USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Worcester > The history of Montacute Lodge A.F. & A.M. > Part 4
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BY-LAWS
June 11, 1956 a new code of By-Laws was adopted and became operative in September. This is the fourth code to govern
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HISTORY OF MONTACUTE LODGE A.F. & A.M.
Montacute Lodge. The original one became effective at the consti- tution of the Lodge, June 28, 1859. Entire new codes were adopted in 1896 and 1916.
MEMBERSHIP
The remaining events in our history are too recent to be re- corded here. From a Charter membership of 27 the Lodge steadily grew until there were 334 when it was twenty-five years old, 484 at its fiftieth anniversary, with a maximum membership of 792 in 1928. Then came the depression and ground was lost until 1941 when the membership had dropped to 601. After this the tide turned and our membership on June 23, 1958 was 722. Ninety-two of these have served as Worshipful Master, seventeen as Treasurer and nineteen as Secretary.
CONCLUSION
The year is now 1958. One hundred years have come and gone. The frontier is not the West but outer space. The inventive genius of man has produced wonders not even dreamed of when Montacute Lodge was born. But it has not produced peace and harmony among the nations. May the Spirit of Freemasonry so enter the hearts of all men that a better world will greet our breth- ren of fifty and one hundred years hence.
FREEMASONRY IN OUR TIME
Sermon delivered by Rev. Thomas S. Roy, D.D., L.H.D., D.Sc., Past Grand Master of Masons in Massachusetts, at Montacute Lodge Centennial Service in Old South Church, Worcester on June 22, 1958.
We come this morning to the second phase of our observance of the one hundredth anniversary of Montacute Lodge. Having set out to celebrate this anniversary, it is altogether fitting and proper that we pause at this point to acknowledge the goodness of God, to thank Him for His blessings, and to pray for His guidance and strength for the days to come.
I am sincerely grateful for the signal honor of being invited to preach the sermon on this memorable occasion, which for me is altogether unique. No person has ever before preached a centennial sermon for Montacute Lodge; nor will it ever be done again.
On behalf of Montacute Lodge I wish to express our very great thanks to the Rev. C. Fraser Keirstead who is Pastor of this church, and to the members of Old South for their very gracious act of in- viting us to share in their service today. It is a distinct privilege for us to worship today in the oldest church in Worcester.
Montacute Lodge is proud of the honor of having Most Worship- ful Andrew Gray Jenkins, Grand Master of Masons in Massachusetts here today. We know something of the exacting demands of his office and we are grateful for his presence at our party last eve- ning and at this service today. We look forward to his return for our climax meeting tomorrow evening.
I do not share the sentiment, so often expressed, that just to have existed for a hundred years is nothing to be proud of. It is true that there are trees in this city older than that. But even a tree that has lived for a hundred years has weathered the storms and reveals an inherent vitality not possessed by its erstwhile neighbors that went down before the storm or succumbed to disease. This Lodge was
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erected in a day of turmoil when the country was torn asunder. It was a day of fierce fanaticisms when the passions of men flamed out in bitter hatred, sometimes base treachery and wanton cruelty, and finally internecine war. When this Lodge was erected there were probably those who said to one another that it was no time to organize a group conceived in the consciousness of man's inher- ent worth and dedicated to the proposition that men can live to- gether in brotherhood. To have lifted its head above the conflicts of those turbulent days and to have survived the subsequent shocks of war, disaster and depression indicates a ruggedness of character and a tenacity of purpose that demand our highest tribute today.
We are not so naïve, however, as to think of the Lodge as an entity that exists in and of itself. It has no existence apart from those who constitute its membership. Therefore it is the founders of this Lodge and those who have given it direction and support in difficult days whom we honor today. We are grateful for the quali- ties they possessed and the abilities they put into action.
We live in a day of clever phrases and banal clichés. One of the most cynical consists of the two words, "So what." To us it is said: "You are a hundred years old, so what." It is true that after we have acknowledged all that the past has given to us as heritage we are faced with the question of the meaning of Freemasonry for today. While we may have an antiquarian's interest in the past, we have to live in the present. Therefore our primary interest is in Free- masonry in our time. The one question that demands a satisfactory answer is this: Has Freemasonry got what it takes to be a construc- tive force in the day in which we live?
