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Article MASONIC TWADDLE. Page 1 of 2 Article MASONIC TWADDLE. Page 1 of 2 →
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Masonic Twaddle.
MASONIC TWADDLE .
THE more earnestly we strive to elevate the tone and character of Masonic journalism , the more certain are we to earn for ourselves , not only the respect and gratitude , hut likewise the support of the Craft . We have more than once pointed to the ridicule so freely lavished on Freemasonry , hy what Masons are pleased to designate as
the profane world . We have said this ridicule is in great measure justifiable , or , at all events , explicable , by reason of that damnable iteration of nonsense , in which so many of our Masonic writers have indulged . It has seemed to these latter as though any kind of literary pabulum , served
up anyhow or nohow , was good enough to suit the rude , uncultivated tastes of Masonic readers . Our journalists , indeed , till quite recently , have been content with descending to the level , or what they imagined to be the level , of tlieir readers' understanding . Had they been
aught but the veriest of scribes of the moat inferior class , mere literary pretenders , without the shadow of a title to justify their claim , they must havo had the sense to know that , if ever the tone and character of Freemasonry were
to be refined and elevated , the tone and character of Craft journalism must be improved . It is only through the medium of journalism that brethren living remote from one another can establish a communion of thought and
feeling . A Masonic journal that aspires to hold a decent position in periodical literature must not be satisfied with merely recording the events of the day . It must try and elucidate the knotty problems which have exercised the minds of learned Craftsmen through successive generations .
It must seek to inculcate , m language commensurate with the subject , the beautiful principles of our Society . It is its bounden duty to remove , as far as possible , any antipathies that may threaten to arise between members or Lodges , to heal all dissensions that may have broken out , to harmonise ,
in fact , as far as in it lies , the relations , both external and internal , between individuals and sections of the Craft . In short , a Masonic journal and Freemasonry must stand to each other on exactly the same footing as any other class journal does towards the class whose interests it aspires to
represent . Unfortunately , as we have said , the Craft hitherto has been most unfortunate in its representative organs , with some notable exceptions , of course . In America , for years past , the most praiseworthy efforts have been made to raise Masonic periodical literature to its proper
level . But even in that blissful home of Masonry the evidences that our journals are not duly sensible of the lofty aims that should rule and govern them are as conspicuous as their complaints abuut the indifferent support they receive from Craftsmen are constant . Here , however ,
since the death of Oliver , Masonic literature may be said to have been at a very low ebb indeed . It is owing only to the efforts of Hughan and a few other eminent brethren that auy branch of Masonic study has been pursued "with success . In periodical literature , however , we have
been sadly deficient , owing to a variety of causes , the majority of which we have indicated in previous articles , hut not the least momentous of which has been the very inferior quality of the goods supplied . We are aware this is taking rather a low view of the subject , but we have
" & sed the expression " goods supplied" advisedly . We feel that , heretofore , the conduct of Masonic Press literature has been regarded chiefly from a commercial standpoint , and we fear the encouragement of the noble purposes ° f Freemasonry has been the very last element of which an y account has been taken . We cannot say the brethren
Masonic Twaddle.
have any right to complain of the treatment they have thus far met with . Their apathy in relation to the press is most astounding , and would hardly he credited by some people , if facts were not forthcoming to verify our state . ment . Fortunately , the growing interest of the public in
all that pertains to Freemasonry has had an excellent effect in arousing among Craftsmen themselves something like an approach to enthusiasm in regard to the history and development of our Society . The outside public are desirous of knowing a little about this Freemasonry which .
