Hayes Lowe
Not just Masons.
Sat Jul 7 00:53:24 2001


Keep in mind that when most of us non-Masons say "Masons", we tend to include all the similar organizations with similar rituals. If you include all those, along with the Masons proper, then I think Miles may be close to the truth.

Many of these similar "secret organizations" have passed to history, but many of them used the same signs and rituals as the Masons. Some of these, in particular, were *very* prevalent in the camps, North and South. There was a wave of "secret organization" ferver, similar to the religious revival ferver.