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Appendix
1917.]
ANNUAL ADDRESS.
This is unusually long, covering some seventy-one pages, but is full of interest, especially so it must have been to the Craft in that Jurisdiction. It contains much of lofty sentiment and many wise maxims, all calculated to enlarge and enlighten. We quote from the introduction: There is a myth concerning an old painter, that by a happy chance he compounded one day a certain mordant, which, colorless itself, possessed the power of heightening every color with which it was mixed. By the hefp of his discovery, from being a commonplace artist, he rose to the position of a noted master. His works were renowned for the marvelous brilliancy of their tints. On his canvas was produced in exactest hue the waving cmerald of the forest, the silver gleam of the river, the swimming light of the sunset, and the infinite azure of the sky. Everywhere and always the charm of the picture was due to that colorless nurse of color, which, by its strange alchemy, transfigured the crudeness and coarseness of the common tint. Brethren, it is not mere ecclesiastical prejudice which asserts that Freemasonry has silently and similarly wrought vigor and attractiveness and power into .our American life. All fair-minded judges pronounce it our social mordant. The student of legislation, the observer 'of our domestic and social prosperity, the inquirer into the excellences of our educational systems, one and all find everywhere the influence of national reverence for Freemasonry. Unrecognized in its workings, Freemasonry is the element that has wrought out the choice beauty of the best things of which we boast. To it, and largely to it, we are indebted for juster laws, better schools, happier homes, greater security of social order, than can be found in any other land. Freemasonry is before us as a visible and beneficent force, and a veritable benediction; and it predisposes us in favor of Him who sent it to us and to bless our civilization.
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He deI;flores the rapid growth of the Order, involving, as it does, many serious deficiencies, due to the fact that lodges are so often intent on number rather路 than character. Referring to the Shrine and its congeners, he says: In these later days we hear much of the "playground of Freemasonry" and the "flower garden of Freemasonry," catch phrases invented and put forth, often by well-meaning Masons and friends of the org-anizatlons, but Masonry has no playground nor flower garden; it is a progressive, moral science; it respects the Ancient Landmarks; it works silently, but not the less effectively; and it sanctions ethical standards. It has and should have naught to do