according to some folk , has existed as a corporate body since the days of Adam ; which includes in its ranks so many kings , princes , nobles , as well as peasants ; and which , last but not least , is so frequently the recipient of Papal
curses . Freemasons feel they must not be behind the outside public in curiosity , and their sympathy with Masonic journalism is graduall y assuming to itself a certain amount of activity , if not of energy . Hence it is we feel it more than ever incumbent on this and other
organs of the Craft that everything should be done to raise the character of our literary contents . We recognise it is no longer possible to publish any kind of stuff , for the reading section of our community has already had its surfeit of inane twaddle . We see clearly that while
accounts of Lodgo Meetings are necessarily interesting , a Masonic journal may be something better than a mere record of names , or , we should say , perhaps , than a Masonic directory gone mad , with its names turned upside
down , higgledy-piggledy , anyhow . Wo perceive there is room in them for the discussion of moot points of interest ; for the study of Masonic history and jurisprudence , for the inculcation of sound Masonic doctrine . We see now that
our first and most important duty is to establish a high tone of thought and feeling , and raise the general body to the level of that tone . In order to attain this end , we strive that our contents shall be , as the reviewers say , " both interesting and instructive . " It is not all of us ,
however , who recognise the necessity for these improvements . There are still those among Masonic journalists who think the contents of a Masonic paper are , comparatively speaking , a matter of indifference so long as its pages have the proper complement of matter . A report is a
report , and nothing more—a dry account of business , with a list of names tacked on to it . Notices of approaching meetings admit of any kind of arrangement . Any record , however stale it may be , may be inserted , while for leading articles—Heaven pardon the description!—so long as a given number
of columns are filled , the quality of the writing is utterly uncared for . A page or half page is filled with absolutely nothing , or with a single idea , which half-a-dozen lines would suffice to express . The needless interlarding with French and Latin quotations of these silly vapourings of a washed-out brain is considered an evidence of the writer ' s
wisdom , while it merely exemplifies his pedantic stupidity . Let no one be so foolish as to expect in these leaders (!) anything like a concatenation of sense , common or uncommon . They are a mere stringing together of inconsequent , and often contradictory , sentiments . They are absolutely
incapable of exciting in a reader , even of ordinary education , any other sense than that of the most profound contempt . To laugh at such outpourings , clad , though they seem to be , in all the apparel of painful respectability , were a
degradation—say , rather , an eternal disgrace to men of sense . When , by the rarest accident in the world , something is met with in a journal of this class which is not emphatically to be despised , we may be sure its most respectable features have been in chief measure borrowed from elsewhere . We scorn the bare notion that this kind of
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Masonic Twaddle.
MASONIC TWADDLE .
THE more earnestly we strive to elevate the tone and character of Masonic journalism , the more certain are we to earn for ourselves , not only the respect and gratitude , hut likewise the support of the Craft . We have more than once pointed to the ridicule so freely lavished on Freemasonry , hy what Masons are pleased to designate as
the profane world . We have said this ridicule is in great measure justifiable , or , at all events , explicable , by reason of that damnable iteration of nonsense , in which so many of our Masonic writers have indulged . It has seemed to these latter as though any kind of literary pabulum , served
up anyhow or nohow , was good enough to suit the rude , uncultivated tastes of Masonic readers . Our journalists , indeed , till quite recently , have been content with descending to the level , or what they imagined to be the level , of tlieir readers' understanding . Had they been
aught but the veriest of scribes of the moat inferior class , mere literary pretenders , without the shadow of a title to justify their claim , they must havo had the sense to know that , if ever the tone and character of Freemasonry were
to be refined and elevated , the tone and character of Craft journalism must be improved . It is only through the medium of journalism that brethren living remote from one another can establish a communion of thought and
feeling . A Masonic journal that aspires to hold a decent position in periodical literature must not be satisfied with merely recording the events of the day . It must try and elucidate the knotty problems which have exercised the minds of learned Craftsmen through successive generations .
