What the Tyler Sees: The Lodge From Outside the Door

Overview

What the Tyler Sees is a spoken talk about the officer who guards the lodge door. From his chair in the hallway he knows the lodge better than anyone inside. He sees who comes early and who comes late, who hesitates on the landing, the nervous visitor and the candidate, and the Brothers who stop coming.

The talk begins with the charge given at the Tyler’s installation and with Mackey’s note that the Tyler’s sword was once wavy, in allusion to the flaming sword placed at the east of Eden. Then it sits with the Tyler through a lodge night. There is the Brother who unlocks the building and the one who is late every month. There is the man who has not been back in a year and stops on the landing. The Tyler is the first Mason a visitor meets, and he speaks with the candidate before and after the degree. He hears the lodge through the door. The talk closes with advice for the Tyler, a reason for every Brother to go out and thank him, and the guard each Mason keeps over his own words.