MAPilgrimMonument

From New England Craftsman, Vol. II, No. ?, :

Pilgrim Monument, Provincetown

Laying the Corner-Stone of the Pilgrim Monument
at Provincetown August 20, 1907

No recent event has attracted more attention than the laying of the corner-Hne of the Pilgrim monument at Provincetown, Mass.. Aug. 20. The presence of the President of the United Stales, the Governor of Rusachusetts and many other notable persons gave an importance to the occasion which has rarely ever been reached at the laying of a corner stone of a public structure. The fact alone that the monument is intended to commemorate the first landing of the Pilgrims in this country gave the occasion a dignity of the highest importance but in addition to the thoughts suggested by the Pilgrims and their notable civil compact which was the beginning of the first government in the world where the governing power was derived from the governed; the President extended the scope of his address so it included many subjects vitally connected with the business integrity of the country and asserted his determination to punish dishonest methods and men and to "work heart and soul for the real and permanent betterment which will lift our democratic civilization to a higher level of safety and usefulness."

In appreciation of the importance of the occasion he said:

"It is not too much to say that the event commemorated by the monument which we have come here to dedicate was one of those rare events which can in good faith be called of world importance. The coming hither of the Puritan three centuries ago shaped the destinies of this continent, and therefore profoundly affected the destiny of the whole world."

With the same idea of the significance of the occasion. Governor Guild said: "This monument rises, a beacon to the mariner, because in this harbor American waters first embraced the ship which in a dissolute and corrupt age brought to Massachusetts not merely household goods, but as household gods the ideals of chastity among women and of honor among men; of a free government by a free people; of equality, of opportunity, and above all of ordered liberty under the law upon which men of their own race and men of other races who came after them have huilded not one State only, hut the United States of America."

Other notable speakers were: Ambassador Bryce, Congressman Lovering and Senator Lodge, whose able addresses have been published by the press throughout the land. It was intended that the speeches should follow the Masonic exercises, but a delay of one hour in the arrival of the train which conveyed the Grand Lodge made a change in the programme necessary. There were about seventy-five members of the Grand Lodge in attendance, among whom were: Most Worshipful J. Albert Blake, Grand Master; Right Worshipful [http://masonicgenealogy.com/MediaWiki/index.php?title=MAGLAWay Arthur T. Way, Deputy Grand Master; Right Worshipful Edward E. Graves, Senior Grand Warden; Right Worshipful David T. Remington, Acting Junior Grand Warden; Right Worshipful Charles H. Ramsay, Grand Treasurer; Right Worshipful Sereno D. Nickerson, Grand Secretary; Worshipful Melvin M. Johnson, Grand Marshal, and Worshipful George W. Chester, Grand Tyler. Twenty-three of the District Deputy Grand Masters wer present. There were also, as guests of the Grand Lodge, Brother Julius F. Sachse, Librarian of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, and Wor. Brother Harry Hunt, Grand High Priest of the Grand R. A. Chapter oi Massachusetts.

The Grand Lodge, under escort oi Sutton Commandery of New Redford and attended by King Hiram's Lodge of Provincetown, marched to the site of the monument and conducted the ceremony of laying the corner-stone in accordance with the following programme:

1. American Hymn, Keller. New Bedford Band.
2. Request to Lay the Corner-Stone, By the President of the Pilgrim Memorial Association, J. Henry Sears, Esq.
3. Response by the Grand Master.
4. Reading of Selections from the Scriptures, By W. and Rev. William H. Rider, D. D., Grand Chaplain.
5. Prayer by the Grand Chaplain.
6. Hymn, To the Glory of Our Pilgrim Fathers, Sung by the Harvard Quartette.

(if List of Contents of

1. Reading of List of Contents of Box, by the Grand Treasurer, R. W. Charles H. Ramsay.
2. Application of the Jewels to the Corner-Stone.
3. Libation of Corn, by the Deputy Grand Master, R. W. Arthur T. Way.
4. Libation of Wine, by the Senior Grand Warden, R. W. Edward G. Graves.
5. Libation of Oil, by the Junior Grand Warden, K. W. David T. Remington.
6. Invocation by the Grand Chaplain.
7. Presentation of Working Tools to Architect, Mr. Willard T. Sears.
8. Address by R. W. William B. Lawrence.
9. Proclamation by the Grand Marshal, W. Melvin M. Johnson.

When the Grand Master reached that part of the ceremony where he is required to spread the mortar on the foundation, after performing his duty, he requested President Roosevelt to assist in the ceremony,.the President cordially responded to the request of the Grand Master, and, taking the trowel in his hand, skilfully spread a portion of mortar on the foundation. The President was followed by Governor Guild and by J. Henry Sears, president of the monument association, in the same service. The formal address connected with the Masonic event was delivered by Right Worshipful William B. Lawrence. It was an able production, interesting in subject, scholarly in treatment and in perfect harmony with the dignity of the occasion. We regret that we are unable to give but a short extract from the address.

Brother Lawrence spoke in part as follows;

"Onthis spot we are today met together to lay, with Masonic ceremonies, the corner-stone of a fitting national memorial to that Mayflower Compact and the men who made it.

"But in the broader sense the Nation that pays this tribute is their grandest monument — and for that monument the Pilgrim Fathers themselves here laid the corner-stone, History tells us of no Masons among them, but it is safe to say that no band of men ever more fully expressed in their own lives the Masonic tenets of Brotherly Love, Relief, and Truth; or the four cardinal Masonic virtues of Temperance, Fortitude, Prudence and Justice. As these qualities were necessary to the earlier Masons to preserve their very existence, so they were necessary to the Pilgrims to preserve their State. In both cases these qualities were the elements of a great and uplifting human movement because they were in the character of the men who made it.

"In an essentially commercial age, when men are too often absorbed in the eager struggle for wealth: when our industrial prosperity advances by leaps and bounds; when combinations of wealth so created wield unprecedented power — and yet when liberty is to be taken for granted that many neglect political duty for private interest and think no shame of it — it cannot be too squarely emphasized than the Mayflower Compact came into being because the Pilgrim Fathers saw, and understood, and wisely feared, the disaffecting of selfish indifference of a very few among them. Thus they laid the cornerstone of American constitutional liberty, the first government in the world that derived its power from the consent of all governed.

"It has been unfortunate that the public mind should lose sight of the Pilgrim Fathers' connection with the Cape, and it is therefore ail the more an inspiring duty to lay the cornerstone of this monument. May it hereafter visualize that first small immigration of a noble hundred — the men whose first thought in making a government was of justice and equality; whose lirst safeguard was to prevent the license that comes whenever a single man considers himself a law unto himself and independent of the just and equal rights of others. This danger in one form or another we shall probably have always with us. It is the penalty of extreme power that the man who wields it prows unconsciously to feel himself superior to the laws that govern the less powerful. It is the curse of extreme weakness, that the man who is afflicted with it comes to believe in anarchy. The safety of the Pilgrim community lay in the fact that every individual did his part for the good of all — and in this thought lies also the safety the great nation in whose making they were so important a factor."