Rudyard Kipling a Character Study Life, Writings and Literary ...

RUDYARD K IPLI NG

(From a photog raph by E . O . Horpé)

RUDYARD KIPLING

A CHARACTER STUDY

LIFE , WRITINGS AND LITERARY LANDMARKS

BY R . THURSTON HOPK INS.

LONDON SIMPK IN, MARSHALL

HAMILTON, KENT 85 CO. LTD .

P R E FA C E

WHEN a man has read once, or twice, or three times,through Rudyard Kipling’s books, he will probably dipinto them here and there at intervals . By so doing hegradually makes his own notebook on this author butit may be that he will yet find a place for another man’sKipling commonplace book,

” even if it has no pretension to co leteness or authority. The following pagesare intended

J

to furnish a popular guide to the attitudeand writings of Rudyard Kipling. My original purposewhen the book was first discussed with my publisherwas to have confined the pages to a brief outline of theauthor’s works . But I had not been engaged long on

the book before it dawned upon me that in speaking ofany one of the author’s books it is always necessary to

say a good deal about the author as a man . When aman is recognized as our first story-teller and at the sametime as a poet who has appealed to every kind ofEnglishman, from the illiterate pioneer to those who representthe finest culture of our country, he becomes a heritageof the people, and we are entitled to gather together asmuch information about his life and ideas as may be

gossible. This task has not been easy, for Rudyardipling has

.

written of all he has seen during his residenceor travels in five continents . He has absorbed India .Man and beast, native and white, have been touchedupon with his unmatched picturesque style .It will be long ere the final opinions on Kipling can

be collected . Of late years he has started to restrict

P R E F A C E

output, but the works he has given to the public showclearly he is not a man of yesterday or to-day alone—heis also a man of the days to be . Kipling is a second-rategenius

,which is putting him about as high up as possible,

for the reader must remember that there never has beena first-rate genius this s ide of the great divide.”

0

A

first-rate genius is always a dead one. The man withthe scythe is the only fellow who can grant the superiordegree . Since 1 886 he has been writing with an un

approachable power of intense visualisa tion of all hehas seen

I n extmdzd observa tion of tbeway: and work: of manFrom tbeFourMileRadiar roug bly to tbapla ins oi nduJian,

and,naturally

,he cannot always wri te well ; but if the

good things he has put forth were collected in onevolumeit would form a book twice the size of the good writingsofCharles Lamb . But there is so much envy and meanness among the living, that Kipling will not be fairlyrated until he has been dead fifty years

,and I do not

suppose that he is at all anxious to compete for his finaldegree just yet. Kipling does not pretend to be a sainthe 13 perfectly natural

,as any really sensible man must

be, and his advice is

Stand toyour work and bewire— certa in of rword andpen,

Wbo a reneitber cbildren nor g od; butmen in a world ofm m

But you and I do not have to decide whether this manis right or wrong . Time, the old gipsy man, takes thattask out of our hands, and he has in the past cultivateda habit of reversing the j udgment of the lower courts ofcontemporaneity. The author has deserved well of hiscountry— firstly for those strong true tales which havemade India a real place to dwellers in our tight littleisland .

” This was in itself an imperial conquest . Marion6

P R E F A C E

Crawford and other novelists had told us that there wassuch a land as India . Mr. Anstey humorously explainedthe workings of the Hindoo mind, and Phil Robinsongave us a book of Eastern beasts and birds, but it wasKipling who took the soil of India and moulded it intoa thousand gleaming sentences ; he was the first to givethe stay-at-home a picture of the real India .I must especially thank those people— many absolute

strangers— who have taken such interest in this book andso courteously written, mentioning numerous points andoffering suggestions .Much information, which is almost entirely the result

of original research, is contained in an article by AdrianMargaux in the Capta in (April and to this I amindebted for the outline of my chapter dealing withKipling’s schooldays . The present volume, which is thethird edition of this work, represents an effort to compresswithin a modest compass additional notes on RudyardKipling’s writings between January 19 16 and September192 1 . Two chapters,

“ Kipling’s London Days ” and“ The Soul of Sussex are entirely new. Notes andcritical comments have been added throughout thisedition

,and the following items have been included

Kipling’s Odyssey (volume of letters published 1920)Kipling’s early days in India Notes on a curiousand interesting unpublished MS . written by the authorat an earlier date than any of his published work ,

Air

Commodore Maitland of R34 and Kipling’s

story,“The Night Mail ” , .W E . Henley attempts to

improve on Kipling’s “ Tomlinson a Kipling letteron the Ballad of East and Wes t,

” and Notes on a penand-ink drawing of Kipling assisting at a Bazaar in1 89 1 .

A series of clever drawings which interpret K ipling’ spoem “ If from the standpoint of a yachtsman,are here reproduced with the consent of the Editor ofTa cbting Monthly . Mr. Arthur Bartlett Maurice has

9

P R E F A C E

generously allowed me to use some of his photographsfrom an article on Kipling’s London in the Bookman,January 192 1 , and much information in my new chapterKipling’s London Days has been gleaned from thesame source .

0 0

Lying before me as I write is a copy of the FiveNations .” Every page contains annotations in a bold andfree script, as of one accustomed to the en . I t wasgiven to me by a man who served with me in t e Yeomanryway back in 1900. I met him again on the troop-deckof the old Arcbimeder, in which, with a thousand othermen, I was crossing to Havre to the Great Adventure in19 16 . That night the sea and wind rose, and the fogcame down as we slipped stealthily through the haggardnight . I remember the sea mist chilled our bones, andwe huddled together for warmth where long lean ratsscurried over us

,until my friend switched on his electric

lamp , and pulled out this tattered copy of the FiveNations .” He lent it to me that night , and begged meto return it to him when I had read his notes on thepoems . But I have it here beside me, and now it cannever be returned . No, I shall not meet my friendagain— not till the Final Muster. But I have beenlooking through the notes, and like the real, white manhe was, he has marked the passages which would in mostcases be overlooked by the “ Man of the Worldpassages which contain the tenderness, sympathy andpity which underlie some of Kipling’s strange SouthAfrican War poems . In the margin of the “ ChantPagan he has written : In this poem Tommy hasbeen interpreted as he has never been interpreted before .In the meditations of this illiterate Wanderer we find thema king ; of tbe soldier roul .

’

It is my opinion that no other writer has written of

soldiers quite as Kipling has written of them in the10

Or wa lk w ith Kings nor los e the common touch .

P R E F A C E

Five Nations . I do not mean that his soldiers arealways true to life . There is a thought too much of

the man with the fine literary style in some of them,

but others are quite perfect . It is rather in the portrayalof the soldier’s feelings , which are always very difficultto bring to light, that he stands quite alone . A soldiermay speak in the dialect of the gin-palace or the gutter,and yet be capable of giving us the germ idea of theChant-Pagan .

” Indeed, I have met many of Kipling’ s

soldiers . Again, take“ Mary, Pity Woman .

” Do, not

worry about poetic diction, but ask yourself what otherwriter, who has tackled the subj ect of the downfall andbetrayal of a girl, has done it with half the power, witha tenth part of the true tragedy that is to be found inKipling’s verses . In writing of the transgressions ofthis soldier and girl, Kipling makes the reader feel thatthe reader and sinner are one . Of course we do not liketo see the negative of our own personality imposed uponthe negatives of folk whom we should perhaps describeas “ vulgar ” but Kipling forces the comparison uponus . “ That thou art, says the Hindu teacher in theDhama-Pada to his disciple, pointing to a beggar. Thatam I ,

” says Kipling, pointing to the common soldier .To him the Colonel’s lady and udy O’

Grady.

are sistersunder their skins— each with er small vanities, eachwith her noble virtues . In this way Kipling traces thethread of affinity through all forms of virtue and wickedness . He finds in that affinity the fundamental onenessof man .

Rudyard Kipling looks upon the world with eyes ofa child staring at the marvel of a penny rattle . Whatis common to the average man is to him the persistentrepetition of a miracle . He has learnt well the lessontaught in a vision to St . Peter :

“ I t is eaoug b tha t tbroug b Yby Croce

I saw na ugbt common on Yby Eartb.

”

I 3

P R E F A C E

What through endless repetition and elbow-familiarityhas dulled the sense of the matter-of fact man causes asteady enhancement of the sense of wonder 1n Kipling.

Merely to live overwhelms him the great adventure ofintelligence in matter keeps him agape. The familiarthings the English earth,

” “ Summer’s wild widehearted Rose,

” an ancient Roman tile,” Hobden of

the old unaltered blood,” a Sussex church, a brook in

flood, the soul of a child, a cat on the porch, are a llaureoled in mystery. And so he has wrought

,in a

hundred stories and poems, a world of magic out of thestale miracles we call commonplace .

R. THURSTON HOPKINS .

September 192 1 .

‘4

C O N T E N T S

CHAPTER IBIOGRAPHICAL

John Lockwood Kipling and Beast and Man in India Westw ard

Ho and the United Service Colleg e Kipling at LahoreKipling’s Earthquake Kipling and the earavanrera ir on theLahore Fort Road Mother Maturin Indian Fakirs An

apocryphal story concerning R. K . All Out to carve hisway to fame Do-as-you

-

please life in India At the P i t’sMouth A curious and interesting unpublished M.S.

Kipling’s association w i th Tbe I dler “ The Night Mailand the reality of its prophecies.

CHAPTER IIK IPLING AT SCHOOL

The United Servicer’ CollegeMag a zine Kipling’s school poemsThe author’s first Empire verses Kipling and the coll egeLiterary Society His opinions on the useofalcohol Tennyson’sDefence of Lucknow Bret Harte’s Concepcion de

Arguello Kipling’s short-sightedness a handicap in athleticcompetitions Not a favourite w i th other boys A visi t to theold school Hints on Schac lboy Etiquette,” by Kipling.

CHAPTER IIIPERSONALITY

The Vicomte d’Humiéres An American critic on KiplingKipling’s natural love of Biblical language The Bible andRecessional A P a ll Ma ll Gazetteburlesque The Ballad

of the King’s Jest.” 67

C O N T E N T S

CHAPTER IVSOME ANECDOTES

A perverse view of Kipling “When the Rudyards cease fromKipling S. S.Mcc lure Kipling’s idea of the mark ofgeniusMcc lure and Kim J . M. Barrie’s story ofKipling Kiplingand a Suffragist The Sydney Bookfellow and a tiger yarn Im

pressions of Kipling in Paine’s Biog raphy of Mark TwainTwain’s pun First Meeting between Twain and Kipling A

letter from Twain Mark Twain and the Boers Kipling’sBell Buoy praised by Twain The Ascot Cup Rudyard

Kipling andMark Twain in robes ofscarlet at Oxford Practicaljoke by Kipling Kipling and American publisher Zangwill

and the Pa ll Mall Mag a z ine Autograph hunters Thevanishing cheques Brander Matthews in American OutlookThe Liverpool Eebo A disappointed admirer A Rottingdeanlandlord and a Kipling autograph letter Ding ley, the famousWriter An excellent ski t on Rudyard Kipling.

PAOI

CHAPTER V

THE BRUSHWOOD BOY”AND THEY

Easy and contemptuous style “ The Cruise of the Caeba lot ”American Bookman Outline of “ The Brushwood Boy“ They ” Letters on

“ They “ The Disturber of theTraffic Kipling’s representation of mental moods Moon

shine in At the End of the Passag e The Finest Story inthe World.

CHAPTER VIFROM SEA TO SEA

The struggles of genius in quest of bread and cheese The morbidside of Kipling Chicago and its vermilion hall Lettersof Travel,” 1920 Egypt of the Magicians The mergingof Eas t and West at Cairo Cairo damsels and the tigerinstinct Maalesh AWinterNotebook.

”

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https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

C O N T E N T S

and his pet Jerome K . Jerome The Speeta tor on Pussyca t The Crab that played wi th the Sea Wolf-rearedchildren Wolf-boy at Mission House of Agra Old Man

Kangaroo zQuiquern.

PAGE

CHAPTER ! I

POETRYKipling an expander of our languag e The Seven Seas and a

verse from Omar A yearning for wonderful words A

song of the guns The Academy quoted George Moore’sremarks on Kipling Pierre Loti The Puritan stra in in KiplingThe strenuous life as a cure-all Carlyle re~vitalized A BanjoBard The Anchor Song Dana

’s Sa iling Manual ”

A sea chantey “ The Ballad of the Clampherdown Thesong of the exiles The Gipsy Trail The White Man

’s

Burden A reply by Mr. Georg e Lynch DepartmentalDitti es Mary, Pi ty Women A correc tive note on thepoem Veiled arrogance in Recessional Pagett, M.P .

An Unqualified Pilot The Fires The dreamy enduranceof the East Kipling’s power w i th the short lyric Cities

,

Thrones, and Powers Sea Music “ Poseidon’s LawThe Glory of the Garden.

”

CHAPTER ! II

STALKY AND CO .

Stalky and Co.

” The li terature of school life Books whichinfluenced Kipling as a boy Kipling ’s oldmaster, Cormell Price. 22 1

CHAPTER ! IIIKIPLING’

S CULTURED DELIGHT IN ODOUR

K ipling and the sense of smell Kipling ’s passion for dog s Garm—AHostag e .”

1 8

C O N T E N T S

CHAPTER ! IV

KIPLING’

S LONDON DAYSPAGE

Vill iers Street The Old Water Gate Happy and tranquil daysof 1891 Aubrey Beardsley and his theories on drawing Wildeand LordArthur Savile’s Crime Stories wri tten by Kiplingat Villiers Street Ink and the Gipsy-caravan Henri Murger

The Light that Failed Brugg lesmith Holywell StreetMr. Arthur Bartlett Maurice on Kipling’s London St.

Clement ’s Danes Dr. Johnson t Embankment Chambersand The Light that Failed Bessie Broke The Record ofBadalia Herodsfoot Soho and its odours Charlie Mears andThe Finest Story in the World Richard Le Gallienneand

the Strand Private Ortheris St. Paul’s A Matter of

Fact Gough Square and Johnson.

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

RUDYARD K IP L ING Fronuspig cg

From a pa inting by Cyrus Cuneo

From the standpoint of a Yachtsman

From a drawing by A . Briscoe

Or walk with King s— nor lose the common

touchFrom a drawing by A . Briscoe

BR ITANNIA A LA BEARDSLEYFrom a drawing by E . T. Reed

From the standpoint of a Yach tsman

From a drawing by A. Briscoe

RUDYARD K I P L ING Assrsrmc AT A BAZAAR FLOW ER STALL

T1115 GUNNISON STREET or THE“RECORD or BABAL IA

HERODSFOOT

E RRATUMAcknow ledgment for Frontispiece s hou ld rea d

From a photog raph by E . O . HOppé .

INTRODUCTION

TOWARDS the end of the eighties, Maemillan’s Mag az ine

printed a series of short stories, which were signed by anew and somewhat uncommon name, now familiarwherever the English tongue is spoken . The first of

these was a story with a Rabelaisian tang, entitledThe Incarnation Of Krishna Mulvaney .

” We have allread the side-splitting pranks of Mulvaney, who stole apalanquin into which he was afterwards bundled whilehe w as in his cups, and carried to Benares with theQueens Of India to take part in a great festival. Thiss tory and the famous ballad Of East and Westappeared in the same number, and it was Obvious tomany people that Yussuf (the signature over whichthe poem appeared) and Rudyard Kipling, the writerOf the adventures ofMulvaney, were one and the same .

The second tale was The Head of the District,” and

then people began to talk . The critics cried the newwriter’s merits or faults from the housetops, the demandsfor back numbers ofMaemillan

’s Mag az ine grew louder

and more insistent at the bookshops, and within a fewmonths all literary London was buying up little papercovered books from the London agents of RudyardKipling’s Indian publishers . These were what came tobe known as the Allahabad Books, or, more correctly,the Indian Railway Library Series, which were printedby A . H . Wheeler 8c Co . , of Allahabad, in 1 888.

For a year or so after this, Rudyard Kipling carried theEnglish public by storm and became the most powerfulfactor 1n English literature . His vitality, welling up in

23

R U D Y A R D K I P L I N G

an unbroken stream throughout a period of thirty yearsor so, has passed over into twenty-five volumes of verseand prose, each of which is stamped with the hall-markof genius .At all events

,Kipling has tod ay a dis tinction all

his own, a chimney corner all to himself, by virtue Ofhis possessing that personal ‘charm of lettered bonbomie,which

,when he burst in upon the public, seemed lost to

literature,as it was at that time practised . Kipling

walked brusquely into the smug presence of respectability

,and deftly pulled a handful of s traw out Of the

dummy ; but of course that did not constitute hisgreatness .I t was a world largely composed of would-be literary

dandies,and superior persons, into which the young

writer entered . Everywhere he found the imitation“ style,

” the pose point of view, the smart, cynical ,sophisticated attitude . Besides these literary fops withsweet fawn-like eyes, there were, to be sure, a few men ofsterling worth

,but they were not voicing any original

ideas . That brill iant failure, Oscar Wilde, echoedFlaubert and Huysmans . Dowson stumbled into thetracks of Baudelaire . W. B . Yeats lived in a fairyland ofhis own, and distilled the pure essence Of Celtic folklore.The really great men could have been counted up veryquickly : such names as Meredith, Morris, Stevenson,Swinburne, Tennyson , Hardy, spring instantly to mind .

But the whole trouble with art and literature at thistime was that they were anaemic . They were deficientin red-blood corpuscles . This was true Of literature ; itwas true of music, painting, sculpture, the drama— all

the arts . The whole trend of the period w as artificial .But few will deny that the period has added some im

portant milestones to the great road of English art andetters . I t

(pro

duced

“ The Sphinx,” “ Salome,

” and“ The Balla of Reading Gaol,” with the wonderfullines :


was quite a welcome change . There were moments inthe reign of the E sthetes, when it seemed as though theOld genial English humour was a thing of the past . Butall the time the editor and staff Of P uncb s truggledbravely against the swift tide of the New Voluptuousness .I t is to the credit of this journal, that its general toneremained unaltered during the period when researchamong the refuse Of the French Decadents was such apopular vogue . P uncb roved that in things dull andnasty there is often muc laughter, or, at least , a smile .The comic aspect of the Yellow Book craze is revealed inthe drawing

,Britannia a la Beardsley

,

” which appearedin P uncb’s Almana ck for 1 895. But the zenith of thedeadly and morbid in literature was reached when OscarWilde published his famous story,

“ The Picture ofDorian Gray.

“ This book left the reader with suchan uncomfortable impression, that he was compelled toask whether the book stood within the pale of reasonablesubj ect-matter in literature . There was a vein of

freakishness running through the story, which renderedit displeasing to the healthy mind . There was a dwell ingon every form Of luxury, indulgence, and abnormal sin ,which seemed extremely nauseous . The author insistedso much on the morbid and the bizarre in this child ofhis brain, that he totally neglected the finer spirit .The picture of Dorian Gray first appeared onJune 20, 1 890, in Lippincott

’s Montbly Mag azine, and

its publication created a great sensation . A few monthsafterwards Lippincott ’s offered a very different fare toits readers . In January 1 89 1 , they ublished the famousLight that Failed number of t eir magazine . ThusKipling, sword in hand, entered the tired and degenerateliterary world resolved on forcibly crushing his pallid andanaemic brothers with their petty toys and grimacingsymbols, out of which all true life had faded . Kiplinwas violent, English of the English, and ful l of the old

Published by Messrs. Simpkin, Marshall 8: Co ., Ltd.

26

BR ITANNIA A LA BEARDSLEY

From Drawing by E . T. R E ED

I N T R O D U C T I O N

unruly fires of our Saxon ancestors ; he was the swornenemy of the sentimental . SO little in evidence is thesentimental in “ The Light that Failed that some Ofthe critics pronounced the story as brutal .” Certainlyit would be difficult to find

, such a unique collection of

disagreeable people in one book . The woman who looksafter Dick and Maisie in the opening chapters is a shrew,

Maisie is a dull and selfish girl, and Dick Heldar Oftenallows his vehemence to degenerate into violence . EvenMaisie remarked with a shudder, that Heldar

’s work

seemed to“ smell of tobacco and blood .

