istian church of the middle ages, gloves were always worn by bishops or
priests when in the performance of ecclesiastical functions. They were
made of linen, and were white; and Durandus, a celebrated ritualist, says
that "by the white gloves were denoted chastity and purity, because the
hands were thus kept clean and free from all impurity."

There is no necessity to extend examples any further. There is no doubt
that the use of the gloves in Masonry is a symbolic idea borrowed from the
ancient and universal language of symbolism, and was intended, like the
apron, to denote the necessity of purity of life.

We have thus traced the gloves and the apron to the same symbolic source.
Let us see if we cannot also derive them from the same historic origin.

The apron evidently owes its adoption in Freemasonry to the use of that
necessary garment by the operative masons of the middle ages. It is one of
the most positive evidences--indeed we may say, absolutely, the most
tangible evidence--of the derivation of our speculative science from an
operative art. The builders, who associated in companies, who traversed
Europe, and were engaged in the construction of palaces and cathedrals,
have left to us, as their descendants, their name, their technical
language, and that distinctive piece of clothing by which they protected
their garments from the pollutions of their laborious employment. Did they
also bequeath to us their gloves? This is a question which some modern
discoveries will at last enable us to solve.

M. Didron, in his "Annales Archeologiques," presents us with an engraving,
copied from the painted glass of a window in the cathedral of Chartres, in
France. The painting was executed in the thirteenth century, and
represents a number of operative masons at work. _Three_ of them are
adorned with laurel crowns. May not these be intended to represent the
three officers of a lodge? All of the Masons wear gloves. M. Didron
remarks that in the old documents which he has examined, mention is often
made of gloves which are intended to be presented to masons and
stone-cutters. In a subsequent number of the "Annales," he gives the
following three examples of this fact:--

In the year 1331, the Chatelan of Villaines, in Duemois, bought a
considerable quantity of gloves, to be given to the workmen, in order, as
it is said, "to shield their hands from the stone and lime."

In October, 1383, as he learns from a document of that per