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Sit Lux Et Lux Fuit

E. C. Day, M.W.P.G.M of Montana

Years ago the foundations of our state's civilization amid these rough mountain scenes the golden keys
were laid. The hands which held the working tools that were to unlock for them the door's to life's temple.
and spread the cement which was to bind together the How many ways of that throng came for gold to fi nd
foundation stones of law and order were those of the only a pauper's or criminal's grave. How many came
founders of this Grand Lodge. for sordid gold that found instead that nourishment
came from the tree of life, not from the rocks of earth.
With growth of our State in population, and with
the development of its material resources has grown Go with me along the crowded streets of those,
and has developed also our institutions. And the wild mining camps. Here was everything that could
fact that this institution has kept pace everywhere appeal to the wild passions of youth. Here was every
with that growth declares in no uncertain terms the temptation that had beset the pathway of man from his
universality of the underlaying principles of Masonry. earliest times. And here, where no one who cared, could
When the centers of population in the state but few see, was that utter freedom from all of the restraints
in number the people confi ned to the single industry that had held the young man in the paths of innocence
of mining, we fi nd Masonry convening its assemblies and virtue. But note! A dim light shines out of the upper
in their midst, and by the infl uence of its brotherhood rooms along that street. A timid youth waits at the
softening the asperity of life, taming the wild nature of stairway until a brother's hand reaches out and guides
the turbulent, and leading in the van of all the forces his foot-steps. Follow him falteringly up the rickety
which made for good. With the advent of the railroads stairs, into the dimly lit hall, and there in the presence
and the coming of new peoples, this same silent force of men roughly clad and rough exterior a question is
was at work, entering the new towns and centers as propounded and answered, an a simple vow recited that
soon as the tents were permanently pitched. drives those wild scenes of the street far away, never
to return again with the same compelling force. And
When the population spread out along the fertile the young man goes out of that room feeling that its
valleys and upon the broad prairies, so too, went length and breadth had been the four corners of earth,
Masonry to cheer and to bless. At fi rst its meeting and its covering the glorious starry canopy of Heaven
places were the upper rooms of the log cabin or the itself, and its light the light eternal that shines for all
frame shack, the best that could be devised, perhaps- those who can see. Sit Lux Et Lux Fuit (Let there be
its bare walls dimly lighted by the candles at the altar, light, and there was light). In such a place one would
but rendered illuminate and glorious by the eternal have met Duncan, Hull, Langford, Sanders, Hedges,
light that shone for the fi rst time into the heart of the Word, Hosmer, Knowles, and all that brilliant coterie,
Apprentice. There were no accessories of scenery, of whose name has since been emblazoned in letters of
tapestry, of tasteful upholstery, or of glorious music, gold on Montana's pages. What mattered it that the
but there were the accompaniments of faith, hope, fl oor had no covering, the wall had no plastering, and
charity, and brotherly love, and the meanness of the seats had no upholstery. One would have walked
squalor of the meeting place were lost sight of, when in the temple of the most high God accompanied by
brother spoke to brother and together they walked the Grand Masters indeed, and have heard the voices
upon the checkered pavements and entered into the of those whose tongues had touched with the coals of
sacred precincts of the mystical temple, symbolized fi re, and learned to lay the foundation of life's temple
by the representative of God's holy house built by from those who wrought well in the quarries.
David's magnifi cent son.
Of course in youth it is easy to enter into the house
I love to contemplate the meetings of the pioneer of make believe, and as the institution grew in strength
Masons of that Montana. and importance the desire to make Masonry's abiding
place more representative of its place in the world found
They were young men, of splendid intellect and expression in better and more permanent structures.
of rugged natures, both physical and spiritual. They Several years ago the Craft in this state entered upon
belonged to a generation which took part in the life the its second era, that of temple building. True
and death struggles of our nation. They had left far there had been erected before buildings for Masonic
behind them civilization, home and family, to fi nd purposes in Bozeman, Helena, and Virginia City.

Volume 95 Number 1 Montana Freemason Page 35