Aletheia Grotto Defying the Fates, the Thirteenth Grotto, Organized April 13, 1904, Proves Anything but a Hoodoo

to the 'O rd e r

ALETHEIA Grotto, No. 13, M. O. V. P. E. R, had its origin in a meeting holden in the ladies' parlor of the Horticultural Society March 28, 1904, there being fifty members of various Worcester Masonic bodies present. On motion of Henry A. Knight, Frederi ck A. Blake, who was responsible for the gathering, was chosen as Potent Monarch for the purpose of organization. Frank S. Ellard was elected secretary and Matthew Gault treasurer. Various committees were appointed and the gentlem en present adjourned to April 7. At that meet­ing the fees and du es were fixed, the name Aletheia was adopted in honor of the Greek god­dr ess of truth, and the preliminary step s taken to secure a const itution and by-laws.

All things being in readiness, the prospec­tive prophets assembled in Odd Fellow s ' Hall, April 13, 1904, Charles W. Mann of Buffalo, th e Grand Monarch, being in the chair, and Ale­theia Grotto was formal ­ly instituted with the following charter mem­bers: Frederick A. Blake, Dr. Charles A. Blake, Dr. J. Mar cus Barton, Benjamin A. Barber, John N. Barber, George D. Barber, Her­bert A. Booth, William W. Brown, Arthur H. Burton, Arthur Bur­telle, Charles A. Bart­lett, Rev. Dr. Frank Crane, 'I'homas A. Cal­lahan, Elbridge S. Carl­ton, Gen. Robert H . Chamberlain, Arthur B. Chapin, Herman S. Che­ney, Edwin S. Clark, Robert W. Clifford, Wil­liam H. Cook, Charles Cooper, Frank A. Clark, J ames Draper, William S. Dadmun, Walter R Dadmun, Wilton W. Dadmun, Gilbert G. Davis, Parkman 'I', Denny, Charles W. Delano, Frank S. Ellard, Charles L. Gates, Matthew Gault, Henry L. Green, H on. Francis A. Harrington, Frank C. Han-ington, Charles A. H arrington, Leander A. Has­tings, Henry F. H arris, Hon. Frank M. Heath, Melville F. Heath, Austin A. Heath, Earle E. Howard, John H. Howell , Frederick A. Huntress, George H . Jewett, Henry B. K eith, Henry A. Knight, Wal ter S. Knowles, Justin W. Lester, William F. Little, H enry A. Mac­gowan, Frank L. Mellen , Frederick A. McClure, M. Francis McHenry, Clarence W . Mirick, George H. Mul-

CHARLES E. LAN SING. Gran d Monarch Supreme Council, 1900--6.

len , Albert L. Pratt, Hon. A. S. Pinkerton, Hon. A. P. Rugg, Winslow H. Robinson, Harry C. Robinson, Alan­son P. Robbins, Wal do E. Sessions, Frank E . Sessions, 'Walter J . Stone, John A. Sherman, Parkman H. Stearns, Rev. Dr. Vin cent E. Tomlin son, R James Tat­man , H enry L , Trafford, Charles A. Trafford, W. Henry Towne, Edwin C. Tripp, Henry D. Temple, Romondo C. Ware, John T. Wheeler, Warren H. Willard, Fred E. 'Wilcox, Franklin B. White, Oliver B. ViTood, Edward M. Wood ward, Langdon B. Wheaton and George K. Wil­

land. Officers were elected

as follows : Monarch, Frederick A. Blake; Chief Justi ce, Frank L. Mellen ; 'Master of Cere­monies, Charles A. Har­rington , Treasurer, Mat­thew Gault; Secretary, Frank S. Ellard; Trus­tees, for one year, R. James Tatman; for two years, Hon. Francis A. Harrington ; for three years, Gen. Robert H . Chamberl ain.

