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 len , Alb ert L. Pratt, Hon. A. S. Pinkerton, Hon. A. P.
origin in a meeting holden in the ladies' parlor of the Rugg, Winslow H. Robinson, Harry C. Robinson, Alan­
Horticultural Society March 28, 1904, there being fifty son P. Robbins, Wal do E. Sessions, Frank E . Sessions,
members of various Worcester Masonic bodies present. 'Walter J . Stone, John A. Sherman, Parkman H.
On motion of Henry A. Knight, Frederi ck A. Blake, Stearns, Rev. Dr. Vin cent E. Tomlin son, R James Tat­
who was responsible for the gathering, was chosen as man , H enry L , Trafford, Charles A. Traffor d, W. H enry
Potent Monarch for the purpose of organiz ation. Frank Town e, Edwin C. Tripp, H enry D. T empl e, Romondo C.
S. Ellard was elected secretary and Matthew Gault Ware, John T. Wheeler, W arren H. Willard, Fred E.
treasurer. Various committe es were appointed and the 'Wilcox, Franklin B. White, Oliver B. ViTood, Edward
gentlem en present adjourned to April 7. At that meet­ M. Wood ward, L angdon B. Wheaton and George K. Wil­
ing the fees and du es land.
were fixed, the name Officers were electe d
Aletheia was adopted in as follows : Monar ch,
honor of the Greek god­ Frederick A. Bl ake;
dr ess of truth, and th e Chief Justi ce, Frank L.
preliminary step s taken Mellen ; 'Master of Cer e­
to secure a constitution mon ies, Charles A. Har­
and by-laws. rington , Treasurer, Mat­
All things being in thew Gault; Secretary,
readiness, the pro spec­ Frank S. Ellard; Trus­
tive prophets assembled tees, for one year, R.
in Odd Fellow s ' Hall, James Tatman; for two
April 13, 1904, Cha rles years, Hon. Francis A.
W. Mann of Buffalo, th e
Harrington ; for three
Grand Monarch, being
years, Gen. Robert H .
in the chair, and Ale­
Chamberl ain.
theia Grotto was formal­
In at tendance upon
ly instituted with the
th e Grand Monar ch as a
following charter mem­
degr ee staff were the
bers: Frederick A.
following distinguished
Blake, Dr. Charles A.
Veiled Prophets from
Blake, Dr. J. Mar cus
abroad: Monarch Dr.
Barton, Benjamin A.
Albert T. Lytle, past
Barber, John N. Barber,
monar ch Zul eika Grotto,
George D. Barber, Her­
Buffalo, N. Y.; Chief
bert A. Booth, William
Justi ce Philip V. Fen­
W. Brown, Arthur H.
nell y, monar ch Zuleika
Burton, Arthur Bur­
Grotto, Buffalo, N. Y.;
telle, Charles A. Bart­
Mast er of Cerem onies
lett, Rev. Dr. Frank
George E. H atch, past
Crane, 'I'homas A. Cal­
monarch Lalla Rookh
lahan, Elbridge S. Carl­
Grotto, No.3, Rochester,
ton, Gen. Robert H .
N. Y. ; Assistant Master
Chamberlain, Arthur B .
of Ceremonies Worthy
Chapin, Herman S. Che­
Prophet Charles E. Kos­
ney, Edwin S. Clark,
ter, chief justice Azim
Robert W. Clifford, Wil­
Grotto, New York ;
liam H. Cook, Charles
Judge Advocate General
Cooper, Frank A. Clark,
Charles D. Stickney,
J ames Draper, William
Zuleika Grotto, Buffalo,
S. Dadmun, Walter R
N. Y.; Grand Monarch
CH ARLES E. LAN SING.

