CHILTON COUNTY ASHLAR CLANTON MASONIC LODGE 423
PRESERVING THE PAST, SERVING THE PRESENT, PREPARING THE FUTURE
Volume 1 Number 2
S p ri n g 2 0 1 2
About the Cover . . .
Ancient of Days by William Blake, 1794 The watercolor etching, was painted by William Blake in 1794. Its title is "Ancient of Days". It refers to an excerpt of a passage from the book of Proverbs 8:27, (a book within both the Christian Bible and the Hebrew Bible), which says "When he prepared
the heavens, I was there: when he set a compass upon the face of the depth:" (KJV) Note: Different biblical translations may use different wording. Source: The King James VersionÍž Containing Old and New Testaments.
Image Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Blake_ancient_of_days.jpg Š Notice: This work is in the public domain in the United States, and those countries with a copyright term of life of the author plus 100 years or fewer.
IN THIS ISSUE From the Worshipful Master ....................................................................................................... 2 Why I Became a Mason ............................................................................................................... 3 The Men Who Wear Thos Rings .................................................................................................. 4 The Restaurant at the End of the Masonic Universe ..................................................................... 5 Events .......................................................................................................................................... 8 Who's Who: Brother William Parrish Chilton ............................................................................. 9 Who's Who: Brother Daniel Carter Beard ................................................................................. 11 A Good Story .............................................................................................................................. 12
The Chilton County Ashlar is a quarterly publication edited and produced entirely by Clanton Masonic Lodge #423 located in Clanton, Alabama.
For information on how to subscribe or how to advertise, please contact the Clanton Lodge 423: Clanton Masonic Lodge 423 P. O. Box 2471
Clanton, Alabama 35045 http://clanton423.org
All articles must be submitted by the 15th of every month in order to be printed the the current newsletter webmaster@clanton423.org
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SPRING 2012
By Order of the Worshipful Master Andy Ellison, Worship Master
I can not tell you enough what an honor it has been to sit in the East this year! Although Clanton Lodge number 423 has only a hand full of workers, we still have accomplished a lot this year! We now have a website that can be used for numerous functions, the lodge has been cleaned up and rooms have been put back in working order and signs have been hung on the outside of the lodge. And now it is my pleasure to welcome you to the most recent work 足 this newsletter! This newsletter will be published on our website every quarter. It will showcase articles, graphics and activities that are of interest to you, the members! As awesome as this newsletter is, with your help it can only get better! If you run across an article that you feels needs to be republished, have some photos that you took during one of our events, or perhaps wish to write an article yourself, please let Brother Welborn know and he will see to it that the information gets into the newsletter. We have some pretty awesome things rolling right now, but we can not maintain them alone! We have been taught Sir Isaac Newton's law of physics says that an object will remain in motion unless acted upon by an outside force. We also know that one of the forces that can act upon an object is gravity so when an object is in motion and no one does anything, the object will stop on it's own. Brothers, I encourage you to find something that needs to be done and get behind it! Our lodge is growing in numbers and has begun to work in a more progressive fashion, let's keep it going. Remember the Grand Lodge of Alabama's slogan: Preserving the Past, Serving the Present, and Preparing for the Future. I think we should take due notice and use this as a light to our paths for the upcoming years! Again welcome to our newsletter 足 The Chilton County Ashlar!
