Section 3

34 THE ONE WOMAN MASON.

make Masons out of men who were not
worthy. He also told me that they did not
heed her advice and it caused the Lodge
much trouble after the war v/as over. I
also heard miy father tell mother, when we
again lived at Ore Hill in 1872-3, that some
of Mt. Vernon's war Masons had proved to be
bad material.

She always took a deep interest in the
welfare of the order and, on many occasions,
during the dark days of the sixties, her advice
was sought on questions that Vv^ere not plain-
ly defined in the Constitution of the order.

In the spring of 1874, I was v/orking on
The Western Vindicator, in Newton, N. C,
for Major L. P. Erv/in, late of Rutherford-
ton, N. C, when the subject of Masonry
came up and I asked him if there was ever a
v/ornan in America who knew the secrets of
the order? He replied that no v/oman had
ever learned the secrets of the order and
never v/ould. I told him that m.y mother had
taken the First Three Degrees in Masonry.
He disputed it and we came near having a
bloody fight over the matter. Eventually the
Major explained himself and Vv^e agreed to let

THE ONE WOMAN MASON. 35

the matter drop.

In June, 1881, I was made a Master Ma-
son in Cleveland Lodge, No. 202, in Shelby,
N, C. A few months afterwards Major Er-
win took dinner at my hoiisee I managed to
leave him and m.other by themselves; first
asking mother to give the Major a little
brushing up on Masonry for I knew that he
was somewhat rusty.

When V/'e started back to the omce, after
dinner, he turned to m.e and said:

''Babington, do you remember the row
that you and I had in Nev/ton?''

I replied that I did.

He looked at me for about a minute and
said:

*1 have met with many surprises in my
life, and I am an old man, but I was never
more surprised than I am to-day."

I knev/ v/hat he meant, but I said: ''Old
boy, what has happened to cause you such a
surprise?" He replied:

''Your mother is the brightest Mason I
have ever seen. She has every particle of
the Three Degrees at her tongue's end, and I
believe she has forgotten more Masonry than

36 THE ONE WOMAN MASON.

you or I know/*

In July, 1877, mother and myself started
to cross the mountains, in a buggy, on our
way to Kentucky. Our route was through
Western North Carolina, Tennessee and Vir-
ginia. On our way two or three incidents
occurred that I could not understand until
after I became a Mason and mother explained
them to me. These I will relate as I saw them.

On our fifth day out we came to the V/a-
tauga river, at Elizabethtown, Tenn. The
river was swollen from recent rains and I
went to where several persons were assem-
bled, in front of a store, and endeavored to
get some one to pilot us across, as we had been
told that the ford w^as dangerous. I was un-
successful and reported the fact to mother.
She said we had better wait a while. A min-
ute later a gentleman v/ho was standing in
the factory door, tv/o hundred yards away,
came towards us as fast as he could walk. He
came up to the buggy and asked mother what
she would ha.ve. She told him that I had
ti'ied to get some one to pilot us over the
river but had failed. He told us to drive
down to the ford and he would get his horse

THE ONE WOMAN MASON. 37

and guide us across. We crossed the river
safely and traveled on for nearly a mile, the
gentleman riding on in front. At the top of
the hill we camie to a house v/hen our guide
stopped and told us that we must dine at his
house. He put the invitation in a way that
Vv'e could not refuse and we stopped with himi.
After dinner he and mother had a long talk
and I then knew that it was her knowledge
of Masonry that had brought him, to our aid.
The next day, v/hen about 25 miles from
Bristol, our horse became lame and could not
travel. Vv e were strangers, in a strange land,
and not over burdened with money, A farm-
er was ploughing in a field somie distance
from where we had stopped. Mother asked
m.e to take our drinking cup and bring her
some water from a spring we had just pass-
ed. When I returned the farmer was comJng
towards us. He came up and asked what our
trouble was? I told him that our horse had
become lame and we could not drive him, and
that we wanted to go on to Bristol where
mother would make the balance of the trip,
to Ashland, Ky., by rail and I would return
to North Carolina, He examined the horse,

38 THE ONE WOMAN MASON.

said he could cure the lameness in a day's
time and told me, as I was 3- ounger than him-
self, to go and get his horse from the plow,
that he was gentle and a good traveler, and I
could drive him to Bristol and bring him back
the next day. He said he v/ould keep our
horse and have him all right for me when I
returned. We made the exchange and I re-
turned the next evening and spent the night
with our friend. When I got ready to leave
I asked him his bill. His reply Vv^as:

' 'Young man, I could not think of charg-
ing you anything for what I have done,''" and
added: ''While you are not a Mason you have
a mothver that knows as much about Masonry
as any man that I have ever talked to upon
the subjecf

Iviother told me, after I became a Mason,
that when she wanted to find a Mason she
used signs and words belonging to the various
''Side Degrees,'' to which the female relatives
of Master Masons are entitled, and only re-
sorted to "Blue Lodge Masonry" wdien the
others failed, or in cases of extreme necessi-
ty. She kept herself well posted on all these
degi'ees, especially the "Eastern Star," "Mas-

THE ONE WOMAN MASON. 39

ter Masons Vv^iie and Daughter" raid "The
Heroine of Jericho."