In at tendance upon th e Grand Monar ch as a degree staff were the following distinguished Veiled Prophets from abroad: Monarch Dr. Albert T. Lytle, past monar ch Zuleika Grotto, Buffalo, N. Y.; Chief Justice Philip V. Fen­nelly, monar ch Zuleika Grotto, Buffalo, N. Y.; Master of Ceremonies George E. H atch, past monarch Lalla Rookh Grotto, No.3, Rochester, N. Y. ; Assistant Master of Ceremonies Worthy Prophet Charles E. Kos­ter, chief justice Azim Grotto, New York ; Judge Advocate General Charles D. Stickney, Zuleika Grotto, Buffalo, N. Y.; Grand Monarch of the Realm J. Harris Balston of New York,

past gr and monarch ; Grand Captain of the Guard George E. W. Stivers, secretary Azim Grotto , New York ; Rhadamanthus Charles E. Lansing of New York, grand master of cere­monies and past monarch of Azim Grotto; Charon Charles W. Mann, Buffalo, grand monarch. The degree team was further assisted by the newly­elected officers of Aletheia Grotto. There were eighty­three charter members, including two honoraries, and two novitiat es were admit ted that night, B. Austin Coates and Granby A. Bridges. The work was

IL.-........-_RCESTER .~SS . JU-l'J"E 1.QTH. & l1TH·1Q O Q

WOR CEST EI~

l:EORl;E McC.\N N . l, ralld Mou a rch Supre me Co unc il . 1907- R,

IH' rf ol'llll'll u po n lUI' , Bridg es and the ri t ual find its enactme nt crea t ed grea t enthus iasm .

In the even ing there was a ba nq uet. a t wh ich t he speakers were Cha rles D . Sti ckn ey of B uffal o, N . Y. ; l Icn rv L . F ollett of Ne ll" Y ork. monarc h of A zim Grot­to; i H arr is B alston, p ast g l'anll h igh p ri est of the Orand Chap ter of th e Sta te of Nell' York, a nd also past g-nmd mon areh . a nd pa st mona rch of Az im Gro t to ; Geo. E. H at ch of Roch est er, N. Y .. g ra nd alchem ist of the Sllpreme Cou ncil , and ]H1St mon ar ch of L all a Rookh (; rotto of R ochester : Geor g'p E . , V. S tivers, past gl'all d high pries t of th o Gran d Chap ter. St a te of Ne ll' York . and secre t a ry of Azirn Grotto ; Cha r les E. Lansing of :\ew Yo rk, gra nd master of cere monies and past mon­ar ch of Azirn Grot to : H an . P . V . Fen nel ly, m ona rch of Zuleikn Grotto of Buffal o ; A lber t T . L y tle, p ast m on­arch of Zul eik a Gro tto, B uffalo ; P as t E minent Com­man dcr Robert , V. C liffor d, and S ir K ni ghts H en ry A. K nigh t a nd Dr. J . Marcus Barton of Worcester County Comma udery, K . '1'. ; F . OJpp of New Y ork, Cha r les W. Mann of Buffalo , and F rederick A . Blak e, the ne w mon­arch of Aletheia,

On J an . 16, 1905, th e elec t ion of officers occurred fo r the ensu ing v ca r, and H enry A . Knight was elected monarch. Edwin C. Tripp was elec ted secre ta ry at th is meetin g , but n ever se rv ed, and March 20, 1905, Arthu r B nrt elle, the present sec r etary, was elec te d to the p osi -

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lion. Mr. Burtcll e is ent itled t o great credit for his work in th is ca pacity . Arthur 11. Burton was elected J an. 1:), 190fi, to succeed ::\lr. Knight as monarch, and his udmin istrnti on ])I'oYcd so popular that he was elected in 1!)07 to succeed him self'. Char les A. Harring-ton fol­lowed ill J anuary , l! )O/'l , and he in turn was succeeded by Edward M. Woodward , th e present monarch, The Gro t to now has 223 memh ers , 9 life members and 2 honorari es.

