Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1921-03-21
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MAS0NS TO GO
ON PILGRIMAGE
TO ALEXANDRIA
George Washington's Admis-
sion to Masonry Will Be OBJ
served by Whole Country.

A number Of Masons from Montana.
with, members Of the order from all
over the United States, will begin this
summer making pilgrimages to the
| lodge at Alexandria, Va, OF which
! George Washington was master. Ma
sons Of New York City will inaugurate
these pilgrimages May 80 when delega-
! lions will visit Washington, u. Y. Alex
andria. and Fredericksburg. The bis
trict Of Columbia Masons make their
pilgrimage May 8. Plans Ut Alexandria
are being made by Charles II. Call
ahan, while the plans for the New
York Masons and for the lasons OF
| the country are being outlined by Il. w.
Sidney, Morse Masonic hall, New Aork
city.
| From Every State.
Like Crusaders of old, the plans call
for hundreds of Masons from every
state to make the pilgrimage in the
! thew will visit the site of the proposed
Masonic National Memorial to George
Washington, then they 60 to Mt. Yer
non. 1t was the site that was once
proposed for the capital Of the nation
but Washington did not approve of that
plan for fear people would say ne was
too closely connected with property
holdings in the vicinity, as Mt. Vernon
is but few miles below Alexandria:
The Alexandria lodge, Of which
| Washington was master has much that
will call the Masons not only of the
| United States but of the world to that
city. To Fredericksburg, however, goes
the honor of making Washington a
Mason. Lodge No. 4, A. F. 4 A. ~,
conferred the Entered Apprentice, Eel
low Craft, and Master Mason degrees
on the future first President of the
II United States. That was in 1853. the
/ lodge having been chartered in l152.
In Alexandria the Masons will find the
old lodge room much the same as In
Washington's time This is lodge No.
%. The chair Washington sat in. the
apron he used, and implements of the
order are still there. 1t is interesting
to recall that the oath OF office as
President was administered to Wash
ington by Robert r. Livingston. first
Grand Master of Free and Accepted
Masons in New York.
Franklin Was Master.
Inception of Masonry in this country
was about the same time as Washing
toms birth, and Benjamin Franklin was
the master of the first lodge organized
at the ''Iun' or Sun Tavern, in Phila-
delphia. On June 5. 1870. Daniel Coke
was appointed BY deputation from the
Duke Of Norfolk, Grand Master OF
England, to be the first provincial
Grand Master of New York. New Jer-
! sey, and Pennsylvania. and the year
following the first lodge in America
was granted q warrant or charter. This
was the lodge of which Benjamin
Franklin became the master.
| The Union lodge had AS
UNIQUE formation and life as any Ma
sonic lodge in history in NIL probability
J 1t was organized in the Continental
army under Washington during the
siege Of Boston. Afterwards there
: were 10 military lodges. Records show
that General Washington attended {
lodge at Cambridge during the war ove1
which an orderly sergeant presided a:
master He also attended lodge a
! Morristown, n. j., and at Nelson ::
Point on the Hudson, at Newburgh, y
: T., at Poughkeepsie, and later became
: an honorary member Of the Pennsyl
; vania Masons. General Lafayette, OF
= his visit to this country long after tn
= war. presented Washington with Ma
sonic apron.
,. AS a Master Mason Washington lai
e the cornerstone of the capitol at Wash
ington, wearing the apron Lafayett
e had given him. The Bible he ksse,
upon being inaugurated president j
g the same one that President Harding
!: used at his Inauguration. This Bib
I: is the valued possession of st. John
! Lodge No. 1, Of New York. A specia
n committee in 2 private car carried tn
/ Bible to the Harding Inauguration. Thi
:; Bible, now 135 years old, cannot b
q taken from its vault except in tn
presence Of at least three past master
g of st. Johns lodge.
t. November next is to be a specis
q day in Masonic circles all over tn
ID country. The date has been set by tn
10 Most Worshipful Grand Master Of Viz
pinia for that is the date in 1852 @whe
n Washington was made an Entered Az
r; prentice Mason. Every lodge in tn
y, United States will mark the day.