I. THE UNIVERSAL QUALITY IN FREEMASONRY
This question finds an affirmative answer in the fact of the universal quality of our philosophy, our principles and our teach- ings. The probability is that when most men think of our degrees they think of them as involving a ritual designed to impress the candidate at the time of initiation, but with no particular relevance to the life situations he must face; and because it is for Masons only, with no interest to those outside the Craft. Nothing could be further from the truth. Our ritual is universally true. It is not true for Masons only, and then under certain circumstances in life; it is
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true for all men, at all times and under all circumstances. The great philosopher, Kant, gave to the world what he called a categorical imperative. It is categorical because it admits of no conditions and no exceptions. "Act," he said, "as if the maxim of thy will were to become by thy adopting it a universal law of nature." This means that we must act in such fashion that it would be safe and beneficial for the whole world to act that way. Freemasonry conforms to this categorical imperative, for that which we proclaim as ideal and teach as practical may be safely universalized.
This needs no stronger confirmation than in the wide adoption of Freemasonry by men of all races and all faiths. Men of every race, of every color, of many tongues have found in Freemasonry the response to their need for fellowship and brotherhood. You will find members of the Craft in every country of the world. Sometimes it is the only unifying force in a country. For example, there is a Grand Lodge of the State of Israel, one of whose constituent Lodges is composed almost exclusively of Arabs. Within that Lodge Jew and Arab find a fellowship that transcends the political differ- ences that have torn the Near East to shreds.
Men of diverse faiths come together in Freemasonry. Free- masonry is identified for the most part as a Protestant organization. In the United States it is almost exclusively Protestant. However, this is not because of our history or our constitutions. There is not one word in Freemasonry that would even suggest that it is Protes- tant. Inasmuch as operative, that is Craft or Guild Masonry existed before the Reformation, the original Craft Lodges were entirely Roman Catholic. Following the so-called revival of Freemasonry with the organization of the first Grand Lodge, the Grand Lodge of England in 1717, there were as many Catholics as Protestants in the order. Because it demonstrates the universal quality of Free- masonry, I am rather proud of the fact that when the Grand Lodge of England granted a charter to establish the Provincial Grand Lodge of Massachusetts in 1733, the Grand Master of Masons in England who signed that charter was a Roman Catholic named Anthony Brown, Lord Montague. Our Lodge was named for him, for Montacute is a variant of Montague. The greatest patriot that Ireland ever had was Daniel O'Connell, and Daniel O'Connell was a Mason. He was Master of a Lodge, indeed was Master of two Lodges. There were as many Masons of his faith in Ireland as of
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ours, with some Lodges composed entirely of clergymen of that faith. When you remember that the principles and the ritual of Freemasonry is the same today as it was then you will realize that it has always had a universal appeal to which the best consciences in all religions have responded.
Freemasonry makes this universal appeal because its emphasis has always been upon basic realities. It refuses to make demands upon men in the way of belief and loyalty that are not inherent in those realities. It denies that religion is an end in itself and that men must be used to serve that end. It insists that religion is a means to an end, bringing to men the spiritual resources that will enable them to realize life at the level of the best of which they are capable. It denies that unity consists in finding a final theory of God and the universe. It affirms the unity that acknowledges the sovereignty of God over all life, the validity of the claims of God upon all life and our duty to do the will of God in all life. It affirms a unity that transcends the accidents of race, and creed, and class- a unity that is created by our loyalty to the realities expressed by the prophet Micah twenty-seven hundred years ago when he said: "What doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God."
II. PROGRESS
Freemasonry has what it takes to be a constructive force in the life of the world and is relevant to every life situation because of its emphasis upon progress.
In your home, as in mine there are probably objects that you treasure for one reason or another. It may be because of their an- tiquity, or because of their association with a person or place. I have a bit of pottery that was given to me by a friend before I left Lima in Peru. It is a container of some sort, with a spout on it, or quite long neck. There is a grotesque face on it, as ugly as anything you ever saw. But many hundreds, or perhaps a thousand years ago it was used by the Incas to hold wine or water. I treasure it because of its age and its association with a lost civilization. It has no other value.
