A history of Long Island, from its earliest settlement to the present time, Part 101

Author: Ross, Peter. cn
Publication date: 1902
Publisher: New York ; Chicago : The Lewis Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 1188

USA > New York > A history of Long Island, from its earliest settlement to the present time > Part 101

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FREEMASONRY ON LONG ISLAND.

brotherly love and respect for all that is good. No matter what may be a man's political opin- ion, no matter what may be his religious creed, if he believes in our recognized Supreme Be- ing and in the brotherhood of man, he finds his representative and his place. Socialists, an- archists, reformer's and national inen have tried for ages to find the panacea for human wounds, but I will tell you that the solution rests alone in this fact and in this condition, when men will treat their brother men as brethren, when they will do to them as they expect to be done by, then we will have no need of reformation in anything. Now, Brethren, we do not pretend, we do not claim, tó stand in the place of any man's creed or religion, but we do believe that we have the founda- tion of all that is good and substantial, the foundation of every creed, and that is love to God and love to all. Our Grand Lodge during its one hundred and twelve years of existence has exalted all that I have just men- tioned in these few brief words. That your several Grand Bodies have other uses I will not deny. You can not compel every man to follow in the same rut and in the same line, and if a man finds that his usefulness to his fellow man and his usefulness in Masonic cir- cles is growing by taking an interest in the other lodges, then give him freedom to :go there, but never lose sight of this fact, that the Grand Lodge of the State of New York, through whom indirectly the authority came to bring this association to light, is the mother of all that stands for Freemasonry in the grand State of New York.

"It has been my great good fortune to be a member of that body for twenty-four years. I have sat under the gavel of many Grand Masters that have pased away; I have sat under the gavel of so many of them that to-night I can not recall their names, but I have yet to see a 'man in that position and in the chair who has ever given way to personal spite or personal feelings in carrying out the official position in which his brethren placed him. Now, Brethren, recollect, he who

serves you so serves without the hope of re- ward. There is no salary attached to the office of Grand Master of the New York Body; nor for many years past has one ever thought that his position was any reason why he should go before his fellow citizens as candidate for' any office. We are enabled by our great system of brotherhood to eliminate partisanship and every selfish motive and every other motive which might bring us down from the pinnacle upon which we stand."

Brother William Richardson, responding to the toast of the Brooklyn Masonic Veter- ans, said: "It is with a feeling of pride that we recognize ourselves this evening to be Masonic Veterans. The City of Brooklyn, by reason of recent events, is well and favor- ably known amongst all thé cities of the world. It has been the fashion amongst a certain class of Brooklyn men, when traveling, to register themselves as from 'New York.' That time has passed by. Hereafter, in registering, no man will be loath to put himself down as from Brooklyn. It was claimed by St. Paul, of old, that he was 'a citizen of no mean 'city,' and we can certainly claim, in view of recent events, that we are 'citizens of no mean city,' and one which contains very"few mean peo- ple.

"The motto of our Association is 'The best of life is yet to come;' and that is a worthy motto for those whom we may look upon as being amongst the 'sifted wheat' of the Ma- sonic lodges of this city. After the length of experience which we must attain before being eligible to membership in the Masonic Veter- ans, we may reasonably-and without too much egotism-look upon ourselves as illus- trations of the truth of the doctrine of 'the survival of the fittest.' But while we can more thoroughly and sensibly enjoy the pres- ent, one of the most important things for us to feel and enjoy is the hope of the' future, that 'the best of life is yet to' come,'-not merely during the few more years which we may spend here, but in the life eternal in that great beyond .. In this connection you will

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pardon me if I recite a few verses written by Thomas Campbell, a Scotch poet, who lived the latter part of the last century and the earlier part of this. For the theology of the poem in a critical sense I will not vouch ; for the poetry of it I am willing to be held re- sponsible :

"'All worldly shapes shall melt, The Sun himself must die in gloom, Before this mortal shall assume Its immortality.

I saw a vision in my sleep That gave my spirit strength to sweep Adown the gulf of Time. I saw the last of human mould That shall creation's death behold, As Adam saw her prime.

" 'The Sun's eye had a sickly glare, The Earth with age was wan,

The skeletons of nature were Around that lonely man. Some had expired in fight : the brands Still rusted in their bony hands ; In plague and famine some. Earth's cities had no sound nor tread, And ships were drifting with the dead To shores where all was dumb.

