Freemasons can become interested in Freemasonry; it can become the hobby, the "magnificent obsession" of their lives if we make it available to them and make it interesting.

4 - Setting The Craft To Work

Dear Tom:

ou know what? I've decided that one of the most delightful by-products of retirement comes in being called back into the harness. Like an old fire horse, I went into action this morning when your letter came.

You told me about your reaction the night you finished reading the books I had sent you. Sitting down at the kitchen table after the children were asleep, you began making notes on some of your plans for next year.

"All at once," you said, "it dawned on me that the Brethren in Acacia Lodge have been wringing their hands over what they call 'poor leadership' in our Fraternity. 'If we just had better leadership, everything would begin to perk up,' they seem to think.

"Well, Tom" you said to yourself, "maybe you can't do much to improve the situation next year, but you can do something."

Bless you for that, my lad! I thought of the pebble that is dropped into the lake. It doesn't bring on waves three stories high that cause the coastline to change, but it disturbs the waters just enough that those tiny ripples go all the way to the opposite shore.

As so often is the case, the Mentor is being taught by his pupil. I had to turn to Bartlett's Familiar Quotations to find what I wanted to send to you. The words are those of Edward Everett Hale:

I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something. And because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do the something that I can do. [1]

And so, Tom, you've taken a long stride toward a successful year as Worshipful Master just by recognizing the fact that while you alone may not be able to reverse trends, you can stir up the waters in Acacia Lodge. That is the first step, and that is your Number One job.

Okay, you'll say, where do we start? How do we overcome the natural tendency of Freemasons to shy away from anything remotely resembling teachers and a schoolroom? (Our Brethren like to recall that "Masonry is a progressive science," but we'd better not start talking to them about progressive sciences!)

The most practical suggestion I ever had came to me so late in my term as Worshipful Master that I couldn't make use of it. Somewhere in my reading I came across this idea on how to get men together informally and to encourage them to think and to talk:

If I were founding a university I would found first a smoking room; then when I had a little more money I would found a dormitory; then after that, or more probably with it, a decent reading room and a library. After that, if I still had more money that I couldn't use, I would hire a professor and get some textbooks. [2]

Really, Tom, it's a "rotten shame" that our Fraternity in the U. S. A. ever outgrew the smoking room stage. That is just an Americanized, non-controversial way of saying that our Craft began in the taverns and alehouses and should never have gotten out of them. It thrived there. It established itself as a convivial brotherhood wherein men enjoy that blessed fellowship that reaches its ultimate heights in Freemasonry if we permit it to do so.

And so, our American society being what it is just now, let's settle for a smoking room, and let's make of it a citadel for all that is fine and noble and inspiring and stimulating!

You're going to ask how. You always do. Very well, I've had several years to think what I would do if I were again called upon to serve as Master of Acacia Lodge.

• First, and most important, I'd establish that smoking room. It would be an inviting place away from the crowds that aren't interested. There would be comfortable chairs, a table, lamps, ash trays, perhaps a few magazines. Its primary purpose would be to make Brethren at ease; to encourage them to talk. You would hope to talk about Freemasonry and what it means, but it wouldn't be wise to begin with too much too soon. You would just let them talk, and talk, and talk. No holds would be barred except those of propriety: Nothing obscene, no dirty stories, nothing that divides men, such as partisan politics and sectarian religion.

• Next, I would start preparing a year long program, well in advance, long before you are elected Master. It could be done with due attention to the calendar on the kitchen wall; also, the Masonic calendar. Lodge traditions should enter into that program. So should special events. It would be a well balanced program with enough variety to have something for almost every Brother.

• Notice I emphasized Lodge traditions. A Lodge can have traditions whether it is old or young. If we can only recognize what they are, we can exploit them for their sentimental value. For example, Past Masters' Night in Acacia Lodge when Past Masters used to fill all chairs in the Master Mason degree even if we didn't have a real-for-sure candidate used to be one of our traditions. The Lodge has lost something in changing the format of that delightful occasion and making it just another swiss-steak-and-mashed-pototoes dinner with the ladies present. Another old tradition was our annual Sunday trip to the Masonic Home in early autumn. After awhile it was discarded. Then, years ago, we used to have a cornbread and bean supper in late November. It was the ultimate in Masonic fellowship and cost us very little. That, too, has gone by the board. Time was when we visited other Lodges; happy occasions, they were. But not now.

• This idea I never tried, but a friend of mine used to index his membership by months and years, then each month send letters or cards to the Brethren raised the following month, asking each to make a special effort to come to Lodge at the communication nearest his Masonic "birthday." Not only did they come, but my friend said there were men present that he didn't even know were Freemasons. He gave them a program that was worth while; they had a jolly good time, and some of them kept on coming.

• Most important of all is giving the Brethren Freemasonry. That is the one thing Masonic Lodges are equipped to do that no other organized body can match. Freemasons can become interested in Freemasonry; it can become the hobby, the "magnificent obsession" of their lives if we make it available to them and make it interesting. But we can't set them on fire with thinly disguised sermons or political speeches, nor with motion pictures showing how the telephone company keeps its employees happy and its lines humming during a sleet storm.

You bought a copy of Carl H. Claudy's The Master's Book as soon as you were elected Senior Warden, didn't you? Perhaps you recall one sentence in particular:

"The Master whose instruction program is strictly Masonic has to send to the basement for extra chairs for most of his meetings."

There's your challenge, Tom. Go to it!

--Your Old Mentor

[1] Edward Everett Hale, For the Lend-a-Hand Society

[2] Stephen Leacock, Oxford As I See It