” But thepoint we are concerned with here is Kipling’s entryinto the litera ry world, so we must revert to the chargeof brutality presently.

Above all, Kipling wrote with an almost physicalexuberance of strength about the big things of life . Hisgraphic power enabled us to realise the life led by rea l

men,from a book . His pages were filled with the

language used by soldiers, New England fishermen, menof the navy, gentlemen rovers, Canadian troopers,Australians

,and all the members of that vast “ legion

that never was “listed .

” The picturesque oaths of

Tommy Atkins starred his early poetry, and they lookedvery alluring in the cold and matter-Oi-fact printed page .Such matter caught the eye of the men of the workshopand factory, and it was not unpleasing to the ears of

these men to be told that they were the Chosen peopleof the Lord . It was a new thing to hear a poet hymninga cab-driver, or an illiterate pioneer . Thus Kiplingmarks, in a measure, the beginning of a new era , sincehis success in introducing the private soldier, withhis simple philosophy and complex personality, didmuch to broaden the popular taste, and made peoplebolder, and more independent in their literary likesand dislikes . The age needed such a man . SO sweepingwas Kipling’s triumph, that even among those peoplewho professed nothing but contempt for everything

29


but the most abstruse in verse, it was permitted to

fea rlessly extol the ringing doggerel Of the Bard OfEmpire .Kipling possesses the Rabelaisian spirit, and this has

also helped to give him his vogue . In every age whenart has a strong accent, when it displays vigour, inventiveower

, originality, you can‘

trace part of it back to theRabelaisian s irit .The worl has always been ready to welcome the

strong man . I t will even welcome a poor poet of thebarrack-room or lower-deck, if he has a lusty air, or to

use a gruff Saxon phrase,if he has guts .” The only

real aristocracy is the aristocracy of character . Kipling

possessed a lusty air, a cocksureness, and certain traces ofrutality

— the echo of the Berserker rage, in factwhich with his genius quickly gathered about him aworld-wide public .And here one must refer to a dominant figure in the

world of literature who encouraged and inspired Kipling.

This was William Ernest Henley, editor Of the ScotsObserver, which afterwards became the Na tiona l Observer,and migrated to London . Henley has deserved well ofhis country— firstly by his poems, and secondly becausehe was broad-minded enough to be able to appreciatework so widely separate as that Offered by Meredith

,

Hardy, and Kipling . To glance down a list Of thosewhom he welcomed to the pages ofhis paper, is almost toreckon up a group of the most famous writers Of histime . Stevenson printed his fine and fiery outburst indefence of Father Damien in these columns . WhenHarper

’s obj ected to a certain part Of “ Tess of the

D’

Urbervilles,” it appeared in the Na tiona l Observer.

This was the scene in which Tess and Alec ride togetherat night .When Kipling, failing to find an appreciative editor

for his soldier poems, sent Henley“ Danny Deever

,

”

some verses descriptive Of the degradation and hanging

30


of a British Tommy, he received word back that theeditor would take as much of that sort of stuff as hecould get . I think I am not far out in saying that few

papers at that time would have looked twice at theBarrack Room Ballads .” However, they all a pearedin Henley’s paper, also

“ The Flag of Eng lan thatfine piece Of invective, Cleared,

”on the finding of the

Parnell Commission ; also a singular poem,The

Blind Bug,” which Kipling later touched up and

used as memorial verses in the honour of Mr . WolcottBalestier.

Henley distributed eulogy or abuse liberally, and fromthe first he laughed at and attacked in turn the strainedand fantastic work of Wilde and the fE sthetes. Hewrote a scathing editorial review on

“ The Ballad ofReading Gaol,” in the Outlook, on March 5, 1 898, whichI think w as his last attack on Wilde. This attack wasperhaps rather petty ; it seemed too much like hittinga man when he was down . Writing to Leonard Smithers

,

regarding this review, Wilde said :“ I don’ t think I

should answer Henley. I think it would be quite vulgar.What does i t matter ! He made his scrofula intovers libres, and is furious because I have made a sonnetout of skilly.

’ He is simply j ealous .” This sorrowfuleffort at humour strikes a note distinctly different fromthe delightful and witty humour of The Importanceof Being Earnest .”

Towards the end of his career Wilde saw that thea sthetic movement was as cold and dead as those blackgranite Sphinxes at the Louvre, which had cast spellsover him in his youth . He knew that the public wouldnot tolerate another Dorian Gray,” and we may wellassume that in his last poem he was greatly influencedby the style of Kipling. The Ballad of Reading Gaolis an entirely difierent piece of work from any he had

produced previously. The whole Spirit of this ballad lies

in 1ts crude realism, and Kiplingesque robustnes s .

c 31


The bookworm ,on reading Kipling’s letters to the

P ioneer on Japan (afterwards published in From Sea toSea will note the influence ofLafcadio Hearn . Yet inspite of small borrowings here and there, how inviolateKipling keeps his own characteristics and power !Another influence on his prose, and one for which wehave his own word, is that of his literary brother, Loti .It must have been rather the stimulus of contrast thanthat of s imilarity that he found here .

Kipling’ s literary j udgments are a s capricious andbiased as his political views . A mental gipsy, he hastarried in many and various camping grounds . But hehas never tarried over long, and when the fancy hasprompted him he has moved on never to return again .

Browning, Swinburne, Hearn, Rossetti, Lindsay Gordon,and many older writers abode with him for a season .

Then there is the greatest influence Of all— the Bible ;but plagiarism in that quarter is a virtue .On the whole i t must be admitted that Kipling has

moved more people throughout the Empire than anyother living poet . I think he is more himself in versethan in prose ; his touch seems surer, and his style is atits best and his greater individuality and dignity. Whenyou have cast aside from his verse all j ingoism and thinthoughts— and it is difficult to do this, for all his ideasare clothed in gorgeous language— a vivid sense of powerand rare imaginative qualities remain . We expect peopleto disagree over his extreme Tory views, but leaving allpolitical opinion out Of the question, most people will beready to admit that Rudyard Kipling can write poetrywhen he likes . Of course arguments as to whethercertain lines are true poetry or not, generally end in aliterary brawl . Wordsworth could find no higher praisefor a Keats poem than to call it “ a pretty piece Of

barbarism .

” And all poets from Homer to Horace, fromCatullus to Omar, from Shakespeare to Byron, fromBurns to Poe, have been equally complimentary about32


0 it’s verses tbis, a nd verses tba t, a nd writing

’

em is wrongBut it

’

s specia l typeand vellum wbenyou bit on sometbing strong ,

You bit on sometbing strong , my boys, you bit on sometbing strong ,

0 it’s s igned largepaper copies,

’wbenyou bit on sometbing strong .

Wea in’t no ’eavenly Miltons, nor wea in

’

t no idiots too,

Butplodding men witbfam’

lies, and a pileto make, likeyou

And a ll tbetimeyou seeus down-a t-beel and looking wea k,

We’rea -casting of our bread upon zbewa ters, so to speak

For it’s verses tbis, a nd verses tba t, a nd tbing s runpretty roug b,

But tbere’s Albert Ga te in verses ifyou only write tbestuff,

Ijyou only write tbestaj'

,my boys, ifyou only writetbestufi

'

,

0 it’s ya cbts a nd rows of bouses ifyou only writezbestufl.

”

Yes,certainly Kipling had hit on something strong

,

and his rise to the heights of popularity was as suddenas that of Byron . The boom ” which followed canonly be compared in its area, length of duration, andsignificance to that of a famous forerunner

,Charles

Dickens .I t cannot be denied that Kipling wrought a change

in the literary spirit of the age . In one of his laternovels

,The Whirlpool,

” the late George Gissing saidof the new school

It’s the voice of the reaction . Mill ions ofmen, natural men, revolting

against the softness and sweetness of civil ization—men all over the world,

hardly know ing what they w ant, and what they don’ t want .

But Gissing was wrong when he remarked that theydid not know what they wanted— they knew, but it wassomething with which this writer had little sympathy .

The revolt against the aesthetic movement was not arevolt against “ the softness and sweetness of civilization .

”It was a blow at the sickly fancies of those artists

and writers who drank absinthe in the Cheshire Cheese,

and strove to shock a sturdy public with the Yellow Bookand Yke Savoy . They revolted less against the mild

34


and gentle life than against the unwholesome andeffeminate life . The sound ideas underlying the revoltare set out by Rudyard Kipling in “ The Light thatFailed,

” and wrought into the fabric ofhis great romanceKim — which is a story, realistic in form and yetromantic in Spirit . There are brief and exquisite prosesketches in Kim which remind the reader, strangelyenough

,of Oscar Wilde . A healthier Wilde, with a

broader vision and an outlook more clearly English, mighthave written a great Indian romance like Kim .

” Butreserve is necessary to great artistic expression, and thisWilde lacked . I t is reserve that wins, not bombast ;for soul is greater than sound . That is why thespiritual quietude of Kim will outlive the brazeng o and lively colour of the greater part of

Kipling’ s work. Many of his tales are too snappish, tooknowing, and too violent to afford any lasting pleasure to the human soul . The victories of violence aretransient .Kipling is certainly one of the least monotonous of

wri ters . He is ever experimenting in new s tyles andsubj ects and, in addition to winning a high place inthe literature of the half- exotic Indian romance, he hasobtained an incontestable pre-eminence as a short storyteller and expert in modern life on land and sea . As Ihave noted before, a similar subtlety of method and acertain delicacy of touch, not wholly unlike the poeticstyle of Lafcadio Hearn, mark his best work . In otherrespects he recall s Pierre Loti to our minds .Both Kipling and Lafcadio Hearn are keen observers,

distinguished from the minor novelists of the samegroup by the abundance and vividness of picturesquedetail w ith which they describe strange people and lands .But how different are the characters in Hearn ’s tal eswhen compared to those of Kipling ! The two writersexhibit equal imaginative power in revealing the glamourof the East in its Opposite aspects . Kipling employs

35


realis tic means in poetic effects when describing thepageantry of Oriental life . But Hearn uses rhythmicphrases and ornate diction even in dramatic situations ,and he discovers many of the spiritual forces of Easternlife which Kipling has missed . For Hearn, art was thesoul of all things in fact heiwas suffering from a certainmental hysteria which craved perfection in art . Weare told that he devoted all his days and years to thepursuit of the beautiful, and he quoted Kipling to

accentuate this point

Oneminute’s work to tbeedenied

Stands a ll Eternity’s oflence

According to Hearn nothing was less important thanworldly success, to work for pelf was nefarious, andFame was a will-o’-the-wisp that led one on to ruin andcorruption . He accepted as a fact that when a manowns more money than he can use, it owns him .

Kipling and Hearn, however, did not exhaust thefairyland of Oriental mysticism, and the field has beenagain opened up by two other writers with more intimateand varied knowledge of India . The first is F . W. Bain,professor of political economy at Poona , who has introduced us to the Sancho Panza of the Hindoo drama inA Digit of the Moon

,

” and the other is RabindranathTagore, the famous Indian poet . There must be intruth some influence of enchantment in the atmosphereof India . How else can one explain how Mr . Bain hasbeen carried away from the cheerless land of cold scienceto the abode of the fairy. SO I say to Mr . Bain, in thephrase of one of the kings of literature, What are youdoing in that galley ! ” Your place is not with thosegloomy people who fret and fume over the laws of merepelf. It w as not from them you drew the inspirationthat enabled you to write the Indian version of As YouLike It — that charming and dramatic romance A

36


Heifer of the Dawn . Yes, I repeat with Moliere,What are you doing in that galleyReaders of Tagore will recogni se in his poems the

influence of Kabir, the poet and mystic of the fifteenthcentury, who i s mentioned in some beautiful versesThe Song of Kabir — in The Second Jungle Book .

”

But Tagore is not an imitator, for he has made a newtrackway in the fields of Indian literature ; however, asKabir was the disciple of Ramananda, so is Tagore thedisciple of Kabir. Both see the world through God,both see God through the world , both believe tha ttheir God 13 the hot Indian air in their nostrils, and thegood earth underfoot . Every idea that Tagore hasexpressed, , is an ardent plea to his people to return to“ the mystical religion of love ” which makes its appearance in all races ofmankind at certain periods of Spiritualdiscipline . I t Should be pointed out that this religionof love is far removed from that doctrine of love whichwe of the twentieth century claim for ourselves . I t issuch a s trong and deep identification of the man withGod, and vivid apprehension of God in a ll the works ofnature

,that it would offend the moral sense ofWestern

people . Like much of the work of Richard Jefferies itwould be looked upon as very pagan . To few

people and but seldom IS i t given to feel so utterlyalone with God and nature as it has been given to

Rabindranath Tagore . In a wonderful poem— a translation of Kabir—Tagore tells of the pantheism of thehills and the sea . I t might almost pass for a song of

human love

7 besbadows ofevening fall tbiek and deep, and theda rkness of loveenvelopstbebody a nd tbemind .

Open tbewindow to tbewest, and belost in tbesky of loveDrink tbesweet boney tba t steeps tbepetals of tbelotus of tbebea rt.Receivetbewaves in your body wba t splendour is in tbereg ion qftbeseaHa rk tbesounds of concbes and bells a rerising .

Kabir says O brotber, bebold tbeLord is in tbis vessel of my body

37


Not one of the least Obligations the world of Englishletters owes to India is Tag ore

’s versions of the Songs

of Kabir with all their fire and Sonorous music . I donot hesitate to affirm that Tagore has reached a certainimpassioned Splendour of lyrical genius to which RudyardKipling can never hope to reach . In Kim,

” yandcertain of his poems, Kipling sees all India somewhatsuperficially, 1n black and white . His vision is physicallywonderful, Spiritually hasty and arrogant . He blows uponone instrument . But when we come to the poems andplays of Tagore, we find a poet who conducts a wonderfulorchestra and deals with the adventures of the soulsometimes the artless adventure in which the soul is achild playing with the sand, and sometimes in the lastand greatest nest in which the soul searches after theSpiri t of Trut .

The subj ect of the stories bebind Kipling’S stories wasthe theme of an article (February 20

, 1920) in theBookman

’sjourna l by the Editor, Mr . W. G. Partington,

one time Assistant Editor of the Bombay Gazette.

The writer points out that Richard Le Gallienne, inhis book “ Rudyard Kipling ” leaves the inner storiesuntouched, and

“ with the omission some of the mostinteresting phases of the subj ect— many of them atpresent matters only of personal controversy and research— are apt to be overlooked . That these ‘ stories behindthe stories ’ will be the well-spring of a future literatureis undoubted .

”

He goes on to say that m most attempts to deal withKipling’S work there 18 a very noticeable lack of understanding either oi the ‘ atmosphere ” or of his material .He adds

Mr. Kipling’s fame rests on the bed-rock of hisEastern work, which will stand out with greaterprominence still in the new history of India on whichthe veil is slowly being raised . It is to the East, then,

38


that the biographer must g o to secure the true perspective and incidentally much additional information.

The Kipling influence was tremendous, and thereis an interesting field for'

study in this connection alone .Examples of thi s influence and of evidencesubstantiating his writings come to light every now andthen, to be eagerly seized by devotees and critics, andthere are perhaps more of such examples to be foundthan may be imagined . Mr. Kipling has received morethan a generous share of attention from critics andworshippers, but the field- and probably the best partof it— has still to be covered .

39

CHAPTER I

BIOGRAPH ICAL

BEFORE entering upon this Slight study, I think itnecessary to recall certain biographical stages that areindispensable to a clear survey of Kipling’ s literarydevelopment . Born at Bombay on December 30, 1 865,of English parents, he spent thefirs t few years of his lifein that city, and this earliest environment must havestamped itself on the supersensitive child for life . Themultitudinous, many-coloured East, filled his soul with awonder that is still stirring mightily within the man of

liftIlhconnexion with his Strongly Oriental leanings , it is

interesting to note that his father, John LockwoodKipling, w as a great authority on the mythologicalsculpture of the temples of the Central provinces of

India, and the author of a powerful and lucid work onIndian animal life, Beast and Man in India (Macmillan and Co . , Attention must also be calledto a book of

“ Verses by a Mother and Daughter(Elkin Mathews, which was written by Kipling’ smother and S ister.John Lockwood Kipling, one of the pioneers of art

education under Government auspices in India , died in19 1 1 , aged seventy- four . He was the eldest son of theReverend Joseph Kipling of the Wesleyan ministry ; andin 1 865 he married Alice, daughter of the distinguishedWesleyan preacher— the late Rev . George B . Macdonald .

He was appointed architectural sculptor at the Bombay

43


School of Art in the year of his marriage, and also actedas the Bombay correspondent of the P ioneer ofAllahabad .

Upon the creation of the Mayo School of Art at Lahorein 1 875, he was appointed Principal and Curator of theCentral Museum

,and filled both posts with Singular

success . He was created a C .I .E . in 1 886, and retiredfrom the service in 1 893.

According to the testimony of Mr. Holker, a Lancashirecotton weaver, who had mills a t Dharwal, near Lahore,Kipling’s father was a very great Oriental scholar . Whenhe visited the Kiplings at Lahore, he was much impressedby the wonderful collection of curios and artistic wonderswith which every room S imply teemed . He wroteThe Kipling family were delightful people, all cleverand arti stic in their tastes, and the kindest and mostgracious family I have ever known ’

Three different nationalities have gone to make upRudyard Kipling’ s complicated nature . On the mother’ sside, Scotland and Ireland ; on the father’s , England ;though four hundred years back the Kiplings came fromHolland . As a child he learnt to speak Hindustani

,and

his immersion in the myths and creeds of a strangepeople accounted for his unquenchable love of theghostly style,

” combined with an almost equal love ofthe horrible in literature .In 187 1 Kipling, with a younger sister, was in England

under the care of an elderly relative in Southsea . Duringhis stay at Southsea he is generally believed to havetasted of much bitterness

,and it seems likely that he

was not unmindful of his own case when he wrote theopening chapters of The Light that Failed ,

” in whichtwo Anglo-Indian children are more or less oppressed 1n

spirit by the repressive creed of a Puritanical womanwho 18 looking after them .

A few years later,after a visit to Paris with his father,

he was entered at the United Service College at WestwardHo, North Devon In Stalky and CO .

” he has

44

B I O G R A P H I C A L

presented a lively and minute sketch of the vigorous lifehe Spent at the College ( 1878To T.P .

’s Weekly we owe the following story of his

schooldays

Lovers of Stalky and Co .

”w ill remember the description of the school

at Westw ard Ho, w i th its background of rabb i t woods and gloriousvista ofseascape . I t was the wri te

'

r’s fortune recently to spend a delig htful

fortnight at Bideford, some three miles distant from the school, and inmany a walk to travel over the scenes immortalized in that book. A

favouring planet brought meinto conversation w i th an old rural postman,

now pensioned off. Questioned as to the Westward Ho school, he was atonce agog w i th memories. Yes, many a time had he met the boys comingalong the cliff-w alk from Appledore on their w ay to the renowned tuckshop on Bidevoor promenade,” and he had enjoyed, and suffered from,

many of their pranks, wi th a description ofwhich he favoured his listener.When a sui table occasion offered, I questioned him more defini tely aboutKipling , and at once he gave mean account of an incident so entirely inkeeping w i th one ’s idea of the au thor that i t was impossible to doub t i tfor a minute . I t appears tha t Beckwi th, the aqua ti c expert, came toWestward Ho to give an exhib i tion from the pi er, which was crowded wi ththe usual summer Sightseers and a fair sprinkling of boys from the school .After some evolutions in the water the swimmer commenced a series ofdiving performances, and i t was after a sensa tional dive from the top of

the pi er tha t the spec tators w ere amazed to seea chubby, stocky boyrun to the edge of the pier and repea t the d ive wi th all the mannerisms ofthe expert. Inquiry elici ted the fact tha t the boy was named Kipling,and i t is by this incident more than any other that the Bideford peopleremember the now famous author. I t may interest many people to knowthat the school buildings still stand as before, although they arenow usedas a hotel and boarding-house. One hopes, how ever, that all traces of

the dead cat placed under the floor ofthesuperciliously refined dormi toryhave been expunged .

