X-Rated Freemasonry

by Midnight Freemason Contributor

Steven L. Harrison, 33°, FMLR

Freemasons — those never kiss-and-tell pillars of society always adhere to the values of ethics and high-morals, observing the promises of their obligations. Well... almost always. There have been instances where society, depending upon the social mores of the day, may have judged Brethren harshly for "crossing the line." Some of those occasions by today's standards may seem as tame as a sleeping kitten while others might raise the eyebrows of the most iniquitous among us. Read on, and judge for yourself.

* * * * *

American Gothic
Brother Grant Wood (1892-1942), of Mount Hermon Lodge 263, Cedar Rapids, painted the acclaimed "American Gothic." Released in 1930, the painting shocked many when Wood said it was a portrait of a married couple. The scene depicts an elderly man holding a pitchfork standing next to a much younger woman. The age difference caused the scandal, so Wood eventually said the woman represented the man's daughter. He would, in fact, change that story and say she was his wife, depending on how he perceived the audience would react.

Four Too Many

Brother Tom Mix, a member of Utopia Lodge 537 of Los Angeles was one of the earliest film superstars. In an era where moviegoers were unaccustomed to some of the antics of Hollywood actors, they were shocked at what one might call his practice of "serial monogamy." Mix had five wives — at a time when that number was considered just about four too many.

Bare Facts

After visiting the Soviet Union Brother Will Rogers wrote a book entitled, "There's Not A Bathing Suit In Russia, And Other Bare Facts." Suggestive by the standards of the day, the publisher declined to put the second part of the title on the book's cover.

Stephen Austin's Nemesis
Anthony Butler (1787–1849) was a lawyer, a politician, a diplomat, the ward and friend of Brother Andrew Jackson and, yes, a Freemason. Jackson appointed Butler his secret agent in a surreptitious plan to purchase Texas for the United States. Upon arriving in Texas, Butler crossed swords with Brother Stephen F. Austin who was establishing colonies there. While there, Butler became interested in and began courting the daughter of a prominent Mexican family. Austin was a friend of the family. Upon hearing what Butler was up to, he exposed him as a man who had a wife and three children back in the US., thwarting the plan to purchase Texas and fueling a lifetime of animosity between the two Masonic Brothers.

The Bestseller
Charles P. "Chic" Sale (1885-1936), Urbana Lodge 157 (IL), was an actor and humorist in vaudeville and a character actor in movies. He never achieved a great amount of fame, however, until he became an author and published "The Specialist." The book sold 200,000 copies in three months and went on to be a million-seller. Its subject: outhouses. Considered risqué for its time, the book was nearly banned, but Brother Sale chose his words just carefully enough to avoid having it censored.

A One-Glove Striptease

Glenn Ford, a member of Riviera Lodge 780 in Pacific Palisades, California, got his big break when Humphrey Bogart turned down the role of Johnny Farrell in the 1946 blockbuster, "Gilda." In one scene his co-star, Rita Hayworth, was to take swing at him. She misjudged the distance between them and broke Ford's jaw. That was only the beginning of the scandal the film generated. In it, Hayworth performed a strip-tease in which she removed nothing more than one glove. That and a rumored affair between the two co-stars nearly caused censors to ban the movie.

Sin-Suffer-Repent

Brother Henry Lieferant (1892-1968), Lodge unknown, was a Polish-born and educated immigrant to the US who became a prolific author with several books and magazine articles to his credit. As Editor-in-chief of "True Story" magazine, he was responsible for its rise to popularity — and reputation as an "off color" magazine — when he developed the story format whereby a heroine "violates standards of behavior, suffers as a consequence, learns her lesson and resolves to live in light of it, unembittered by her pain." "True Story" magazine still survives using Brother Lieferant's tried-and-true, if not slightly salacious format known as "sin-suffer-repent."

Panty Raid
A Grand Lodge of California account from the mid-1960s describes a crime in which a Brother had been convicted of the theft of clothing, including 181 pairs of women's undergarments. The official police report described the incident as a "panty raid," stemming from the popular (and self-explanatory) hi-jinx occurring on college campuses at the time. The Brother came up on Masonic charges. In order to distinguish his serious crime from some youthful indiscretion, the Grand Lodge of California Proceedings for that year included the following: "We do not wish to be misunderstood as overemphasizing the gravity of that specification against the accused in which he is charged with a ‘panty raid.' Indulgence in such conduct by boys of college age for the purpose of displaying either skill or courage, if that be the purpose, differs from the conduct of the accused here, in that the theft of 181 pairs of ladies pants is not merely a playful prank."

Unchristian Conduct
The Presbyterian Church in 1831, sanctioned Nathaniel Beverley Tucker (1784-1851), second Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Missouri, for shocking "unchristian conduct." Certain parties, it seems, claimed he "partook of the amusement of dancing" on three occasions. There is no record of any action taken against him, but shortly thereafter MWB Tucker became an Episcopalian.

Keeping It In the Family
Brother Will Rogers asked his wife Betty to marry him in 1906. Betty, apprehensive about a life in show business, turned him down. A year and a half later the persistent Rogers changed her mind and they married. In the meantime`, Rogers dated every one of Betty's six sisters.

* * * * *

Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart once said of obscenity, "I can't define it... but I know it when I see it." That might apply to each of these little scenarios. As you form your opinion about their appropriateness, you might do well to drag your Bible off the shelf and read Matthew 7:1-3; And, while you're at it, ask yourself if the title of the article piqued your interest.

