Uncovered in the Archives
Austria, Hungary, Czecho-Slovakia 1926
By John H. Cowles, Past Grand Commander
Late
in the afternoon I boarded the train for Vienna, regretfully bidding
good-bye to the good Masons, and their last words were to bear
their greetings to their brethren in the United States. All the
sleeping car space had been
taken days before I made application, and I would have been compelled
to sit up but for the kindness of a brother close to the administration,
who secured a permit for me to have a berth in the compartment reserved
for officials.
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Cowles travels to Bucharest. |
Sunday, July 11, was spent looking out of the car window at as beautiful
a country as exists on the globe, not excepting the blue-grass region
of my native state, and that is much for a Kentuckian to admit. The
land is rolling with streams meandering through it. It looks very
much like central Kentucky, but it has no blue-grass, only this is
offset by the extreme care given to have everything in order. The
whole country appears as though dressed up in Sunday clothes for
inspection. There are no farm machinery standing in the fields, no
stumps, no broken limbs scattered about, no dilapidated barns or
sheds.
A little after noon I arrived at Budapest, the capital of Hungary,
and again one is struck with the orderliness everywhere. The railroad
yards are spick and span, no piles of tin cans, bricks, pieces of
iron or refuse of any kind. Would like to have stopped a while if
it had been before the war, for then there was good Masonry in that
city, but now, alas, it is banned. The Masonic lodge room has been
confiscated and given over to a Catholic institution.
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Captain Cowles arriving by airplane. |
About 7 p.m. arrived in Vienna, was met by the Grand Commander, Eugene
Lunhoff; the Secretary General, Otto L. Klein, and Brother Sam Kkornitzer,
an Austrian who has been in the Far East for several years and is
a member of the bodies in Manila, and whom I met on shipboard between
Singapore and Suez. The Supreme Council of Austria was organized
in October, 1925, sponsored by the Supreme Council of France, and
has already been recognized by several Supreme Councils. There are
eleven Active and six Honorary Members and about thirty-five members
of the Rose Croix. This is the first Supreme Council to use the German
language. It also had the unique distinction of charging more for
annual dues than the total amount of fees for the degrees.
I left Vienna without there being a Masonic meeting, as the lodges
were off for the summer season and the lodge rooms were being done
over. I visited one of them and found everything in accord with American
customs and usage, and the brethren I met impressed me most favorably.
They want to do the right thing; they want to be in full accord with
American Masonry and all regular Masonry. They are strong on charity,
and each lodge fosters some particular kind outside its duties to
its own members. In their farewells they laid an injunction on me
to carry their greetings to the brethren in the U.S.A.
I left Vienna on the midnight train and awoke next morning, July
14, nearing the ancient city of Prague, the capital of Bohemia,
the home of Huss of Comenius of Jerome, of Zizka and other immortals.
Here wars were waged over faith and doctrines for centuries.
Here developed Protestantism long before Luther’s time;
here the sturdy people, the great majority of whom had broken
away from
Rome, maintained their independence when almost the whole world
was against
them. Every Protestant in America should read the history of
these wonderful people.
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Meeting of Masons in Bucharest, July, 1926. |
Arriving an hour late, I was met by the Grand Commander, Alfons M.
Mucha; the Secretary General, Viktor Dvorsky, and Brother Leon Schwartz;
taken to the hotel and immediately went sightseeing, as the stay
here was to be only a little over twenty-four hours. But first let
me tell about Brother Mucha, who is a painter, the most famous in
Czecho-Slovakia. He has made his own way in the world, and his early
life was a terrific struggle. His life work has been painting the
outstanding historical events of the Slavic peoples and the rise
and development of the Czech nation.
Well, it is a quaint old city and attractive. The people love flowers
and around the Huss monument were wreaths upon wreaths, and I noticed
in a couple of buildings either being erected or torn down, but which
had no sash in the windows nor roofs overhead, that in each window
opening there were boxes of blooming flowers. These people are industrious,
hard-working, and they are coming back fast.