An interesting observation that Rudyard Kiplingderived his first name from Rudyard Lake, not far fromStoke, in Staffordshire, has been spread broadcast inEnglish and American papers . And in a Sketch of

Kipling’s life, written by Professor Charles Eliot Nortonand published in the Windsor Mag az ine for December1899 , it is stated that Kipling

’s parents named theirfirstborn child after the pretty lake on the borders of

45


which their acquaintance had begun .

” This biographicalsketch was wri tten for a

0popular American edition of

Kipling’ s works, and it is rather curious that this statement should be allowed by Kipling in this case to stand,and yet be categorically denied by him a few years later .Kipling’s disclaimer came as a surprise

,the original

story being so circumstantial . But in a letter to aprovincial journal he stated that it was all a beautifuldream and not a “ pretty whim ”

of his aunt, Lady

Burne-Jones, who, when her sister, Mrs . LockwoodKipling, wrote from India announcing the birth of ason, asked that he might be called Rudyard . Thisrepudiation of the story by the famous author was aheavy blow to a society which proposed to develop thelake as a holiday resort for Kipling pilgrims . Once againone is constrained to ask, How do these pretty legendsgain such prominence in the papers 1At the age of seventeen Kipling returned to India

,

and through the influence of his father took up a poston the staff of the Lahore Civil and Military Gazette.

The staff of this journal soon found they had an enthusiastin their midst— a youth bubbling over with enthusiasm

,

gaiety,and the eternal boyishness of genius . Those who

have written about Kipling’s early days in India seem tome to give insufficient prominence to his gaiety andenthusiasm . It was his cardinal quality in those days.

Of his child-like mirth and laughter-loving moods Mr.Kay Robinson has written :

Kipling , shaking all over w i th laughter and w iping his spectacles at thesame time wi th his handkerchief, is the picture which always comes tomy mind as most characteristic of him in the old days when even our

hardes t work on The Rag — for fate soon took me to Lahore to behiseditor—was as full ofjokes as a pomeg ranate ofpips. Of all our journalisti cfeats wehad most reason to beproud of our earthquake .This earthquake occurred at about a .rn . one Sunday morning.

In those days the Sa turday paper, dated Monday, according to AngloIndian practice- for at all the stations the na tive new sboys offer youalways TO-morrow

’s paper, Sahi —used to g o to press in the small

46


hours of Sunday morning to catch the Bombay and Calcutta mail trains .

I t was always practically finished bymidnight, and only onepage rema inedopen for telegrams. On this occasion wehad spent the hours from

midnight till half-past two at the club, which was emptied by that timeof revellers

,and returned to the bungalow ,

when we both noticed a

slight tremor as of an earthquake,so in w ent a bri ef paragraph in the

paper, announcing a slight earthquake at Lahore . Not another soulin any part of the Punjab or India felt that earthquake, and theGovernment observatory knew nothing of i t. I t was our own privateand special earthquake, and we treasure its memory. After the lastEnglish earthquake Kipling wrote :

This here English journalism isn’ t what it’s cracked up to be. Theycan’t have an earthquake in England w i thout taking up two columnsof the Times . Now , I remember the tim e when you and I couldjust make an earthquake, same as the Almighty, slip i t into the “ localat 3 a .m . of a Sunday morning, and go to bed w i th the consciousnesswe

’d done our duty by the proprietors.

Of his newspaper experiences in India Kipling hastold us in his Short story, “ The Man Who Would beKing.

” The Office could not have been a bed of rosesin those pitchy black nights, when the red-hot wind fromthe westward was booming among the tinder-dry trees,when, as he tells us

I t was a shade cooler in the press-room than the office, so I sat therewhile the type ticked and clicked, and the night-j ars hooted at thewindows, and the all but naked composi tors w iped the sweat from theirforeheads and called for water.

When he was in his twenty-second year he becameassistant editor of the P ioneer at Allahabad, and remainedin this post from 1 887 to 1 889 . Thus it will be noticedthat many of his best short stories were written when hewas in his teens, and certain characters in them havesince become world famous, notably Mulvaney, Ortheris,and Learoyd .

The King’s Dragoon Guards and many other famousregiments then quartered at Rawal Pindi must havepassed the headquarters of the Civil andMilitary Gazetteon their way to the Delhi manoeuvres in 1 885, and no

D 47


doubt young Kipling, with his perpetual interest in thespectacle of l ife, seized upon many ideas for stories andpoems from these surroundings . His clear vision, andthe energy massed in a torrent sweeping all before it, ismanifested in Plain Tales from the Hills,” publishedin Calcutta, 1 888. Of these forty short Stories, twentyeight made their first appearance in the Civil andMilitaryGazette. AS early as 1 886 his name was well known inIndia .A very curious and interesting unpublished MS .

,

written by Kipling thirty-seven years ag o, throws somelight on the difficulty the author met with in getting hiswork before the public . The following is a descriptionof this important early MS. , earlier in date than any of

his published stories, and it is noteworthy that Kipling,the extremely crafty and careful man of letters

,Should

have once had to invoke the aid of a second person to

improve his story and get it published .

At the P i t’s Mouth : Personal Recollections of translated fromhis Diary by R. K ., 7 pp. small 4to and 5 pp. 8vo . , 1 2 pp. in all

, 1 884 ;wri tten for the most part in two parallel columns

, that on the right handcontaining the Story, headed “ P ersonal Narrative,” tha t on the left,under the heading of “ Digressions,” being instructions and suggestionsto the party to whom the MS. w as sent for its improvement and enlargement b efore publication in these notes Mr. Kipling expla ins thecharacter of the two people in the story oneparagraph is headed Noteby the Edi tor,” and the Editor is supposed to translate the “ Journal.”One of the Digressions consists of a Note by Agnes Festin

,

the lady in the story, on the man in the story this is purposely wri ttenin a disguised female hand anotherNote reads, Work this up to anyextent, in the S tyle of Mrs . Oliphant’s Beleaguered City ”

; anotherreads, Embroider this as much as you w ill, also the scene la ter on,

where they dance at the Benmore Ball and fl irt in the balconies, R.K

the end note is headed Summary by the Translator.

Part of theMS. and a few blots on the first page are wri tten in red

ink, which we are informed was intended to represent blood, but whichthe writer speaks of as some fluid,” possibly w ine .”The following is the history of this curious MS.

—Mr. Kipling was at

the time eng aged on an Indian paper, and after writing the Story gavei t to a lady author, to embroider and get published .

With the MS. are 3 letters signed by Mr. Kipling (body of letters48


There was onepeculiari ty ofKipling’s workwhich I reallymust mention,namely, the amount ofink he used to throw about. In the heat of summer,white cotton trousers and a thin vest consti tu ted his office attire, and bythe day’s end he was Spotted all over like a Dalmatian dog . He had a

habi t of dipping his pen frequently and deep into the inkpot, and as all

his movements w ere abrupt, almost j erky, the ink used to fly. When hedarted into my room,

as he used to ~do about one thing or another in con

nexion wi th the contents of the paper a dozen times in the morning, Ihad to shout to him to stand off otherwise, as I knew by experience,the abrupt halt he would make and the flourish w i th which he placed theproof in his hand before me, would send the penful of ink— healways hadafull pen in his hand—flying over me. Driving, or sometimes walking,home to breakfast in the light a ttire plentifully besprinkled w i th ink, hisSpectacled face peeping out under an enormous mushroom-shaped pithhat, Kipling was a quaint-looking Obj ect .

It may be said that Kipling was a born nomad in searchof wisdom, and it must be added that he occasionallystumbled upon that quality in outlandish nooks andcorners . By the road, carpeted with the fine white dustof thousands of camels and horses, which leads from theFort at Lahore across the River Ravi, there are numerouscaravansera is, and the foul smells which rise from themare some of the most loathsome in the East— somethingbetween the reek of the Mohammedan Quarter in Jerusalem and the smell of a Chinese village . But Kipling’ sinsatiable craving for knowledge at the age of twentyled him through dubious byw ays, and he would oftenbe found in these pestiferous khans with travellers fromBokhara and Badakshan, drinking in their weird tales,and taking notes for that remarkable tale of native life,Mother Maturin,

” which he w as then planning . Hehad related to some ofhis friends in a convincing mannerthe germ-idea of this book, but it was never completed .

In 1 886 Kipling had 350 foolscap pages of its manuscript ina bruised tin box,

” but what became of it is a mystery .

Under a peepul tree overhanging a well by the Fortroad 3 uatted daily a ring of almost naked fakirs,hideous

c

ly smeared with paint . Here the Europeancould for a few small coins witness some of the tricks

SO


of Indian j ugglers— tricks that were little short of

marvellous . One of their favourite Stunts wasswallowing rough iron balls about an inch in diameter .The fakir swallowed one, and its downward progresscould be noted by the round lump which rippled along theoutside of his throat . Then he would swallow a secondiron “ pill

,

” but the ball would Stick half-way down .

However, the third followed, and the fakir, after dancingin a frenzied manner, would take a bound into the air,landing Sharply on his feet and making the three ballsclick as they came into contact with each other . Thepainful ordeal of forcing the balls up his throat again istoo disgusting to describe, and w as a most distressingsight . Should any European get too inquisitive over themethod of the faki rs in their magic he would be metwith silence and cold suspicion, for they never explainedtheir tricks . However, when Kipling arrived there was,if he desired it, a place in the fakirs

’ enclosure, and anyinformation he asked for was willingly given . Kiplinghad wonderful insight into the Singular manners andcustoms ofEastern life, and all the sorcery of the religiousmendicants was an open book to him . I am at this pointreminded of the Story of how Kipling performed thefamous Indian needle trick. Of course, he has no w ay of

protecting himself from being forcibly made sponsor foranecdotes and the reader is cautioned against acceptingthis one which passed the rounds of the Indian Press .However

,I give it for what it is worth .

A young lady admirer, it seems, was discussing themarvels of Indian j ugglers with R. K . at a bazaar in aidof charity at Lahore .

“ But, she cried,“ it is all

trickery,and anyone with a sharp eye could discover their

tricks with ease .” Thereupon Kipling asked for a packetof needles , and taking up half a dozen, swallowed them(or appeared to do SO) , and then followed them with alength of silk thread , the end ofwhich remained betweenhis lips . He pulled the thread, and out it came threaded

S I


through the eyes of the needles . The young lady lookedfrom R. K . to the needles dangling on the thread inamazement .He smiled pleasantly and drawled out : Now don’t

you give the secret of that trick away . The fakirs taughtme that, and they don

’ t likes their magic explained to theinfidels.

”

In 1 888 we gather that Kipling was going all outto write something that should make his name talkedof in London . Let us see what he says of himself atthis date in his introduction to the first edition of InBlack and White .” This is a side-light on Kipling whichhas apparently been overlooked by the majority ofreaders . AS it will be remembered, the introduction issupposed to be from the pen of Kadir Baksh, Kipling

’snative factotum . We learn from him that it was thecustom of the Sabib to write far into the night . S oR. K . was burning the midnight oil at the age of twentytwo ! But it is doubtful if all his fame and wealth haveever purchased anything better than the peculiar magicof those early days in India when he was living thedelightfully do-as-you-please life of the literary cub .

This, too, w as the great creative period of his life, and,so far as literary finish is concerned, Plain Tales fromthe Hills leaves little to be acquired . Rudyard Kiplingat twenty-two had Shown all the tricks in the Wizard ’scabinet, and in

“ Plain Tales ” the work is almost ascrafty and varied as anything that afterwards came fromtheir author’ s pen . So here was Kipling, urged forwardby his intense energy

,and exulting in the consciousness

of turning out good work, living a delightfully Bohemianexistence . The perfect intoxication of the joy of workfor work’ s sake — Kipling’ s chosen text— afterwards ledhim to enlarge upon this vital and moving theme in thebest volume he has written The Day’s Work.” Yes,these were halcyon days— days of happiness, if not of

prosperi ty . Kadir Baksh speaks of his Sahib’s carelessness

52


over the housekeeping and money matters . Young Odincared for none of these things There was no bill thatcould not be honoured with the golden mintage of youth II am head of the Sabib’s household and hold his purse, he says . Wi thout

mehe does not know where arehis rupees or his clean collars. 50 grea tis my power over the Sabib and the love that he bears to me ! Have Iever told the Sabib about the customs of servants or bla ck men 1 Am Ia fool I have said very good talk upon all occasions. I have cut alwayssmooth wristbands wi th scissors, and timely warned him of the passingaw ay of his tobacco that he m ight not be left smokeless upon a Sunday.

More than this I have not done. The Sabib cannot go out to dinnerlacking my aid. How then should he know aught that I did not tell him i

Certainly Nabi Baksh is a liar.

None the less th is is a book, and the Sabib wri te i t, for his name is ini t and i t is not his washing-book.

In 1 889 Kipling was sent to England by the P ioneer,to which he promised to contribute his impressions oftravel . He touched Japan, San Francisco, and NewYork on his way to the mother-country, and his experience may be read in Letters of Marque and FromSea to Sea .” In the autumn of this year wefind himestablished in London, where he published BarrackRoom Ballads a year or so later, of which Tbe Timesremarked : Unmistakable genius rings in every line .”

Robert Barr,writing in the I dler for May, 1909, gives

a Sidelight on Rudyard Kipling, the young journalist,fighting for position in the London crowd .

Kipling then lived in three rooms on the second floor,at the corner of Villiers Street and the Thames Embankment and here it was to him that Robert Barr divulgedhis plans for a new magazine . The young author tookto the idea at once, and with that prompt energy whichcharacterised him

,he produced pens and paper and

started to Sketch out a cover for the magazine . Weknow that Kipling can produce very creditable black andwhi te Sketches when he likes . Readers of Just SoStories do not need to be told that he is an artis t ofquite an uncommon order . Although his father was an

53


art master by profession, he is said to be quite withoutany training in this work . He liked doing things hisown way,

” writes onewho knew him at school, and ifhe wanted to make a hill square, and cover it withvermilion grass, he would do it .

” A sketch of A Tiger’sHead

,

” by Kipling, published in the Strand Mag az ine,shows that he could at times observe convention andnature a t the same time .Kipling’s sketch for Robert Barr’s magazine repre

sented a statue,the real face of which wore a tragic

expression, while the mask which the statue held upgrinned humorously at the public . Kipling at that timehad been burning the midnight oil and generally overworking himself. On his table he had graved the wordsOft was I weary when I toiled at thee -the mottowhich the galley-slave carried on his oar. He toldMr . Barr that as he worked late

,a phantom of himself

had formed the disquieting habit of sitting down Oppositehim at the desk of weariness,

” and this he regarded asa Sign to knock off.

” Kipling refused the editorship of

the I dler, but he contributed the following articles andstories to their journal My First Book,

” My Sundayat Home,

” “ Primum Tempus,

” “ The Legs of SisterUrsula,

” “ The Ship that Found Herself,” and The

Story ofUng .

”

Robert Barr had a Kipling sea-story in view when heStarted the series of Tales of our Coast .” They wereto start off with Clark Russell and end up with Kipling.

Harold Frederic contributed a mos t s triking Irish seasketch, and There is Sorrow on the Sea came fromParker’s pen . Eric Mackay wrote a poem to introducethe series which w as illustrated by Frank Brangwyn .

The third story, The Roll Call of the Reef,” was by

Q.

” Kipling’s story did not arrive in time, but itappeared during the same year

,and was illustrated by

T. Walter Wilson . Kipling’s connexion with this mostcosmopolitan magazine must have been a very valuable

S4


experience,for a galaxy of budding talent had gathered

around its ideal editor, Jerome K . Jerome . In theI dler such writers as W . W. Jacobs, Anthony Hope,Zangwill, andW. L . Alden, the great American humorist,received welcome admission long before the othei'j ournals looked upon their work as valuable copy.

A long voyage to South Africa, Australia, Ceylon, andNew Zealand took up most of his time in 1 89 1 , andwhen he returned he met Wolcott Balestier, a youngAmerican author belonging to a family well known ln

the literary circles of New York . At the same time hebecame acquainted with Balestier’s Sister, Caroline, whomhe married in 1 892 . During the years 1892

—1 896 theyoung couple made their home at Bratleboro, Vt .

,

which gave Kipling the chance to gather the informationabout the New England fishermen, which he uses inCaptains Courageous . Many Inventions

,

” theJungle Books,

” and certain poems in The SevenSeas were also written or planned there .In 1 896 Kipling again came to England, and he

settled at Rottingdean in 1 898. He went on a cruisewith the navy in the home waters in 1 897, and again in1 898, giving his notes on the trips in A Fleet in Being

,

”

which appeared in the Morning P ost. In 1900 he waswith his beloved troops in South Africa, and w as presentwith Bennet Burleigh on March 29, during the fight atKarree S iding . He also acted as an associate editor ofthe Friend, a Bloemfontein journal edited by the warcorrespondents with Lord Roberts ’ troops . He wrotefor this paper King Log and King Stork (March 24,

The Elephant and the Lark ’ s Nest (March 26,The Persuasive Pom-Pom,

” Vain Horses,

”

and other items . A Song of the White Man,which

Julian Ralph states in“ War s Brighter S ide was

written to be read at a dinner in Canada, appeared 1n

the 1ssueofAprilPublished in 1901 (Pearson) .

SS


Of the later incidents of Kipling’s career there is li ttleneed to write ; they have been brought before thenoticeof the public by the Press ofEngland and America withunfailing regularity.

Let one fact be noted, that Kipling has done as muchas any man to encourage a nd interest the nation indirigibles and aeroplanes, and perhaps his s tory, TheNight Mail,

” is much more than a mere scrap of fiction .

In any case, one cannot help being profoundly impressedby the reality of its prophecies . In this s tory the readeri s enabled to realise the very same atriosphere of

Aerial Liner travel that the men of the R34 dirigibleexperienced during their journey to America and back.Air-Commodore E . M . Maitland has written in his log ofthe j ourney that he read The Night Mail ” fifty times,and every time he read it he was amazed at the exactnessof Kipling’S technical comments . In such a story as thisKipling has created the undersong Of the huge airship’3engines, and we know that his machinery i s alive andperfect 1n his eyes . His Story is so charged with the whiffof petrol that it seems the least important thing abouthim that he Should be a literary man . In a footnote tohis Log of H .M .A . R34 (Hodder Sc Stoughton) AirCommodore Maitland remarks the story was written in1909 , and in i t Kipling chose Trinity Bay as the pointwhere his wes tward-bound aerial liner of the futurefirst strikes land .

” Then,ten years later, when the first

aircraft did actually cros s the Atlantic from East to West,the land was first Sighted at this s ame Trinity Bay. In aletter to Air Commodore Maitland

,Kipling wrote

“ There was not anyone who was more earnestly andunbrokenly interested while your voyage was under wayand if I had only known any saint who could have beentrusted with the direction of our higher atmosphericinterests at that time

,I Should have b esieged him with

offerings .”

56

CHAPTER II

KI PL ING AT SCH OOL

NO part of a famous man’s career has quite the samefascination as the days of his youth and obscurity, whenhe 13 groping blindly towards the brilliant future which,although he probably does not dream of it, awaits him ;

and,in the case of Rudyard Kipling, this period of

eclipse is all the more interesting as he has presentedpart of i t to the public in his vividly boyish series Ofstories, Stalky and Co.

”

A perusal of this volume leaves no doubt in the mindof the reader that Master Gig adibs, the Sportive Beetle,with his gig-lamps and a craving to write a “ simplylovely poem

,is a picture of the author during his days

at the now famous West Country school . A writer’ sbest stories are always in part autobiographical. In TheLight that Failed we cannot help assuming thatDick Heldar is reconstructed from Kipling’s innerconsciousness, and in S talky and Co .

