Oscar Of The Waldorf

Oscar Tschirky (1866-1950), a member of Metropolitan Lodge 273 of New York City, was at one time the most famous chef in the world.  Known as "Oscar of the Waldorf," he was the author of a bestselling cookbook and was the creator of the Waldorf Salad.  Various accounts give him credit for popularizing Thousand Island dressing and originating Eggs Benedict.  Historians agree, the Waldorf-Astoria did not make Oscar famous.  Rather, he made the hotel famous.  He was so well known that some claim when Hollywood came up with a statuette to honor its best actors, people thought it looked like him, albeit younger and thinner, and they called it "Oscar."  All this, despite the fact that Oscar Tschirky was the Waldorf's maître d'hôtel.  He was not a chef!

A Frivolous Tune

Forrest Adair,  Past Potentate of Yaarab Temple, Atlanta, was an attendee at the June, 1920, Imperial Session in Portland, Oregon, which was considering the establishment of a Shrine Hospital for Children.  Delegates had suggested supporting the hospital with a $2 assessment to each member, but support for the project was unenthusiastic.  Brother Adair was somewhat resigned to the fact that the delegates would scrub the project.  Early on the morning of the vote, however, a minstrel, possibly inebriated, stood beneath his hotel room window playing "I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles" on his horn.  The song, about wasting time with frivolity, woke Adair and its meaning stuck with him.  He related it to the activities of the Shrine which, although it had its various charities at the time, was more about having fun.  That afternoon at the session, as the delegates wrangled and the idea of a hospital seemed lost, Brother Adair arose and spoke passionately about his experience early that morning, "I am reminded of that wandering minstrel, and I wonder if there is not a deep significance for the Shriners in the tune that he was playing, 'I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles.'  While we have spent money for songs and spent money for bands, it's time for the Shrine to spend money for humanity. I want to see this thing started. Let's get rid of all the technical objections. And if there is a Shriner in North America who objects to having paid the two dollars after he has seen the first crippled child helped, I will give him a check back for it myself."  After Adair's speech, not only did the resolution pass unanimously but it also spawned a committee whose research indicated the Shrine should build not one, but a nationwide network of Hospitals.

Bambi

The Book Bambi - A Life In The Woods, by Brother Felix Salten (Salzmann), a member of Lodge Zur Wahrheit in Vienna, received almost universal acclaim not only as a children's novel, but also as a symbolic statement on certain aspects of the human condition.  More commonly known simply as Bambi, the book today is considered a literary classic as is its animated adaptation by Walt Disney.  Nazi Germany, however, banned the book as "political allegory on the treatment of Jews in Europe."  So many copies of the book were burned there that today, first edition copies are extremely rare.

The Candidate

It is a well-known fact that John Hancock, Marchants Lodge 277 (Quebec) and St. Andrew's Lodge of Boston, was the first signer of the Declaration of Independence and wrote his name on that document in large bold letters, "So that George III may read it without putting on his glasses." Less well-known are Hancock's other accomplishments including the fact that in 1789, he was a candidate for President of the US!  In that era, political aspirations were considered demeaning, so Hancock did not campaign.  He also knew General Washington would win easily and, if anything, Brother Hancock may have aspired to the Vice-Presidency.  In the end, Hancock received only four electoral votes (in a system where each elector cast two votes).  If by some quirk he had become president, other things being equal, he would have died in office on October 8, 1793.

Washington's Constitution

On June 22, 2012, Brother George Washington's personal copy of the US Constitution sold at auction for $9.8 million, a record for any American book or historic document.  The document contains Washington's personal annotations regarding his thoughts on the Constitution and Bill of Rights. The non-profit Mount Vernon Ladies Association purchased the document, which is in book form and in near-pristine condition.  The new owners plan to keep it in Washington's library at Mt. Vernon.

The Gift

The port closest to London, Clacton-on-Sea, served as a major shipping channel in 19th century England.  Weather, rocks and shifting conditions made it an especially treacherous place to navigate and, as might be expected, the waters there claimed many ships and human lives.  In 1875, Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of England and later King Edward VII (1901-10), voyaged to India.  Thankful for his safe return eight months later at Clacton-on-Sea, the Grand Lodge of England decided to make the port safer by donating a lifeboat in his name.  With more than 4,000 spectators in attendance, they dedicated and launched the Albert Edward Lifeboat on July 10, 1878, amidst pomp and circumstance fit for the future King.  An unknown poet immortalized the event with an official poem which said, in part:

Built from henceforth life to save,
Manned by crew so strong and brave-
Launch the boat with ringing cheer!
Honour the name to all now dear!
Honour the dead in the living son!
Honour the love so justly won!
"ALBERT EDWARD," aye to be
The sailor's friend on this Eastern Sea!

Honour "the Craft," whose generous thought
So much of sterling good has wrought!
Honour the gift that they have given,
To save man's life, if willed by Heaven!
Honour the true hearts ever found,
When storms and tempests rage around,
To leave their homes, where loved ones weep,
And brave the perils of the deep!

