time was required for the building
of a great cathedral. Sometimes, it would seem, they made special
contracts with the inhabitants of a town where they were to erect a
church, containing such stipulations as, that a Lodge covered with
tiles should be built for their accommodation, and that every laborer
should be provided with a white apron of a peculiar kind of leather
and gloves to shield the hands from stone and slime.[87] At all
events, the picture we have is that of a little community or village
of workmen, living in rude dwellings, with a Lodge room at the center
adjoining a slowly rising cathedral--the Master busy with his plans
and the care of his craft; Fellows shaping stones for walls, arches,
or spires; Apprentices fetching tools or mortar, and when necessary,
tending the sick, and performing all offices of a similar nature.
Always the Lodge was the center of interest and activity, a place of
labor, of study, of devotion, as well as the common room for the
social life of the order. Every morning, as we learn from the Fabric
Rolls of York Minster, began with devotion, followed by the directions
of the Master for the work of the day, which no doubt included study
of the laws of the art, plans of construction, and the mystical
meaning of ornaments and emblems. Only Masons were in attendance at
such times, the Lodge being closed to all others, and guarded by a
Tiler[88] against "the approach of cowans[89] and eavesdroppers." Thus
the work of each day was begun, moving forward amidst the din and
litter of the hours, until the craft was called from labor to rest and
refreshment; and thus a cathedral was uplifted as a monument to the
Order, albeit the names of the builders are faded and lost. Employed
for years on the same building, and living together in the Lodge, it
is not strange that Free-masons came to know and love one another, and
to have a feeling of loyalty to their craft, unique, peculiar, and
enduring. Traditions of fun and frolic, of song and feast and
gala-day, have floated down to us, telling of a comradeship as joyous
as it was genuine. If their life had hardship and vicissitude, it had
also its grace and charm of friendship, of sympathy, service, and
community of interest, and the joy that comes of devotion to a high
and noble art.

When a Mason wished to leave one Lodge and go elsewhere to work, as he
was free to do when he desired, he had no difficulty in making himself
known to the men of his