Brothers Across The Span Of Time

I'm part of that "lost generation" — the one that pretty much skipped joining the Fraternity.  Until later in life I was no exception to that generalization and it's hard to figure why.  I almost couldn't have been more active as a DeMolay, loved it and by all logic I should have jumped right into Masonry when I was old enough, but didn't.  College, marriage, a job... life... just got in the way, I guess.  It's a shame and I'm sure I missed a lot but, you know, no crying over spilled milk.

Still, I sometimes wonder what it would have been like to have been a member back in Masonry's "heyday," whatever that means.  It amazes me, for example that my dad's Scottish Rite class had nearly 300 members.  Over the course of a month, they saw all the Scottish Rite degrees, published a 120-page hardbound class book, had class projects and elected class officers... with no less than 12 vice-presidents!  Yep.  Things were sure different back then.

Or were they?

Looking through my dad's things a while back I found that old hardbound class book.  Along with it, I ran across his copy of an Indiana Freemason magazine from November, 1966.  I read the magazine cover to cover.  It was interesting, fun and very, very familiar.  Among other things, I found these tidbits:

In his column Grand Master Joseph L. Birdwell, admonished Brothers to remember the true meaning of the upcoming Thanksgiving.  "It should be," he said, "a day of sincere thankfulness, not feasting and revelry."  Members had recently dedicated a stone monument at the site of an old inn where Brothers held the first Masonic meetings in the area.  There were strong parallels to our dedication in Missouri marking the site of the first Masonic meeting here.  Fifty-year members were honored with their service awards.  The issue is full of reports on activities of individual Brothers and Lodges.  It talks about their donations, a Masonic Home pilgrimage, service projects, construction projects and, of course, many gatherings, meals and the same kind of Brotherhood and fellowship we know today.

In other words, the work of the craft nearly a half-century ago is the same as the work of the craft today.  Most of the articles in that old magazine wouldn't look out of place in a contemporary magazine.  They may have had more members back then, but there is a great bond of familiarity between the Brothers then and today. 

What's more, the Brothers back then felt that bond, too.  As Brother Richard LaGrange, my dad's Scottish Rite Class Orator (yes, they had one) put it, "The mantle has been cast upon our shoulders, so to speak, to carry on and perpetuate the good work that has gone on before us."  Our tenets: Brotherly Love, Relief and Truth are unchanging and we are indeed Brothers across the span of time.

From The Missouri Freemason Magazine, Winter, 2011.