The Roswell daily record. [volume] (Roswell, N.M.) 1903-current, 1910-02-22
IN HONOR OF
WASHINGTON

Alexandria. Va Feb. 22.-Tle
movement to erect a permanent ma
sonic memorial to George Washing
ton took its first definite form today
Secretary of War Dickinson, and the
grand masters of many cnasonic grand
lodges met here with other distin-
guisned men of the fraternity to form
National Masonic Memorial Asso-
citation. Perhaps 10 masonic celebra-
tion ever held anywhere in America
has been more elaborate.
In this quaint old town of ivy-cov-
cred walls and rambling gardens, up
On street laid out by the young sur
veyor. near the spot where in 1854
Braddock's young colonel quartered
his troops before the fateful cnarch to
the Ohio; near the historic old lodge
where he was a master and in the
midst of a field rich in the events of
lis life and memory, it will be tAe
,urpose OF this association to erect a
temple to George Washington, a Ma
son. Set apart in the structure will
be hall of fame in which space will
be allotted to all the grand jurisdic-
tions in the country to place tablets
to the memories of their distinguish
ed sons.
The memorial would stand on
Washington street Close by is the old
Christ Church where in his mature
years, Washington served as a vestry
man. On a field not far off he held
his last military review Across a
shaded green in the stately old court
house he cast ais last vote, and there
his will is fled.
Alexandria, by undisputed consent.
is the natural site for the memorial.
Washington moved to Mount Vernon
when ne was sixteen with his half
brother Lawrence, and until the chill
raw day of ais death it was his home
and Alexandria was his home town.
He became a menber of it's council
represented it in the house of Bur
gosses endowed it's schools, establish
its fire department and was master
of it's lodge.
The men who will form the asso-
citation met today in the same Alex
andria Washington Lodge room, where
Washington occupied the masters
chair. While no fixed plan could be
announced prior to the assembly OF
all the grand masters, it is in short
the purpose of the lodge to raise ST.
100000 TO build and endow the me-
mortal. The institution will be unique
among tne memorials of the world
and will permit every grand jurisdic-
tion to honor every -nason ii esteems
to be deserving with leaf in its hall
of fame a photograph and a biogra-
phy.
The gathering of such men of pro-
minence in the old lodge was i'm
pressive. Alexandra Washington
Lodge No % made Washington its
worshipful grand master in 17SS. AT
his request in 1871 it laid the corner
stone of the District of Columbia and
two years later assisted in laying the
corner stone OF the national capitol.
In 1899 1t performed the masonic ce-
recnonies at his funeral.
In its halls, crowded with precious
momentoes. his memorial was Or
ganized today. There hangs the old
| charter granted by Edmund Ran
| dolph, grand master of Masons in Vir-
ginia, in 1888. Close by it's pendu-
lun COrO OIt anu It's QdnuS pointing
| to twenty minutes after ten in the
| evening-the hour and the minute of
his death-stands the old bed cham
Der clock No money could buy this
silent old tale bearer. Nearby in a
case is the little trowel he used at
laying the capitol cornerstone. pn
another are his wedding gloves, mis-
i pocket compasses. farm spurs. piece
of his tent used at Yorktown, his old
fashioned medicine scales and an elo-
quent token of his reverence for ais
nother-a little knife she gave him
as a reward for his obedience and
which he treasured for Sc years.
TIE Williams picture painted from
life in 1894, hangs on another wall.
II cannot escape the eye, for IL is
much unlilxe the accepted likeness of
Washington. H. shows the man in his
extreme old age and is the only ori-
ginal life picture extant, in masonic
regalia. His masonic apron embroid
cred IN gold with French and Ameri
can flags entwined, presented to the
lodge In 1912 by his nephew Law
renee Lewis. hangs nearby. The on.
/, " original painting of the Lord Fair