Greetings Brethren,

April showers bring Mayflowers this year is closer to the truth!  We certainly have had our share of them.  And it is evident because those daffodils and dandelions are everywhere.  For me, the later is more appreciated because I will have enough of their petals to make my dandelion wine.  Believe me, it is some might fine wine.

Though we have had a great deal of rain, the activity in lodge hasn’t slowed down one bit in our lodge and several others.  There will postcards sent out to keep ya’all abreast of when they will take place.  Also, there will be a letter sent out shortly of a matter every member should take heed and participate.  Last month the by-laws of the South Tacoma Masonic Hall Association were sent and because each and everyone of us is a “stock-holder”, we need you vote cast on either approving them or disapprove of them.  A proxy will be sent for those who can’t be present at lodge when the balloting takes place.  So watch your mail box!

My wishes are that each and everyone of you enjoy the springtime and, for that matter, each day because time does move quickly and is lost if not taken advantage of.  I know for today, April 24, 2003, is my birthday and I can’t believe I am this old!  May the Great Architect of the universe hold you tenderly in His hands.

MASONRY IS LIKE A VIRTUOUS AND BEAUTIFUL MAIDEN OF MANY MOODS.

SHE IS QUIETLY RELIGIOUS – as when mindful that she is a companion to religion and not a religion herself, she solemnly charges us never to engage in any great or important undertaking without first invoking the aid and blessing of Deity.

SHE IS PROUDLY PATRIOTIC as when under the folds of Old Glory, she exhorts us to be quiet and peaceful citizens who are true to our government and who do not countenance disloyalty or rebellion, but patiently submit to legal authority.

SHE IS COY as when, if only for a fleeting moment, she would give the appearance of levity, but instead dramatically proclaims her profound Lesson of Charity.

SHE IS RESOLUTE as when she demands of each of us a strict obedience to her laws and to her obligations, under penalties sanctioned by ancient usage or modern jurisprudence, or when she calls us to the discharge of the Three Great Duties of a Freemason: To GOD, tour neighbors, and ourselves.

SHE IS SCHOLARLY as when with patient and consummate skill, she leads us up the Winding Stairs to the Light and Wages of the Middle Chamber and stimulates within us a new and greater appreciation the Liberal Arts and Sciences and their application to our daily living.

SHE IS DRAMATIC as when, on the stage of symbolism, she unfolds that great and consoling Lesson of Immortality veiled in the life-death allegory of the Sublime Degree.

SHE IS MERCIFUL as when inspiring Prestonian literature, she reminds us that every human being has a claim upon our kind offices and exhorts us to ever be mindful of our obligations to all mankind.

SHE IS CONSTANT as when she entreats us to be diligent, prudent, temperate, discreet – at all times in all things, remembering to avoid all extremes in living-thinking which would impair our relationship with our GOD and with our fellowman.

SHE IS TENDER as when, with misty eye, she watches while saddened Brethren gather about the bier of a departed Brother to redeem a solemn pledge and tenderly lay his Lambskin above his breast.

SHE IS COMPASSIONATE as when she points to our constant duties to a distressed worthy Brother and to the widow and the orphan.

SHE IS PROUD as when she proclaims the Goal for which she has steadfastly carried the banner for countless ages:  The Brotherhood of Man under the Fatherhood of GOD.

Yes, Masonry is like a comely and virtuous maiden of many moods.  She displays many more than these.  But she never appears with such sedate beauty as when you and I, in our daily living, permit her to be seen by the world arrayed in all the queenly dignity of the Jewels of the Craft.   - George O. Thorne, Grand Master of New Mexico, 1966

“You can’t turn back the clock.  But you can wind it up again.” - Bonnie Prudden

“You cannot fight against the future.  Time is on our side” - William Gladstone

“I am younger each year at the first snow.  When I see it, suddenly, in the air, all little and white and moving; then I am in love again and very young and I believe everything.” - Anne Sexton

Fraternally,

Lee R. Webb II