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CHILTON COUNTY ASHLAR
Why I Became A Mason
By William Adrian Brown, PDDGM http://www.2be1ask1.com/library/circum.html Has anyone ever asked you why you became a Mason? Have you ever wondered why someone, such as George Washington, became a Mason? The following letter was written by George Washington to a friend in 1794. We know it was written to a friend because of the salutation but we do not know his name. You may wonder why you have never heard of this letter or seen it in a Masonic publication. If you were a Michigan Mason in 1932, you might have seen it printed in the “Michigan Monitor” in June of that year. Then again, you could have seen it in the History of the George Washington Bicentennial Celebration which was published by the U.S. Congress in 1931. The letter is among the hundreds of letters and papers written by and to Washington, published in the 27 volume set, “The Washington Papers.” Oddly, very few Masons care to read through the hundreds of books and letters to search out the littleknown facts and data. I also think of the hundreds of Masons who have read the letter but never stopped to appreciate its historical value, and never stopped to tell another Brother. Tonight, I read it to you, but, like so many others, you also may forget. Maybe, just maybe, years from now, you will hear someone ask, “I wonder why Washington became a Mason?” In the last fortyodd years, I have given many of the Grand Officers juicy little stories which they might use and have published in the Masonic Herald, but they were not printed. This letter was also submitted for publication but not printed. And now, the letter: “Dear Friend, “My first desire to become a Mason was due to the fact that many of Virginia’s noblest sons were Members of the Fraternity. “Therefore, it was not without forethought, that on Saturday evening, November 4, 1752, in the village of Fredericksburg, I was made an Entered Apprentice Mason. “The Masonic lessons I learned on my admission to Masonry and my contact and conversations with prominent Masons thereafter were of greatest encouragement in after years when I encountered and underwent severe trials, especially those at the commencement of the Revolution. “It was at this time that friendly council reached my ears to the effect that some of the men regarded me as a slave owner and an aristocrat and that they abhorred my Episcopacy. I declared at once to dispel such thoughts from my comrades’ minds, and, on one occasion, sat in a Masonic Lodge at Cambridge of which an Orderly Sergeant was Master. I made it a point to meet upon the level and part upon the square, with all my comrades, regardless of rank or position, and my reward was the loyalty and friendship of all, far beyond my expectations. “There is no doubt in my mind that Masonry and its lessons were helpful throughout the Revolution, both upon the Battlefield and in the Legislative Assembly. G. Washington” (EA November 4, 1752; FC March 3, 1753; MM – August 4, 1753) Thus, on Saturday evening, November 4, 1752, in the village of Fredericksburg, Washington was initiated an Entered Apprentice. Under the Prestonian system, being used at that time, Washington was a Mason, and could attend all meetings, as all business was conducted in the first degree at that time, (which is another story). It was not until March 3, 1753 he received the Fellowcraft Degree, and not until August 4, 1753 was he made a Master Mason.
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SPRING 2012
Those Men Who Wear Thos Mason Rings
By PM Tommy Knight http://www.masonictravelers.com/index.php/resources/poetryart/61masonrings Those men who help my dad each day, They wear those mason rings. A Square and Compass set in gold, The praise of which I sing.
Long years have passed since when My dad was in that plaster cast. And since I swore that Solemn Oath, Which unites us to the last.
My dad, he hurt his back you know, One cold and wintery day. He slipped and fell upon the ice, The insurance would not pay.
But more than that I’m proud to say, I wear his Mason ring. The one dad wore for many years, Until his death this Spring.
And since that time those rings I see, On hands that help us much. With mowing lawns and hauling trash, Each day my heart they touch.
And one last time his comrades came, To aid my weeping mother. They praised and bid a fond farewell, To our fallen Brother.
They even built a house for me, Amid our backyard tree. Where all the neighbor kids, Would play with laughter full of glee.
And after which MY son did ask, About their Aprons white. And of the rings upon their hands. Of gold so shiny bright.
My mom she cried from happiness, The time the Masons came. To aid our family in distress, Without a thought of gain.
With tearful eyes I said with pride, They’re men of spirit pure. Those men who wear those Mason rings, Of that you can be sure.
And when I’m big, just like my dad, Of this it must be told. I want to wear a ring like his, A Square and Compass gold.
And before he went to bed that night, The family he foretold. Someday I’ll wear a ring like dad’s, A Square and Compass gold.
