The Lamb Skin
It is not ornamental - The cost is not great. There are things far more useful, yet truly I state:
Of all my possessions, there is none can compare with the white leather apron which all masons wear.
As a young lad I wondered just what it all meant when Dad hustled round, and so much time was spent, on shaving and dressing and looking just right. Until Mother would say: It's the masons tonight;
and some winter nights she said: What makes you go way up there tonight, through the sleet and the snow you see the same things every month in the year. Then Dad would reply: Yes, I know it, my dear.
Forty years I have seen the same things, it is true; and though they are old, still they always seem new; for the hands that I clasp, and the friends that I greet, seem a little bit closer each time we meet. Years later I stood at the very same door, with good men and true, who had entered before. I knelt at the altar, and there I was taught that virtue and honour can never be bought;
That the spotless white lamb-skin all masons revere, if worthy worn, grows more precious each year. Service to others brings blessings untold, that men may be poor, though surrounded by gold.
I learned that true brotherhood flourishes there, that enmities fade beneath the compass and square, as there on the level, men meet and abide. So, honour the lamb-skin, and may it remain forever unblemished, and free from all stain; and when we are called to the great father's love, may we all take our place in the grand lodge above. |
