MASONRY TASMANIA

"Men will one day think of the force they squander in every generation,
and the fatal damage they encounter by this neglect."

"There is no hill too steep that it can't be climbed,
no problem too difficult that it can't be solved.
Creativity and persistence go a long way to solving any problem.

"Take a leaf from nature's book for she is old and wise
Wipe the sadness from your heart the tear drop from your eyes
Take your cue from birds at dawn and sun lights dancing beams
From the laughter of a child and the singing of the streams."

"Give us understanding
And teach us to be kind
So we may judge all people
With our heart and mind." Helen Steiner Rice.

"Don't walk before me, I may not follow
Don't walk behind me, I may not lead
Walk beside me and be my friend"

TIME IS
Too slow for those who wait
Too swift for those who fear
Too long for those who grieve
Too short for those who rejoice
But for those who love
Time is - Eternity

If with pleasure you are viewing any work a man is doing,
If you like him and you trust him
Tell him now.
Don't with hold your approbation till the person makes oration,
And he lies with snowy lilies, O'er his brow.
For no matter how you shout it, he won't know a thing about it,
For he can not read his tombstone when he's dead.

DO IT NOW
I expect to pass through this world but once.
Any good thing therefore, that I can do
Or kindness I can show to any fellow human being,
Let me do it now
Let me not defer nor neglect it or I shall not pass this way again. :- Stephen Guellet

Wages of a Mason
Masonic labour is purely a labour of love. He who seeks to draw Masonic wages in gold and silver will be disappointed. The wages of a Mason are earned and paid in their dealings with one another; sympathy that begets sympathy, kindness begets kindness, helpfulness begets helpfulness, these are the wages of a Mason.

"Change is constant. For many it is a gradual process, for others it may be profound tragety. Our ability to cope with that change defines our lives. One may stand still in a stream, but not in the world of man".

"As we grow older I simplify both my science and my religion books mean less to me; prayers mean less to me; but peace, friendship, love and life of usefulness means more, infinitely more."

"Whatsoever of strength the man had in him will lie written in the work he does."

"It seems that whenever there are intense emotions, there tends to be disparity between how things appear and how they really are."

"The value of life lies not in the length of days, but in the use we make of them, a man may live long, yet get little from life.
Whether you find satisfaction in life depends not on your tale of years, but on your will."

"Do not look back and grieve over the past, for it is gone
And do not be troubled about the future, for it is to come
But live each day and make it so beautiful that it is worth remembering for ever."

"A successful person is the one who has never tasted failure, but the one who continues to move forward despite the obstacles"

"The more honest you are, the more open, the less fear you will have, because there's mo anxiety about being exposed or revealed to others. So, I think that the more honest you are, the more self-confident you will be."

"No man lives without jostling and being jostled, in all ways he has to elbow himself through the world, giving and receiving offence".

"I thank heavens that I have now found my Calling; wherein, with or without perceptible result, I am minded diligently to persevere"

"You come into the world alone and you go out of this world alone, yet it seems to me you are more alone while living than even going or coming."

I sought my soul, but my soul could not see,
I sought my God, but my God eluded me,
I sought my brother, and found all three.

"Always there is a black spot in our sunshine; it is even as I said, the Shadow of Ourselves"

"Learn to be something and do something, instead of eloquently talking about what has been, and may be so."

"You cannot do a kindness too soon, for you never how soon will be too late."

"A man willing to work, and unable to find work, is perhaps the saddest sight that Fortune's inequality exhibits under the sun."

"Count the night by the stars, not the shadows. Count you life by the smiles, not tears."

"Blessed are those who can give without remembering and take without forgetting".

"The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it,
but, that our aim is too low and we reach it."

"Let Prudence direct you, Temperance chasten you and Justice be the guide in all your actions."

"To say that we have a clear conscience is to utter a solecism, had we not sinned, we should have
no conscience." Anon.

"Things should not be done by halves. If a thing is right, do it boldly. If wrong, leave it alone." Anon.

