Robert Morris, who is generally bracketed with Albert Pike as the most
distinguished writer and craftsman American Masonry has produced, was
born near Boston, Massachusetts, August 31, 1818. He was made a Mason
in Mississippi, in 1846, and this was the beginning of a Masonic
career almost without parallel in the history of the fraternity.
Morris, of course, received all of the higher degrees in Masonry, but
the most momentous thing he did as a craftsman was to establish the
Order of the Eastern Star in 1850--the year he became a Kentuckian. In
September, 1854, while living in southern Kentucky, Morris wrote his
most celebrated poem, entitled _The Level and the Square_, which was
first published in his magazine, _The American Freemason_, of
Louisville, Kentucky. Rudyard Kipling lifted a line from it for his
equally famous poem, _The Mother Lodge_. Although Morris revised his
lines many times, the original version is far and away the finest. In
1858 he was elected Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Kentucky; and
two years later he removed his residence to La Grange, Kentucky, the
little town with which his fame is intertwined. Morris wrote several
well-known religious songs, _Sweet Galilee_, being the best of them.
He was the author of many books upon Masonry, his _Lights and Shadows
of Freemasonry_ (Louisville, 1852), being the first work in Masonic
belles-lettres. This was followed by his _History of the Morgan
Affair_ (New York, 1852); _Life in the Triangle_ (1853); _The Two
Saints John_ (1854); _Code of Masonic Law_ (Louisville, 1855), the
pioneer work on Masonic jurisprudence; _Masonic Book of American
Adoptive Rights_ (1855); _History of Freemasonry in Kentucky_
(Frankfort, 1859), his most important historical work; _Synopsis of
Masonic Laws_ (1859); _Tales of Masonic Life_ (1860); _Masonic Odes
and Poems_ (New York, 1864); _Biography of Eli Bruce_ (1867);
_Dictionary of Freemasonry_ (1872); _Manual of the Queen of the South_
(1876); _Knights Templar's Trumpet_ (1880); _Freemasonry in the Holy
Land_ (New York, 1882), an excellent work; _The Poetry of Freemasonry_
(New York, 1884), upon the publication of which, the author was
invited to New York City and crowned "The Poet Laureate of
Freemasonry," December 17, 1884; and, _Magnum Opus_ (1886). Morris was
one of the foremost numismatics of his day and generation in America,
his works on this science being _The Twelve Caesars_, and _Numismatic
Pilot_. He was also the author of several works designed especially
for the officers of a Masonic lodge; and he edited in thirty volumes
_The Universal Masonic Library_, besides editing from time to time
four Masonic magazines. Rob Morris, to give him the name by which he
is best known, died at La Grange, Kentucky, July 31, 1888.
BIBLIOGRAPHY. _History of Kentucky_, by R. H. Collins (Covington,
Kentucky, 1882); _Appletons' Cyclopaedia of American Biography_
(New York, 1888, v. iv).