Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1910-02-22
MASONIC HEADS
DECORATE TOMB
i OF WASHINGTON
Also Form National Memorial
Association in Plan to Erect
Shaft in Virginia.

ALEXANDRIA, Va, Feb. 22.-The
sonic memorial to George Washington
took its first definite form today, when
General j. NJ. Dickinson. secretary of
war. and the grand masters of many
Masonic grand lodges met here with
other distinguished men of the frater-
nifty to form a National Masonic Memo
rial Association. Perhaps. no Masonic
celebration ever held anywhere in
America has been more elaborate.
In this quaint old town of ivy-cov-
cred walls and rambling gardens, upon
a street laid out by the young surveyor.
near the spot where in 1854 B~raddock's
young colonel quartered his troops be-
fore the fateful march 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 his life and memory, it
will be the purpose of this association
TO erect a temple to George Washing
ton, a Mason. Set apart in the struc-
ture will be a hall of fame, in which
space will be allotted to all the grand
jurisdictions in the country to place
tablets to the memories of their distin-
guished sons.
The memorial would stand on Wash
ington street. Close by is the old Christ
Church, where, in his mature years.
Washington served as a vestryman. On
a field not far off he held his last mill
tary review. Across a shaded green in
the stately old court house he cast his
last vote, and there his will is filed.
la n Natural Site.
A.a. .l.,o r.. ..xl.--,k~1 -1rzaoa a.
the natural site for the memorial.
Washington moved to Mount Vernon
when he was sixteen. with his half
brother Lawrence, and until the chill,
raw day of his death it was his home,
and Alexandria was his home town.
He became a member of its council,
represented it in the house of burgesses.
endowed its schools, established its fire
department and was master of its lodge
The men who will form the associa-
ton met today in the same Alexandria
Washington lodge room, where WASH
ington occupied the masters chair.
While no fixed plan could be
prior to the assembly of all the grand
masters, it is In short the purpose Of the
lodge to raise 81, 000, 900 to build and en-
dow the memorial. The institution will
be unique among the memorials of the
world, and will permit every grand
jurisdiction to honor every Mason it
esteems to be deserving with a leaf in
it's hall of fame, a photograph and biog-
raphy.
The gathering of such men of promi-
nence in the old lodge was impressive.
Alexandria Washington Lodge No. %
made Washington its worshipful
master in 1888. At his request in 1871
it laid the cornerstone of the District
of Columbia, and two years later as
sisted in laying the cornerstone of the
national capitol. In 1893 it performed
the Masonic ceremonies at his funeral.
In its halls, crowded with precious
momentoes, his memorial was organ
lied today. There hangs the old char
ter granted by Edmund Randolph.
grand master of Masons in Virginia, in
1888. Close by, it's pendulum cord cut
and it's hands pointing to twenty min
utes after 10 in the e~vening-the hour
and the minute of his death-stands the
old bed-chamber 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. In an
other are his wedding gloves, his pocket
COIIlDdSstS, IdiII SpuipS a piSNN - ifS
tent used at Yorktown, his old-fash-
toned medicine scales and an eloquent
token of his reverence for his mother
a little knife she gave to him as a re-
ward for his obedience and which he
treasured for fifty-six years.
Contains His Picture.
The Williams picture, painted from
life in 1894, hangs on another wall. 1t
cannot escape the eye. for it is much
unlike the accepted likenesses of Wash
ington. 1t shows the man in his ex-
treme Did age, and is the only original
life picture extant, in Masonic regalia.
His Masonic apron embroidered in gold,
with French and American flags en-
twined, presented to the lodge in 1872
by his nephew, Lawrence Lewis, hangs
nearby. The only original painting OF
Lord Fairfax, Wa%shington's early
patron and friend, is ais there.
The masters chair, occupied by Cen
eral Washington in presiding over the
lodge, stands in a glass case. from
which it is removed only on e%xtraor-
binary occasions. 1t is 122 years old
and was in constant use for III years.
Scores of other things of his day, the
old chairs and benches of the lodge still
III use, the 'front.' 0OOi Key u lhS
Bastile, presented in 1925 by Lafayette.
which have come from relatives and
friends, are valued beyond estimate,
There had been a sentiment against
choosing a new site for the memorial.
but for a great many reasons the one
proposed on Washington street is bet
ter fitted to the purposes Of a national
undertaking and the necessities have
o~utwelghed the patriotic sentiment and
have won a graceful consent to the new
site.
Today's first meeting. held in the
lodge-room. adjourned at noon and all
went to Mount Vernon by a special
train. The party of distinguished men
walked along the bluff that oyerlooks
the majestic river and laid a wreath
upon the tomb. They then returned to
the lodge at Alexandria for comforting
of degrees.
Tonight at the annual banquet of the
old lodge Secretary of Wan Dickinson
James D. Richardson, sovereign grand
commander. Scottish Rite Masons;
Representatives Charles c. CARING and