Unanimity Lodge No. 418 Newsletter Vol. 2020-12 December RWB James Barron, Editor Email content to [email protected] Items of interest Celebrating Master Masons …..………..………………………Birthday I was raised in ………………………..……………………………December District…..Instructional, Workshops, Annual Communications Further Light……………………………….………………………….Miracles Joel Roberts Poinsett ………………………….…… Famous Freemason More Light………………………………….…..Holiday Special Sections Editors Notes………………………………………………………………………. Your 2020 DUES are Due by December 31, 2020 Faith—In God Brethren, 2020 may end as the most Bizarre year in American History. No matter who you are, no matter your heritage, COVID19 has greatly affected us. Let us pause this Holiday season and reflect on those whom we have seen move to the silent land……While we remember and mourn them let us weigh carefully our steps moving forward. May we focus on the blessings, both subtle and easily seen during this pandemic. I received a lot of questions about navigating the Grand Master’s directives and re-opening Lodges. I want to thank all of the 4th District Masters and Secretaries for their work and wisdom during this pandemic part of our journey. If I can be of any assistance, please call. Wishing you all a Happy Chanukah and a Merry Christmas. May God Bless each of you and yours this holiday season and throughout the coming year. RWB James Barron, DDGM HOPE —Glorious Immortality-- Brotherly Love Q: How did the ornament get addicted to Christmas? A: He was hooked on trees his whole life! HAPPY BIRTHDAY James Robert Heston 12/03/1944 Richard Alan Heindenrich 12/09/1946 Benton Eugene Waller 12/31/1957 Masonic Birthday Hershel Clifford Pittenger, Jr. 12/22/1959 David Thomas Clisham 12/18/1990 Lawrence Maurice Hopkins 12-01-2015 Prudence--wisely judge and prudently determine all things Merriam Webster’s online dictionary noun mir·a·cle | \ ˈmir-i-kəl \ Definition of miracle 1: an extraordinary event manifesting divine intervention in human affairs the healing miracles described in the Gospels 2: an extremely outstanding or unusual event, thing, or accomplishment The bridge is a miracle of engineering. 3: Christian Science: a divinely natural phenomenon experienced humanly as the fulfillment of spiritual law Miracle a word we frequently hear. In Masonry, we refer to having reverential awe for the creator. Miracles were intended to be an awe-inspiring event. As the Holidays are here perhaps we feel less than festive this year. I have included some yuk-yuks and videos that I hope will lift you spirit as we sail into the 2021 year. Double tap the pictures they are the link to you tube… I hope you enjoy! 5 Christmas Traditions From The 1950s That Are No Longer Popular C. S. Lewis Justice render to every man consistent with Divine and Human Law Q: What do you call a kid who doesn’t believe in Santa? A: A rebel without a Claus! What was Christmas like, in the 50's? Back to Golden Days Temperance--freeing your mind from allurements of vice Famous Freemason Joel R. Poinsett. Prints and Photographs Division/Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. (digital file no. LC-USZ62-23834) Joel Roberts Poinsett was aware that his friends had nominated him to represent Charleston, South Carolina, in the state legislature. In Greenville on his way back home, he learned that he had won the nomination and had a seat in the State House of Representatives. As he was beginning his first term in April 1817, the rumored position of American envoy to South America became reality. On April 25, 1817, acting Secretary of State Robert Rush offered Poinsett the position of Statue of Joel Poinsett special commissioner to South America stating, "No one has better by Zan Wells (2001), qualifications for this trust than yourself." Rush also added that he would Greenville, South be personally gratified by Poinsett's acceptance. Carolina Nevertheless, Poinsett declined the honor. In May, Poinsett explained to President James Monroe that he had recently accepted a seat in the legislature of South Carolina and could not resign it "without some more important motive than this commission presents." Poinsett perceived that the mission would not lead to any substantial decision for recognition and was unwilling to give up his seat in the House. In the same letter, Poinsett offered his knowledge of South America to the service of whomever the Monroe administration appointed. Poinsett's political values mirrored those of others at the time who considered themselves Jeffersonian Republicans. One of the most important measures supported by Jeffersonian Republicans following the War of 1812 was that of federally funded internal improvements. As a member of the state legislature, this was one of Poinsett's passions. After being re-elected to the South Carolina House in 1818, he became a member of the Committee on Internal Improvements and Waterways. Poinsett also served on the South Carolina Board of