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By the time you get this I hope we have yet to have our Past Master's Night at the Masonic Home on Saturday August 27th.
September looks like it will be a busy month. The first Monday of course will be the Labor Day Holiday so we will be holding our September Stated Meeting on Monday September 12. Every time this happens it really crams the rest of the month as far as activities go.
In the case of September we will have a LAMTA Board meeting on Wednesday September 14 at 7:30 PM. This meeting is open to any member of our lodge and I encourage you to at least attend one of the meetings each year. This will give you a better understanding of what the board is accomplishing, as well as give you an opportunity for suggestion input.
Starting in October the Redwood Rainbow Assembly has volunteered to do our baby-sitting for us at the Stated Meetings for the rest of the year. This is a real step forward in improving our contribution to our youth groups and I encourage you to look into attending some of their functions.
If you have any questions on how you can contribute to any of our youth groups please contact our Youth Groups Committee Chairman Brother Ed Clark at (650) 949-2029. Let's show our youth that we really appreciate them this year.
As I mentioned, this month our stated meeting falls on September 12th and that particular day just happens to hold a great significance in both Masonic and U.S. History.
Brother Richard J. Gatling was a member of Center Lodge No. 23, Indianapolis, Indiana.
Brother Gatling was born on September 12, 1818 on the Gatling family plantation located in the small town of Money’s Neck, in Hertford County, North Carolina.
From a very young age he seemed to develop a special talent for invention and improvement. As a young boy he always looked forward to assisting his father, Jordan Gatling, who was also a gifted inventor, and invented several interesting machines.
While he was still in his teen years he helped his father, invent two very important machines of the day. One was for sowing cotton, and the other was for thinning young cotton plants.
The word invention in the Gatling family was indeed an every day word, and as the young boy grew to manhood his father constantly taught him how to think creatively.
Then in 1839, at the age of 21, he invented a steamboat screw propeller. However, another person quickly filed a patent on it before Brother Gatling could do so. Later that same year, he invented and patented a machine for sowing rice, and when he moved to St. Louis in 1844, adapted it to drilling wheat. This invention made him a wealthy man in the later years of his life.
In the 1840's, an outbreak of smallpox left him interested in medicine. He attended Ohio Medical College, and graduated in 1850 but after graduating he soon lost interest in medicine and decided to continue his career in the field of inventing. For the next few years he continued to invent and improve upon his many already existing inventions, and it was not until 1857 that he invented a steam driven plow. Although he patented the plow, it was not well accepted by farmers, and failed to show much of a profit.
Following the outbreak of the Civil War, he turned his attention to the invention of firearms, and by 1862 he had completed and patented the Gatling Gun, making it his eleventh patent.
He is best known as the inventor of the “Gatling Gun,” the world’s first practical repeating gun which drastically changed the tactics of warfare throughout the world.
He first conceived the idea of his revolving battery gun in 1861, however, the first gun was actually not produced until 1862, when it was introduced at Indianapolis Indiana.
Of that first early model he produced 12 guns which were used in battle by General Butler on the James River in Virginia.
The U.S. Navy had adopted the gun in 1862, and installed several on it’s ships in that year.
By 1865, he had changed the gun so that it could fire a metal cartridge, and in 1866 it was finally officially adopted by the U.S. Army.
It rapidly became known around the world and before long it was in demand in Europe. Thereafter it began to be manufactured in Austria and England and was then used by several other European governments. The first gun fired about 250 rounds per minute, but later improvements including a motor drive raised it to 3,000 rounds per minute.
The gun was a rapid fire, hand-cranked weapon and solved the enormous problems of rapid loading and rapid firing. He was 44 at the time, and he spent the rest of his life improving and living off the monetary benefits he received from his invention of the Gatling Gun.
Although was accused of being a hypocrite by those who thought he was a pacifist, he really saw the invention of the gun as something which would save many lives. This proved to actually be true when the Union Army began finding that they could field with many less numbers of troops. In some cases it was said that one gun and 5 soldiers could do the work of 100 soldiers without a Gatling.
In fact, he invented the Gatling gun after he noticed that the majority of dead returning from the American Civil War died of illness, rather than gunshots. In 1877, he wrote: “It occurred to me that if I could invent a machine - a gun - which could by its rapidity of fire, enable one man to do as much battle duty as a hundred, that it would, to a large extent supersede the necessity of large armies, and consequently, exposure to battle and disease [would] be greatly diminished.”