Freemasonry is not like that. It is not a treasure, valued as an heirloom is valued because of its antiquity and to be jealously
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guarded. It is not that which carries us back to the past, but that which challenges and inspires us to look forward and use its prin- ciples to shape the future. Freemasonry by its very nature insists upon progress.
Too often it happens that an organization with high ideals and worthy objectives becomes completely absorbed in the secondary interest of perpetuating itself. It is not seeking for light in the inter- est of realizing its objectives, but is looking for that which will support its claims to validity as an organization. My study of reli- gion as it has developed across the centuries compels the conclu- sion that sometimes what began as a positive faith in something big, and compelling, and universal degenerated into a negative prejudice against all other beliefs. Instead of seeking for clearer truth the organization has become absorbed in establishing its claim to infallibility as the source and custodian of all truth. We are not interested in keeping Freemasonry alive as an organization just for the sake of keeping it alive. We are not interested in trying to justify our right to live today because of something that happened a hun- dred years ago, or a thousand years ago. Rather are we interested in making the present so vital that it will give both meaning and worth to all that the Masons of days gone by have done to make the present possible.
All of which means that as Masons we are irrevocably committed to the idea of progress. We believe that in spite of all that we have received, light has come to us but partially. There is no finality in the search for truth. John Robertson was pastor of the church of the Pilgrims in Leyden in Holland. He was preaching the final sermon to those members of the church who were to embark and even- tually find their way to Plymouth. His most significant word to them was to remember that God hath yet more light to break from His Holy Word. More light! Kipling, the Mason, advanced the same idea in his poem, "The Explorer." The explorer was inclined to believe those in the little border station tucked away among the foothills that it was the end of the trail, that there was no use going further. But there came the "everlasting whisper," the voice within that kept repeating that there was something lost behind the ranges, lost and waiting for him, and that he must go on.
This is Freemasonry's message, isn't it? There is something lost behind the ranges. There is a lost word, there is a lost secret, there
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is a lost principle beyond our sight, beyond our immediate knowl- edge, and we must keep going on, for we are either explorers or exploiters. We are either pushing on as seekers for the ultimate word, the principle that will help us to lead the world into a new day, or we are shamelessly exploiting that which has been so hard- won by the pioneers of yesterday as we use it for our pleasure or our profit. Our acknowledgment of what we owe to the explorers of yesterday is measured by the effort we put into the search for light today, for whether it was the explorer Abraham, who went out though he knew not whither he went, or the scientist who dreamed his way to automation, or the physician who took the race beyond the fear of yellow fever and sleeping sickness and now polio, or the founders of this Lodge who believed that we should not stand still, but use every possible means to open new paths for men to the secrets of life; they all placed the world in their debt by their insistence upon progress.
Somewhere I have read the words that "it is no compliment to the fathers to camp where they fell." Certainly it is no compliment to the past to be satisfied with what it has brought us and so turn away from the future. Loyalty to the memories of a hundred years in Montacute Lodge demands that we carry Freemasonry closer to the problems of life. We do not live in a perfect world. We'd like to think that we live in a land of equal justice, where the rights of all men are equally respected, but honesty compels us to admit that it is not so. Some are compelled to think of themselves as sec- ond-class citizens. They are compelled to walk in the ditch while their self-constituted superiors walk the highway. Sometimes it seems as though demonic forces are at work releasing the worst in man in his inhumanity to his fellow man. Which means that as long as there is any taint of social injustice, as long as there is politi- cal corruption, as long as there is industrial exploitation, as long as there is religious superstition, and as long as there is tyranny of any sort, political or religious, just so long must we be seeking for the truth that sets men free, and just so long must we make Freemasonry the activating agent that will release within men the beneficent forces that will enable them to find their lives in unity and brotherhood.