The ''Traders Degree" was known by
very few women, in her time, yet she knew
it perfectly and often used it when occasion
demanded.

She often talked to rna, during the last
years of her life, and told me many little in-
cidents of her experience in Masonry that I
can not repeat in these pages; but I found lier
well posted on all question relating to ''Ma-
sonic Jurisprudence" or the "Old Land-
marks" of the order. In the vvritings of Rob
Morris, both poetry and prose, she took great
delight. The poem written by Morris, ' 'We
meet upon the Level ?.nd we part upon the
Square, ' ' she repeated, in full, to m_yseif and
Dr. J. C. Gidney, of Shelbj^ N. C, a few
days before her labors ceased on earth. -

Mother was always pleased to hear of a
good working and hve Lodge, and she always
encouraged the wives, daughters, sisters and
m.others of Masons to take the degrees to
Vv^hich they were entitled, and become famnl-
iar v/ith them. She took a delight in helping
to confer these degi-ees upon such of the

40 THE ONE WOMAN MASON.

ladies as would take them.

Often when father would move to a new
place and she learned that Masonry was drag-
ging mother would begin to stir them up, and
she usually succeeded in getting them to at-
tend the communications of the Lodge and
take a deeper interest in its work.

She advocated keeping up the old custom
of 'refreshments" and often has she suc-
ceeded in getting the Lodge, where she lived,
to adopt the custom of having their v/ives
and daughters prepare refreshments and ac-
company the mem.bers to a room near the
Lodge. Here the ladies would spend the
time pleasantly until the Lodge adjourned or
called off for refreshments. Then the good
things were spread out and a social hour spent
that served to make all wish for time to move
rapidly until the day arrived for the Lodge
to meet again.

In this way she caused more than one
Lodge, that had become almost dormiant, to
revive and become a live, v/orking Lodge.

She invariably encouraged Masons to
take one or more good Masonic Journals and
keep themselves posted as to what the Order

THE ONE WOMAN MASON. 41

was doing in other sections of the world. As
long as Rob Morris published ' 'The Voice of
Masonry'* my father was a regular subscriber
and mother an earnest reader.

I remember on one occasion Sheriff Pas-
cal, a Past Master of Mt. Vernon Lodge,
spent a night at my father's. After supper
he and father got to talking about the small
amount of interest that m^any of the members
were taking in the Lodge work. After they
had discussed the matter for sometime Sheriff
Pascal turned to mother and said:

''Mrs. Babington, can you tell us what
the trouble is and how we can remedy it?"

"Yes, " she replied, "the men you have
named never learn anything about Masonry
except what they learn in the Lodge. They
never see a Masonic book, magazine or paper
and therefore never read about what the
Order is doing. Have some good paper, de-
voted to the interests of Free Masonry, cir-
culated among them and you will soon see
the good effects."

The Sheriff laughed and said:

' 'How much Masonic Literature have you
read?"

42 THE ONE WOMAN MASON.

' 'All that I could get my hands on, ' ' was
mother's reply.

''Have you read ''Morgan," or any other
exposure of Masonry?" the SherilT asked.

"Yes, I have read "Morgan" and all
others. ' '

"Well what is your idea of "Morgan?"

' 'Morgan was a good v/iiter and knev/
hov/ to write a book that people, who did not
understand Masonry, would buy and read;
but a man might memorize every word in
"Morgan's" book and yet he could never
work himself into a properly guarded Lodge.
I have seen mmiy "Book Masons" and could
always detect them before they had talked
Masonry five minutes. Only a few days ago
a stranger camxe along and began to talk to
Mr. Babington. I was in the room and they
were out on the piazza. They had not talked
long until this stranger asked a question that
Mr. Babington did not exactly understand.
I stepped to the door and said, Babington, you
had better be careful for you are talking to a
"Book Mason." He then asked the stranger
a question that all true Masons can alv/ays
answer and his ansv/er gave him away at

THE ONE WOMAN MASON. 48

once. He shov/ecl, plainly, that he had never
been inside a regular Lodge. ''Morgan" told
some things; but he did not tell enough to
make a man a Mason or enable him to visit a
Masonic Lodge."

She was always careful, when among
strangers, never to begin a conversation on
the subject of Masonry. Nor would she ever
make herself known, to a stranger, as a
Mason unless it was absolutely necessary.

