THE BUILDER NOVEMBER 1916
THE TROWEL

BY BRO. RABBI EUGENE MANNHEIMER, IOWA   

My Brothers: Mine it is to speak of the Trowel--that instrument which,
occupying an important position in the work-chest of the operative mason is,
as our ritual suggests, the especial tool of the Master Mason; made use of by
operative masons to spread the cement which unites a building into a common
mass, but utilized by the Free and Accepted Mason for the more noble purpose
of spreading the cement of brotherly love and affection, that cement which
unites us into one sacred band or society of friends, among whom no contention
should ever exist, but that noble contention, or rather emulation, of who can
best work and best agree. What instrument could be of nobler significance ?
What implement of more glorious inspiration ?

Through the use of the trowel, spreading the cement, the single bricks and
stones, once a chaotic mass, now stand united and solid, to form this noble
edifice which we dedicate this day to the cause of God and Masonry. Through
the symbolic service of the Masonic trowel, spreading the cement of brotherly
love and affection, we, the individual members, once as separated and chaotic
as these stones which house us, are as firmly bound together in a union which
dedicates us one for all and all for one. . . What were this structure, which
we solemnly consecrate, had not the trowel been honestly wielded, or if the
cement and mortar should fail it? What were our brotherhood without the bond
of love and affection to bind us close? And only as long as this bond
continues to unite us, only so long will this Temple stand a true shrine of
Masonry and of God. Only so long will our Brotherhood be a real brotherhood,
worthy of its consecration and its vows.

Do we need this lesson? Does this thought require the especial emphasis we
would wish to give it? Truly, none more. None to which mankind has beer. more
impervious in all times and all ages.

Three thousand years ago, on Judea's plain, the prophet of the Lord
proclaimed: "Behold, it shall come to pass in the latter day that the mountain
of the Lord's house shall be established at the top of the mountains and
exalted above all hills. And all nations shall flow unto it. And they shall
beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning hooks.
Nations shall not lift up sword against nation. Neither shall there be war any
more." For two thousand years, not the one seer alone, but all prophets and
ministers of Judaism and Christianity together have united to emphasize the
same ideal. They have urged and re-urged the truth on the fatherhood of God
and the brotherhood of all his children. Out of such conviction they have
hoped to bring to dawning the day of universal peace.

But look about us today and see the result. Where is the brotherhood, the
affection, the peace, the understanding ? Do not bigotry, hatred,
superstition, ignorance and jealousy flourish as ever before? Are not
differences in creed, color and birth, on the slightest provocation, still
found meaningless excuse for savagely warring nations, as for many of-their
supposed superiors in culture? Does not the whole modern world panorama but
demonstrate that whatever our lip service to the ideal of God's fatherhood and
Man's brotherhood, whatever the hymns and prayers that have arisen from our
temples, the songs and prayers were not from the heart but from the lips of
man only?

As Master Masons, who have taken the obligations of the three degrees,
brotherhood is our ideal. We have vowed to eradicate darkness, hatred,
superstition and misunderstanding from out our own lives and from out the
world as far as lay within our power. Recognizing no particular creed within
our Lodge room, hailing as brothers the followers of all creeds who are worthy
of such recognition, we have taught ourselves, and we hold before the world
the constant example, that men of different creeds can stand and work together
for a common purpose. Living in a world of discord, in which brotherhood,
love, sympathy and justice are, all-too-often, nothing more than words, it is
urgent beyond expression that we continually reimpress our vows upon our
hearts and minds, that we may never lose them from our lives. Most urgent of
all is it for us to spread their influence as far and wide in the world as our
united power will permit, that thus we may do our share to end the reign of
bigotry, hatred and superstition. Thus will we do our part to help hasten the
dawning of the day when the glorious brotherhood and peace dream of the
prophet shall be realized.

As men and Masons we understand that this task is not easy of accomplishment.
But as men and Masons we have faith in God, in our fellowmen, in ourselves. We
know that the attainment of the goal is the sure promise of the morrow. In
this faith we live and labor on.

But note this one thing more, my Brothers. Those who wrote our ritual did not
harbor the foolish notion that initiation into Masonry would in some
mysterious way, in a single moment, through a single act, change the entire
nature of the initiate, to make him in a moment the perfect servant of God and
man that his obligations require of him. We are not told that as the result of
entering the Masonic fraternity a man must be at once, so filled with the
spirit of brotherhood that the spirit of false contention CAN never again find
lodgement within his breast. We are told that it SHOULD never again be found
within him. The demand is made of each of us who comes to this Altar to take
the obligation, that he shall continuously thereafter strive to eradicate from
his heart the prejudice, error and misunderstanding that may have filled him
in the past, that at last the moment may come when he is a Mason in reality as
well as in name. But the burden of making ourselves such true Masons is placed
upon our own shoulders, and nowhere else. To us ourselves and to no others the
task is assigned.