” and Kim we

find the texture of the author’s mind and the labyrinthof his heart manifested with the exactness of an analyst .Beetle, the Bard in Stalky and with his bright,clean touch and the clever schoolboy’s wit, is always andever Rudyard Kipling

,the Bard ofEmpire .

How much of this book is autobiography, and howmuch is drawn from the limpid Springs of the writer’simagination

,give rise to a somewhat perplexing question .

Some light on this matter is to be gained from thecolumns of the United Services’ CollegeMag az ine, which

59


was issued during the years that the Three Incomprehensibles waged war with the Ancients of the College,

”

which was from 1 878 to 1 882 . A set of this immaturelittle magazine realized the sum of

161 30 at a Londonauction-room some years ag o . And I am told that thisset and another one in the library of the College— whichnow has been transplanted to Harpenden, in Hertfordshire— are the only two known . However

,much that

i s disguised in Stalky and Co .

” may be cleared up byexamining the pages of the College ,

Mag az ine. In thefirst place, it is not a s difficult to keep company withStalky and his boy companions after a perusal of thelittle volume, for although we all admire Kipling

’s Story,

in a measure i t is rather hard to agree with some of theproceedings of Stalky, Beetle, and McTurk. It must beadmitted that these youths followed a code of ethics notalways consistent with the honour of self-respectingEnglish schoolboys, and that they were not speciallyinspired by any of that esprit de corps, and sense of

responsibility, which is such a dominant note in mos t ofKipling’s work . But impressions produced by thebrutality and heartlessness of Stalky and his friends aresomewhat toned down by the more refined and happyatmosphere of the author’s Alma Ma ter, a s reflected inthe school journal. In the book, Master G ig adib sseems to be only happy when baiting his master

, or

acting as lampooner for his Uncle Stalky . But we findmany snatches of verse from his pen in the pages of themagazine which are surcharged with humour and bonbomie. In the book we read of the wild antics in apantomime played by Stalky and other boys ; in themagazine, we find that the performance was really quitea creditable rendering of TbeRiva ls, in which Kiplingacted the part of Sir Anthony. Beetle seems to waste agood deal of time in retreat in his lair in the furze bushes,waiting for the cat that walked once too often by himself,to twine like a giddy honeysuckle above the heads of60

K I P L I N G A T S C H O O L

those who had incurred the wrath of the heroic trio.

But we read nothing in the book about the time hespent whilst forming the College Literary and DebatingSociety. The Beetle was its founder and also the firs tsecretary . I should add that the Natural HistorySociety, which was treated with such contempt byStalky and Co . , and referred to a s The Bughunters,received the liberal assistance of the magazine duringthe years 1 881—2, which covers the period of Kipling’ seditorship . The old rag,

”or the Swillingford P a triot,

as S talky had christened it, received but scant attentionin the book . It is mentioned in the last chapter, inwhich Beetle goes to Randall’ s printing offi ce aecom

panied by his confrei

res to correct proofs . The printingoffice of the magazine can still be seen under the nameofWilson and Sons in Mill Street, and Mr. Raven Hill,who made a special s tudy of the local colour of thedistrict, devoted a full-page drawing to Beetle atwork on the proofs in the little loft behind the shop .

Beneath this drawing were quoted the words He sawhimself already controlling the Times .

” Raven Hill’sillustrations to Stalky and CO .

” in the WindsorMag az ine in 1 899 should be in the hands of all trueKipling ites ; to cut them out of the story in book formwas a great mistake

,and it is to be hoped that in a future

edition they will be reproduced .

It is, ofcourse, the fact, that Kipling edited Six numbersof the school magazine that has given them their fancyprice . The first effort from his pen made its a pearancein the issue of June 30, 1 881 , under the tit e of

“ ADevonshire Legend

,

” and I make no doubt that twoother art icles came from the same pen,

“ Life in theCorridor ” and “ Concerning Swaggers . It will berecalled that the college corridor is mentioned severaltimes in Stalky and CO .

”

Some of the efforts are headed By Rxxxxt Bxxxxxxg ,and it will be noticed that Kipling has closely modelled

6 1


several of his early poems on Browning,but as Mr .

Adrian Margaux remarked in an article in the Capta in,’

the subj ects would hardly have commended themselvesto the Browning Society .

” I must not fa il, however, todraw attention to The Jampot,

” which is delightfullydroll. I t tells of a fight by two boys for a pot of j am,

which was smashed to shivers during the contest

But neitber of us sbaredTbc da inty

— Tba t’s your plea P

Well,neitber ofus cared,

I answer Let mesee

How baveyour trousersfared P

The young Kipling thus delivered himself on a collegeedict prohibiting the use of stoves for cooking in thestudies

Tbecup is devoid of its cojee,Tbespoon of its sug ary load,Tbetableclotb g uiltless of tofi

'

ee,

And sorrow bas seized my abode.

Our tasks tbey area s dry a s tbesea -sands,Our tbroa ts tbey a redrier tban tbese,No cocoa ba s moistened our weasands

,

Weta stenot of Teas.

On the occasion of the last attempt on the life of

Queen Victoria , Kipling contributed a poem entitledAve Imperatrix ” to the magazine .(March,This is the first example of that end-Of-the-nineteenthcentury Imperialism to which he has given full andfinal expression

Sucb g reeting a s sbould comefrom tbose

Wbasefa tbersfa ced zbeSepoy border,Or served you in tbeRussian snows,

And, dying , left tbeir sons tbeir swords .

o u Famous Men a t School,” by Adri an Margaux (the Capta in) .62

K I P L I N G . A T S C H O O L

And a ll a rebred to doyour will

By land and sea— wbereverfliesTbeflag , tofig bt andfollow still

And work your Empire’s destinies.

There are some interesting notes on the “ LiterarySociety which was founded in 1 88 1 by Kipling in thecollege chronicle . They throw many Sidelights on theschool life. The firs t meeting w as called to consider theproposition “ that a classical is superior to a mathematical education .

” Kipling spoke in the negative .The next time that his name is mentioned we read thathe was in favour of a resolution which affirmed theAdvance of the Russians in Central As ia to be hostileto the British Power ” Another notice records thatKipling moved a vote of censure against Mr. Gladstone’sGovernment . This vote was carried by a sweepingmajority, but it is rather astonishing to find thatBeresford— the veritable “ Uncle Stalky ” of the StalkyBook—was one of the opposing Speakers . We canimagine Beetle’s glance of cold scorn when he met theeye of the Stalky one who, no doubt, took up thatattitude to annoy “Master Gig adibs.

” Kipling’s la stspeech was in support Of a resolution that total abstinence is better than the moderate use of alcohol.” Butthe teetotalers were defeated in the end .

I do not think that Kipling is a total abstainer, andcertainly his writings have not commended temperance,but after seeing two young men drug two girls withdrink at an American concert hall

,and lead them reeling

home, he became converted to Prohibition . Of thispainful scene he has written

Then, recanting previous opinions, I became a Prohib i tionis t. Betteri t is that a man should g o w i thout his beer in publi c places, and contenthimself with swearing at the narrow-mindedness of themajori ty b ett eri t is toepo

ison the inside with very vile temperance drinks, and to buy lager

furtiv y at back doors, than to bring temptation to the lips of youngE 63


fools such as the four I had seen . I understand now why the preacherrage against drink. I have sa id, There is no harm in i t takenmodera tely”and yet my own demand for beer helped direc tly to send these two girlsreeling down the dark street to—God alone knows what end. I f liquoris worth drinking, i t is worth taking a li ttle trouble to come ar— suchtrouble as a man will undergo to compass his own desires. I t is not goodthat weshould let i t liebefore the eyes of children, and I have been a foolin wri ting to the contrary.

The quality of that fine fooling in Stalky and Co . i snot shown in Kipling’s early taste in reading. He readTennyson’s Defence of Lucknow before the Societyon one occasion, and later on in the term it is recordedhe contributed to a meeting a recital of Bret Harte’sConcepcion de Arguello .

” At this time one mustremember that our hero w as but sixteen, and the choiceof the latter poem to read before a school society, throwsa very interesting sidelight on the boy that is not to begained in “ Stalky and Co.

” It will be recalled thatHarte’s poem tells of a Spanish girl who waited fortyyears for a foreign lover only to learn, in the end, thathe had been killed on a journey to Russia a few weeksafter the betrothal .The only honour which Kipling received at Westward

Ho w as the first prize for English literature . There isreason to suppose that he substituted Browning, Dumas,and Scott, for the more learned men who preparedbooks for the sole purpose of confounding boys from thefact that he did not distinguish himself in scholarship .

Stevenson’ s essay,A Defence of Idlers , shows how no

time is actually‘

lost, not even that which is idled awaywith a book . But this is a point that is very hard to

explain to ambitious parents . However, Kipling

’s contri utions to the college chronicle plainly showed thathe meant to pass a hawser to literature, and take itin tow .

I t w as about this time that some ofhis verses appearedin a local paper

,and no doubt he felt like Stevenson,

64


still remains, and has been converted into an hotel . Sowhen you walk along the cli ffs, you need not trouble tolook for college boys making their way from Appledoreto invade the famous tuck-sh0p on Bidevoor Promenade .”

In a letter which during‘

Easter, 1 898, he wrote to theeditors of a schoolboys ’ paper, Kipling showed thatthere was still plenty of the fun and twaddle of theWestward Ho days left in him . I t is so characteristic ofKipling

,the precocious

‘ Indian child, and Kipling as heis now, that I quote it intact

To the EDITORS, Sebool BudgetGENTLEMEN,

— I am in receipt of your letter of no date, together w i thcopy of Sebool Budget, Feb . 14, and you seem to be in poss ession of all

the check that is in the least likely to do you any g ood in this world or

the next. And, furthermore, you have omi tted to spec ify where yourjournal is printed and in what county ofEngland Horsmonden is si tuated .

But, on the other hand, and notwi thstand ing, I very much approve ofyour Hints on SchoolboyE tiquette,” and have taken the liberty ofsendingyou a few more as follow ingx. I f you have any doub ts about a quanti ty, cough . In three cases

out of five this will save you being asked to say i t aga in .

2 . The two most useful boys in a form are (a ) the master’s favouri tepro tem. ; (b) his pet aversion . Wi th a li ttle judicious management (a)can keep him talking through the first part of the construe, and (b) cantake up the running for the res t of the time. IKE—A syndica te shouldarrange to do (o’s) impots, in return for this service .3. A confirmed guesser isworth hisweig ht in gold on aMondaymorning.4 . Never shirk a master out ofbounds pass himw i th an abstracted eye,

and, at the same time, pull out a letter and study i t earnestly. Hemaythink i t is a commission for some oneelse.5. Whenpursued by the native farmer, always take to the neares tploug h

land. Men stick in furrows tha t boys c an run over.

6 . I f i t is nec essary to take other people’s apples, do i t on a Sunday.

You then put them inside your topper, which is better than trying tobutton them into a tight E ton.

”

You w ill find this advice worth enormous sums ofmoney, but I shall beobliged wi th a cheque or postal order for sixpence at your convenience,if the contribution should be found to fill more than onepag e .

Fa i thfully yours,Runvann KI P LING.

Car in-own , EasterMonday, ’

98 .

66

CHAPTER II I

P E R S O N A L I T Y

Vicomte d ’Humieres An American cri tic on KiplingKipling’s natural love ofBiblical language The Bible and Recessioual A P a ll Ma ll Ga zette burlesque The Ballad of the

King’s Jest .”

CHAPTER III


THE personality of Rudyard Kipling is a factor thatcounts for much . There are flaws in his finest works ;there are certain defects in his genius . With all hisdisplay of power there are strange lapses and weaknesses .But such defects are not fatal, and the thirst of the trueK ipling ite is never slaked . Considering how marvellously wide his range in verse and prose is, it is littleshort of a miracle that he has met with no seriousreverses ; he knows nothing of retreat or fa ilure . Thecritics for the last few years seem to have been unanimousin denouncing him— which fact, of course

,recommends

him to us . Let the critics take courage, they mayoutwit oblivion yet, even though they do nothing butcroak and catcall at some onewho is hitching his wagonto a star . I t is in this manner that immortals are made.Nothing in all the range ofKipling’s work is so marked

by fine feeling as “ Barrack Room Ballads — nothingdeals with more tangible people . Here he has put forthhis best, his very best ; and the richness of his generalinformation about Tommy and his ways is constantlyastonishing people . In the lore of the man-at- arms,Kipling is the wisest man of the day . Wisdom is thedistilled essence of intuition, corroborated by experience .This is the secret ofKipling’ s strength— hewent to studythe life of the Tommy, not because it offered money and anew field, but because it honestly interested him . For

years he has helped the soldier to fight his battles, unti l

69


at last he can take him by the hand as a comrade, not asa lay-fig ure.

Kipling has a sense ofhumour. Humour is a lifebuoy,and saves you from drowning when you j ump off a cliffinto a sea of sermons . An author (or poet ) who cannotlaugh 13 apt to explode— he 13 very dangerous .I am certain that Kipling is a man with a very

young laugh .

” I can imagine him seated at his writingtable beneath that portrait of Burne-Jones, writing sucha tale as “ The Bonds of Discipline,

” which tell s of asuccession of uproarious orgies culminating in a mockcourt-martial . I can hear that boyish laugh as hewrites ; I can hear him chuckle at his own witticismsor those of others .The Vicomte d ’Humiéres has told us of Kipling’ sboyish laugh ; he has also told us a little about hispersonal appearance

,but this w as about 1905. He

Speaks of the author’s frank and open expression ; of hiseyes full of sympathy and gaiety, eager to refl ect life andall that it holds for tinker or king ; of the hair croppedin the fashion of the Tommy. And his nose I t is thenose of the seeker after knowledge . It was AlbrechtDurer who said ofErasmus : With this nose he successfully hunted down everything but heresy.

”To under

stand what Kipling has hunted down with his nose onemust travel the world over . One thing is certa inKipling does not attach himself to any particular creedor party . He evidently thinks that to belon to anyparty is to be owned by it . Kipling’s soul revo ts at lifein a groove . He dislikes ttyp ical men— their ways oflife, their SOphistry, ttheir s tupidity . He likes tto be freeof all party restrictions, so that he can study 1n his ownsweet way— when at school he was distinguished fromother boys by his independence .At the little country printing works he learned his

case, worked the ink balls, and manipulated the cropper.He knows the craft of the book from the leaded type to

70


the printed page . This has a distinct bearing on hisliterary s tyle . His language is easy, fluid

,suggestive .

His paragraphs throw a purple shadow,and are pregnant

with meaning beyond what the textbook supplies . Thisis one part genius and two parts experience .When Kipling was assistant editor of the P ioneer

( 1887 his intense interest in life and great curiosityno doubt prompted him to ask his chief to send himforth into the world to acquire special knowledge forthat paper . The chief volunteered him for a pilgrimage,no doubt in the same spirit as Artemus Ward volunteeredall his wife’ s relations for the purposes of war . Andthus began the travels of Kipling, special correspondentto the whole bloomin’ British Empire . He

,no doubt,

looked back with j ust a little twitch of the heartstringstowards the strange little newspaper offi ce where he hadspent some arduous but profitable years . Then theparticular corner of Empire Where he “ lay awake atnights, plotting and scheming to write something thatshould take with the British Public faded from view.

It was the happiest moment he had ever known . Theworld lay beyond . You will find many of the tales ofthese wanderings in the two volumes “ From Sea toSea .” Herein are to be read his fierce affections and hisamazing dislikes . And so Kipling fared forth to fameand fortune .An American critic, Arthur Bartlett Maurice,

’ hassummed up Kipling’s attitude to the wit

,brains

,folly,

and brawn of the world in a few words

A young genius looked out upon the world, beheld there laughter andtears, folly and w isdom,

and considerable w i ckedness of a healthy sort .The wi ckedness roused no anger in him. There was no disposi tion to

howl stale morali ti es, his mission was not that of a social regenerator, hiswork betrayed no maudlin indignation. When he wrote about the decep~tion of a husband he treated all three parti es in the affair wi th perfectKipling’s “ Verse P eople,” the Bookman (America) , March, 1889.

Reprinted in the same magazine January, 191 1 .

7 1


and impartial good humour. His attitude was that of detachment, hismétier to w atch the comedy and tragedy of i t all as onewatches a play.

And a fter having been very much amused and a little bored, he sat downto his wri ting-table wi th the convic tion that

We are very slig btly ( banged

From tbe semi-apes tba t ranged

I ndia’s prebistorieclay .

There are times when he seems almost to resent the fact that human

na ture shows so li ttle originali ty in its w eaknesses. The world wags onmerrily and busily, new forces are constantly springing up as if out of theground

,the hand of man is grow ing more cunning and his bra in more

active, only his heart can invent no new sin.

“ Jack Barrett jobbed off

to Quetta in September to die there, attempting two men’s work, Mrs.

Barrett mourning him five lively months at most Potiphar Gubb ins,C.E., hoisting himself to social prominence and highly paid posts as thecomplaisant husband of an a ttractive wi fe—these are the oldes t ofpi tiablehuman stori es . Through the verses which tell of these people there ring sa note of half-humorous protest at the monotonous sameness of li fe. For

the purely narra tive di tties he has more relish . A general ofi cer, ridingwi th his staff, tak es down a heliograph message between husband and w ifeand finds himself alluded to as tha t most immoral man.

”A young

lieutenant w ishing to break an engagement in a gentlemanly mannerdevelops appalling epileptic fits w i th the assistance of Pears’ ShavingSticks. Wha t an hones t, wholesome love of fun ! What animal spiri tsHecan seethe amazement on the general ’s shaven gill,” and chuckl e w i thSleary over some especially artisti c and alarming seizure. Above all hedelights as

Tear by year inpiouspa tiencevengeful Mrs . Boflkin sits,Wa iting for tbeSleary babies to develop Sleary

’

sfi ts .

One thinks of him as roaring wi th laughter whilst he wri tes of theas tonishment and discomfiture of these people, as the good Dumas

used to roar w i th laughter at the humorous observations ofhis characters.

In Departmental D itties we have Kipling theentertainer ; in his short stories of Indian life he is thenecromancer, but in Barrack Room Ballads we haveKi ling the familiar friend .

Kipling is not slow in taking what he w ants ; hefrankly admits his indebtedness to the work of other

72


author’ s ideas on life more than any other poem , seemsto have been written with a fine carelessness . Kiplingwrites as the fancy takes him, and it is diffi cult to imaginethat he ever corrects or prunes his prodigal luxuriance .

This poem contains much from the by-ways of the Bible

Better the sight of eyes that see than wanderin’ o’desire

Ecclesiastes vi. 9) andThe Mornin

’Stars (Job xxxviii .

When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons ofGod shoutedforjoy.

”

Here is a weird scrap of burlesque published in theP a ll Ma ll Gazette, which rather hints at Kipling

’sfondness for Biblical quotation . Dr. Parker had made astatement in the I dler declaring that Kipling wasrelated to his wife though he did not know it

Heknows tbeslang of Silver Street, tbeborrors ofLabore,And bow zbeman-sea l breasts tbewaves tba t bujetLabradorHeknows ea cbfi neg rada tion

’twixt tbeGenera l and tbesub.,

7 be terms employed by Atkins wben tbeyfling bimjrom a pub.,

Heknows an Ekka pony’spoints, tbeleper

’s drear abode

,

Tbeseamy side of Simla , tbefi aring MileEnd RoadHeknows tbeDevil

’s toneto souls toopitiful to damn,

Heknows tbetasteof every reg imenta l mess in ebam

He knows enoug b to annota te zbeBibleverseby verse,

And bow to draw tbesbekelsfrom tbeBritisbpublie’s purse

In reading the Ballad of the King’s Jest it will benoticed that Kipling has imitated the cadences andmannerisms of Whittier’s Barbara Frietchie.