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Restaurant at the End of the Masonic Universe By Stephen Defoe http://www.thelodgeroom.com/
So there is this restaurant chain with locations throughout North America. Its slogan is a pretty catchy one and the chain's management uses it on a daily basis to motivate staff and to recruit new patrons to the chain's thousands of locations. The slogan is "we take good food and make it better" eight simple words, which have struck an emotional chord with millions of people who like to eat. There is no marketing genius behind the slogan or the success of the same in attracting people to the restaurant chain. Everyone likes good food, so it is unlikely that there is a person alive who would not like good food made better. Who could resist such a slogan? Sadly, the restaurant chain seldom lives up to its own slogan. The restaurants are often poorly decorated their tables and chairs wobbly and in need of repair. Staff often quarrel with one another and the management, too often, seem only to be concerned with climbing the corporate ladder to the head office. The food, so much talked about is bland at best and dreadful at worst. Yet as each new patron comes in for the first time to sample this "good food made better" he sees a group of smiling faces, all lapping up the meal as if it was the greatest food on the planet just like the advertising people said it was. The new patron does his best to eat his meal even though the food offered does not appeal to the palate as sweetly as the words used to describe it. Not wishing to show his displeasure to his two friends who sponsored him for it is, after all, an exclusive restaurant he sits in silence eating his meal with each mouth full being as forced as the smile on his face. Sometimes the patron simply pays his tab, leaves the restaurant and vows never to return to the establishment. However, sometimes the patron decides that maybe he just went on a bad night perhaps the staff was having a bad day because the regular cook was away. Perhaps those people enjoying the meal were just being kind and did not want to offend the new cook. He decides to give the "good food made better" joint one more try. Returning on another night he sees the same dozen patrons who were there the month previous they are still arguing with one another about which fork you should use for the salad and the proper way to hold a wine glass.
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The manager is still ignoring the new customers in favor of the company higherups seated at a back table who he is trying to convince of his suitability for a more prominent position in the firm. What's worse the food is still bland, boring and not what the sign on the door proclaims yet the regulars are still lapping it up like it's their last meal. This time the patron decides that the marketing slogan is nothing more than eight simple words cleverly arranged to deprive him of his hard earned money. The thought occurs to him that maybe he could pull the manager away from the corporate wheels long enough to suggest a few small things that could truly make the good food better. However, he has a sinking feeling that he would be told, "but we've always cooked it this way before" or "we tried that once and the patrons didn't like it." He feels he might even be told that "the head office would never allow it." So instead of voicing his concerns, exercising the old business axiom that the customer is always right, he says nothing. Instead he leaves the restaurant and vows never to return either canceling his prebooked reservations on the way out the door or never returning and having his membership cancelled by the chain via a nasty letter. He wonders how it is that the restaurant survives and why the same dozen diners seem to enjoy the food so much. His conclusion is a simple one they like things the way they are and the establishment will never change so long as the chain is run by people who like to make bland food and patronized by people who like to eat the same. And so we come to a problem that is rife within Freemasonry today. We advertise ourselves as an organization that makes good men better, and while that is precisely what we have done for millions of men over the centuries, it cannot be argued that we are letting down the many young men who enter our doors who feel cheated and deceived. "I really feel that I have been sold a pack of lies," wrote one such young mason recently on an Internet discussion forum. How sad it is that a young man, who has been a Mason for one year would feel that he has been lied to by an organization that has Truth as one of its three greatest attributes.
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CHILTON COUNTY ASHLAR
Restaurant at the End of the Masonic Universe By Stephen Defoe Continued from page 6
"This is not the Masonry I signed up for," he continued in his posting and in so stating arrives at the crux of our problem.
