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Short Talk Bulletin Vol 04 No 04
SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.IV April, 1926 No.4
SEEING
by: Unknown
Of the five senses, the first three; hearing, seeing and feeling "are
deemed most essential by Masons" for reasons which all Master Masons
understand.
Masonry teaches more by hearing than by seeing. "The attentive ear "
we are told "receives the word (sound) from the instructive tongue."
But no blind man may be made a Mason. Vision, even if not used as
much as audition, is employed by Masonry in educating her sons in
knowledge of her light.
There are certain things in education which seeing can accomplish
with much less difficulty than hearing. Words are at best symbols,
and all symbols have many interpretations. It is not possible for
one Masons to describe a scene to another so that both have the same
mental picture; one cannot describe a perfume so that another may
smell it, nor a pain or joy that another may feel it. But one can
show in a picture a scene which another can thus see eye to eye with
the instructor. Because both see the same thing, one can obtain from
the other a better understanding of its meaning.
With this idea, Masonry has long taught to some extent by pictures;
the familiar chart used in many lodges to show pictures of the
various emblems is an example. In other lodges, stereopticons
showing pictures from glass lantern slides take the place of the
chart. Both have their objectionable features; the chart, if
inexpensive, is also inefficient; the lantern, if efficient, is
expensive and hard to operate, and the glass slides are breakable,
subject to disarrangement as to their order, and are usually more or
less monstrosities at to the art work; they have little of the Pillar
of Beauty about them.
The stereopticon in lodge work is seldom or never developed to its
full power, because of the difficulty of obtaining slides for
lectures, talks and expositions of Masonic subjects. It is a great
illustrations plant with a tremendous overhead, because of its small
and limited amount of use.
Masons of today are hungry for education. But they want their
education in an attractive form; in a form easy to understand and
pleasant to absorb. Masons will flock to an illustrated lecture on
Freemasonry, when they'll leave the benches empty before the average
speaker.
With all of these facts in mind, The Masonicscope, subject of this
Bulletin, has been developed by The Masonic Service association, and
is now offered to the Craft at a price far below that at which
similar instruments can be bought in the commercial market.
The Masoniscope is a small, compact, well made and efficient
projection lantern. It uses any sort of electrical current;
alternating, direct, Delco, storage battery, even an automobile
battery current. It projects pictures as large as eight by ten feet
from non-flammable motion picture film, each foot of film having
sixteen separate pictures. It has and requires no rheostat or other
current control device. It uses a special glass bulb lamp, not an
open arc. It has condensers, reflector, projection lens, like any
other projector, but differs from most of them in that it requires no
special knowledge to operate. Films are threaded into the machine in
an instant, and changed, from one picture to another by the touch of
a thumb screw.
It projects all the emblems for all three of the lectures of the
Three Degrees, so that the chart, the stereopticon and expensive
glass slides are no longer needed. It can be used by the lecturer
while delivering the lecture, or operated by a brother. It makes the
lectures more readily understood, and longer remembered, than the
same lecture with just a chart.
In addition to this it provides a constant source of education and
entertainment. The Masonic Service Association will issue a minimum
of four, and probably six, illustrated lectures on some Masonic or
Patriotic topic, every year. These lectures will be printed in
booklet form, and accompanied by a strip of film containing the
illustrations. With the printed lecture and the film, any brother
can deliver one of these lectures for the benefit of his brethren.
All he need do is to read from the booklet and turn the screw at the
points indicated in the text.
These educational lectures will cover a wide range of Masonic,
patriotic and civic subjects. The first of them, titled, "What Seest
Thou?" is now ready. It is a lecture on three of the great symbols
of the Fellowcraft Degree; the Plumbline, the two Pillars and the
Winding stairs. Thirty-three illustrations make the text
interesting, and the whole is highly instructive to Masons on some of
the hidden meanings of these important symbols.
Other lectures , with illustrations, on symbols of the First and
Third Degrees will follow shortly.
These lectures are not intended as substitutes for the ritual
lectures; they are to be given, not during the a degree, but
afterwards, or before; for the benefit and entertainment of the
brethren. Being printed, it is obvious that there is nothing secret
in any of these lectures, and they may, therefore, be given elsewhere
than an in a tiled lodge.
An illustrated lecture on the George Washington National Memorial as
well as one upon The Masonic Service Association, and the films for
the emblems of the Three Degrees, accompany each Masoniscope as part
of its equipment.
Lectures upon "Civilian Patriots of the American Revolution" and
"Military Patriots of the American Revolution," with text and
pictures, are also now ready.
