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GOOD SAMARITAN LODGE

Location: Reading

Chartered By: William Sewall Gardner

Charter Date: 09/13/1871 1871-100

Precedence Date: 11/09/1870

Current Status: Active.

King Cyrus Lodge merged here, 05/22/2003.

PAST MASTERS

REFERENCES IN GRAND LODGE PROCEEDINGS

• Petition for Dispensation: 1870
• Petition for Charter: 1871
• Consolidation Petition (with King Cyrus Lodge): 2003

ANNIVERSARIES

• 1920 (50th Anniversary)
• 1945 (75th Anniversary)
• 1970 (Centenary)

VISITS BY GRAND MASTER

• 1871 (DDGM Henry P. Perkins; Constitution of Lodge and installation)
• 1882 (Lawrence)
• 1883 (Lawrence)
• 1898 (Hutchinson)
• 1903 (Sanford)
• 1909 (Flanders)
• 1919 (L. Abbott)
• 1920 (Prince; 50th Anniversary; Special Communication)
• 1944 (A. Coolidge; Canopy Club)
• 1945 (Wragg; 75th Anniversary; Special Communication)
• 1954 (W. Johnson)
• 1964 (Osgood; reception for Deputy Grand Master Maxwell)
• 1970 (Wragg; Centenary; Special Communication)
• 1975 (Maxwell; 3 visits: with Knights of Columbus; cornerstone laying; Grand Master's reception)
• 1981 (Berquist)
• 1990 (Darling; Mortgage burning; Special Communication)
• 1992 (Darling)
• 1994 (Lovering)
• 1995 (Lovering)
• 2000 (Bauer; Reception for Deputy Grand Master Richard Burgess)
• 2003 (Hicks; Consolidation with King Cyrus Lodge; Special Communication)
• 2011 (Stewart)

BY-LAW CHANGES

1873 1876 1880 1887 1889 1898 1900 1912 1914 1917 1918 1920 1921 1922 1927 1932 1940 1941 1942 1946 1947 1952 1953 1956 1958 1967 1976 1978 1982 1990 1998 2004 2007 2008 2012

HISTORY

• 1920 (50th Anniversary History, 1920-365; see below)
• 1945 (75th Anniversary History, 1945-377; see bekiw)
• 1970 (Centenary History, 1970-548)

50TH ANNIVERSARY HISTORY, NOVEMBER 1920

From Proceedings, Page 1920-365:

By Bro. Horace G. Wadlin.

We celebrate tonight the Fiftieth Anniversary of Good Samaritan Lodge. Its history has included no very remarkable event, and its really significant happenings can be compressed into few sentences. Nevertheless it seems fitting to recall them.

Of course, you all know that this Lodge did not initiate the Masonic movement in Reading. The first connection of Reading with organized Masonry was the institution of Mount Moriah Lodge, March 14, 1798, when a Charter was granted to Joseph L. Cordis, Dr. John Hart, and a Mr. Harvey. Mr. Cordis was a large landholder on the east of the lake, a man of "intelligence, judgment, and generous impulses, honorable feelings, and very high spirited. He held many important civil offices, and then, late in life, financially broken, and broken in spirit, committed suicide by jumping into the river from Charlestown Bridge, a pathetic ending of an honorable and useful life. Dr. Hart also was one of the leading men of the town, Selectman, School Committee, Justice, patriot, Vice-President of the Society of the Cincinnati.

If you glance from the car window as you go toward Boston, you note on the left an old yellow house, just east of the second group of ice-houses below the gas-house in Wakefield. This, one of the oldest houses left, was then in the old First Parish of Reading and owned by Dr. Hart. In that house, in a room especially fitted up, Mount Moriah Lodge used to meet.

The house was occupied by Harvey, the third charter member, who kept an inn there. It should have an interest for every Mason, being the first home of the Craft in old Reading. Its days are apparently numbered.

