March 2013 Masonic Trestleboard

Jackson-Coolidge Masonic Trestleboard

Volume No. 13 March 2013 Issue No. 3

George M. Otis P.M., Publisher
Stephen D. Vining P.M., Webmaster

Greetings!

W.M. East

Jackson-Coolidge Masonic Center
Lodge Blue Room

Jackson Lodge No. 17, F. & A.M.

Adam W. Wygant

Worshipful Master

517-745-1699

Greetings from the East

Brothers,

I don't know about you, but winter slush and pothole season is starting to get old. I find myself beginning to look forward to spring, and things greening up. If you have not been to lodge in a while, rediscover the joy of what drew you to the craft. Much like the simple joy of spring returning, coming out for dinner and sitting in your lodge provides simple pleasure in fellowship with brothers.

The March regular will have a traditional Irish meal prior to the meeting, and we will hear a continuation of stories begun in February from Worshipful Brothers Frank and Lyman. We will open and conduct business on the Entered Apprentice Degree so our newly made brothers can attend.

If you have interest in participating on a Fellowcraft Degree Team, please contact me as we are starting preparations for that degree in April. Master Mason Degrees will be held in May and June, and we can start filling spots for that team as well.

On March 23rd Jackson 17 and other Masonic bodies will be visiting Alma for a tour of Pathways. We will have a bus leaving from Jackson Coolidge Masonic Temple around 9:00 a.m., and returning about 3:30 p.m. but we need firm commitments to ensure enough participation to justify the bus. There is no cost for the trip as Grand Lodge is providing the bus. Contact Worshipful Brother George Otis or Brother David Brown with reservations.

If you have sickness or distress, need a ride to lodge, or need assistance around the house which your brothers can help with, please contact us.

Fraternal regards,

Adam W. Wygant

Worshipful Master

MASONIC SHORT TALKS

Frank W. Lutze P.M.

TWENTY-FOUR INCH GAUGE

Over the past month I have been contemplating a series of Trestleboard articles on the working tools of our Craft. Considering the fact that we have four new Entered Apprentices I thought the 24 inch gauge or common gavel would be a good choice for a topic. I was in the process of researching my books and the internet for material when I received a phone call from a previous coworker of mine. The young man had been hired a couple of years ago and a year ago, resigned to take a more challenging, and better paying job with a large corporation. I could tell by the tone of his voice that something was wrong. He went on to explain that his new job was every bit he had wished for however the commute was more than an hour, he was working many hours, and he was bringing the pressures of the job home. He was working 2nd shift and is wife worked a different shift. He had little time left for his family. He went on to tell me that he had just been informed that a divorce was pending. Immediately my thoughts went to the 24 inch gauge. As the conversation continued it became obvious that he was not only looking for a job and he was seeking some council. After the conversation ended I thought how different the conversation might have been had he been a Brother and therefore familiar with the working tools of our Craft, more especially, the 24 inch gauge. At that moment my topic for my Trestleboard article became the 24 inch gauge. As my research progressed I found the following article. It contains so much good information that I decided to present several excerpts.

TWENTY-FOUR INCH GAUGE

by: Unknown

In the early editions of his Monitor (1797 and on) Thomas Smith Webb wrote:

"The twenty-four inch gauge is an instrument made use of my operative Masons, to measure and lay out their work; but Free and Accepted Masons are taught to make use of it for the more noble and glorious purpose of dividing their time; it being divided into twenty-four equal parts, is emblematical of the twenty-four hours of the day, which they are taught to divide into three equal parts; whereby are found eight hours for the service of God and a distressed worthy brother; eight hours for their usual vocations; and eight for refreshment and sleep."

Like many, the Monitorial explanation deals only with the obvious meaning, leaving the inner symbolism for the delver in the rubbish of the Temple's verbiage who seeks the hidden truths Freemasonry discloses to all who look.

The operative workman measures his stone with his gauge; if the ashlar is too long, he shortens it. If it is too broad, he narrows it. If it too crooked to make square, he casts it on the rubbish heap and begins anew with a rough ashlar. But the Speculative Mason, measuring his time with the twenty-four inch gauge, has no such latitude. The ruined minute is forever away; the crooked hour can never be made straight. The day unfit for the Building Not Made With Hands can never be set in the Eternal Wall, nor can the workman find in any quarry a new day to mould. Thinking of it thus, could any symbol cry a more clarion call for accuracy of labor? For skill with which to work? For care and pains in building? "Eight hours for the service of God and a worthy distressed brother, eight hours for their usual avocation, and eight for refreshment and sleep." There is no time to waste. There is not time to be lost. There is no time for idleness.

The Mason interested in a further interpretation of the three-fold division of twenty-four hours need look no further than the Great Light upon his Altar - indeed, he need only turn back from Ecclesiastes XII to Ecclesiastes III to find the inspiration of this Monitorial admonition that there is a time for everything. We read: "To everything there is a season and a time for every purpose under heaven; a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; a time to kill and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; a time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; a time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace."