By the day of the dedication, the Albert Edward had already proven its worth.  Delivered to Clacton prior to the official launching, the lifeboat saw its first action on May 23, when the ship Garland, on a voyage from Shields to London, ran aground and broke up.  The crew rowed for three grueling hours to reach the stranded vessel and saved the lives of six men and three boys on board.

No one will ever know how many crewmen, most of whom were likely Freemasons, lost their lives in this dangerous service.  However, the 1884 proceedings of the United Grand Lodge of England made note of the following:

"That the sum of 50 guineas (about $4,800 today) be granted to the family of the late James Cross and a similar sum to the family of Thomas Cattermole, two of the crew of the Albert Edward lifeboat at Clacton-on-Sea, which boat was presented to the National Life Boat Institution by Grand Lodge.

These two men, after having assisted, the first in saving 116 and the second 33 lives, having lost their own in the discharge of their duty on the night of the 23rd January last, whilst in their boat endeavouring to rescue the crew of a vessel in distress, leaving their families consisting of a widow and six children and a widow and three children entirely destitute."

For over a half century, from 1878-1929, the Albert Edward and its two successors of the same name, guarded the port of Clacton-on-Sea and saved countless lives.  Today, Freemasons still take part in rescues there and at other ports.  In addition the Fraternity regularly donates funds to the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, which oversees the lifesaving operations throughout Great Britian.

Humberto Moreira

No less than fifteen Presidents of Mexico have been Freemasons: Miguel Aleman, Nicholas Brave, Anastasio Bustamante, Plutarco E. Calles, Lazaro Cardenas, Ignacio Comonfort, Porfirio Diaz, Emilio Portes Gil, Manual Gonzalez, Vincinte Guerrero, Augustin de Iturbide, Benito Juarex, Francisco Madero, Archduek Maximilian and Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna.

Recent presidents of Mexico have not been Masons, but a number of the Grand Lodges and the Scottish Rite there are closely identified with the ruling party "Partido Revolucionario Institucional" (PRI).  Humberto Moreira, the leader of that party, and former Governor of the State of Coahuila (2005-2011) is not only a Freemason, but is also the Sovereign Grand Inspector General of the Supreme Council for Mexico.  Brother Moreira is considered a potential future president of Mexico.  A grandson of Brother Rubén Moreira Cobo (a former SGIG of Mexico), he has worked diligently to unite competing Grand Lodges in his country.  Most see his efforts as being successful.  He says he sees the unification of the Mexican Lodges as being "important for achieving a platform of peace, unity and fraternal communication."

City Of The Land Of The Indians

Jeremiah Sullivan (1794-1870), Union Lodge 2, Madison, Indiana, was a founder of Hanover College and the Indiana Historical Society.  An attorney, he eventually became a justice of the Indiana Supreme Court.  While a member of the state legislature in 1820, the Indiana Capital moved from Corydon to a new area, centrally located on the White River.  Brother Sullivan proposed the name for the new city by combining the name of the state, Indiana ("land of the Indians") and the Greek word for "city," giving the state capital its current name: Indianapolis.

Albert Edward In Missouri

On September 26, 1860, Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, future Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of England and later King Edward VII (1901-10), visited St. Louis and attended the Missouri agricultural and mechanical fair.  There he purchased a trotting horse and dined on buffalo tongue, quail, prairie chicken and Missouri wine.

From Hungary To The Vintners Hall Of Fame

Agoston Haraszthy, was a Hungarian nobleman who emigrated to the US in 1840 and settled in Wisconsin.  A member of Madison Lodge 5, he was the first Hungarian to settle permanently in the United States.  He founded the oldest incorporated village in Wisconsin, today known as Sauk City.  In 1849, he moved to California where he established the state's renowned wine industry.  In March, 2007, the Culinary Institute of America recognized his pioneering efforts by inducting him into the Vintners Hall of Fame.

Shibboleth

In the late 18th century, Barton Lodge in Ontario accepted "good merchantable wheat" as payment for dues.

The Scapegoat

William Hull (1753-1825), a member of multiple Lodges and the first Master of Meridian Lodge in Natick, Massachusetts, was an officer in the American Revolution and a Brigadier General in the War of 1812. Defending Detroit in that war reinforcements and supplies failed to reach WB Hull, forcing him to surrender.   Made a scapegoat for these actions, Hull was tried, found guilty of cowardice and sentenced to death.  In a bizarre twist, the court then sent Brother Hull home to Newton, Massachusetts, to await his execution!  Upon receiving reports of the strange case, President James Madison realized Brother Hull had been set up and gave him a full pardon.  History, indeed, regards William Hull as a hero, not a traitor.

Andrew Jackson Decapitated!