Dadmun, Wilton W.
Gran d Monarch Supreme Coun cil, 1900--6.
of the Realm J. Harris
Dadmun, Gilbert G.
Balston of New York,
Davis, Parkman 'I', Denny, Charles W . Delano,
p ast gr and monarch ; Grand Captain of the
Frank S. Ellard, Charles L. Gates, Matthew Gault,
Guard George E. W. Stivers, secretary Azim
Henry L. Green, H on. Francis A. Harrington, Frank C.
Grotto , New York ; Rhadamanthus Charles E.
Han-ington, Charles A. H arrington, Leander A. Has­
Lansing of New York, gr and master of cer e­
tings, Henry F. H arris, Hon. Frank M. Heath, Melville
monies and past monarch of Azim Grotto; Charon
F. Heath, Austin A. Heath, Earle E. H oward, John H.
Charles W. Mann, Buffalo, grand monarch. Th e
Howell , Frederick A. Huntress, George H . Jewett,
degr ee team was further assisted by the newly­
Henry B. K eith, H enry A. Kni ght, Wal ter S. Knowles,
elected officers of Aletheia Grotto. There were eighty­
Justin W. Lester, William F. Little, H enry A. Mac­
three charter members, including two honoraries, and
gowan, Frank L. Mellen , Frederick A. McClure, M.
two novitiat es were admit ted that night, B. Austin
Francis McHenry, Clarence W . Mirick, George H. Mul-
Coates and Granby A. Bridges. The work was
 -_R CE STER .~ SS .
IL . -........ JU-l'J"E 1.QTH. & l1 TH· 1Q O Q

 WOR CEST EI~ MAGAZINE 215

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 a n. 1:), 190fi, to succeed ::\lr. Knight as monarch, and
his udmin istrnti on ])I'oYcd so popular that he was ele cted
in 1!)07 t o succeed him self'. Cha r les A. Harring-ton fol­
lowed ill J anuary , l! )O/'l , and he in turn was succeeded
by Edw ard M. Woodward , th e present monarch, The
Gro t to no w h as 223 memh ers , 9 life members and 2
honorari es.
T he officers a r c : E d wal'd :\L W oodward, monarch;
Arth ur B. Cha p in, chief justic e ; Ch arl es ,V . Delano,
m aster of ceremonies; Mat th ew Gault, treasnrer; Arthur
B urtell e, secr eta r y; win A. Ur ay, ass istant monarch ;
Austin A . H eath , marshal ; .J. P . Gra y , capta in of th e
gua r d; I" ra n k C. l Iarru urtou, Ccrb crus , Earle E. H ow­
a rd , Chnron , And rew B. McGown, Rhadarnanthus :
Cha r les E. 11 itch coek. Chaos; l l cn ry A. :\facgowan , or a­
t OI' ; ":'lI e!vill e N. 11( ~ a tlr, H erbert ~1. Fowl er Langdon B.
"Whea t on . F I'od Newcomb, R »: IJ. Dix on. \Vrn.•J. Den­
h olm , Edwin C . H ar-ri u gt on, Loui s E. Bra g'g', imps ;
"V. F . L ittle, W . So K nowles, B . A. Barber , II. C. Hobin­
son, A . P. R ob bin s , W. S . Y oun g', L . R Paige, H. O. rdc­
Cauley , sailors; George W . W ard, judg-e; Edwin P. Cr'e­
ric, F ran k 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 . Nor­
mand , Jose ph \V . T ru da, P res pero 'l'ruda , orch cstru ;
xr. F ran cis l\TcHenr,Y , or ga n is t ; ] Ienry D . Tem ple, eluc­
t rici an , Moses Gross, comm issa ry gl'lJeI'a l; Cha r les A.
Llarr-in gt on , A lbert S . R ich ey , 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 , Ha rri ngton , 1n2, trust ees.

