A Message From The East

Brethren,

A Message From The east

Brethren,

In the most special of months I remind you of to honor those who sacrificed everything that we may live in a free country. This coming Memorial Day is more than a day to cook out and enjoy the nice weather. Without the sacrifice of our fallen brothers and sisters we would not have the freedom nor treasure that we enjoy so much. I also remind you to remember she who gave you life on Mother’s Day. I borrow from the Order of DeMolay Flower talk:

You may have risen to positions of great influence in commercial, political, or professional life, but you can never reach the heights of your mother’s secret hopes for you. You may sink into the lowest depths of infamy or degradation but never below
the reach of her love. The memory of it will always stir your heart. There is no man so entirely base, so completely vile, so utterly low that he does not hold in his heart a shrine sacred and apart for the memory of his mother’s love.

Whether she is with you or if she has passed on memories of her love will always be with you and will always be a guiding light for you. On that special day dedicated to her please think of your mother and, if she is still with you, call her, take her to (or make her) dinner. Send flowers. Whatever you do she will be thrilled that you thought of her on her special day. If she has
passed on, please remember her on this day. She will know.

"Few delights can equal the mere presence of one we can trust utterly.”
- Brother George MacDonald

Fraternally and Sincerely,
Doug Harper,WM 2017

A Message From The East

Brethren,

Seven Score and twelve years ago the bloodiest war in American history, the American Civil War, ended. During the struggle that nearly tore our country apart, there were many occasions when Freemasons on both sides of the lines remembered their obligations toward each other and, despite their political differences, they risked life, limb and treasure to aid and relieve a brother in need. A remembrance of that time follows:

“My father had been a soldier in the Union Army.
He was made a Mason in a military Lodge. Taken
prisoner at Arkansas Post, he was carried up the
Mississippi River to Rock Island, Illinois. My father
became desperately ill, and made himself known
as a Mason to an officer of the camp. The officer
took him to his own home and nursed him back
to life. When the war ended, he loaned Father
money to pay his way back to his Texas home,
and gave him a pearl-handled pistol to protect
himself. This experience of my father, when
I learned about it, had a very great influence
upon my life; the fact that such a fraternity of
men could exist, mitigating the harshness of war,
and remain unbroken when states and churches
were torn in two, became a wonder; and it is not
strange that I tried for years to repay my debt to
it.”
- Joseph Fort Newton, D.D. in River of Years

Fraternally and Sincerely,
Doug Harper,WM 2017