Note: Many of the accounts above are excerpted from Brother Harrison's book, "Freemasons: Tales From the Craft."

~SLH

Bro. Steve Harrison, 33° , is Past Master of Liberty Lodge #31, Liberty, Missouri. He is also a Fellow and Past Master of the Missouri Lodge of Research. Among his other Masonic memberships are the St. Joseph Missouri Valley of the Scottish Rite, Liberty York Rite bodies, and Moila Shrine. He is also a member and Past Dean of the DeMolay Legion of Honor. Brother Harrison is a regular contributor to the Midnight Freemasons blog as well as several other Masonic publications. Brother Steve was Editor of the Missouri Freemason magazine for a decade and is a regular contributor to the Whence Came You podcast. Born in Indiana, he has a Master's Degree from Indiana University and is retired from a 35 year career in information technology. Steve and his wife Carolyn reside in northwest Missouri. He is the author of dozens of magazine articles and three books: Freemasonry Crosses the Mississippi, Freemasons — Tales From the Craft and Freemasons at Oak Island.

After All, It's 2016

by Midnight Freemason Contributor

Steven L. Harrison, 33°, FMLR

The Masonic Roundtable, a weekly discussion podcast/videocast about Freemasonry, has, in my opinion, become an important voice for our fraternity.  The show's panel consists of Jon T. Ruark, Jason Richards, Juan Sepulveda, Nick Johnson and Midnight Freemasons Editor Robert Johnson.  Each week the show covers a single topic in depth, includes some Masonic news and current events and usually provides a little fun along the way.¹  The Brothers do not shy away from controversial topics and, to celebrate their 100^th show, picked what might be considered the granddaddy of them all: Racism in the Craft.

Additional panel members that evening consisted of the following Brothers:

• Matthew Botts, Past Master of Diversity Lodge 330 under the Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Virginia
• Gabriel Evans, Fidelity Lodge #10 under the Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge of California
• Joe Gonzalez, Senior Grand Warden of the Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Minnesota
• Charles M. Harper, Sr., Past Master of Pleiades Lodge 478 under the Grand Lodge of Illinois and the author of a book pertinent to the subject,  Freemasonry in Black and White.

A few times during the show, a panelist would, referring to the progress or lack thereof in race relations, say something like, "Hey, after all, it's 2016."

At one point, WB Robert Johnson asked, "It's interesting that you guys have said, 'it's 2016.' I know what you mean, but are we just making an excuse for how bad things were in the past?  Why is 2016 an excuse?  It isn't."

It's a good question; and Robert is correct — it's not an excuse and shouldn't be.

Had I been on that panel I could not have stopped myself from jumping in at that point.  

I was in college during what many would call the "Civil Rights Era" — the late '60s, early '70s.  I supported the movement.  I went to rallies and events, even demonstrations; never anything violent.    Right out of college I worked for the Urban League.  Those "bad things in the past" Robert spoke of weren't in the past — They were current events.  Remember how intense news coverage was in 2015 over the events in Ferguson, Missouri?  Back then, it was just as intense and far more common; and in the wake of those events, including Dr. King's death, the local firebombing of our town's only African American store, and much more, what do you suppose they said?

"Things like this shouldn't be happening.  After all, it's 1968."

Back in those days, 2016 was "the future" just as much as today we would look at 2060 as "the future."  Had someone interviewed me about the Civil Rights Movement when I was in college what would I have said about the prognosis for "the future?"

To generalize, I would have said we would fix the problem — after all we had nearly a half century to work on it before "the future" got here.  But we didn't fix it, did we?

So we say, "after all it's 2016," to imply by now we should have fixed the problem.  Also we say it to imply we are more enlightened than those old guys that came before us.  The former is true.  In my opinion, not so much the latter.

Yes, there has been progress but not enough, as evidenced by last year's unrest.  What's more, on a personal level, last year I resigned from one of my Lodges over a racist incident.²  My Grand Lodge does not condone racism in any way,³ but it's not uncommon to hear racist remarks in our Lodges.

It's 2016, and from the perspective of someone who has been there since the Civil Rights Era, we didn't get the job done.  Let's just hope that in "the future" they still aren't saying, "Hey, after all, it's 2060."

¹The full podcast and more information about the hosts is available on the Masonic Roundtable's website at http://www.themasonicroundtable.com. 

²Midnight Freemasons Article A Sad Thing http://www.midnightfreemasons.org/2015/01/a-sad-thing.html.

³Midnight Freemasons Article The Incident http://www.midnightfreemasons.org/2013/02/the-incident.html.

~SLH

Bro. Steve Harrison, 33°, is Past Master of Liberty Lodge #31, Liberty, Missouri. He is the editor of the Missouri Freemason magazine, author of the book Freemasonry Crosses the Mississippi, a Fellow of the Missouri Lodge of Research and also its Worshipful Master. He is a dual member of Kearney Lodge #311, St. Joseph Missouri Valley of the Scottish Rite, Liberty York Rite, Moila Shrine and a member and Past Dean of the DeMolay Legion of Honor. Brother Harrison is a regular contributor to the Midnight Freemasons blog as well as several other Masonic publications. His latest book, Freemasons: Tales From the Craft & Freemasons at Oak Island. Both are available on amazon.com.

