Official Visit Powassan Lodge #443 – Oct. 12, 2007
By R.W. Bro. Harold J. Johnson, DDGM

The Allegorical Significance of Lesser Known Working Tools

I have taken portions of this evenings speech from a recent publication distributed by the Curriculum Group of Grand Lodge in Bulletin Number 8 which we received earlier this year. This publication is distributed for Grand Lodge

We as masons deal with a large number of working tools that have transcended the ages from the original operative masons. These craft guilds from whom we have speculatively taken our roots and from whom our foundations have been established employed many instruments we currently refer to in our ritual and our educational material we present.

Tools such as the level, plumb rule, square, compasses, gavel, chisel, and 24 inch gauge are all relatively familiar to us. There are some however that are not so familiar and still others that have just returned to prominence.

The Lewis is one example of an obscure instrument once used in the construction of walls to assist workers in the placement of large sections with accuracy and precision and to assist in securing those sections of walls in their proper place.

We now employ this tool as a representation of the chain of brotherhood passed down from father to son spanning the generations in Masonry. It represents the tie that binds and the culmination of values that a man can instill in his children and the ultimate respect that the son has for the values his father has taught. It fulfills the potential for that wish referred to in the general charge at installation that our children’s children may celebrate the annual recurrence of that auspicious solemnity

There is however one particular tool that still exists today and is widely used by operative masons that has seemingly been overlooked in our ritual but not in some of our lesser practiced ceremonies.

I refer to the trowel which is used by operative masons to spread the mortar which binds stones together to form a solid wall. This trowel is also used to scrape away the unwanted or excess material that could in time break off and weaken the structure leaving it open to further damage from weather and eventual collapse.

Eighteenth Century Irish Lodges used a trowel as a pointed stabbing weapon used by the Tyler or Inner Guard

The trowel has been used for different purposes in the rituals of other Masonic jurisdictions. Entered apprentices were presented with a silver trowel in old English ritual as an allegorical lesson about filling the cracks in a lodge so no sound could escape from nor prying eye could see in.

Both of the above illustrations point out the usefulness of the trowel as a tool to protect the privacy and solitude of the lodge from outside influences

In our jurisdiction, the trowel is employed by speculative masonry in the ceremony of laying a foundation or corner stone of a building.

Masonry has over the years been involved in many such ceremonies in conjunction with churches, libraries, museums, schools, hospitals, town halls and other public buildings. Such public buildings include the White House, Smithsonian Institute, Statue of Liberty,
the Don Jail and Union Station in Toronto, Victoria Hall in Cobourg, St Paul’s Anglican Church in Washago.

Some older rituals of other grand jurisdictions allegorically employ the trowel as a layers tool used to spread the cement that binds the stones together. They morally refer to it as the tool that is used to spread the cement of brotherly love and affection.

A reference is made in our own ritual of “cementing and adorning our order with every social and moral virtue”. That social virtue of brotherhood and affection ranks highly in the fundamental principles of the order and is the first mentioned of those principles.

We as masons regard the tiled recesses of our meeting rooms as a retreat of brotherhood and affection and we admonish our newest brethren to keep all feelings and activities out of our lodges that might have a tendency to interrupt this quietude we share.

Human nature however is such that our thoughts and attitudes do not always support the very principles we try to emulate. Our thoughts and feelings are certainly our own and if not verbalized certainly do no outward harm, but we need to try and temper our criticism of others and if verbalization is necessary, we should deliver it with a positive spin so as not to insult or offend and weaken that cement in the process.

We are to admonish with friendship and reprehend with mercy, but the reception of those thoughts or ideas may quite often be taken in the wrong context. Admonishments even if delivered with the best of care may be construed as undue criticism or as I have heard from time to time “those know it alls in the dark blue vestments just will not leave me alone”.

We all hope that our attempts to correct the work of others will be taken in a constructive way and hopefully the majority of our lesser experienced brethren will accept that as such, but we as the more experienced craftsmen need to temper our admonishments so as not to be regarded as the proverbial know it all.

We need to pick and choose carefully those battles we need to win and select the method by which we convey that message wisely and mercifully.

We also need to learn to recognize those areas where a truly valiant effort has been made and commend our brethren for the attempt even though in our minds the work may not have been up to the standards we would set for ourselves.

Remember also brethren the old adage that for every finger we point there are at least three others pointing back at us. We need to ensure that our own house is in order before attempting to set the home of others on the straight and narrow.

Let us then use our trowel wisely to promote and appreciate the efforts of our brethren and to work diligently to spread that binding cement of friendship and brotherly love.

The value of the trowel as a Masonic working tool can certainly be seen in the lessons of virtue and brotherly love that it has the potential to symbolize and those lessons need to be practiced and perfected by all of us.