He continued working to improve the gun for several years following the Civil War, and many years later the Gatling Gun Company merged with the Colt Patent and Fire Arms Manufacturing Company.
It is interesting to note that the Gatling gun was used in many wars, both domestic and foreign before the gun was declared obsolete in 1911.
The war in which the gun saw it’s first truly major action in was the Spanish-American War, where it was used in close support of the American troops.
In the interim he continued developing the device, and while experimenting with improving the Gatling gun he developed an electric motor, which thereafter powered the gun. This created the first "Minigun".
Miniguns and electric powered Gatling cannons of various size would go on to be used as on airplanes and helicopters starting in the early 1960's, some were used by ground forces as well. The hand-cranked Gatling gun was declared obsolete by the United States Army in 1911.
Much later other arms designers developed the Vulcan Gun, a three barreled machine gun that used most of the basic principles of the Gatling gun. The Vulcan Gun is also still used on helicopters and planes today, and it is well known that it can destroy heavily armored vehicles like tanks.
In 1943, during World War II, the U.S. Government named a new destroyer the USS Gatling, in honor of the service he performed to his country. Brother Gatling died in New York City on February 26, 1903 and was buried at Crown Hill Cemetery in Indianapolis, Indiana.
Fraternally,
Luis Oroczo
Master
The SAGA of William Morgan
When our Worshipful Master first instructed me on the third degree, he mentioned a name which caught my interest - That of William Morgan.
I guess you could say his story is perhaps the most tragic and curious story within Freemasonry. The fuel which the alleged abduction and murder of William Morgan supplied to the anti-Masonic hysteria of a hundred years ago, and the gradual emergence of the Ancient Craft from the cloud which threatened to extinguish it, is a tale which all Freemasons may ponder to their enlightenment.
William Morgan, a brick mason, lived in Batavia, New York from 1824 to 1826. From the estimates of both enemies and friends, the years have brought an evaluation of Morgan which shows him as a shiftless rolling stone; uneducated but shrewd; careless of financial obligations: often arrested for debt; idle and improvident; and frequently the beneficiary of Masonic charity.
That he was really a Mason is doubtful; no record of his raising or Lodge membership exists, but it is certain he received the Royal Arch in Western Star Chapter R. A. M. No. 33 of Le Roy, New York. It is supposed that he was an “eavesdropper” and lied his way into a Lodge in Rochester by imposing on a friend and employer, who was led to vouch for him in Wells Lodge No. 282 at Batavia.
Just how much this incident inspired the enmity he developed for the Fraternity is only a guess; doubtless it had much to do with it. Enemy he became, and it became known that he had applied for a copyright on a book, which was to “expose” Masonic ritual, secrets and procedure. In spite of the deep resentment, which this proposed exposé created, Morgan entered into a contract (March 13, 1826) with three men for the publication of this work. These were: David C. Miller an Entered Apprentice of twenty years standing, stopped from advancement for cause, who thus held a grudge against the Fraternity; John Davids, Morgan’s landlord; and Russel Dyer, of whom little is known. These three entered into a contract of half a million dollars of which Morgan was to receive one fourth of the profits of the book. Morgan boasted in bars and on the street of his progress in writing this book. The more he bragged, the higher the feeling against him ran, and the greater the determination engendered that the exposé should never appear. Brethren were deeply angered. Fearful that were the “secrets” of Freemasonry “exposed”, the Order would die out, feelings ran high. Matters came to a head in September, 1826. Morgan was arrested for the theft of a shirt and tie. Of this he was acquitted, but immediately rearrested for failure to pay a debt of $2.68, and jailed. After one day behind bars, someone paid the debt. When he was released he left in a coach with several men, apparently not of his own free will. He was taken to Ft. Niagara and there confined in an unused magazine. Then Morgan disappeared . . . What happened to William Morgan? Well, we all know he was murdered. But his death is shrouded in mystery. Look to the West in next month’s Trestleboard for the continuing saga. Next month, the controversy surrounding the death of this raffish character.