The town was divided in 1812. Four years afterward a Charter was granted to Jacob Goodwin, Daniel Flint, and others for a Lodge here, Mount Moriah approving and relinquishing jurisdiction; and the original Good Samaritan Lodge, the second Lodge accredited to Reading in the Grand Lodge record, was instituted June 10, 1816.

Jacob Goodwin I do not know. The Goodwin name is reputable in the town. Daniel Flint, from the North Parish, was one of our foremost citizens, Selectman for thirteen different years, and Representative in the General Court for twelve years — eleven of them consecutive — an office which he held when the Lodge was Constituted. Of its membership or its meetings little is known. The degrees as now worked require more elaborate paraphernalia than was used or would have been available then. But the spirit of Masonry, that spirit which is superior to all ritual or ceremony, however ancient or impressive, was no doubt the same then as now. From the beginning here, as elsewhere, it has attracted men of high standing in the community, leaders in civic affairs, so that Masonry in spirit, if not through the unbroken succession of Masonic, organization, has a respectable antiquity here.

And then came the exciting events and temporary upheaval following the supposed violent death of Morgan in 1826. Morgan's so-called revelations, whatever their importance, never created the storm which followed his disappearance. Comparatively few read them and, as I said a moment ago, Masonry does not rest merely upon ritual or ceremony, nor can it be overthrown by any disclosures such as were put forth in Morgan's name. But the furor worked up over his unexplained disappearance, carefully blown into flame by shrewd and scheming politicians, was a different matter. Parties divided on the issue of Masonry and Anti-Masonry, and somebody's corpse, never proved to be Morgan's, taken out of the Niagara River, was immediately given the Morgan label, in the hope, as Thurlow Weed said, in that immortal phrase ever since used as a symbol of political chicanery, that "it would prove a good enough Morgan until after election."

Reading in the early days took its politics, like its religion, very seriously. When Anti-Masonry became a paramount political to say nothing of a religious issue, Reading could by no means keep out of the fire. And Masonry was branded not only as a civic evil, but a religious evil also. The devil, always lurking just behind the veil to the dwellers in old Reading, was now clearly seen sequestered within the portals of the local Masonic Lodge. Families were divided on the question. A man's fidelity to his church, his standing with his neighbors, his common honesty—these were all tried by the one question, was he or was he not a Mason?

Men saw red, when there was only white or at most pale blue before them. Their very sincerity intensified their prejudices. They wasted a good deal of ingenuity, that might have been better employed, in trying to circumvent the most innocent Masonic operations, which the Masons were equally ingenious in attempting to conceal.

Parson Sanborn, the long-time leader of the flock, stern theologian of the strict Calvinistic School, whose teachings had so impressed the parish in his thirty years' ministry, that, as I was once told, the people of the town could not in a century get out of their mouths the taste of the food he had fed to them, came from his nine years' retirement to give, in 1829, a powerful Anti-Masonic address, still preserved in print, though I doubt if any of you have ever seen it.

Of course, Mr. Sanborn, whose sincerity, whose fidelity to his church, cannot be questioned, had no real experience with Masonry to justify his opinions. But that was the case with many who attacked it at the time, although aided by others who were so wrought upon that they abandoned affiliation with the Order. More than three thousand Lodges surrendered their Charters between 1827 and 1830.

Good Samaritan Lodge (the first) appears in the list of Lodges for the last time in 1840. It was no doubt moribund for some time before that. One at least of its members, Esquire John Weston, one of Reading's strong men, held tenaciously to his Masonic principles, in spite of the criticisms of his neighbors. But the Lodge died and made no sign. Its Charter has disappeared. It was never returned into the Grand Lodge, and no record appears of its formal relinquishment.

Sometime, perhaps, it may be found in some collection of old papers or in some old attic where it may have slept all these years. It is probably not a very striking document upon its face, and would attract little attention from one unacquainted with its history. But it would have a distinct interest for us.