” Perhaps,

also, there is a hint of a debt to Ernest Seton-Thompson’smethod of dealing with animal stories in his JungleBooks . In these cases, Kipling, of course, takes no morethan a writer’s privilege he borrows twenty-oneshillings ’-worth of silver, and pays us back with a brightgolden guinea .

Among lively writers Kipling stands securely in the

74


first place . His work is always constructive, his messageone of courage and good cheer . Iconoclastic writers

,

reformers, all those good people who wish to suppressthis or that, and punish the other, are often useful,sometimes amusing, but only the cheerful man lives inthe heart of the people, only the hopeful is classic. Wehave troubles ofour own, God knows 1 We want the manwho can give us a lift . And Kipling does . There arepeople who try to find a substitute for cheerfulness andaction, but they all die before they find 1t out . Nothingthat can be poured out of a bottle and taken with a spoonwill take the place of a merry soul . Kipling 13 the manwho exults most in things done with jest and a shoutof joy and a dash of naivete . Three degrees of bliss

,

three savers of los t souls he describes The Jester,and

the lowest place but the highest praise is given to him

Wbo bas saved a soul by a jestAnd a brotber

’s soul in sport

[For] tberedo tbeAngels

75

CHAPTER IV

SOME ANECDOTE S

A perverse view of Kipling When the Rudyards cease fromKipling S. S. Mcc lure Kipling’s idea of the mark of geniusMcClureand K im J .M. Barrie ’s story ofKipling Kipling anda Suffragist The Sydney Bookfellow and a tiger yarn Impressionsof Kipling in Paine’s Biography ofMark Twain Twain’s punFirst Meeting betw een Twa in and Kipling A letter from TwainMark Twa in and the Boers Kipling’s Bell Buoy praised byTwain The Ascot Cup Rudyard Kipling and Mark Twain inrobes of scarlet at Oxford Practical joke by Kipling Kipling andAmerican publisher : Zangwill and the P a llMa llMag a z ine: Autograph hunters The vanishing cheques Brander Matthews inAmerican Outlook The Liverpool Ecbo A disappointed admirerARot tingdean landlord and a Kipling autograph letter Ding ley,the Famous Wri ter An excellent ski t on Rudyard Kipling.

CHAPTER IV

SOME ANECDOTES

IT is natural that there should have been a feeling of

resentment on the part of some of the old school ofliterary men

,when a young author like Kipling attracted

so much attention . And when Kipling turned his backupon the reporter or interviewer, and refused to givethem free material from which to serve up a paragraphor so ofwishy-washy gossip, he w as instantly branded as apeevish prig . This perverse view of Kipling was endorsed by the gossip of a section of the American Pressat one time, and such remarks as the following, takenfrom the P apyrus, February, 19 1 1 , are fairly frequenteven now

There was nothing to his (Kipling’s) talk—not a hint of the mag ic thatli es across so many pag es, or is condensed into so many of the aptest andmost striking epithets in li terature. Pompous, self-conceited, snobbish

,

self-conscious, priggish, banal, peevish and fractious, wi thout a visible rayof the redeeming kindness of genius, or even a hint of his thaumaturgicmental power— this is what they told meof the man who has taught usall so much about men and women— who may be said . to have added a

new chapter to the Book of the Heart .

Here also is a characteristic rhyme which was freelybandied about among a certain section of Londonliterary men

Will tberenever come a sea son

Wbicb sball rid usfrom zbecurse

Of a prosewbicb knows no rea son

And an unmelodious verse

79


Wben tbeworld sba ll cease to wonder

At tbegenius of an Ass,And a boy

’s eccentric blunder

Sba ll not bring success topass

Wben mankind sba ll bedelivered

From tbe clasb of mag a zines,And tbe inkstand sba ll be skivered

Into countless smitbereens

Wben tberestands a muz zled stripling ,Mute, beside a muzzled bore

Wben tbeRudyards ceasefrom K iplingAnd tbeHagg ards Rideno moreP

Mr. S . S . McClure (founder ofMcc lure’s Mag az ine)

says that he always found Kipling courteous and cordial .He also relates how ,

when he met Kipling in London,the famous author reminded him that at a previousmeeting in America he had talked Mcc lure

’s Mag az ine

to him for eight solid hours . And Kipling suffered thesh0p of the enthusiastic publisher without protest !He only remarked McClure, your business is dealingin brain futures .”

I t is stated from a quarter which should be wellinformed, that Kipling is a tolerant, appreciative novelreader

,and has a great enthusiasm for shilling shockers .

He has a large respect for Guy Boothby’s books, which

cannot be placed far above the average pot-boiler.Kipling once asked McClure whether he had ever readDavid Harum .

” The publisher replied : NO . He’sdead .

”

Kipling was tickled by the astute American’s outlookon literature

,and said That’s right

, McClure. Themark of genius is to elim1nate the unnecessary .

”

It is interesting to learn that Kipling receiveddollars for the rights of Kim when it was serializedin Mcc lure

’s Mag az ine, although when the author

stopped at New York on his way to England, a few yearsbefore, he was unable to find a publisher at any price .80


and she said, Why should a woman take a man’sname when she marries him i Why,

” answered Kipling,should she take everything else he ’s g otI am indebted to the Bookfellow (Sydney) for the

following very pleasing anecdote

Ever hear Kipling tell his tigeryarn I t was at a small station on oneofthe Indian railways. There was a stationmaster there and a porter. Thelatter was told not to act w i thout instructions from the former, or, failingthat

,from the head office. A man-eater broke away from the jung le,

a ttacked the station, seized the stationmaster,and began to make m ince

mea t of him. The porter remembered orders. Going to the telegraph,he wired to headquarters : Tiger on platform,

eating station-master.

Please w ire instructions.”

The ready w it ofKipling is illustrated in the foll owing .

Don’t you think 1t strange,

” a lady is supposed to havesaid to him,

‘ ‘ that sugar is the only word 1n the Englishlanguage where an ‘ s ’ and a ‘ u ’ come together andare pronounced sh i

Sure Kipling is alleged to have said .

Kipling’s genius,if not his tastes, was always admired

by Mark Twain . His impressions of Kipling which aregiven in Paine’ s Biography" of the famous Americanwriter clearly indicate this . I t was Twain, it will beremembered, who paid a special tribute to Kipling atthe Author’ s Club (London) m 1 899. The anxiety andsympathy of the entire American nation had just followedKipling through a most dangerous illness at New YorkCity, which Mark Twain declared had done much tobring England and America close together . He told themembers of the Author’s Club that he had been engagedin the compiling of an epoch making pun

,and had

brought it there to lay at their feet, not to ask fortheir indulgence

,but for their applause .” It was this

Since England and America have been joined in Kipling, may they not

be severed in Twain.

MarkTwa in ABiog raPhY,”V0] : 11, P : 880 ° (Harper8‘ Bros.

,

S O M E A N E C D O T E S

We are informed that hundreds of puns had beenmade on the author’ s pen-name, but this was probablyhi s first and only attempt . At the Savage Club

, too,

Twain recalled old times, and his first London visittwenty-seven years before

In those days you could have carried Kipling around in a lunch-basketnow he fills the world. I was young and foolish then, now I am old and

foolisher.

I t was in the summer of 1 889 that the first meetingbetween Mark Twain and Rudyard Kipling took place .At that time Kipling was only known to an Anglo-Indianpublic, and had j ust started on a world tour for theP ioneer, writing impressions of his travel home to thatjournal . He journeyed to Elmira especially to seeMarkTwain . It seems that Twain was not at Quarry Farmwhen he call ed, but Mrs. Crane and Susy Clemensasked him in, and he took a seat on the veranda andtalked with them some time— that talk which MarkTw ain told us might be likened to footprints, so strongand definite was the impression left on the memory.

He spent a couple of hours w ith me, and at the end of that time I hadsurprised him as much as he had surprised me—and the honours wereeasy. I bel ieve tha t he knew more than any person I had metzbefore,and I knew that he knew tha t I knew less than any person he had metbefore—though he did not say i t, and I was not expecting that he would.

He is a s tranger to me, but he is a most remarkable man— and I am theo ther one. Be tween us we cover all knowledge ; he knows all tha t canbeknown

,and I know therest.

Mark Twain also has remarked that Kipling has

enjoyed a unique distinction, that of being the only

living person not head of a nation whose voice 13

heard around the world the moment it drops a remark ;the only such voice in existence that does not g o byslow ship and rail, but always travels first class— bycable .”

83


It was not until a year after Kipling’s visit to Elmirathat Twain identified him with the author of PlainTales

,through a copy of the London World which

had a sketch of Kipling in it, and a mention that he hadtravelled in the United States .Kipling has

,of course, left an account of this visit in

his Letters ofTravel .”

In a letter to Kipling which Twain wrote fromVancouver

,when he w as on his way around the world

in 1 895, he refers to their meeting at Elmira

I t is reported tha t you are about to visi t India. This has moved meto journey to that far country in order that I may unload from my conscience a deb t long due to you. Years ag o you came from India to Elmirato visi t me. I t has always been my purpose to return tha t visi t and thatgrea t compliment some day. I shall arrive next January, and you must beready. I shall come riding my ayah w i th his tusks adorned w i th silverbells and ribbons, and escorted by a troop of native howdahs richly cladand mounted upon a herd ofw ild bungalows and you must beon handw i th a few bottles of ghee, for I shall be th irsty.

During the las t South African War, Mark Twain’s

sympathies were always with the Boers . He hadexplained that his head w as with the British, but hisheart must remain with the Boers, who were fightingfor their homes . Twain saw that the only thing forhim to do was to remain silent, in spite of a voicewhich urged him to enter his protest in the Press . Butin spite of this, Mark Twain cherished no hostilityagainst Kipling, who held very different Opinions on the

great question .

“ I am not fond of all poetry, Twain remarked,

but there’s something in Kipling that appeals to me .I guess he’s just about my level . He also once declaredwhen he was at Florence, that he hoped Fate wouldbring Kipling there I would rather see him than anyother man .

”

Kipling, too, held a very high opinion ofMark Twain’s

84


genius,as the following extract from a letter written to

the well—known American publisher,Mr . Frank Double

day, clearly indicates

I love to think of the great and godlike Clemens. He is the bigg estman you have on your side of the water by a d sight—Cervantes wasa relation of his.

In a letter to Mr . Doubleday written almost thesame time we learn that Mark Twain gloried inthe riotous strength and superabundant vigour of

Kipling’s verse . He read The Bell Buoy over andover again my custom with Kipling’s work — andalso remarked that a bell buoy is a deeply impressivefellow being. Many a night at sea he had heard himcall, sometimes in his pathetic and melancholy way, andsometimes with his strenuous and urgent note until heg ot his meaning— now he had the words ! He hopedsome day to hear the poem chanted or sung— with thebell buoy breaking out in the distance .

”

We may not detail all the incidents regarding thelinking up of Kipling and Twain ; even this path leadsto monotony in the end . We may only mention thaton June 26, 1907, Rudyard Kipling, Mark Twain andmany other distinguished citizens assembled at theSheldonian Theatre, Oxford, to receive degrees . Aperfect storm of applause greeted Mark Twain when heappeared clad in his robe of scarlet ; and the Oxfordundergraduates wanted to know where he had hiddenthe Ascot Cup . A reference, of course, to Mark Twain

’sspeech to the Pilgrims at the Savoy Hotel (June 25,in which he had mentioned how, on the day of hisarrival in England, he had been pained by a newspaperplacard which read Mark Twain Arrives Ascot CupStolen .

”

Rudyard Kipling was also a supreme favourite ; butit was Twain who w as singled out for most of the yellsand cheering of the undergraduates . After the ceremony

85


of conferring the degrees, Mark Twain, Lord Curzon,and Kipling viewed the Oxford pageant from a box, andit was here that a folded slip of paper, on the outside ofwhich Not True was written, was passed up to them .

The paper opened read

East is East and West is West,And never tbeTwa in sba ll meet.

Kipling is remembered by his old neighbours in thePunj ab as a man who was brimful of boisterous spirits,who laughed and joked the lifelong day. He was fondof practical joking . On one occasion he amused himselfthe whole evening, by showing the natives of Dharwal

a ll the grotesque monsters on a set of magic lanternslides, illustrating Jack the Giant Killer, as authenticportraits of the Russian people, whose activity beyondHerat was then causing considerable alarm in AngloIndian circles .An American publisher who secured a story fromKipling, was a teetotaler to the verge of fanaticism, andlooking through the s tory he was shocked to comeupon a passage where the hero was served with a

g ass of sherry . He wrote to Kipling, pointing out

the moral harm that might result from reading of

such a depraved person, and requested him to substi

tute some non-intoxicating beverage for the harmfulsherry.

Oh, all right,” Kipling replied

,make it a glass of

‘ Blank’ s ’ Baby Food . I see he advertises largely inyour magazine .

Of course he has no way of protecting himself frombeing forcibly made sponsor for anecdotes in the papersand the reader is cautioned against accepting as authenticany of those which appear in this chapter. Here isan uncopyrighted anecdote which passed the rounds

of the American Press at the time when one could not

86


pick up a paper without reading some story regardingKipling

Once when Rudyard Kipling was a boy he ran out on the yard-armof a ship. Mr. Kipling,” called a scared sa ilor, your boy is on theyard

-arm,and if he lets g o he’ll drown .

”

Ah,

”responded Mr. Kipling w i th a yawn, but he won’ t let go.

This incident also happened to Jim Fiske, Horace Walpole, Napoleon,Dick Turpin, Julius Caesar and the poet Byron.

Every popul ar author has to face the autographhunters

,and during his last year of residence 1n America

,

Kipling was assailed on all s ides by this particular breedof pesterer. He confided to Zangwill that he sent outtwo hundred circulars during this period, to the admir

ing crew who ranked him before Shakespeare, propos ingthat they should send him a donation for a charity inreturn for his sig naturefi

" Kipling continued,“ then

the floodgates— not of heaven— were opened . For

weeks abuse rained in upon him, and thief ” seems tohave been the mildest rebuke he received .

At Vermont Kipling paid all his household bills bycheque . Many of these cheques were very small , andthe shrewd Yankee tradesmen soon discovered thatautograph hunters would pay much over face value forthem, so quite a number did not turn up at the bankfor payment .One shopkeeper obliged his autograph clients with

a duplicate memorandum of the account . For example .

a b ill against Kipling for five pounds of cheese, accom

panied by an autograph cheque was a souvenir thatcommanded a good price . The consequence was, thatwhen Kipling sent his bank book to be balanced

,i t

invariably show ed more to his credit than there shouldhave been on its return . He was unable to account forthe discrepancy, until one day he saw one of his chequesgiven for a case of bottled beer framed and hanging m a

P a ll Mall Mag a z ine, September, 1895.87


Boston book-sh0p. The first thing he did, when hereturned to his home, w as to burn his cheque book .

After that he insisted on paying his household bills incoin of the realm .

Here is a s tory related by Brander Matthews in theAmerican Outlook (January

Once when I was chatting w i th Rudyard Kipling about the principlesof li terary art, I chanced to tell him that I had pointed out to a class ofcollege students the various masters of story-telling in whose footstepshe had trod, and by whose examples he had obviously profi ted. Hesmiledpleasantly and drawled out, Why give i t away ! Why not let themthink i t was just genius

The Liverpool Ecka printed the following amusingexperience

Kipling was staying in the hills in Simla, where all the lovely AngloIndian ladies reside in summer when i t is too hot for them to endure theclimate in the plains. Onemorning the lady at whose house he was a

guest introduced him to a young and fair grass w idow .

”As the couple

cha tted amicably tog ether whilst walking through the hills, Kiplingremarked, “ I suppose you can’ t help thinking of that poor husband ofyours grilling down there i The lady gave him an odd look, he thought,and he realized why when he afterwards learnt that shewas not a g rass

w idow but a w idow indeed.

Here is a story which appeared in 2”es orNa (January 1 8,but it has been told of many celebrated people ;

however, I give it for what it is worth

A young lady admirer of Kipling on meeting the famous wri ter wasra ther disappointed. You she cried. You— you are RudyardKipling.R. K . felt rather embarrassed, butmanaged tomodestlymurmur, Yes .

But I thought,” she said, “ I thought you were—oh, how shall I say1t i— something quite

,qui te d ifferent

Oh, I am, responded Rudyard in a very confidential tone, “ I am,

madam Only, you see, this is my day off

When Kipling lived at Rottingdean,in the old

88


as well as Occidental character ; he has made the pastlive

,and has interpreted ancient civilization to modern .

In short, he has known success, fame, and glory .

”

None the less, Dingley is dissatisfied . Dominated bythe glamour of empire, he wishes to achieve in actionsomething beyond mere writing

An accidental scene w i tnessed by him on the street decides his course .The Bri tish Empire, at that moment, is held in check and defied in SouthAfrica by a mere handful of audacious and insolent Boers. The pride ofEngland is wounded and humil ia ted, and all patriots are disheartened.

Dingley happens to see how a recrui ting sergeant secures two or threevolunteers for the campaign after filling them wi th g in and extortingbinding promises from them . These drunken, lazy, good-for-nothingvagrants, Dingley says to himself, when they recover self-control and findthemselves in her Maj esty’s uniform, will be transformed into men, intosoldiers of empire. The virtues and heroism of war will make noblecreatures of them. What a fine subj ec t for a book on war for empireThe first few chapters of the new book arewri tten at once in feverish haste,but Dingley determines to embark for South Africa and see the war for

himself. His w ife, a gentle, noble woman of French extraction, urgeshim to stay in England and take a more philosophical view ofwar, whichdegrades and brutaliz es some, even if i t elevates others.

On the way out some of the seamy side of mili tarismis forced upon Dingley, but he ignores it, and immediately on arrival joins a detachment of tr00ps which isin pursuit of a Boer commando .

In the meantime, Mrs . Dingley forms at Cape Towna sincere friendship with a loyal Boer family, namedDu Toit, whose eldest son, Lucas, however, has takenup arms against the British . Nothing further is knownabout Lucas, and his family fear that he has been takenprisoner . Archie

,son of his father, goes out at night

to see an executed Boer rebel, and returns with a feverthat threatens to be fatal . Dingley is hurriedly sent for,and the letter reaches him at a distance . The road isnot safe, the fields are barren, deserted, and the badlydug graves of soldiers are on every hand . Dingleychances to fall into the hands of Lucas Du Toit, who,

9°


however, shows every kindness to the Imperialist andBoer-hating Englishman

,thus heaping coals of fire upon

his head . Dingley arrives too late ; his boy is dead .

”

Shortly after this Lucas is captured, and althoughDingley can save him from death

,he refuses to help the

rebel who had once been kind to him .

The striking line and phrases in Kipling’s verse have,as it may be expected

,attracted many parodists and some

years ag o the papers were full of burlesques and skits onhis work . Many readers will remember a little volumestyled Al l Expenses Paid (Constable and Co . , 1 895)which contained some excellent parody and caricatureof the poetry and style of the great ones in the literaryworld . The outline of this skit is as follows . A certainbutcher of unusual aspirations and immense fortunedevoted ten thousand pounds to taking a select party of

minor poets to Parnassus . Messrs . Richard LeG allienne

and W . B . Yeats arranged the outing,and the company

included Rudyard Kipling, William Watson, ArthurSymons and Francis Thompson ; and in truth allstars of the accursed race of poets who worshippedat the Bodley Head . How they started out and foregathered at the foot of Parnassus, is all chronicled with arefreshing irreverence towards the minor bards . Ascending the resort of the Muses

,they were led by Mercury

before an inspiring gathering of the mighty dead, withShakespeare in the chair, and Wordsworth, Shelley, andChaucer well in the front . Adorned with a garland of

crocuses , attired in robes of pure white, and seated on

an ass similarly decorated and attired, they were led inorder of merit before the master whos e work was heldto have most influenced their own .

