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Fourteen Reasons for Attending Lodge on a Stormy Night

A Brother being met on a stormy night wading from Lodge and ridiculed for the unnecessary exposure, sent the following 14 reasons for his conduct, says the Michigan Masonic World:

  1. Because the by-laws of my Lodge and the character of my engagements as a Mason make no exception for stormy evenings.
  2. Because I expect the Worshipful Master to be there I should be surprised if he were to remain away on account of the storm.
  3. Because if his hands should fail through weakness, I should have great reason to blame myself, unless I sustain him by my presence and good wishes.
  4. Because by staying away I may lose the instruction which would do me great good.
  5. Because my presence is more needed on those evenings when there are but few, than when the Lodge is full.
  6. Because whatever station I may hold in the Lodge, my example must influence others. If I stay away, why not they?
  7. Because on any important business, bad weather does not keep me at home.
  8. Because among the crowd of pleasure seekers, I see that bad weather does not keep the delicate female from the ball, the party or the concert.
  9. Because among other advantages, stormy evenings will show me what foundation my Masonic attachment is built. It will prove how much I love Masonry. True love never misses an appointment.
  10. Because those who absent themselves from the Lodge because it is too warm, too cold or t0o stormy frequently absent themselves from the fairest evenings.
  11. Because an avoidable absence from the Lodge is an infallible evidence of Masonic coldness.
  12. Because there is a special promise that where two or three are gathered together in God’s name, He will meet them.
  13. Because such yielding of surmountable difficulties prepares for yielding to those merely imaginary, until thousands never enter the Lodge, and yet think they have good reasons for neglect.
  14. Because I know not how many more evenings God may give me, and it will be poor plea for affectionate remembrances which I crave as a Mason, that I slighted my last Masonic evening on earth.

An article from the Michigan Masonic World reprinted in the Builder Magazine in 1925.