It is with regret that our planned visit this month to the Masonic Home in Richmond had to be cancelled, because of too many problems revolving around chartering a bus, preparing for a picnic, entertainment, etc. This trip to the Home was to be the kick-off for contributions for additional rooms and new apartments which was authorized at our last Grand Lodge Session. Your Worshipful Master had hoped to build up enough interest in this project to where our Brethren would, within the next five years, raise the necessary funds to build a one or two bedroom apartment. Our lodge could raise the $50,000 or $60,000 in less than two years if we contributed as much ($38,000) as one of our neighboring lodges did last year.

If you think our lodge should provide the funds to build one of these apartments and/or rooms, you have a chance to vote for it by sending to our Secretary a contribution in keeping with your interest in our Masonic Home. Our Secretary has been instructed to keep a separate record of such contributions and to present them along with the contributors name to the Grand Master when he makes his Official Visit to our lodge on July 26. Checks for this special fund should be made payable to Alexandria-Washington Lodge No. 22, indicating the fund and to whose memory, if any. As we no longer have a Post Office Box, all mail should be addressed to our Secretary.

In reading the histories of our lodge we find that May is another interesting month. We read in William Moseley Brown's unpublished history that the first Committee on By-Laws was appointed on May 13, 1783 and the first order for publication of a lodge notice "in the Alexandria paper" was on May 20, 1785. In the history entitled "George Washington Freemason", we find that on May 29, 1788, George Washington was unanimously recommended by Alexandria Lodge No.39, to be Worshipful Master of Alexandria Lodge No. 22.

Perhaps May 12, 1932, marks one of the outstanding dates of the lodge's history when the dedication of the Memorial took place. Concerning this occasion Brother Brown's unpublished history states, "In the evening the Lodge held a stated communication, at which were present many visitors from Liberty Lodge of Beverly, Massachusetts; Washington Lodge No. 21 of New York City; and William L. Elkins Lodge No. 646 of Philadelphia. This meeting was held in the auditorium of the newly dedicated Memorial. The M.M. degree was conferred upon two candidates, one being conferred by a team from Washington Lodge No. 21, New York, and the other by George Washington Lodge No. 9, St. Louis.

"Altogether the day had been not only a busy and profitable one for the Brethren of Alexandria-Washington Lodge but also one of the great Masonic days in the history of the United States."

To commemorate this occasion we are holding a Called Meeting on May 12, to initiate, pass, raise and examine, not only our candidates, but also, courtesy candidates. A light lunch will be served by the Stewards. When the day is finished we should have no candidates pending degree work.

Another important day in May is Mother's Day, May 13. You may say what does this have to do with our lodge. Well, nothing, except the STORY OF THE KNIFE taken from "Washington The Man And The Mason", which is retold here in honor of all those good Mothers who had the wisdom and fortitude to discipline their sons when the need arose.

When George Washington was eleven years old his father died (1743). Shortly after, the boy took up his residence at Mount Vernon with his half-brother, Lawrence, and, while waiting for repairs to Mount Vernon House, stopped at Belvoir, the home of William Fairfax, an intimate friend and neighbor, father-in-law of Lawrence. Through the influence of his brother and the Fairfaxes, he obtained a commission as midshipman in the English Navy. All preparations had been made for his departure, when his mother's message, her final command, forbidding the step, arrived. In obedience to this command and in deference to her wish, the boy surrendered his commission and returned to his studies, back to surveying and mathematics.

Among the items of his mother's next order to England, for annual supplies, was one for a good penknife. This she presented to the boy, as a reward for his submission to her will, with the injunction, "Always obey your superiors." He carried the token with him through life, as a reminder of his mother's command, and to General Knox explained its significance.

At Valley Forge, when a vacillating and timid Congress failed to provide food and shelter for his ragged and starving army, in desperation and despair, yielding temporarily to his feelings and sympathy for his men, and in disgust with Congress, he wrote his resignation as commander-in-chief, summoned his staff and notified them of his action. Among the officers present and sitting in council was Knox, who reminded him of the story of the knife and his mother's injunction, "Always obey your superiors; you were commanded to lead this army and no one has ordered you to cease leading it." Washington paused, then replied, "There is something in that. I will think it over." Half an hour later he had torn up his resignation, determined to fight on to the end.

Thus upon this slender thread, the story of a little knife, and a mother's injunction, hung for one brief moment the future life of a great nation, whose governmental principles have enlightened and elevated humanity. A mother's gentle command determined the course of a noble son and changed the map of the world.

May the Mothers of the Sons of this Nation be as gentle, commanding and determined as this wonderful Mother of Washington, and may their Sons "always obey their superiors", this we ask in the name of the Supreme Architect of the Universe. So mote it be - Amen!

Sincerely and fraternally,
Jason W. Snyder
Worshipful Master