George Washington Masonic Memorial
Washington! What a name to conjure with! In what manifold ways we perpetuate it! A State, cities, counties, towns, parks; obelisks and statues; universities and colleges; Mount Vernon and Christ Church - and, Masonically, Alexandria-Washington Lodge No. 22 of Virginia. Albert Pike once said that "it is the dead who govern, the living only obey." In what manner do we obey our First Citizen? Let the great heart of America - the American People-answer, and we shall find (confounding the pessimists) that "Washington" is more than a name. Let the great heart of American Masonrv now speak, and what shall be the answer?
On February 21 and 22 last occurred the ninth annual meeting of the George Washington Masonic National Memorial Association in Alexandria. It stands pledged to cherish this great ideal in a memorial to Washington the Mason. Thirty-eight Jurisdictions were represented, and more than ever before gave it as their combined judgment that such a memorial represented a national need. Determination was the watchword of the meeting, "Do it now" the slogan. Plans authorized one year ago and since carefully thought out in detail were approved, and are now about to be fulfilled.
The coming of Peace has thrilled American Masonry with a vision of the new duties incumbent upon it. No effort will be spared to see that every Mason in America shall behold that vision and appreciate it. To build such a memorial, to assist in making it a living, throbbing, pulsating center of the patriotic fervor of the Fraternity-that is the new purpose, and that will be the fulfillment.
It is not for us here and now to present details, for the message will be brought home to every lodge. Rather for us to catch the vision of the part Masonry shall play in the positive and inspirational building of a better American civic consciousness, and supply the objective toward which the pilgrim feet of many of our Craft will one day wend their peaceful way.
Not in terms of dollars but of dignity must this memorial speak to the coming generations. Exemplification of a great spirit it must be - the spirit of the first Worshipful Master of that memorable little lodge. The many treasures -intimate personal relics of the man revered - gathered together during more than a century, will find there a suitable and perpetual resting place. The spirit of the man who refused the throne of national power over the Craft no less than he did the foundation of a dynasty will find eternal rest and fellowship in the edifice constructed after these many years by his Brethren. He loved our Fraternity, and the records there to be deposited will prove the fact, though many may deny it. He loved his Brethren, and the rare trinkets and belongings which in life he held dear and which his Brethren have cherished so highly that they have left them as a perpetual heritage to the lodge which has honored him, will grace its halls.
His voice once gave commands to thousands of Americans, when that title had but just been born. It had called the Craft to labor when but a handful were within the tyled sanctuary to respond. The day is at hand when millions, newly baptized in an Americanism made doubly dear by new sacrifices, shall stand in this new Temple and be blessed with the opportunity to listen to that voice - hushed, yet revivified. The Craft, too, will resume labor. Not in the ritualistic sense, as degree mills, but as a mighty force for the stabilizing of those great principles which are the common heritage of our Fraternity and our Republic.
Americanism, then, shall be the meaning of this new Temple. No other meaning would be just. Symbol it must stand of the rebirth of a great Fraternity. To have it otherwise would be a travesty. "A Center of Light" it shall be, bearing in mind that the modern center of light, more than a campfire or a lantern hung in the belfry of a church tower, is a dynamo. As there radiates from Mt. Vernon a sweet-scented memory, kept green by the hands of patriotic women, so let this new Temple be a radiating center of the value of our Country, our traditions, our form of Government, our right to think, our right to worship, our right to be upstanding men, our right to look God in the face as a loving Father! Let it be our great, outstanding memorial that the Hun did not win! A symbol of our thanksgiving that the spirit of Washington still lives, in the hearts of his countrymen! Of joy that Freemasonry, the cradle of freedom, may work its sweet ministry among men, an apostle of Brotherhood!
Then will our memorial to Washington The Mason have become a Living Memorial. G.L.S.
- Source: The Builder - April 1919