But nowhere in the wise counsel of prophet or patriot, preacher or teacher, is there set forth a time to waste time. Time is the very substance of life, its golden minutes the only stones we have with which to build. Every accomplishment of man, be it Temple of marble or Temple of character, act of selfishness or selfless giving to others, building a nation or building a house, must be accomplished with "Time." Without time nothing is ever done. Hence he who wastes either his time or another's, squanders that which he cannot replace; which comes from we know not whither, to go we know not whence, which once gone, is gone forever. About us are many varieties of men with as many ideas of how time should be spent. Every human being has the same number of minutes in an hour, of hours in a day, of days in a year. Some have little or nothing to show for their thirty, forty, or fifty years. Others have great accomplishments to exhibit as the product of their time.

Our days are allotted as three score and ten. We rarely start on our life work before we are twenty. Of the fifty years of actual time for labor, we are admonished to spend a third of in the service of God and a distressed worthy brother, a third in refreshment and sleep, and but a third in labor - not quite seventeen years in which to accomplish all we have to do! No wonder so few of us leave behind a monument which will stand long enough to be seen by the coming generation, still less one which will last through the ages. But the harder the task, the greater the joy of accomplishment!"

Much has been made of the amount of time spent in the "service of God and a distressed worthy brother" by enemies of the Craft, who have tried to read into this admonition the thought that the other sixteen hours are to be used without service to God, and that only a distressed "brother" is to share in our labors. This, of course, is pure casuistry. If we instruct a workman to build a wall, we mean that he is to carry the brick, make the mortar, lay the courses, level the whole, leave an opening for the gate, point up the joints - do the whole job! "Service to God," then, does not mean merely spending time upon ones knees in prayer, but living life acceptable to the Great Architect. By "worthy distressed brother" we have no reason to assume that Masonry means only "brother of the Mystic Tie." Masons are repeatedly bidden to turn to the Great Light as the rule and guide of faith and practice. Here we find "inasmuch as ye do it into the least of these . . . " And all men who own to a common Father are brothers. The attentive Freemason quickly notes how frequently are the Masonic allusions to work, and how few to refreshment. Our twenty-four inch gauge gives us - almost grudgingly, it seems - eight hours for two occupations of which we know one needs the greater part - eight hours for refreshment and sleep. The other sixteen are for labor, work, effort, doing. To him who finds labor irksome, the twenty-four inch gauge must be a painful symbol. Alas, all symbols are painful for the idle! But for those who have learned life's greatest lesson, that the most lasting joy comes from accomplishment, the symbol is beautiful. Fortunate is the man who is happy at his daily task; discontented he who has not found his work. For him who likes his job, sixteen hours a day are scarce enough. Find the carpenter who carves wood in his spare hours, the bookkeeper who spends his evenings doing mathematics, the doctor whose leisure is spent teaching his healing art, and you hear men singing at their labors; men who curse the clocks which go too fast! Find the Mason interested in the Ancient Craft, prompt to offer his services for visiting the sick, doing committee work, helping the tiler, laboring on Fellowcraft or Degree Team, and you see one happy in his lodge. Such men have no time to waste - all have some division of their gauge of time which makes every minute count with "sixty seconds worth of distance run." Time - substance of life! Time - gift of the Great Architect! Time - building stone for the spiritual temple! Time - man's greatest mystery, bitterest enemy, truest friend! Its care, conservation, employment, is the secret of the twenty-four inch gauge - its waste and aimless spending is the sin against which this symbolic working tool unalterably aligns the Ancient Craft The Scythe, emblem of Time, wins in the end. We can race with Father Time for but a little while. "But we can win while we are permitted to race." And at the end, the great ruler of our lives is merciful! As you think of the twenty-four inch gauge and its three divisions, think also of these tender and beautiful words written of the mighty servant, mightier master, Time: I bring you woe and scalding tears and all life holds of sadness, because I am remorseless, your heart in torture pays in bitter coin of memories of times when time was madness, "I am the passing hours; I am your march of days. "Enemy and best of friends am I to those who sorrow; Pitiless in passing, yet Oh, so slow, so slow. . .I hurry to the sleeping the grayness of tomorrow; Sluggard in my sun-down, I never seem to go. Little bit by even less, all pain I can diminish, Slowly win the smile to eyes that now know but to weep. I began your race with life, and I shall see its finish; My arms, and none but mine, shall in the end give sleep. I linger not for anyone, yet I may not be hastened; You must bear your agony until I bid it cease. But when your head is in the dust, and all your pride is chastened, "At long last, I promise you, I bring the gift of peace.

For the complete article go to:

http://www.phoenixmasonry.org/masonicmuseum/24_inch_gage.htm

logo

Stephen D. Vining P.M., Secretary

Jackson Lodge No. 17, F. & A.M.

Grand Lodge Region No. 4

Regional Grand Lecturer

Grand Lodge of Michigan

(517) 914-8400

2013

Thursday, March 7th

Jackson Lodge No. 17, F. & A.M.