Fraternally,
Hal Bain
Senior Warden
Our September stated meeting is scheduled for Sept. 12. Sept. 5th is Labor Day and the lodge will be dark. In September we return to our scheduled dinner format. The chef has informed me that it will be stuffed pork chops, scalloped potatoes and the usual accompaniments.
LAMTA will keep us up to date on the progress of the elevator. If and when construction starts, we may have to forego some dinners until the dinning room becomes accessible again.
The weather for our picnic was glorious. The setting was quite bucolic but our turnout was a little disappointing. All together about thirty people showed up, nine were brothers, their wives and guests totaled seven, and the remainder were OES sisters and their families.
The chicken, hot dogs and hamburgers were good, and there was plenty of refreshments. The side dishes were really fine and all ate well.
Just a few more remarks on the book “Beyond Angels & Demons” by René Chandelle. One comment I found interesting is the authors claim that Albert Pike and Giuseppe Mezzini were both members of the Illuminati and corresponded with each other.
He claims that these letters are currently housed in the British Museum in London. Within these letters can be found Albert Pikes prediction of three world wars. According to these predictions, we should currently be in the third world war. Is that or is that not food for thought? I thought that perhaps some of the members of the lodge might be familiar with any such letters. Please let me know if any of our readers can substantiate this claim.
As I stated in my previous article this author does not reference any of his claims and his book is riddled with errors and inconsistencies. However he does provide a large array of different subjects that have tickled my mind. I guess I will have to do some further research on my own.
As Jr. Past Master, I have been coordinating the third degree scheduled for August 26 at the Masonic Home. It will start at 6:00 PM. I am trying to arrange dinner at the home for those that attend the degree. If you wish to bring someone, let me know so I can have a good count of the dinner guests. If the home cannot accommodate us, I will find a local restaurant where we can stop off on our way and have dinner. So far we have a fine turn out of PMs; with Brothers Gene Whetstone and Tom Evans planning on coming from their far away homes. Both will be bringing their families.
In order to prepare for the degree, we will be holding practices on August 15, 18, and 22 at the Los Altos lodge. I will also hold a practice session for any PM who wish to do so on August 25. All practices start at 7 PM.
All the Master Masons are invited to attend this Past Masters degree at the Masonic Home. Let me know if you also wish to participate in the dinner. The dinner is Dutch Treat. We plan to meet at 3 PM at Los Altos Lodge parking lot and depart no later than 3:30 PM. Drive directly to the Masonic Home (or stop for dinner if they cannot accommodate us) and then proceed to the lodge room for the degree. Our candidate is Jeffrey Altera and I as his coach can state that he is ready willing and able. The degree will start at 6:00 PM so please try to be there on time. We hope that many of you will join us on this Past Masters night.
VA Official To Visit Los Altos Lodge
During our Stated Meeting dinner on Monday September 12th, we will be treated to a presentation by Ms. Kerri J. Childress, Communications Officer & Congressional Liaison at our local Palo Alto Veterans Hospital, and has graciously consented to share with us information on the new Polytruama Center at the hospital. Ms. Childress will address the role of the Department of Veterans Affairs as it applies to both veterans and our active duty Marines and Soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.
In February of this year, the VA Palo Alto Health Care System was designated a Polytruama Center; one of four in the United States. As such, medical programs at Palo Alto provide mission critical treatment for returning wounded soldiers, sailors and Marines fresh from combat.
Treatment is often arduous and rehabilitation agonizing. Specialized programs such as traumatic brain injury, blind rehabilitation, spinal cord injury and post traumatic stress disorder work to maximize functioning for these men and women whose lives have been forever changed.
Some of these remarkable men include Raymond Warren, a 22-year old Marine. He was hit by a grenade and still has shrapnel in his brain that cannot be removed. Doctors were forced to remove part of his skull until the swelling in his brain subsided. Meanwhile, Cpl. Warren wears a helmet and is making remarkable progress. Jason Poole, 21, was hit by an improvised explosive and lost a portion of his face and skull. He is blind in one eye and struggles even to walk and talk. He’s a remarkable young man, and his positive attitude is inspiring to the other service members, as well as staff.
Gunnery Sergeant Kenneth Sergeant was blinded and also lost a portion of his skull. His wife, Tonia Sergeant, is a wonderful woman who is doing everything she can to bring awareness to the community that there is a need for support for the families of these troops. Many of the families, like herself, live far from Palo Alto and do not have the money to stay in local hotels.