Freemasonry in large parts of the United States and Canada is not offering what it is advertising, but if it advertised what it offered would it receive many new candidates. "Freemasonry we take good men and let them sit in a room and listen to the reading of minutes and 45minute debates on spending $50 on why we should or should not buy a plaque to show what great guys we are." It just does not have the same marketing strength as "Freemasonry we take good men and make them better." Unfortunately our young brethren, past and present have tried to improve what Freemasonry offers within the tiled recesses of our lodges, but are met with resistance at each step of the way. We say we are about making good men better through self improvement yet few are the lodges who apply the working tools within the body of a lodge to educate our young members as to how to do this. The Masonic Information Center (MIC) recently released a publication entitled, "It's About Time." The publication identifies the problems currently confronting Masonic identity and offers sound solutions for the same. One of the most powerful statements in the 17 page document follows: "The Square and Compasses, the best known symbol of a Mason, cannot replace the identity of living the life of a Mason, which is itself perpetually in a state of improving ourselves in body, mind, and spirit. Masonic imagery is a valuable resource when it inspires us to take new action consistent with our personal growth and enlightened thought. We must discover our own Masonic calling, our own place in the history of Masonry, by making authentic Masonic performance our top priority." However, we have allowed, as the MIC points out in the publication, Masonry to be shaped by the 20th century's emphasis on the Masonic ritual being the completion of the Mason's education about his fraternity. Like the analogy of the restaurant chain, little changes in how lodges deliver Masonic lessons because the same dozen patrons sit in her seats and run the show. Those men, like the restaurant patrons in our analogy, come back month after month and year after year because they enjoy the bland food a meal that is largely comprised of recitation of minutes, tedious debates over how funds are dispersed and arguments over when and how to salute the Worshipful Master. And when a young man, initiated, passed and raised leaves because he finds the meal unappetizing, he is viewed as a disgruntled customer, which the restaurant is better off without. The recipe of Freemasonry is as sound today as it was three hundred years ago it is the present kitchen of stubborn cooks who need to be tossed out.
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SPRING 2012
EVENTS APRIL EVENTS 1 3 10 12 16 17 24 26
New Years Day Clanton 423 Regular Communication Maplesville 706 Regular Communication Stanley Cost 411 Regular Communication Martin Luther King's Birthday Clanton 423 Regular Communication Maplesville 706 Regular Communication Stanley Cost 411 Regular Communication
MAY EVENTS 7 8 10 14 20 21 22 24 25
Clanton 423 Regular Communication Maplesville 706 Regular Communication Stanley Cost 411 Regular Communication Valentine's Day President's Day Clanton 423 Regular Communication Maplesville 706 Regular Communication Stanley Cost 411 Regular Communication Clanton 423 Spring Cookin JUNE EVENTS
6 12 14 20 26 28
Clanton 423 Regular Communication Maplesville 706 Regular Communication Valentine's Day Stanley Cost 411 Regular Communication Clanton 423 Regular Communication Maplesville 706 Regular Communication Stanley Cost 411 Regular Communication
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CHILTON COUNTY ASHLAR
Who's Who: Brother William Parish Chilton Grand Lodge of Alabama
William Parish Chilton (August 10, 1810 – January 20, 1871) was a prominent lawyer, jurist, and politician serving the people of Alabama and eventually the Confederate States of America. Tuesday 10 August 2010 marked the 200th anniversary of his birth. Called Will Chilton, he was born in Columbia, Adair County, Kentucky, the ninth child of Rev. Thomas John Chilton (a slaveowning Baptist minister) and Margaret Bledsoe, sister of Jesse Bledsoe. Will was a younger brother of Thomas Chilton, Representative from Kentucky and ghost writer of an autobiography" by David Crockett. When Will was 14 months old his large family was among the victims of the New Madrid Earthquakes. As a teenager he left home to live in Tennessee with an older sister, Jane, and her husband Charles Metcalfe. In Athens, TN, Wm. Parish Chilton read law with Return J. Meigs III, passed the bar in 1828, and began law practice there. In 1831 Will Chilton removed to Talladega, Alabama and set up a law practice. In 1839 he was elected as a Whig to represent his county in the state legislature. Chilton campaigned vigorously for Harrison and Clay, and in 1843 was an unsuccessful candidate for Congress. In 1846 he established a school of law in Tuskegee. One of the first students was his brotherinlaw John Tyler Morgan. The state legislature elected him an Associate Justice of their Supreme court on December 31, 1847. He became Chief Justice December 2, 1852 and served in this capacity until January 2, 1856. He was ruling upon the state's slavery laws when Uncle Tom's Cabin was published. Retiring from the bench, he established a law partnership with William Lowndes Yancey and in 1859 was a member of the state Senate, from Macon County. For so long as secession was a matter of public debate, William Parish Chilton (ruled more by reason than passion) opposed the idea, as did nearly 40 percent of Alabama's population. But as one who respected code duellum, Chilton ultimately felt bound to defend Southern honor. He not only accepted the nomination to represent Montgomery County to the new government, he presided over its birth.
