26
[Sept.
Proceedings of the ,
I
41. Independence lJodge, No. 76, asks what a member suspended for non-payment of dues must pay before he can be reinstated? Answer.-Dues up to the date of hissuspension. 42. Rush ville Lodge, No. 238.-A charge of drunkenness is preferred agai'nst a member who is now suspended for IWn-payment 'Of dues, the Lodge asks: 1. Has it jurisdiction and can it try the meJl?ber while he stands suspended? 2. Can the accused be present at the trial? AnsweT.-1. The Brother, th9ugh suspended, is still a Mason and t:he Lodge has' jurisdiction to bring him to trial for un-Mas'On-ic conduct. 2. The Grand Lodge in 1897 decided that a Mason who had dimjtted, without privileges, and who was therefore not in gOOd sta;nding,against whom charges had been preferred was ent~tled to be present in the Lodge during hi,s, tria( See Proceedings of the Grand Lodge, 1897, page 16, 103 and 106.' But there is a difference' between a Mason dimitted without privileges and a suspended Mason. It is unlawful to hold any Masonic communion with a claude'stine, expelled or suspended Mason, therefore, a Lodge has no right to receive a suspended Mason in its sess,ion. A suspended Mas:on is entitled to be represented at the trial by his counsel who is a lVI'aster Mason in good standing, but he has no right to be present in person. 43. In the matter ot the Moon.-The Acting -Master of Tyrian Lodge, No. 350, wrote me that he was up against the Moon' and this is how it happened:
The by-laws of the Lodge required a 'stated meeting to be held the Saturday on or next before the full moon. Now by a close astrononical calculation some of the brethren had discovered that the moon, in June of this year, became full two minutes befor~ 12 o'clock, midnight, on Friday, June 16. The question was, should the meeting be held on Saturday, June 10th, or on Saturday, June 17th? If within tqe meaning of the term "full moon" as uSled in the by-law, the moon was full on Friday, the 16th, then the meeting s'h'(mld be held on Saturda.y, the 10th, but if, in the s.ense there us'ed, it fulled on Saturday, the 17th, then the meeting was to be held on that evening. \
T,he practice of fixing the dates of me-etings by the full of the moon is an ancient one, with both utility a;nd sentiment to favor it. lt enabled the brethren to 'See their way home at night after the lJodge ~losed, 路and the soft moonlight tended to lead their thoughts, while, on their journey home, into 'sererue and peaceful channels.