Ms. Childress currently serves as the Communications Officer and Congressional Liaison for VA Palo Alto Health Care System. Prior to this assignment, Ms. Childress worked at VA Central Office as the Director of Communications for all of the Veterans Health Administration. As such she developed communications policy and strategy, including guidance to the office of the Under Secretary for Health, central office programs, and Network and field facilities. Additionally, as a media relations officer, she handled hundreds of national and international media queries each year.
A Vietnam-era Navy veteran, her 22-years of public affairs experience includes working at the U.S. Soldiers’ and Airmen’s Home, Arlington National Cemetery, Military District of Washington and as associate editor of Navy Times. She graduated summa cum laude from the University of Maryland and holds a masters degree from American University in public relations.
(Don't miss this special event.)
Fraternally,
Ernie Castillo,
Junior Warden
2005 Constitution Observance & Masonic Information Night
We observe the anniversary because active support of the established civil authority is one of the oldest traditions of our Fraternity. The annual observation is to assist Masons, their family and their friends to understand and appreciate the Constitution as more than a mere historical document, but rather as a vital contract between American citizens and their government.
INVITE YOUR LADY AND FRIENDS
This year, members of several lodges are getting together for a special and patriotic evening: Constitutional observance and Masonic information. It will be a great opportunity to invite your non Mason friends, and to gather your newer lodge brothers at your table. The keynote speaker will be Wor. Robert D. Rowan, Assistant Grand Lecturer Div I. Invite your lady, and get a bunch of your friends together!
DETAILS
Saturday, September 17, 2005
6:00 PM Social - 6:30 PM Dinner - 7:30 PM Program
Dress: Business or smart casual
Keynote Speaker: Worshipful Robert D. Rowan, PM
Assistant Grand Lecturer Div I
Location: Los Altos Lodge, 146 Main Street, Los Altos, CA 94022
$10.00 per person (Prime rib & vegetarian buffet)
Reservations required for dinner or program
Tickets: Call Loyd Long for tickets: 510-593-1159
Or Call or e-mail Worshipful Ernie Castillo at
Phone: 408-564-7045
Email: The Master (see main webpage)
Grand Master's Masonic Education Article for September 2005
Each Month our Grand Master authors a Masonic article worthy of publication in our Trestleboard, however do to extreme space limitations in the printed hard copy, we are in most months not able to include it.in the E-Mail edition however, we have no such limitations so it is my pleasure to herein present some of his articles. I hope you enjoy them.
Lou Orozco
~~~~~~~~
RELIEF -
Freemasonry is founded on the moral and ethical doctrines of Brotherly Love, Relief, and Truth. These great Masonic tenets are not the starting point for abstract speculation. They are the basis for practical action in the lives of Freemasons. Masons are taught that because all men and women are the children of God, they are brothers and sisters, entitled to dignity, respect, and consideration of their feelings. Each person must learn and practice self-control, to make sure that his or her spiritual nature, the requirement to “do good, and avoid evil,” guides him or her when dealing with other persons.
Finally, Freemasonry emphasizes that it is important to work to make this world better for all that live in it. “Masonry teaches the importance of doing good, not because it assures a person’s entrance into heaven—that’s a question for a religion, not a fraternity—but because we have a duty to all other men and women to make their lives as fulfilling as they can be.
The Grand Lodge of California has defined Freemasonry as “kindness in the home, honesty in business, courtesy in society, fairness in work, pity and concern for the unfortunate, resistance toward evil, help for the weak, forgiveness for the penitent, love for one another" and reverence for God. Thes are not abstract tasks—while not easy, any Mason adhering to the teachings of the Fraternity can practice them in his daily coming and goings in this world.
Freemasonry teaches that by the “exercise of Brotherly Love” we are taught to regard all people as the children of God, and therefore part of one great family uniting the rich and the poor, the exalted and the common man. The members of this family are commanded to “aid, support, and protect each other” and to treat each other with justice and kindness.
