Freemasonry: its outward and visible signs

In making up Aprons, materials have to be most carefully measured and corners mitred to a nicety by skilled fingers under an educated eye. The best Apron-work demands a superior class of workers. As a rule, neither dressmakers nor tailors can turn out good Aprons, because the style of work is quite dissimilar.

The Book of Constitutions The governing rulebook of a Grand Lodge, at page 124, lays down the rule that Master Mason the third and highest degree of a symbolic lodge Aprons shall have an edging 1¼ inches deep. Yet, any Brother who will take the trouble to measure his Apron will find the depth of the border, except on the flap, to be two inches. This innovation, which adds much to the effect, seems to have become established by custom as far back as 1840.

It would be difficult to invent a chaster or more tasteful object of the same description than the regulation Master Masons’ Apron. It is composed of symmetrical parallel lines, angles, and points within circles, toned and shaded by a sky blue border, and gleams of silver upon a pure white ground. The symbolical application of these parts and of the whole will ever be present in the mind of the Master Mason.

For superior Aprons, we are in the habit of using prepared kidskin leather from a young goat instead of lambskin. It is lighter, has a closer grain, and possesses a natural polish. It is more expensive, and its use has, we believe, become almost restricted to our house. In planning the square for each Apron out of the skins, care is needed to avoid flaws and the dark streak sometimes found over the backbone of the animal. To hide these imperfections, dealers are in the habit of supplying highly calendered pressed between rollers to make the surface smooth and glossy goods, which are most objectionable in wear. The dressing, in a short time, will fall off

in powder, chalking the clothes as though one were engaged in operative actual stone-working instead of speculative philosophical or symbolic Masonry. Such Aprons, when sold, appear as smooth as mirrors; but after folding and wearing, deep ruts and cracks betray where the dressing has flown off like a shower of lime.

The WAISTBANDS of the Apron are usually made of ribbon 1¼ inch wide. Elastic bands were formerly in general use for this purpose. We have for some time discouraged them due to their lack of durability and their unpleasant property of oxidising metals with which they may be in contact.

An engraving illustrates two different apron fastening mechanisms. The upper depiction shows an ornate metal buckle with an animal head motif, linked to a fabric strap on the left. The lower depiction shows a simpler, oval-shaped metal buckle with a slide mechanism attached to fabric straps.

The most efficient waistband is that fastened with a link and lengthened, at the wearer’s pleasure, by a slide. Even in these adjuncts, a great difference in quality may be discerned. In details of this sort, we regard it as most unwise to practice a “penny wisdom,” which detected inferiority would prove to be “pound foolishness.”