The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1897-01-14
GRAND LODGE III SESSION
AVERY FINE ADDRESS BY GRANO
ORATOR AYCOCk.
New Officers Elected for the Next
Year--Important Business to be
Transacted To-Day.

ing committees submitted their reports.
Among these were committee on Oxford
Orphan Asylum, committees P"oposi-
tons and Grievances, Appeals, Re
turns of Lodges, etc. THESE con-
sumed the time Of the morning and
afternoon sessions.
The special order of the evening session
was the address Of the Grand Orator,
Mr.. Charles b. Aycock, of Colds
boro. He was introduced by Mr..
r. n. Hackett, Of Wiikesboro, in
neat and appropriate remarks, and de-
livered most excellent address. He said.
Most Worshipful Grand Master and
Brethren:
II come to address you tonight with
much hesitating embarrassment. | can
not make merely pleasant speech, and
it is no high compliment u any one of
you to say that your knowledge of Ma
sonry is far superior to mine My BUSH
ness in life has compelled me much more
frequently to follow the devious by-ways
by which untruthful witnesses seek to
lose the searcher after truth, than to
travel over those beautiful highways
(bordered on either side by pleasant
flowing waters and beautiful howers),
which Masonry has erected for the ease
and expedition Of all those who seek the
heavenly lodge. A history Of Masonry
/ shall not attempt-whether, indeed, its
riches are an heritage from Solomons
mine of wisdom or one of more recent dis
coyery-whether speculative Masonry is
an evolution from an earlier, more mar
row and selfish original, l shall leave to
each OF you to decide. Wherever 1t
originated, whatever may be its source,
it cannot be denied that Masonry is to-day
a living, palpitating, earnest and extreme
" useful fact. The source Of the Nile
was for a long time the eager search of
many curious and daring minds; but af-
ter all, the great, vital, all-important fact
about the Nile is the fertility of the soil
that has tasted its waters. To be of an
cient origin alone does not entitle Mason
ry to live-error itself is old-the man Of
three-score years and ten is not even
venerable unless he has been purified in
the hot furnace of the revolving years.
that Solomon, from whom some claim
the beginning OF Masonry, has himself
said: "A hoary head is a crown of glory
when found in the way OF righteousness"
so that the glory of an old man is not
his age, but his righteousness, and If our
much loved order shall deserve to live.
it, too, must find its glory in its noble
deeds rather than in its antiquity. 1t,
therefore, I were asked tonight what
makes me a Mason, ] should shock the
soul of the merely formal Mason by
promptly answering, THE Oxford Or
phanage," which receives and shelters
little children, and prevents life's strip
ping them of those "clouds Of glory"
which, as Wordsworth says SO exquisite
ly, they come trailing with them from
Heaven, which is their home
"A man is a Mason in his heart or not
a Mason at all; whatever faith there is in
him will manifest itself in his works.
by their fruits shall ye know them is
not only the test of religion, but it is the
cathode ray which passes through all
outer coverings, lays bare the heart and
shows its chambers filled with light and
mercy, or with darkness and hate. What
every true Mason wants is more light
that light which manifests itself in beau
tiful actions and noble deeds as surely
as the sunlight bushes in the rose or
paints the violet with the color of the
sky. The wages which come with more
light, with higher and fuller knowledge,
are iIuSl IuHdS DOl 10 DS WdSbS0s AtOt tAEsl
to be used, upon ourselves, but to tdIl
away distress and rekindle the ligiit of
hope in others. John Bright said OF MI.
Gladstone many ears ago, he is always
struggling towards the light That is a
true history Of every Mason, always seek
ing to be freed from the gross darkness
Of self and to grow into that perfect
knowledge OF truth which knows that
God is our Father and men are our broth
ers, ready to do and suffer anything for
his faith, and knowing that faith
which breeds heroes is better than
an unbelief which leaves nothing
worth being hero for. 1t is easy to
speak OF the Fatherhood of God and the
brotherhood Of man. The expression has
become COMMONWEALTH the real recogni-
ton of the fact all but too rare-we
are still long way from the universal
acceptance Of the truth that God ia the
Father OF US alive are a long way from
living it-even those of us who think that
we dimly (as through glass darkly) per-
ceive the TRUTH but to every man who
has hope in the future there is convie-
ton that surely the thoughts of men are
widened with the process of the suns
and out OF this conviction there comes
the certainty that fuller, clearer and
brighter life shall be born. 1t is the priyi-
lege OF Masonry to share in this glorious
work. How we'll it performs its work is
the measure OF its right to live. And
this work is not one OF words but deeds.
Each member OF the order may know
perfectly every word Of the Catechisra
and may clearly understand all its secrets
and yet may be a dead Mason, for the
life OF a Mason is what he does and not
what he knows. Many know but few
are wise enough to d., and this is what
/ take the poet, Tennyson, to mean when
he says: knowledge comes but wisdom
fingers This is, indeed, a knowing are,
but it is wise age What think you OF
the lust for gain in the spirit Of Cainy
this mad struggle for wealth which has
so debased our very language that if you
were to receive letter from son living
in a distant State, and were to mention
the fact to your neighbor and he were to
inquire, How is your son succeeding in
his rev homer You would Instantly