{"id":97733,"date":"2025-10-14T08:02:31","date_gmt":"2025-10-14T12:02:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mainestategrange.org\/?p=97733"},"modified":"2026-05-08T05:42:03","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T09:42:03","slug":"exploring-traditions-meandering-around-the-grange-way-of-life-july-2017-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-3-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-3-2-2-3-3-2-3-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mainestategrange.org\/?p=97733","title":{"rendered":"Exploring Traditions – October, 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Meandering Around the Grange Way of Life<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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By Walter Boomsma, Guest Columnist<\/em><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Should Stewards do that?<\/em><\/h3>\n\n\n
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\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
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\u201cTo these you will furnish every facility, by referring them to the library, to improve their minds, and incite them to use every effort to attain the highest rank in their calling. It is also your duty to keep safely and in proper order the property of the Grange.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Installing officer\u2019s charge to the Steward<\/em>
during the installation of officers<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

As a bit of a wordsmith, I might have found an \u201cerror\u201d in the Installation of Officers Ritual. Do you see it? Since I can rarely resist a back story, I\u2019ll explain that while working on our Book Exchange Program, I developed some curiosity about the existence of Grange Libraries. A search of the Ritual found only one use of the term \u201clibrary.\u201d It\u2019s used in the installation of the Steward and is quoted above. It answered my first question. While there is no formal position of Grange Librarian, the Steward is responsible for all property of the Grange and would, therefore, be responsible for a Grange\u2019s library.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But do we really want the Steward to \u201cincite (members) to use every effort to attain the highest range of their calling?\u201d In contemporary thinking, “incite ” <\/strong>refers to provoking or encouraging someone to act in a violent or negative way, while “excite ” <\/strong>means to stir up strong emotions or feelings, often positive ones like happiness or enthusiasm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Picture this. During an officer installation, the installing officer is charging the Steward, who is listening carefully and critically. When the installing officer pauses for breath, the Steward interrupts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c<\/strong>Let me get this straight. You said that I should incite members to use every effort to maintain the highest rank of their calling. Does that mean I should start a riot or encourage them to do something illegal or negative? I\u2019m not sure we want to do that!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If I were there, I\u2019d be very interested in the installing officer\u2019s response, wouldn\u2019t you? In fairness to our forebears, the word has not always had a negative connotation. Its core meaning was about spurring or rousing others to action that was not necessarily negative. However, the more recent context has given the word a negative feeling. So, it might not be the wrong word, but there are far better synonyms, such as inspire or encourage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wordsmiths tend to be meticulous, and I am willing to be held to that standard. But thinking about the Ritual and what we\u2019re agreeing to isn\u2019t such a bad thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s common to hear the observation that the Degrees and Installation are too long. While I understand the objection, I often wonder if they are long enough. Maybe not so much in time, but in depth. We are always anxious to fill vacancies. \u201cHaste makes waste,\u201d Henry David Thoreau warns us. As a traditionalist, I value the Ritual. I love the Ritual. When I slow down and think about it, I love it even more. I have occasionally wondered if we might benefit from an annotated ritual in the form of a book that more deeply explains (notice I didn\u2019t say \u201cincites\u201d) and excites us as new members and as new officers. The Rich Ritual is not so much about how we march or when to stand as it is about the Grange Way of Life we are agreeing to and, in the case of officer positions, what we are responsible for doing. Those are actions, and much more important than words<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Any degree or ritual quotations are from the forty-seventh edition of the 2023 Subordinate Grange Manual or the most recent edition of the Pomona Grange Manual. The views and opinions expressed in “Exploring Traditions” are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official doctrine and policy of the Grange. Information about the book “Exploring Traditions\u2014Celebrating the Grange Way of Life” can be found at <\/em>http:\/\/abbotvillagepress.com<\/em><\/a>,<\/em> on Mr. Boomsma’s Amazon Author Page<\/a>, or by contacting the author.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Meandering Around the Grange Way of Life By Walter Boomsma, Guest Columnist Should Stewards do that? \u201cTo these you will furnish every facility, by referring them to the library, to improve their minds, and incite them to use every effort to attain the highest rank in their calling. It is also your duty to keep … Continue reading “Exploring Traditions – October, 2025”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2122,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[190,19],"tags":[34,176,25],"post_folder":[365],"class_list":["post-97733","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-grange-principle-and-practice","category-history-and-trivia","tag-grange-activities","tag-grange-degrees","tag-grange-heritage"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":false,"thumbnail":false,"medium":false,"medium_large":false,"large":false,"1536x1536":false,"2048x2048":false,"post-thumbnail":false},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Walter Boomsma","author_link":"https:\/\/mainestategrange.org\/?author=2122"},"uagb_comment_info":1,"uagb_excerpt":"Meandering Around the Grange Way of Life By Walter Boomsma, Guest Columnist Should Stewards do that? \u201cTo these you will furnish every facility, by referring them to the library, to improve their minds, and incite them to use every effort to attain the highest rank in their calling. It is also your duty to keep…","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1arC1-pql","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mainestategrange.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97733","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mainestategrange.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mainestategrange.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mainestategrange.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2122"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mainestategrange.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=97733"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/mainestategrange.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97733\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":99351,"href":"https:\/\/mainestategrange.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97733\/revisions\/99351"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mainestategrange.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=97733"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mainestategrange.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=97733"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mainestategrange.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=97733"},{"taxonomy":"post_folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mainestategrange.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fpost_folder&post=97733"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}