T he officers a rc : E d wal'd :\L W oodward, monarch; Arthur B. Cha p in, chief justic e ; Charl es ,V . Delano, m aster of ceremonies; Mat th ew Gault, treasnrer; Arthur B urtell e, secreta ry; win A. Ur ay, ass istant monarch ; Austin A . H eath , marshal ; .J. P . Gra y , capta in of the gua rd; I" ra n k C. l Iarru urtou, Ccrbcrus , Earle E. H ow­a rd , Chnron , And rew B. McGown, Rhadarnanthus : Cha r les E. 11 itchcoek. Chaos; l l cnry A. :\facgowan , ora­tOI' ; ":'lI e!vill e N. 11( ~ a tlr, H erbert ~1. Fowler Langdon B. "Whea ton . F I'od Newcomb, R »: IJ. Dix on. \Vrn.•J. Den­holm , Edwin C. H ar-riugt on, Loui s E. Brag'g', imps ; "V. F . L ittle, W . So Knowles, B. A. Barber , II. C. Hobin­son, A . P. R obbin s , W. S. Y oung', L . R Paige, H. O. rdc­Cauley , sailors; George W . W ard, judg-e; Edwin P. Cr'e­ric, F rank R. B atcheld er, Cha rles B. P er ry, counc ilors; F ran k ,V. Cha ffi n, Howard R. Hill , Cha t'les A. Nor­mand, Joseph \V . T ru da, P res pero 'l'ruda , orchcstru ; xr. F ran cis l\TcHenr,Y , or ga n is t ; ] Ienry D. Tem ple, eluc­t rici an , Moses Gross, commissary gl'lJeI'a l; Cha r les A. Llarr-in gt on , A lbert S . R ichey , d irce to rs , P arkman II. S tea rns, seu ti ne l : R obert n. Chamberla in . 1910 ; Geor ge F. Brooks , 1911; Fran cis A , Harrington , 1n2, trust ees.

CH ARL ES ~lEA D COLTO ;o;. Gru nd Mon arch Supreme Counci l,l00G-7 .

216 WORCESTER MAGAZINE

The Founder of Aletheia Grotto

Frederick A. Blake, the Knight Without Fear and Without Reproach Who Introduced the Order of Veiled Prophets to Worcester

TH E in stitution of Alethcin Grotto, 1\0. 13, 1\1. O. V . P . E . R. , of this ei ty , is d ir ectly du e to a letter written by Prof. David S. Estes of Colgate U nivers ity , Hamil­ton , N. Y., to th e late lamented F rederick A . Blake. And t he r emavknbl c th ing about it is that th e letter was written by a mall wh o was not a memb er of the Grot t o and was not even a memb er of the Ma soni c Ira­terni ty,

P rof essor E s tes W1l S, how ever, a very good friend of Mr. B la ke 's , a nd bein g well ucqn ain t ed with the per­sonn el of Mok a nua Grotto, he though t it wa s just the kind of all ol'gallization t hat would appeal to h im.

H e acco rdingly wrote Mr. make to th e effect that there had boon organi zed in H am il­ton a n ew social body whose members wer e a ll Mas ons of th e hisrhcst s ta nd ing' in the com mll~lity-college profes­ f SOl'S, (Iodors, lawyers, bankers - allll he bel ieved if he woul d come th ere and get acquai nt ed fl ~ with th ese men that he would 1 certainly id en tify himself wi th the ir number. Mrs , Bl ake urged h er husband to go, as she had a great deal of confidence in P rofessor Estes ' judgm ent as well as a great deal of admi ration fo r his ch aracter. Mr. Blake fin ally " agreed to go to Hamilton as Professor E stes ' guest, and on his arrival th ere was introduced to a large n um­bel' of the men identified with th e p arent g rot to.

I t is rare in dee d that an

Mr . Bl ake left behind him Dot only a clear Masoni c ca reer , but a most en viable record as a business man and a r eputation f or integrity an d industry second to none.

Born ill Lowell Aug. 2;;, 1840, Mr. Blak e was a son of one of th e Spindle City 's most distinguished phy­xicians, h is father having been a classmate at Harvard with Dr. Oliver ,Vendell Holmes.

IIe ea rly en te red th e employ of the Ch as e Mfg. Com­pu ny of Boston, shoe findings, as a bookkeep er, and th e execu ti ve ab ili ty and intelli gence h e ma nif ested P l'O ­du ced suc h a marked imp ression on H on . J os. H . Walker,

th en in th e boot m uuuf'act ur­ing bu siness in th is city wi th his brother und er the firm name of J . H. & G. M. W al ker , th at he aske d him to come to Worcester in a simil ar capac­ity f OL' th at conc er n. :lV1r . Blake accep ted th e offer and proved to be of so grea t ser­vice to t he .nrm that he was ent r usted WIth 1\11'. Walker 's private correspondence as well as ha vin g direct cha rge of his Chicago business. IIII'. Walker made a g reat deal. of mon ey a t this t ime and he was k ind enough t o attribute much of his su ccess to Mr. Bl ake 's pe r ­sp icacity and business ene rgy .

