The National tribune., 1899-12-21

ington died, then these ceremonies are
but vain and idle and mocking mum
merieS, serving to recall an event whose
memory brings with it only a sense oi
the emptiness of human glory and the end
of human greatness
"But Washington lives to-day, not only
in the minds of men-in the records oil
fame-not only in the pages of history
but lives in that serene light which ema-
mates from the presence of God-lives a
sentient, glorious. and glorified being, and
We assemble here to-day to thank God
that he lived, to thank God that he lives,
and to commemorate the Tooth annlVer-
sary of the dawn of a greater life unto
the greatest life that was ever lived by
mere mortal.
I'VE may not withhold the higest need
of praise from the great minds who con-
ceived and framed the CONSTITUTE on. Every
wind that blows from the Virginia hills;
every wave that laps her shores and the
shores OF the great 13 States would re-
buke the voice that dare belittle the work
of Madison and Hamilton, Franklin, and
Morris. But these men were the sculptors.
the designers, who with infinite toll and
patience and genius and skill made the clay
model. Washington was the workman
that cast the figure in the enduring bronze
that now for over century has stood the
rain and the hail and the mist of doubt and
distrust, the storm of war, the deadly
canker of corruption, and the hurricane
of party strife.
"ALASl THE BUILDER"
"No wonder that when he died man felt
as though the keystone of the arch had
fallen and the beautiful structure was
doomed, and from every heart there went
up the mournful cry another time and age
once heard: Alas! the builder.
mo wonder that party spirit died and
factions ceased to war for at least while.
And to whom could speak with greater
confidence than to you, my brethren
brethren in the sacred tie which realizes
as well as humanity can realize the SEN
timent which maketh of one blood all ma
tons of men, And where could | speak
with deeper feeling than here in the home
of our great brother-our brother who was
not too great to be good, not too grand to
mingle upon the level with his brethren
of the mystic tie, and to serve the craft.
when called upon for service, even as he
was ready to serve his country up to his
dying hour.
Il have seen it stated and insisted that
Washington was never Mason, or If ever
one, ceased to recognize his membership
or obligations. Washington never failed
to recognize any obligation from the great
est to the smallest. This was one OF the
characteristics of the man, one OF the char
actersticS of every truly great man, one OF
the characteristics that man derives IRON
God, to whom there is nothing great or small,
in whose august VISION the lall OF lne spar
row is observed as well as the wreck OF
world That Washington was made
Mason in Fredericksburg Lodge, No. a,
Aug. 4, 1903, no man can deny; L, my
self, have seen the record.
FIRST WORSHIPFUL MASTER.
"That he was a charter member of
Alexandria Lodge (now Alexandria Wash
ington) No. %, and its first Worshipful
Master can be proven by as indiSputaple
evidence as that he was our first PreSl-
dent That Lafayette was made Ma
son in his presence is beyond dispute, and
to-day we have here the Masonic regalia
worked by Nine. Lafayette, presented to
Washington by Lafayette himself, and ac-
cepted by him as a Mason. And to-day
we have born the Bible. the jewels, and
the three lights borne by the Lodge at his
funeral as Mason, 100 years ago, and
hold in my hand as | speak the gavel he
used when clothed as Mason and acting
as Grand Master of Masons he laid the
cornerstone of the Capitol. What he
thought of Masonry can be easily found II
any one desires 10 find it, in his answers to
the addresses of Masonic Lodges in this
Union. Printed in his writings. they are
of easy access to every man, and he II was
matter when he said in answer to the ad-
dress of the Grand Lodge of Massachu-
setts to their 'llustrious Brother George
Washington on the 9th day of December.
1897, the great object of Masonry is to pro
mote the happiness of the human race.
when he wrote these words there were