Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1894-04-19


Quoted by Deputy Grand Master, w
ID. Thompson Of Minneapolis. Undcl
the stone was laid the usual copper
box containing copies Of local ant
State papers, names Of members and
officers Of local and State Masonic
lodges, names Of State and local OIL
cials, coins, names OF contractor and
builder, etc. The music OF the occa.
sion was furnished by an excellent
choir conducted by c. H. whitley.
The address was by Prof. w. NJ. JAY,
Of Salina, and was highly praised by
all for its cloqucncc and scholarly
beauty as well as It's practical and
helpful worth.
PROF. JAYS Address.
Brethren dnd Fricnds!
This is an suspicious occasion. aud
II seemed to be unmindfu Of the
honorable part you have given me to
perform | should be disloyal to my
own sense Of appreciation.
OF all the days that come to men,
these two, days Of advent and Of cN-
Odus, birth and death, are the most
important. About the one are laugh
ter and joy, pleasing hopes aud great
expectations; about the other are
tears and sadness and regrets.
Each building has its birth--its
liie-its death. Each il brought into
existence for n purpose, represents
some idea, symbOlizes some thought,
extends its influence, lives its life and
dies in flame or buirctcd by the winds
and rendcd by storms, slowly aud
sadly, forlorn object Of pity aud
dcsolation. it yields its life at last.
What means this building you ARE
about to erectP Why do we lay these
stones rcverently with prayer and
cement them with brotherly loveP
What will this building represent?
What will IL symbolizcP What sig
miles this life that is born here todayP
From it what gracious influences are
to emanatep
A sufficient answer TO the brethren
Is, This Is to he the home Of the
Masonic fraternity in solomon CITY,"
Many writer's OF eminent authority
place the organization Of Free
Masonry before the time of Solomon.
king Of Israel, and Hiram, king Of
Tyre, and they ruled 1000 years be-
fore Christ. Others say II is the
Legitimate successor Of the guilds Of
the middle ages, while still Others,
generally writers who are unfrlcndly
to the order, who are willing to make
no allowances for tradition, for inn
memorial usagcs and customs, for
circumstantial evidence that Is often
stronger than direct proof, admit, al
belt reluctantly, that there are in eX-
istence minutes Of lodges beginning
as early as the year 1869, A. D., and
continuing in unbrokcn series to the
present time.
On the 9th day Of June, 1880, the
first authority for assembling of Free
Mnsons in America was issued by the
Duke OF Norfolk, Grand Master Of
Free and Accepted Masons OF Eng
land, to David Cox, OF New Jersey.
In l7i3 BENJAMIN Franklin was
elected Grand Master Of Pennsylvania.
Free Masonry took firm hold in
New England, those staunoh Puritans,
those stalwart descendants OF Win
throp and Mather, hypocritical in
their mordant examination OF crceds |
and dogmas, and articles Of Christian |
faith, found nothing In Masonry to
conflict with their duties TO them |
selves, their neighbors. their country |
or their God. Patriotism and de- |
voted attachment to America were |
characteristic Of the Free Masons in |
those early days. II is said that in
the Masonic lodge room in the old |
Green Dragon tower In Boston, the |
Sons of Liberty were accustomed to |
meet and out of that lodge room
came those Mohawk Indians who ST. |
lently and decorously took possession
OF the tea in Boston harbor and sank |
IL in the sea,
During the war that followed Free
Masons marched with bare feet ON
frozen ground, they fought as pri-
Yates, they marched at the head of
armies, presided in council chambers,
were received and sent AS embassa-
doris No post so dangerous, no posi-
ton 80 humble, no place so exalted
that Masons did not ill II with cour-
age and honor.
The man who inspired the colonial
troops at the battle of Bunker Hill,
the foremost American who died on
that field Of honor, the man who, ac-
cording to Gen. Gage, was worth 800
ordinary men, Gen. Joseph Warren,
was Grand Master of the grand lodge
OF Massachusetts,.
Robert II. Livingstone, Benjamin
Franklin, Marquis de Lafayette and
General Washington were ardent
of our order. and he who
was first in peace, first In war and
first in the hearts OF his countrymen
was also Grand Master OF Free aud
Accepted Masons. Surely these men
whom all the world delights to honor,
who were pre-eminent alike for their
patriotism, their intellectual great
ness and moral excellence, could not
and would not have been the standard
bearers in the forefront OF Masonic
ranks were there not in II much to