"'Yet, prophet-like, that lone one stood, With dauntless words and high,

That shook the sere leaves from the wood As if a storm passed by, Saying, we are twins in death, proud Sun. Thy face is cold, thy race is run ; 'Tis mercy bids thee go; For thou ten thousand thousand years Hast seen the tide of human tears, That shall no longer flow.

"'Go, let oblivion's curtain fall Upon the stage of men,

Nor with thy rising beams recall Life's tragedy again. My lips that speak the dirge of death, Their rounded gasp and gurgling breath

To see thou shalt not boast. The eclipse of nature spreads my pall, The majesty of darkness shall Receive my parting ghost.

"'Go, Sun, while mercy holds me up On nature's awful waste, To drink this last and bitter cup Of grief that man shall taste : Go tell the night that hides thy face, Thou saw'st the last of Adam's race, . On earth's sepulchral clod, The darkening universe defy

To quench his immortality Or shake his trust in God.'

"It was well said by the old patriarch of Uz, Job: 'For I know that my Redeemer liveth ; and that He shall stand at the latter day upon the earth; and though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God, Whom shall I see for myself and mine eyes shall behold, and not another, though my reins be consumed within me.' Again, another patriarch who lived long after him, the Psalmist, King of Israel, cried out in ecstasy : 'As for me, I shall behold Thy face in righteousness, I shall be satisfied when I awake with Thy likeness ;' and in this connec- tion I may again quote the lines of a poet :

"'There is a land where every pulse is thrill- ing

With rapture, earth's sojourners may not know;

Where heaven's repose the weary heart is stilling :

And peacefully life's time-tossed currents flow.

"'Thither our weak and weary steps are tend- ing;

Saviour and Lord! with Thy frail chil- dren bide,.

Guide us towards home, where, all our wan- derings ending,

We shall see Thee and 'shall be satisfied.'"

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FREEMASONRY ON LONG ISLAND.

"But, while we have the duties of life here, we must not be entirely engrossed with the thoughts of the best of life being yet to come, even in the great hereafter."

President Haskell in response to the toast, "The Mason as a citizen," said: "Even those who are skeptical as to the extent to which Masonry controls men's actions, will admit that if tenets of Masonry are made the rules of men's lives there will be better sons, better fa- thers and better citizens."

St. Clair McElway, responding to the same sentiment, "The Mason as a Citizen," said : "Every American Mason should be a good American citizen. I do not so far lay out the duties of other men as to say that every Amer- ican citizen should be a Mason, but I do say that tif every American citizen were a Ma- son some questions which are now before the public would be settled at once and for- ever. There would be no question in such a case about the eternal divorce between Church and State. There would be no ques- tion in such a case about an end at once and forever of legislative appropriations to sec- tarian schools. There would be in citizenship, as there are in Masonry by legitimate evolu- tion, natural and qualified leadership. For a thousand years Masonry has been the epitome of an honest registration and an honest vote. The last twenty years our country has wit- nessed the deterioration of the legislative arm of government, but in Masonry the legislative arm represented by our Grand Lodge of this and other States, and of other nations, was never stronger, was never purer, never more simple, never more worthily trusted, and never more universally respected than now. In the one hundred and twelve years of its existence it has commanded the approbation of man, the allegiance of the Brethren, and it has de- served, not only the considerate judgment of mankind, but it has received, whether in adversity or prosperity, the gracious favor of Almighty God. Masonry was invisible in the duties of citizenship and ever should be. It was, however, much invisible, not

unfelt, not unfelt in its professional, its fra- ternal capacity, but strongly felt in the un- derlying principle of the golden rule and the brotherhood of man and the equal rights of all before the law, which are the foundation stones of this supreme, magnificent order. As Masons we know what our charter is, we know where we got it, we know to whom we owe allegiance and obligations under it, and we know its invaluable advantage to our or- der. Now let us as Masons believe what we please concerning protection, believe what we please concerning revenue reform or free trade, believe what we please concerning sound money, but let us bear in mind that home affairs are not political affairs, that neigh- borhood affairs are not State affairs. Un- der the Declaration of Independence the right of man to liberty is regulated by law. I congratulate you upon your numbers and your enthusiasm, and I thank you for your courteous attention. I regret that I have not been able in previous years to be with you. To-night, I am, if you will allow me to in- dulge in a personal remark, so fatigued with labor finished, and yet awaiting me, that I hardly hoped to be with you. I have been brought into good company, and this will become a pleasure of memory; associated with other occasions of our brotherhood down at the St. George, where I have met them at the festive board, and is suggestive of a few verses, which I think I can remember, although I would not dare match my poor memory alongside of the magnificent mental faculty of the Deacon, whom I found but did not make, and in labelling him I had only acknowledged the fitness of things.

