Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1895-12-13
GRIND LODGE or va.

address OF Most Worsb!pful Grand
MAstor J. z. Fitzgerald.
Grateful to God that our lives have
been spared, SO that we have thus
met agaiN. ] welcome you to this, the
1lSth Grand Annual Communication
We miss the forms anu fnces Of
aome from their accustomed places
here tonight. Since we last met the
insatiate archer has drawn his bow,
and two of your officers have fallen.
He WHO for so many years faithful
" recorded thrse of your proceed
inGs proper to bo written who, dur
ing all those years, was the Monitor
OF each Grand Master presiding in
the East, mud upon whose wisdom,
prudence, fidelity aid zeal euch
could and did with confidence rely,
during my administration has passed
away.
/ cannot tell you how sorely have
felt the need OF his advice and expe.
Hence i'll the solution of the many
difficult questions which have con
fiouted me in the discharge of the
duties pertaining to this high office
On the 9th Of June last, quietly
aud iniparceptibly to those loving
unes who, with anxious hearts, had
for inonts waited and watched around
is couch, the silver cord WINS loosed
&c golden bowl WAS broken, and Il.
". brother William b. Isaacs, Grand
Secretary of this Grand Lodge, pass
al into that und 8 covered country,
from whose bourne no traveller re
turns.
convened you in special commun
ication for the purpose Of paying the
last sad tribute OF e'pect to his re
mains, and under the escort of the
Grand Commandery Of Virginia, of
which lie was the Grand recorder,
ard in the presence of many Of his
fellow citizens. with fratcrnal hands
and hearts, we committed his body
to mother earth, there TO rest until
raised again by power divine, and his
spirit to God who gave, trusting,
hoping and believing that his Faith
had then been lost i'll sight. his Hope
had i'll fruition found its end, aud
that ho then by experience know that
Charity docs extend beyond the grave
into the boundless realms of eternity.
II tho gates of tho tempie not made
VIII hands do ever outward swing.
E;viHg egress to those who have en-.
arcd there, bound on visitations to
Genes beloved whilo dwelling in tab
srnncl S here below. / can but think
II spirit hi'herward has winged its
flight, and he is with us, though not
Of us, here tonight.
Under the hlud OF time, the wounds
caused by The death Of our Grand
Secretary, had scarcely begun to heal,
when tidings came that another Of
those whom you had called to duty
here bad been summoned hence, and
Chat Il. ". Brother Francis A. Reed
pvt Grsnd Senior Warden, was dead.
On the 23l OF August last, in the
qiietude Of his hcme ~ ldenly md
without premonition, his will lost its
grasp upon the sceptro OF control
over the faculties of his being. and in
the delmium of the honr, his own
hand snapped the brittle thread of
life which moored him to the shore
of time, and he
Crosse that hidden stream,
Winding through shades of night.
Rolling its cold dark waves between
This and the world of light
The GrandmHster is opposed to
veluminous codes of by laws for sub
ordinate lodges, and in Il lengthy re
view OF the question admirably up
hoics bis view of the subject He
contends, and with reason, that in
everything but few minor palticu
lers, the Methodical Digest contains
all the laws necessary for the govern
ment OF subordinate Lodges He
then gi7es the following reasons for
This "would be" legislation, as he
properly terms it:
Tho cause OF this would be legisa
ton is not far to seek. 1t arises be
cause We have been born and reared
under democratic government, and
holieve that The people governed are
rts source from which comes author
ssjssesasssszSSsayefD; and ma " of us are
sl:teinbers of societies which do derive
tf.aie powers from the consent of
3Etesa composing them. BUTT is not
50 in Masonry. It had it's origin be-
fcrs democratic government was even
il, the mind of the widest dreamer,
and has maintained it's unity, its
uniqueness, amid the successive
changes of governments from despot
ism TO missionaries, and from arts
tocracies TO democracies. We 'Vir-
sginia Masons claim, and I believe
rightly claim, TINT if on next st.
Johns day, each OF our two hundred
and fifty nine lodges shall he holding
N stated communication. and if then
each Master shall raise u Fellow
Craft to tho sublime degree of Mas
AT,,nr (tL.,1,a 10 A.. r