# Is ther no help for the widow's son?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-ther-no-help-for-the-widows-son/7660>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [February 18, 2000, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-ther-no-help-for-the-widows-son/7660 "2000-02-18T16:48:00Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![TomH](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/90db22/32.png) [@TomH](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TomH)\
**Post date:** [February 21, 2000, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-ther-no-help-for-the-widows-son/7660/21 "2000-02-21T11:13:00Z")

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> [@](#):
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> I recall a similar phrase was used as a Masonic sign in the great film “The Man Who Would be King” based on a Kipling story.

IIRC, the dialogue in the film is very faithful to the book. The exchange in the book is as follows:

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> … I ask you as a stranger–going to the West.’ He said with emphasis.
> 
> ‘Where have you come from?’ said I.
> 
> ‘From the East,’ said he, ‘and I am hoping that you will give him the message on the Square–for the sake of my Mother as well as your own.’

The implication in the book is that the entire passage which I’ve quoted is some sort of coded masonic communication. Kipling, being a Mason himself, doesn’t state as much explicitly, but goes on to say:

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> Englishmen are not usually softened by appeals to the memory of their mothers, but for certain reasons, which will be fully apparent, I saw fit to agree.

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**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\
**Post date:** [February 21, 2000, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-ther-no-help-for-the-widows-son/7660/22 "2000-02-21T14:45:00Z")

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Yes, I would suggest that those are definite Masonic allusions.

A Masonic lodge is set up with the senior officers placed as to correspond to compass directions: the Worshipful Master (the chief executive officer), in the East; the Junior Warden in the South; and the Senior Warden in the West. Approaching “from the East” in Masonic ceremonial implies coming from the Worshipful Master’s station, which a candidate does as he is conducted about the room to learn the lessons of each degree.

On the Altar in each Lodge in a Drafting Compass, a Square, and a Bible. The positioning of the points of the Compass with respect to the Square indicate in what section the Lodge is tyled - Entered Apprentice (the First Degree), Fellow Craft (the Second Degree), or Master Mason (the Third Degree).

- Rick

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