" 'There is an isle,

And the name of that isle is the Long Ago; And we bury our treasures there ;

There are brows of beauty and bosoms of snow,

There are heaps of dust; but we loved them so;

There are trinkets and tresses of hair.

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" "There are fragments of songs that nobody sings, And a párt of an infant's prayer,

There's a harp unswept, and a lute without strings,

There are broken vows and pieces of rings, And the garments- she used to wear.

""'Oh, remembered for aye be that blessed isle, All the days of our life till night,

And when the evening comes with its beauti- ful smile,

And our eyes are closing in slumber awhile, May that 'Greenwood' of soul be in sight.'"

"What manner of men may these Free- masons be," is a question that was once asked in London when the fraternity began to 'at- tract notice outside of their lodge-rooms, and it is a question that is often asked even yet wherever Freemasons by their unmbers stand out in bold relief in any community. So far as Brooklyn is concerned the roll of member- ship of the various lodges might be said to include the foremost representatives of every walk and condition in life, ministers and me- chanics, bankers, lawyers, political war-horses, teachers, merchants and professional men of all sorts. The 'writer of this has an abiding conviction that the best interests of the Ma- sonic fraternity can always be most readily subserved by naming for public discussion the men who are, or have been, prominent in its ranks, rather than by enlarging upon the moral and other lessons which are inculcated in its lodge. Contrary to the general belief, Free- masonry has no secrets. It has, of course, grips, words and signs peculiar to itself, but these are not what are considered "secrets" in the popular sense. Outside of these all that the fraternity dwells upon is contained in the pages of the Holy Book, which ever lies open on its altars. "Study the Bible," Grand Master Thorne once said in addressing a mixed audi- ence, "and you will be not only in possession of every Masonic secret, but be as good a

Mason as any one in the ranks." Of that there is no doubt. Most men are the result of their associations, and are just what their associa- tions make them, whether these associations be found in the home circle, the political forum, the church parlor or around the Ma- sonic altar. So it is safe to say, when a man becomes prominent in public life or in any walk of life and we find that he is also active in Masonry, has been, in fact, active in Ma -. sonry long before he became prominent in other good work, that it is the teachings of the craft which have directed his path and strengthened his effort in all good works. A good Mason must be"also a good citizen and exhibit in his walk and conversation all that which makes for peace, order, law, progress and advancement in any community. One or two examples of Masonic biography may en- able us to understand this more clearly:

The first we select is that of a man whose memory is yet cherished among the members of the fraternity in Brooklyn and who was, and is, justly regarded as the most typically representative Freemason which Long Island has given to the great brotherhood. This was Joseph D. Evans, who, in 1854, succeeded the famous Chancellor Walworth as Grand Master of the State of New York, and who, while by no means the most brilliant chief executive the Grand Lodge had chosen up to that time, proved by no means the least useful.

The following sketch of the career of this distinguished brother is reprinted from the Standard History of Freemasonry in the State of New York, issued a few years ago by the publishers of the present work:

CAREER OF JOSEPH D. EVANS.

Brother Evans was born in the city of New York in i807. His parents removed to 'Rich- mond, Virginia, and there the future Grand Master received his education and business training. In 1842 he was made a Mason in Marshall Lodge, No. 39. Lynchburg, and afterward affiliated with St. John's Lodge, No.

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36, of Richmond, and in 1846 became its Mas- ter. Two years later, when he left Richmond to take up his residence in New York the brethren presented him with a Past Master's jewel.

Taking up his abode in Brooklyn, he affil- iated with Anglo-Saxon Lodge. His business interests, however, lay in New York, and here it may be said that his commercial career was as brilliant as his Masonic one. As president of the New York Tobacco Board of Trade he exerted himself greatly in the struggle of 1871-3 to retain the bonded warehouse system in New York City, and he was the first presi-

JOSEPH D. EVANS:

dent of the New York- Naval Stores and To- bacco · Exchange. His business career was marked by industry and probity, his word was as good as a bond, and, while he paid close attention to details, he acted with a breadth of view and. a wholesome liberality that showed him to be animated by as much ambition to promote the general good as to conserve his own personal ends. He was a man of humble piety and of deep religious sentiments and his memory is yet held in lov- ing remembrance in the Church of the . Mes- sialı, Brooklyn, of which he was vestryman and clerk for many years. . . ...

