Proposed Resolution No. 8

Voting of Stock

Resolved, that unless otherwise directed by the Grand Lodge of Ohio, the Worshipful Master or his designee shall have the right to vote or exercise any other privileges of a shareholder of all stock that is owned, assigned, or otherwise controlled by Medina Lodge No. 58 F&AM.

Be it further resolved, that this resolution be printed in the by-laws of the lodge immediately following resolution no. 7.

CALENDAR OF EVENTS

Stated Meetings
Thursday, May 13th, 7:30 p.m.
Thursday, May 27th, 7:30 p.m.
Thursday, June 10th, 7:30 p.m.
Thursday, June 24th, 7:30 p.m.

Special Meetings
Ladies Night: Thursday May 20th,
Dinner at 6:30 p.m., followed by dulcimer group "Picks & Hammers"

Thursday June 17th, 7:00 p.m., Entered Apprentice Degree

SPECIAL EVENTS

Saturday Morning Breakfasts
May 22nd, 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.
June 26th, 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.
Medina Masonic Temple Dining Hall

On Being Asked to Join
By Carl H. Claudy

"I think it's an outrage," announced the New Brother with great emphasis, and talking at, if not to, the Old Tiler.

"Sure it is," answered the Old Tiler.

"Well, why don't you have it stopped, then?"

"I dunno; what is it?"

"Why, you just agreed with me it was an outrage. And now you don't know what it is."

"No more I do. But I am wise enough to agree with brethren out of temper—then they don't get out of temper with me. So suppose you tell me what it is that is an outrage?"

"Why, the way all these fellows try to get me to join things. Ever since I was raised they have been after me. Jones wants me to join his Chapter and Smith says as soon as I do that I must come in his Council, and Robinson wants me in his Commandery and Jackson says I mustn't think of going York but must go Scottish Rite, and Brown is already talking of what he is going to have done to me when he gets me to join the Shrine, and Peters wants me to become a Veiled Prophet and Lem says I mustn't forget the Tall Cedars, and then there's old Jerry tells me he'll never let up on me until I join the Eastern Star . . . it makes me ill."

"You sure do get sick easy," answered the Old Tiler. "But I'll attend to it. Tomorrow I will see to it that not less than ten brethren come to you and tell you you are not good enough for the Chapter, not wise enough to join the Council, not brainy enough fur the Rite, not sincere enough for the Commandery, not a good enough sport to stand the Grotto, Tall Cedars or Shrine initiation and not decent enough to join the woman's organization. That'll fix it all right and you can be well again."

"Here, wait a minute. What you mean, I am not decent enough for the women or good enough sport to stand the Shrine! I'll have you know I'm perfectly decent and as good a sport as——"

"Gently, gently; I did not say you were not—I said I'd arrange with a lot of brethren to tell you you were not."

"But why?"

"Well, you get peeved and say it's an outrage when they tell you the other thing—I thought that was what you wanted."

"I don't understand you. Our wires are crossed somewhere!"

"No, it is you who are cross and therefore not able to see straight," snapped the Old Tiler. "You say it's an outrage that many brethren invite you to join with them. What is there outrageous about it? The fellow who wants to have you in his Chapter sees in you good material out of which to make a Companion. The Knight who wants you in his Commandery thinks you will grace its uniform, live up to its high standards, conform to its usages. The brother who would like to have you in the Scottish Rite thinks you have brains enough to appreciate the erudite and philosophic degrees there conferred and believes that Albert Pike had such as you in mind when he wrote 'Morals and Dogma.' The Noble or the Veiled Prophet who asks you to come with him thinks you are a good sport, able to be the butt of a joke for a while that others may laugh, and that you may, in turn, enjoy the antics of others. They all take you for a regular fellow. When you are asked to join the Eastern Star a great compliment is paid you—you are selected as a Mason who is fit to associate with fine women in a woman's organization; you are accepted as a gentleman as well as a Mason; a man women will be proud to know. And all you can find to say about it is 'it's an outrage.'"

"Well, of course, I never looked at it just that way. I have learned that Masons do not ask others to join with Masons in Masonry and I suppose I thought—I felt——"

"As I have told you before, you didn't really think; you just thought you thought." The Old Tiler was smiling now. "But think again. There is every reason why Masonry should not ask the profane to be of it. Masonry is bigger than any man. It never seeks; it should always be sought. But once a Mason, the case is different. The Blue Lodge has investigated you. You have been tried and found not wanting by your fellows, otherwise they wouldn't admit you to the lodge. Why should not your brother ask you to join another organization in which he is interested and which he thinks will interest you ?"

"Well, but——"

"But nothing! There is no 'but' which fits the case. There are many Masonic organizations, each filling its place. Chapter, Council, and Commandery, extend the Blue Lodge story; the Scottish Rite also tells it to the end and far beyond; Shrine, Grotto and Tall Cedars are happy places where- good Masons play. The Eastern Star has its ends in sisterhood, in charity, benevolence, kindness, the softer, prettier, gentler side of life. None duplicate; all have work to do. The better the workers, the better done is the work. Why is it an outrage that they pay you the deep and lasting compliment of asking you to join with them ?"

"Well, of course, I haven't the time; I don't know if I could afford it."

"Ah, well, that is another story altogether. All these organizations cannot make you more a Mason than you are now, but they can make you a better one. But as to whether you have the time or the small means needed, that is your own affair. It would indeed be an outrage if I or anyone questioned you about that. But they pay you also the compliment, these brethren who ask you to join with them, of thinking you have leisure enough to be a better Mason and means enough to indulge that laudable ambition."

"Oh, of course, you are right and I am wrong, as usual. I guess I'm a——"

"A Mason," suggested the Old Tiler, gently.

"Exactly; and a prospective Companion, Knight or whatever it is they will call me when I join the Scottish Rite and the Shrine and the rest!"

Thoughts on Memorial Day

It is, in a way, an odd thing to honor those who died in defense of our country, in defense of us, in wars afar away. The imagination plays a trick. We see these soldiers in our mind as old and wise. We see them as something like the Founding Fathers, grave and gray-haired. But most of them were boys when they died, and they gave up two lives, the one they were living and the one they would have lived. When they died, they gave up their chance to be husbands and fathers and grandfathers. They gave up their chance to be revered old men. They gave up everything for our country, for us.

And all we can do is remember.
Ronald Reagan

Mrs. Bixby
Boston, Massachusetts

Dear Madam:

I have been shown in the files of the War Department a statement of the Adjutant-General of Massachusetts that you are the mother of five sons who have died gloriously on the field of battle. I feel how weak and fruitless must be any words of mine which should attempt to beguile you from the grief of a loss so overwhelming. But I cannot refrain from tendering to you the consolation that may be found in the thanks of the Republic they died to save. I pray that our heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of freedom.

Yours very sincerely and respectfully,
Abraham Lincoln