The Lambskin

Apron Talk courtesies of United Grand Lodge of England

It is not ornamental, the cost is not great,
There are other things far more useful, yet truly I state,
Though of all my possessions, there’s none can compare,
With that white leather apron, which all Masons wear.

As a young lad I wondered just what it all meant,
When Dad hustled around, and so much time was spent
On shaving and dressing and looking just right,
Until Mother would say: “It’s the Masons tonight.”

And some winter nights she said: “What makes you go,
Way up there tonight thru the sleet and the snow,
You see the same things every month of the year.”
Then Dad would reply: “Yes, I know it, my dear.”

Forty years I have seen the same things, it is true.
And though they are old, they always seem new,
For the hands that I clasp, and the friends that I greet,
Seem a little bit closer each time that we meet.”

Years later I stood at that very same door,
With good men and true who had entered before,
I knelt at the altar, and there I was taught
That virtue and honor can never be bought.

Historian, Jim Akers