Anzac Day

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Number 68 – April 24, 2006
Anzac Day
By Ed Halpaus, MPS, life

April 25th of each year is Anzac Day.

Anzac Day is a day set aside in Australia and New Zealand to honor the Anzac Forces who fought and died on the Gallipoli Peninsula in the First World War. “Anzac” stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps. The Anzac forces landed on Gallipoli on April 25, 1915 where they engaged the enemy, and that campaign carried on in battle for Eight Months; the actual battle lasted eight months.

The casualties were 33,000, including 8,000 New Zealanders and 7,000 Australians. Out of the 10,000 New Zealanders who fought at Gallipoli 3,000 were killed and 5,000 were wounded, there were also over 7,000 Australians who were killed or wounded: All this in an Eight-Month Battle. So you can see why April 25th is set aside as Anzac Day to honor the Veterans of that battle.

April 25th was first recognized as Anzac Day in 1916. I’m, told a typical Anzac Day
Service would begin with Hymns and Prayers, it would include an address by someone on the history, and significance of what Anzac Day is commemorating, the Laying of Wreaths, and the singing of the National Anthem. Not unlike the services put on in the U.S.A. by the American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars for Memorial Day, and Veterans Day.

Back in June of 2002 I got an informative E-mail from Most Worshipful Brother Donald M. Severson, Grand Master of Ancient Free and Accepted Masons of Minnesota in 1978-79 the following is some of what he wrote to me:

“In 1979, during my year as Grand Master, I had the opportunity to represent The Grand Lodge of Minnesota at an International Masonic Festival held in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. ”Needless to say, there were many exciting and educational events held during this ten day event, including the dedication of a new Masonic Temple in downtown Sydney, preceded by a huge, grand procession through the streets of downtown Sydney. Thousands of Masons in full regalia; What a magnificent sight!!! Eighteen sitting Grand Masters along with the Grand Master of the United Grand Lodge of New South Wales led the procession.”A highlight was the occasion of being personally introduced to an elderly Brother of a local Lodge, that was visited in a group, as part of the Grand Lodge program. I had noticed earlier in the evening that he was treated with great deference and respect. I inquired as to his status: Past Master; Past Grand Officer? - None of the above. I was then escorted to him by the W.M. of the Lodge and formally introduced. He was a veteran/survivor of the Battle of Gallipoli!!! I was astounded and humbled at the opportunity to meet this Brother. It was like meeting and shaking hands with General John J. Pershing or President Theodore Roosevelt, going back in time so to speak.
”Australian and New Zealand veterans are held in very high esteem in their respective countries.”It was 23 years ago this last March, [March 2002] and I still look back on my year and this event with great pleasure.”[i]

The last of the original members of the Anzac Forces to die was Albert Edward Matthews. He was called Ted. He was born November 11, 1896 and died December 09, 1997 at the age of 101; he was the last original member of the Anzac forces who landed on Gallipoli on April 15th 1915.
Ted Matthews was quoted on his 101st Birthday as saying that he left school at 14 to become a carpenter. When he was 17 it was his knowledge of Morse Code that got him an early entry to 1st Division Signals. "I signed up when I was young and impulsive and stupid" Mr. Matthews said. He was 18 when he landed at Gallipoli, and he would not have seen his 19th birthday if he had not been carrying a thick pocketbook his mother gave him. “It bore the brunt of Turkish shrapnel in the chest a few hours after landing.”[ii]

“Not only was he one of the first ashore at Gallipoli but he was one of the last to leave after the aborted eight month campaign that left 11,410 Anzacs dead. He saw out the entire four years of WWI later serving in France and Belgium.”[iii]Out of the Battle of Gallipoli came something that is called “Anzac Biscuits.” The Anzac Biscuit was a cookie that the Soldiers of the Anzac Forces had for snacks; it was something sweet and nourishing they could carry with them while on the line and in camp. There are a couple of stories on how these cookies came to be.

One version is that the women “Back Home” would make them and sell them to raise money for the assistance of the veterans when they returned home. However, when they were purchased many of the cookies, if not most of them, were sent to the Anzac Troops by their Families.

Another version is that the Army Cooks invented them out of the materials they had on hand in camp to make something like dessert for the Anzac troops. One thing that both versions of the legend of the Anzac Biscuits have in common is that the Anzac Biscuit is a ‘tough cookie’ that is made out of simple ingredients.