In 1874 Mr. Blake deter­mined to en ter u p on the man­ufacture of boo ts and sh oes himself, under the firm name of Blake, Hastin gs & Company , h is associates bein g J. E. H ast­ings, G. F. 'I'hompson and A.

organization of any SOL·t is FHE DEHICK A. BL ,I KE . D . Prat t . launched with a member sh ip Founder of A lcth eia Grotto . In 1881 he re tired from this

as disti nguished as that whi ch cha racte rize d Mckanna Coun cil. It was cre a ted in a coll ege a tmosphere per­meated with th e mysteries an d lore of Greek-letter so­cieti es, an d among its members wer e a large number of men of th e hi gh est intell ectual ca li b re. They warmly welcomed th eir vis i to r h om the vall ey of Worcest er, and having made ap plica tion fo r member ship, he was en­rolled in the paren t coun cil.

Mr. B lake found th e g ro tto all it had bee n pictured to him and he r eturned t o this city en thusias tic in its praise. As a dir ect result of his efforts a grotto dedi­cated to Aletheia-the goddess of tru th - was instituted in W or cester.

conce rn an d en tere d into partn ership with h is brother­in-law, J. D . Clark, in the wool en business a t Rochdale, the conc ern being known as J . D . Cla rk & Comp any. The bu sin ess was grow ing very f ast a nd ta xed 1\11'. Cla rk's ability to care fo r it t o the utmost. The new pa r tnersh ip proved mos t successf ul and the house di d a tremendous volume of business h om th e start , 0 11 Mr. Clark 's dea th in 1893 a corpo rat ion was f ormed with ::\Jr. Blake as presiden t and manager, and I rving E . Comin s, treasurer, and con tinned thus until Januar y, 1!)00, when Mr. Blake r esigned becau se of ill health and re tired from ac t ive busin ess.

The winter of 1901 h e an d Mrs , Blake sp en t in Cal ­

217 WORCESTER

De pu ty Gra nd Mo un rc h Su nre ure Co nnci l. )1. 0 . Y. 1'. E. R.

iforuia. The r em ain in g win ters , un til his death, he spent in W orcester.

Mr . B la ke '3 interest in bu siness was sha red by his love for music and flowers. His conserva tor ies were celebrated all over the East for th e rare and beautiful varieti es that they con ta ined . His hothouses boasted a number of interest in g or chids and other exotics, but his great specialties were pinks and peonies-par ticularly th e former. Mr. B lake had the ra ther unusu al honor of winn ing, tw o years in success ion , the s ilver cup offer ed by th e Massachusetts H orti cultural Society fo r th e best sca r let carnation seedl in g p roduced in Massa-

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ch use t ts . This p ink, th e B Oil '1'011 , enabled him not only to win but hold the cu p, it bcing stipulated by the society that if th e seedling should not be excelled for tw o years in succession the cup should become the prop­ert y of th e exhibi tor .

Mr. Blake was p ro minen t ly identified with the Wor­ceste r H orticultural Soc iety , leaving it $1000, the in­come t o be d evot ed to the encouragement of those who should br ing- out t he best variet ies of flowers through hy b ri d izing a nd in ot her ways. H e was also a member of t he .\Iassa ch uset t.s Fru it Growers' Association and the W orcester A gricultural Society.

Il is death Wtl S uni versally lamented by th e Masonic fraternity with whi ch he was so <'losely id entified dur­ing his closi ng y ea 1'3 and hi s memory will ever be kept gr een in the ranks of the g'l'otto that he founded, or which he was so proud and to whi ch he j!l\\'l' so much of his time, at tent ion and lov e.

' ;EO RGE E . !l ATCH . Gra nd Chi e f J ust ice Su pre me Counci l, ~1. O. v , P . E . R.