"Even the woodpecker owes his success to the fact that he uses his head, and keeps pecking away
until he finishes the job he starts." :- Coleman Fox

"To succeed, jump as quickly at opportunities as you do at conclusions." :- Brother Benjamin Franklin

"Let then, our act every morning be to make the following resolve for the day :
           I shall not fear anyone on earth.
           I shall fear only God.
           I shall not bear ill will toward anyone.
           I shall conquer untruth by truth.
           And in resisting untruth I shall put up with all suffering."   :- Mahatma Gandhi

"Education doesn't answer questions; it should provoke them. "The thirst to know and understand, a large and liberal discontent; these are the goods in a rich life's hand, the things that are most excellent." :- Sir William Watson 1905.

" It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit. :- Brother Harry S Truman

"Good judgment comes from from experience, and a lot of that comes from bad judgment."
:- Brother Will Rogers

"Happiness consists more in small conveniences or pleasures that occur every day, than in great pieces of good fortune that happen but seldom to a man in the course of his life." Bro. Benjamin Franklin

"The greatest lesson in life is to know that even fools are right sometimes."
:- Bro. Winston Churchill

"The secret of getting ahead, is getting started. The secret of getting started is breaking down complex over whelming tasks into small manageable tasks, and then starting on the first one."
:- Bro. Samuel Clemens. (Mark Twain)

Note....
Where "Anon" is used, we do not have the authors name. We would be pleased to acknowledge if the name is available or remove if you desire. So often quotations are so generally used, it is not always possible to trace origins.

LABOUR
Silas H. Shepherd

He who acts upon the Square
Will always well with all compare.
The Mason uses tools of love
To build a Temple planned above.
The Gauge he constantly employs
To measure work and limit joys.
The Plumb imbues his soul and heart
With love Divine and sacred art.
The Level guides his daily act
And makes good fellowship a fact.
If we employ these tools each day
A beautiful Temple will be our pay.

Contributed by Bro. Geoff Fox.

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Secrets of life

When he can look over the rivers, the hills, and the far horizon with a profound sense of his own littleness in the vast scheme of things, and yet have faith, hope and courage – which is the root of every virtue.

When he knows that down in his heart every man is noble, as vile, as diverse, as diabolic, and as lonely as himself, and seeks to know, to forgive and to love his fellow man.

When he knows how to sympathize with men in their sorrows, yea, even in their sins – knowing that each man fights a hard fight against many odds.

When he has learnt how to make friends and to keep them, and above all how to keep friends with himself.

When he loves flowers, can hunt the birds without a gun, and feel the thrill of an old forgotten joy when he hears the laugh of a child.

When he can be happy and high minded amid the meaner drudgeries of life.

When the star crowned trees, and the glint of sunlight on flowing waters, subdue him like the thoughts of much loved and long dead.

When no voices of distress reaches his ears in vain and no hand shakes his aid without response.

When he finds good in every faith and helps any man to lay hold divine things and see majestic meanings in life, whatever the name of that faith may be.

When he can look into a wayside puddle and see something beyond mud, and into the face of the most forlorn fellow-mortal and see something beyond sin.

When he knows how to pray, how to love, and how to hope.
When he has kept faith with himself, his fellow man,
With his God; in his hand a sword for evil, in his heart
A bit of a song – glad to live, but not afraid to die.

Such a man has found the only real secret of Masonry, & the one which it is trying to give to all the world.

From the book, "Secrets of Life" Author. Joseph Fort Newton 1914
Contributor. W. Bro G Gunton

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If

("Brother Square Toes" - Rewards and Fairies)

If you can keep your head when all about you
    Are loosing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
    But make allowance for their doubting you,
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
    Or being lied about, don't give way to hating,
Or being hated, don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream - and not make dreams you master;
    If you can think - and not make drams your master;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
    And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
    Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave life to, broken,
    And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
    And risk it on one turn of pitch and toss,
And loose, and start again at your beginnings
    And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
    To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
    Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"

If you can talk with crowds and keep you virtue,
    Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
    If all men count with you, but none too much:
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
    With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
    And - which is more - you will be a Man, my son!

Written by Bro. Rudyard Kipling
Contributed by Wor. Bro. Terry McDermott

A Masons Prayer.

Teach us that sixty minutes makes an hour, sixteen ounces and also twenty shillings makes a pound.

Help me to live that I may lie down at night with a clear conscience and un-haunted by the faces of whom I have wronged.

Grant that I may earn my meal ticket on the square, and in earning of it that I do unto others as I would that they do unto me.

Deafen me to the jingle of tainted money, and the rustle of unholy skirts. Blind me to the faults of others fellows but reveal to me my own.