As for Mount Moriah Lodge, it went into what a distinguished man once called "innocuous desuetude." In 1848, just fifty years after it was Instituted, District Deputy Grand Master Ordway found its Charter in the hands of one, whom, being long dead, I will not name, "and who was determined not to give it up. What actuated him I do not know. For his refusal he-was expelled from the Order, as I have found from the Grand Lodge records, and that was the final event in the obsequies of Mount Moriah Lodge. Whether its death or that of Good Samaritan Lodge was the more dignified I leave to you. What the recalcitrant member did with the Charter after that does not appear. His error was vicariously rectified, perhaps, in the person of his son, whose services in behalf of Masonry have been variously recognized, and whose fidelity was finally rewarded by his election as Eminent Commander of Hugh de Payens Commandery.

In 1828 the Anti-Masonic Party cast 33,345 votes out of 276,583 in the country; in 1829, 70,000; and in 1830, 128,000; after which the opposition ceased for a time to be a political issue. The wind of passion died away, and the flame it had kept alive went out as suddenly as it had been kindled. Good citizens who had been unduly disturbed once more slept peacefully o' nights, and the atmosphere gradually cleared itself of smoke.

Thirty years went by after Good Samaritan Lodge the first passed into oblivion. A new generation was in control. The austerities of the old theology had been softened. The single church of the old faith was itself divided. Others, of different tenets, were well established. Religion, politics, social matters, were not, as in the old days, closely confined within certain family lines. A great war had torn the country, and those who had fought side by side and returned were now drawn together by ties of a common experience in the most serious exigencies of life. They were prepared to work together with others to promote matters of mutual interest.

Reading in 1870 had a number of Masons, affiliated elsewhere, but enough to form the nucleus of a Lodge. Who first conceived the idea of bringing them together, I do not know. Thirty-four joined in the petition, of whom thirty-three became charter members, although one of the thirty-three never completed his affiliation with the Lodge. If you want a list of the leading men in the town at the time, you will find most of these names on it. I remember all but one or two personally, although when the Lodge was Instituted I was "less than man though somewhat more than boy."

At the top of the list is the name of the first Worshipful Master, Brother N. D. Stoodley. He was a comparatively newcomer to Reading, but was a "live wire," calculated to transmit a powerful current when put in circuit. Born in New Hampshire, made a Mason like many others at the beginning of the Civil War, he had been Master of the Lodge at Peterborough, where, at Lincoln's first call, he had raised a company of one hundred men, going out as Captain, returning as Major. He was the first Excellent High Priest of Reading Royal Arch Chapter, and always, until advancing years and ill health made it impossible, an active member of the Order.

Running hastily down the line we find N. H. Turner, an operative as well as a speculative Mason; James Reid, long time Selectman and Town Clerk, and otherwise connected with the activities of the town; F. B. Kimball, a leading physician at the time; Hubbard B. Cox, "a mighty hunter," whom everybody knew; D. B. Lovejoy, long Deputy Sheriff of Middlesex; C. W. Cummings; David Kendall; S. H. Dinsmore; George Grouard; Fred Harnden — all more or less connected with our not unimportant industries; Daniel Creesy and David Temple, leading builders; Edgar M. Brown, of the Boston Custom House; George W. Simes, who built "Simes' Block" on Haven Street; Daniel A. Emery, connected with Mr. Beard's watch and jewelry establishment; A. A. Prescott, our leading lawyer, a well known member of the bar in Middlesex; H. L. Cummings, and C. H. Lang, identified with the express business between here and Boston; William H. Wightman, well known citizen; Earl G. Barton, the dentist, and for a time the only dentist in Reading; a few others less prominent, but not less worthy of remembrance; and Col. Carroll D. Wright of state and national prominence, probably the most widely known of the group. Of him nothing more need be said than what was said by Theodore Roosevelt after his death in 1909: He was a public servant of the highest type. I mourn him as such, and I mourn him as a personal friend."

