MASONIC HONORS
The honors awarded by United States Grand Lodges are not confined to the
familiar Past Grand Masters' Jewels, given in a majority of the forty-nine Grand
Jurisdictions, nor the grand Masters' and Past Grand Masters' aprons, awarded in
some of them. Nor is the title of Most Worshipful, Very Worshipful. Right
Worshipful, some of which all Jurisdictions use, the extent of recognition given
for distinguished Masonic service.
In the final analysis, doubtless the real honors of Freemasonry are the
respect and veneration in which the Craft holds those who have worn the purple
with distinction to themselves and service to the Fraternity but a number of
Grand Jurisdictions also confer titles badges, medals, certificates or other
concrete evidences of appreciation.
Commonest is the "Fifty Year Button" which twenty-eight Jurisdictions give to
those venerable brethren who have been members of the Craft for half a century.
In the nature of the Craft, no man less than seventy-one years of age may wear
it, and often he is much older. In only ten of these twenty-eight Grand Lodges
must the winner have been continuously a member of a Lodge, or Lodges, and in
good standing; in the others, if he can show fifty years' membership, even if it
has been temporarily interrupted at some time or times, he is still eligible for
the distinction.
Many Grand Lodges make quite a ceremony of these presentations, calling the
fifty-year brethren to their feet in Grand Lodge; others have them presented in
the Lodge in which the elderly brother to he honored holds membership.
The honor here is not in the intrinsic value of the button, the average cost
is less than three dollars, but in the rarity of the badge, since comparatively
few brethren survive half a century of Craftsmanship.
To make membership for a given length of time more attractive, one Grand
Lodge, at least, has arranged for silver buttons to be awarded, at the expense
of the particular Lodge, but with Grand Lodge approval, to those of its members
who have paid dues for twenty-five years.
Thirteen Grand Lodges award Honorary Memberships. This is one of the really
distinctive decorations of Freemasonry in the United States, since in the
forty-nine Grand Jurisdictions are but seventy-one living Honorary Members, and
twenty- nine of these are in one Jurisdiction. One Grand Lodge has but one
Honorary Member; others but two. A few give Honorary Memberships to all visiting
Grand Masters who attend annual communications.
Honorary Memberships in Grand Lodges are usually evidenced by certificates,
signed by the Grand Master and Grand Secretary. Some of these are very elaborate
and beautiful hand work, the work of artists skilled in the ancient art of
illuminating manuscripts. Attested by the Grand Officers and sealed with the
great seal of Grand Lodge, such documents, of course, are highly prized by their
owners.
Ten Grand Lodges award the title of Honorary Past Grand Master, and
fifty-four brethren have been so honored in these Grand bodies. One Grand Lodge
gives the title to all visiting Grand Masters at annual communications.
Seven Grand Lodges give honors unique and peculiar to their own
Jurisdictions.
Georgia presents a watch charm for distinguished Masonic service, the choice
being made by a committee reporting to the Grand Master at Grand Lodge.
Massachusetts awards the Henry Price and the Joseph Warren medals, at the
pleasure of the Grand Master. The Henry Price medal bearing the portrait in
bronze of the famous Freemason of 1733, is given for such effort service or
attainment as in the opinion of the Grand Master warrants its bestowal; it is
not confined to members of the Grand Lodge or the Craft in the Bay State, but
may be, and has been, given to distinguished Craftsmen all over the nation.
The Joseph Warren Medal is more intimate and personal to the State, and is
usually awarded to brethren who have not received other distinctions at the
hands of Lodge or Grand Lodge; the old Tiler who has been faithful for many
years; the brother whose care of the sick in his Lodge has been outstanding, the
member who has served in some obscure place or way but whose efforts have been
unselfish for his brethren, such as these prize, and have a right to prize, this
decoration given by the Grand Master.
New York awards annually a medal for distinguished services in the arts. This
is the only Masonic decoration of its kind in the country, all the others being
confined to recognition of Masonic service. New York's medal is highly prized by
artist Craftsmen, because so difficult to win.
