The Dickinson press., 1911-02-25
In the older days of Art,
Builders wrought with greatest care

In the older days of Art,
Builders wrought with greatest care
Each minute and unseen part.
For the Gods see everywhere. -
is as applicable to this edifice as it was
to the structures of ancient Greece
had formed a rather lofty, conception Of
this place from what had heard and
from what l had read in the papers
while it was in process of constructions,
and I thought l had a pretty good idea
of it. But when saw il myself could
say with the Queen of Sheba, when she
hea I'd of the fame of Solomon, and
when she had seen all of Solomon's wis
dom and the house that he had built,
and the meat of his table, and the sit
tings of his servants and the attendance
of his ministers, Behold. the half was
not told me. -
May this temple be type of the
character of the men and women who
here periodically assemble. Environ-
ment is powerful factor in the making
of stability and purity of character.
know from several years experience in
working with young people that beauti-
ful surroundings, beautiful environment,
make for beauty in character. The re-
ining and unconscious influence going
out from this place must perforce give
tone and dignity and worth to those who
meet here and take part in the work Of
the various bodies of Free Masonry. OF
necessity an atmosphere Of chivalry, Of
nobility of magnanimity, must pervade
place like this. Admitting all this,
let no one forget that il was not the
Parthenon, not the styles of architecture,
Ionic, Doric and Corinthian, that made
the Greeks the most beautiful people on
the face of the earth. On the contrary.
it was the artistic sense and love of the
beautiful, as exemplified by the Greek 8,
that made these things possible. 1t was
not the Coliseum and Roman law that
made the Romans great nation and
gave them prominent place in the
worlds history. 1t was her great men
with great thoughts that gave her large
place among the nations of the world.
It was not Michael Angelo's Moses that
gave the sculptor spiritual and artistic
insight. It was the beauty in Michael
Angelo's soul that made possible those
noble, 1ifelike pieces of statuary. Brick
and mortar. granite and marble do not
give worth to life. This structure will
only typify truth when the persons who
here assembled are men and women of
real worth, of stamina, of unfinching
integrity, of spotless character. The
real high school on the hill is not the
beautiful and substantial building. The
real high school is the teachers and the
boys and girls who work there. and its
worth should be determined by the work
they do. The real masonic lodge is not
this temple, its fixtures and furniture,
but it is the men and women who give
of themselves to make the world nearer
akin, and the magnitude of its worth is
determined by the work of its members.
cannot imagine how anyone can pro-
fame this building by living dishonest.
unclean. impure, unholy life. but rather
that everyone will live true to the
noblest capacities Of his being, and in
obedience to the highest law of his
nature. would have everyone rise to
his opportunity, magnify his position in
these bodies, through purity of character.
through righteousness of life. and
through nobility Of purpose, square his
life with the ideas expressed in this
structure. and reach that lofty concep-
tion of life expressed in the words Of
Holmes.
Build thee more stately. mansions, o
my soul,
As the swift seasons roll;
Leave thy low vaulted past;
Let each new temple, nobler than the
!. last,
Shut thee from heaven with a dome
more vast,
Till thou at length art free.
Leaving thine outgrown shell by life's
unrestina sea. -
It is no mean ambition to choose the
large things before the small. 1.-The broad
things before the narrow, the profound
things before the superficial. the high
things before the low. To feel purely,
to have the heart right. to have the
appetite under control. to have desire
pure, to have affection aspiring, lifting
itself on buoyant wings Of noblest
aspiration. is task to be cherished.
What if, as Emerson says. we should
fako hoth rons,f al ;0n }ond I;fo ~ Hand