An Insignificant Coincidence of Personal Significance

by Midnight Freemason Contributor

Steven L. Harrison, 33°, FMLR

 

Years ago my wife Carolyn and I sat in a restaurant having dinner with my father, Robert, when an
energetic man walked up to the table and introduced himself to Dad. It seemed as if the pair were old friends; turns out they had never met before. They were, in fact, both Freemasons and the man, Lester Brown, who came up to our table had seen the Shrine pin my father always wore.

 They shared stories comparing information about their Lodges and other Masonic activities, and then Lester looked at me and asked, "What about this young man, is he a Mason?"

Lester was immediately a friend because he called me "young." Despite that, however, I gave him my standard answer about joining the fraternity — "Someday." It wasn't too long after that when "someday" finally arrived and I became an Entered Apprentice. Lester was at my initiation and so was my dad.

When I became Master of my Lodge, I asked Lester to be my installing Senior Deacon. That evening I asked him about the time we met in that restaurant, "When you asked if I was a Mason, what would you have thought if I'd have said I planned to join and someday you'd help install me as Master of your Lodge?"

"I'd have said you were nuts," he snorted.

A few years later, Dad passed away. I had, by then, taken part in several Masonic services, but never with a speaking part. That day the Master asked if I would like to be the Chaplain in Dad's service. "I don't know the part," I said, "but I would be honored to read it."

This year Lester, at the age of 100, entered that House Not Made with Hands. Standing in line waiting for his Masonic service the Master asked if I would be Chaplain. "I don't know the part," I said, "but I would be honored to read it."

Those are the only two Masonic funerals I have participated in with a speaking part. As we were marching in procession out of Lester's service, I thought back to the dinner when we met. Not yet a Mason, I eventually would take part as the craft said goodbye to two Brothers who were there for me at the beginning of my Masonic experience. It's probably just a coincidence it happened that way; insignificant, really. However, for me personally, it has great significance. They both helped start me on my Masonic journey and it was a humbling honor to give back just a little bit.

~SLH

Bro. Steve Harrison, 33°, is Past Master of Liberty Lodge #31, Liberty, Missouri. He is the editor of the Missouri Freemason magazine, author of the book Freemasonry Crosses the Mississippi, a Fellow of the Missouri Lodge of Research and also its Worshipful Master. He is a dual member of Kearney Lodge #311, St. Joseph Missouri Valley of the Scottish Rite, Liberty York Rite, Moila Shrine and a member and Past Dean of the DeMolay Legion of Honor. Brother Harrison is a regular contributor to the Midnight Freemasons blog as well as several other Masonic publications. His latest book, Freemasons: Tales From the Craft & Freemasons at Oak Island. Both are available on amazon.com.

We Brought the A-Team

by Midnight Freemason Contributor

 Steven L. Harrison, 33°, FMLR

A few months back I was surfing through FaceBook when I came upon this post from Midnight Freemasons Managing Editor Robert Johnson:

"So I heard a Lodge recently bragging that they do all their own degree work. I didn't know it was a thing to have other Lodges come do your work. So for the record, The Lodges in Waukegan also do all their own work."

While my Lodge also does its own degree work, in my area it's not uncommon to have other Lodges do "courtesy work," especially for the smaller Lodges.  It may not be the ideal situation, but it's sometimes necessary.  

Brother Robert's observation brought to mind an evening when another Lodge in my area asked my own Lodge, Liberty 31, to perform a Third Degree.  We couldn't fit it into our schedule, so we punted it over to the local Study Club, which had an upcoming meeting at Liberty.

So instead of Study Club, we held a Called Meeting. As we were preparing to begin, a Brother from out of state walked in, said he had seen our outside light was on and decided to attend.  

With the study club members present we had the luxury of putting the "best of the best" in each position. I was the Chaplain that evening.  I suppose I belonged in that esteemed group only because the Chaplain's job is to watch the entire degree and then, near the end, not screw things up.

Fact is, with that team in place, we simply performed the most amazing degree I have ever seen.  Everyone knew their parts; everyone hit their marks; it went off like clockwork.  

At the end of the evening we went around the room for the requisite introductions and remarks.  When our out-of-town visitor stood up, he let us know he was, in no uncertain terms, astounded by the quality of the work.  He went so far as to say it put his own jurisdiction's work "to shame." 

I don't know if anyone ever told him our little secret.  We brought the A-Team that night and hit one out of the park.

~SLH

Bro. Steve Harrison, 33°, is Past Master of Liberty Lodge #31, Liberty, Missouri. He is the editor of the Missouri Freemason magazine, author of the book Freemasonry Crosses the Mississippi, a Fellow of the Missouri Lodge of Research and also its Worshipful Master. He is a dual member of Kearney Lodge #311, St. Joseph Missouri Valley of the Scottish Rite, Liberty York Rite, Moila Shrine and a member and Past Dean of the DeMolay Legion of Honor. Brother Harrison is a regular contributor to the Midnight Freemasons blog as well as several other Masonic publications. His latest book, Freemasons: Tales From the Craft & Freemasons at Oak Island. Both are available on amazon.com.

What the Hecatomb?

by Midnight Freemason Contributor

Steven L. Harrison, 33°, FMLR

The sum of the squares of the sides of a right triangle equals the square of the hypotenuse (a² + b² = c²).