Nebraska has an old age medal which has unique features. M. W. Robert Carrell
Jordan was the first Grand Master of Masons of Nebraska. After his death, a
medal was struck off in bronze. One of these medals is given to each Lodge and
by it presented to the member who has been a Master Mason for the greatest
number of years. At his death, it is returned to the Lodge, and is again
presented to the brother entitled to wear it.
The Grand Lodge of Nebraska later procured a duplicate of the bronze medal,
in gold. The Grand Secretary keeps track of the oldest members of its Lodges,
and this gold medal is presented to the brother, member of a Nebraska Lodge, and
residing in Nebraska, who has been a Master Mason for the greatest number of
years. Brother Albert E. Baker, 92 years of age, member of Oliver Lodge No. 38,
Seward, Nebraska, who was made a Master Mason on May 11, 1865, and therefore has
been a Master Mason for more than 70 years, now wears the Gold Jordan Medal.
Upon his death it will he presented to the brother who is entitled to wear it.
The Gold Jordan Medal is always presented by the Grand Master in person, if it
is possible for him to do so. If not, he gives his proxy to some brother,
usually a Past Grand Master, to make the presentation for him.
North Dakota gives a life membership to brethren who reach seventy years, and
have been Craftsmen for thirty years; to her fifty-year Masons she extends an
invitation to attend Grand Lodge where the venerable brethren are received with
honor and acclaim.
Rhode Island has recently created badges of merit in the form of silver and
bronze medals. According to the provisions of the Grand lodge enactment creating
these distinctions, no more than two of the medals for service in each of three
classes, distinguished, exemplars and meritorious service, may he awarded in any
one year. The selection is left to a committee, which recommends to the Grand
Master.
South Carolina has just created the Albert Gallatin Mackey Medal, and none
has been awarded as yet. It bears a likeness of the famous South Carolina
Masonic jurist and authority, and will be given by the Grand Master. in his
discretion, to such Craftsmen of the State or out of it as he deems worthy to
wear it.
A great honor is paid in a majority of the nations Grand Jurisdictions in the
selection of brethren to be recommended to other Grand Lodges for the positions
of representatives near the Grand Lodge suggesting the name. If the
Representative of Grand Lodge B., near the Grand Lodge of A, should die or leave
the Jurisdiction permanently, the Grand Master of Grand Jurisdiction A suggests
to the Grand Master of Grand Jurisdiction B the name of Worshipful Brother John
Doe. If the Grand Master of Grand Jurisdiction B is pleased with the suggestion,
he appoints Worshipful Brother John Doe the representative of Grand Lodge B near
the Grand Lodge of A, and, later, sends him a certificate to that effect. The
appointment, of course, is reported to Grand Lodge for its confirmation and
approval.
The Grand Representative system is supposed to enable each Grand Lodge to
have an observer at the communications of the others, and such representatives
are supposed always to be present at all communications, and to communicate with
the Grand Lodges appointing them all matters of interest which occur in the
Jurisdictions in which the representatives live and attend. Alas, not always are
these honorary posts valued by their winners; it is not unusual when the roll of
Grand Representatives is called in Grand lodge to hear but half of them
answering to their names. In some Grand Lodges a Grand Representative of
Jurisdiction B who fails to appear in Jurisdiction A three times in succession,
will be notified that the Grand Master of A is recommending to the Grand Master
of B that another he appointed in his place. Titles are honors in all Grand
Jurisdictions. "Most Worshipful" are Grand Masters in forty- eight, Pennsylvania
uses Right Worshipful even for the Grand Master, and in Texas a Past Grand
Master drops from "Most" to "Right." In some Jurisdictions "Right Worshipful" is
given to all Grand Officers not Grand Masters, including District Deputies; in
others, none below the Grands Wardens have a qualifying word before the
"Worshipful." Titular honors given Grand Chaplains differ, Right Reverend, Very
Reverend, Reverend and Worshipful, Right Reverend and Worshipful, all have their
places in American Freemasonry.