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At noon on February 4, 1861 William Parish Chilton ascended the platform and gavelled to order the first meeting of the Provisional Congress. Present were 37 delegates representing six states. On February 9 this body elected Jefferson Davis as their President. On February 18, Davis emerged from his carriage to be escorted into the capitol by Will Chilton and Robert B. Rhett. As the Davis "acceptance speech" ended Chilton rose to move that the body adjourn outside to the front steps. The purpose of this motion was to enable what has become one of the most famous photographs in U.S. history, Jefferson Davis taking his Presidential oath of office. William Parish Chilton stands among the small knot of men surrounding Davis. Members of the First Confederate Congress were divided as to the best location for the seat of government. Chilton felt that it would be unwise to move the government seat from Montgomery, Alabama to Richmond, Virginia. He resisted this choice so strongly and to the very end that he earned the disaffection of some colleagues from other states. Perhaps because of this, Chilton's congressional committee assignments in Richmond were ones in which he had no interest. Nonetheless, he performed his duties with such humble diligence that he became known as the most laborious member of the legislative body. He returned to Montgomery in 1865 physically and financially drained. William Parish Chilton returned to the practice and teaching of law. He had managed to recoup most of his financial losses by 1870. On January 20, 1871 he died as a consequence of a fall upon stone stairs, some weeks earlier. When Will Chilton died he was then Grand Master of the Masonic Grand Lodge of Alabama. Chilton County, Alabama, established 1874, is named for William Parish Chilton. Although he never lived within its boundaries, his 10th child, Jennie (Chilton) Speer resided in Clanton for years. Two children Jennie bore died in infancy and are buried in Clanton. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Parish_Chilton
From Cover illustration for The Saturday Evening Post, September 2, 1911
Š public domain in the United States. This applies to U.S. works where the copyright has expired, often because its first publication occurred prior to January 1, 1923.
CHILTON COUNTY ASHLAR
Who's Who: Brother Daniel Carter Beard http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Carter_Beard
Daniel Carter "Uncle Dan" Beard (June 21, 1850 – June 11, 1941) was an American illustrator, author, youth leader, and social reformer who founded the Sons of Daniel Boone in 1905, which Beard later merged with the Boy Scouts of America (BSA).
Beard was born in Cincinnati, Ohio into a family of artists. As a youth, he explored the woods and made sketches of nature. He lived at 322 East Third Street in Covington, Kentucky near the Licking River, where he learned the stories of Kentucky pioneer life. He started an early career as an engineer and surveyor. He attended art school in New York City. He wrote a series of articles for St. Nicholas Magazine that later formed the basis for the The American Boy's Handy Book. He was a member of the Student Art League, where he met and befriended Ernest Thompson Seton in 1883. He illustrated a number of books for Mark Twain, and for other authors such as Ernest Crosby. Beard became the editor of Recreation magazine and wrote a monthly column for youth. He founded the Sons of Daniel Boone in 1905, basing it on American frontier traditions. He later moved his column to Woman's Home Companion. After conflicts with a new editor, he moved to the Pictorial Review. Since Women's Home Companion retained the rights to the name, he simply renamed the organization to Boy Pioneers of America. He merged his organization into the Boy Scouts of America when it was founded in 1910. Beard became one of the first National Scout Commissioners of the Boy Scouts and served it for 30 years. He later became the editor of Boys' Life magazine, the BSA official magazine, and wrote a monthly column for youth. The work of both Beard and Ernest Thompson Seton are in large part the basis of the Traditional Scouting movement. Beard also helped his sister organize the Camp Fire Girls and became president of the Camp Fire Club of America. Beard was a Freemason in a New York Lodge, and an award for Masonic Scouters has been named in his honor. Beard founded Boy Scouts Troop 1 in Flushing, New
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York, which is believed to be the oldest continuously chartered Boy Scout Troop in the United States.[citation needed] Beard became an Eagle Scout on February 15, 1915. Daniel Beard in later life, with Boy Scouts Prior to the establishment of the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award, Dan Beard was recipient of the only "gold Eagle badge" awarded at the Second National Training Conference of Scout Executives held in 1922 in Blue Ridge, North Carolina. Dan Beard was also involved with the Culver Academies' summer camp program for many years, which used his "Sons of Daniel Boone" program. This program still exists as the Academy's Culver Woodcraft Camp. Beard died on June 11, 1941, shortly before his 91st birthday at his home (named "Brooklands") in Suffern, New York. He was buried near his home at the Brick Church Cemetery in Spring Valley, New York.[8] The National Program Director of the Boy Scouts of America, E. Urner Goodman, was selected to be in charge of the beloved youth leader's funeral in Suffern. An estimated 2,000 people lined the funeral route to the cemetery in Monsey, New York, where 127 Boy Scouts formed an honor guard and assisted with traffic control.
