THE BUILDER September 1916

WATCH-CHARM MASONS
BY BRO. HAROLD A. KINGSBURY, CONN,

THE CAUSE; THE MENACE; THE CURE

We have in the Craft many brethren who have been termed
"Watch-Charm Masons." That is, brethren to whom Masonry means but
little more than the privilege of wearing a charm, button or jewel-
-men who have but little or no understanding of what Masonry really
is, for what it really stands, and what it really teaches.

This class of Masons may be divided into two groups or types:--(1)
Those who joined merely out of a desire to wear a Masonic charm,
and (2) those who affiliated out of a real desire to become true
Masons but, since affiliation, have never had the opportunity of
being started with understanding on the search for Masonic Light.

The first type owes its existence to the fact that the members of
a lodge cannot always accurately gauge the motives which actuate an
applicant for the degrees. The menace of this type is that the
brethren of it, not understandingly observing that in the square
and compass the triangle of the Spiritual dominates the square of
the Material, that the double-headed eagle bears the Delta upon its
heads, and that the Templars' charm carries the Passion Cross, are
prone to make little or no effort to live the symbolism that they
wear, and in-so-far as they fail to live that symbolism, then
in-so-far do they fail to uphold and advance the Craft. The partial
cure--there probably is no complete cure--is to endeavor to gauge
yet more carefully than is now done, the motives of applicants.

We are not, here, primarily concerned with this type and so let us
dismiss it and hereafter consider the second type, i. e., those who
have the desire to become true Masons but need to be started upon
their way with understanding.

The existence of this second group, or type, is due to several
causes. The primary cause, and the only one here considered, is
this:--Very few, either of the officers or of the lay brethren of
our lodges, think so far as to instruct new members--or old ones
either-- in the veiled and underlying meaning of Masonry and
Masonic Symbolism. That is, few of the brethren who are--or at
least ought to be--informed bethink themselves to make an effort to
conduct their less well informed brethren "behind the scenes" of
the lodge work and the monitorial instructions. Of those to whom
the idea does occur many answer their promptings to instruct with,
"Well I know so little I guess Brother A won't miss much if he
doesn't hear from me." Yet most of us can remember that, in our
early Masonic life, even a hint of the underlying meaning of the
work or a suggestion of a book to read would have been good for us
and, in most cases, very welcome.

The menace of this state of affairs is that this primary cause has
become self-perpetuating and, unless counteracted, will undermine
the foundations of the Craft. That is, it is raising up a large
body of brethren who are mere ritualists. For example:--How --many
Worshipful Masters today are moved to give a course of lectures
similar to, say, Oliver's "Signs and Symbols" ? To be sure it might
be replied "How many were there in Oliver's day?" But the point is
this;-- many lectures along the line of Oliver's are now available
to any Master and why shouldn't each Master be moved to at least
read the printed page to his Lodge ?

These well-meaning, and often-times ardent, non-understanding
Masons of this "Type II" are just the brethren who, simply because
of their enthusiasm for Masonry, very frequently become officers of
our lodges and so become those to whom the new brother naturally
looks for instruction--which he does not, and cannot, get from that
source. The harmful results of such a condition are many. Any
thinking Mason can find many incidents in his own experience. For
example:--

I once asked a recently made Master Mason if any part of the work
seemed, to him, to teach immortality of the soul. He answered "No."
And he is a well educated, quick-thinking young man too--one who
needed but a hint and a suggestion to start him right. He is an
enthusiastic reader of "The Builder" now. But--and here lies the
trouble--no member of the lodge to which he belonged had ever asked
him that question.

Again, I have frequently been asked by young Masons--and older ones
too--"Why can't a Jew be a Mason ?" And in more than one case,
after I had carefully explained that whether an applicant were a
Jew or not had absolutely nothing to do with the question of his
admission, I would get the reply "Well I don't understand, for
So-and-So Lodge won't let them in." Now clearly such a condition
comes from a failure of certain brethren to grasp the true scope of
Masonry and those who asked the questions were just the ones who,
unless faced understandingly in the right direction, and directed
to proper Masonic literature or the like, would have helped to
make, all unwittingly, another unmasonic lodge.

These two incidents are given merely to show (1) a case in which a
brother failed to understand what Masonry ought to mean to him, and
(2) a case in which a brother failed to understand what Masonry
ought to mean to others. And now as to the cure.

It would seem that every brother having information ought to impart
it. Not information as to whether, in the lecture, "the" should be
"the" and "a" should be "a," but real information, such as books to
read; courses of study to pursue; the meaning of the work; the
symbolism, particularly that which is obscure, and similar matters.
There is plenty of room for all kinds of teachings and teachers.
Elementary and incomplete teaching is better than no teaching at
all, provided that it arouses the learner and induces him to take
up the study of Masonry.

Particularly does it behoove every member of this Society, so far
as his abilities and opportunities permit, to teach, teach, and
teach again. It gives pleasure to a member to read, say, an article
in "The Builder," but that article has done but a small part of its
work-- and the member has done none of his--if the member does not
impart his newly acquired, or refreshed, knowledge to some brother
not so well informed.

Let us, then, do each his best to educate the "Watch-Charm Masons."

MAKER AND BUILDER

Therefore to whom turn I but to Thee the ineffable name,
Builder and maker Thou of houses not made with hands ?
What have fear of change from Thee who art ever the same,
Doubt that Thy power can fill the heart that Thy power expands ?
There shall never be one lost good, what was, shall live as before.
The evil is null, is naught, is silence implying sound;
What was good shall be good, with for evil so much more good.
On earth the broken arcs, in heaven the broken round. 
--Robert Browning.

