Patrons of Husbandry/Grangers - Second Degree Ritual

Patrons of Husbandry – Grangers
Ritual of the Second Degree – Culture

1946

Instructions on Degree Work

This degree symbolizes Summer on the farm.

PREPARATION

Court Robes—Pink, made of suitable material. Trimmings: Ceres, yellow; Pomona, green; Flora, white Garden hats may be worn.

PARAPHERNALIA

The A. S. shall prepare:
1.: A suitable receptacle of sand, and a small dish of shelled corn, for use on the altar;
2.: A case of miniature implements, containing hoe and pruning knife, on desk of M.;
3.: Copies of The Grange Declaration of Purposes, with the name of each candidate filled in.
The L A. S. shall prepare:
1.: Roses on desk of O., to present to each sister.

DEGREE WORK

The lectures are exceedingly beautiful, and each officer should study to render them in the best and most impressive manner. The O. should be prepared, at his desk, to present each sister candidate a rose, to be laid on the open Bible before the Obligation is administered.

CANDIDATES—CULTIVATORS AND SHEPHERDESSES
THE LESSON—HOPE
SYMBOLS— Summer—Youth—Fruit Blossoms— The Plant.
EMBLEMS—Hoe and Pruning Knife.
SCENE—A Farm in the Early Summer

Degree Work

The A.S. and L.A.S. receive the candidates in the preparation room, and prepare them for advancement, women at the right of men. Alarm from the A.S.
S.: Worthy Overseer, an alarm at the gate.
O.: See who approaches.
S.: Who comes?
A.S.: Brothers and sisters who seek promotion and instruction in the care of the flocks and cultivation of the field.
S.: ‘Tis well; wait until I obtain our Worthy Overseer’s permission.
Worthy Overseer, there are brothers and sisters in waiting who desire to be advanced to the Second Degree.
O.: Admit them, that we may learn whether they are qualified.
S. opens the Inner Gate and says: It is the will of our Worthy Overseer that they be brought before him.
Song.
During the singing the line will march once around the hall and halt at station of S.
S.: The changing seasons of the year bring you now to a new experience in your Grange Journey. In the First Degree you were taught the need of thorough preparation of the soil, the selection of good seed, and the lesson of Faith. You are now to receive instruction in planting and cultivating your crop, looking ever hopefully unto the harvest. Impressive indeed are the teachings of Nature in the unfolding wonders of each successive season; full of instruction for the reflective mind and commanding increasing reverence for the Great Master on High, who ordereth alike the heat and the cold, and in whose hand are the harvests of the earth. As you pass into the summertime of your Grange journey, forget not these teachings of ceaseless activity, of earnest cultivation and of abiding Hope.
After Steward has finished and without further command, candidates are again conducted around the hall and halted at station of O.
Music.
O.: Whom bring you here?
A.S.: Brothers and sisters, who, having served faithfully as Laborers and Maids, seek promotion.
O.: Are they honest, faithful and diligent? Can you recommend them?
A.S.: They are honest, faithful to their pledge, and diligent in their work. They are kind and careful with their animals. Indoors and out they have a time and a place for everything. Their homes and farms bear the signs of thrifty farmers.
O.: Brothers and Sisters, your recommendations are good. This degree is emblematic, as will be fully explained. To these sisters I will give each a rose as a tribute for our altar. Presents each a rose, real or artificial. You will now be conducted to the Worthy Lecturer.
Music.
A.S.: Worthy Lecturer, our brothers and sisters desire instruction in planting.
L.: Have they been furnished with seed?
A.S.: They have.
L.: From whom did they obtain it?
A.S.: When Ceres furnished them with corn she enjoined them to save a portion of the best for seed; and her admonition has been heeded.
L.: ‘Tis well, They have been guided by the lesson of Faith Wherever you go, whatever your calling, aim to do good. Good deeds are ever fruitful of yet more good Sisters, to be a true Shepherdess in our Order is a noble employment, and well worthy of woman As a Shepherdess, constantly study the book of Nature Learn from it the truths which may remind us of the immense greatness of God, and our own littleness—of His blessings, and the obligations they impose upon us Worthy Assistants, conduct them to our Worthy Chaplain.
Music.
A.S.: Worthy Chaplain, our brothers and sisters desire instruction from you as they advance.
Chap.: Brothers, the springing seed teaches us to increase in goodness, and the growing trees to aspire after higher and broader knowledge. Thus the labors of the husbandman and his surroundings beget refinement of feelings and kindly sentiments. In no other occupation does a man’s daily labor bring him into such close companionship with the Great Creator as in the cultivation of the soil. Therefore, guard against selfishness. If thine enemy hunger, feed him. Do good, hoping for nothing in return, and your reward shall be great. Love one another.
My Worthy Sisters, Shepherds have always been highly favored of God, from Abel, who offered the first acceptable sacrifice, to the Shepherds at Bethlehem, to whom the heavenly hosts chanted, “Glory to God in the highest; and on earth peace, good will toward men” The position, then, is ancient and honorable.
Above all, God is a Shepherd, and His people are the sheep of His pasture. You have, therefore, an adorable Pattern in your high and holy duties. To keep in safety those within the fold, and to reclaim the wandering—be your sacred charge. Be patient with the wayward, carefully instruct the erring, diligently seek and bring back the straying and those that are cast out.
Song.