Today not one of the original petitioners or charter members is on our rolls. Death has claimed them all, except Bro. J. B. Lewis, Jr., who never completed affiliation with this Lodge, and who, as you know, still lives in Reading. There was some informality in his case that resulted in his never completing affiliation. Before or during the Civil War, he had, as I understand the matter, belonged to a Lodge in the South, had neglected to take a dimit, and circumstances prevented his establishing his standing. He outlined the case to me recently, but in consideration of his present state of health, I did not press him for details. They are of little importance now. As for the others, their work, so far as it is embodied in this Lodge, lives after them. We enjoy the fruition of what they hoped for.

A meeting to outline an organization was held October 24, 1870, and N. D. Stoodley was by ballot selected for Worshipful Master, and other officers selected as appear upon tonight's programme. It was upon Worshipful Brother Reid's motion at this meeting that the name Good Samaritan Lodge was adopted, that being the name of the old Lodge in the town."

Various other meetings were held to perfect arrangements until a Dispensation was granted by M. W. William Sewall Gardner, one of. the most eminent of our Grand Masters. Under the Dispensation the first regular communication was held December 14, 1870. A Charter was granted by the Grand Lodge dated September 13, 1871, to take precedence from November 9, 1870. The Lodge was duly Instituted thereunder. The pendulum had swung back from 1840, and Good Samaritan Lodge, duly raised, was again in working form.

It was voted that each charter member pay the sum of ten dollars as a free gift to the Lodge. This filled the treasury with more than three hundred dollars, and a lease was taken of Ellsworth Hall, in the brick Bank Building, now known as Brande's Block. The necessary alterations were at once made to fit the hall for work, and the required paraphernalia procured. By-Laws (variously amended since) were adopted at the first regular communication December 14, 1870; and at that meeting Brother J. B. Lewis, Jr., presented the Lodge with a Bible.

At the second communication, January 11, 1871, petitions for degrees were received from H. B. Weston, Rufus B. Wright, and Evarts McQuesten, and they were duly Initiated on the same evening. They were Raised to the sublime degree of Master Mason at a special communication March 16, 1871, and were the first to receive that degree in this Lodge.

At first Wakefield was under our jurisdiction, which thus covered territory virtually identical with that covered by both the old Reading Lodges. Four early Worshipful Masters of our Lodge have come from that town, Worshipful Brother William D. Deadman, the oldest living Past Master and an honorary member of our Lodge, who is with us tonight; Worshipful Brother S. J. Putney, who is also living, and Worshipful Brothers John G. Morrill and J. Fred Parker, who have deceased. To the present time the Lodge has had twenty-eight Masters, of whom Worshipful Brothers Stoodley, Reid, Emery, Morrill, Parker, Wightman, Roberts, and Cook have died.

The question of removing Good Samaritan Lodge to Wakefield came up in 1887, and was settled by a negative vote at the one hundred and seventy-first regular communication, October 12th in that year. On December 14th, Worshipful Brother Wightman being Master, a petition for Instituting a Lodge in Wakefield was approved, and subsequently Golden Rule Lodge was Instituted there, and our jurisdiction terminated. It was temporarily weakening to our Lodge to lose its members from Wakefield, following this action, but it was unquestionably the proper course to pursue. There was a field in each town for independent Lodges, as has been abundantly shown by the results.

The Lodge was Instituted with thirty-two active members. In the first twenty-five years one hundred and seventy-six joined by initiation, and thirty-seven by dimit. Today, counting prospective additions to December 31st we have approximately four hundred and fifty. By the returns of last year, out of two hundred and fifty-five Lodges in the state, only fifty-seven had more than that number of members.

Reading Royal Arch Chapter, with joint jurisdiction over neighboring towns, was chartered November 20, 1872, and has always occupied rooms jointly with this Lodge. In 1893 the initial step was taken that resulted in the formation of a chapter of the Eastern Star.

In 1892 it seemed desirable to seek other and better quarters. The Odd Fellows were then remodeling a recently acquired building, and at the two hundred and thirtieth communication of Good Samaritan Lodge, in December of that year, a suggestion was received from them looking towards the leasing of apartments in their-reconstructed building. Action was deferred and finally did not take that direction, as the erection of the building now occupied by us seemed to offer greater advantages.