The lim i ted circulation of the poets and poetesses continued w ithoutany notable incident till i t came to the turn of Rudyard Kipling to goon tour, for the friend of Tommy Atk ins declared in an undertone tha the was tired of the whole mumm ery, that the beastly crocuses g ot in hiseyes , that he felt an almos t uncontrollable impulse to misbehave himself

9 1


in some way or another. Happily he was prevailed upon to bepacific, butno expostulation from his chief would induce him to wear an ecstatic castof countenance, though an expression of pleasure fl i tted over his facewhen the donkey stopped in front ofChaucer. And now the tw o extremesof English poetry confronted each other Before the Everlasting couldspeak Apollo sang wi th an army accent the verses here following

I’ve criticized somemorta ls in my time,An

’someof

’em was g rea t an

’somewas not

Yberewas some a s couldn’tjing lewortb a dime,

Tberewa s’Omer

, Billiam Sbakespea re, Wa lter Scott

Butfor knockin’slang an

’

patry into one,For puttin

’

pepper on our old emotions,I t

’

s certa in sureyou ea sy take tbeBun,An

’

youplay tbeComb an’P aper witb our notions

So’ere

’s toyou, Lippy

-Kippy ,jrom tbejar United Sta tes,Wberetbewbiteman spends tbedolla r and tbc Nigger wipes tbepla tesYou

’veg ot your skareo

’crocuses, an

’

iftbe colour suits,You

’rewelcome, Lippy

-K ippy, you can bet your bloomin’boots

While these verses were being recited by Apollo in his best Cockneymanner, the chang es that sw ept over the face of Chaucer w ere rapid,but unforbidding. Before the song commenced he had seemed to be

upon the point of engaging the Laureate ofP ipeclay in conversation, butat its termination he buried his face in his purple mantle . Muttering tohimself that the immortal w as a bigoted old buffer,” Rudyard Kiplingstirred the beast he bestrode into a continuation ofhis walk by the simpleexpedient of kicking hisVribs.

92

CHAPTER V

TH E “ BRUSHWOOD BOY AND

THEY ”

Easy and contemptuous style The Cruise of the Ca cbalotAmericanBookman Outline of“ The Brushwood Boy TheyLetters on They The Disturber of the Traffi c Kipling’srepresentation of mental moods Moonshine in At the End of

the Passage The Finest Story in the World .

”

CHAPTER V

THE “ BRUSHWOOD BOY AND

THEY ”

IN estimating Kipling’ s genius and his influence, one

must take stock of the gear and equipment With whichhe started out into the triumphant sunl ight of publicfavour. His imperialism is a thing apart ; it has no

bearing on his pure literary gifts moreover fame cameto him on the tide of popularity which greeted TheStory of the Gadsbys.

” Thi s book may be said to markthe turning-point in his career. And I am inclined tothink that one of the chief secrets of Kipling’ s powerand success is to be found in the now famous Envoi tothat unpretentious little book it is the last line with itsalmost brutal frankness that holds the secret : “ Hetravels the fastest who travels alone . As the theme ofthe story was marriage with its inevitable peck of cares,the line has been looked upon as a somewhat rough andready warning, half serious and half mocking, to thoseabout to consider the institution which is declared bySt . Paul to be honourable among all men . Was it anote ofwarning pure and simple

, or should we look uponit as a stepping-stone that one must mount to sum upthe man and his creed ! We must never lose sight ofthe fact that Kipling’s style is always easy and con

temptuous ; it might be likened to a torpedo-boat,cutting her way through a North Sea gale by the mereforce of her screw-propellers .The Kipling we know of ever travels alone . It was so

95


in his early days in India,it is more so now . Like almos t

all Anglo-Saxon writers, Kipling has a message and ismore or less a moralist . He believes in a life of vigorousaction as a cure-all . Stand to your work and be wisecertain of sword and pen,

” reads one of his well-knownlines . That is Kipling all over . He has no sympathywith the man who is not certain about himself, or theman who cannot travel alone . To Mr . F . T . Bullenwho asked him to contribute an introduction to TheCruise of the Ca cba lot he once wrote

Some rather interesting experiences have taught me that the best wayofmaking a man hate me for life is to meddle in any way w i th his workIf the book is good, i t will g o, and if not, nothing w ill make i t

stir All the men who want to stick a knife into mewould stick i tinto you as soon as they saw my name prefacing your book. Bitterexperience has taught me tha t that kind of thing doesn’ t pay

which was only another way of saying He travels thefastest who travels alone .

”

The first thing that strikes one about him is hiscomplete independence . This rather surly attitude on

the part of an author who was not flaming amazementon us,

°

who was not blazing a trail of literature,would

almost be an impertinence . But Kipling’s gross, implacable creed breaks through our perplexity ; we arecarried breathless over all his paganism by the very w ayin which he ruthlessly breaks all the laws and traditionsof the art of letters . He is the old gipsy man of literature ; he knows no laws ; what he wants he simplytakes ; and if you don

’t like his methods and were so

bold as to tell him so, he would most certainly saylump them . He is not considering you or anyone elsehe does not care a fig for your college educationsfor the most part colleges are places where the pebblesare polished and the diamonds are dimmed .

” He is onlyconsidering how to get to the goal he has marked out

to be master of the elastic, elusive, and delightful English

96


A good example of Kipling’s curious mixture of s evereand yet sensitive art is the study in dreams entitledThe Brushwood Boy.

” I t is probable that everybodywho is at a ll a constant dreamer has had at least one

experience of an event, or a sequence of circumstanceswhich have come to his mind in sleep, being subsequentlyrealized in the material world . But , after all, if one

reflects,this is not a t all remarkable ; it would be

stranger still if this fulfilment did not occasionally happen,since our dreams are as a rule concerned with peoplewhom we know and places with which we are familiarwhen we return from the City of SleepKipling in his “ Brushwood Boy

” has grasped thisfact

,and in his hero, George Cottar, we have a study at

once penetrating and charming . We follow his progressfrom nursery days to the period immediately before hismarriage

,in a series of fantastic dreams which range side

by side with everyday life . These dreams are alwaysconnected with the Brushwood Girl . In the first place,a princess from an old il lustrated edition of Grimm isseized upon as the girl of his dreams

,but after a visit to

Oxford, where he comes into direct contact with thereal Brushwood Girl at a performance of Pepper’sGhost,” he “ shamelessly ” discards the princess fromthe fairy story, and either consciously, or subconsciouslyinstalls the “ little girl dressed all in black .

” He hasdazzling adventures at home and in the Far East withthe dream-girl, and, interwoven with his early days inthe Indian Army, Kipling has given us the incommunicable stuff from which dreams are made

,the

ghost-whispers which come out of the darkness, andreturn again to the darkness .But onedream with variations comes intermittently toGeorge Cottar for twenty years or so, and each time theBrushwood Girl appears to grow more real .As the dream continues to recur

,the power of reality

becomes so contagious and overpowering that the

98

T H E B R U S H W O O D B O Y

reader is forced to conclude that the physical attractionwhich the dream-girl wields over George Cottar warnshim away from all other women .

When Cottar returns to England on furlough hefinds the Brushwood Girl of his dreams in Miriam Lacy .

Everybody who is familiar with Kipling’s writings willput this story in a favourable place ; besides being awonderful excursion into the realms of fantasy, it issealed with his seal, and is eloquent with his gospel .Here we have for a hero the author’ s ideal of manhoodthe clean-living, decisive, headl ong, headstrong Englishman : and in a background of silence and poetry lurksthe Brushwood Girl

,singing in our ears the haunting

refrain of the City of Sleep .

”

In They,

one of the most wonderful of Kipling’sshort stories, he has treated a most fascinating subj ectthe souls of dead children . To j udge from Wirelessand The House Surgeon, Kipling is rapidly becominga kind of prose Browning . The idea of the story isexplained in the versified prologue The Return of theChi ldren,

” littl e mites who found Heaven too large andcold for their immature souls, and who could not findany joy in the harps and crowns, nor

“ the cherubs’

dove-winged races .”

Eventually release is obtained through “Mary theMother,

” and they return to earth . Such ghosts couldnot return to their parents, for ordinary people wouldnot perceive them , and if they did, they would betoo terrified at their reappearance in astral bodies toreceive and cherish them once more .I t is natural that They should be attracted by the

blind woman . Her empty spinster li fe, her great lovefor children, and the wonderful second sight with whichall blind people are blessed, are things which have taughtthis mystical woman to understand ; so God sends thesouls of dead children who wanted to come homeward

,

to her .

99


I cannot do better than quote two letters whichappeared in T.P .

’s Weekly

"lF regarding this story, whichis certainly very abstruse . The Blind Woman is one of

the most mystical characters in Kipling’s tales, far moreso than The Brushwood Boy or Miriam .

H . G . writes :

I think the key to this story is to be found in the li ttle poem TheReturn of the Children,” which precedes i t . This seems to suggest tha tthe children were not dream-children

, but, to use a very expressive term,

revenants,

”i.e. little child-ghosts who, feeling lonely and unhappy

amid the splendours of heaven, had been graciously permi tted to returnin spiri t to the earth they had left and to the earthly joys so dear to themchildish fun and play, and human love and sympathy . They were a ttractedto the blind lady’s home by her great love of children and her passionatelonging for their society. Moreover, this beautiful, secluded, old-worldplace w as a veritable earthly paradise for children. There are variousincidents in the story which seem to discredi t the idea that these li ttlebeings were dream-children, for one thing the fact that they w ere visibleto others besides the dreamer himself. Her visi tor had caught glimpsesof them before he met her at all, and they w ere so real to him tha t i t wasnot until his third visi t that he discovered that they were not creaturesof flesh and blood. I t was the li ttle girl ’s cares that revealed the truthto him in a flash . The “ little brushing kiss on the palm of his handwas, as he tells us, a fragment of the mute code devised very long ag o”love-token from a long-lost li ttle daughter. In a moment of joy and

sorrow intermingled he realized what these children were, and the woman

who could see the naked soul at once became aware that he understoodat last .

Here is another view of the story

The children are not dream-children but li ttle ghosts. Anyonewho has lost a child may meet its little spiri t in the blind woman

’s house .

She, childless but a lover of children, is permi tted to feel and hear them

near her, and sheis surprised when shefinds tha t her visi tor c an see them .

Sheknows then that he has a right to come to her house . I f they arenot

ghosts, how is i t that the poor woman who loses a child while the visi toris in the blind woman

’s house can a fterw ards see and hear the children

Her own is among them. Or, if they aremerely dream-children, wha tis the explanation of thefear felt by theman who is rude to the blind woman

over some question of rent,and who refuses to enter the house i I f IFebruary 6, 19 14.

100


I t means as much or as li ttle as you have the capacity to understand.

Moreover, judging from explana tions I have heard, i t is a test of the puri tyof your thought .”

Don’ t beDelphic,” I protested . Remember that this is New York

in the twentieth century. Nevertheless, if your knowledge ofTrismegistusor Al bertus Magnus can help you to explain They,’ I ’ll try to listenpatiently.

”

But you must tell mewhere your difficulty li es. To me the li ttle taleis wonderfully simple .”

But wha t is i t all about iIf I explain,” said the Rosicrucian, w ill you promise not to quote

Byron and ask me to explain my explanationI gave the necessary pledge, and our club mystic proceeded to expoundthe mystery.

Like all tales dealing w ith elemental emotions, They is capable ofas many interpretations as i t has readers. For his text the poet— in thisstory he is more the poet than the author— has once more gone to theconfessions of Agur, the son of Jakeh . Of the three things that arenever satisfied, yea four thing s that say i t is not enough,’ he has chosentwo, the grave and the childless woman. You who know the world knowtha t on one hand i t is full of mourners for children who went down to

untimely g raves and on the other w i th lonely women who mourn w i thJephthah

’s daughter because they are not mothers in Israel.”

Then They are the souls ofdead children i I asked.

Exactly. And the mother-love of a childless woman has gatheredthem about her. To make this possible the poet has drawn on his won

derful knowledge ofmysticism to build a phantasy in which he rights aneternal wrong— in which he makes the victims of the grave sa tisfy theyearnings of the childless.“

l

But what is the meaning of all that talk about colours and the Eg gI tse f iMy son, said the mystic benignly, if you have never seen the colours

or the Eg g you could no more understand an explanation of them thanyou could understand the properties of a fourth dimension or the functionsof a s ix th sense . Suffi ce i t to say that the colours and the Eg g belong tothe most esoteric mysteries of Oriental philosophy and that those whohave knowledge of them have met at the sources of life. Only by ascribingto his hero and heroine this knowledge could the poet give them theintimacy that made the story possible .”

But what is the story iI t is this. A man who has lost a clearly loved child for which he isever mourning stumbles on the home of a childless woman whose house

is haunted by the souls of children. While only partly understanding,he tries to make friends w i th the children, and the one that finally comesto him is his own los t child . Then he understands and knows tha t hemust come no more to the House Beautiful. Neither may he continue to102


mourn, for the onehe has lost is playing an unguess ed part in the schemeof things and is happy and making another happy. The story is one of

solace for the mourning.”But all that is pure superstition,” I protes ted.Qui te true and is not theworld as full of superstition to-day as ever

i t was i In taking a bit of superstition and giving i t an up—to-date setting

Kipling has once more shown his wonderful knowledge of li fe . Heknowstha t the man gifted to seevisions can see them from a motor-car as readilyas from a hermi t’s cell , and he knows that themost exact scientific knowledgecan be found cheek by jow l wi th the most dreamy mediaevalism . I f theheroine of thestory avoided having iron on her hearth lest the li ttle spiri tshould not come to her, you can still find thousands in rural England whouse iron to fend them from spiri ts. You may remember tha t Grant Allenmade striking use of this supersti tion in his li ttle story of The RoundTower.

’ Taken as a whole the story is oneof exquisi te mysticism in an

aggressively up-to-date setting.”

But what is the useof i t allA suffi cient answer should be tha t i t is beautiful but if you seek for

more you must ask of those who mourn li ttle children or yearn for them .

”

This closed our interview ,and as I passed out to the smoking-room I

remembered tha t the poet is himself a mourner and tha t perhaps the kisson the hand given by the spiri t-child might have been part of a secretcode like that of the story— but this is passing the decent bounds of

analytical criticism.

Kipling has studied his children as he has studied hissailormen

, his animals, his soldiers . One of the mostbeautiful of all his child studies is

'

the Story of

Muhammad Din,

” and it reflects the author’s genu inelove of the little ones . In this pathetic sketch we areintroduced to the very small son of Imam Din, thewriter ’s Khitmatgar . The child requests the loan of

a polo ball from the narrator, which leads to a friendshipwhich is carried on with great formality on both sides .The man looks forward to meeting his solemn littlefriend, and when the child sickens and dies he is greatlygrieved, and would have given much to have avoidedthe parents carrying the frail little body to the buryingground .

There are few of us who can follow Muhammad Dinto the grave ( respectfully, and at a distance, that we maynot intrude, and not feel a little as though something

103


were tugging at our heartstrings the while . Havewe not all at some time understood the magic of thoseli ttle hands that fashion houses from the dus t, andgardens from dead flowers ! The loss of such a littleone is a bitter thing in life, and Kipling has said himselfPeople say that that kind of wound heals . I t doesn’t .It only skins over .”

At first blush onewould not think to discover in Kipling’ s stories a certain suggestion ofwomanly tenderness .But there is an exquisitely delicate subcurrent which issuggestive of the feminine soul in all his child- sketches .There are few living authors who could write anything

to equal Baa, Baa, Black sheep,” “ His Maj esty the

King,

”or They.

” He who seeks to disparage or laughat such work reveals a stratum of very coarse moral clayin his cosmos .

Only women [Kipling says] understand children properly ; but if amere man keeps very quie t and humbles himself properly, and refrainsfrom talk ing down to his superiors, the children w ill sometimes be goodto him and let him seewhat they think about the world.

The following lines which have not been publishedbefore

,deserve a place in this chapter . They were

written in a copy of“ Just-So Stories,

” which Kiplingpresented to a little friend

Wben skies a reg rey instead of blue,Witb clouds wbicb come to disbearten,And tbing s g o wrong a s tbey sometimes

I n life’s littlekinderg arten,

P ray, my cbild, don’

t weep or wa il,And don

’

t, don’t ta ke to rippling ,

But cbeer your soul witb a little ta le

By neig bbour Rudyard K ipling .

104


The Man who Would be King or The Madness ofPrivate Ortheris . No one can deny the brilliancy of

his vivid representation of mental moods whether youwant it or not, you have the full horror of these moodsimpressed upon you as With hot irons . Witness thispassage from “ The Light that Failed The mindwas quickened and the revolving thoughts groundagainst each other, as millstones grind when there is nocorn between .

” Note, too, the roving craze or madnessworking for ever on the overburdened brain of the

leading character in this novel .Often his work contains a good deal ofhasty, dogmatic

impressionism, but his literary power seems to pull himthrough in the end . For even in such a tale as At theEnd of the Passage there is a good deal of pure moonshine . Perhaps

,however, it is ill work quarrelling with

a man for now and then flying in the face of facts whenhe thinks the pulse of the reader may be quickened bysubterfuge . The gist of the tale lies in the fact that acamera is applied to the eyes of a dead man lying in adark room,

with the astonishing result of getting a pictureof the corpse’s retina . The image on the retina is sohorrible that the photographer destroys the negative, andrefuses to speak about it .I t has been hinted that phantoms of the brain hurried

the man to his death, but even if the netlike expansionof the optic nerve retained any impressions after death,it would need special preparations in the way of lightingto gain any sort of picture With a camera . It 13 muchmore likely that the photographer saw that his effortshad been Without any result, and to evade ridiculesmashed the blank plate under his heel .There is admirable art in The Finest Story in the

World .

” Note the delicate manner in handl ing this taleso that the figure of the poor, queer bank-clerk— Oh,that accursed race ofbank clerks — always hovers betweenthe squalor of a Brixton public-house and the land of

106


tumultuous dreams ; the story always wavers in thesuggestive .The psychological solution of the brilliancy of Kipling’s

work in this direction is that he is subj ect to momentsof intense cerebral activity

,during which he is gifted

with a certain psychic comprehension ofmental phases .There has been some difference ofopinion as to whetherKipling’ s later work sustains his reputation . He wouldbe a bold critic Who would try to answer that questionoff-hand and with sure j udgment . But it is certain thatKipling is no longer the idol that he was. The turningpoint in his popularity w as

,I think, reached when he

fell upon the flannelled fool ” and muddied oaf andscourged them with the heat of his rhetoric . Becausehe, like Gallio, cared for none of these things

,

” andspoke with scorn of those dullards, Who never even playeither game

,his protest was called an insult to national

sport .” A sport that largely consists of smoking cheapcigarettes and consuming Whiskey and soda needed thevirile censure which Kipling hurled at it . Then again,he had dared in rather rough and blustering language totell the people who came of the blood a few baretruths about their military and naval inefficiency. I twas after these things that the Kipling “

blooming s”

lost their first bloom .

107

CHAPTER VI

“ FROM SEA TO SEA

THE struggles and artifices of genius in quest of its breadand cheese are frequently a somewhat affecting spectacle ;and we may well understand Kipling’s reluctance toissue his old newspaper work in volume form . But in1900 he decided on this course in order to check theenterprise of the thievish publishers who roved the highseas of literature in search of loot . I t w as an evil daythat forced Kipling, who had written ballads salt withthe brine of the sea, and stories salt with immortal tears,to turn up the files of old Indian papers to present adish made of pepper, mustard, and vinegar, to a criticalpublic . It w as good fortune that sent him to see thecities and learn the temper of many people in his earlydays, but it w as bad luck to be forced to publish theimpressions of youth many years afterwards . The franticgrabbing for the saleable goods,

” the task alwaysbefore him of turning these impressions into readablematter at so much a column for English people in India ,deprives this work of much of the author’s magic . Ofcourse the compulsion of having to serve up chunks oflife Without much reflection w as not without itsadvantages ; it kept the raw material in his mind, andgave him a great store to draw on and work up into thefinished product of such volumes as Kim or “ TheSeven Seas .”