Sounds simple, doesn't it?  Someone just looking at a diagram of the problem can pretty much assume it's true — a "no-brainer," as they say.

So, prove it.

Oops... easier said than done, isn't it?  That problem confounded scholars for ages until Pythagoras (c. 569 BC - c. 475 BC) became — allegedly — the first to prove it. Today, it still confounds high school geometry students everywhere.  

Imagine, then, how happy Pythagoras must have been when he finally solved the problem, known today as the Pythagorean Theorem (or, the 47^th Problem of Euclid).  Anderson's Constitutions (1723), gives this account:

“The Greater Pythagoras, provided the Author of the 47th Proposition of Euclid's first Book, which, if duly observed, is the Foundation of all Masonry, sacred, civil, and military…” and in the Third Degree lecture: “This wise philosopher (Pythagoras) enriched his mind abundantly in a general knowledge of things, and more especially in Geometry, or Masonry. On this subject he drew out many problems and theorems, and, among the most distinguished, he erected this, when, in the joy of his heart, he exclaimed Eureka, in the Greek language signifying, "I have found it," and upon the discovery of which he is said to have sacrificed a hecatomb. It teaches Masons to be general lovers of the arts and sciences.”

Let's leave the actual proof to geometricians while concentrating on another problem: he sacrificed a... what the heck is a hecatomb?

Hecatomb: it's not a word you hear in everyday conversation and, in fact, I had never heard it before I witnessed a Third Degree lecture.  In context, I assumed it to be some kind of animal. After all, Pythagoras sacrificed it.  "Maybe," I thought, "it's a mammal... now extinct... perhaps something resembling a wild boar, only the size of a rhinoceros... yeah, that's it... a wild hecatomb."

Not even close.

Animal sacrifice to the gods was a common practice in ancient Greece.  On occasion, the ceremony took on a much more auspicious meaning to the point it required a major statement.  In these cases the Greeks sacrificed as many as a hundred animals, usually cattle, and generally followed with a feast.  The sacrifice and feast was a hecatomb.

In The Iliad, Homer describes a hecatomb as follows:

[455] ...When they had done praying and sprinkling the barley-meal, they drew back the heads of the victims and killed and flayed them.

[460] They cut out the thigh-bones... and then Chryses laid them on the wood fire....When the thigh-bones were burned and they had tasted the inward meats,

[465] they cut the rest up small, put the pieces upon the spits, roasted them till they were done ...and the feast was ready, they ate it, and every man had his full share, so that all were satisfied. As soon as they had had enough to eat and drink,

[470] ...all day long the young men worshipped the god with song, hymning him and chanting the joyous paean, and the god took pleasure in their voices;

 A Greek Hecatomb

The hecatomb's history is elusive.  There remain only a few documented instances of such ceremonies, according to Sandrine Huber, Professor of Classical Archaeology at the University of Lorraine in France.  "The landscape of the Greek Hecatombs," she says, "is a religious and civic landscape, in some cases of Panhellenic importance. [It involves] numerous and simultaneous sacrificial animals... It is... a soundscape, an olfactive landscape and finally a gustative landscape." In other words, it's noisy and smelly but can result in one heck(atomb) of a big barbeque.

Proving the theorem that today bears his name was a big deal to Pythagoras; and so was his reaction to it.  He sacrificed a hecatomb.

~SLH

Bro. Steve Harrison, 33°, is Past Master of Liberty Lodge #31, Liberty, Missouri. He is the editor of the Missouri Freemason magazine, author of the book Freemasonry Crosses the Mississippi, a Fellow of the Missouri Lodge of Research and also its Worshipful Master. He is a dual member of Kearney Lodge #311, St. Joseph Missouri Valley of the Scottish Rite, Liberty York Rite, Moila Shrine and a member and Past Dean of the DeMolay Legion of Honor. Brother Harrison is a regular contributor to the Midnight Freemasons blog as well as several other Masonic publications. His latest book, Freemasons: Tales From the Craft & Freemasons at Oak Island. Both are available on amazon.com.

Young William

 The Most Famous Rider Of Them All

by Midnight Freemason Contributor

By Steven L. Harrison, 33°, FMLR

An autographed picture of Bro. 

William F. "Buffalo Bill" 

Cody taken around 1875.

"You will raise your arm to a level square and repeat after me. I... do hereby swear, before the Great and Living God, that during my engagement... I will, under no circumstances, use profane language, that I will drink no intoxicating liquors, that I will not quarrel or fight with any other employee of the firm, and that in every respect I will conduct myself honestly, be faithful to my duties, and so direct all my acts as to win the confidence of my employers, so help me God."

With that oath, many rugged young men joined the Pony Expres during its short life from April, 1860 to October, 1861.  Alexander Majors from Golden Square Lodge 107 in Westport, Missouri, founded the organization along with Brother William H. Russell (Lexington Lodge 149) and financier William B. Waddell.  Majors was the author of the oath, which, not surprisingly, had Masonic undertones.  Although short-lived, it was an organization that quickly became part of the fabric, folklore and history of the United States.

In its day, the Pony Express offered the promise of untold adventure.  To the general population its young riders were in many respects the equivalent of today's rock stars.  Riders garnered fame, if not fortune as well as the favor of young girls.  (One doubtful legend attributes the invention of the donut to a young girl who made pastries with a hole so a rider could scoop them up on a finger as he whizzed by).