July 19, 1893, it was voted to take apartments here, and the first regular communication (the two hundred and forty-third of the Lodge) was held in the new Lodge-room January 10, 1894. Worshipful Brother J. Albert Stott, who completed fifty-three years of Masonry in May of the present year, was installed as Master at that meeting. He was elected Master at the last meeting in the old hail, succeeding Worshipful Walter S. Parker, and Brother W. M. Scott began with him his long period of efficient service as Secretary. Bro. Elbridge D. Smith was Tyler, and he will complete thirty years' faithful service in that office next month, and is approaching his fiftieth Masonic year, being the fifteenth member who joined this Lodge while it was working under Dispensation.

At that first meeting here, in January, 1894, twenty-one members were present besides the sitting officers who were completing their terms, namely: Worshipful Brothers Stoodley and Wightman; Brothers J. W. Webster, W. S. Brown, W. II. Willis, E. B. Eames, J. W. Grimes, 0. B. Buggies, James Hamilton, G. A. Strachan, 0. L. Akerley, W. M. Scott, M. F. Charles, M. C. Skinner, R. F. Loring, M. L. Derrick, J. S. Ellenwood, F. F. Strout, 0. N. Willis, and H. H. Atkinson. And there were four visitors: Brothers Parsons, Blethin, M. Parker, and E. C. Farwell.

Brother Edward F. Brooks, who afterwards lost his life by the sad railway accident on Main Street, applied for degrees at that meeting; and Brother A. E. Winship, the eminent educator, was given a dimit.

The first work in the new room was performed at a special communication on the 16th of January, 1894, when Brothers E. W. Perry and James N. Stimpson were Brothers Arthur D. Gordon, Charles L. Richardson, Percy G. Hayden, and William H. Kingman, were Raised to the sublime degree, first of a long line to be Raised in this room.

The Worshipful Masters who have followed Worshipful Brother Stott are all living, except Worshipful Harry E. Cook, who met with a fatal accident after removing from Reading. They are Worshipful Brothers Bickford, C. A. Loring, Eames, Shackford, R. F. Loring, W. S. Kinsley, Turner, Clough, Bancroft, Dewey, Fletcher, Badger, H. H. Kinsley, and the present Worshipful R. Scott Burgess. To them and to their co-workers the unprecedented growth of the Lodge in recent years, is in no slight measure due. It would be invidious to mention any specially out of that group. You know them, although some are no longer with us. The men who have been responsible for the degree work of the last twenty-five year period, have spared no effort to do that work creditably, and their sacrifice of time and talent in behalf of the Lodge is worthy of the highest praise. Certainly it would be an unpardonable omission to fail to recognize it tonight. And I may at least record anew by way of special mention the obligation the Lodge has felt to one of these Past Masters, Worshipful George A. Shackford, no longer with us, to whom this Lodge was indebted for munificent and appropriate gifts while he was in residence here.

Of the Past Masters of the earlier half of this fifty year period, besides Worshipful Brothers Stoodley and Reid Brothers John G. Roberts and Daniel A. Emery are recalled among those who have passed beyond.

Worshipful Brother Emery held the chair in 1874, 1875, and 1876, and in 1883, 1884, and 1885; a longer period by far than any other Master. "Active and zealous in his work as a Mason, prompt to advance the interests of the Order, wise in counsel, fearless in action, honest, and upright," 1 but repeat the opinion of the Lodge itself, expressed upon the occasion of his death in 1892.

Worshipful Brother Roberts died in 1891. He was always "an active and efficient member, respected and esteemed by all, a citizen who merited and received the approbation of his fellow-townsmen." The Lodge at the time deemed his loss almost irreparable. But, fortunately, no loss, however deplored, is irreparable, when men of good will are united in common purpose. What these men did has been an inspiration to others who have nobly carried on the work they laid down.

As the Lodge grows older, and its members one by one pass across the median line, death touches our Brothers more frequently, and the summons comes that no man can avoid. Since 1902 nearly fifty members have received that summons. We may call the roll, but from them there is no response. It is a roster of men whom not only this Lodge, but Reading has reason to remember with honest pride; whose services to the town in various ways may long stand as their best memorial.

