Brethren, several short selections from "The Northern Light"  May 99
are appropriate today.




                   VIEWS  FROM THE PAST
 Quotations selected from the past may not necessarily
represent today's viewpoint

Dreams Don't Turn Gray

Speaking with a group of retired brothers, I suggested that since they
now had more time on their hands, they might consider going through
the chairs. One replied, "I may have been able to do that when I was
younger, but I couldn't do that now." I reminded them that "Pop"
Biesinger and others like him had served as Worshipful Master at the
age of 75, but they remained convinced that they were "too old."

I searched my files and found an article by Cynthia Freeman that I had
saved years ago. At the age of 55, Mrs. Freeman had switched from
being an interior decorator to becoming a successful writer. At the
time of the article, she had written seven novels, one a best seller.
What made me hold on to that article for so many years is what she
said about her journey:

"We must be willing to take chances, which means we must be prepared
to be wrong and to be rejected. But for God's sake, don't let the fear
of failure make you miss the thrill of trying. You know, all of us are
gifted in some unique way. All of us harbor some dream we never had
time to fulfill, some treasured hobby we never had enough time for.
Whether its writing or interior design, painting or caring for the
very young or the very old, there is in each of us the key to open the
door to the great need we have to acquire and bestow satisfaction.
Imagination is forever young; dreams don't turn gray.

From a message by Walter F Lokey 32* , in the Nov. 1998 newsletter for
the Valley of Wilmington, DE


and another



What Constitutes a Real Mason?

We as Masons have voluntarily and seriously dedicated ourselves to the
principles of Freemasonry. We should give more than perfunctory lip,
service if those principles are worthwhile. If they are not of value,
we should either make them so or devote ourselves to something that
is.

At once, we find that Masonry is something more than social good
fellowship. More than ritual. More than organized charity. It is a way
of living. A philosophy of life.

The ritual is said to be an allegorical representation of the course
of a man's life, beginning at his birth and portraying his attainment
of skill in his occupation, his acquisition of learning and wisdom,
his development of character, and, finally, his hope of immortality.

While authentic Masonry, as we now recognize it, started with the
organization of the Grand Lodge of England in 1717, it was in fact the
direct outgrowth of the bands of operative masons who for centuries
had been building the cathedrals and abbeys and fortresses and
highways of Europe.

More remotely, it was the outgrowth of the so called "Ancient
Mysteries." These were secret orders of men that are supposed to have
existed in every race and every age, no matter how remote in time or
space. They, like modem Masonry, are supposed to have been composed
exclusively of men, to have had a ceremony of preparation of the
candidate and reception into the lodge, and to have portrayed the
course of a man through his life. They also are supposed to have
sought to benefit the community by improving the characters of their
members and to have made life easier and richer for their members by
mutual aid and friendship.

When our ritual was written in the early 1700's, all the experiences
of all the ages, so far as then known, were drawn upon to afford
lessons in the art of wise and fine living. In a very real sense, the
teachings of Masonry offer the crystallized wisdom of mankind wrung
from centuries of experiment .and trial, of failures and triumphs, of
suffering and joy, in man's attempt to learn how to live with life.
Insofar as we identify ourselves with Masonry we are identifying
ourselves with an institution which, in one form or another, by itself
or its near and remote predecessors since the beginning of time, has
stood for the finer things of life.

No generation in all the history of the world has faced a more serious
responsibility than confronts the men and women of today, and, by the
same token, no one has ever had such an opportunity, such a challenge.

That challenge and that responsibility are personal. They cannot be
delegated. Or avoided. Or ignored. They are instant. Imperative. They
demand that we here and now rededicate and reconsecrate ourselves, and
our Grand Lodge, and our entire fraternity to our high calling.

For such is Masonry - ever a challenge, an invitation to a clearer
vision, a loftier aim, a braver struggle, a kinder and more unselfish
way of living. That is the significance of Masonry, and that is what
we as Masons should stand for if we would be real men.

As individuals we, and we alone, can cherish and preserve the tiny
morsel of the sacred fire which has been entrusted to each of us.

The choice rests with each of us as individuals.

- From an address by Joseph Earl Perry, 33* at the Feast of St. John,
Grand Lodge of Massachusetts,    Dec. 27,1935