In a majority of our Grand Jurisdictions, Past Grand Lodge officers retain
for life the title of honor; in a few, only the Past Elective officers have that
privilege.
Is it a greater honor to be appointed than elected? At first glance the
answer would seem to he negative, but the American system is to advance the
"line" from year to year, even if at times it brings some man less than best
qualified to the top. In the three Jurisdictions in which Deputy Grand Masters
are appointed, Iowa, Massachusetts and Mississippi, while the Deputy Grand
Master knows that his appointment confers no hope of advancement to the Grand
East, it is regarded as a very great honor indeed. The same may be said for
those Jurisdictions in which Grand Wardens do not expect to be elected Deputy.
In these "Past grand Warden" is a title highly valued by those who possess it.
To be appointed or elected to any office in Grand Lodge is an honor. There
are many from whom a choice can be made; every Jurisdiction has sons who can,
and do, acceptably fill the various "line" offices. Two positions in the
official family, however, have few who wish them, and less who can fill them.
Those who win these appointments and fill them with distinction can well he
considered as honored above a majority of their fellow Craftsmen.
The Fraternal Correspondent and the Grand Historian are often more honored by
neglect than attention, to the shame of most Craftsmen he it said, for no more
selfless and self- sacrificing brethren give whole-heartedly of their time and
knowledge than these.
The Chairman of the Committee on Fraternal Correspondence, or Fraternal
Correspondent, as he is usually denominated, reads and digests the Proceedings
of the Grand Lodges of the world, often sixty or even seventy in a year, and
then writes a review of each for the benefit of those interested in what other
Grand Lodges are doing. A few Fraternal Correspondents attempt the even more
difficult task of writing a report under topics, so that all that has been clone
in all Grand Jurisdictions is reviewed under such headings as "Dual Membership,"
"The N.P.D. Problem," "Social Service," "Charity" and the like.
A good Fraternal Correspondent must know Freemasonry well; its background,
history. laws, symbolism, ritual, practice, ancient usages and customs. He must
possess a sane and balanced judgment and a power of condensation which will
reduce the essentials of a thick volume to as many sentences as it has pages. He
must be interesting, entertaining, and write with humor and toleration; a spirit
of charity and friendliness marking him off from the majority of his fellows. He
must do a vast amount of work for a very small fee, indeed many Fraternal
Correspondents spend on clerical hire more than Grand Lodge pays. Finally, he
must be content with a thankless job, for the readers of his labors are far
fewer than those labors deserve.
The Grand Historian has an even harder and still more thankless task, as his
labors show so seldom in public. Yet the Grand Historian who keeps a history of
his Grand Lodge up to date, or who has produced one of those monumental volumes
which set forth the story of Grand Lodge from the beginning, has rendered a
service to his Craft not measurable in terms of money or gratitude.
Occasionally he may see his work recognized; the most recent opportunity for
forty-nine Historians is in the new Scribner Edition of Gould's History in which
in two volumes the story of Freemasonry in this country has been set forth by a
well qualified historian in each Grand Lodge.
The Historian is a patient delver into old records; he is a compiler of that
which has been, that those who come after him may interpret what is and may be
in the light of precedent and the romance of an older day. He works usually
without much recognition and almost invariably simply for the love of his work
and his Craft.
To Correspondent and Historian the Craft owes more than it can ever pay.
Perhaps the great honor of their selection to fill these important if little
known, positions is some compensation for the labors they so willingly and
lovingly perform.
All in all, American Freemasonry gives honors but sparingly; her decorations
are few and hard to win, her titles to be worn only after long service. It is
the gentle Masonic way to make them valuable by holding due respect for
distinctions won by brethren who have given so largely of themselves; by making
evident to the brethren who have been willing servants that Craftsmen know they
have not labored without receiving their Master's Wages of appreciation and
fraternal Affection.
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