l:EORl;E McC.\N N .
l, ralld Mou a rc h Su p re me Co unc il . 1907- R,

IH' rf ol'llll'll u po n lUI', Bridg es and the ri t ual find it s

enactme nt crea t ed grea t enth us iasm .
In the e ven ing t here was a ba nq uet. a t wh ich t he
speakers were Cha rl es D . Sti ckn ey of B uffal o, N . Y. ;
l Icn rv L . F oll ett of Ne ll" Y ork. mon arc h of A zim Grot­
to; i H a rr is B alston, p ast g l'anll h igh p ri est of the
Orand Chap ter of th e S ta t e of Ne ll' 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 alch em ist of the
Sllprem e Cou ncil , and ]H1St mon a r ch of L all a R ookh
(; rotto of R och ester : Geor g'p E . , V. S tiv ers, past gl'all d
high pries t of th o Gr an d Chap ter. St a te of Ne ll' York .
and secre t a r y of Azirn Grotto ; Cha r les E. Lansing of
:\ew Yo rk, g ra nd mast er of cere mon ies a nd past mon­
ar ch of Azirn Grot to : H a n . P . V . Fen nel ly, m ona r ch of
Zul ei kn Grotto of Buffal o ; A lber t T . L y tl e, p ast m on­
arch of Zul eik a Gro tto, B uff alo ; P as t E minent Co m­
man 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 u dery, K . '1'. ; F . OJp p of N ew Y ork, Cha r le s W.
Mann of B uffalo , a nd F r ed erick A . Blak e, th e ne w m on­
arch of Aletheia,
On J an . 16, 1905, th e elec t ion of officers occurr ed fo r
the ensu ing v ca r, and H enry A . Kni ght was ele cted
mon arch. Edwi n C . Tripp was elec ted secre ta r y at th is
meetin g , but n ever se rv ed, and March 20, 1905, A rthu r C H A RL ES ~ lE A D COL TO ;o;.
B nrt elle, the present sec r etary, was elec te d to t he p osi - Gru nd Mon arch Supr eme Coun ci 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

T H E in stitution of Alethcin Grotto, 1\0. 13, 1\1. O. V . Mr . Bl ak e left behind him Dot only a clear Masoni c
P . E . R. , of t his ei ty , is d ir ectly du e to a letter written ca reer , but a most en viable record as a business man
by Prof. David S. Estes of Colgate U nivers ity , Hamil­ and a r eputation f or integrity an d industry secon d to
to n , N. Y., t o th e late lamented F rederick A . Blake. non e.
And t he r emavknbl c th ing about it is that th e letter B orn ill L owell Au g . 2;;, 184 0, Mr. Blak e was a son
was written by a mall wh o was n ot a memb er of the of on e of th e Spindle C ity 's m ost disting uished phy­
Grot t o and was not even a memb er of the Ma soni c Ira­ xicians, h is fath er having been a classm ate at Har vard
terni ty, with Dr. Oliver ,Vendell Holm es.
P rof essor E s tes W1l S, how ever, a very good friend of IIe ea rly en te red th e em ploy of the Ch as e Mfg. Com­
Mr. B la ke 's, a nd bein g well ucqn ain t ed with t he per­ pu ny of Bosto n, sh oe findings, as a bookkeep er, and th e
sonn el of Mok a nua Grotto, he though t it wa s just the execu ti ve ab ili ty and intelli gence h e ma n if ested P l'O­
kind of all ol'gallization t hat would appeal to h im. du ced suc h a marked imp ression on H on . J os. H . Walker,
H e acco r dingly wrote Mr. th en in th e boot m uuuf'a ct ur­
make t o th e effect that th ere ing bu siness in th is city wi th
had boon organi zed in H am il­ his brother und er the firm
ton a n ew social body wh ose nam e of J . H. & G. M. W al ker ,
membe rs wer e a ll Mas on s of th at h e aske d him t o com e t o
th e hisrhcst s ta nd ing' in t he
com mll~lity-college
SOl'S, (Iodors, lawyers, bankers
profes­ f Worcester in a simil ar capac­
ity f OL' th at conc er n. :lV1r .
Blake acc ep te d th e offer a nd
- allll he bel ieved if he woul d proved to be of so grea t ser­
fl ~
come th ere and get acqu ai nt ed
with th ese men th at he would
certainly id en tif y himself
1 vice to t he .nrm that he was
ent r u st ed WIth 1\11'. Walker 's
private correspondence as well
wi th the ir n um be r. Mrs , as ha vin g direct ch a rge of his
Bl ake urged h er husband to Chica go business. IIII'. Walker
go , as she had a great deal of made a g re at d eal. of mon ey a t
confi dence in P ro fessor Estes ' this t ime and he was k ind
judgm ent as well as a g reat enough t o attrib ute much of
deal of admi ration fo r his his su ccess to Mr. Bl ak e 's pe r­
ch a racter. Mr. Blake fin ally " sp icacity a nd business ene rgy .
agreed to go to Hamilton as In 1874 Mr. Blake d eter­
Professor E stes ' guest, a nd mined to en ter u p on the ma n­
on his arrival th ere was ufacture of boo ts and sh oes
intr oduced t o a large n u m­ himself, under t he firm n ame
bel' of the men identified with of Bla ke, Ha stin gs & Company ,
th e p a r ent g rot to. h is associates bein g J. E. H ast­
I t is rare in dee d th at an ings, G. F. 'I'homp son and A.
orga n ization of any SOL·t is FHE DE HICK A. BL ,I KE . D . Pra t t .