It must seek to inculcate , m language commensurate with the subject , the beautiful principles of our Society . It is its bounden duty to remove , as far as possible , any antipathies that may threaten to arise between members or Lodges , to heal all dissensions that may have broken out , to harmonise ,
in fact , as far as in it lies , the relations , both external and internal , between individuals and sections of the Craft . In short , a Masonic journal and Freemasonry must stand to each other on exactly the same footing as any other class journal does towards the class whose interests it aspires to
represent . Unfortunately , as we have said , the Craft hitherto has been most unfortunate in its representative organs , with some notable exceptions , of course . In America , for years past , the most praiseworthy efforts have been made to raise Masonic periodical literature to its proper
level . But even in that blissful home of Masonry the evidences that our journals are not duly sensible of the lofty aims that should rule and govern them are as conspicuous as their complaints abuut the indifferent support they receive from Craftsmen are constant . Here , however ,
since the death of Oliver , Masonic literature may be said to have been at a very low ebb indeed . It is owing only to the efforts of Hughan and a few other eminent brethren that auy branch of Masonic study has been pursued "with success . In periodical literature , however , we have
been sadly deficient , owing to a variety of causes , the majority of which we have indicated in previous articles , hut not the least momentous of which has been the very inferior quality of the goods supplied . We are aware this is taking rather a low view of the subject , but we have
" & sed the expression " goods supplied" advisedly . We feel that , heretofore , the conduct of Masonic Press literature has been regarded chiefly from a commercial standpoint , and we fear the encouragement of the noble purposes ° f Freemasonry has been the very last element of which an y account has been taken . We cannot say the brethren
Masonic Twaddle.
have any right to complain of the treatment they have thus far met with . Their apathy in relation to the press is most astounding , and would hardly he credited by some people , if facts were not forthcoming to verify our state . ment . Fortunately , the growing interest of the public in
all that pertains to Freemasonry has had an excellent effect in arousing among Craftsmen themselves something like an approach to enthusiasm in regard to the history and development of our Society . The outside public are desirous of knowing a little about this Freemasonry which .
according to some folk , has existed as a corporate body since the days of Adam ; which includes in its ranks so many kings , princes , nobles , as well as peasants ; and which , last but not least , is so frequently the recipient of Papal
curses . Freemasons feel they must not be behind the outside public in curiosity , and their sympathy with Masonic journalism is graduall y assuming to itself a certain amount of activity , if not of energy . Hence it is we feel it more than ever incumbent on this and other
organs of the Craft that everything should be done to raise the character of our literary contents . We recognise it is no longer possible to publish any kind of stuff , for the reading section of our community has already had its surfeit of inane twaddle . We see clearly that while
accounts of Lodgo Meetings are necessarily interesting , a Masonic journal may be something better than a mere record of names , or , we should say , perhaps , than a Masonic directory gone mad , with its names turned upside
down , higgledy-piggledy , anyhow . Wo perceive there is room in them for the discussion of moot points of interest ; for the study of Masonic history and jurisprudence , for the inculcation of sound Masonic doctrine . We see now that
our first and most important duty is to establish a high tone of thought and feeling , and raise the general body to the level of that tone . In order to attain this end , we strive that our contents shall be , as the reviewers say , " both interesting and instructive . " It is not all of us ,
however , who recognise the necessity for these improvements . There are still those among Masonic journalists who think the contents of a Masonic paper are , comparatively speaking , a matter of indifference so long as its pages have the proper complement of matter . A report is a
report , and nothing more—a dry account of business , with a list of names tacked on to it . Notices of approaching meetings admit of any kind of arrangement . Any record , however stale it may be , may be inserted , while for leading articles—Heaven pardon the description!—so long as a given number
of columns are filled , the quality of the writing is utterly uncared for . A page or half page is filled with absolutely nothing , or with a single idea , which half-a-dozen lines would suffice to express . The needless interlarding with French and Latin quotations of these silly vapourings of a washed-out brain is considered an evidence of the writer ' s
wisdom , while it merely exemplifies his pedantic stupidity . Let no one be so foolish as to expect in these leaders (!) anything like a concatenation of sense , common or uncommon . They are a mere stringing together of inconsequent , and often contradictory , sentiments . They are absolutely
incapable of exciting in a reader , even of ordinary education , any other sense than that of the most profound contempt . To laugh at such outpourings , clad , though they seem to be , in all the apparel of painful respectability , were a
degradation—say , rather , an eternal disgrace to men of sense . When , by the rarest accident in the world , something is met with in a journal of this class which is not emphatically to be despised , we may be sure its most respectable features have been in chief measure borrowed from elsewhere . We scorn the bare notion that this kind of