The Mother Lodge
There was Rundle, Station Master,
An' Beazeley of the Rail,
An' 'Ackman, Commissariat,
An' Donkin' o' the Jail;
An' Blake, Conductor-Sergeant,
Our Master twice was 'e,
With im that kept the Europe-shop,
Old Framjee Eduljee.
Outside - " Sergeant! Sir! Salute! Salaam!
Inside - 'Brother," an' it doesn't do no 'arm.
We met upon the Level an' we parted on the Square,
An' I was junior Deacon in my Mother-Lodge out there!
We'd Bola Nath, Accountant,
An' Saul the Aden Jew,
An' Din Mohammed, draughtsman
Of the Survey Office too;
There was Babu Chuckerbutty,
An' Amir Singh the Sikh,
An' Castro from the fittin'-sheds,
The Roman Catholick!
We 'adn't good regalia,
An' our Lodge was old an' bare,
But we knew the Ancient Landmarks,
An' we kep' 'em to a hair;
An' lookin' on it backwards
It often strikes me thus,
There ain't such things as infidels,
Excep', per'aps, it's us.
For monthly, after Labour,
We'd all sit down and smoke
(We dursn't give no banquets,
Lest a Brother's caste were broke),
An' man on man got talkin'
Religion an' the rest,
An' every man comparin'
Of the God 'e knew the best.
So man on man got talkin',
An' not a Brother stirred
Till mornin' waked the parrots
An' that dam' brain-fever-bird.
We'd say 'twas 'ighly curious,
An' we'd all ride 'ome to bed,
With Mo'ammed, God, an' Shiva
Changin' pickets in our 'ead.
Full oft on Guv'ment service
This rovin' foot 'ath pressed,
An' bore fraternal greetin's
To the Lodges east an' west,
Accordin' as commanded.
From Kohat to Singapore,
But I wish that I might see them
In my Mother-Lodge once more!
I wish that I might see them,
My Brethren black an' brown,
With the trichies smellin' pleasant
An' the hog-darn passin' down;
An' the old khansamah snorin'
On the bottle-khana floor,
Like a Master in good standing
With my Mother-Lodge once more.
Outside - Sergeant! Sir! Salute! Salaam!'
Inside- Brother," an' it doesn't do no 'arm.
We met upon the Level an' we parted on the Square,
An' I was Junior Deacon in my Mother-Lodge out there!
Rudyard Kipling was initiated into the Lodge of Hope and Perseverance No 782 (founded in 1858 under the English Constitution) at the Masonic Hall, the Jadughar (as described in Kim) in Anarkali, Lahore on 5 April 1886, at the age of twenty.
As this was the Lodge into which he was initiated it became his Mother Lodge. A Freemason will always have a particular attachment to the Lodge which saw him enter into Freemasonry, even though he may cease to be a member of that particular Lodge.
The poem was written some eight years later, when he was living in Vermont. Charles Carrington in his The Complete Barrack-room Ballads (p.166), reports that it was written in a single day, on October 29th 1894, while Conan Doyle was staying with the Kiplings.
It celebrates the equality which reigns among Freemasons without distinction of profession, rank, race or creed and the first two stanzas clearly reflect the diversity of this particular Lodge, underscored by the refrain which contrasts the behaviour displayed in public with that shown inside the Lodge. The use of vernacular with the dropped "h" highlights the wide social rankings of the members.
Verse 1
Conductor Sergeant The most senior non-commissioned rank in the Army, broadly equivalent to Warrant Officer Class I today, particularly in the Land Transport Corps and the Military Stores Department of the period.
Europe Shop A shop that sold many European (British) goods and provisions.
Verse 2
The Level and the Square are instruments in architecture important to Freemasons with the Level representing equality and the Square uprightness and rectitude. They are found appended to the collars of officers in the Lodge, the Square for the Worshipful Master and the Level for the Senior Warden.
The Junior Deacon is an officer of the Lodge who bears the Worshipful Master's messages from the Senior to the Junior Warden and attends to candidates during the Masonic ceremonies. There is no recorded evidence of Rudyard Kipling ever serving the office of Junior Deacon in his Mother Lodge.
Verse 3
The Roman Catholick! Since 1738 the Roman Catholic Church had prohibited members of that Church from becoming Freemasons, most recently for the period in 1884 in the encyclical Humanum Genus promulgated by Pope Leo XIII.
Verse 4
We 'adn't good regalia In Freemasons' Lodges the regalia are principally the aprons and collars worn by its members. In this instance we can assume that these were home-produced and probably well-worn.
our Lodge was old an' bare A Lodge also has some furniture and furnishings, some of which may be permanently affixed to the walls. Clearly this was a "poor" Lodge as it could not afford to furnish its Lodge. It is known that Kipling helped to decorate the bare walls of the Masonic Hall in Lahore.
The Ancient Landmarks are the ancient customs, laws and regulations of Freemasonry incorporated in the ceremonies which a Freemason promises to strictly observe and adhere to when he is initiated. Historically they refer back to the marks (normally stones) placed on land to mark boundaries.
Verse 5
We'd all sit down and smoke Traditionally Lodges used to meet monthly always on a given day of the week and the ceremony in the Temple (the Lodge room) was normally followed by a banquet, known as the Festive Board. Evidently with so many castes and religions with strict dietary requirements represented a banquet could have led some members to break the dictates of their caste or religion and so the Lodge abandoned this for a convivial smoking session.
An' man on man got talkin' / Religion an' the rest, Freemasons are nowadays exhorted not to discuss religion or politics in Lodge as this could lead to disharmony, clearly not a worry in The Mother Lodge.
"Of the God" We knew the best, Regular English Freemasonry is based on the belief in a Supreme Being, which may be considered an Ancient Landmark (see above Verse 4), sometimes referred to as the Great Architect of the Universe, without being creed specific. This allows adherents of all religions to join and would only exclude atheists.
Some continental European Masonic Lodges, such as the Grand Orient of France, admit members without having to profess a belief in the Supreme Being and are therefore not recognised by United Grand Lodge of England. The fact that Mohammed, God and Shiva are ostensibly interchangeable and equivalent as deities illustrates this and is one reason for the hostility of the Roman Catholic Church.
Verse 7
An' bore fraternal greetings / To the Lodges east an' west. One of the pleasures of Freemasonry is visiting other Lodges and the narrator, an unnamed India Government official, just like Kipling as a journalist had occasion to travel across India and would find a welcome in other Masonic Lodges. It was customary to bring greetings from the visitor's Lodge.
From Kohat to Singapore It is generally acknowledged that Freemasonry as we know it today originated in England during the Enlightenment in the 18th century and 2017 is the tercentenary of United Grand Lodge of England. It is not surprising therefore that Freemasonry spread with colonial expansion. Kohat is a city in the North West Frontier Province and juxtaposing it with Singapore is emblematic of the universality of Freemasonry in this case across South East Asia.
Verse 8
trichies - a type of cheroot originating from Trichinopoli, Tamil Nadu
bog-darn - cigar lighter
Khansamah - house steward or butler
bottle-khana - pantry
in good standing - A Freemason who is up-to-date with the subscriptions to his Lodge and has not been barred for any other reasons.