In Anglo-Saxon Lodge Brother Evans be- came Master in 1850, was elected again in the following year and declined re-election in 1852. In the Grand Lodge he was noted for his loyalty and his conciliatory spirit. When the Phillips division took place in 1849 Anglo- Saxon Lodge went out with the dissidents, but Evans exerted all his influence upon the brethren and submitted a resolution which, on being adopted, brought the Lodge back to its allegiance: As Grand Master he tried hard to restore harmony in the jurisdiction, and, though he did not fully succeed, there is no doubt that his influence hastened the final union of the various . bodies among whom union was desired. In fact, it was to his direct initiative that the measures were taken in 1858 which in 1859 finally closed the disunited ranks. He was a strong advocate, of the rep- resentative system between the different Grand Lodges and wrought hard to make it universal, and to him is due the inauguration of the Dis- trict Deputy system as we have it to-day- a system that has done much to preserve the unity of the craft and to lessen the labors of the Grand Master and other executive officers of the Grand Lodge.

On retiring from the Grand Master's chair, after being twice elected; Brother Evans stepped down to the ranks again only to re- sume his active : work. In 1859 he dimitted. from: Anglo-Saxon Lodge, affiliated with Prince of Orange Lodge, No. 16, and became its Master in 1860. In 1864 he aided in the organization of Hillgrove Lodge, No. 540, and later, in 1867, when Hillgrove had be- come prosperous, he helped to organize Mis- tietoe Lodge, No. 647, Brooklyn, and served as its Master until .1870: All this time he was more or less. active in all the Masonic branches. Chapter and Crypt had no mys- teries for him and chivalric Masonry claimed him as a faithful knight. In the Ancient 'and Accepted Scottish Rite he received the high- est degree, 'Sovereign Grand Inspector ·Gen- eral, and for two years presided over the Grand : Consistory; Northern Jurisdiction,

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HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND.

while as Grand Minister of State he accom- plished much good work.

As a Mason he was a stanch advocate of maintaining the simplicity and purity of the order; and in showing the brethren that the ritual, while beautiful, was simply an intro- duction to a wonderful system of philosophy, religious and moral, he never tired. The land- marks of Masonry formed a theme which en- gaged his attention for many years and his concise arrangement of these much disputed essentials found great favor in New York. This arrangement is to be found printed in the current edition of the constitution, a position of honor which it should always occupy. There never lived a more devoted Mason or one who interwove Masonry more completely into his daily life. All of his sons in this respect emulated his example. The entire family of Brother Evans was noted for its interest in Masonry, and his eldest brother, James, was at one time Grand Master of Vir- ginia. Joseph D. Evans died at Brooklyn September 1I, 1888, when in the eighty-second year of his age.

As an evidence of how thoroughly he him- self could apply the teachings, the philosophy of Masonry, we quote the following from his address in 1855, when referring to the death in that year of John Van Buren, who was an en- thusiastic Mason and had been Junior Grand Warden and Senior Grand Warden during four years under the Grand Mastership of. Morgan Lewis:

"The soul of our beloved brother, John Van Buren, has taken its everlasting flight ; his well known seat is vacant ; it was, as you well recollect, always near the East. His manly form, benignant demeanor and unobtrusive deportment are vividly impressed upon our memory. He was ever watchful of the true interests of the institution, a friend to the needy and oppressed, and a firm and unflinch- ing adherent to our ancient laws and regula- tions ; in his death we have sustained a great loss, but we have the consolations afforded by the happy reflections that he has gone to meet

a rich reward, and that his memory will ever flourish as the green bay tree. Brother Van Buren died in January last ; at his request his remains were consigned to the tomb by his brethren, who assembled in large numbers to unite in the sorrows of the family and partici- pate in our last solemn rites, and as the sympa- thetic tear which silently expressed their grief at their unexpected loss fell upon his grave, the evergreen deposited by hundreds of kin- dred hearts within the tomb proclaimed with trumpet power the everlasting truth that his body will rise and become as incorruptible as his soul."