In the two volumes comprising From Sea to Sea,which might be called Kipling’s Odyssey, there is the

H 1 I I


real ism of the penny dreadful as well a s the reflectionsof an elegant writer, with all the airs and graces of proseat his command .

At times Kipling seems to take a fiendish delight inmorbid, bizarre and repulsive detail . The interviewwith the undertaker at Omaha , in which Kipling dwellsupon the mysteries of embalming the dead, is fitter forthe columns of the P olice Budget than a noteworthyvolume of travel . The general impression producedafter reading these nightmare notes is one of disgust

,

and it reads no better for being garnished with a vulgarand flashy scholarship . Again, take the description of

pig- sticking and the shambles of Chicago : the mixtureis worse than medicinal, and cannot be taken without agrimace .

He leads us through the slums of the City ofDreadfulNight in the company of the Calcutta police, and shows usa herd of fighting

,drinking swine running down a steep

place to their doom . The material in this chapterimpresses the reader with one idea : that it is a terriblething to be a journalist how it must warp the soul of aman to bring to every petty adventure the journal isticeye, ever bent upon the business aspect of them ; whata distorted vision of all things must in the end abidewith him .

What shall be said ofKipling’ s sketch ofhow he struckChicago

,and the description of how the cattle are killed

in that city i I t is alarming, indeed, suddenly to chanceupon such a plutonian nightmare, and I defy the lord of

dreams to send any more ghastly death-dance to hauntour mortal sleep .

Kipling as the painter of such blood scenes oweshis success to the fact that , while we had at that timethrust personal physical warfare almost out of our own

lives, there was still enough primitive hellishness inus to leave us fascinated with the recitals of torture .How far cattle-slaughter is a legitimate subj ect for1 1 2


he is a loafer . Nothing more can be said of him,and

nothing worseAn Arabic proverb from his New Army in Trainingexpresses his point of view of the shufflers who failed tolend their strong arms in the Great Adventure in Franceand Belgium

To excuse oneself to oneself is human ; but to excuse oneself to one’schildren is hell.

Like Pitt and Disraeli, Kipling sometimes has feltdespair as to his country’ s habit of muddling through .

In these fits of hopelessness he forgot all about art andliterature, and turned his attention to preaching. Hefelt that he must preach . His eagerness to weld allparties into a definite British idealism received rudechecks, but the j eers of the mob did not weaken hisconvictions . Somewhere in the soul of every man,however unecclesiastical his inclinations may be, there ishidden a surreptitious desire to preach to his fellowcreatures . The temptation to fall upon the shirker andthe excuse-maker

,and scourge them with the heat of

his rhetoric,becomes irresistible . The tendency to preach

had always been with Kipling : we find it in Departmental Ditties in the passionate protest of his poemCleared,

” and the note of the homilist became markedin the “ Jungle Books .” Kipling’ s sermons were forgedwhite hot on the anvil of conviction, and they wereimmediate and vital in their appealThere is a phrase used by Kipling 1n another connexion

which might well be applied to his Muse. I t is “ Awatertight

,fireproof, angle- iron, sunk-hinge, time lock,

steel face er'

mind -nothing extenuating, nothingashamed of its e iefs, ofwhich the chief is that at thelast great fight of all

,Our House will stand together and

the pillars will not fall .”

Yet he is alw ays conscious of the tragic bill we have1 14

F R O M S E A T O S E A

had to foot for our Empire . This mind that has a t onceso much common sense, and so deep a sense of honesty,knows full well the tragic cost paid by our conq uermgrace

Ijblood be tbeprice of admira lty ,

If blood be tbeprice of admira lty,

Lord God, weba’

pa id it in

In the above lines there is nothing soothing. We feelthe pathos of such sacrifice

,but Kipling goes further,

and in his j ubilant song he teaches us to feel the grandeurof it . Who could suggest an approved alteration inarrangement or diction in that noblest of poems A Songof the English ” ! What music

,pathos, maj esty, and

triumph What solemn dignity of recitative AsHolbrook Jackson has written

In spi te of his austeri ty and his undoubted sense of responsibili ty,patriotism for him is but a new w ay of spelling romance . Imperialism is

the grea t adventure, the Empire a new Avalon .

Kipling published a volume of letters of travel in1920. The first series appeared in Tbe Times in 1 892 ,and the book finishes with Egypt of the Magicians

,

”

which w as printed in Na sb’s Mag az ine in 19 1 3. The

dates are a matter of some interest to the Kipling student,

for the earliest letters may be compared with those writtenin Egypt, in order to determine if the Mr . Kipling of

1 892 , with his barrack-square Attention ! (1

your eyes ! ’ style, is preferable to the settled farmerof Pook’s Hill in Sussex . I think that since Kipling hasbecome law q y seized and possessed of the charmingold house and land in the vale between Burwash andBrightling, he has g ot a firmer grip on things , and agreater power of handling them . The dishes of pepper

,

mustard and vinegar which form the impressions of hisyouth are bright,

” smart,” and snappy

,

” and are

1 15


relieved by many things finely observed, but at the sametime they are narcotic . They may be taken 1n small doses

,

l ike newspaper poison or tobacco, in order to divertour attention from the poorness of the beer on thedinner table

,but to take the letters From Tideway to

Tideway in a lump is perilous . I t would have much thesame effect a s though a man smoked forty fat Persiancigarettes and sipped forty glasses of araki . But it is acurious fact that any work of Kipling’s that suggests hisearly violent vitality is still looked upon by many as hisbest . I read most of the reviews of this volume

,

and it was the short,sharp, pithy style of his early work

which the reviewer picked out for our consideration .

Some of the newspaper nibbles are here quoted thatthe reader may j udge the prevalent attitude of thePress on Letters ofTravel.

The sailor in port is the only superior man. To him all matters rareand curious are ei ther “ them thing s or them o ther things .

”He

does not hurry himself, he does not seek adj ectives o ther than those whichcustom puts into his mouth for all occasions ; but the beauty of li fepenetrates his being insensibly till he gets drunk , falls foul of the localpolic eman

, smi tes him into the nearest canal, and disposes of the questionof treaty revision w i th a hiccup.

Once upon a time there was a murdererwho g ot offw i th a life-sentence .What impres sed him most, when he had time to think, was the frankboredom of all who took part in the ri tual .I t was just like going to a doctor or a dentist, he expla ined. You

come to ’em very full of your affairs, and then you discover tha t it’s

only part of their daily work to them. I expect, he added, I shouldhave found i t the same if— er— I ’d gone on to the finish .

He would have . Break into any new hell or heaven, and you willbemet at its well-worn threshold by the bored experts in a ttendance .In Madeira once they had a revolution which lasted just long enough

for the national poet to compose a national anthem,and then was put

down. All that is left of the revolt now is the song that you hear on thetwangling nachettes, the baby-banjos, of a moonlight night under thebanana fronds at the back of Funchal . And the high-pitched nasa l

refrain of i t is Constituci-oun

All thing s considered, there are only two kinds ofmen in the worldthose who stay at home, and those who do not. The second are the mostinteres ting.1 16


amber-coloured complexion and her Oriental blood . Butthe tyranny and cruelty of the East is there always .It is alarming, indeed, suddenly to chance upon half

a dozen Cairo damsels seated about a table at a bigpigeon shoot placidly smoking, and gambling on thewholesale slaughter of the birds . I t is the tiger-instinctof the East in such women that allows them to lookupon these things with hard, bold eyes, and come awaywithout a tremor of pity for the maimed and flutteringpigeons which strew the enclosure .The dramatis persona: of the “ Arabian Nights to

be met with in the old Arab streets of Cairo seems tohave touched the Oriental side of Kipling, and rekindledhis affection for his brothers of the “ flowing trousersand slack slipper .” After an afternoon in the streetsof the undiluted Orient

,where everything is worked

according to the upside-down methods of the East ,Kipling found himself saying, as perhaps the dead saywhen they have recovered their wits

,Thi s is my real

world again .

”

The fantastic doctrine that what has to be will be,the teaching of the land of the Sphinx that forbids allunseemly haste, impresses Kipling all the while, and hesums up this attitude Easterns lean and 1011 and squatand sidle against things as they daunder along. Whenthe feet are bare the whole body thinks . Moreover, itis unseemly to buy or do aught and be done with it.Only people with tight-fitting clothes that need no

attention have time for that .”

There is one word used by Arab, Jew or Britisher,from Alexandria to Constantinople, which is the epitomeof the faith that salaams to the wheel of inevitablenecessity . Maalesh

” is the word . Its literal meaning, ifit is possible to translate it into the Western equivalent,is never mind ! ” You hear that word on the lips ofBritish soldiers in the Barrack Square a t Kasr-Rl-Nil, inthe bazaars at Damascus, in the Mosque of Omar at

1 1 8

F R O M S E A T O S E A

Jerusalem . Mothers whisper it to children, and childrenlisp it back to mothers, and old men, who, like Macbeth,have gun to weary o’ the world,

” mutter it as they fallto sleep, and forget to wake again . Maalesh ! No

matter !I will conclude with one passage from a “ Winter

Note Book ” that is an extraordinary skilful piece of

writing. I t is an impression ofwind and snow in Canada .Consider the way the travail of the wind-besiegedwooden barn is suggested

At the worst of the storm there is nei ther heaven nor earth, but onlya sw izzle into which a man may bebrew ed. Distances grow to nightmarescale, and that which in the summer was no more than a minute’s bareheaded run,

is half an hour’s gasping struggle, each foot won betw een thelulls . Then do the heavy timbered barns talk like ships in a cross-sea,beam working ag ainst beam. The w inter’s hay is ribbed over wi th longlines of snow-dust blown betw een the boards, and far below in the bytethe oxen clash their horns and moan uneasily.

”

Ah ! Those barns that talk like ships in a cross-sea !Yes

,that is perfection of description and compression,

indeed There is magic in that .

1 19

CHAPTER VII

THE publication of Kim marks in every way thefinest and fullest output of Kipling’ s maturity . In pointof expression and thought it is, perhaps, a greaterachievement than the “ Jungle Books .” CaptainsCourageous ,

” The Light that Failed, and TheNaulakha ” cannot be mentioned in the same breath .

Kipling had at this time reached the zenith of his fame .In 1 899 he w as famous . In 1 892 he flung, w ith lavishgenerosity, the treasures of his genius into the lap of thereader of Barrack Room Ballads .” After that theworld continued to gasp at Kipling for some years . Hehad absorbed India . Wherever the English speech wasSpoken or read his poems and stories had taken a highplace . There was not a hill-post in India nor a town inEngland Where there was not a coterie to Whom RudyardKipling w as a familiar friend and a bond of union . InAmerica he had also an equal following, in many regionsand conditions .Yet his complete novels had fallen a little flat .whencompared with his short stories . Some spiteful criticsput the question, Can Kipling hold his own as a novelwriter ! ” They asked why his short stories were so

much more satisfactory in the w ay of art and why hecould not master the architectonics of the novel TheLight that Failed ” had been labelled in some quartersThe Book that Failed The Naulakha,

’ it had beenpointed out, contained all the baser forms of journalese,

1 23


and Captains Courageous had met with pointedand definite criticism , not only from the fishermen of

Gloucester,Mass . , but from literary men . I t was

hinted that the preacher who wrote the Recessional,

”

the author of the wonderful Jungle Books,” the dreamer

of dreams with a genius for guessing the true meaningsof them ,

could not produce a great novel . That he wasunable to combine things seen and could not give a longstory that inevitable continuity and vital rotunditywhich turns a succession of episodes into the Whole ofLife . But such reproaches were soon wiped out, forKipling deliberately accepted the challenge of thecavillers . He answered his critics with a courteous andalluring document . The answer is Kim,

” and I fancythat Kipling could not have made a better one. I t isnot easy to determine whether the record of the SecretService of India be fact or fiction, history or parable

,

fairy tale or sermon . But it must be admitted that itis a subj ect eminently suited to the author’s talent ; hehad lavished on it his best workmanship, and was no

doubt greatly aided by his father, Mr . Lockwood Kipling.

The characters taking part in the “ Great Game aredrawn with a careful and loving pen . The Babu

,

Hurree Chunder, is a marvel, though Kipling, with hisinstinct for heightening the effect of this portrait

,has

made his contrasts a little forced ; the Babu requiressub-tones and Sidelights on his delightful personality .

But the Lama is the most benign and lovable figure inthe book ; into this character the author has pouredthe depths of his sympathy . The Afghan horse-dealer

,

Lurgan,The Healer of Sick Pearls, and The Woman

of Shamlegh,”who i s said to be Lispeth of Plain

Tales from the Hills,

” are, too , all characters to whom

we are sorry to say good-bye when the book is finished .

Kimball O ’Hara— commonly called Kim— is an orphan,

the offspring of an Irish soldier who died of Opium anddrink . The child is stranded and alone in India , and

1 24


his wisdom with lavish generosity on all and sundrywhom they meet . As they wander in leisurely fashion,Mahbub Ali makes use of Kim to carry to Umballa aclosely folded tissue paper . When he has delivered thenote to Colonel Creighton, the head of the service, hehides outside the house, and, by a j udicious use of hiseyes and ears

,discovers that the message is a call to arms

for the purpose of putting down a rising in the north .

Kim was no ordinary boy, and after mixing with theFa quirs in Lahore city for thirteen years he understoodthis information might prove to be of great value to

him . The Lama and Kim resume their journey, andthe latter soon turns his information to good account .Kim copied the bearing and manner of the cleverFa quirs, and went about prophesying a great war withguns and redcoats . He gave the exact number of troopswhich were to be used, as he had heard it when he hidat the house of Colonel Creighton . In India

,where

every rascally soothsayer and j uggler is worshipped as ag od, Kim is looked upon as a being from the

“ otherworld .

” When his prophecy turns out to be true andthe troops are sent north, Kim

’s name is commonbazaar-talk. He is regarded as a priest of the gods .Kim is eventually thrown across the path ofhis father’s

old regiment . He sees the red bull on a green field,”

which is the regimental badge,and he is fill ed with

curiosity . The regiment claims him, and he is sent tobe educated . Kim proves to be a difficult subj ect, andthe chaplains first of all herd the little Friend of theStars with the drummer-boys for his instruction . Butthe Lama— who is a learned doctor of a lamassery, andalso a man with means— offers to pay the expenses ofhis ekela that he may g o to one of the best schools . Inany case the regimental school would not have held theuntamable Kim . So he is sent to St . Xavier’s College,a great Roman Catholic seat of learning. As the boygoes he meets the Lama in Lucknow

,and a most touching

1 26

K I M

parting takes place . The old man is sad and very wearythe glamour ofhis pilgrimage seems to have vanished

for the moment . He turns to his wonderful little cbelaand mutters : Dost thou love me Then go, or myheart cracks . I will come again . Surely I will comeagain . The boy passes into the college, and theGates ofLearning shut with a clang.

Colonel Creighton and Mahbub— the two doughtyplayers of the Great Game -have been keeping aneye on Kim, and decided that he is suited in every wayto become a player in the Game . The boy is thereforesent from St . Xavier’s to the house of Lurgan to receiveinstruction . Here he is taught to j udge a man’scharacter by his talk and manners, to scientificallyobserve and memorize all things about him, and to scoffat all kinds of danger. Lurgan possesses an amazingknowledge of the sorcery of the East, and Kipling useshim as a medium to display to the reader a method ofmagic that has been employed in India from a remoteperiod . The scene in which a native vessel full of wateris shattered into a thousand pieces, and afterwards builtup to its original form without showing a blemish, is afascinating fragment of writing. For the solution of

this mysterious occurrence onemust dip into the secretsof crystal gazing. Kim hurls the j ug, and it is dashedinto many pieces . There is no doubt about this ; it isreally broken . Immediately after the crash Lurgan bidsKim look at it, or rather, at the largest piece, which lay,with water in its curve, in the sunlight . The boy gazesintently, while the man uses hypnotic influence in orderto detract his mind from the surrounding impressionsof the external world .

Look ! I t is coming into shape, says Lurgan .

I t is s imply a matter of crystal vision Kim is crystalgazing, only the usual glass Sphere or polished crystal isreplaced by the sparkle of water in the fragment of

earthenware . The subconscious contents of the boy’ s

1 27


brain are now in action, and are producing day-dreamsor hallucinations .

Look ! It is coming into shape, insists Lurgan .

The obj ect that Kim has centred his thoughts uponhas disappeared

,and he is lost in darkness he will now

see anything that Lurgan orders him to see.

Historically, crystal-gazing is one of the most ancientbranches of magic . We have only to g o to the BritishMuseum to glean an idea of how widely it has beenpractised . The seers of ancient Greece and Rome usedcrystals

,the mirror, or an inky pool of still water . The

uncanny art has been, and in some cases still i s, practisedin Egypt, Assyria, Persia , India , China , and Japan . I tsurvives among the natives of Australia and Madagascar

,

and in the sixteenth century many exponents were to befound in England and the Continent who, we are told,were neither Charlatans nor fools, but learned men of

note .

” The famous Doctor Dee ( 1527—1608) was anotable adherent to this branch of sorcery, and hisshew- stone is still to be seen at the British Museum .

Kim is thoroughly tested,and gains the praise of one

of the cleverest of the secret service men,Babu Hurree

Chunder Mookerjee. As an apprentice in the Intelligence Department, Kim rejoins the Lama , and is allowedto g o with the holy man upon his quest for the riverthat Sprang from the arrow of Gandama . Finally Kimhelps Hurree Chunder to trick and put to fl ight twoRussian spies . It chanced that the wheel of fate hadbrought the Babu into the regions across the huddledmountains of the Sewalik range

,where Kim and the

Lama had wandered . Here,by accident or perhaps

design, the Babu met with two foreigners— a Russianand a Frenchman— surveying the territory and occupiedm a mysterious political plot .Hurree Chunder offered his services to them,

and atthe same tune adroitly cursed the British and all theirways . It d1d not take R. I 7 of the Ethnological Survey1 28


camp chattels and private property he contemptuouslythrew down a precipice . The Lama is much distressedto think that he has been the cause of violence, andsadly retraces his s teps to India .The excessive strain which falls on Kim in ministering

to the sick Lama almost breaks his health, but both atlength reach friendly shelter .After many j ourneys

,the: old Lama ends his search for

the River of the Arrow in a manner in which tears andmerriment are equally forced upon the reader . AS theend approaches he is much perplexed, and even thewonderful Spectacles given to him by the curator of theWonder House do not enable him to find his river .But a canal (which to his imperfect vision seems to be theriver of the quest) attracts him , and he manages to fallinto it, only being rescued with much difliculty byHurree Babu . The darkness and shadows fall aroundthe saintly yellow man, and he is bound by illusions .The parting scenes between him and his cbela are fullof pathos, and the beautiful prose in which Kipling hasframed the scene has almost the conviction of finepoetry .

Thou hast never stept a hair-breadth from the wayof obedience . Child, I have lived on thy strength, asan old tree lives on the lime of a new wall,

” says theRed Lama .“ Thou leanest on me in the body

,

” replies Kim,

but I lean on thee for some other things . Dostknow it iYes, we may be certain that the Lama knew . Hemay not have guessed the many parts he had uncon

sciously acted in the Great Game . But the reader willnotice that his last thoughts were for his faithful cbela .

As his soul drifted towards the deliverance from theWheel of Things he had said : “ I shall have safeguarded him through the years .”

Then with a smile the saintly Lama crossed those1 30

K I M

hands,which were like carved ivory, and the River of

the Arrow gushed forth at his feet .He had arrived at that stage in which his soul w as

free from every vestige of delusion and malevolence .

Such a man returns no more to this world . His welfareis accomplished, his salvation won . In the abundantliterature of the Buddhist movement, whether in thegenuine suttas of the Tripitaka or the ancient tales of

China and Thibet, many stories may be traced in whichit is told how holy men have attained to the highest inthis life . Here is an example to be found in Mahapara bibbana Sutta

And from immediately after his ordina tion the venerable Subhaddarema ined alone and separate, earnest, zealous, and resolved.