Thirty-six members of Good Samaritan Lodge served in the last great war, and among its honored dead is Chester Gould Hartshorn, who "lies under the sky of France," a genial, lovable young man, who went thus to his reward.

And so I come, at last, to the latest turn in the road. Certain enlargements and improvements were manifestly desirable in the Lodge apartments, which at the end of the second twenty-five years in its history were virtually outgrown. The preliminary investigation of possibilities was entrusted to a committee, which reported in May, at the four hundred and eightieth regular communication of the Lodge. And it was thereupon voted to lease the entire upper floor of this building, and to carry out the alterations in accordance with a plan then submitted. The committee was Worshipful Brother W. S. Kinsley and Brothers H. E. Johnson and Mahlon B. Brande. The result of their work you may see tonight.

From this time Good Samaritan Lodge enters a new cycle of its life. What is past is history. Into the future I have no warrant to peer. Strong, vigorous, and faithful, its members may be trusted to carry its traditions on, to the honor of Masonry and the perpetuation of that spirit of Brotherhood which lies at the heart of our ancient Order.

And of this we may be sure. In these troubled times, when nothing seems secure in a whirling and unsettled world; when upon evenpr side the old landmarks are being removed and the old standards thrown aside,. every Masonic Lodge may be regarded as a bulwark against alien innovations which are opposed to the spirit of our civic institutions or destructive of the principles of American liberty consecrated by the sacrifices of the fathers. Destructive radicalism, either in society, religion, or politics, is not likely to find lodgment in the hearts of men who are sincerely devoted to the principles of American Masonry; nor, on the other hand, are they likely to be deaf to any cry of real injustice, or slow to remedy it, wherever found, under a false conservatism that takes no thought of progress.

I have mentioned Parson Sanborn, and his attitude toward Masonry in the early days in Reading. There was another clergyman here of the same religious communion, but of less austere tenets and far more lovable character, because mellowed by a temperament of broader spirit and a clearer comprehension of what true brotherhood means. He was a man of less intellectual power, perhaps, but of greater affiliation with men outside the charmed -circle of his church. I refer to Rev. Caleb Prentiss, whose pastorate in the old church in the South Parish, before the division of the town, covered, like Sanborn's here, a period of thirty years.

He was, in the truest sense, social, a friend of innocent enjoyment. He liked to go a-fishing; to skate with his sons and with other boys on the pond in winter, and especially he liked a good game of checkers. He was as true to the spirit of real Christianity as he was superior to the literal tenets of his hard and uncompromising faith. Such things were somewhat rare among the usual accomplishments of Calvinistic clergymen of that day, and in consequence everybody loved Prentiss, while I think few really loved Parson Sanborn, although, knowing his rectitude of character, they respected and followed him.

Mr. Prentiss understood the inner spirit of Masonry, not viewing it, like Mr. Sanborn, wholly from the outside through a screen of prejudice. And I cannot close better than by letting him speak to you in the quaint and figurative language full of Masonic symbolism that he employed when at Reading, one hundred and twenty-one years ago, on Saint Johns Day, June 24, 1799, he said in an address before Mount Moriah Lodge (and I am sure he would say the same thing if he were here tonight):

"May the members of this Lodge, in imitation of Solomon, who on Mount Moriah built a temple for God, prove themselves to be good workmen in the service of God, who need not be ashamed. May your works be planned with wisdom and skill and in due proportions. May your foundations be laid firm and strong, on the basis of truth, and righteousness. May your buildings display wisdom, strength, and beauty, and be cemented with love. May they be ornamental, useful, and durable. May you ever act upon the square of equity; keep within the compass of reason; plumb your actions with the weight of conscience; walk perpendicularly upright in the line of duty; and level your passions and affections to the rule of sobriety and virtue. May your social interviews be attended with harmony and improvement. May your social joys be temperate, pure, and refined. May your charities make you rich toward God, and secure your treasures in heaven. May you be built up holy temples to the living God, and show forth his praise. May you finally be introduced to the temple of God above, and be members of that holy society of brethren and friends, where light, love, peace, and joy shall reign in perfection; where your labors shall be your pleasures, and your existence one eternal festival of joy and praise!

