Keeping the Founder's Cross in the DeMolay Family

Today, we have a guest blog post from the original writer for the PA DeMolay blog, "Dad" Seth Anthony. Thank you "Dad" Anthony for contributing to the blog.
  

It’s been a while since I’ve written a blog for PA DeMolay, but, something happened this past week that I just had to share and chime in on.

Before I left the Pennsylvania Masonic Youth Foundation, I spent some time working to catalog and track down the known DeMolay Founder’s Crosses, presented by Frank S. Land to his most loyal supporters.  I’ve written several posts on this topic before, so take a minute to catch up if you haven’t read my previous entries:

• Finding the Founder’s Cross
• Walt Disney, DeMolay, and the Founder’s Cross
• Who Cares About History? Part One
• Who Cares about History? Part Two

Over the last week, a Founder’s Cross was spotted on eBay, with the auction ending on Sunday night. I found the auction within hours of its posting and got the word out to key members of DeMolay International, in hopes of keeping the item within the fraternity. The jewel belonged to “Dad” Harry Weiss, of the State of Washington. The final bid for the auction was $3,750. Yes, you read that right.

To be clear, the jewel is not made of any precious metal and does not contain any gem stones. While nicely designed, there is no intrinsic value to the jewel itself. The medal went for this kind of money because of its historical context. This, to me, is horrifying. 

While I own several pieces of DeMolay regalia, I don’t own a Founder’s Cross (and never will.) I fully admit I’m a regalia nerd. I can’t explain my attraction to it, but it’s something I’m passionate about. PA DeMolay, traditionally, has been very conservative in regards to wearing regalia – and I too fall into that camp. However, I find some measure of satisfaction in finding old, unusual, or historically significant pieces of regalia and adding them to my collection or securing them for display with PA DeMolay. I’m also lucky in that I was asked to serve on the DeMolay International Ritual and Regalia committee so that I could lend my expertise in this area. Unfortunately, by discussing and bringing light to the Founder’s Cross problem, I fear I’ve only made it worse.

The sale of this Founder’s Cross, for that large of a sum, is very disconcerting to me. We witnessed a piece of our history being sold to the highest bidder. This is the third in as many years that this has happened.  To anyone outside of DeMolay, this piece has little value. Weis was not a well-known man and he didn’t have a following otherwise (such as Disney or Mayo.) We, as Brothers, bid against each other to get the jewel to that level… and to what end?

I don’t know who won the auction. I can only hope that it was someone affiliated with DeMolay in Washington. My guess is that it wasn’t. What I do know is that they spent $3,750 to get the item when they were, assuredly, bidding against others within the Fraternity (whether in the US or abroad.)

As we approach the 100th Anniversary of our Order, we should be working to preserve our history and build up our assets as an organization – not as individual collectors trying to obtain the “holy grail” of DeMolay. 

For this reason, I’m going to ask the leadership of DeMolay International to consider creating a more formalized DeMolay Museum, where artifacts, such as Founder’s Crosses, may be donated and preserved for future generations. 

If you have a Founder’s Cross, or another important physical piece of DeMolay history, please, I beg you, don’t keep it in a private collection for only you to enjoy. Placing the piece on permanent loan or donating it outright, to DeMolay International, a DeMolay Jurisdiction, or an appropriate museum is the right thing to do. 

If you’re curious as to the location of the Founder’s Crosses, check out this list that I prepared that details every Founder’s Cross that we know of. 

https://pademolay.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/founders-cross-listing-updated.pdf

If you have additional information regarding the location of any of these jewels, please email me at sethant@gmail.com. I intend to update the list in the coming weeks.

~ Frat!

“Dad” Seth Anthony

Difference Makers: George Washington

Few men in our nation’s history bear a name so worthy of recognition as George Washington. Not only was he pivotal in our nation’s war for independence, first president of the united states, and a former land surveyor, the man was also an accomplished Freemason.