As might be supposed, the ritual came in for a large share of his official attention while Brother Evans exerted a direct influence on the craft as Deputy Grand Master or as Grand Master. In 1852, at his suggestion, one im- portant piece of uniformity was attained when the Grand Secretary was instructed to notify all Lodges that it was a violation of the con- stitution to transact any business other than conferring degrees, except when in a Lodge of Master Masons; another regulation that did good service in keeping the craft free of undesirable material, or assisted to that end, was that passed the same year requiring a candidate to be an actual resident in the vicin- ity of a Lodge before being in a position to apply for membership. A Masonic funeral service drawn up by H. G. Beardsley, of Ham- ilton, New York, was also adopted by the Grand Lodge and recommended to the frater- nity of the State. Such a compilation was much needed and it served a useful purpose at the time, although it has since been superseded. It would have been thought that Freemasons would have respected the Sabbath, but un- fortunately in the multiplicity of interests which then prevailed some organizations, both "cheap and nasty," found it profitable to work the degrees on the Lord's day, even without the justification that they were Hebrews and. .held sacred the seventh day of the week; so it is gratifying to find the Grand Lodge put- ting squarely on record for the second time a

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FREEMASONRY ON LONG ISLAND.

declaration that Masonic meetings on Sun- day, except for burial purposes, are improper and prohibited, and also that the use of pro- fane language should render a brother liable to discipline. Being himself a man of strong religious sentiments, there is no doubt that Brother Evans' influence was at work in bringing about such legislation. Doubtless all such matters were thoroughly understood by the brethren long before his time, but they were not given legislative force until he took the initiative.

The necessity of having the esoteric work uniform throughout all the Lodges of the State had been a theme of anxious interest throughout the jurisdiction since the days of Livingston, but, although many means had been tried, Grand Visitors and District Visit- ors appointed, the desired uniformity could not be brought about, and now that Lodges were springing up in all directions it was seen that something had to be done or the wildest confusion would ensue. To overcome this, if possible, Oscar Coles, in 1852, intro- duced a motion, which was adopted, that the Grand officers should constitute a Lodge of Instruction, to meet once a week, and appoint a. sufficient number of Grand Lecturers so that each Lodge could be visited at least once a year and exemplify the standard work. The Grand Lecturer was to receive compensation from the Lodge so visited. This was virtually the beginning of the present Committee on Exemplification of the Work, and under it the lectures were thoroughly revised and submit- ted to the craft. The system thus compiled was favorably received, but in 1855 the expe- rience of the committee led to the permanent employment of a Grand Lecturer. This sub- ject is thus summarized by the late C. T. Mc- Clenachan, who as a ritualist had in his time no superior in the jurisdiction: "The revised work of the craft," he wrote, "was pronounced by the Grand Master, Joseph D. Evans, as very gratifying, meeting with general appro- bation ; that it was 'the same taught by Pres- ton, Webb, Cushman, Cross and men of their

day, and was in general practice throughout the United States; that Past Grand Master Walworth, our Grand Chaplain, the Rev. Brother Town, together with four other old Masons, recognized and stamped it the same, substantially, as that taught to them forty to fifty years ago.' As to the above-named ritu- alists, Preston and others, there seems ample room for surprise, for the above and similar remarks occur in the Grand Master's address of June 5, 1855. The inconveniences in the Re- vision are thus set forth: 'It is now three years since the Grand Lodge commenced a revision of the work. * * The chaotic rubbish had to be removed, predilections and prejudices overcome, before truth could rear her towering arch, self-supporting and self- capped, to the admiring gaze of the devotees of Masonry's ancient landmarks, but, thanks to patience and perseverance, success equal to all expectation has crowned the effort. Its merits have borne it on approving wings to distant quarters of the State, and it is now practiced and adhered to in the main by scores of our Lodges.' The subject of the new re- vision went to a committee, who reported on the following day, recommending the election of a Grand Lecturer, under the constitution, at a salary of one thousand dollars, who shall re- side in the city of New York, and other Lec- turers, who shall receive for their services their actual expenses and two dollars per day during the time they are attending a call. * * On June 8 Brother A. Colo Veloni was de- clared elected Grand Lecturer and on the suc- ceeding day the Grand Lodge resolved 'that the work of the Grand Lecturer be submitted to the Grand officers, with power to receive or reject his standard, as they may see fit.' Ac- cordingly, at the close of the session

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A history of Long Island, from its earliest settlement to the present time, Part 101

Author: Ross, Peter. cn Publication date: 1902 Publisher: New York ; Chicago : The Lewis Publishing Co. Number of Pages: 1188

Author: Ross, Peter. cn
Publication date: 1902
Publisher: New York ; Chicago : The Lewis Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 1188