This is the universal element in Freemasonry that makes it rele- vant to our time. I like the way that a Past Deputy Grand Master of
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our Grand Lodge expressed it. Roscoe Pound, eminent Masonic scholar and an honorary Past Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Nebraska once said this: "We, of all men, owe it to ourselves and to the world to be universal in spirit. Universality is a lesson the whole world is learning, and must learn, but we ought to be on the front bench of the world's school setting an example to our more backward fellows. Wherever in the world there is a Lodge of Ma- sons, there should be a focus of civilization, a center of the idea of universality, radiating reason to put down prejudice and advance justice in the disputes of peoples, and in the disputes of classes, and making for the peace and harmony and civilization that should prevail in this great Lodge of the world." And may God make Montacute Lodge wise and courageous and strong in the fulfillment of this ideal.
CELEBRATION OF THE 100TH ANNIVERSARY OF MONTACUTE LODGE
The three-day celebration of the 100th Anniversary of the insti- tution of Montacute Lodge commenced with a dinner and dance at Bullock Memorial Hall in the new State Mutual Life Assurance Co. building with a total attendance of 384 on Saturday, June 21, 1958.
Accommodations for Saturday, Sunday and Monday at Hotel Bancroft had been engaged for the Grand Master and the Grand Marshal with their wives and a bouquet of roses was placed in the parlor of their suite before their arrival Saturday afternoon. A limousine was also provided for their use while in Worcester.
The head table at one end of Bullock Memorial Hall was deco- rated with bouquets of cut flowers and a line of greenery through- out its entire length, while at the other end of the hall palms had been arranged on the platform.
At 6:30 P.M. the Grand Master and other head table guests marched into the hall and took their seats as indicated by place cards in accordance with a pre-arranged seating plan.
At the head table were M.W. Andrew G. Jenkins with Mrs. Jen- kins; R.W. Paul L. Perkins, Deputy Grand Master, with Mrs. Perkins; R.W. John W. Wilde, Junior Grand Warden, with Mrs. Wilde; M.W. Thomas S. Roy, Past Grand Master, with Mrs. Roy; R.W. Russell H. Gray, District Deputy Grand Master Brookfield 21st Masonic District, with Mrs. Gray; R.W. George H. Upton, Grand Marshal, with Mrs. Upton; Wor. B. Randolph Cady, Grand Standard Bearer, with Mrs. Cady; Wor. Albert W. Canedy, Grand Pursuivant, with Mrs. Canedy; Wor. E. Leslie Anderson, Master of Montacute Lodge, with Mrs. Anderson; Wor. David G. Gow, Past Master of Montacute Lodge and Chairman of the Guest Committee, with Mrs. Gow and Bro. Reginald W. Needham, Jr., Chaplain of Montacute Lodge, with Mrs. Needham.
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Each lady at the head table had been provided with a purple orchid corsage and she found at her place a complimentary 100th Anniversary Souvenir Plate.
After the invocation by the Chaplain, Bro. Reginald W. Need- ham, Jr., a delicious roast beef dinner was enjoyed which was pro- vided by Crotty Bros. of Boston, the State Mutual caterers, and during the meal organ selections were rendered by Jane Brunell.
At the conclusion of the dinner Wor. E. Leslie Anderson intro- duced M.W. Andrew G. Jenkins who made a few remarks appro- priate to Montacute's 100th Anniversary.
These were followed by vocal selections by Bro. David Miller and Mrs. Malama Providakes, the wife of Bro. Emmanuel Providakes.
The tables were cleared and a number of them were moved back to provide room for dancing.
First on the program was a Grand March led by M.W. and Mrs. Andrew G. Jenkins and R.W. and Mrs. George H. Upton followed by other Grand Officers, then the Past Masters and Officers of Montacute Lodge and then the members, all with their ladies.
The music was provided from the platform by Russell Cole's Orchestra of Worcester and the rest of the evening was spent in informal dancing interspersed with two demonstrations of square dancing by the Worcester Quadrille Club.
At the close of the evening each lady was presented with a black leather shopping memorandum inscribed in gilt with square and compasses, the Lodge name and the dates 1858-1958 also with a potted African Violet as favors.