lau nch ed with a memb er sh ip Founder of A lcth ei a Grotto . In 1881 he re tired fr om this

as disti ng uished as that whi ch cha racte rize d Mcka nn a conce rn an d en tere d into partn ership with h is broth er­
Coun cil. It was cre a te d in a coll ege a tmosp here per­ in-law, J. D . Clark, in the wool en business a t Rochd ale,
meated with th e mysteries an d lore of Greek-letter so­ t he conc er n being known as J . D . Cla rk & Comp a ny .
cieti es, an d among its memb ers wer e a large number of The bu sin ess was grow ing very f ast a nd ta xed 1\11'.
men of th e hi gh est intell ectual ca li b re. They warmly Cla r k's ability to care fo r it t o the utm ost. The n ew
welcomed th eir vis i to r h om the vall ey of Worcest er, and pa r tn ersh ip proved mos t successf ul and th e house di d
havi n g made ap plica ti on fo r member ship, h e was en­ a tremendous volume of busin ess h om th e start, 0 11
rolled in the p aren t coun cil. Mr. Cla r k 's dea th in 1893 a cor po ra t ion was f ormed with
Mr. B lake f ound th e g ro tto a ll it h ad bee n pictured ::\Jr. Blake as presiden t an d ma n ager, and I rving E .
t o him an d h e r eturned t o this city en th usias tic in its Comin s, treasurer, and con tinned thus u ntil Januar y ,
praise. As a dir ect result of his efforts a grotto dedi­ 1!)00, when Mr. Blake r esigned becau se of ill health a nd
cated to Aletheia-th e god d ess of tr u th - wa s in stituted re tired from ac t ive busin ess.
in W or cester. T he winter of 1901 h e an d Mrs , Blake sp en t in Cal ­
 WORCESTER
MAGAZINE 217
ch use t ts . This p in k, th e B Oil '1'011 , enabled him not only
to win but h old the cu p, it bcing stipulated by the
soc iety that if th e seedling should not be excelled for
tw o y ears in succession the cup should become the prop­
ert y of th e exhibi tor .
Mr. Blake wa s p ro mi nen t ly identified with the Wor­
ceste r H orti cultural Soc iet y , leaving it $1000, the in­
com e 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 h er ways. H e was also a member
of t he .\Iassa ch uset t.s Fru it Gro wers' Association and the
W orcester A gri cultural Society.
Il is death Wtl S uni versally lamented by th e Masonic
frat ernity with whi ch he w as so <'losely id entified dur­
ing his closi ng y ea 1'3 and hi s m emory will ever be k ept
gr een in the ranks of the g'l'ott o that he founded, or
which he wa s so proud and to whi ch he j!l\\'l' so much
of his time, at tent ion and lov e.

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 dea th, he

spent in W orcester.
Mr . B la ke '3 inter est i n bu sin ess was sha r ed by
his love for musi c and flowers. His cons erva to r ies were
celebrated all over the East for th e r are and beautiful
vari eti es that they con t a in ed . His hothouses boasted a
number of interest in g or chids and other exoti cs, but his
great specia lties were pinks and peonies-p a r ticul arl y
th e f ormer. Mr. B lake h ad the ra ther unusu al hon or
of win n ing, tw o y ears i n success ion , the s ilver cup
offer ed by th e Massachusetts H orti cultural Society fo r ' ;EO RGE E . !l ATCH .

th e best sca r let carn ation seedl in g p r oduced in Massa- Gra nd Chi e f J ust ice Su pre me Co u nci l, ~1. O. v , P . E . R.