Maine State Grange

Meandering Around the Grange Way of Life

By Walter Boomsma, Guest Columnist

From the First Degree

During our recent Degree Day, someone commented that they wished more people could hear the words from the Degree Work. We continue to share them.

In the First Degree, the Overseer explains to the candidates:

“I exhibit to you now a memorandum book, a knife, and a pencil. Note down the new and useful ideas that come to you that they be not lost; for new ideas are the material with which progress is made. The knife is used to prune a straggling branch, to cut off the nests of insects, or to cut a plant whose nature you may wish to study. In your intercourse with your fellow beings, correct an error kindly and with the smooth edge of affection, and do not bruise a wound you wish to heal.”

The ongoing references to agriculture and farming may be obvious to most. And, while these visual aids may seem a bit dated, they remain appropriate. “Record new and useful ideas in your smartphone…”When I am filling the Overseer’s role, I often take the liberty of changing the word “intercourse” to “dealings” and repeating the last sentence with emphasis. “In your dealings  with your fellow beings, correct an error kindly and with the smooth edge of affection, and do not bruise a wound you wish to heal.” It’s powerful advice. Read it again. “In your dealings with your fellow beings, correct an error kindly and with the smooth edge of affection, and do not bruise a wound you wish to heal.”

Of course, it’s not limited to correcting errors. Patrons of Husbandry should be known for treating others kindly. In simple form, it means to be gentle and considerate. While shopping recently, I was passing a woman riding one of those electric shopping carts. She dropped a credit card, and I said, “I’ll get that for you,” and did. A child caught up to us. After thanking me, the shopper (Grandma?) said to the child, “He helped me. You’re supposed to be helping me.”

Read that last sentence from the Overseer again. “Do not bruise a wound you wish to heal.” Grandma’s response wasn’t especially mean, but did she “bruise the wound she wished to heal?”

As it happened, I had noticed the child a few seconds earlier, stretched on tiptoe, trying to reach something on a high shelf for someone else in their shopping party. I redirected Grandma’s directions. “I almost stopped to help you get that item on the top shelf but you did it yourself.” I was tempted to add, “Being kind and helpful isn’t always easy, but it’s always good.”

By the way, before the Degree Police come after me, I think it’s okay to occasionally expand or emphasize aspects of the teachings of the Ritual. Yes, there are some hazards, and I’m not suggesting long editorial comments. In this example, I’m suggesting deliberately repeating one sentence. We need to guard against robotic repetition of the written words. Remember, the Degrees are ultimately about learning.

In the same conversation with the candidates, the Overseer concludes, “In this Degree—your Spring season in our Order—begin anew the acquisition of knowledge.”

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—Celebrating the Grange Way of Life” can be found at http://wboomsma.com, on Mr. Boomsma’s Amazon Author Page, or by contacting the author.