Sunday morning, June 22, at 9 o'clock the lodge was opened in the Grecian Chamber by Wor. E. Leslie Anderson and then the members assembled in line on Ionic Avenue to march with police escort to The First Church Old South in Worcester, corner of Main and Wellington Streets. The march started at 9:35 o'clock to music provided by the church chimes and was led by the Marshal fol- lowed by the Inside Sentinel, the Tyler and the Stewards, then the members in fours. They were followed by Officers, Past Masters and Grand Officers in twos with the Most Worshipful Grand Master and the Master bringing up the rear.
As the procession entered the church, the historic Paul Revere Bell was tolled for the first time in about two decades, in honor of Montacute Lodge's 100th Anniversary by R.W. George A. Russell,
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District Deputy Grand Master of the Worcester 22nd Masonic Dis- trict and R.W. Clifford W. Greene, Grand Lecturer and Moderator of First Church Old South.
At the church reserved seats in front were occupied and a very enjoyable and inspiring service followed which was led by Rev. Bro. C. Fraser Keirstead, the Pastor, assisted by Wor. E. Leslie Anderson who read the Scripture Lesson and Associate Chaplain Smith G. Philips who offered the Prayer. M.W. Thomas Sherrard Roy delivered an outstanding sermon of special interest to Masons which was later printed for distribution to members and other Masons.
After the sermon Judge Walter D. Allen, Chairman of the Pru- dential Committee of the church, presented Wor. E. Leslie Ander- son with a history of the 242-year-old church.
The entire service was broadcast from radio station WTAG for the benefit of members who were unable to be present.
At the close of the service the Marshal led the procession back to the Temple in the same formation as in the procession to the church. At the Temple the members proceeded to the Grecian Chamber and the Officers and Past Masters divided in the lobby while the Marshal escorted the Grand Master and other Grand Officers between the lines. The Grand Master, Grand Officers and Past Masters then dispersed while the Officers continued on up- stairs to close the Lodge.
In the afternoon members and others with their families as- sembled at the Masonic Home in Charlton at about 3:30 o'clock and the weather was fair and ideal for an outing at the Home. The afternoon was spent in looking over the grounds and the Home and visiting with the residents. In front of the Home a band concert was given by the Aletheia Grotto Band until 5:30 o'clock at which time a buffet supper was served out-of-doors by Kendall Catering Co. of Fitchburg consisting of Chicken a la King, potato chips, rolls, coffee, ice cream and cakes. This concluded the outing and the visitors began to leave soon after with memories of a very enjoyable afternoon.
The grounds were then inspected by a special committee that had been appointed to make sure that any litter was cleaned up and everything left in good order.
Monday night, June 23, at 5:45 o'clock Wor. E. Leslie Anderson
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opened the Lodge in the Egyptian Chamber and then called the brethren from labor to refreshment. Immediately afterward the Past Masters assembled in the parlor where a group photograph of them was taken. Then at 6:15 the Officers, with the exception of the ticket-sellers, ushered the members, Past Masters and guests from other Lodges to the banquet hall. Shortly before 6:30 the Grand Master and Suite formed in the parlor and marched to the banquet hall.
The head table was decorated with bouquets and candelabras and a line of greenery throughout its entire length. Each of the other tables had a vase of cut flowers at each end and each of the niches in the banquet hall held a palm.
As the Grand Master and Suite marched in to take their places at the head table, indicated by place cards arranged in accordance with a seating plan provided by the Grand Lodge, all those present arose and remained standing until the head table guests were seated.
The head table was occupied by M.W. Andrew G. Jenkins, Grand Master; R.W. Paul L. Perkins, Deputy Grand Master; R.W. Walter N. Cooper, Senior Grand Warden; R.W. John W. Wilde, Junior Grand Warden; M.W. Roger Keith, Past Grand Master; M.W. Thomas S. Roy, Past Grand Master; M.W. Whitfield W. Johnson, Past Grand Master; R.W. Clayton F. Fisher, Past Junior Grand Warden; R.W. Earle W. Taylor, Grand Secretary; R.W. George A. Russell, District Deputy Grand Master Worcester 22nd Masonic District; R.W. Russell H. Gray, District Deputy Grand Master Brookfield 21st Masonic District; R.W. George H. Upton, Grand Marshal; R.W. Clifford W. Greene, Grand Lecturer; Wor. B. Ran- dolph Cady, Grand Standard Bearer; R.W. Albert N. Nettleton, Grand Pursuivant; Wor. Albert W. Canedy, Grand Pursuivant; Wor. E. Leslie Anderson, Master Montacute Lodge and Bro. Regi- nald W. Needham, Jr., Chaplain Montacute Lodge.
