more light #281
Seekers of Truth
by Ed Halpaus
Grand Lodge Education Officer
Grand Lodge of A. F. & A. M. of Minnesota
I have long maintained that when it comes to books on Freemasonry any book
you find that is written by Allen Roberts will be an excellent book for a
Masonic Student to read, and his book ‘Seekers of Truth’ is no exception. The
book is out of print, but you may still be able to get a copy on the used book
market, or if you’re lucky there will be a copy in your Lodge library. To check
for used books you can’t go wrong when you check with Brother Harold Davidson,
of the Billings Masonic Library (brod...@wtp.net).
Brother Harold is a great resource for used Masonic books.
In ‘Seekers of Truth’ Brother Roberts reported on something Brother and
Lieutenant Colonel David G. Boyd wrote in the April 1987 issue of the
Philalethes magazine: The article covered the years of Nazism in Germany and
that “regime’s persecution of Freemasons and Jews.”
“In the early days the attacks on the Craft were overlooked. They were
considered ‘so clearly ridiculous that they took the same sort of action most
American Grand Lodges now take in the face of attacks on the institution; it
ignored them, expecting them to fade away. But they didn’t end, not even after
Freemasonry had been successfully abolished in Germany.
“Not all Masons, however, abandoned Freemasonry during the liquidation of the
Grand Lodges. Many collected the symbols and regalia of their Lodges and hid
them. One of these was the Master’s jewel dating back to 1785. It was cut into
small pieces and hidden. (After the war is was soldered together and is highly
prized today.) It was in this period that the Forget-Me-Not became a Masonic
symbol… In Bayreuth in early 1934, the Grossloge Zur Sonne (Grand Lodge of the
Sun) decided a more subtle symbol [other than the Square and Compasses] was
required, and elected to wear the forget-me-not, an 8unobtrusive little blue
flower.”
Brother Roberts wrote that Brother Boyd noted that the Masonic Brotherhood of
the Blue Forget-Me-Not in America honors those Freemasons who devote their lives
and talents in the fields of Masonic Education and writing. Brother Boyd
concluded with this poem by J.J. Watson:
“When to the flowers so beautiful, the Father gave a name,
There was a little blue eyed one, all timidly it came.
And standing at the Father’s feet, and gazing in his face,
It said with low soft spoken voice, and yet with timid grace,
‘Dear Lord, the name thou gavest me, alas, I have forgot.’
The Father looked so kindly on him and said ‘Forget-Me-Not.”
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