Page 296 - Cornelius Hedges Story

283 The Cornelius Hedges Story

My only official position was on the Correspondence Committee,
and that year I wrote my first report, purely as a work, of love and
pride in the Jurisdiction I had aided in establishing, with not the
remotest idea that I was breaking into a field that I was to range so
largely in the future. Deer Lodge, No. 14, was granted a charter
on my motion and against the report of the committee, coming
as it did with a petition of thirty well-known Masons with most of
whom I was personally and Masonically well acquainted. It never
served Under Dispensation. It has given our Grand Lodge five Grand
Masters, so that I never had occasion to regret the abnormal act.
The most memorable event of this Communication was the
contest over fixing the place of the next Annual Communication.
It occupied more time than any other matter. The contest was
between Helena and Virginia City, and the friends of each were
about equally divided. It shows how foolish and stubborn even good
brethren may sometimes be over very small things. It was settled in
favor of Virginia City for the next meeting and the year following
at Helena. But to show the worthlessness of such compromises,
when the next year came around Deer Lodge was chosen instead of
Helena, without opposition.
The Sixth Annual Communication was held at Virginia City, October
31, 1870, and all the Lodges as usual were represented except
Gallatin, No. 6, whose charter had been arrested. Grand Master
Langford presided. He had recently returned from an expedition to
the geyser region, so eventful in its discoveries and results. I had
been his closest companion on that expedition, and quite an ovation
awaited us. Bro. Langford had been out of the Jurisdiction for much
of the year, but everything had gone on smoothly and prosperously,
except in the case of Gallatin Lodge, where faction among the
members had destroyed the usefulness and almost extinguished the
life of the Lodge. Failing to reconcile the brethren, Bro. Langford
arrested the charter and the battle was fought out in Grand Lodge.
Bro. Langford’s address was one of rare excellence and eloquence
in setting forth the fundamental principles and lofty moral aims of
Masonry, illustrated by his example in daily life through many years.
For many years after leaving Montana, Bro. Langford was engaged
as Bank Examiner, traveling extensively through the West. Having a
competency, he finally settled in St. Paul, where, with a sympathetic
wife, but no children, he is devoting the declining years of life to
literary work and congenial studies.