Cross Keys April 2014 The Cross Keys The Monthly Newsleer of Lodge Houstoun St. Johnstone Walking the Road / Seeking the Light April 2014 Number 175 In this issue: Brother of my Brother Policy The Apron that saved the Day Derelict Lodge 50 Year Celebration Waterloo—masonic influence? Strange Memo from UGLE
This document is posted to help you gain knowledge. Please leave a comment to let me know what you think about it! Share it to your friends and learn new things together.
Transcript
Cross Keys April 2014
The Cross Keys The Monthly Newsletter of Lodge Houstoun St. Johnstone
Walking the Road / Seeking the Light April 2014 Number 175
In this issue:
Brother of my Brother Policy
The Apron that saved the Day
Derelict Lodge
50 Year Celebration
Waterloo—masonic influence?
Strange Memo from UGLE
Cross Keys April 2014
Brother of my Brother Policy
On 11 May 2013, the Grand Lodge of Turkey decided to allow—subject to the approval of
the Grand Mas-ter—visitation to Freemasons be-longing to non-recognized constitutions,
provided that their grand juris-diction is regular and is recognized by at least one grand
lodge which is recognized by the Grand Lodge of Turkey. With this decision, the Grand
Lodge of Turkey officially accepts that the brother of a brother can be given the right to
visit Turkish lodges—hence is a brother. This acceptance—which I refer to as the ‘brother
of my brother’ policy—breaks the traditional equivalence between right to visit and recog-
nition, by expanding the sphere of brethren who can possibly visit Turkish Lodges from
recognized jurisdictions to regular ones.
At this point, it may be useful to re-call that the regularity of a Grand Lodge is the satis-
faction of a well-defined list of principles aiming to preserve the traditional values of
Freemasonry, hence being an objective concept. On the other hand recognition, a privi-
lege that two grand lodges may or may not grant each other, is subjective. During the last
couple of decades, the world panorama of Freemasonry exhibits an ever growing dispari-
ty between regularity and recognition. While regularity is necessary for recognition, deci-
sions of recognition typi-ally include additional subjective criteria which mostly contain
elements of Masonic or even profane politics. As a result, regular grand lodges who are
not in mutual recognition abound.
The main application of the ‘brother of my brother’ policy can occur when multiple regu-
lar grand lodges who are not in amity exist over the same territory. Italy (with the Grand
Orient of Italy and the Regular Grand Lodge of Italy) is a well known example.
The ‘brother of my brother’ policy can also contribute to the rapprochement of brethren
under two different grand lodges which are not amity due to reasons pertaining to the
relationship between those two jurisdictions. As a case in point, the Grand Lodge of Tur-
key does not recognize the Grand Lodge of Cyprus and has lodges in North Cyprus. The
‘brother of my brother’ policy can support the mobility of brethren in Cyprus which can
have a very positive effect on the relationship between the two grand lodges. The
‘brother of my brother’ policy reflects both a position closer to the values of Masonic
brotherhood and an acceptance of today’s world reality.
The Grand Lodge of Turkey has adopted the ‘brother of my brother’ policy because the
concepts about relations between grand lodges have lost their capability to efficiently
shape today’s world. These concepts need to be revisited, and if necessary revised, to en-
able us—as Freemasons of the world—to approach our desired outcome more efficiently,
which is ultimately the brotherhood of all mankind.
PTO
Cross Keys April 2014
The qualification ‘almost’ is needed, as Turkish Lodges are open to regular Freema-
sons subject to the fulfilment of certain additional conditions. But the qualification
‘almost’ also seems to be appropriate because these additional conditions are much
weaker than recognition.
Of course, one can question this rule of recognizing in one territory only one of the
multiple regular grand lodges who are not in amity. The discussion of this rule
would be the subject of another article. However, the reader should know that the
decision of the Grand Lodge of Turkey is taken, and this article is written, assuming
the existence of this rule.
‘When in Rome, do as the Romans do’. So, accept the rules of the grand lodge which
you are visiting. With a few notable exceptions, most grand lodges approach in-
tervisitation through the ‘when in Rome’ rule.
To prevent such instances occurring would require drastic measures to be taken,
such as not allowing Turkish brethren to visit a recognized jurisdiction when a visi-
tor belonging to a non-recognized jurisdiction is present there, and asking visitors to
Turkish lodges to declare all their Masonic affiliations. Not only do such measures
not make sense but also they cannot be enforced.
John Hamill,
Director of Special Projects
UGLE
There are many valid (or not depending on your view) points to consider and in the cos-
mopolitan world we live in, then perhaps discussion should be made with respect to oth-
er constitutions not recognised by the GLoS, but recognised by other constitutions we do
recognise. A minefield perhaps, but should brethren who practice the same ritual suffer
because of their GL?
I said many years ago (and I still believe it will happen although maybe not in my life-
time) that regular masons (us), female masons and co-masons would get the opportunity
to visit each other. We will always have male lodges, female lodges, but maybe they will
all come together in co-masonic lodges. I think this is the way forward.
Cross Keys April 2014
The Apron that Saved the Day
In April 1864, as part of the Red River Expedition, several thousand Union soldiers under the
command of Major General Frederick Steele set out from Little Rock, to link up with the other
Union force then heading towards Alexandria and Shreveport, then hopefully into Texas. The
trek into southwestern Arkansas proved tougher than expected, in large part because of the lack
of food for the men and forage for the horses. This problem, and unexpected and heavy resistance
from Confederate forces, particularly outside modern-day Prescott, Arkansas, forced the Union
command to shift to the southeast, to Camden, Arkansas. At the time Camden was an important
town, supposedly holding ample food and supplies. Steele and his men were bitterly disappoint-
ed at not finding enough of what they needed.
