The Tucumcari news and Tucumcari times. [volume] (Tucumcari, N.M.) 1907-1921, 1909-12-25

ciety and good order among men, and
he perceived It's possibilities. No man
ever discerned the mission Of Masonry
more clearly, NO one before or since
gave such n life time to It's development.
II he had done nothing more than write
Morals aud Dogma his name would
have been forever cntitled TO n place
upon the Masonic shrine. That IL an
amazing book-amazing alike for its
wealth of learning, the breadth and
sanity Of its teachings, and the lucidity
and beauty Of its style. II IL classical.
ly simple. No man can read II without
feeling that he has visited the high
places Of wisdom aud truth, led by u
master, who knew. When he came
to his throne In 1859, he found the Scot.
fish Rite little more than u series Of
crude, incohercnt, disconnected degrees
aud six or seven of them consisted Of
the words and signs alone. At once
he set about to recast the Rite aud put
II upon a higher level, writing those
rituals and lectures which are 80 much
admired, and which have been trans
lated into ~ many tongues. Such "a
task gave free play to the artist soul
within him, from which his life aud
thought took form aud culor-his poet.
ic genius, his sense Of the fitness Of
things, his mastery Of language, his
faith, his hope, his dream. So he
wrought, m Angelo wrought In the
Sistinc chapel, giving to moral truth
a form worthy Of its beauty and mean
ing, and the imprint of his genius will
never fade from the temples Of this order
II Is deeply apparent even 10 "A non. Ma.
Sou who digs deep into the history Of
Masonry. Nature. genius and culture
had fitted Pike for such n labor. The
note of his intellect was beauty; its
depths were the depth Of beauty; its
the soul of an artist he joined a rich
aud warm humanity, which made him
an ideal priest in the temple Of fratcr.
nifty. TO his skill as an architect he
added the parallel genius Of a scholar,
aud To the altar Of his rite he brought
the lore of all the ages, the myth aud
legend, the sacrihcial rites and sacred
ccrcmonials OF all the races. lie was
of those who believed in the utility Of
the Ideal, In the Spiritual meaning of
life, in the moral influence of beauty,
aud IN the efficacy Of art to surprise and
cmbody the elusive Spirit Of Truth
which visits the earth with inconstant
wing aud f~lceting shape.
Like hucs aud harr, MES Of evening,
Like clouds in start. Pht widely spread,
lax mcmor. q music fled.
Lin" auRht that for It's grace may be,
Dear, yet, dearcf for Is mystery. -
such AN artist, poet, Mason, was Al
bert Pike. A. Grand Commander he
ruled not less by the divine right Of
genius and character than by the love
Of the bodies Of his bedicnce-ruled
with a stately aud an airable grace, wise
in council, skilled in healing schism,
fertile Of inspiration, his one passion
aside from the good Of the Graf,
being that he should never work an
injustice. Un~foTgetablc alike are b.,
dignity, his humility, the unpretentious
ucss Of his mental and moral bigness,
and the kindness hat softened even the
sternness of his discipline. Memorable
were his encyclicals and allocutions and
his tributes to his friends-such as those
TO Robert Toombs and James A. Gar
fcld-written with the lucidity OF
Thumycides and the charm of Cicero
urbane always, he was at times a mas,
ter OF mvcctive and satire, AS witness
his Iprers and letters in the "Cerneau
6chate' and his famous reply to the
hull Of Pope Leo against Masonry.
Ills great labor Of love for Mason,
over Pike betook himself more and
more to "that city Of the mind, built
hgR'rs; outward distraction FOR inwa!i
consolation and shelter" lie master
81 snsny languages and lived in q
world combined OF Masonry and letters
al n was rs a patriarch IT old rein
carnated and sublimated by modern us
s"'Ia.iuns that in April Of 1891 he fel
,%slcei without fear and without 70
gre SO passed Albert rike. Nc
purci, ncbler maj. has stood at the nj
tar Of Masonry and left has story Ia
II traditions. lie was the nost emin
cr' 'lssoh in the world, 10, only b,
'n'ur IT his 'gh rank, iT by tn,
tr'iiits of his genius, the richness u
hs u%'ture, aud the enduring gIories Of
hr' service. Npf will MsSoo. , ever per
mu ?" ri"w am the memOt, OF tina