It's understandable then how an energetic young man, even a kid, of that day would want to join the Pony Express.  Given the burden on the horses, Russell, Majors and Waddell were more concerned with weight than with age.  Unfettered by today's child labor laws, they hired some very young riders, all anxious to join this elite group.  

One of those young riders was a kid who would grow up to become famous in his own right.  William Frederick Cody was born February 26, 1846 in Iowa territory.  Only 14 years old when he became a Pony Express rider, William grew up to be known by a more familiar name, Buffalo Bill.  Cody had worked as a courier for Russell and Majors from the time he was ten and parlayed that into a job as a rider when they started the Pony Express.  His ride ran 116 miles from Red Buttes to the Three Crossings Station in Nebraska.

A born showman, Cody certainly did noting to subdue wild stories of his exploits as a rider.  In later life as he wrote of his adventures, he claimed skirmishes with Native Americans,  and other harrowing adventures, including an assertion that he held the record for the longest ride ever.  According to Cody he once rode 384 miles in a single day averaging over 16 miles an hour.  While some historians doubt the full distance, none doubt he made such a run, estimating its length at about 300 miles, an arduous day in the saddle for anyone.

Living in an age of traveling entertainment, he assembled his own traveling entourage, commonly known as "Buffalo Bill's Wild West" show.  The production staged reenactments of Custer's Last Stand, Indian attacks, robberies and, of course, Pony Express rides.  

In addition, Cody served as a general in the Nebraska national guard, received the Medal of Honor for gallantry as a scout to the US Army, served in the Nebraska legislature, fought at the Battle of Wounded Knee and was president of the Shoshone Irrigation Company.  A staunch abolitionist, Cody was years ahead of his time as a proponent for Native American and women's rights.

Three Crossings Station NB

He was also a Freemason.  According to Denslow's 10,000 Famous Freemasons, Brother Buffalo Bill Cody was raised in Platte Valley Lodge 32, North Platte, Nebraska on January 10, 1871.  He was also a member of Euphrates Chapter 15 at North Platte, and upon receiving his Mark Master degree, he selected a buffalo's head as his mark.

Brother Cody died in Denver January 10, 1917, at the age of 70.  He is buried on Colorado's Lookout Mountain  in Golden, Colorado, west of Denver.

~SLH

Bro. Steve Harrison, 33°, is Past Master of Liberty Lodge #31, Liberty, Missouri. He is the editor of the Missouri Freemason magazine, author of the book Freemasonry Crosses the Mississippi, a Fellow of the Missouri Lodge of Research and also its Worshipful Master. He is a dual member of Kearney Lodge #311, St. Joseph Missouri Valley of the Scottish Rite, Liberty York Rite, Moila Shrine and a member and Past Dean of the DeMolay Legion of Honor. Brother Harrison is a regular contributor to the Midnight Freemasons blog as well as several other Masonic publications. His latest books are; Freemasons: Tales From the Craft & Freemasons at Oak Island. Both are available on amazon.com.

Swimming Alongside the Titanic

by Midnight Freemason Contributor

By Steven L. Harrison, 33°, FMLR

"I would not denounce or renounce Freemasonry even in order to become President of the United States." ~Brother Henry Clay

Practically every Freemason has heard that iconic statement from Henry Clay, who served as Grand Master of Kentucky in 1820.  Most, however, do not know the circumstances behind it, and what else Clay said along with it.  Clay said it because, at the time, he was being courted to run for US President as the candidate of the Anti-Masonic Party!

Clay, who conducted the only Masonic meeting ever held in the United States Senate chambers, had become disgruntled with the fraternity.  He was fed up with the bickering, politics and hypocrisy he saw in some members.  Anti-Masonic Party members knew about his views and went after him to join them.  When he told them he would not renounce Freemasonry for the Presidency, he also said, "[Freemasonry] does more good than harm, although it does not practically effect all that it theoretically promises."

I've never really liked that view.  More good than harm?  It almost seems he's putting the good and harm on equal footing, with the balance barely tipping in favor of the good.  In my book, the ratio has always been something more like a million to one; up until recently, that is.

These past few months have, by a long-shot, been my worst in the Fraternity.  It started with a racist incident in one of my Lodges that turned ugly.  As things escalated and got out of hand, I resigned from that Lodge.  One Brother suggested I should "stay and fight."  Oh, I'm fighting all right, but being a member of that Lodge is out of the question until the offending "Brother" is thrown out of the fraternity.  The Master of the Lodge, who started the whole thing with what he thought was an innocuous joke, did, in fact, resign his position.

Fast forward a few weeks and I witnessed an anti-Semitic incident in another Lodge.  This came from a member of a youth group but, when I protested, her father — a Freemason — backed her up.

Right on the heels of that came a reprehensible situation, fueled by that deadly duo of greed and power.  To say any more about that would only serve to throw gasoline on the fire.

Well, Brother Clay, you've made me a believer.  We all have human frailties and, predominately for that reason, Freemasonry does not deliver all it claims.  That Perfect Ashlar is a goal, never a reality.

Searching for solutions to problems like these is frustrating.  An individual trying to change the direction of the juggernaut of Freemasonry  is like swimming alongside the Titanic in an attempt to push it away from the iceberg.  

These, however, are problems that will take years, perhaps decades, to fix; and no single person will make those changes — it will take a concerted effort.   