Guide me so that each evening when I sit down at the dinner table and look into the face of my wife, who Has always been a blessing to me, I may have nothing to conceal.

Keep me young enough to laugh with children and considerate enough to be sympathetic with old age.

And when comes the hour of darkened shades, and the smell of flowers, and the tread of soft footsteps, and the crunching of wheels in the yard, make the ceremony short and the epitaph simple. “Here lies a man.”
Contributed by Wor. Bro. G. Gunton

What is Freemasonry?

In the home, it is kindness
In society, it is courtesy
In business, it is honesty
In work, it is fairness
Toward the unfortunate, it is pity
Toward the wicked, it is resistance
Toward the weak, it is help
Toward the strong, it is trust
Toward the penitent, it is forgiveness
Toward the fortunate, it is congratulations
Toward GOD, it is reverence and love.

THIS IS FREEMASONRY.

AS A MASON

I'd like to think that here and there
when I am gone there shall remain
a happier spot that will be there
unblemished by the thought of gain
that someone's cheery voice and smile
shall prove that I've paid with something fine
my debt to God for life divine.

Brother Who ?

I do not attend the meetings
For I've not the time to spare
But every time they have a feast
You'll surely find me there
I cannot help with the degrees
For I do not know the work.

But I can applaud the speaker
and handle the knife and fork
I'm so rusty in the ritual
that it seems like Greek to me
But practice makes me perfect
in the knife and fork degree.

UNIVERSE

Don't waste a curse on the Universe
remember it was here before you
Don't butt at the storm with your puny form
But bend and let it go over you
The World will never adjust itself to suit your
whims to the letter
some things must go wrong your whole life long
And the sooner you know it the better.

The idea for this short address came to me while I was carrying out some rather light-hearted research into early Australiana, in preparation for a talk to be delivered in another place. Some of you may consider what follows to be a rather unorthodox for a Masonic lecture presented by a Masonic chaplain. If so, I crave you indulgence.

For a country with such a short history, Australia is very rich in folklore. Because of the comparatively short time that has elapsed since the arrival of the first fleet, researchers seldom experience much difficulty in tracing the origins of many stories, songs and sayings, which have come down to us from colonial times. There are , of course exceptions to this, and one in particular interests me. I refer to the many references to the mythical Black Stump. In their correspondence, old colonists frequently made reference to things being bigger, brighter or better than others 'this side of the Black Stump'.

No one knows how or when it started; we only know it goes back a long way, and, of course, is still used in colloquial speech. No doubt it means to suggest that things would be even bigger, better and brighter on the far side this hoary old landmark. Surprisingly, there people who believe it really exists. When I spoke to one of them recently and enquired as to the geographical location, he could only suggest that it was 'somewhere way out back'.

When there have been bushfires there are blackened tree stumps to be seen, and I understand that people who live 'way out back' sometimes amuse themselves by pointing out a particularly big example to gullible city visitors saying: 'That's IT'. Thus are myths perpetuated.

I was prepared to conclude along with real authorities, that this marker has to be situated somewhere along the border between reality and fantasy. After all, it is of no great importance, a saying that originated among folk living in far from pleasant conditions in an only partly explored country, where amusements would be far between. Best leave it at that. Then I came across an idea put forward by an anonymous old-timer who could have been one of us. He suggested that the Black Stump could be on the border between here and the hear-after. What a thought.

This reminds me at times, during my meanderings around Australia, when I arrived at the top of a hill or rounded a bend in the road and discovered a fantastic landscape spread before me. Under the bluest of skies, the colours from the wild flowers and grasses in the foreground, to the far horizon, so brilliant that the true mystics like Hans Heyson, Albert Namatjira and, yes, even our own Senior Warden, would hesitate to attempt to portray on canvas. With bird songs in perfect harmony, the pure air carrying an ethereal bush land fragrance warmed by a gentle sunlight, time would appear to stand still. Then, when the magic moment had passed, I would feel that I had, quite undeservedly, been given a fleeting glimpse of the Country on the Other Side.

A flight of fancy, the over active imagination of a man in his declining years? Who can tell? Perhaps

We give thanks to W. Bro. Terry McDermott of Mt. Lyell Lodge for the suggestion and help in compiling this page. W. Bro. Terry has been collecting gems for many years, If you have any suggestions or contributions we would be pleased to hear from you. Email to Webmaster

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