Produced by Brian Sogard, Jeannie Howse and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net * * * * * /$ +--------------------------------------------------------------+ | Transcriber's Note: | | | | Inconsistent hyphenation matches the original document. | | | | A number of obvious typographical errors have been corrected | | in this text. For a complete list, please see the bottom of | | this document. | | | +--------------------------------------------------------------+ $/ * * * * * /$ THE BUILDERS A STORY AND STUDY OF MASONRY BY JOSEPH FORT NEWTON, LITT. D. GRAND LODGE OF IOWA _When I was a King and a Mason-- A master proved and skilled, I cleared me ground for a palace Such as a King should build. I decreed and cut down to my levels, Presently, under the silt, I came on the wreck of a palace Such as a King had built!_ --KIPLING CEDAR RAPIDS IOWA THE TORCH PRESS NINETEEN FIFTEEN $/ /$ COPYRIGHT, 1914 BY JOSEPH FORT NEWTON _First Printing, December, 1914_ $/ /$ To The Memory of THEODORE SUTTON PARVIN Founder of the Library of the Grand Lodge of Iowa, with Reverence and Gratitude; to LOUIS BLOCK Past Grand Master of Masons in Iowa, dear Friend and Fellow-worker, who initiated and inspired this study, with Love and Goodwill; and to the YOUNG MASONS Our Hope and Pride, for whom this book was written With Fraternal Greeting $/ THE ANTEROOM Fourteen years ago the writer of this volume entered the temple of Freemasonry, and that date stands out in memory as one of the most significant days in his life. There was a little spread on the night of his raising, and, as is the custom, the candidate was asked to give his impressions of the Order. Among other things, he made request to know if there was any little book which would tell a young man the things he would most like to know about Masonry--what it was, whence it came, what it teaches, and what it is trying to do in the world? No one knew of such a book at that time, nor has any been found to meet a need which many must have felt before and since. By an odd coincidence, it has fallen to the lot of the author to write the little book for which he made request fourteen years ago.