RUDYARD KIPLING AND FREEMASONRY - S THOMPSON, Masońskie
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R
udyard
K
ipling
&
F
reemasonry
A
Pap
e
e
r
r
R
e
ead
by
Wor. Bro. S.P. Thompson, M.A., LL.M.
Joseph Rudyard Kipling was born at Bombay on
December 30th, 1865. He was initiated a Freemason in
Lodge Hope and Perseverance, No. 782, E.C., at Lahore,
on the 5th of April, 1886. Being under 21 years of age, a
Dispensation for his initiation was procured from the
District Grand Master. His proposer was Wor. Bro.
Colonel 0. Menzies; he was seconded by Bro. C. Brown.
He was initiated by the W.M., Bro. Colonel G. B.
Wolseley. He was passed on May 3rd following, there
being only seven Brethren present, and raised on the
6th December, 1886. He was for a short time Secretary
of the Lodge. In 1887 Kipling became a Mark Master
and a Royal Ark Mariner. Having left Lahore to reside at
Allahabad, on April 17th, 1888, he became a member of
the old Lodge, "Independence with Philanthropy,"
Allahabad. In March, 1889, he was put on the absent list
of that Lodge, and resigned in 1895. He was then
residing in the United States of America. That appears
to be the end of his Masonic career. He apparently
ceased to be an active Freemason in 1889. His
connection with the Craft as an institution was,
therefore, less than four years.
Rudyard Kipling's name first burst on the public as one
of strange sound. "What," asked one old lady of another
in the train, "is this stuff called Rudyard Kipling that I
see placarded about so much?" "I don't know, my dear,"
placidly replied the other old lady, "but I rather think its
a kindred preparation to Hanyadi Janos, a sort of
mineral water, don't you know." This old lady quite
unawares uttered a symbolic truth. Some of Kipling's
writings, such as "If," which has been translated into
125 languages, have undoubtedly acted as a sort of
mental mineral water in promoting mental and moral
health. One of his own poems, "Fuzzy Wuzzy," has been
parodied, and well hits off the character of his early
writings:
"I've criticized some mortals in my time,
And some of 'em was great and some was not;
There was some as couldn't jingle worth a dime,
There was 'Omer, Billiam Shakespeare, Walter Scott;
But for knocking slang and poetry into one,
For putting pepper on our old emotions
It's certain sure you easy take the bun,
And you play the Comb and Paper with our notions!
So 'ere's to you, Lippy Kippy, from the far United States,
Where the white man spends the dollar and the nigger
wipes the plates;
You've got your share of crocuses, an' if the colour suits
You're welcome, Lippy Kippy, you can bet your blooniin'
boots."
Kipling's works have always been good sellers, and his
admirers are many and enthusiastic. But he has also
had some eminent and severe detractors. Among the
latter is Arnold Bennett, who says that Kipling "is
against progress," that "he is the shrill champion of
things that are rightly doomed," that "his vogue among
the hordes of the respectable was due to political
reasons," and that "he retains his authority over the said
hordes because he is the bard of their prejudices and of
their clayey ideals." "A democrat of ten times Kipling's
gift could never have charmed and held the governing
classes as Kipling has done." "Nor does he conceive that
the current psychology of ruling and managing the
earth will ever be modified. His simplicity, his naivete,
his enthusiasm, his prejudices, his blindness and his
vanities are those of Stalky." "For Kipling the English
land system is perfect. He is incapable of perceiving that
it can be otherwise." "The same semi-divine civil service
men sit equal with British military and naval officers on
the highest throne in the Kingdom of Kipling's esteem."
"His constitutional sentimentality has corroded his
stories in parts." It has been objected by others that his
stories of Anglo-Indian life are both flippant and cynical.
He has been criticised for his Jingoism. Max Beerbohm
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