Evening star., 1932-05-30
MASONIC SERVICES.
|LAUD WASHINGTON
| AS MAN Of ACTION
Did More, Said Less Than
Others of His Time, Cathe.
| GaI Speaker Says.
BETTER THAN A GENIUS,
REV. J. F. NEWTON HOLDS
Failure to Note Election as First
President in Diary Is
Explained.

! The mystery of George Washington.
slle american, VINO said less and did
more than any other public man of his
tlme," was expounded by Rev. Joseph
| Fort Newton, co-rector OF ST. James
| Church in Philadelphia, at the national
| Masonic services held in Washington
| Cathedral yesterday.
describing Washington as an empire
builder whose comment at the close Of
the Constitutional Convention was
! limited to mention of its members tav-
| ern, political figure who forgot to
note in his diary that he was elected
First President of the United States yet
never failed to record the birth of a
! new litter of puppies at Mount Vernon.
DR.. Newton deplored the fact the great
! est man Of the Revolutionary generation
should have faded Into a cold marble
statute in the hall of history"
Washingtons forcefulness was not in
agile intellectually, oratorical power,
financial wizardry, legal acumen or
knowledge of political science DR.. New
ton said. but in the symmetry of use
full, reliable, unspectacular powers, held
together and harmoniZed by moral
weight and worth
There was in him certain stateli-
ness Of soul, blend of courage, en-
durance, foresight, integrity and moral
authority, more useful by far than the
glittering gifts of other men," the
speaker said.
Better Than a Genius"
IF he was not a genius, he was some-
thing better-a still. strong wise. clear
seeing man who picked his way amid
the intrigues of friends and the trickery
OF foes, leading his people to victory,
peace and honor-a mountain-man
against whom storms beat in vain.
In diary where so much is left
out, it is not surprising to find only one
Masonic entry If he forgot or neg
lected to make note of the fact that he
was elected President. it is not strange
that We fail to find any report of the
lodge meetings. In the midst of a day
of planting pear trees, orange burgo-
mots and brown berries he does tell us
that he went to Alexandria to march
with the brethren in Masonic funeral
procession. We know he was master OF
Alexandria Lodge for 20 months. eight
by appointment of the Grand Lodge Of
Virginia and II by election. What he
! thought of Freemasonry. and how high
| ly he valued 1t for its patriotism, as we'll
as its emphasis upon righteousness and
| benevolence,' to use the words with
| which he describes it. we know from his
Masonic letters. rich volume of which
remains.
Joined Before He Was of Age.
"Our First President loved the Ma
sonic fraternity, having entered it be-
fore he was OF age. at Fredericksburg
Lodge. Virginia. in 1852, and in its fell
loWship he died, honored by his
brethren for his character and COM
panionship. He knew that it is not a
political party. but profoundly patriotic;
not church, yet it rests upon spiritual
faith and moral principles, and he was
not unaware Of its extraordinary infiu-
ence in shaping the life and freedom
| OF our Republic. He took his oath as
President on a Bible taken from a Ma
sonic altar, and he was laid to rest
at last with the simple rites of a great
and ancient order whose fellowship he
| adorned. At one time it was proposed
to form United Grand Lodge of the
United States, with Washington as the
! first general grand master But it
was not to be so, Masonic development
! having taken a different direction in
America; but the Freemasonry of the
Republic united to erect at Alexandria
the most imposing monument ever up
lifted in honor of any mortal man.
| of the religion of Washington, a
word ought to be added. He was neither
an ideal churchman whom the eulogists
describe, nor an indifferentiSt, if not
unbeliever, as the iconoclastS would
have us think. But he was re-
ligious in his own quiet way, accept
ing. the realities of faith and revela-
tion in the same matter of fact manner
in which he accepted all other realities.
1t has been said that he seldom made
his communion, on the ground that
it was not fitting that a man of war
| should do So If he was an infreQuent
communicate, it was due, rather some
Of us think, to the fact that he was
neither a poet nor a mystic. and so
did not see the full meaning Of that
sublime sacrament. In this respect he
was like many other men in his day,
and in our own His real religion is
to be found not in a ceremony, but in
| the quality of his character, and in
his high, disinterested service to his
country and his race.
| Called Man of Action
| eff we are to understand Washing
ton at all, We must remember that he
was distinctly a man of action, with
the great qualities and the great limi-
| tationS of a man of action. He was
born to do, to achieve, to lead, not
to think, to write, or to dream; he
| lived not IN Ideas or feelings, but IN
duties and deeds. Caesar also was a
man of action-perhaps the greatest
that ever lived-but he also was a
poet, an orator man of letters. Not
so Washington, who had no skill in
] such arts. He was a man of action
pure and simple and as such has had
few to equal him in achievement, and
our Republic is at once his monument
and his memorial. He did more and
said less than any man of his age"
! The services yesterday were under
the auspices of the George Washington
Bicentennial Commission and members
of the House and Senate who are Ma
sons were special guests of Bishop
James E. Freeman, who welcomed the
visitors from the chancel. Canon Ray
mond L. Wolven. chaplain to the
Bishop of Washington, conducted the
proceedings, which were broadcast owe,
WMAL. A musical program was fur
nished by the Cathedral choir of mer
and boys. directed by Edgar Priest.
Delegations from the District of Co.
lumbia Masonic lodges, Knights Tenn.
plar, Kallipolis Grotto Almas Shrine
Tall Cedars of Lebanon and Order oi
the Eastern Star we're in attendance
and also officers of the Grand Ma.
sonic Lodges of the District and oi
| MARYLAND