During the singing the candidates are led to the altar, where each sister lays her rose upon the open Bible. Previously prepared at the altar should be a receptacle of dry sand and a smaller one of shelled corn, ready for the use of the M., who now comes forward and meets the candidates.
M.: Worthy Assistants, place the candidates in proper position to give the pledge.
Each candidate places open right hand over the heart.
O. calls up and M. administers the Obligation.
M.: You will repeat alter me this Obligation:
“I hereby solemnly renew my obligation of secrecy and fidelity taken in the First Degree of this Order and further promise upon my sacred honor to keep the secrets, fulfill the obligations and obey the injunctions of this Second Degree and aid my brothers and sisters in doing the same.”
O. calls down.
M. takes a few kernels of the corn in the palm of his left hand to exhibit to the candidates, and says: We are now to teach you how to plant the seed. Behold these inanimate kernels of corn! But the germ has life—the future plant is there. We loosen the soil—we bury the seed; Plants the seed and in so doing impress upon our minds the truth of the immortality of the soul. There is no object in which, to appearance, life and death border so closely together as in the grains of seed buried in the earth; but when life seems extinct a fuller and richer existence begins anew.
From this little seed we have, first the blade, then the ear, then the full corn in the ear. So with the mind, when duly nourished with Faith and Hope. But be not deceived! Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. Therefore sow such seeds, and so cultivate them, that at the Harvest the ripened grain may meet our Heavenly Father’s approval and be garnered in the Paradise above.
Worthy Sisters, your tribute is accepted. This is God’s holy Word, and thereon fair hands, prompted by pure hearts, have dropped roses, emblems of everlasting love and charity. May the pure teachings of this book mingle with their fragrance, and fill you with the HOPE that maketh not ashamed, so that no fear shall deter you from doing that which is right.
Song.
Candidates are conducted to station of Graces.
L.A.S.: I will introduce you to our Worthy Patron, Pomona.
P., presenting fruit blossoms, real or artificial: Let these fruit blossoms be to you an emblem of HOPE. Let us remember that no trees bear fruit in Autumn which do not blossom in the early Summertime. That life may be profitable, laden with good fruits, let all endeavor that youth be studious and Virtuous, replete with the blossoms of observation and study—the promise of future wisdom and usefulness.
L.A.S.: Next listen to Flora.
F.: In exhibiting to you these blossoms, let me remind you that they are symbols of love and charity, which, like flowers, cover many a deformity of nature. Encourage their culture, as well as study their forms and beauty. Endeavor to surround your dwellings with twining vines or graceful plants; for there is no spot on earth so rude as not to be refined by their presence, and none so adorned as not to be graced by their beauty and fragrance.
Above all, remember that amid all that is bright and beautiful in Nature there is nothing which blooms with such unfading colors—there is no perfume on earth fraught with such fragrance—as the flowers of good works and the sweet-smelling savor of that pity which feels for the wants and relieves the distresses of our sisters and our brothers.
L.A.S.: And now listen to Ceres.
C.: As we look around and see the beautiful transformation of seeds. Into attractive plants or majestic trees, we have but another lesson taught us of the wondrous works of God. Changes and transformations are constantly passing before us—the dying grain into the living stalk, the tiny seeds into majestic-trees, the bud to blossom, and the blossom to fruit. All these preach eloquently of the wonder-working God; and if the beauties of this world, when rightly viewed, offer so much of the magnificence of the Creator to charm us here, what must be the sublime grandeur of that Paradise above, not made with hands, eternal in the heavens?
Song.
A.S.: Worthy Master, we now come for your admonition and instruction.
M.: My Worthy Sisters and Brothers, may the lessons you have received find genial soil in your minds. Cultivate with HOPE the seed thus planted, that it may yield an hundredfold.
The tools used by us in this degree are the Hoe and the Pruning Knife. The Hoe, with which we cut up weeds and stir the soil, is emblematic of that cultivation of the mind which destroys error and keeps our thoughts quickened and ready to receive and apply new facts as they appear, thus promoting the growth of knowledge and wisdom.
The Pruning Knife, used to remove useless and injurious growths from our trees, plants and vines, should remind you to prune idle thoughts and sinful suggestions, and thus keep your passions within due bounds and prevent your fancy from leading you astray after the vanities and vices of the world. Bear in mind that moral and mental worth rank before worldly wealth or honors, and that, as a worthy Cultivator or Shepherdess in our glorious fraternity, you can justly claim to belong to the true nobility of the land.
I will now instruct you in the signal, degree words, sign and salutation of this degree. Imparts secret work.
You are now Cultivators and Shepherdesses in the Second Degree of our Order. The salutation of this degree signifies that a member of this degree “places Faith in God and nurtures Hope.”
I now present you with the Declaration of Purposes, which clearly defines the basic principles upon which our Fraternity is founded. Before you can be advanced to the Third Degree you will be required to read the Declaration of Purposes and to commit to memory at least one of its paragraphs. The Worthy Steward will test your proficiency before admitting you to further advancement.
And now accept the right hand of fellowship and the congratulations of your associates. M. declares a recess for greetings.