To Be Announced

Thursday, March 14th

Jackson Lodge No. 17, F. & A.M.

Regular Communication, 7:30 p.m.

Lodge Dinner, 6:30 p.m.

Thursday, March 21st

Jackson Lodge No. 17, F. & A.M.

Entered Apprentice Degree, 7:00 p.m.

~ Officer's in Tuxedo ~

Saturday, March 23rd

Tour of Michigan Masonic Home in Alma

Tour Bus leaves at 9:00 a.m.

and returns to lodge at 3:30 p.m.

Contact George Otis for reservation

(517) 262-9862 or gmotis@sbcglobal.net

Thursday, March 28th

Jackson-Coolidge Masonic Temple Association

Board of Trustee's Meeting, 6:00 p.m.

Lodge Dinner

Menu To Be Announced

Dinner will be at 6:30 p.m. prior to the Regular Communication.

Come to lodge and enjoy the fellowship, dinner and meeting.

All for a $5.00 donation to the Stewards Fund.

Contact David G. Shea P.M., Junior Warden

at 517-315-5982

2013 Lodge Officer's

Worshipful Master - Adam W. Wygant
Senior Warden - Richard G. Shea P.M.
Junior Warden - David G. Shea P.M.
Treasurer - Dale D. Brown P.M.
Secretary - Stephen D. Vining P.M.
Chaplain - Frank W. Lutze P.M.
Senior Deacon - David R. Brown
Junior Deacon - Garry L. Gooldy Jr.
Senior Steward - Eric J. Cole
Senior Steward - Jeffrey R. Ohneck
Junior Steward - Robert S. Webb Jr.
Junior Steward - Andrew S. Marlow
Steward/Conductor - Eric F. Dwyer
Steward/Conductor - Martin A. Hemry
Steward/Conductor - James W. Spink
Marshal - George M. Otis P.M.
Musician - Tommy R. Amidon P.M.
Tiler - Lawrence C. Sanford Jr. P.M.
Education Officer - Lyman S. Robertson Jr. P.M.
Publisher - George M. Otis P.M.
Webmaster - Stephen D. Vining P.M.

None to report this past month.

Masonic Degree Schedule

Entered Apprentice Degree

Thursday, March 21st at 7:00 p.m.

Fellowcraft Degree

( None Scheduled )

Master Mason Degree

( None Scheduled )

Jackson Chapter No. 3, R.A.M.

Jackson Chapter No. 3
Royal Arch Mason's

Adam W. Wygant, E.H.P.

517-745-1699

Ronald L. Spees, Secretary

517-780-9387

Calendar for March 2013

Wednesday, March 13th

Jackson Chapter No. 3, R.A.M.

Stated Convocation, 7:30 p.m.

| Will Open & Close In Council This Month |

Tuesday, March 26th

Jackson Chapter No. 3, R.A.M.

Ingham Chapter No. 51, R.A.M.

Joint Inspection, 7:30 p.m.

Mason Masonic Center

840 E. Columbia St., Mason

Grand High Priest David W. Dossette

honored Jackson Chapter No. 3, R.A.M.

with a visit to our Convocation on

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Most Excellent Companion David W. Dossette

Grand High Priest

Grand Chapter, Royal Arch Masons of Michigan

2012 - 2013

RAM

High Priest - Adam W. Wygant

King - Dale D. Brown PHP

Scribe - Marcus U. Blue, Jr

Treasurer - Dale D. Brown PHP

Secretary - Ronald L. Spees PHP

Captain of the Host - Stephen D. Vining

Principle Sojourner - Thomas E. Royce PHP

Royal Arch Captain - Michael E. Hicks PHP

Master of the 3rd Veil - Frank W. Lutze

Master of the 2nd Veil - David R. Brown

Master of the 1st Veil - Robert S. Webb

Sentinel - George M. Otis

Jackson Council No. 32, R. & S.M.

Jackson Council No. 32
Royal and Select Master's

Adam W. Wygant, T.I.M.

517-745-1699

Adam W. Wygant, Recorder

517-745-1699

Calendar for March 2013

Wednesday, March 13th

Jackson Council No. 32, R. & S.M.

Stated Convocation, 7:30 p.m.

| Will Open & Close In Chapter This Month |

RSM

Thrice Illustrious Master - Adam W. Wygant, TIM

Deputy Master - Stephen D. Vining

Pr. Conductor of the Work - Marcus U. Blue, Jr., PTIM

Treasurer - Thomas E. Royce, PTIM

Recorder - Adam W. Wygant
Captain of the Guard - George M. Otis
Conductor of Council - Michael E. Hicks, PTIM
Steward - Michael J. Conn, PTIM
Sentinel - Ronald L. Spees, PTIM
Chaplain - Dale D. Brown, PTIM
Marshall - Vacant

Jackson Commandery No. 9, K.T.

Lloyd C. Darling PC, Eminent Commander

517-795-3694

Michael E. Hicks, Recorder

517-787-8438

Calendar for March 2013

Saturday, March 2nd

Tri-State York Rite Festival