In 1834, the venerable USS Constitution, launched in 1797, the standout vessel of the War of 1812, was destined for the scrap heap.  Heeding a public outcry, Brother Andrew Jackson, then president, stepped in and saved the iconic ship.  In gratitude the group charged with restoring the Constitution replaced its figurehead with a likeness of Jackson.  The gesture infuriated Jackson's enemies who, three months later, sneaked aboard and decapitated the statue.  The following year, a new head replaced the old one and that figurehead remained in place for fifteen years until a new statue of Jackson in a Napoleonic pose replaced it.  The severed head resurfaced as a conversation piece in the taverns of New York until it was eventually returned to Mahlon Dickerson, Secretary of the Navy, but with the lower part containing the mouth missing.  It was not until 2010 that the two pieces were reunited, when a Public Broadcasting crew rediscovered the missing lower section.

The Only Korean Cornerstone

There are four Masonic Lodges in the Republic of Korea: Han Yang Lodge 1048, Lodge Pusan 1675, and Lodge Harry S. Truman 1727, each chartered under the Grand Lodge of Scotland.  MacArthur Lodge 183 holds its charter from the Grand Lodge of the Philippines.  The only known Masonic cornerstone in the country is at the Pusan (Busan) Children's Charity Hospital.  Masonic members of the US Armed forces, the hospital's sponsor, placed the cornerstone in 1955.

The Lowly Paper Cup Saved His Life

Elmer Zebley Taylor (1864-1949), Lodge unknown, invented the paper cup.  He marketed his invention under the brand name Kleen Kup through his company, Mono Containers, Ltd., making a fortune.  Mono Containers had plants in ten countries so Brother Taylor resided in Europe, but spent summers in New Jersey.  Making that trip for the summer of 1912, Brother Taylor booked a cabin on the Titanic.  His substantial wealth enabled him to travel in a prime first-class cabin, located close to the main deck area.  When the ship struck an iceberg, Brother Taylor reacted immediately.  He and his wife Juliet reached the lifeboats before the crew began prohibiting men to board them.  As a result, he boarded and became one of the very few adult males to survive the tragedy.  In a way the lowly paper cup, which had enabled him to ammass the wealth to afford that prime cabin close to the main deck and lifeboats, saved his life.

The Expatriate Patriot

Sometimes known as the forgotten hero, here are a few facts about the Marquis de La Fayette (September 6, 1757 – May 20, 1834), a Frenchman who secured his country's assistance during the American Revolution, an act which very possibly ensured the defeat of the British and the birth of a new nation. He was so taken by this new country and its concepts of democracy and equality, he once remarked, "From the moment I heard the name America, I loved it."


● His full name is Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de La Fayette.

It is unclear where he was initiated, but certain he was a Freemason. He may have been a member of Loge La Candeur of Paris, and may have been a "Lewis" Mason.

● More than 50 towns in the US are named after him.

● He was married at the age of 16; his bride Adrienne was 14.

● Marie Antoinette mocked him when she first met him.

● He was only 19 when he became a major-general.

● He commanded colonial troops in 1777 under conditions so poor, they resorted to eating their shoes.

● He warned General Washington when opposing forces in congress wanted to remove him, gaining Washington's trust for a lifetime.

● Washington had no son; Lafayette had no father; Washington considered Lafayette a surrogate son.

● He named his son Georges Washington de La Fayette (1779–1849) in honor of his friend.

● Using the slave Armistead to infiltrate Cornwallis' camp he outsmarted and defeated the general.

● When he took the fort at Yorktown, his troops' guns were empty. He used only fixed bayonettes to win the battle.

● He ordered his band to play Yankee Doodle at Yorktown while the British surrendered their arms.

● When the slave James Armistead was freed he changed his name to James Armistead Lafayette.

● He urged Washington to make the experiment in democracy complete by removing the taint of slavery from the United States.

● He also asked the French ministry to free the slaves of Guyana.

● With Thomas Jefferson, he drafted the Declaration of the Rights of Man.

● Imprisoned during the French Revolution, he gained his release as a result of the pleadings of George Washington.

● James Monroe invited him back to the US to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the American Revolution. Eighty thousand people (2/3 the population of New York) greeted him.

● In the US, he visited all 24 states declaring, "Someday America will save the world."

● He stopped his parade in Virginia when he recognized James Armistead Lafayette in the crowed and the two had a tearful reunion.

● On his trip to America, he was made an honorary member of the Grand Lodge of Missouri, as well as many other Masonic bodies. He is said to have more Masonic honors than any Freemason before or since.

● When he died, they found a locket around his neck carrying a picture of Adrienne, who had preceded him in death.

● He removed soil from a spot near Washington's tomb and took it with him back to France. Today, his body rests in that American soil.

The Marquis de La Fayette was such a strong advocate of human rights and the democratic principles embodied by the new United States that the French writer, politician and historian François-René de Chateaubriand said of his legacy, "Monsieur de Lafayette had only one idea; happily, it was the idea of the century."

Fredericksburg Lodge

Fredericksburg Lodge 4 in Virginia provided no less than six Generals in the American Revolution: Hugh Mercer, Thomas Posey, Gustavus B. Wallace, George Washington, George Weedon and William Woodford.