Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 22, Number 79, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 June 1901 — Whale Men Far Masons. [ARTICLE]

Whale Men Far Masons.

Fractions of men, no matter how large the piece is, have hard work getting into the Masonic order. A “sawed-off” man, in the figurative sense, is not objected to, but if any appreciable portion of him has been literally sawed off, then What is left of him is pretty apt to get the marble heart when be applies for admission in a Masons’ lodge. Grand Master Holloway in his address before the recent grand lodge spoke of a few cases whioh he had been called upon to decide. In one an applicant for admission into a subordinate lodge was initiated almost through one degree before the absence of a thumb was noticed by the'brethren extending the grip. The degree was finished, but further initiation into the order was denied the applicant, and the grand master confirmed the lodge in its position. He was only a part of a man, and was only allowed to beoome a part of a Mason. A man with his left hand off at the wrist, who wears an artificial hand, cannot be made a Mason, neither can a man whose leg has been amputated at the knee and who wears an artificial leg, become one, nor a man wearing an artificial foot.