Mackey A G - Encylopedia of Freemasonry - The Grand Masonic ...

DALCHO
DAMES 195
by the union of the two Grand Lodes of
South Carolina in 1817, a consummation to
which he himself greatly contributed .
In 1801 Dr. Dalcho received the Thirtythird
and ultimate degree, or Sovereign Grand
Inspector of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish
Rite ; and May 31, 1801, he became instrumental
in the establishment at Charleston
of the Supreme Council for the Southern Jurisdiction
of the United States, of which body he
was appointed Grand Secretary, and afterward
Grand Commander ; which latter position he
occupied until 1823, when he resigned .
September 23, 1801, he delivered an oration
before the Sublime Grand Lodge in Charleston.
This and another delivered March 21,
1803, before the same body, accompanied by a
learned historical appendix, were published in
the latter year under the general name of
Dalcho's Orations . The work was soon after
republished in Dublin by the Grand Council
of Heredom, or Prince Masons of that city ;
and McCosh says that there were other editions
issued in Europe, which, however, I have
never seen. The oration of 1803 and the appendix
furnish the best information that up to
that day, and for many years afterward, was
accessible to the Craft in relation to the history
of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish
Rite in this country .
In 1807, at the request of the Grand Lodge
of York Masons of South Carolina, he published
an Ahiman Rezon, which was adopted
as the code for the government of the Lodges
under the jurisdiction of that body . T
work, as was to be expected from the character
of the Grand Lodge which it represented, was
based on the previous book of Laurence Dermott.
In 1808 he was elected Corresponding
Grand Secretary of the Grand Lodge of Ancient
York Masons, and from that time directed
the influences of his high position to the
reconciliation of the Masonic difficulties in
South Carolina .
In 1817 the Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted
Masons and that of Ancient York
Masons of South Carolina became united
under the name of "the Grand Lodge of Ancient
Freemasons of South Carolina ." Dr.
Dalcho took a very active part in this reunion,
and at the first annual communication he was
elected Grand Chaplain . The duties of this
office he faithfully performed, and for many
years delivered a public address or sermon on
the Festival of St . John the Evangelist .
In 1822 he prepared a second edition of the
Ahiman Rezon, which was published the following
year, enriched with many notes . Some
of these notes he would have hardly written,
with the enlarged experience of the present
day ; but on the whole the second edition was
an improvement on the first . Although retaining
the peculiar title which had been introduced
by Dermott, it ceased in a great
measure to follow the principles of the 'Ancient
Masons ."
In 1823 Dalcho became involved in an unpleasant
controversy with some of his Masonic
associates, in consequence of difficulties and
dissensions which at that time existed in the
Scottish Rite ; and his feelings were so
wounded by the unmasonic spirit which
seemed to actuate his antagonists and former
friends, that he resigned the office of Grand
Chaplain, and retired for the remainder of his
life from all participation in the active duties
of Masonry .
Dalmatic . A robe worn by deacons in
some Christian churches . Originally made of
linen, as shown by early Christian paintings
on the walls of the catacombs at Rome, but
now generally made of heavy woolen or silk
material, as the planets worn by the priest .
This article of dress has become quite common
in many of the degrees of various Rites .
Damascus. An ancient and important
city of Syria, situated on the road between
Babylon and Jerusalem, and said in Masonic
tradition to have been one of the restingplaces
of the Masons who, under the proclamation
of Cyrus, returned from the former to
the latter city to rebuild the Temple. An attempt
was made in 1868 to introduce Freemasonry
into Damascus, and a petition,
signed by fifteen applicants, for a charter for a
Lodge was sent to the Grand Lodge of England
; but the petition was rejected on the
ground that all the petitioners were members
of Grand Lodges under other Grand Lodge
jurisdictions .
Dambool . The vast rock temple of the
Buddhists in Ceylon, containing a profusion of
carvings, figures of Buddha of extraordinary
magnitude. Monuments of this deity are, in
the common Singhalese term, called Dagoba,
but the more general name is Stupa or Tope.
(See Topes.)
Dame. In the York Roll No. 4 and some
of the other old manuscripts, we find the
direction to the Apprentice that he shall not
so act as to bring harm or shame, during
his apprenticeship, "either to his Master or
Dame." It is absurd to suppose that this gives
any color to the theory that in the ancient
Masonic gilds women were admitted . The
word was used in the same sense as it still is in
the public schools of England, where the old
lady who keeps the house at which the pupils
board and lodge, is called "the dame .' The
Compagnons de la Tour in France called her
"h3, mere," or the mother. It must, however,
be acknowledged, that women, under the title
of sisters, were admitted as members, and
given the freedom of the company, in the old
Livery Companies of London-a custom
which Herbert (Hilt. Liv. Comp ., i ., 83) thinks
was borrowed, on the reconstitution of the
companies by Edward III., from the religious
gilds . (See this subject discussed under the
title Sisters of the Gild.)
Dames of Mt. Tabor. An androgynous
Masonic society, established about the year
1818, under the auspices of the Grand Orient
of France . Its design was to give charitable
relief to destitute females .
Dames of the Order of St. John . Religious
ladies who, from its first institution, had