A Good Story
SPRING 2012
From the January 1977 New Mexico Freemason
A young man passed a pawnbrokers shop. The money lender was standing in front of his shop, and the young man
noted that he was wearing a large and beautiful Masonic emblem. After going on a whole block, apparently lost in thought, the young man turned back, stepped up to the pawnbroker, and addressed him: I see youre wearing a Masonic emblem. Im a Freemason too. It happens that Im desperately in need of $25 just now. I shall be able to repay it within ten days. You dont know me余 but I wonder whether the fact that you are a Freemason and that I am a Freemason is sufficient to induce you to lend me the money on my personal note. The pawnbroker mentally appraised the young man, who was clean足cut, neat and well足dressed. After a moments thought, he agreed to make the loan on the strength of the young man being a Freemason. Within a few days the young man repaid the loan as agreed and that ended the transaction. About four months later the young man was in a Lodge receiving the Entered Apprentice Degree余 he had not really been a Mason when he borrowed the $25. After he had been admitted for the second section of the degree, the young man looked across the Lodge room and saw the pawnbroker from whom he had borrowed the $25. His face turned crimson and he became nervous and jittery. He wondered whether he had been recognized by the pawnbroker. Apparently not, so he planned at the first opportunity to leave the Lodge room and avoid his benefactor. As soon as the Lodge was closed he moved quickly for the door, but the pawnbroker had recognized t he young man, headed him off and, to the young mans astonishment, approached him and greeted him with a smile and outstretched hand. Well, I see you werent a Freemason after all when you borrowed that $25, the pawnbroker commented. The blood rushed to the young mans face as he stammered, No, I wasnt, but I wish youd let me explain. I had always heard that Freemasons were charitable and ready to aid a Brother in distress. When I passed your shop that day I didnt need that $25. I had plenty of money in my wallet, but when I saw the Masonic emblem you were wearing, I decided to find out whether the things Id heard about Freemasonry were true. You let me have the money on the strength of my being a Freemason, so I concluded that what I had heard about Masons was true, that they are charitable, that they do aid Brethren in distress. That made such a deep impression on me that I presented my petition to this Lodge and here I am. I trust that with this explanation you will forgive me for having lied to you. The pawnbroker responded, Dont let that worry you too much. I wasnt a Freemason when I let you have the money. I had no business wearing the Masonic emblem you saw. Another man had just borrowed some money on it, and it was so pretty that I put it on my lapel for a few minutes. I took it off the moment you left. I didnt want anyone else borrowing money on the strength of my being a Freemason. When you asked for that $25, I remembered what I had heard about Masons, that they were honest, upright, and cared for their obligations promptly. It seemed to me that $25 wouldnt be too much to lose to learn if what Id heard was really true, so I lent you the money and you repaid it exactly as you said you would. That convinced me that what Id heard about Masons was true so I presented my petition to this Lodge. I was the candidate just ahead of you.
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Used with permission from Phoenix Masonic Museum and Library 足 http://www.phoenixmasonry.org/main