Page 332 - Cornelius Hedges Story

319 The Cornelius Hedges Story

letter, containing ten test questions, addressed to the Masters ofthe
Lodges, the Grand Master came into the possession of a full and
reliable report from all the Lodges, which he summarized and Lay
before Grand Lodge. Among other items the returns show thirty- two
in need of a Masonic Home. The chief business of the session was in
connection with a new code, prepared chiefly by Past Grand Master
E. C. Day. His work was examined by the Jurisprudence Committee,
and on their approval was accepted with the changes made. It was
further ordered that 1,000 copies be printed, and after providing for
distribution at home and abroad, the residue was to be sold at cost.
Brother Day was to see that they were correctly published. Upon
the subject of physical qualification of candidates, the Jurisprudence
Committee adopted the report of the Ohio Grand Lodge that it was a
question wholly for the Lodge to settle with the general qualifications
before them. As all the railroads in Montana had reduced fare to
four cents per mile, the mileage of representatives was reduced
proportionally. Brother Anthony H. Barret, a Kentuckian by birth,
a pioneer, Son of the American Revolution, and a veteran Mason,
was elected Grand Master. Great Falls was chosen as the next place
of meeting.
This will bring the record of our Grand Lodge down to the close of
the century and affords a convenient halting place. In the time of a
single generation and while several of those who helped organize our
Grand Lodge are still living, it has grown from the three constituted
Lodges to forty-seven that still survive, and from a membership of
about two one of over 3,000.
It has had thirty-seven Grand Masters, of whom twenty-nine are still
living. It has had only four Grand Secretaries, three of whom are
living. It has had five Grand Treasurers, three of whom are living.
It has contributed a generous share towards the establishment of
law and order, and the introduction of elements and influence that
make for righteousness and moral and intellectual elevation. It has
allayed sectional, political and religious strife and differences; has
administered relief to scores of sick, suffering and needy brothers
soothed their dying pillow and given them honored burial. It has not
only laid the foundation but has labored unremittingly to up build
society and supply the material that “Constitutes a State.” It has
been one of the principal centripetal forces of society, reconciling
the past with the present, adapting the old to the new, always moving
forward to higher and better things. During much of his term, Grand
Master Barret was out of the State undergoing treatment for serious