75TH ANNIVERSARY HISTORY, NOVEMBER 1945

From Proceedings, Page 1945-377:

By Worshipful Edward E. Harnden.

We, as Masons, define "fortitude" as a "noble and steady purpose of the mind." On this important occasion, the seventy-fifth anniversary of our Good Samaritan Lodge, it seems eminently fitting that we acknowledge and pay tribute to an example of fortitude not excelled, and probably not equalled, by any incident in the recorded history of the Lodge.

Twenty-five years ago, in this same place, we were told in a most scholarly and interesting address delivered by Brother Horace G. Wadlin, how in 1870, thirty-four Masons living in our community gathered themselves into a concerted influence to re-establish here a landmark of social, moral and civic benefit which, through the disastrous effects of a campaign of bigotry and misinformation, had been crushed to extinction during the previous three or four decades.

As present-day Masons, it is difficult for us to comprehend how any such anti-Masonic furore as developed during the years of the so-called "Morgan expose" could have come about, but to these thirty-four men it was a very real thing. Well they knew that an attempt to reorganize Freemasonry by the formation of a new Lodge in Reading might very conceivably bring down upon them a rain of spite and abuse. They—and indeed their families and their friends—might be made to suffer, both socially and otherwise, through the reactions of a still remaining faction of misinformed zealots who continued to nurture nebulous anti-Masonic ideas. However, these thirty-four "founding brethren" of ours, imbued with a fortitude truly Masonic in its nobility of purpose and steadfastness of action, went about this important business of theirs so soundly that as a result we sit here tonight as guests and members of a Lodge of 550 Masons. As a matter of record, and in simple recognition of their work, which is beyond measurable value to us, I wish to name each one of these thirty-four men of great fortitude. They were:

These were the men whose names were duly inscribed in the first records of our Lodge. In the return of the petition which they submitted, the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, in granting the requested dispensation under date of November 9, 1870, does not mention the name of Daniel Cressey as a signer, but at the first meeting after Good Samaritan Lodge was duly constituted, on October 11, 1871, the name of Daniel Cressey heads a list of twenty-one Masons making application for membership.

We were told, twenty-five years ago, that not one of these original petitioners was then living. It is a somewhat sobering thought for me that I can recall nine of them very well and that I have more or less recollection of several of the others. There is some consolation for me in the conjecture that there may be member's with us this evening who knew them all.

The delightfully told history of the first fifty years of Good Samaritan Lodge, which Brother Wadlin gave us in 1920 and which is on record for all who wish to read, leaves little to be said upon it by so ordinary a person as myself. I freely confess that in a research of the records covering those years I came across but few items which drew my attention in addition to those already covered in Brother Wadlin's able address. It might be noted, for instance, that in some of the old-time annual communications there were half a dozen ballots taken before a Master or a Warden could be elected. But the Brethren always achieved harmony in the end.

In March of 1871, it becomes evident from the records that plans were in the making for a "sociable," such as we would now call a "family night," with the appointment of committees to arrange the various functions of the event. Behold! therefore, in the duly spread records of the special communication of March 22, 1871, written in a right clerkly hand, this entry: "On motion of Bro. Jas. Reid it was voted that the bill of fare reported by the committee on collation be accepted, with the exception of scalloped oysters."

We start then, in 1870, with a town population of about 3,000; a tax list of $28,000, including a total appropriation for schools of $7,000, and a body of thirty-four resolute Masons.

At the fifty year mark we record a population rising eight thousand and a strong Masonic Lodge of nearly five hundred members. In this year of 1945 we are able to cite an exact figure of 12,327 for population and our membership as of the end of the fiscal year in August, 1945, was 554. It will be noted that following the mention of $27,000 as the total of town taxes levied in 1870, no further statement concerning taxes in later years has been offered. Some comparisons, when tabulated for sober contemplation, do not make for a pleasant evening.