As individuals, meanwhile, we're left swimming alongside the Titanic wondering if there is anything at all we can do.  There is.  

On one rather discouraging day all of these things were seemingly coming down on me at once.  As I sat brooding, staring at my PC, a message popped up: "Coffee klatch, today, 9:30AM."  A coffee klatch?  It sounds like something my wife, Carolyn, would go to at one of her DAR meetings; but this was something the Scottish Rite had set up — just a simple get-together for no reason in particular.

I went.  It was even less formal than I expected.  We didn't even gather as a group.  We just milled around shooting the breeze — sometimes two or three of us, sometimes a larger group.  That was it.  We just shared bad coffee and good brotherhood — none of the bickering, politics or hypocrisy that bothered Henry Clay.

Many of the problems I'm facing... we all sometimes face... come from a few bad apples. But the majority of our members are friends and Brothers who can offer support.  I walked away feeling a thousand times better.  That's when it hit me.  

The big issues will always be there and we should never stop working on them.  As for dealing with the frustrations on a personal level, the answer has been there since the beginning of our Masonic journey; and every Freemason knows what it is when he answers the question:

"What come you here to do?"

~SLH

Bro. Steve Harrison, 33°

, is Past Master of Liberty Lodge #31, Liberty, Missouri. He is the editor of the Missouri Freemason magazine, author of the book Freemasonry Crosses the Mississippi, a Fellow of the Missouri Lodge of Research and also its Worshipful Master. He is a dual member of Kearney Lodge #311, St. Joseph Missouri Valley of the Scottish Rite, Liberty York Rite, Moila Shrine and a member and Past Dean of the DeMolay Legion of Honor. Brother Harrison is a regular contributor to the Midnight Freemasons blog as well as several other Masonic publications. His latest book, Freemasons: Tales From the Craft, is available on amazon.com.

The Meeting

by Midnight Freemason Contributor

Steven L. Harrison, 33°, FMLR

**Editors Note* This was run in The Working Tools Magazine in May of 2015**

The bar was a magnificent stream of mahogany extending the width of the room. Behind it, a gold-embossed mirror reflected a piano player. He thrashed around the keys, pumping out a new ragtime tune — not so loud as to drown out the constant din and not so well as to make it recognizable.  To his right, six men played poker at a table beneath a picture of a reclining, half naked, painted woman imagined to be of dubious moral character.  Other women, more fully clothed, no less painted and of moral character unknown, circulated through the room encouraging men to order another drink.

There were a few Freemasons in the crowd, even in this obscure saloon in western Missouri... or maybe it was eastern Kansas.  Most in the crowded room hadn't given that much thought and most weren't sober enough to care.  Drunk or sober, however, the Masons, along with everyone else in the crowd, were certainly aware of the presence of a very famous Brother that evening.

In the back of the room, Samuel Clemens — better known as Mark Twain — held court surrounded by several amused patrons.  It was long before the 18^th Amendment ushered in prohibition in the U.S., but even at the turn of the century, the battle lines were drawn and the debate was heated.  Given the setting, Twain had selected that as his topic for the evening.  

"I don't think prohibition is practical," he began. "The Germans, you see, prevent it. Look at them. I am sorry to learn that they have just invented a method of making brandy out of Sawdust. Now, what chance will prohibition have when a man can take a rip saw and go out and get drunk with a fence rail? What is the good of prohibition if a man is able to make brandy smashed out of the shingles of his roof, or if he can get delirium tremens by drinking the legs off his kitchen table?" 

As the crowd roared, Twain stoked the fire, "Temperate temperance is best. Intemperate temperance injures the cause of temperance, while temperate temperance helps it in its fight against intemperate intemperance. Fanatics will never learn that, though it be written in letters of gold across the sky.  What marriage is to morality, a properly conducted licensed liquor traffic is to sobriety. In fact, the more things are forbidden, the more popular they become.  It is the prohibition that makes anything precious..."

The mirror behind the bar suddenly shattered as if someone had thrown a bomb at it.  The piano playing stopped and the hushed crowd watched in horror as an angry woman smashed bottles, tables and chairs with a small menacing ax.  Ranting about the evils of demon rum, she turned the mahogany bar into splinters.

Furious, Twain stomped to the bar.   The two glared at each other, nearly breathing fire.  For a few seconds each said nothing; they just stood, meeting for the first and only time in their lives, face to face —  Mark Twain and Carrie Nation.

"Madam," hissed Twain, "This is insanity."

She shot back, "Drinking is insanity."

"Women like you drive men to drink as the only way to be sane," he sneered.

"I married a fine man... a doctor," she wailed, "He was a pillar of the community, until he started drinking. It ruined him and led him to an early grave."

Twain asked, "A doctor married you?"

"Yes," she replied.

"He must have been looking for a cadaver."

Their meeting was short, but auspicious.  As usually happened during Carrie Nation's escapades, the authorities came and took her away, screaming about the alcohol-flooded road to ruination.

"And exhibiting," thought Twain, "exactly the same ugly behavior you might expect from some poor sot who was falling down drunk."

Disclaimer: Accounts of Brother Twain's encounter with famed teetotaler Carrie Nation are, at best, sketchy.  All reports of the incident appear to have the same source, making corroboration difficult.  It is likely a meeting of this nature took place.  While Twain's words about prohibition are his own, the remaining details above are... enhanced... under the authority of liberal use of the doctrine of  licentia poetica.

