The Story Of Freemasonry

Published in Gallipolis, Ohio, by the Lion's Paw Club in 1913, (126 pages)

The Publisher has copy-edited this book to improve the formatting, style and accuracy of the text to make it readable. This did not involve changing the substance of the text.

Contents:

I. The Initiation into the Ancient Persian Magi, and a Curious Legend of Hiram Abif, Solomon, and the Queen of Sheba.
II. Attempts to Exterminate Freemasonry.
III. Leo Taxil's Remarkable Books about Murder, the Devil, Women, and the Black Mass, in the High Degrees of Masonry.
IV. The Disappearance of William Morgan and the Anti-Masonic Excitement which Followed All Over the United States.
V. The Tradition and the Evolution of the First Three Degrees of Freemasonry.
VI. The Origin and Structure of the York and Scottish Rites, and Their Relations.
VII. The Fundamental Principles and Moral and Religious Teachings of Freemasonry.
VIII. The Landmarks of Masonry Defined, and Its Universality as a Secret Fraternity.

Publishers' Statement

.....THIS Book has been printed for the Entertainment & Information of Masons and Other Persons who desire in pithy form such facts of the Peculiar Origin, Curious Structure & Unique History of Freemasonry, as every Intelligent Mind should possess.

.....The vital substance of many large volumes has been packed into these pages in extremely readable shape, and it is certainly gratifying to us to be able to put Mr. Sibley's compact, comprehensive and trustworthy work on the market in such attractive style for the notably low price of Fifty Cents per copy. We believe the Public in General & the Masonic Fraternity in Particular, will applaud our service in so doing. Books on Freemasonry are not all either Interesting or Inexpensive. This valuable little book is Both.

.....So far as we are aware there is in existence no other publication than this which as concisely, or for as small a sum, gives so much to the Public and the Fraternity that is worthy of Permanent Record & Memory.

THE LION'S PAW CLUB
1913

Excerpts:

....."Symbolic Masonry was introduced into America by the British, and during the colonial period of the country, was under English authority. After the declaration of Independence in 1776, the question of allegiance became a serious one to American Masons, but they concluded that Masonic must be in accord with civil government, and in 1777 chose their own Grand Master to take the place of the British official. In 1776 a charter was granted to a military lodge in "the Connecticut line," called American Union Lodge, and erected in Roxbury or wherever its body might move on the continent of America. At the close of the Revolutionary War, the master and a number of the members of this lodge, of which George Washington was a member, settled at Marietta, Ohio. They had the charter, and reorganized the lodge there in 1790, two years after the settlement of that historic city.

.....In no sketch of Masonry, perhaps, should mention of the Charities of the Order be omitted. Masonic benevolences are well systematized the world over. Some of them are necessarily public, but the greater number are never heard of outside the Lodge. It is not the policy of Masonry to dispense benevolences to any but those who actually need them. The Order does not, for instance, pay any member a sum of money merely because he is sick. The actual pinch of poverty must be manifest before the coffers of the Society are opened. But when want stares a Freemason, his widow or his orphans in the face, they are liberally assisted to tide over their misfortunes. Public Masonic Charities take different forms in different countries. In Sweden twelve work schools in which poor children are taught useful trades are maintained. In Hungary last winter a daily average of 9,722 poor people were each given a loaf of bread, and at milk depots numberless children were given each a roll and a pint of hot milk during the rigors of frosty weather. In America, public Masonic Charities have largely been in the form of Masonic Homes, great institutions in which the aged, widows, and orphans are given a pleasant home because of their connection with the Fraternity.

.....A few words in conclusion: It has been the intent of the writer to condense within about one hundred pages such a sketch of Freemasonry as would interest men and women, and yield to them correct ideas of the Order. If a just account has been given of the Legend and Tradition of Masonry, of its early manifestations, of the Famous Attacks upon it, of its Teachings and of its Extent, the author's purpose has been accomplished. There has been no attempt to make this little book cyclopaedic, monitorial, jurisprudent, disquisitional, argumentative or speculative. The whole purpose has been to make the Story accurate and brief.....

The Story Of Freemasonry