Hints on Masonic Etiquette

Freemasonry not only has myriad complex ceremonies for initiating and advancing candidates, but also preserves a code for every social occasion, including requirements for addressing others during meetings, offering banquet toasts, opening and closing letters, entering and leaving rooms ? in short, conduct that vanished elsewhere when Emily Post and Amy Vanderbilt ceased to be the oracles for society. It is not surprising that the conduct of members of a highly ritualistic and secret society sometimes is different from behavior in public. Titles of respect such as Brother, Worshipful, Right Worshipful are not used in front of non-masons. Mixed groups are addressed as Ladies, Brethren, Gentlemen. In other words, propriety should be the constant companion of the Craft. This volume has long been the companion for right behavior of those who move with confidence in that Masonic secret world that is so much discussed but so little understood.