Over April 17 and 18, Steele ordered nearly 200 forage and supply wagons to leave Camden,
spread throughout the surrounding areas, then find and take whatever supplies they could
find. As Sherman would even more dramatically supervise later, anything and everything else
was to be destroyed. But word of Steele's actions leaked out almost at once; the news sped up the
activities of Confederate forces in the general area, under the command of General Edmund Kir-
by-Smith. The news also electrified and thoroughly scared the civilian population, certainly
when the intent of Steele's foragers became known.
Some miles west of Camden, near to what would soon become the Battle of Poison Springs, was
the home of my maternal great-great grandfather, William H. Rushing. Though close to 50 years
old, he served with the 15th Arkansas Infantry, until taken prisoner at Fort Donelson in early
1862. He was exchanged due to poor health seven months later, and had been back at home ever
since. But when the enemy forces penetrated into southwest Arkansas two years later, Rushing
offered his services as a scout for the Confederate forces.
Several family members were living at that house at the time, thanks to the war, but his wife,
Catherine Rushing, was in charge while he was away. The only male then at the home was Rush-
ing's then-11-year old son, William Milton Rushing. On April 18, word reached the Rushings the
Union soldiers were heading toward their home, which was on one of the roads leading back to
Camden. At some point before leaving home, Rushing told his family what to do, in case. . .
. Following instructions from my great-great-grandfather, the family buried or hid most of the
food. Young William took several head of cattle into a nearby ravine, tied them to trees, and cov-
ered their heads with blankets, to keep them quiet. He would stay there until the bluecoats left or
he and the cattle were found. As it turned out, they were not discovered.
A contingent of Union soldiers rode up literally to the front doorstep, with one or two already-
loaded-down wagons. The Rushings left a little food in plain sight, and a little more where the
soldiers could easily find the "vittels". This plan worked; the men did not press too hard to find
more food.
Then the Union officer in charge told the family he had orders to burn down their home. Cathe-
rine Rushing and the others begged him to spare the home, which was refused. Likewise were
pleas to let them first take out their personal possessions and the furniture, or at least some of
their possessions.
Cross Keys April 2014
The officer agreed to let Catherine Rushing save just one item. (One part of family lore has the
saved item being what her husband William told her to save; another version has the selected
item was chosen through pure coincidence.) She stepped back into the house as the soldiers pre-
pared and lit their torches. She came back outside with the chosen possession.
Catherine Rushing brought out something that struck the Union officer as oddly familiar, and he
asked to see it more closely. She unrolled her hus-
band's Masonic apron, made mostly of silk, and sup-
posedly already somewhat old. The Union officer's
eyes widened; the next second his attitude had com-
pletely changed.
In one of the curious coincidences that turn up in histo-
ry, including Civil War History, the officer was a prac-
ticing Freemason, as was great-great-grandfather Wil-
liam Rushing. And, a Mason was--and is--not to know-
ingly do harm to another Freemason. "Men, we're not
burning this house." The soldiers put out their torches
and climbed back onto their horses or into the wag-
ons. The bluecoats left at once, much to the amazement
and relief of the Rushing women. Their home was the
only residence in the area left intact, thanks to the
"intervention" of a Masonic apron.
Less that two miles east down the road, Confederate forces launched a surprise attack against the
by-then-reunited Union forces. The Rushings were close enough to hear the artillery, and some
of the small-arms fire. The Union forces were shattered, then routed. In the course of the action,
Choctaw Indians fighting for the Confederacy nearly wiped out the 1st Kansas (U.S.) Coloured
Infantry. The Confederates also captured the entire wagon train.
The setback at Poison Springs forced Steele and what was left of his forces to retreat back to Little
Rock, with the Confederates in pursuit for much of the way back. William H. Rushing soon re-
turned home; he and his family struggled through the rest of the war and the following years,
recovering to a fair degree of financial and social stability.
The Rushing home stood until the 1960s; the family had left it and had had to sell the land at
least one generation earlier. The landowners at that time, a timber-lumber company, razed the
house. Nothing, not even the Masonic apron, could save the old house from what was euphe-
mistically called "progress", or, perhaps, "good business practices".
The apron remained with the Rushing family until my maternal grandmother, Lillie Rushing,
married my maternal grandfather, Thomas Victor Wallace, who was also a practicing Ma-
son. Their oldest son Billie Tom Wallace inherited the apron; after he died, the one surviving
brother, Victor Wallace, got the apron. He and his daughters ultimately decided to donate the
apron , where it could be restored, properly preserved, and exhibited to the public in the Historic
Arkansas Museum, Little Rock, Arkansas .
The Apron that Saved the Day (ctd)
Cross Keys April 2014
Masonic Place Names
Flynn Carsen discovers that his fa-
ther was a member of the Order of
the Cryptic Masons being the lineal
descendant of one of twenty-four
masons, hand picked by King Solo-
mon to build an immense temple to
store his wealth. The unusual amu-
let depicting a triangle inside a
square and compasses is shown be-
low and is later used as the key to
unlock the treasure room.
The Librarian 2—Return to King Solomon’s Mines
All over, we see street names after various masonic personalities and Johnstone is no
different, especially with past provosts of the town (22 out of 30 were members of 242).
The most recent addition to Johnstone was Cassidy Drive after Bro. Willie Cassidy for his
football prowess.
However, the US has gone further with actual places: