[FREEMASONRY] MASONIC JOURNAL

New York, 1903. 8 ¼” x 6 ¾” x ½” orange hardcover composition book with cloth binding and black stamped title on front cover. Bookplate states “Masonic” with associated imagery. Lined paper in good condition. Binding worn, top half of back cover was water damaged. Good.~~The author of this volume appears to have been a dedicated junior member of the Freemasons. He filled the pages with pasted articles from mostly unknown publications regarding freemasonry. They describe its practice, benefits, popularity, and the plans of different lodges. Of interest is the description of the Honorable Elizabeth Aldritch (~1693 - ~1773), the first woman freemason, who supposedly was caught snooping and offered initiation or death. One article is titled, “Freemasonry Has Illumined the Darkness of Benighted Ages”; another claims that Aztec caves were devoted to Freemasonry. ~~The second-to-last page has a pasted handwritten letter on letterhead stating, “Chaplain of Roman Lodge, No. 223” and written to “Mr. Editor”. The letter-writer discusses the expenditure of a large amount of money to built a new courthouse in Utica, NY. and asking local lawmakers to amend the law to allow the building of a new courthouse or else repair the current courthouse for not more than $100,000. The last page shows a clipping of Christopher G. Fox, a Buffalo man re-elected Grand Secretary Royal Arch Mason of US, and dated 1903. ~. (Inventory #: 298436)