Standing behind this teaching is the Biblical injunction that “thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself” (Leviticus 19:18). These words mean that the honor and property of our fellowmen should be as dear to us as our own. They are a comprehensive rule of conduct, “containing the essence of religion and applicable in every human relation and towards all men.” Genesis 5:1 proclaims, “This is the book of the generations of man. In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made He him.” As this verse teaches reverence for the Divine image in man, it proclaims the unity of mankind, and the resulting doctrine of the brotherhood of man. All men are created in the Divine image, and are therefore our fellowmen and entitled to human love.
Closely related to Brotherly Love is the Masonic principal of Relief for those in distress. To relieve the distressed is a duty incumbent on all men, but particularly on Masons. Freemasons are taught to show compassion for their fellowmen, to treat all in a just and upright manner, and to commit random acts of loving kindness.
Freemasonry enjoins us to render our neighbor “every kind office which justice or mercy may require, by relieving his distresses and soothing his afflictions; and by doing to him as, in similar cases, you would that he should do unto you.” Masonry teaches, “…and as Justice in a great measure constitutes the really good man, so should it be [his] invariable practice.”
So how then are brothers to treat brothers?
Freemasonry‘s answer is that we should treat our fellow men with Justice and Charity. Masonry defines Justice as “that standard or boundary of right which enables us to render unto every man his just due, without distinction.” Justice and righteousness are the major ethical qualities of God and man, upon which all other ethical commandments rest. The Masonic concept of Justice emphasizes equality and the equitable treatment of individuals and peoples, so that every man receives his just due “without distinction” as to rank or wealth or honors.
Because man is created in the image of God, each individual human life is sacred and of infinite worth and deserving of being treated with dignity. Masonry teaches us to honor and respect each individual. It is important that we treat each individual as a personality possessing the right to life, honor, and the fruits of his labor:
Justice is the awe-inspired respect for the personality of others, and their inalienable rights; even as injustice is the most flagrant manifestation of disrespect for the personality of others.
But how is charity to be administered? When we as Masons act charitably, we must do so with kindness and tenderness, so as not to shame the poor or put them in disgrace. The human dignity and personality of the recipients must not be hurt or lowered. A wise man wrote in the 12th century:
Whoever gives charity to the poor with bad grace and downcast looks, though he bestows a thousand gold pieces, all the merit of his action is lost. He must give with good grace, gladly, cheerfully, and with an abundance of sympathy for the poor in his plight. It is the kind word, the gentle reception and sympathetic attitude that help and encourage the poor and needy more than the giving of a coin.
The second highest level is when the one who gives is unaware of the recipient, and the recipient is unaware of the giver. When Freemasons contribute to communal funds or to special charity funds, they are acting on this level of generosity and caring. The Masonic Homes Endowment Fund in California is a classic example of a fund whose resources give great benefits to many, but whose beneficiaries never know the countless donors to this charity.
The highest form of charity is to help sustain a person before he becomes impoverished, by offering a substantial gift in a dignified manner or by extending a suitable loan, or by helping him find employment or establish himself in business. Thus it will be unnecessary for him to become dependent upon others.
Freemasonry grants scholarships to undergraduate and graduate students, enabling them to enjoy the benefits of an advanced education, and to become the teachers, doctors, scientists and philosophers for the next generation, who in turn will have an impact on the lives of unknown numbers of people. Charity exercised on the highest levels creates a ripple effect for the benefit of the brotherhood of man.
Masonic philanthropy is distinguished by the fact that with its rich tradition of sharing comes the Masonic ideal of anonymous good works. Freemasonry has seldom or never broadcast its charitable activities to the general public. The public may be aware of the Shrine Hospitals and Burn Centers for children, or perhaps of a Grand Lodge scholarship program, but it knows little of the Masonic homes, and the extent and depth of community support given freely by Masons, lodges, and Grand Lodges.
So private has been Masonic charity in thousands of small, personal examples, that even Masons cannot fully list or tabulate the full extent of Masonic charity in the United States. This desire for privacy for the recipient is basic to the exercise of the Masonic duty to “soothe the unhappy, to sympathize with their misfortunes…and to restore peace to their troubled minds.”
Freemasonry teaches us to respect the personality and sacredness of each individual, to extend the hand of Brotherly Love and friendship to all men and women, and to honor and respect those in the greatest need of material and spiritual support. On this basis we form our friendships and establish our connections.
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