It was the intention to celebrate the 200th anniversary of
Masonry last year, but many things intervened and they now
hope to do
so in 1928 and invite all regular Masons to participate. The
present
Masonry is young, started in 1918 with the organization of
Jan Amos Komensky Lodge No. 1, but has grown to five lodges
in Prague,
three
in other cities and three more in process of forming, with
a total membership of three hundred and sixty. Small, yes,
but
it requires
more to become a Mason there than in any place I know. The
petitioner must be twenty-three years of age (except a Lewis
is eligible
at nineteen) and three of his photographs go with his petition,
one
posted in the lodge anteroom, one sent to Grand Lodge and one
placed in the lodge archives. There are two years between the
degrees
and the fees are fixed, but not adhered to strictly. They do
not believe
that a good man should be kept out of Masonry because he cannot
pay the fees, so they learn the exact status of the petitioner
and fix
the amount accordingly; if unable to pay in full they make
it less, and if able to pay more than the fixed fee he pays
more,
thus making
up for the poorer brother. Only the committee knows how much
any one pays. After the petitioner is passed on by both the
lodge and
Grand Lodge and gets the Entered Apprentice Degree, he waits
two years for the Fellowcraft and then two years more for the
Master
Mason Degree. If he desires the Scottish Rite Degrees, he waits
two years more for the Fourth Degree, but after that he can
advance rapidly
by writing a thesis in each degree received that will satisfy
the brethren. This he is imbued with the lessons taught in
them. The
Masonry of Czecho-Slovakia is orthodox – it requires a
belief in God, has the Great and Lesser Lights, jewels, furniture
and
even the grand honors are the same as in most American lodges.
That night the Supreme Council met and Jan Amos Komensky Lodge
called to welcome me. The exchange of felicitations, welcome
address and
reply were as usual sincere and hearty. I met many of the brethren
and they are a fine lot – artists, educators, consuls, and ministers
among them. The President of the Republic is not a member, but he
approves of Masonry and his son is a Mason. One brother, a direct
descendant of Komensky (eighth generation) for whom the lodge is
now named, showed me a ring his illustrious ancestor wore. It is
unique, with a setting of two hearts, and over them an eye is set
in a movable socket so that it apparently, by moving about like the
human eye, sees into the inmost recesses of the hearts below it.
The officers’ jewels of silver that were shown me were
the most artistic I have ever seen; they were designed by Brother
Mucha. Just
before closing I was notified of my election as Honorary Grand
Commander of the Supreme Council and given a diploma that is
a marvel in beauty.
It was not only designed but painted and engrossed by Grand
Commander
Mucha, truly a work of art.
Thursday, the 15th, Brothers Mucha and Dvorsky called early,
for up to then I had not had my passport returned. Finally
Brother Dvorsky went for it himself, otherwise I doubt if I
would have
been able
to leave on the 11:15 train, for he got back without much time
to spare. However, passport troubles are to be expected, and
in
some
places patience is exhausted, temper lost and resolutions are
made that never, until a lot of red tape is done away, will
one visit
such and such a country again. It is sometimes very annoying,
but after all one forgets most of it. Money, too, in the different
countries confuses one for the first day or two, and early
arithmetic lessons
are brought into play again. Some of the coins are, under present
conditions, of infinitesimal value. In one country – I don’t
remember which – a certain coin was worth about one hundred
to an American cent.
Prague is another city a little too far north to get the summer tourist,
though the climate is better than in France or Italy at this season,
and it is well worth a visit. Every Protestant, at least, ought to
visit it. Brother Mucha and Dvorsky took me to the station, au revours
regretfully said, greetings to the American brethren given in my
charge, and I was off for Paris through Germany, Marienburg, Karlsburg
and Nurnberg were passed, dinner eaten and early to bed.
