and open out new
vistas of vision. It is not the least among the secrets of genius
that the great mind understands the value of the odd moment or the
spare hour. Many Illinois lawyers between 1840 and 1860 found their
days eaten up by their practice; Abraham Lincoln was as busy as the
others but he managed in his spare time to learn Whites' Geometry
by heart, to study the technique of politics, and to master every
phase and angle of the Slavery question. There were only
twenty-four hours in one of Albert Pike's days, even as in ours; he
made of himself, in spite of a thousand handicaps, one of the
profoundest scholars of his day--antiquarian, linguist, jurist,
philologist, what not; he "found the Scottish Rite a log-cabin and
left it a palace"; he plowed his influence into America, and all
because he knew how to apply the gauge to his time.

Much of the waste and confusion of human existence arises from
men's failure to measure their work by some standard or rule; they
float down the stream like chips, take things as they come and go,
and suffer themselves to be blown this way and that like a derelict
at sea. Their days are as mere heaps of stone to which no quarryman
has ever brought his tools. He who has learned how to transform
time into life, deals with circumstances as an artist uses his
materials; he has ever before him a plan laid out on his mind's
tracing board; he selects his materials and appoints each to its
appropriate function, fitting and shaping all according to his
design.

What is the standard by which we may test our work? What is the
measure of rightness? For many centuries we have been dividing our
actions into two opposing tables, one made up of good actions, and
one of bad. When we have desired to learn whether or not some
proposed action was good or bad we searched for it in the two
lists. But this morality by code is rapidly breaking down for we
find that a deed will be guilty under some circumstances, innocent
under others. If I shoot a man for assaulting my family I do right;
if I shoot a friend in a quarrel I do evil. The one test which we
can apply to any and every action is, What is its effect on life~
If it enlarges, exalts, ennobles, if it makes life more musical,
more worthful, more rich, it is good; if it cramps, corrupts,
debases, defiles, it is evil. This is life morality and every
evidence indicates that it is to be the morality of the future.

And it is also, I believe, the morality of Masonry, as symbolized
by that Working Tool which would teach us how to transform time
into life. He who learns this use of it need ever regret the
passing of "every year," for every year will but add honor to his
head and riches to his heart until the end comes when time will
lead him to eternity.

"Old time will end our stay, 
But no time, if we end well, will end our glory."

III
The Common Gavel. In the Middle Ages the gavel was a symbol often
made use of by religious bodies to signify possession, a meaning
derived, perhaps, from the ancient custom of throwing a gavel (or
hammer) across a field to claim ownership. In the Scandinavian
mythology it was Thor's hammer and stood for power, often seen in
the thunderings and lightnings by which that dread god split the
rocks and destroyed the trees. It is similarly used, we learn from
Murray-Aynsley (A.Q.C. Vol. 6, p. 51) by New Zealanders, the
Maoris, and Channel Island savages. In Masonry it has other
meanings, being derived from the tool used by the workmen in
dressing a stone to the desired shape.

As a Working Tool it must not be confused with the Master's hammer
which, because it stands for his authority, is often called the
"Hiram," in commemoration of the authority wielded by the First
Grand Master. It is a tool with one sharp edge and combines the
functions of the hammer and the chisel. When looked at from the
end, with the cutting edge turned up, it has the appearance of the
gable of a house, and this suggested to Mackey that it may have
been derived from the German "gipful," or gable. However that may
be it is a tool for shaping and not for breaking and is therefore
not an emblem of force, as some have fancied, though it is obvious
that force must be employed to use it.

According to the Monitorial explanation, "The Common Gavel is an
instrument made use of by operative masons, to break off the
corners of rough stones, the better to fit them for the builder's
use; but we, as free and accepted Masons, are taught to make use of
it for the more noble and glorious purpose of divesting our minds
and consciences of all the vices and superfluities of life, thereby
fitting our bodies as living stones, for that spiritual building,
that house not made by hands, eternal in the heavens." In other
connections we are told that the gavel was used by operative masons
to break off the knobs and excrescencies of stones in order to
shape the rough ashlar into the perfect ashlar, or finished
building stone.

A "knob" is an inequality in the stone itself; an "excrescence" is
some foreign substance clinging to it. It may appear fanciful but
this has suggested to me those vices and inequalities in us men
which spring on the one hand from heredity and on the other from
environment. By the first we are influenced by our ancestors or
parents; by the latter we are shaped, in some degree at least, by
our surroundings. In either case, and however derived, each of us
finds in his nature some trait of temper or temperament, some bias
of mind, some. trick of action, or other irregularity, that brings
us into conflict with our fellows. In so far as these are not
essential to right character Masonry demands that we trim them of~
in order that we may "fit in" with the Fraternity.

In this our Institution asks no more than does the world at large
or other organizations, for all the cry today is for team-work and
cooperation. The member of a regiment, the employee of a
corporation, must learn to subordinate himself to the whole lest
the perversity of the individual destroy the whole. Individualists
may cherish their differences in behalf of self-distinction, but
the wise man will learn to adjust himself to, and control his
idiosyncracies in behalf of the needs of order. This is in no sense
the debasing of every man to the dead level of mediocrity for it is
in and not apart from, social life that real individuality is born.

FINDING OURSELVES

Life is an offering, that is all 
And the ultimate glory of its call 
Is that 'tis hardly worth a tear 
Save as 'tis given, freely, here-- 
Save as from it we pour and pour 
As the alchemist provides the more-- 
Save as on the "waters cast" 
The "bread" that will return at last-- 
Save as we give it all away 
To find ourselves, some day--some day.
--L. B. M.