Public Works as President. One of the main plans of this board was to link the interior of the state with the seaboard. Another important project was the construction of a highway from Charleston through Columbia, to the northwestern border of South Carolina. It was designed to promote interstate commerce as well as to draw commerce from eastern Tennessee and western North Carolina to Charleston. Poinsett, a seasoned traveler, knew better than anyone the importance of good roadways. Through his journeys in New England in 1804 and especially to the west in 1816, Poinsett understood that his country could benefit from transportation facilities. Election to Congress In 1820, Poinsett won a seat in the United States House of Representatives for the Charleston district. As a congressman, Poinsett continued to call for internal improvements, but he also advocated the maintenance of a strong army and navy. In December 1823, Poinsett submitted a resolution calling upon the Committee on Naval Affairs to inquire into the expediency of authorizing the construction of ten additional sloops of war. As a member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Poinsett took strong views on developments in South America. Poinsett's political views were aligned with such nationalists as Secretary of State John Quincy Adams and Secretary of War John C. Calhoun. Poinsett, like many opponents of Clay's American system, opposed the Tariff of 1824. First Minister to Mexico Mexican "flor de la noche buena," called in the U.S. the poinsettia. Poinsett simultaneously served as a special envoy to Mexico from 1822 to 1823, when the government of James Monroe became concerned about the stability of newly independent Mexico. Poinsett, a supporter of the Monroe Doctrine, was convinced that republicanism was the only guarantee of a peaceful, free form of government for North American countries, and tried to influence the government of Agustín de Iturbide, which was beginning to show signs of weakness and divisiveness. On January 12, 1828, in Mexico City, Poinsett signed the first treaty between the United States and Mexico, the Treaty of Limits, a treaty that recognized the U.S.-Mexico border established by the 1819 Adams–Onís Treaty between Spain and the U.S. Because some U.S. political leaders were dissatisfied with the Treaty of Limits and the Adams– Onís Treaty, Poinsett was sent to negotiate acquisition of new territories for the United States, including Texas, New Mexico, and Upper California, as well as parts of Lower California, Sonora, Coahuila, and Nuevo León; but Poinsett's offer to purchase these areas was rejected by the Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs headed by Juan Francisco de Azcárate.[3] (Poinsett wrote Notes on Mexico, a memoir of his time in the First Mexican Empire and at the court of Agustín de Iturbide.)[4] The U.S. recognized Mexican independence, but it was not until 1825 and the establishment of the Mexican Republic that it sent a minister plenipotentiary. Andrew Jackson and several others turned down the appointment, but Poinsett accepted and resigned his congressional seat.[4][5] He became embroiled in the country's political turmoil until his recall in 1830, but he did try to further U.S. interests in Mexico by seeking preferential treatment of U.S. goods over those of Britain, attempting to shift the U.S.–Mexico boundary, and urging the adoption of a constitution patterned on that of the U.S.[4] After visiting an area south of Mexico City near Taxco de Alarcón, Poinsett saw what later became known in the United States as the poinsettia. (In Mexico it is called Flor de Nochebuena, Christmas Eve flower, or Catarina).[6] Poinsett, an avid amateur botanist, sent samples of the plant to the United States, and by 1836 the plant was widely known as the "poinsettia".[4] Also a species of Mexican lizard, Sceloporus poinsettii, is named in Poinsett's honor.[7] Unionist Although Poinsett was a proponent of the slave system and owned slaves himself,[8]he returned to South Carolina in 1830 to support the Unionist position during the Nullification Crisis, again serving in the South Carolina state legislature (1830-1831). Poinsett also became a confidential agent of President Andrew Jackson, keeping Jackson abreast of situation in South Carolina between October 1832 and March 1833.[9] In 1833, Poinsett married the widow Mary Izard Pringle (1780-1857), daughter of Ralph and Elizabeth (Stead) Izard. Secretary of War Poinsett served as Secretary of War from March 7, 1837, to March 5, 1841, and presided over the continuing suppression of Indian raids by removal of Indians west of the Mississippi and over the Seminole War; reduced the fragmentation of the army by concentrating elements at central locations; equipped the light batteries of artillery regiments as authorized by the 1821 army organization act; and again retired to his plantation at Georgetown, South Carolina, in 1841.