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Article THE REVELATIONS OF A SQUARE. ← Page 5 of 16 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Revelations Of A Square.
our Lodge without effect •the nuisance was not abated ; and even the lecture—when we had the good fortune to hear one —was delivered amidst volumes of smoke , which rivalled in intensity the reeking impurities of a burning prairie , and interrupted hy frequent calls to the landlord for beer and strong watersand the jingling of pots and lasses !
Forgot-, g ing the favete Unguis of the old mysteries , the enjoyment of every Brother seemed to centre in himself alone ; and this unhallowed triad of lecturing , smoking , and drinking at one and the same time , bestrode the Brethren like the old man of the sea on the neck of Sindbad , and they possessed no means of liberation but by dissolving their connection with the
Lodge ; and thus the institution was deprived of some of its most valuable members . " This E . W . M ., whose name , for various reasons , I have purposely omitted to mention , as if determined to give the Lodge its coup de grace , introduced a contest for superiority between the old and several young members who understood
very imperfectly the true principles of the Order , and entered warmly into the dispute for the sake of excitement and mischief . The juniors were at first always defeated in the
numerous motions ancl subjects of discussion which they nightly poured forth upon the Lodge with as little judgment as Sancho Panza exhibited in the application of his proverbs ; but being encouraged by the Master , they succeeded in procuring an accession to their numbers by the introduction of candidates for initiation , till , at length , the old members were
in a minority . The undisguised marks of triumph which the juniors displayed , so disgusted their more sedate Brethren , that they dropped off gradually , until the Lodge was left to the sole management of the injudicious Master and his superficial associates . I need not tell you the result . After the pasans of victory had subsidedand the excitement of the contest was
, at an end , these boon companions found Masonry but a dull affair , and soon followed the example of those worthy brethren whom they had driven from the Lodge , by discontinuing their attendance ; until , at length , we received a summons , dated 17 th October , 1766 , and signed ' Samuel Spencer , Grand Secretary' requiring usunder the penalty of erasureto show
, , , cause , at the ensuing Quarterly Communication , why the Lodge had not been represented in Grand Lodge for the last two years , ancl no subscriptions paid . Fortunately , the remaining few members who had faithfully adhered to the Lodge amidst all its fluctuations , —• if not by actual attendance , at
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Revelations Of A Square.
our Lodge without effect •the nuisance was not abated ; and even the lecture—when we had the good fortune to hear one —was delivered amidst volumes of smoke , which rivalled in intensity the reeking impurities of a burning prairie , and interrupted hy frequent calls to the landlord for beer and strong watersand the jingling of pots and lasses !
Forgot-, g ing the favete Unguis of the old mysteries , the enjoyment of every Brother seemed to centre in himself alone ; and this unhallowed triad of lecturing , smoking , and drinking at one and the same time , bestrode the Brethren like the old man of the sea on the neck of Sindbad , and they possessed no means of liberation but by dissolving their connection with the
Lodge ; and thus the institution was deprived of some of its most valuable members . " This E . W . M ., whose name , for various reasons , I have purposely omitted to mention , as if determined to give the Lodge its coup de grace , introduced a contest for superiority between the old and several young members who understood
very imperfectly the true principles of the Order , and entered warmly into the dispute for the sake of excitement and mischief . The juniors were at first always defeated in the
numerous motions ancl subjects of discussion which they nightly poured forth upon the Lodge with as little judgment as Sancho Panza exhibited in the application of his proverbs ; but being encouraged by the Master , they succeeded in procuring an accession to their numbers by the introduction of candidates for initiation , till , at length , the old members were
in a minority . The undisguised marks of triumph which the juniors displayed , so disgusted their more sedate Brethren , that they dropped off gradually , until the Lodge was left to the sole management of the injudicious Master and his superficial associates . I need not tell you the result . After the pasans of victory had subsidedand the excitement of the contest was
, at an end , these boon companions found Masonry but a dull affair , and soon followed the example of those worthy brethren whom they had driven from the Lodge , by discontinuing their attendance ; until , at length , we received a summons , dated 17 th October , 1766 , and signed ' Samuel Spencer , Grand Secretary' requiring usunder the penalty of erasureto show
, , , cause , at the ensuing Quarterly Communication , why the Lodge had not been represented in Grand Lodge for the last two years , ancl no subscriptions paid . Fortunately , the remaining few members who had faithfully adhered to the Lodge amidst all its fluctuations , —• if not by actual attendance , at