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This page has information about:
Masonic related articles,
stories, poems, etc.. sent to me by readers.
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From Grany
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THE PREPARATION ROOM By Bro. Granvyl G. Hulse, Jr. P.M. (Published in The New Hampshire Freemason, Volume IV, Number I, Winter 1990)
I don't believe that I have ever wandered into the preparation room in any lodge that didn't either look like Fibber McGee's closet or the attic space in an itinerant boarding house. And, you know, I wouldn't change that for the world. The candidate who enters there for the first time is standing knee-deep in his lodge's history. Nothing is ever thrown away. The old beards that would make a goat proud are shoved to the back of a shelf "just in case." At our lodge there is even a shoe box of white gloves all for the left hand. I think ours are retained in hopes that if another lodge should close we would get their cast-offs and might end up with matching pairs presuming that their members had been all left handed. Old costumes, new costumes, swords, top hats, bibles, coat hangers (definitely coat hangers,) staffs, flags, and the like adorn walls, fill closets, and are stuffed away in drawers. There will probably be a framed poem or an example of old Masonic art. An odd portrait or two of some ancient members whose name has been lost. Cluttering up the floor will be a broken chair, one of a pair of galoshes, several stray shoe-strings, and an old cigar stand. In all it has a homey look and will give the candidate something to ponder over while he is wondering what is in store for him later on. If the place were clean and antiseptic he might start getting nervous, and begin to wonder if all the stories about our being the oldest fraternity were true. The sight of a calendar (always showing automobiles) forty years out of date will firmly convince him, however, that he is entering into a brotherhood that clings to its Ancient landmarks.
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| From Grany |
Carl, We were formed in 1820, as a Moon Lodge and still are. We are the northern most lodge in New Hampshire. The nearest other is 25 miles to the south. I don't know if you are interested, but a number of years I wrote a series of short articles for the New Hampshire Freemason. I am attaching one. Fraternally, Grany |
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From Grany
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THE KEYSTONE By Bro. Granvyl G. Hulse, Jr., P.M. (Published in The New Hampshire Freemason Volume V, Number IX Summer 1992)
Someone recently asked me what I planned to be when I grew up. My reply was that at 70 plus years of age I still hadn't made up my mind. My daily prayer is "Lord let me not lose my childish wonder over simple things." The library part of our new lodge building has two arched windows to match the Academy (high school) windows across the small river that runs through our village. When the brick layers reached that point in the construction where they began to lay up the window arches, several of us put aside every thing and hunkered down where we could get a good view of the proceedings. Having never seen a real keystone inserted I imagined a great drama about to unfold akin to that in the Royal Arch degree. Not so. As we sat there watching, the arch rose more like the budding of a flower. Slowly, simply, yet with a touch of beauty, each brick carefully cut to a precise angle, was inserted by the master bricklayer into its appropriate place. Layer by layer the arch grew until the last brick was laid. Then, with almost loving care, the keystone of Vermont marble was taken from its packing box and gently inserted into its waiting slot. So exact had been the workmanship that it settled in as comfortably as my grand mother used to go into her old rocking chair. I called up and asked the master bricklayer if he would do an old Speculative Mason a favor. Would he take his hammer and gently strike the top of the keystone six times. Agreeably to my request he did, and I went happily off to lunch with a tear in my eye swearing, like Peter Pan, that I would never grow old, if to do so was to miss out on life's little pleasures.
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| These two are from Ralph Staples |
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I received several articles
from Brother Ken Baril. Here are the links to them. If these won't
open in your computer, please contact Brother Ken for a version that
might. His email is kbaril@cinci.rr.com |
Extending Our Cabletow.doc
Ten Reasons to Become a Mason.doc |