us as the rule and guide for our faith
and practice, the Square to square our actions, and the
Compasses to circumscribe our desires and keep our passions in
due bounds with all mankind, especially the brethren.

The three Lesser Lights are the Sun, Moon and Master of the
Lodge, and are thus explained:

As the Sun rules the day and the Moon governs the night, so
should the Worshipful Master, with equal regularity, endeavor to
rule and govern the Lodge.

The Representatives of the three Lesser Lights are three burning
tapers, placed in a triangular form about the altar.

* * *

[Illustration]

=The Lamb-Skin or White Leathern Apron= is an emblem of innocence
and the badge of a Mason; more ancient than the Golden Fleece; more
honorable than the Star and Garter, or any other order that can be
conferred upon you at this or any future period by King, Prince or
Potentate, or any other person except he be a Mason and in the body
of a lodge. I trust you will wear it with equal pleasure to yourself
and honor to the fraternity.

* * *

The following may be used:

It may be that, in the coming years, upon your head may rest the laurel
wreaths of victory; pendant from your breast may hang jewels fit to
grace the diadem of an Eastern potentate; nay, more than these, with
light added to the coming light, your ambitious feet may tread round
after round of the ladder that leads to fame in our mystic circle, and
even the purple of the Fraternity may rest upon your honored shoulders;
but never again from mortal hands, never again until your enfranchised
spirit shall have passed upward and inward through the pearly gates,
shall any honor so distinguished, so emblematical of purity and all
perfections, be conferred upon you as this which I now bestow. It is
yours; yours to wear throughout an honorable life, and at your death to
be deposited upon the coffin which shall inclose your lifeless remains,
and with them laid beneath the clods of the valley.

Let its pure and spotless surface be to you an ever-present reminder of
a "purity of life and rectitude of conduct," a never-ending argument for
nobler deeds, for higher thoughts, for greater achievements. And when at
last your weary feet shall have come to the end of life's toilsome
journey, and from your nerveless grasp shall drop forever the working
tools of life, may the record of your life and actions be as pure and