WHEN THE SOUND OF THE GAVEL IS NO MORE
When the sound of the gavel is no more
And closed is the Lodge of your life,
Will you leave this old world a bit brighter
And filled with a little less strife?
Will your brothers all mourn at your passing
And feel the great weight of their loss,
'Cause you helped make their cares a bit lighter
Through deeds that were gold and not dross?
Will the fact that you've been a good Mason,
Spell the difference 'tween sorrow and joy,
For some poor or unfortunate brother,
Or his widow, his girl or his boy?
Will the deeds that you've done as a Mason
Be a Temple to God some day,
When the sound of the gavel is no more
And your life has vanished away?
If so, brother, you've been a REAL Mason:
Good, upright and true to each vow;
And you won't have to wait for your exit
To warrant a deep, rev'rent bow!
Author Unknown
The following was borrowed from a web page of
Abraham C. Treichler Lodge No. 682 of Pennsylvania
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Rudyard Kipling Born
in Bombay, India, in 1865 to John and Alice Kipling, he was named after
the lake at Staffordshire, England where they first met. At age six both
he and his sister Trixie were returned to England and left there for six
long years under the auspices of a woman best described as an evangelical
Christian tyrant. In 1878 he attended the United Services College at
Westward Ho where the foundations were laid for his stellar career in
journalism. In
1882, he returned to India where he wrote for a paper in Lahore. Here is
where he first became interested in the Craft and was made a Mason at age
twenty by the benefit of a dispensation granted by the local Grand Lodge.
He later served as the Lodge Secretary for about one year. He continued
upwards in the Craft earning his Mark Degree and being elevated in the Arc
Mariners on the same day.
His journalistic vocations required his traveling extensively
throughout India and various British territories primarily near their
Military forces. Hence his considerable amount of admiration and empathy
for the Queen’s Army as is evidenced in many of his works.
He served as a news correspondent in South Africa during the Boar
War where he associated with other men of distinction such as Lord
Kitchner, Cecil Rhodes, Bayden Powell and even Arthur Conan Doyle ( who
was serving as medical officer in a field hospital there and was, of
course, also a Mason ).
He earned the Nobel Prize in literature for the story “Kim” and
twice declined the Order of Merit and once, even, the Poet Lariatship of
England. He married Carolyn Belyster and moved to Vermont where she bore
him two daughters, Elsie and Josephine. Upon their return to England,
Carolyn gave birth to their son, John, who eventually joined the Irish
Guard and was killed at the Battle of the Luce. Rudyard had contracted
malaria early on while in India and fought bouts with it throughout his
life. Finally in 1936 he received his summons from the Great Architect of
the Universe.
In his many works, Craft references are numerous and many of his
poems are strictly Masonic. I have enclosed for you two of them which I
believe best signify my sentiments and inclinations toward our gatherings.
Read, reflect, and enjoy them.
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