These supplementary lectures - booklets and film - are sold to
Masoniscope owners at the nominal price of two dollars each. There
is practically no "wear out" to the film at all, so, it may be used
over and over again.
The Masonic Service Association is prepared to render a special
service to Grand Lodges or individuals desiring special lectures of
their own. Several Grand Lodges have already ordered films made in
qualities to show to their subordinate lodges the work being done in
their Masonic Homes. The Masonic Service Association takes the
original photographs supplied by such Grand Lodges, Lodges or
individuals; does the necessary re-touching, makes the negatives and
as many prints on strips of non-inflammable film as may be needed;
edits, prepares for the printer and prints the lecture to go with
them; and supplies the whole at a most modest fee, which covers the
cost of handling only. The amount will vary, of course, with the
number of pictures to be filmed, and the amount of re-touching
necessary to make the photographs give brilliant reproductions.
It is probably not wise to prophesy just what Masoniscope and this
extra service will mean to Grand Lodges. but it at least opens a long
sought way by which Grand Lodges may place before the membership of
their subordinate lodges the pictorial as well as the verbal story of
their practical achievements in homes, orphanages, schools, colleges
and hospitals.
The Masoniscope comes as a complete outfit:
Masoniscope Lens Lamp Cord (fifteen feet)
Switch
Extra Lamp
Carrying Case
Roll of film with emblems of the Three degrees.
Roll of film to accompany printed lecture on George Washington
Masonic National Memorial.
Roll of film to accompany printed lecture on The Masonic service
Association of the united States.
"Cricket" or signal, to use when one brother reads and another
operates the Masoniscope.
Inside Case for accessories.
Printed Lectures (2)
The price is $57.50 net, carriage extra, no discount for qualities.
It is to emphasized that the Masoniscope and all its accessories are
of the highest grade, built to last and to wear. The instrument is
made by one of the leading optical firms of the nation, and must not
be confused with some of the cheaper "tin" projectors which can be
bought.
Beyond its use as a projector of pictures of the emblems in the
ritual lectures of the Three Degrees; its employment to illustrate
talks upon Masonic and patriotic subjects, and to show forth the
accomplishments of the Craft; the Masoniscope has a power of
entertainment which is of great value. There are large libraries of
films available, at a minimum cost, from which Entertainment
Committees may select. These films cover almost every imaginable
subject; Travel, biography, history, science, etc., etc. As the
Masoniscope uses standard motion picture film, any subject from any
of these libraries may be obtained and used.
It should be understood that the Masoniscope is not a motion picture
projector, and does not use reels of films, such as are used in
moving picture machines. But these libraries of lecture subjects of
which mention is made, are printed on stripes of standard film, on
which are from twenty-five to seventy-five pictures to be used as
illustrations for talks on a thousand and one subjects.
The Masonic Service Association believes that the use of the
Masoniscope in lodges, with the supplementary lecture and film
service it will provide, will add greatly not only to the education
and information of the brethren, but to their entertainment and
interest in the lodge.
We all like pictures of one sort or another; none of us ever grow too
old to enjoy looking at them. The illustrated lectures, both
historical and Masonic, which The Association is offering are well
illustrated. Pictures for the lecture "What Seest Thou?" for
instance, were secured from several ancient books, from a Dore Bible,
from works on Masonry, from collections of pictures in the library of
Congress; found, one by one, as a result of painstaking research, and
fitted into a lecture on symbolism of which glowing words of praise
are coming from lodges which have heard and seen it.
It is intended to present in these lectures all sides of Masonic
study which lend themselves to illustration. Lodges which get the
whole series, one after another; in a short time will have a library
of lectures and films which will enable them to entertain visiting
lodges, or to stage evening of fraternal intercourse with other
lodges, in a most appropriate manner.
It is suggested that, while individual ownership of the Masoniscope
is advisable, it is not necessary. Two or more lodges on one
locality may purchase a Masoniscope between them, and each have the
benefit of its use at half the price.
Correspondence is invited regarding this instrument.
If your lodge is interested in education; if your lodge likes
illustrated lectures; if your entertainment committee can use an aid
to lodge refreshment which can be employed over and over again at
scarcely any cost and still be ever new; if your lodge desires to
improve presentation of the emblems to the candidates; if your lodge
has a study club or literary circle; if your lodge wants to hear the
latest word from well informed Masonic teachers on matters of
interest and value to the Craft, and see pictures which explain and
make more vivid those words at the same time, your lodge needs a
Masoniscope!