Being that the Anzac Biscuit was a ‘Tough Cookie,’ it could be packed and shipped from
“home” to the front and get there in fairly good shape even if the package was not handled to gently. Also, for the other version of the story is that, being a ‘Tough Cookie’ made from simple ingredients that an Army Cook would have on hand; a Soldier could put some of the Anzac Biscuits in his pocket or his pack and carry it with him in battle and when time permitted he could have a snack of something that would still be intact, and taste good.

Well, no matter which story of the origin one might have a preference for, the Anzac
Biscuit is a Great Cookie that is enjoyed by all.

The recipe is not complicated and it uses ingredients that are found in most kitchens. Because of the lack of space here I wont include it, but you can find it on my Recipe Site at http://wwwrecipecircus.com/recipes/Leo When you get to the site, click on Cookies then printout the recipe for Anzac Biscuits and also for Cane Syrup; Cane Syrup is needed for the Anzac Biscuit Recipe. You might want to explore the site; there could be other recipes you’ll like too.

There is time to make the Anzac Biscuits to have to commemorate Anzac Day and when you do you will be enjoying some of the same ‘good eats’ the men of the Anzac Forces had on Gallipoli in 1915. So you have a good recipe to try and a little information about Anzac Day.

More Light – Mehr Licht ©, Masonic Matters © and T.F.S. ©, are sent out by E-mail at no charge to anyone who would like to receive them. If you enjoy these publications please share them with others. To subscribe to any one or all of these publications just send an E-mail to ed@halpaus.net with Subscribe and the Title, or ‘all 3,’ in the subject line and you will be added to the list to receive the publication you want.

Fraternally, Ed Halpaus
[i] E-mail 06/04/02 Donald M. Severson Sr.
[ii] http://www.ozbird.com
[iii] ibid

The Black Cube

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Number 67 – April 17, 2006

THE BLACK CUBE
Excerpted and adapted from The MSA Short Talk Bulletin Nov. 1929.
By Brother Tim S. Anderson

Unfortunately, no hard and fast rule can be laid down on the use of a Black Cube when balloting. There is no way to explain "this is a good reason, but that is not a good reason" for casting a black cube. Each Mason has to judge the reason for himself. Yet some suggestions may be given.

We know a man we dislike. He has different ideas from ours. He belongs to a different "set." He is not the type that we admire. Our dislike does not amount to hatred, nor is it predicated upon any evil in the man's character. He and we are antipathetic; we rub each other the wrong way. When he applies to our lodge we must decide this question: will the unpleasantness to us, in having him as a member, be greater than the good to him which may come from his reception of the Masonic teachings? Are we sure that we cannot accept him as a brother merely because we "have never liked him?"

We all know cases like this; the president of the bank turns down Johnson's application for a second mortgage. Johnson makes the matter personal. He "has it in" for the president. The president applies for the degrees. Someone casts a black cube. It may or may not be Johnson. No one knows. But later perhaps we hear Johnson's boast "I got even with that son-of-a-gun who turned down my loan!" He doesn't say how he "got even," of course. But we are pretty sure we know. Such a use of the black cube is, of course, utterly un-Masonic. It is a misuse of a great power. We might as well turn down the minister of the Baptist church because he doesn't agree with our minister, who is a Methodist! Or turn down the automobile dealer because he refused to give us a larger allowance on our old car! To turn the Masonic black cube into a secret dagger for personal revenge is un-Masonic and indefensible.

Freemasonry works some curious miracles. A self-made man applied five times for the degrees in a certain lodge. The man was rather uneducated, yet a commercial success. He had, literally, raised himself by his bootstraps from the poverty of the streets to a business position of some prominence. Yet he was rather raw, rough and ready, even uncouth. No shadow of personal unworthiness rested upon him; he was honest, upright, a good citizen. In this lodge a certain Past Master (as was discovered in after years) voted four times against this applicant. The Past Master left the city. On the fifth application the petitioner was elected. Something in Masonry took hold of his heart. Through Masonry he was led to acquire some of the education that he lacked; through Masonry he was led into the church. In time he made such a reputation for himself as a Mason that he was put in the officer’s line, and finally achieved the solemn distinction of being made Master of his lodge. He is still regarded as one of the best, most constructive and ablest Masters that lodge has ever had.

