When I was a young man, a long time ago, The secrets of Masonry I wanted to know. Of a Mason I asked what those secrets might be. He replied,"First, we talk, then we will see." A petition he granted and ordered it filled. To be read at a meeting and a judgment be willed.
Then questions I answered about God and home; Of habits and friends; a wife or alone. In time I was summoned - a date to appear Before an assembly of men gathered near. I entered the building and looked up the stair; Does pleasure or pain await me up there?A hazing by paddle, taunting by joke?
My petition accepted or maybe revoked? Introductions and handshakes welcomed me there. And lessons symbolic, an aid to prepare. For a journey in darkness, a predestined plight,To a Holy of Holies, the source of all light.
How well I remember what I heard someone say,To enter God's Kingdom there is but one way, Be ye naked and blind, penniless and poor;These you must suffer 'fore entering that door.The journey ahead is not yours to know, But trust in your God wherever you go.
50+yrs 40+yrs
Thomas W. Allen Frederick l. Carter
Roosevelt B. Chisolm
Arthur L. Jackson
Ford Johnson
Lonnie H. Jones
Ernest J. Morine
Henry L. Oney Jr.
Robert M.L. Walker
30+yrs 20+yrs
Ell T. Crocker Henry C. Banks
Carlton E. Wyatt Richard A. Banks Jr.
Ervin Farmer Jr.
Howard R. Jones
Mitchell Mckeller Jr.
I.J. McNeil
Parnell Miles
Wallace M. Owens
Les J. Reid
James O. Wright