Washington’s military career began as somewhat of a blunder. Serving under General Edward Braddock, Washington first got a taste of battle in the attack on Fort Duquesne in modern day Pittsburgh during the French and Indian War. After some poor maneuvers, Gen. Braddock overextended his forces, which soon collapsed into a frenzy, leaving Braddock himself mortally wounded.

From here, Washington only continued his climb to fame. He was not much of a big name from the time between the French and Indian War and the War for  Independence. However, when the call to action came, Washington was ready to answer. Taking on this challenge would mean taking on the strongest military power in the world, indeed no small feat. However, through Washington’s superior planning and leadership, our fledgling nation was able to sever its ties from our mother country, and become our own freestanding sovereignty.

So be it military prowess or leadership ability, either category lands George Washington as one of the most influential men in our nation’s history.

This edition of the blog has been provided by PA DeMolay State Treasurer Daniel Shevalier. Thank you Daniel for your contribution. 

George Washington's Advice to Students

Today's post comes from frequent guest writer "Dad" Peter Brusoe. Enjoy!

Saturday evening, I was standing on a front porch of a country estate looking at almost 2,000 17-18 year olds from across the United States and the world.  There were conversations happening and you could hear southern drawls, the clipped northeastern style of talking, the flat “A”s of Wisconsin and Minnesota, some Long Islanders tawlking, some Spanish, some French and some Mandarin. It sounded like a waterfall with all of the noise and the air had a spark of electricity about it that was contagious.   This must be what roadies and back-up musicians feel like before the star of the show comes on.  All of a sudden a man goes to the microphone and the waterfall becomes a brook.  He introduces the next speaker, General George Washington, the first President of the United States and the owner of Mount Vernon, the estate that we were all on. The waterfall is now as silent as a desert, you could hear a pin drop.

This was the class of 2018 for the George Washington University, the premier university in Washington, D.C. This was their first night together as classmates, friends, and colleagues. I was lucky enough to be invited to join as the Masonic & Eastern Star Charities of DC and the Scottish Rite Charities were funders.  Most of these students were born in the years 1995-1997.  What could a man born in 1732 have to share with the Millennials of today? It turns out quite a lot.

George Washington was not a historically verbose speaker.  His second inaugural address was 135 words, in contrast President Obama’s second inaugural was 2,137 George Bush’s second inaugural was 2,062 words. The reenactor was extremely good.  Even in talking about Masonry it took a couple of tries to get out that his membership was in  Concordia Lodge No. 67 in PA and not Alexandria No. 22 or Fredericksburg Lodge No. 4. Similar in manner and style, he kept his talk brief.

He spoke about the need of integrity, the importance of tolerance for others as a good basis upon which to build one’s life.  He then talked about something that Dr. Benjamin Franklin said “Well done is better than well said.”  He cleared his throat and said “or simply put, deeds not words.”  

For us as DeMolays and DeMolay advisors this is good advice we too should follow.  How often do we talk about doing things for DeMolay, or talk about what the chapter will do or talk about the importance of sharing DeMolay, but sometimes we fail to do it.   We should strive to live up to the standards and values of President Washington in our daily lives.

He closed by recommending to the students his rules of civility, or more formally “110 Rules of Civility & Decent Behavior in Company and Conversation” especially the last one “Labor to keep alive in your breast that little spark of celestial fire called conscience.”

As DeMolays we are helped along with this process by having our obligations to check and help guide our conscience. But we need to always be mindful to ensure that the spark stays alive in our daily actions.  If this blog entry is the first time you’re hearing about Washington’s rules, I would recommend reading them and seeing how well you conform to them in our daily lives.

There’s a link here:
http://www.foundationsmag.com/civility.html

George Washington finished speaking and he was deluged with applause.  The message had connected and after the dessert reception and candle lit tours we boarded busses back to Washington, D.C. and each of us was handed bracelet that said “Deeds Not Words.”

How do your deeds speak for you?