The Universal Language of Freemasonry - ArchiMeD - Johannes ...

Chapter 9 - Masonic and Anti-Masonic Literature 715
If Claudy as a writer of the realistic school has not intended his plays to be
mere stories but the description of facts, he is, at least, most daring in describing
violations of the so-called "Masonic law" and custom - even if it is for a good
cause. As to the popularity of Claudy's twelve Masonic playlets, published under
the title "Where Your Treasure Is...," in the foreword of the 1946 edition, the
Past Grand Master of North Carolina states that "[t]hese plays have been
presented in hundreds of Lodges all over the country, since the publication of the
first of the series, [...] and thousands of letters sent to the author bear eloquent
testimony to the joy and inspiration they have brought to American
Craftsmen." 1750
The title of his book containing the plays 1751 , as well as the title of eleven of
the twelve dramas therein were taken from the Bible: "The Greatest of These,"
"He That Believeth," "Greater Love Hath No Man," "Judge Not!," "The Hearts
of the Fathers," "... To Entertain Strangers," "A Gift in Secret," "Treasures of
Darkness," "He Which Is Accused," "If A Man Die," "... And Not Forsake
Them." Furthermore, on the dust jacket of this volume there is depicted a
rainbow with a pot full of gold coins at its one end - the emblem of the Order of
the Rainbow for Girls, and also the Biblical symbol of God's covenant with the
people.
What makes Claudy's Masonic plays so easy to perform is the fact that they
do not require any special scenery, costumes, or expenses, since the dramas play
in a simple lodge hall of a small American town, with the officers and brethren
occupying their usual stations and seats. Ten of the twelve dramas contained in
this volume belong to a series of plays about one special lodge called Doric
Lodge, and employ the same cast, besides visiting brethren and the exception of
one or two strangers.
Doric Lodge is characterized in a preface 1752 as being a small country lodge
in the town of Aaronton, somewhere in the middle east, off the main line
railroad, the nearest town being five miles away. Accordingly, the lodge
members are country people, farmers, and small town business men, who take
Masonry very serious and try their best to live it. What makes the plays so
interesting is the fact that the kind of Masonry practiced in this lodge sometimes
does not conform to Masonic law: "A small Lodge in an isolated community,
Doric Lodge has a certain informality of procedure. If it is lacking at times in
true Masonic dignity, it is touchingly confident of the friendliness which permits
much give and take." 1753 With regard to the so-called universality of Masonry,
we have to understand that Doric Lodge is different, and is typical of many small
and isolated country lodges where "certain informalities of procedure creep in to
Lodge practices until they become commonplace and natural to the
members." 1754 Doric Lodge thus is a kind of pars pro toto, despite of its
1750 Claudy, "Foreword," p. vii.
1751 Bible, Luke, chapter 12, verse 34: "Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."
1752 Claudy, p. 13/14.
1753 Ibid, p. 13.
1754 Ibid, p. 153.