MAKING
A "REAL" MASON OF THE NEW INITIATE
Wanted: An inexpensive book on
the symbolism and history of Masonry
by Charles Holmes
MASONIC LIGHT - MAY
5948
After the neophyte has been through
the Apprentice's degree, during which he has been told that he
must ever seek more light, that he must broaden his knowledge of
Masonry, he is brought to the East where he is given a book of
the G.'.L.'. constitution and a copy of the by-laws of the
particular lodge to which he has been admitted. True,
the Constitution may give him an insight into what are our
ancient landmarks and of the regulations of 1721 and the "old
charges of 1722" - the whole in a very few pages and presented
in a very unpalatable form, this is not enough to satisfy the
enquiring mind of the thinking man who comes to us because
of the preconceived good opinion he his of
our Order. If the newly-made Mason does read the
few pages that arc not devoted to the dryly expressed and
often obscure regulations of the order, the knowledge he will
thus have secured will be insufficient to make him realize
what a wonderful institution Masonry really is. He will
then pass through his Craft, man's denies - and again be
admonished to seek more light, to make the liberal arts and
sciences his future study .. but where will he find the
knowledge he is admonished to seek? Finally he is raised to the
sublime degree of a Mater Mason, is told that he is now
a Master of oar Arts ... and he is bewildered to realize that
though he has absorbed, in the course of the ritualistic
ceremonies he has undergone a great deal of the legends
on which Masonry, as we know it, is based these ceremonies,
impressive as they are, have failed to inform him completely as
to the purposes and history of Masonry. If he goes no further
in his quest for light, the new Master Mason will merely be a
"new member" who will soon lose interest in our Order. It
has been the Custom, in some Lodges, to give to the newly-raised
Mason, a nice, gilt-edged, leather, bound Bible, on
the fly-leaf of which is inscribed the date on which he took
each of his three basic degrees. This is a nice gesture and the
book is doubt, less kept by the recipient as a pleasant
memento of his admission to our Order, but, will it really help
him to secure more knowledge of Masonry, even if it contains
the story of Solomon and the building of his Temple and a few
scanty references to Hiram Abif and Hiram, King of Tyre, which
he has doubtless already read and which he may re-read with
greater care, now that these stories have taken on (for him)
a deeper meaning! Was it really necessary to present him with
a V.S.L. to ensure this result? Is it not a probability, if not
a certainty, that the new brother already had a Bible in his
home in which he could have found those references that interest
him as a Mason? If, instead of presenting a Bible to
the newly-made Master Mason, some concise book on Masonry,
containing an outline of the history, philosophy and symbolism of
Masonry, could be presented to him, would this not impart a
new and deeper meaning to the ritualistic ceremonies he has been
through and would be so frequently called upon to witness and
take a part in, in the future? Would not the knowledge of
Masonry's wonderful philosophy and its history, reaching back
so far in the past, inspire the new brother with a new zeal and
admiration for the institution of which he has been made a
part? In other words would it not, even more than the in,
dispensable ritualistic ceremonies, make the new brother a
real Mason? While we have many books - and series
of bulky tomes - on Masonry in general or some specific phase
of Masonic study, we sadly lack a small, concise, almost
elementary book on Masonry, sold at a modest price,
which Lodges could present to their new members after they had
taken their third degree. I know of several books - the
latest and one of the best being "The newly, made Mason"
by Haywood - unfortunately these books are too costly for the
average Lodge to be able to buy them for free distribution to
new initiates - and, naturally, to the Lodge members as
well. In pre-war days it was possible to secure, in Great
Britain, pocketbooks giving an outline of the symbolism and
history of Masonry. These sold for a couple of shillings
and, preferential tariffs aiding, such books could be
delivered in Canada, transportation paid, for less than a dollar.
Unfortunately, the war has destroyed so much printing
equipment in the "old-country" and paper is still such a
scarcity on the British market, it is, today, almost impossible
to produce books with limited editions at anything near
prewar prices. When, today, you write a British publisher for
a book on some Masonic subject which you have seen in a Library
or featured on the lists that frequently appear at the end of
books printed before the war, you will generally be advised it is
"out of print". On this side of the pond, we knew of but
one book that was within the price-range that would make it
accessible to all. It was W. G. Sibley's "The Story of
Freemasonry" published by The Lion's Paw Club of Ohio. 114 pages
of text, written in a style remarkable for its simplicity of
expression, that made it easily understandable to all, in
contrast with most of our Masonic writers who seem to take
a perverse delight in expressing themselves in a stilted,
pedantic style that allows them to display their erudition at the
cost of clarity and easy comprehension. Sibley's little book,
had no less than four editions between 1904 and 1913, more than
35,000 copies being sold for one dollar (less in quantity
lots) though the book was printed on heavy paper and bound in
cloth. There was a book that gave a bird's eye view of
Masonry in all its aspects to the new initiate. After reading
it, he would not need to seek explanations from older brethren,
who generally could not give the required information. He
would have a general idea of what Masonry was all about-and
having once secured his knowledge from a book, he
would logically rely on books to give him a deeper knowledge
of any aspect of Masonry in which he sought further
enlightenment. Unfortunately, the copy, right on Sibley's book
has been put, chased by a publisher of Masonic books, who has not
republished it. It is there, fore no longer available. It
is so evident that once you can get a man to become sufficiently
interested in a subject to read a book about it, he will
soon wish to secure further knowledge by reading other books
on the same subject, we wonder why some publisher of Masonic
books, does not publish such a book as that of Sibley as
a means of advertising the other - and more costly - books he
publishes. A large proportion of the cost of such a book
could be charged up to promotion or advertising by the
publisher and he could print it in a sufficient large edition to
sell it for a shilling or a quarter, the revenue thus produced
covering the actual cost of production, the publisher relying on
the sale of the larger and more expensive books he publishes
and advertises in this concise book, to realize profits from
his expenditure. The publishing of a book such as
that described would certainly, not only promote a better
understanding of Masonry and make better Masons of new initiates
- but would actually further the cause of Masonic education
among the older members of
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