Bro. Steve Harrison, 33°, is Past Master of Liberty Lodge #31, Liberty, Missouri. He is the editor of the Missouri Freemason magazine, author of the book Freemasonry Crosses the Mississippi, a Fellow of the Missouri Lodge of Research and also its Worshipful Master. He is a dual member of Kearney Lodge #311, St. Joseph Missouri Valley of the Scottish Rite, Liberty York Rite, Moila Shrine and a member and Past Dean of the DeMolay Legion of Honor. Brother Harrison is a regular contributor to the Midnight Freemasons blog as well as several other Masonic publications. His latest book, Freemasons: Tales From the Craft, is available on amazon.com.

The Craftsmen's Journey

by Midnight Freemason Contributor 

Steven L. Harrison, 33°, FMLR

Long ago King Solomon sent three craftsmen on a journey to apprehend and return three criminals for trial. Their mission took them to the seacoast near Joppa where they found a wayfaring man. The wayfaring man told the craftsmen he had seen the men they sought. He said the ne'er-do-wells had gone toward the hill country of Judea. The craftsmen took that news to the King, who sent them to complete their mission. Soon they found themselves on the brow of a hill near Mt. Moriah. There, they discovered a grave and heard the voices of the men they sought. The craftsmen captured the three men and returned them to King Solomon. The fugitives admitted to a murder and King Solomon had them executed.

In other words, the craftsmen's journey took them from the Temple 1 to Joppa, back to the Temple, to the Judean hill country, to a place near Mt. Moriah, then back to the Temple — all on foot. Did they go on a wild goose chase to Judea before finding the fugitives near Mt. Moriah? Was the information from the wayfaring man wrong... or did the craftsmen ignore what he told them? A closer look at their journey reveals what really happened.

Joppa is not to be found on present-day maps. Today, its name is Jaffa, or Yafo. It is the oldest section of Tel-Aviv, located approximately 40 miles northwest of the likely site of Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem. There is, in fact, a seacoast nearby. The Mediterranean Sea shore is about 200 yards away from the traditional town border. 2

The three ruffians and the craftsmen in pursuit would have had a relatively easy journey 3 from the Temple to Joppa. The elevation at Jerusalem, where the quest began, is about 2,600 feet, while Joppa is near sea-level. In other words, it's almost all downhill. The craftsmen, however, on their return trip to report to Solomon, would have had an arduous climb.

After completing the 80-mile round trip to Joppa, at King Solomon's command, the three craftsmen set out again. A look at the second part of their expedition requires a review of some history and geography, with a little tradition thrown in.

There are conflicting reports as to whether archaeologists have found conclusive evidence of the location of Solomon's Temple. However, tradition and the Bible itself place it in Jerusalem at the Temple Mount, likely at the same location where we find the Dome of the Rock today — the same place where Solomon's father David built an altar to the Lord (2 Samuel 24:18); and also the place where God told Abraham to sacrifice Isaac (Genesis 22:2-8, et. al.). This place is also known as Mount Moriah (2 Chronicles 3:1).

On their second quest, the craftsmen ultimately came to "the brow of a hill near Mt. Moriah," and found a grave. There, they apprehended the fugitives. In other words, the ruffians were making their way back toward the Temple. 4  While almost certainly not "returning to the scene of the crime," it is likely they were beating a path to the safety and multitude of hiding places the foothills offered. They had, in fact, returned to the grave site of the man they had killed and buried earlier. The geography of the area confirms the closest hills (and fastest route) lie on a direct line between Joppa and the Temple.

So, if the outlaws were within a few miles of the Temple, what of the wayfaring man who said they were heading for the hill country of Judea?

Judea (also known as Judah) is a moving target — historically a region whose boundaries have remained fluid. Today it generally refers to the southern part of Israel or, by some accounts, a specific part of the West Bank region. In Solomon's time, however, the area called Judea was nearly congruent with the boundaries of Israel today, minus the southern region seacoast. That area, Philistia, included what today is the Gaza Strip. Its northern boundary was just beyond the outskirts of Joppa. In other words Joppa was in Philistia and the remainder of the region to the east, including Mt. Moriah was in Judea.

The hill country extends the entire length of present-day Israel. It includes the foothills of Mt. Moriah. In other words, when the craftsmen were at the brow of a hill near Mt. Moriah, they were in an area that was at once in Judea, in the hill country and near the mountain.

There was no wild goose chase; and the information from the wayfaring man was correct. When the craftsmen apprehended the outlaws they were in fact in the hill country of Judea and at the brow of a hill near Mt. Moriah.

______________________________

The author thanks Carolyn Harrison and RWB Doug Reece for their contributions to this article.

1 The Temple, we are told, was nearly completed. Solomon may or may not have had his office there, depending on its level of completion; however, he was indeed at or very near the Temple as evidenced by his frequent meetings with the Grand Master.

2 Joppa did, however have access to a harbor.

3 Relatively easy, that is, if any 40-mile journey on foot on a dusty gravel road can be easy.

4 Depending on one's definition of the word "near." The foothills abruptly begin about 20 miles from the summit of Mount Moriah, so the fugitives would have to be no more than that distance from the Temple. On foot, however, 20 miles isn't exactly "near," and they may have been much closer.