Until 1869 we usually lived en furnace
hills and generally kept a boarding house. I
have knov/n men to stay with us for months
and attend Lodge meetings, with father; but
never learn that mother knew anything about
Blue Lodge Masonry,

During the last months of the civil war
we lived on a farm, in Chathami County, five
miles from Ore Hill, and on the old plank
road that led from Fayetteville to Snow
Camp. Along this road Wheeler's men pass-
ed back and forth and, after Fayetteville fell
into the hands of the Union Army, straggling
bands of Union soldiers raided that section of
country. Father was av/ay from home and
mother was left on the farm with myself, a

44 THE ONE WOMAN MASON.

brother three years older than I was and a
negro boy. Everything of value was taken
from our neighbors; but, in a way that seem-
ed mysterious to others, mother succeeded in
saving everything that belonged to us.

After her death, on June the 28th, 1886,
the Shelby Aurora, Shelby, N. C, which
was then published by William H. Miller, an
old soldier and a Mason, published the follow-
ing notice:

''Babington.— An aged and estimable la-
dy, Mrs. Catherine (Sweet) Babington died in
Shelby on Monday evening, June the 28th,
1886, and she died, as she lived, a Christian.
As the sun was marshaling his golden, crim-
son and saffron hues in the West and pre-
paring for his departure, her sun set to arise
on a fairer shore, and her soul took its flight
to a land where there is no night. She was
born in Kentucky in 1815, and married in
1834 to B. B. Babington, who died ten years
ago. For over a half century she was a gen-
tie and true member of the Methodist church,
and frequently expressed in her last illness a
willingness to die. At her death she was the
only Female Mason in the United States, and

THE ONE WOMAN MASON, 45

was well versed in the mysterious workings
of the Blue Lodge. Having overheard the
secrets of Masonry when she was a girl of
sixteen years, it was thought best to initiate
her as a member and thus prevent any dis-
closure/^

Mr. Miller is still living in Shelby, N. C,
as are also other Master Masons, who were
acquainted with my mother and also knew my
father, two brothers and myself as Masons.

Dear reader I have now fulfilled the labor
that circumstances set apart for me. I have
given to the Masonic world a short, but, I be-
lieve, true and correct account of when and
how my mother became a ''Blue Lodge Ma-
son" in every sense of the word. That she
was a Mason and knew all the workings of
the order, from the time the candidate ap-
peared to first enter the Lodge until he came
forth a Master Mason, I know of my own
knowledge.

I have often seen it stated, in Masonic
Journals, that only one woman, in the United
States, has ever secured the secrets of Ma-
sonry. One or two of these statesments said
she hved in Kentucky while others claimed

46 THE ONE WOMAN MASON.

that she was a native of North Carolina,
South Carohna, Alabama, Tennesse or Vir-
ginia. My mother hved in all these States,
and was known, among Masons, as a Mason,
w^herever she happened to live.

For two years I v/as one of the editors of
* 'Tidings From The Craft,'' a Masonic
Magazine published by Eabington & DeLoach,
in Yorkville, S. C, and during that time the
♦ Masonic Journals of America were discussing
the subject of Female Masonry. For reasons
satisfactory to myself I took no part in the
discussion; but watched closely to see if any
of them succeeded in locating and ascertain-
ing the true name of the only Female Mason
in America. This they all failed to do and
now, for the first time, the world is publicly
informed regarding all the facts of the case
together v/ith the real nam_es of all parties
concerned, so far as I can remiember them.

As above stated my labor, in giving the
Masonic Fraternity, and the v/orid genera,lly,
a true biography of my m.other's Masonic
career, is finished and I now lay down my
pen and say:

'It Is Finished.''

THE ONE WOMAN MASON. 47

The Level And The Square.— The fol-
lowing lines, by Fob Mori*is, were repeated,
from memory, and the hidden meaning: ex-
plained, by Mrs. Babington, to Dr. J. C.
Gidney and two of her sons, two weeks be-
fore her death.

' 'We meet upon the Level, and we part

UPON THE Square, —
What words of precious meaning those words

Masonic are!
Come, let us contemplate them; they are

vvorthy of a thought, —
With the highest and the lowest and the

rarest they are fraught.

We meet upon the level, though from every

station come—
The King from, out his palace and the poor

m-an from his home;
For the one must leave his diadem without

the Mason's door.
And the other fmds his true respect upon the

checkered floor.

We part upon the square, for the w^orld must
have its due;

We mjngle with its m.ultitude, a cold, un-
friendly crev/;

But the influence of our gatherings memory
is green,

And v/e long, upon the level, to renew the
happy scene.

48 THE ONE WOMAN MASON.

There's a world where all are equal, —we are
hurrying toward it fast, —

We shall meet upon the level there when the
gates of death are past;

We shall stand before the Orient, and our
Master will be there,

To try the blocks we offer by His own un-
erring square.

We shall meet upon the level there, but never
thence depart;

There's a Mason, —'tis all ready for each
zealous, faithful heart;

There's a Mason and a welcome, and a mul-
titude is there.

Who have met upon the level and been tried
upon the square.

Let us meet upon the level, then, while labor-
ing patient here, —

Let us meet and let us labor, tho' the labor
seem severe.

Already in the western sky the signs bid us
prepare

To gather up our working tools and part upon
the square!