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  • The Freemasons' Monthly Magazine
  • Feb. 24, 1866
  • Page 6
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The Freemasons' Monthly Magazine, Feb. 24, 1866: Page 6

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    Article WHERE THE LAUGH COMES IN. ← Page 2 of 3 →
Page 6

Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.

Where The Laugh Comes In.

tude of its blocks ; the Mason Avho believes in treating all alike and requiring all to make suitable proficiency before advancement , in fact as well as theory ; the Mason who believes that Masonry is a serious undertaking , to be upheld

and carried forAvard by serious men ; who feels that there is a greater gain to his lodge in the malting of one just and true man than in the reception of a dozen candidates Avho have no higher conception of the institution than that it

confers the privilege of Avearing a certain badge and knowing a great secret ; " whose vision of the ancient Landmarks is never dimmed by the recollection of a depleted treasury ; " who believes that Masonry is never in a hurry , and that whatever is Avorth doing at all is worth doing well ;

who shrinks instinctively from the surging tide of neophytes rushing past the gates of the temple and pushing their Avay to the very holy of holies , with the dust of the world upon their shoes , Avhich , in their haste , they have nofc laid side—at

tliis point , Ave repeat , plain , old-fashioned , methodical , painstaking , earnest Masons may laughive always do . Not in sorrow , nor yet in anger , but with a hearty rejoicing thafc one leak is stopped ; one breach iu the Avail through Avhich

so many have tumbled into the fold built up ; one more warning given against marrying in haste to repent at leisure ; one more safeguard set up which , like the burning pharos , shall warn the heedless of shoals and quicksands , to venture upon Avhich is fatal .

We laugh—quietly , as Leatherstocking practiced it—when Ave see a young man , with his Masonic wiugs just fledged , busily engaged in revising Masonry in genera ] , and especially that part of it which he deems to be most important , to wit , the

ritual . His proposals to modernise the phraseology , to improve the grammar , to throw in a neiv part in one place and cut out an old one in another ; his supreme contempt for the musty old ' fogyism of our regulations ; his virtuous indignation at the autocratical tyranny of the Master are immoderately funny .

AVe laugh—not noisily , but judiciously—when Ave come across an old fellow who is constantl y telling every one who will listen that he has been "forty years a Mason "—and never thinking it worth his while to mention thafc for thirty-eight years of the forty he has never been inside of a lodge , nor contributed one cent toward

maintaining the Craft or giving aid to its distressed members , their widows and orphans . We laugh—not hilariously , but "with quiet enjoyment—Avhen vie see a lodge committee , after looking at a package of greasy papers and

listening to the one hundred and seventieth rehearsal of a Avell-conned story , return to the lodge and recommend a donation to the worthy brother who makes more money by fleecing them than they do by honest labor .

We laugh—not in sonorous numbers , but euphoniously—when Ave see the members of the Ancient and Accepted Rite , born and educated to be gentlemen , honored and respected by sendee and station in Ancient Craffc Masonry , beloved

for social amenities and charitable deeds , when mounted on the Scottish hobby , degenerating into common scolds and abusing each other like the veriest drabs .

We laugh—not exultmgly , but at low breathwhen Ave hear a brother declaiming against Masonic publications because they let the world into our secrets ( sic . ) and make the general public acquainted with the principles and ideas of

Masonry ; all of which they hold should be locked and barred in the most impenetrable recesses of inviolable secrecy , while we daily witness the good effects proceeding from the vast moral ' power of the press AA'hen discreetly used .

We laugh—not vociferously , but with mild humor—Avhen Ave see a brother charging another with a specified offence , and then on the trial attempting to prove an entirely different one ; of course breaking down , getting the whole thing reversed , inveighing against everything and

everybody concerned , and making a Judy oi himseli generally . We enjoy a full sense of jocund satisfaction Avhen Ave come across a lodge more anxious to do a little square Avork than an immense quantity

which is neither oblong nor square ; more anxious to comfort the distressed , to visit the sick , to bury the dead , to minister to the wants of the Avidow and the fatherless in their affliction , than to make senseless displays , full of sound and signifying

nothing ; more willing to learn than to teach , more Avilling to act than to talk ; ever ready to do a good deed , and never anxious to boast of it , quietly pursuing the even tenor of their way , and gradually laying up a store which neither moth nor rust shall consume , which thieves cannot steal , and which shall afford a quiet satisfaction