Map: WordSearch, QuickVerse 10

~SLH

Bro. Steve Harrison, 33°, is Past Master of Liberty Lodge #31, Liberty, Missouri. He is the editor of the Missouri Freemason magazine, author of the book Freemasonry Crosses the Mississippi, a Fellow of the Missouri Lodge of Research and also its Worshipful Master. He is a dual member of Kearney Lodge #311, St. Joseph Missouri Valley of the Scottish Rite, Liberty York Rite, Moila Shrine and a member and Past Dean of the DeMolay Legion of Honor. Brother Harrison is a regular contributor to the Midnight Freemasons blog as well as several other Masonic publications. His latest book, Freemasons: Tales From the Craft, is available on amazon.com.

Other Bare Facts

The Lighter Side of Freemasons

 by Midnight Freemason Contributor

Steven L. Harrison, 33°, FMLR

Some outside the Fraternity see Freemasons as being stiff, formal, archaic and arcane.  One of the great Masonic secrets is that isn't true.  Oh, we have our moments of formality, but here are a few examples of what might be called the lighter side of Freemasons' lives:

Richard Locke's Moon People

Richard Locke was so irritated by outlandish claims of discovering life on the moon, he fabricated the discovery of an entire race of moon beings, which took the science community and public by storm in 1835.

Chic Sale published a book, The Specialist, in the early twentieth century, which was nearly banned.  The carefully worded book was a humorous but risqué treatise on the subject of outhouses.

Astronaut Gus Grissom also ran into a bit of censorship.  After his first space capsule sank at the end of a mission, Grissom named his second craft the Molly Brown because the original Molly was "unsinkable." When the NASA board balked, Grissom submitted a new name, Titanic.  After due consideration, the board approved Molly Brown.

Will Rogers was not so lucky in escaping the censor's ax.  After visiting the Soviet Union he published a book entitled, There's Not A Bathing Suit In Russia.  The censors were not at all amused by the second part of the title when they cut it from naughty Will's book: And Other Bare Facts.

Rogers worked with "Blue Boy," a champion hog, in his 1933 movie, "State Fair." At the end of filming director Henry King gave Blue Boy to Rogers to slaughter and eat.  Rogers instead donated the hog to an agricultural college saying, "I refuse to eat a co-star."

As if that's not enough on Will, he is also known to have dated all seven of the Blake sisters before settling down and marrying the youngest, Betty.  Family gatherings must have been interesting...

In the 1948 presidential race, Thomas Dewey's campaign came up with the world's first political   It read, "Dew It With Dewey."  The electorate, instead, decided to "Dew It" with Truman.

T-Shirt.

Clifton Truman Daniel didn’t learn his grandfather Harry Truman had been the US President until his first day of school, when the other kids confronted him with the news.  Clifton rushed home at the end of the day and asked his mother Margaret, "Did you know Grandpa was the President of the United States?" With all the timing of a great comedian, Clifton will then tell you, "She knew."

Clifton's life as Harry's grandson wasn't all a bed of roses.  On one occasion, playing with a popgun inside the Truman house in Independence, he fired a shot and knocked a vase over.  Grandpa sent Clifton and his brother outside to play.  Within minutes Clifton rounded the corner of the house and came face-to-face with a scowling Secret Service agent who, from a house across the street, had seen two shadowy figures with guns sneaking around the former President's property.

England's Prince Phillip has a famously caustic and non-politically-correct sense of humor.  On one occasion when told he would be attending a Madonna concert he said he would have to bring some ear plugs.  He is also known for the quote, "If you see a man opening a car door for a woman, it means one of two things: it's either a new car or a new woman."

In the mid 1960s the Grand Lodge of California brought a member up on Masonic charges for participating in a college panty raid.  The judges allowed that such behavior could be dismissed as collegiate hi-jinx, but felt the situation warranted further investigation when the member in question was found to have 181 pairs of the delicate undergarments.

After losing the world championship in a brutal fight to Gene Tunney in 1926, a battered Jack Dempsey told his wife, "Honey, I forgot to duck." As medics wheeled Ronald Reagan (an honorary Scottish Rite Mason) into the operating room after a 1981 assassination attempt, he looked at his wife Nancy and used Dempsey's quote.

Ford VS Chicken

Finally, there is the case of the giant chicken that hounded Gerald Ford in his 1976 presidential   Instead of becoming irritated, Ford played along with the prank even to the point of inviting the chicken on stage for an interview.  Today, that same "chicken" who made his national debut campaigning with Gerald Ford has gone on to fame in his own right.  He is now known as The San Diego Chicken.

campaign.

These stories aren't all that unusual.  Part of the reason we are members of this Fraternity is the fellowship we enjoy when we get together.  If you're looking for more Masonic stories that bring a little chuckle, just attend your next Lodge meeting.  You're sure to find them there.

~SLH

Bro. Steve Harrison, 33°, is Past Master of Liberty Lodge #31, Liberty, Missouri. He is the editor of the Missouri Freemason magazine, author of the book Freemasonry Crosses the Mississippi, a Fellow of the Missouri Lodge of Research and also its Worshipful Master. He is a dual member of Kearney Lodge #311, St. Joseph Missouri Valley of the Scottish Rite, Liberty York Rite, Moila Shrine and a member and Past Dean of the DeMolay Legion of Honor. Brother Harrison is a regular contributor to the Midnight Freemasons blog as well as several other Masonic publications. His latest book, Freemasons: Tales From the Craft, is available on amazon.com.