In the course of ten or twelve years the absent Past Master returned. In the light of history, he confessed (which strictly speaking he should not have done!) that it was he who had kept this man out for what he really believed were good reasons. He thought the "rough neck" would detract from the dignity and honor of the Fraternity. Yet this same "rough neck," through Masonry, became educated, a good churchman, a fine Mason and an excellent officer.

Had the Past Master, whose black cubes were cast with honest intention to benefit the Fraternity, not left town the blessings of Masonry might forever have been denied to a heart ready to receive them and society, the lodge and the church been prevented from having the services of a man who gave largely of himself to all three.

The black cube is the great protection of the Fraternity; it permits the brother who does not desire to make public his secret knowledge, to use that knowledge for the benefit of the Craft. It gives to all members the right to say who shall not become members of their lodge family. But at the same time it puts to the test the Masonic heart, and the personal honesty of every brother who deliberates on its use.
The black cube is a thorough test of our understanding of the Masonic teaching of the cardinal virtue, justice, which "enables us to render to every man his just due without distinction." We are taught of justice that "it should be the invariable practice of every Mason, never to deviate from the minutest principle thereof."

Justice to the lodge requires us to cast the black cube on an applicant we believe to be unfit. Justice to ourselves requires that we cast the black cube on the application of the man we believe would destroy the reputation of our lodge.

Through justice to the applicant we are taught to render justice to every man, not merely to Masons. To symbolically cast no black cube for little reasons, small reasons, mean reasons. And justice to justice requires that we think carefully, deliberate slowly, and act cautiously. No man will know what we do; no eye will see, save that All Seeing Eye that pervades the innermost recesses of our hearts, and will, so we are taught, reward us according to our merits.

Shakespeare said, "O, it is excellent to have a giant's strength, but it is tyrannous to use it like a giant!" The black cube is a giant's strength to protect Freemasonry. Used thoughtlessly, carelessly, without Masonic reason, it crushes not only him at whom it is aimed but also him who casts it.

A well-used black cube goes into the ballot box.

Ill-used, it drops into the heart and blackens it.

Remember: Always vote for the good of the Fraternity.


More Light – Mehr Licht ©, Masonic Matters © and T.F.S. ©, are sent out by E-mail at no charge to anyone who would like to receive them. If you enjoy these publications please share them with others. To subscribe to any one or all of these publications just send an E-mail to ed@halpaus.net with Subscribe and the Title, or ‘all 3’ in the subject line and you will be added to the list to receive the publication you want.

Fraternally,

Ed Halpaus

Freemasonry & Religion

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Number 66 – April 10, 2006

From “ The Masonic Review” June 1850
Published by J. Ernst 183 Main Street – Cincinnati, Ohio

Freemasonry and Religion
By a Brother who signed his name as P.M.


I am an old Mason, and for many years I have made masonry my study. I have studied its symbols, its rites, its teachings and its appliances for moral influence; and the more I know of this relic of antiquity the more I am pleased with it. It is not, however, a religion nor does it pretend to be. It makes no assumption of that which does not belong to it. It teaches the purest morals, because its teaching is directly from God's word. It enforces the observance of the moral law as revealed in the sacred code; not as the moral law is taught by this or that sect, but as it is taught by God's own word, which is always found upon our altars and open for the inspection of all. There is nothing which legitimately belongs to masonry, either in its rites or symbols, its hieroglyphics or its instructions, but what is pregnant with moral truth, and on a mind truly prepared will leave an impression not easily effaced in future life.

But while masonry is not religion, and should be kept aloof from all sects and parties ; untinctured by the peculiarities of any creed, and worshipping only at the shrine of its own Divinity; yet there is much religion in it. I have no sympathy with that morbid fear, manifested by some well meaning Masons that we are introducing to much religion into masonry, away with such an idea. Religion—pure religion, will injure neither masonry or Masons; and nothing but the rankest infidelity would be alarmed at the revelations of her angel-form. The more religion you infuse into masonry the better: I mean the religion of the Decalogue—the love of God and man. What other motives can prompt to good deeds but this? What other principle of human action is worth a straw, than that drawn from obedience to Jehovah's commandments? The very first injunction of masonry is, that a man shall be good. What is this but to be religious; to' have the heart and life squared by the moral code in our "Great Light." Were all Masons, whether Jews or Gentiles, to obey in spirit and practice, the moral code delivered to Moses, and through him to our ancient brethren, there would be no fear expressed of too much religion in masonry.