“The Freemasons' Monthly Magazine: 1866-02-24, Page 6” Masonic Periodicals Online, Library and Museum of Freemasonry, 20 March 2023, www.masonicperiodicals.org/periodicals/mmr/issues/mmr_24021866/page/6/.
  • List
  • Grid
Title Category Page
ON THE PROBABLE ORIGIN OF FREEMASONRY. Article 1
THE POPE AND FREEMASONRY. Article 2
WHERE THE LAUGH COMES IN. Article 5
FREEMASONEY DURING THE LATE WAR IN AMERICA. Article 7
MASONIC NOTES AND QUERIES. Article 8
Untitled Article 9
CORRESPONDENCE. Article 10
CHARITY STEWARDS. Article 10
Untitled Article 10
THE MASONIC MIRROR. Article 11
METROPOLITAN. Article 11
PROVINCIAL. Article 12
ROYAL ARCH. Article 15
IRELAND. Article 15
INDIA. Article 15
Poetry. Article 17
LOVE, RELIEF, AND TRUTH. Article 18
MEETINGS OF THE SCIENTIFIC AND LEARNED SOCIETIES FOR THE WEEK ENDING MARCH 3RD, 1866. Article 18
THE WEEK. Article 18
TO CORRESPONDENTS. Article 20
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.

Where The Laugh Comes In.

tude of its blocks ; the Mason Avho believes in treating all alike and requiring all to make suitable proficiency before advancement , in fact as well as theory ; the Mason who believes that Masonry is a serious undertaking , to be upheld

and carried forAvard by serious men ; who feels that there is a greater gain to his lodge in the malting of one just and true man than in the reception of a dozen candidates Avho have no higher conception of the institution than that it

confers the privilege of Avearing a certain badge and knowing a great secret ; " whose vision of the ancient Landmarks is never dimmed by the recollection of a depleted treasury ; " who believes that Masonry is never in a hurry , and that whatever is Avorth doing at all is worth doing well ;

who shrinks instinctively from the surging tide of neophytes rushing past the gates of the temple and pushing their Avay to the very holy of holies , with the dust of the world upon their shoes , Avhich , in their haste , they have nofc laid side—at

tliis point , Ave repeat , plain , old-fashioned , methodical , painstaking , earnest Masons may laughive always do . Not in sorrow , nor yet in anger , but with a hearty rejoicing thafc one leak is stopped ; one breach iu the Avail through Avhich

so many have tumbled into the fold built up ; one more warning given against marrying in haste to repent at leisure ; one more safeguard set up which , like the burning pharos , shall warn the heedless of shoals and quicksands , to venture upon Avhich is fatal .

We laugh—quietly , as Leatherstocking practiced it—when Ave see a young man , with his Masonic wiugs just fledged , busily engaged in revising Masonry in genera ] , and especially that part of it which he deems to be most important , to wit , the

ritual . His proposals to modernise the phraseology , to improve the grammar , to throw in a neiv part in one place and cut out an old one in another ; his supreme contempt for the musty old ' fogyism of our regulations ; his virtuous indignation at the autocratical tyranny of the Master are immoderately funny .

AVe laugh—not noisily , but judiciously—when Ave come across an old fellow who is constantl y telling every one who will listen that he has been "forty years a Mason "—and never thinking it worth his while to mention thafc for thirty-eight years of the forty he has never been inside of a lodge , nor contributed one cent toward

maintaining the Craft or giving aid to its distressed members , their widows and orphans . We laugh—not hilariously , but "with quiet enjoyment—Avhen vie see a lodge committee , after looking at a package of greasy papers and

listening to the one hundred and seventieth rehearsal of a Avell-conned story , return to the lodge and recommend a donation to the worthy brother who makes more money by fleecing them than they do by honest labor .

We laugh—not in sonorous numbers , but euphoniously—when Ave see the members of the Ancient and Accepted Rite , born and educated to be gentlemen , honored and respected by sendee and station in Ancient Craffc Masonry , beloved

for social amenities and charitable deeds , when mounted on the Scottish hobby , degenerating into common scolds and abusing each other like the veriest drabs .

We laugh—not exultmgly , but at low breathwhen Ave hear a brother declaiming against Masonic publications because they let the world into our secrets ( sic . ) and make the general public acquainted with the principles and ideas of

Masonry ; all of which they hold should be locked and barred in the most impenetrable recesses of inviolable secrecy , while we daily witness the good effects proceeding from the vast moral ' power of the press AA'hen discreetly used .

We laugh—not vociferously , but with mild humor—Avhen Ave see a brother charging another with a specified offence , and then on the trial attempting to prove an entirely different one ; of course breaking down , getting the whole thing reversed , inveighing against everything and

everybody concerned , and making a Judy oi himseli generally . We enjoy a full sense of jocund satisfaction Avhen Ave come across a lodge more anxious to do a little square Avork than an immense quantity

which is neither oblong nor square ; more anxious to comfort the distressed , to visit the sick , to bury the dead , to minister to the wants of the Avidow and the fatherless in their affliction , than to make senseless displays , full of sound and signifying

nothing ; more willing to learn than to teach , more Avilling to act than to talk ; ever ready to do a good deed , and never anxious to boast of it , quietly pursuing the even tenor of their way , and gradually laying up a store which neither moth nor rust shall consume , which thieves cannot steal , and which shall afford a quiet satisfaction

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