Taking up the tale from 1920 on, we find ourselves at that time in the throes of a post-war adjustment similar in many respects to conditions which face us at this very moment. I have been told by old-time Masons that the aftermath of war brings with it a heavy influx of applications for the degrees in Freemasonry and this was certainly borne out in those years immediately following the close of World War I. Worshipful R. Scott Burgess, our youngest Past Master in point of Masonic service to be separated from us by death, was in the East during 1919 and 1920. During his first year there was the customary gradual increase in membership. The Secretary's report shows a gain in membership of twelve, from 369 to 381, for the twelve months. Then came the deluge. In Worshipful Brother Burgess" second year, there was a net gain in membership of 73. Notwithstanding the extra efforts of your officers then in line, with full and effective support by every member of the Lodge whenever called upon, the labors of ten regular and thirty-five special communications still left a solid group of thirty men, duly elected to receive the degrees, upon whom no work had been started.

You all know the Masonic way of dividing candidates into classes small enough in number so that each candidate will feel the personal application of the ceremonies of the several degrees. You will therefore immediately sense that the incoming staff of officers faced a panel of work comprising what might be called "six classes of firsts" (and, indeed, it was so termed at the time). During that year of 1921 we enrolled a new membership of 72, at the same time losing 12 by death and dimit, for a net gain of 60.

As might be expected, this surge rapidly tapered off during the next ten years, but not until we had reached what from the records appears to be an all-time high of 590 members, in 1930, did the tide turn the other way. Then, during the lean years of mass unemployment and depression, the incoming trickle of applications became meager indeed. Many members asked for dimits and the Grim Reaper stalked among us as always.

In 1943 we observe for the first time in a long period of years, a net gain in membership. Modest, to be sure—just five. But the following year gives us a gain of 35 and right after that comes our report for the fiscal year ending August 31, 1945, showing a further gain of 38. From present indications, Good Samaritan Lodge may now well be heading for a membership of 600.

The matter of mere numbers in membership, while it makes for the economic stability of any Lodge and is in general a thing to be desired, is not truly the affair of greatest import to us. Rather let us, in reviewing the progress of Good Samaritan Lodge during its seventy-five years of existence, have a feeling of pride and a sense of satisfaction in the knowledge that our Lodge, together with the whole institution of Freemasonry, has gained a place of honor and high regard in our community. And with this pride and satisfaction, we, as members of this Lodge and as Masons individually, must assume responsibility for the continuance of our tenure in this position.

We shall be assisted and strengthened in this undertaking so long as we keep firmly in mind those truths and principles of conduct which have been impressed upon us within these very walls, to the end that, under the favor of Almighty God, we may ever go forward in honorable service.

OTHER

• 1883 (Petition, 1883-26)

GRAND LODGE OFFICERS

• Ralph G. Babcock, DDGM, District 7 (Malden), 1945, 1946; N
• Richard W. Burgess, DDGM, District 7 (Malden), 1994, 1995; Deputy Grand Master 2000
• Edgar O. Dewey, DDGM, District 7 (Malden), 1925, 1926; Memorial
• Richard G. Flint, DDGM, District 7 (Malden), 1973, 1974; SN
• Stanley F. Maxwell, DDGM, District 7 (Malden), 1955, 1956; Deputy Grand Master 1964; Grand Master 1975-1977; Grand Treasurer 1989-1990
• Walter S. Parker, DDGM, District 7 (Lynn), 1900, 1901; SN
• Frederick E. Smith, DDGM, District 7 (Malden), 1937, 1938; N
• Raymond D. Stephens, Jr., DDGM, District 7 (Malden), 1984, 1985

DISTRICTS

1870: District 6 (Newburyport)

1872: District 17 (Woburn)

1883: District 7 (Lynn)

1911: District 7 (Malden)

1927: District 7 (Malden)

2003: District 13

LINKS

Massachusetts Lodges