It is these high and noble purposes, my Brothers, of which the Trowels are
here emblematic. These the ideals, of which they stand to remind us upon our
Altar. As we consecrate these trowels anew, this night, unto their holy
offlce, unto these same holy purposes may we, at the same time, re-consecrate
ourselves. To these ideals may we vow renewed fidelity.

WATCH YOUR STEP

Yet in opinions look not always back;
Your wake is nothing, mind the coming track;
Leave what you've done for what you have to do;
Don't be "consistent," but simply be true.
--O. W. Holmes.

ARCHES AND ARCHES

Build as we may we shall not reach the sky;
Our little arches bend forever low
Beneath the eternal arch that curves on high,
,Above the eternal depths we do not know.
--F. D. Snelling.



THE LODGE ROOM OVER SIMPKIN'S STORE

BROTHER LAWRENCE N. GREENLEAF
Past Grand Master of Colorado

The plainest lodge room in the land was over Simpkin's store,
Where ,Friendship Lodge had met each month for fifty years or more.
When o'er the earth the moon, full-orbed, had cast her brightest beam
The brethren came from miles around on horseback and in team, 
And ah! what hearty grasp of hand, what welcome met them there
As mingling with the waiting groups they slowly mount the stair
Exchanging fragmentary news or prophecies of crop,
Until they reach the Tiler's room and current topics drop,
To turn their thoughts to nobler themes they cherish and adore,
And which were heard on meeting night up over Simpkin's store.

To city eyes, a cheerless room, long usage had defaced
The tell-tale line of lath and beam on wall and ceiling traced.
The light from oil-fed lamps was dim and yellow in its hue,
The carpet once could pattern boast, though now 'twas lost to view;
The altar and the pedestals that marked the stations three
The gate-post pillars topped wilh balls, the rude-carved letter G
Where village joiner's clumsy work, with many things beside
Where beauty's lines were all effaced and ornament denied.
There could be left no lingering doubt, if doubt there was before, The
plainest lodge room in the land was over Simpkin's store.

While musing thus on outward form the meeting time drew near, 
And we had glimpse of inner life through watchful eye and ear.
When lodge convened at gavel's sound with offlcers in place,
We looked for strange, conglomerate work, but could no errors trace.
The more we saw, the more we heard, the greater our amaze,
To find those country brethren there so skilled in Mason's ways.
But greater marvels were to come before the night was through
Where unity was not mere name, but fell on earth like dew,
Where tenets had the mind imbued, and truths rich fruitage bore, 
In the plainest lodge room in the land, up over Simpkin's store.

To hear the record of their acts was music to the ear,
We sing of deeds unwritten which on angel's scroll appear
A WIDOW'S CASE -- FOUR HELPLESS ONES--lodge funds were running low--
A dozen brethren sprang to feet and offers were not slow.
Food, raiment, things of needful sort, while one gave loads of wood,
Another, shoes for little ones, for each gave what he could.
Then spake the last: "I haven't things like these to give--but then
Some ready money may help out"--and he laid down a TEN
Were brother cast on darkest square upon life's checkered floor,
A beacon light to reach the white--was over Simpkin's store.

Like scoffer who remained to pray, impressed by sight and sound
The faded carpet 'neath our feet was now like holy ground.
The walls that had such dingy look were turned celestial blue,
The ceiling changed to canopy where stars were shining through. 
Bright tongues of flame from altar leaped, the G was vivid blaze, 
All common things seemed glorified by heaven's reflected rays.
O ! wondrous transformation wrought through ministry of love-- 
Behold the LODGE ROOM BEAUTIFUL !--fair type of that above.
The vision fades--the lesson lives--while taught as ne'er before
In the plainest lodge room in the land--up over Simpkin's store.


THAT WHICH ABIDES

A great character, founded on the living rock of principle, is, in fact, not a
solitary phenomenon, to be at once perceived, limited and described. It is a
dispensation of Providence, designed to have not merely an immediate but a
continuous, progressive and neverending agency. It survives the man who
possesses it; survives his age--perhaps his country and his language.--Edward
Everett.


Knowledge is proud that he has learned so much; Wisdom is humble that he knows
no more.
--Cowper. The Task.

