Article: 8162 of alt.freemasonry Path: senator-bedfellow.mit.edu!bloom-beacon.mit.edu!news!grapevine.lcs.mit.edu!uhog.mit.edu!xn.ll.mit.edu!ulowell.uml.edu!wang!uunet!in1.uu.net!cs.utexas.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!news-e1a.megaweb.com!newstf01.news.aol.com!newsbf02.news.aol.com!not-for-mail From: yagayagaya@aol.com (YaGaYaGaYa) Newsgroups: alt.freemasonry Subject: Rudyard Kipling Date: 7 Sep 1995 08:22:54 -0400 Organization: America Online, Inc. (1-800-827-6364) Lines: 167 Sender: root@newsbf02.news.aol.com Message-ID: <42mo6u$hl9@newsbf02.news.aol.com> Reply-To: yagayagaya@aol.com (YaGaYaGaYa) NNTP-Posting-Host: newsbf02.mail.aol.com " Kipling" A Masonic memory offerred by Torence Evans Ake W.P.M. Arcadia Lodge #1138 A.F. & A.M.-Lansing Illinois Distributed Freely on America On-line I welcome constructive comments and inquiries. Feel Free to e-mail me at yagayagaya@aol.com for additional text files, etc. concerning the Fraternity of Freemasons While visiting the location alt.freemasonry on the internet I picked up this comment from an interested party: Subject: Re: WHEN IS A MAN A MASON? From: gjk@panix.com (George J. Khairallah) Date: 3 Sep 1995 10:07:37 -0400 Message-ID: <42ccr9$du6@panix.com> >That's beautiful Kahoona. >The first time I asked what Masonry is, a friend of mine, >a Mason himself, gave me this to read: ------------------- If you can keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs and blaming it on you; If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, But make allowance for their doubting too; If you can wait and not be tired of waiting, Or being lied about, don't deal with lies, Or being hated don't give way to hating, And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise; If you can dream --and not make dreams your master; If you can think --and not make thoughts your aim, If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster And treat those two impostors the same: If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools, Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken, And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out-tools; If you can make one heap of all your winnings And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss, And lose, and start again at your beginnings, And never breath a word about your loss: If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew To serve your turn long after they are gone, And so hold on when there is nothing in you Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!" If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue, Or walk with Kings --nor lose the common touch, If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you, If all men count with you, but none too much: If you can fill the unforgiving minute With sixty seconds' worth of distance run, Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it, And --which is more-- you'll be a Man, my son! --------------------------------- If by Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936) --------------------------------- >I guess I should have taken license to change the last line to >"you'll be a Mason, my son!", but hey, I'm not a Mason ... I'm still >trying to be a Man. >BTW, R. Kipling's "if" would make a good addition to the poems in your FAQ. >I didn't find it there last time I looked. >All the best. -- George J. Khairallah gjk@panix.com That's a great thought and a wonderful creed to live by. I can see why Mr. Khairallah decided it was worthwhile enough to pass along. Perhaps, I can shed some light on the originating author. There's an old joke that is from my Grandfather's time: Said the young man to the young lady,"Do you enjoy Kipling, my dear?" She replies, "I don't know, I've never kippled before." Although current literary opinion considers Kipling as passé, there was a time when hundreds of "Kipling Clubs" met to read and discuss his writings without belittling his glorification of Brittish Imperialism. The man knew how to tell a story, though his poetry was not nearly as inspired or well developed. "Gunga Din", "Mandalay", and "Danny Deever" are familiar to millions who probably don't realize that Kipling wrote them. It may surprise you that he was not born in England, but Bombay India instead 12-30-1865. His father, John L. Kipling was an artist and was able to send his young son to England for his education. He received his learning at United Services College at Westward Ho, North Devon. By 1880, he returned to Lahore, India where he began writing as a sub-editor for "The Civil and Military Gazette". He was just seventeen. In 1892, he married an American, Caroline Starr Batestier with whom he became acquainted with notable American authors of the day. He received an honorary degree from Oxford University in 1907 along with one of these contemporaries, Mark Twain. During the same year he was granted the Nobel prize for literature, the first "Brittish" writer to do so. Rudyard Kipling was also a Mason, a very devoted and active Mason indeed. His writing contain many allusions and references to the Masonic exper- ience. He was made a Mason at Hope and Perseverance Lodge #782 at Lahore Punjab, India. It was an English Constitution Lodge. His work required special dispensation, because he was only twenty-years/six months at the time. The same evening that he was raised, he was elected Secretary of his Lodge so that he recorded his own initiation in the minutes of his Blue Lodge. A few months later, he delivered a lecture to his brethren "On the Origins of Masonry and the First Degree in Particular." He became a Mark Master in Mark Lodge "Fidelity"on 4-12-1887 and received his Mark Mariners degree in Lodge "Mt. Ararat"at Lahore on 4-17-1888. He also affiliated with Philanthropy Lodge #391 at Allahabad, Bengal. There were never restrictions on dual or plural membership in English Constitu- tion lodges. When he returned to his beloved England, he further affiliated with "Mother Lodge #3861"in London as well as two others, "Author's lodge #3456" and "Lodge Builders Lodge of the Silent Cities #4948." In 1905, Canongate-Kilwinning Lodge #2, Edinburgh, Scottland chose him as poet- laureate as a previous Brother, "Robbie Burns"had the pleasure. In 1925, he wrote in the London "Freemason", "I was Secretary for some years of Hope and Perseverance Lodge #782, E.C. Lahore which included Brethren of at least four creeds. I was entered by a member of Bramo Somaj, a Hindu; passed by a Mohammedan, and raised by an Englishman. Our Tyler was an Indian Jew. We met, of course, on the level, and the only difference anyone would notice was that at our banquets, some of the Brethren, who were debarred by caste from eating food not ceremonially prepared, sat over empty plates." Now of course I know that Masons today are, for the most part, devout individuals, but I have never seen them abstain from a meal with their brothers. To the natives of Lahore, the Lodge was known as a "house of magic." They believed that nothing but magic could bring together so many men of different classes and castes, and so many men of different religions. Of Masonry, there is much in Kipling's writings. He deserves to be read by more within the Craft. For starters try "The Man who Would be King." If you haven't the time to read it, at least rent the movie. Rudyard Kipling knew how to tell the story, Sean Connery's not bad in the role either(or at least my wife thinks so!). for more information, pick up the Short Talk Bulletin Vol. XLII, October 1964 #10 from the Masonic Service Association, 700-10th Street N.W. Washington D.C.