More Light – Mehr Licht ©, Masonic Matters © and T.F.S. ©, are sent out by E-mail at no charge to anyone who would like to receive them. If you enjoy these publications please share them with others. To subscribe to any one or all of these publications just send an E-mail to ed@halpaus.net with Subscribe and the Title, or ‘all 3’ in the subject line and you will be added to the list to receive the publication you want.

Fraternally,

Ed Halpaus

Masonic Morals

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Number 65 – April 3, 2006

Dear Brethren, this issue of Mehr Licht is delayed just a little because I was away attending the Midwest Conference on Masonic Education. This is a great conference to attend for those who are interested in promoting Masonic Education in the various jurisdictions in the Midwest, which includes the Province of Manitoba. Thanks to the generosity of Brother Rick Bowersox of Iowa, the Midwest Conference on Masonic Education now has a web site: http://www.mwcme.org/ this site is so new there isn’t much on it right now, but bookmark the site, and check back later - there will be more added to it as soon as can be.


From the “Voice of Masonry and Family Magazine,” August 1883 edition.

Masonic Morals
By William Fletcher James

Our venerable institution of Masonry is coeval with the most ancient traditions and history of man, and will continue to coexist with him as long as faith, hope, charity, fraternal love and sociability remain tenets of his moral code. Few, if any, of the other organizations of mankind have survived the lapse of so many centuries. Few, if any, other of these institutions have been so potential in the accomplishing of good. The laurels of the Fraternity have not been won in the arena of either military or civil strife. War, contention and discord are the antipodes of Masonry, and can find no room within its peaceful and harmonious precincts. Its victories are such as moral forces win; its banner is the olive branch; its power—faith, hope and intelligence; its fruits—charity, friendship, brotherly love and the elevation of its adherents. Its rewards are the approbation of the good and the blessings of the sick, distressed and needy. Among its tangible monuments are its thousands of magnificent temples scattered throughout the world, from which as often as the lodge opens and closes therein, homage is rendered to Him in whose hands rests the destiny of all human institutions. Other monuments of Masonry, almost as numerous, are its libraries, furnishing to multitudes in every civilized land convenient and cheap facilities for reading and consulting the works and best authorities on almost every subject of useful knowledge. Such, my brethren, are the benefits—such the monuments—of our Fraternity, which render it so worthy of our help and esteem, which have preserved it unimpaired through the changes and vicissitudes of the ages, which still renew its vital forces, and will perpetuate its existence in full vigor so long as the members of the Brotherhood remain as they have in the past, and as they do to-day, true to the requirements of Masonry.

Let each of us therefore become an inquisitor of his own conduct, and ask himself the question: "Am I a moral, upright man and Mason, and have I acted and walked ever as such?” He who is unable to answer this question in the affirmative well knows that he has not been true to his solemn obligations, and that as the excellence of the institution can only be judged by those unacquainted with its mystic ties, from the outward deportment of its members, he is pursuing a course calculated to impair the good name of Masonry, which by the highest considerations of duty and honor he is bound to magnify and protect by his own moral and upright deportment.

An unworthy, immoral Mason, is much worse than a drone in a hive, and after brotherly advice and expostulation fails to work a reformation, he should be expelled; not only because he has become recreant to his high duties as a Mason, but to preserve the good name of our sacred institution.

The remark just made suggests that the greatest care should be taken at the door of every lodge, to guard it against the entrance of every man of doubtful character, or dissolute or immoral habits. "For none but the upright, moral and good, are fit to be allowed to approach our sacred altar.”While the initiation of the worthy adds strength, the initiation of the unworthy is a source of weakness and discredit to the Fraternity.

More Light – Mehr Licht ©, Masonic Matters © and T.F.S. ©, are sent out by E-mail at no charge to anyone who would like to receive them. If you enjoy these publications please share them with others. To subscribe to any one or all of these publications just send an E-mail to ed@halpaus.net with Subscribe and the Title, or ‘all 3’ in the subject line and you will be added to the list to receive the publication you want.

Fraternally,
Ed Halpaus