Devastating Day

In what was certainly the most devastating day of his life, Theodore Roosevelt's mother and wife both died on the same day, February 14, 1884, Valentine's day.

The double tragedy so crushed the 25-year old future president that he quit politics and left New York, moving to the "Badlands" in the Dakota territories.

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.