The tables for others were arranged at right angles to the head table with two or three tables in the center of the hall reserved for Past Masters, Officers and guests. Among the guests were Bro. Dr. Charles C. Scott, our resident at the Home; Bro. Mark Ball, Super- intendent of the Home; Wor. Carl E. Wahlstrom, President of Worcester Masonic Charity and Educational Association; the Pre- siding Masters of other Worcester Lodges and the Presiding Masters of the other Lodges in the Worcester 22nd Masonic District.
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After the invocation by the Lodge Chaplain a dinner of Chicken Maryland Style and Lobster was enjoyed which was served by Kendall Catering Co. and at its conclusion about 7:30 o'clock the Grand Master and Suite retired to the Armory.
In order to avoid congestion at the registration book in the ante- room of the Egyptian Chamber registration cards had been pro- vided at the tables and as each brother entered the Egyptian Cham- ber he surrendered to the Tyler his card upon which he had written his name and Lodge.
At 7:45 o'clock Wor. E. Leslie Anderson called the Lodge from refreshment to labor again and after a special organ selection by the Lodge Organist, Bro. James A. S. Gow, he instructed the Marshal to ascertain if the Most Worshipful Grand Master and Suite were in waiting in the anteroom. The Marshal returned with R.W. George H. Upton, Grand Marshal, who announced that M.W. Andrew G. Jenkins was waiting in the anteroom. Wor. E. Leslie Anderson then requested the Grand Marshal to convey his compliments to M.W. Andrew G. Jenkins and inform him that he would wait on him forthwith by a committee. After the Grand Marshal retired Wor. Bro. Anderson appointed as a committee to receive the Grand Master and Suite all the Past Masters of Montacute Lodge with Wor. Leonard W. Howell, the Senior Past Master present, as chair- man.
The committee was formed by the Marshal and then escorted to the anteroom by the Marshal and Stewards. At 8 o'clock M.W. Andrew G. Jenkins and his Suite were received into the Lodge.
After being welcomed by Wor. Bro. Anderson the Most Worship- ful Grand Master assumed the East and took charge of the com- memorative program which consisted of vocal selections by the Worcester Scottish Rite Quartette, presentation by Wor. Bro. Ander- son to M.W. Bro. Jenkins of a check for $100.00 as a gift from the Lodge to the Masonic Home and a reading of the history of Monta- cute Lodge by R.W. Edward M. Woodward, Jr.
Then followed remarks by M.W. Whitfield W. Johnson, M.W. Roger Keith, M.W. Thomas S. Roy and several other members of the Suite and at 10:10 o'clock the Lodge was closed by the Most Worshipful Grand Master thus culminating a most memorable cele- bration of the 100th Anniversary of the institution of Montacute Lodge.
Grand Lodge Suite at Celebration
Wor. B. Randolph Cady Acting as Grand Treasurer
Wor. Albert Canedy Grand Pursuivant
R.W. Clifford W. Greene Past Grand Lecturer
R.W. George A. Russell D.D.G. Master Worcester 22nd District
R.W. Russell H. Gray D.D.G. Master Brookfield 21st District
M.W. Whitfield W. Johnson, Jr. Past Grand Master
R.W. Earl Taylor Grand Secretary
M.W. Thomas S. Roy Past Grand Master
M.W. Roger Keith Past Grand Master
R.W. Clayton Fisher Acting as Senior Grand Warden
R.W. John W. Wilde Junior Grand Warden
R.W. George H. Upton Grand Marshal
R.W. Paul L. Perkins Deputy Grand Master
M.W. Andrew G. Jenkins Grand Master
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