And erelong he atta ined to tha t supreme goal—Nirvana, the higher life— for the sake ofwhich men g o out from all and every household ga in and

comfort, to become homeless wanderers yea, that supreme goal did hehimself, and while yet in this visible world, bring himself to the know ledgeof

,and continue to realize and see face to face. And he became conscious

that b irth w as at an end, that the higher life had been fulfilled, that allthat should bedone had been accomplished, and that after this present life(to which he had attained) there would benone beyond i t.

Again, the effect of the breaking of those chains whichbound the Lama to the illusory life, is told in Sir EdwinArnold’s beautiful interpretation of the fifth book of theBhag avad

-Gita

But for whom tha t darkness of the soul is chased by light, splendid and

clear shines manifest the truth as if a Sun ofWisdom sprang to shed itsbeams a t dawn .

Him medi tating still, him seeking, wi th him blended, stayed on him,

the souls illuminated take tha t road which has no turning back— their sinsflung Off by strength of fa i th . Wbo will may bave tbis lig bt wbo barb it

I l l ! .

He had found his river— yes— but why Because hebelieved in it ; because he was true to it ; because hewaited for it, and recognized it when it came . Kimis a song of life and h0pe, but it is a prayer of the maturer

1 31


spirit : Lord forgive our transgressions punish us forfoolishness, and preserve our dreamsKim

,the hero of our story, remains behind, and, as

he is so very young when the book ends, it is to be hopedthat we Shall one day meet him again in a new volumeof adventure . The rakish Mahbub has had little chanceas yet to seriously try his hand on the boy, and FatherVictor may be also waiting to instruct him .

Of all the characters in the book the Lama is best . Heembodies all those excellent qualities that make thetruly lovable man— reverence, gentleness, pity, andres ignation . In the sanctuary of the old Lama’ s heart,there is the flower of pity which shimmers eternally .

To few people,and but seldom, is it given to feel the

ecstasy of being utterly alone with the sun and earth asit was given to the Lama . Richard Jefferies, in thatwonderful prose poem The Story of My Heart,

” tellsof the joy that is more permanent than our errors andmore sure than our illusions— the joy of the sense of

utter loneliness,when the earth held him, and pressed

him, and spoke to him,and he felt an emotion that was

as if his whole life were poured out in a prayer . Of theLama, Mr . Cyril Falls has written in his s tudy ofKipling(Martin Secker) He is no knight ofGod setting forthto attack wrong, no valiant soldier leading the battleagainst the legions of Evil . But the holiness ofMadamede Guyon and of Fenelon, the doctrines of Quietism,

which were in effect those of some of the most veneratedsaints of the Catholic Church

,and notably of Saint

Teresa, and not very far from him . If the reader isinterested in religious movements

, or in the evolution of

a soul— an Irish soul at that — brought into contact withChristianity, Hinduism, Islamism,

Buddhism,and the

mysterious harmonies of nature, he will find ample foodfor reflection in this volume . .The arguments whichtake place between Bennett

,the Puritan chaplain

,and

Father Victor, are full of quiet humour and suggestion .

1 32


originally a people highly hospitable to strangers . Thismore natural sentiment was, he remarks, weakened bydread that Buddhism would be destroyed and replacedby Christianity with the influx of foreigners . TheTibetans also feared that the B ritish sought their goldmines

,and were rejudiced against us on account of our

subj ugation of India . The Government of China,robably prompted by some secret policy, warned thegibetans not to Open their gates to the British . But wemust remember that the Chinese have often renderedgreat services to the Tibetans in repelling their foes, andin 1 792 a Chinese officer made a wonderful forced marchwith his troops over many lofty passes to expel theGurkha invasion .

Mr . Edmund Candler, in his book“ The Unveiling

of Lhasa,” says that the Lamas appeared to him to be

gross and sottish, and few could be compared to Kipling’s

gentle old Lama in Kim .

” Most of them,

” he says,showed cruelty and cunning in their features, some werealmost simian in appearance, and looked as if they couldnot harbour a thought that was not animal or sensual .They waddled in their walk

,and their right arms

,

exposed from the shoulder, looked soft and flabby,as

if they had never done an honest day’ s work in theirves .”

S ir Francis Younghusband, in a vivid description of

the Jo Khang Temple,! has pointed out that dirt is

excessively prevalent within this building, and the smellof putrid butter used in the services is very offensive .

The candlesticks, vases, and ceremonial utensils, are ofsolid gold and of beautiful design . The original templewas built about A .D . 650, but has been added to fromtime to time, and now stands a confused pile without

India and Tibet : A History of the relations which have subsistedbetween the two countries from the time ofWarren Hastings to 1910 ;wi th a particular account of theMission to Lhasa of (JohnMurray,London,

1 34

K I M

symmetry,and devoid of any single complete archi

tectural idea .” The stone pavements have been wornby the feet of innumerable pilg rims,who for a thousandyears have wandered from far-off lands to prostratethemselves before the benign and peaceful Buddha .

Here, in the far recesses, the profound booming of greatdrums

,the chanting of the monks, the blare of trumpets ,

the clash of cymbals, and the long rolling of lighterdrums w ith masterly rhythm, break in upon the audience .Sir Francis Younghusband says that it was not until hecame to see the people at a service in this grotesquecathedral that he found the true inner Spirit of theTibetans, or at least the source from which they drewthat Spirit . I t appears that the monks express all moodsof joy and sadness in their deep rhythmic droning of

chants, and the throbbing and growling of drums . Bythe drum the Tibetan hypnotizes his audience andhimself.The n ak-pas

,or miracle workers, the descendants

of theo

Lamas who made magic, are supposed to possesshereditary secrets and are held in great awe. Sir FrancisYounghusband pointed out that the Tibetans showedsuch practical faith in the efficacy of the charms of thesemiracle-workers

,that they rushed right up to the rifles

of our troops, believing that our bullets could do themno harm . Of all the Tibetans Sir Francis Younghusband met

,the Ti Rimpoche— Chief Doctor of

Divinity and Metaphysics— more nearly approachedKipling’s Lama in Kim ” than any other . He w as

full of kindliness,and presented each of the English

ofl'icers with an image of Buddha,remarking that when

ever he looked upon an image of Buddha he thoughtonly of peace, and that he hoped that whenever theylooked upon it they would think kindly ofTibet .The original of Kipling’s Lurgan Sahib was Mr.

A . M . Jacob, a j eweller of Simla , who had an almostuncanny knowledge of precious s tones . The following

I 3S


extract from Tbe Times , January 17 , 192 1 , gives someSidelights on his strange personality

Mr. A. M. Jacob, Kipling ’s Lurgan Sahib in Kim,won his way

from slavery to fame and immense wealth, but d ied in obscuri ty and

poverty at Bombay at the ageof7 1 . Mystery surrounds the orig in as wellas many features of his career. Hewas generally beli eved to be either a

Polish or Armenian Jew, but claimed to be a Turk, and was born nearConstantinople. Hewas of the humblest origin, and when 10 years old

was sold as a slave to a rich pasha, who, discovering the boy’s uncommonab ili ties, made a student of him. He thus acquired the foundation of

his wide knowledge of Eastern life, language, art, literature, philosophy,and occul tism, which in later years made him a g reat influence at Simlaand a most valuable helper of the political secret service. On g ainingmanumission on the death of his master in early manhood he made thepilgrimage to Mecca in disguise and worked a passage from Jeddah to

Bombay, where he landed wi th hardly enough in his pocket for his nextmeal. He soon obtained a clerkship to a g reat nobleman at the N izam’

s

Court in Hyderabad, and a year or two later a successful deal wi th a

precious stone led him to go to Delhi, where he set up a business in thisline. He rapidly made money. Not finding suflicient scope there, heremoved to Siml a . His unrivalled knowledge of precious stones g avehim a remarkable clientéle of the highest in the land. Hewas endowedby nature w ith a wonderfully handsome face and form, and there wasabout him a compelling magnetism, and power and mystery, which ledto his being sought for conversation and advice by viceroys and princes.

Belvedere, his Simla home, furnished in the most lavish Oriental styleand filled w i th priceless ornaments, was thronged by a succession of

notable visi tors. Yet his own hab i ts oflife were ascetic almost to the vergeofsternness. Hewas a vegetarian, teetotaller and non-smoker. AViceroyis reported to have said of him that he lived like a skeleton in a j ewelroom.

”As a matter of fact, his deepest interests were in philosophy,

as trology, and the occult. His miracles astonished his gues ts, and

even the late Mme. Blavatsky had to admit his superiori ty in providing atwill supernatural phenomena .

The collapse ofhis fortune, according to him, was as follows. Hearingtha t the Imperial diamond was for sale in Eng land, he went to thelate Nizam of Hyderabad and ob tained an offer of Rs. 46 lakhs. Heob tained Rs. 20 lakhs on account, and finding that he could ob tain thestone for less than Rs. 23 lakhs, he at once paid the amount. Mr. Jacobalways alleged that i t was owing to a personal intrigue ag ainst him thata high dignitary in Hyderabad, acting for the Government of India,brought pressure to bear on the Nizam, whose finances were at thattrme in an unsatisfactory state

, to renounce the transaction. Mr. Jacobwas sued for the return of the Rs . 20 lakhs, and was criminally indicted1 36

CHAPTER VIII

TALE S OF HORROR AND TERROR

The occult world The House Surgeon An outline of thestory The Return of Imray Bertram and Bimi The

Mark of the Beast .”


on to doom . Kipling can write the fascinating taleof terror as well as any writer, but he seems to be ableto get the authentic shudder without falling back on

Jekyll and Hyde trimmings or Edgar Allan Poeflavourings . The fact is, he has seen that hysterical exag gerations are as unconvincing as barefaced falsehoods . Thusit will be noticed that the “ ghos t in “ The HouseSurgeon ” is no more or less than a sinister influencewhich seems to attack the nerves of those who come inconflict with it .It is as well to give a brief synopsis of this story, since

the s ilence,atmosphere, and depth ofit are a great contrast

to the heedlessness and vehemence that are so usual inhis work. The narrator of the Story is asked to spendthe week- end at the house of a retired fur merchant

,

M‘Leod by name . Holmescroft, a large two-storied,

low,creeper-covered residence, w as not exactly haunted

,

but intermittent waves of an intolerable Oppressionswept over the whole household, which consisted of theowner, his Wife, who is a Greek lady, and the daughter,Miss Thea M‘

Leod . The sinister influence whichseemed to induce depression and even appalling terrorwas not a new development of neurasthenia or the latestthing in nerve degeneracy

,for from the first moment

after the narrator had been conducted to his room atHolmescroft, he felt a terrible depression, and quiteinexplicably his heart sank . There was an odour of

perfumed soap which made the room rather close, andin an attempt to open the window to let in some air, thenarrator came very near to falling out . With a wonderfultchery of words, Kipling makes us realize the possi

bility and truth of the story, and we live in a world of

fantastic terrors . The unseen terror first of all startswith a little grey Shadow which seems to float at animmense distance in the background of the brain . ThenKipling tells of a gloom and darkness which growsswiftly and envelops the narrator, finally terminating in1 42

T A L E S O F H O R R O R A N D T ER R O R

a spasm of extreme dread . The description whichfollows of an amazed and angry soul ” dropping gulfby gulf into the great darkness, is really a marvellouspiece of work . Here again we notice that Kipling hasthe grasp

,and the continuity, and the completeness in

the psychology of the abnormal, which he often lacks inthe psychology of the normal . He is always clever inthe vivid delineation of strife in mental moods some ofhis phrases in this Story are ideal masterpieces of psycholog ical analysis— witness thi s

“I dwelt on this speculation precisely as a man torments a raging tooth with histongue once more I heard my brain, which knewwhat would recur, telegraph to every quarter for help,release or diversion .

” Note, too, the fine description of

the terror working in the mind of the narrator after theS inister wave of darkness had passed over him . Afterthe heat and oppression of his mental strife, he felt thathis soul cowered at the bottom of unclimbable pits .”

We may forget the pity and the laughter in Kipling’ss tories

,but the horror will be remembered . We do not

easily forget the terrors of Jean Valj ean wandering inthe sewers of Paris, nor Carker’s ride in the night, northe loathsome details of the man affl icted with madnessin The Mark of the Beast .”

But to return to the outline of the Story . The narratormakes a compact with the M‘

Leod, owner of the house,to follow up the trouble, and if possible lay the ghost .Kipling’ s characterization ofM‘

Leod is rather blurred,

and this character’ s constant useof the lingo ofCockayneis needlessly j arring, especially when it is mingled withcunningly ordered words which ring with unmistakablegenius . We are rather tempted to imagine that M‘

Leod

with his eternal ain’ t it ! ” would frighten any selfrespecting ghost out of his wits . This rather remindsus of Oscar Wilde’s story, The Cantervill e Ghost,” inwhich an American buys an old English house with aghost three centuries old, and gives the said ghost so

K 143


many painful American experiences that the poor thingdies from moral shock .

Baxter,the solicitor for the Misses Moultrie, from

whom M‘Leod purchased the house, is approached ,

and we are introduced to a man who at first appea rsto be narrow-souled and joyless, and one suspects thathe had tasted of much bitterness . But later on welearn that he is a man with Splendid qualities . Beinga cousin of the Misses Moultrie, the narrator is ableto extract from him that one of the sisters had mether death through a fall from one of the windows ofHolmescroft, and that the two living Sisters had con

stantly brooded over the affair, which they looked uponas a case of suicide and consequently a family disgrace.Their minds being concentrated upon the house, andparticularly the room from which the sister had dashedto her death

,the M‘

Leods had felt the presence of theconstant application of their thoughts . This , with thespirit of poor dead Aggie forlornly wandering abouttrying to explain that her death-fall from the windowwas a pure accident

,had caused the house to be cursed

with blasting gusts of depression .

”

The narrator is able to explain to the living sistersthat their sister had w ithout doubt fall en from the

window in attempting to open it to get some air, andadded that he had nearly met the same fate at that verywindow at Holmescroft . The story concludes with anaccount of a visit to Holmescroft by the Misses Moultrie,during which they become convinced that they hadmisj udged poor dead Aggie . Henceforth they would beable to think about her without Shame or sorrow. Thuspeace is restored, and the great shadow is lifted fromthe shoulders of the M‘

Leod family .

This story was originally published in Harper’

s Mag a

z ine in two parts during September and October, 1909 ,with illustrations by F . Walter Taylor . It is reprintedin Actions and Reactions ,

” and is concluded with some

144


space above the ceiling-cloth of the bungalow, where hehas ascended to poke out some snakes .With that instinct for heightemng the effect of a

story,Kipling causes Imray’ s body to Shoot down upon

the table j ust after dinner, but then the author hasexplained that unpleasantness arrived ” to Strickland,as to dinners to ordinary people .

”

Bahadur Khan, a servant, confesses to the murder ofImray

,whom he said had bewitched his child . The

simplicity of Bahadur Khan’s defence of his action isexquisite : He said he was a handsome child andpatted him on the head, wherefore my child died .

Wherefore I killed Imray Sahib in the twilight .” Everytouch in this story gives j ust the very message it wasintended it should, and by a deft arrangement of thevery simplest elements

,Kipling leaves a magic which is

above that of Spirits — the magic of the artist .Everything which is morbid seems to attract Kiplingin proportion to its morbidity. In some of his stories heseems to have little sense of what is decent, or, indeed,perhaps it would be more correct to say he has apassion for what is not . Bertram and Bimi isprobably the most loathsome story he has given out fromhis pen, and only rendered endurable by the obvious factthat it is surcharged with Kipling’ s astonishing cleverness .In this story a German— Hans Breitmann— relates

how Bertram, a French naturalist, who has specialized inapes , tamed an orang-outang named Bimi, who livedwith him like any human being . The animal has beenso indulged and petted by the Frenchman that when hetells Breitmann that he is going to marry a pretty halfcaste French girl, the latter advises him to kill themarvellous ape, who might be dangerous if j ealous .Bertram makes game about his friend’s notion . Aftermarriage he neglects the animal

,which in a fit of j ealousy

bursts through the ceiling of a room in which the halfcaste girl has locked herself, and tears her limb from146

T A L E S O F H O R R O R A N D T E R R O R

limb . This seems quite gruesome enough, but Kipling,continuing in this strain

,

“ sets the gilded roof on thehorror by describing how Bimi sits at the samedinner-table as Breitmann and Bertram,

with hair on

his hands, all black and thick with— with what haddried on his hands . Bertram then gave the apesweetened Wine and water till he w as stupefied, afterwhich he kill ed the beast with his hands, and subsequentlysuccumbed to wounds himself . Breitmann returns aftera walk to find the ape dead and his friend above him .

Breitmann“ laughed little and low ,

” and seemed quitecontent .Why in the world didn’ t you help Bertram instead

of letting him be killed ! ” Hans w as asked . And hereplied, It w as not nice even to mineself dat I Shouldlive after I haf seen dat room w id her hole in the thatch,and Bertram

,he w as her husband .

The Specta tor called this story detestable, andanother critic said it w as a symptom of unruly imagination .

” But the truth is there is little imagination to

speak of in Bertram and Bimi,” and if one did not

know that it came from Kipling’ s pen we might say itwas a symptom of unstrung nerves . The fact is thatthis is not a tale of an imaginative genius or a disorderedbrain, but simply a story by a very clever man, wholoves making people’ s flesh creep . Possibly the homicidalape in The Murders in the Rue Morgue ” suggestedBimi, and there certainly are traces of Poe’ s thoroughlyunhealthy and crapulous genius throughout the wholes tory . But it does not lend itself to inspiring topics inc r1t1c1sm .

But Poewas not standing at his elbow when he wroteThe Mark of the Beast .” This was written byRudyard Kipling himself, by that man who looked atlife with huge and perilous curiosity, who has given to

most un-English thoughts a splendidly English dress ;who has j ust missed being one of the greatest poets ;

147


who has j ust missed being a mystic . The Specta torremarked that this story was matchless in horror andterror .” These words may seem rather extravagant,but after reading this story we are bound to admit thatKipling’s power in the blood-curdling narrative isundeniable . Perhaps it is unwholesome and unnatural,and the symptoms of unruly fancies, but it is a masterpiece of vivid description .

It is Kipling’s way of presenting the story rather thanthe tale itself that makes the flesh creep . Even thosewho are simply bored by his more or less fevered revelhngin the loathsome details of a man stricken with hydrophobia, can appreciate the subtlety and firmness withwhich he pursues the thread of the story . Here is theoutl ine of it . A reveller in company with Strickland of

the Police and the narrator, returning from some placeof entertainment, slips away from his companions andenters the temple ofHanumann

,the Monkey-g od, where

he affronts the keeper of effigy by grinding the burningbutt of his cigar into its forehead .

“ Mark of theB-beasht ! I made it . Ishn

’t it fine he says .

Instantly the people of the temple are roused to

frenzy, and things look very threatening for Fleet , who,muddled with drink , is sprawling on the floor of thetemple . A Silver Man without loin-cloth, a leper aswhite as snow,

” Springs towards the Sahib,throws his

arms about him and nuzzles his faceless head upon

his breast . After this the crowd opened before the1ntruders

, and they return in peace . Strickland looksupon the sudden calming of the people as a bad Sign .

They should have mauled us,

” he remarked .

Next morning Fleet discovers a mark like the rosetteon the hide of a leopard on his breast . He demandschops—bloody chops— for his breakfast

,and devours

them with all the mannerisms of an animal . When hegoes to the stables to inspect the horses the animals areat once seized with a frenzy of fear they reared and148


window to answer the call of the Thing out in thedusk. They bind him with the leather punkah-ropes,and he snarls at them like a wolf . A doctor is called inand certifies that the man is dying from rabies . Nothingcan save him : the doctor can only pronounce that heis dying fast : without can be heard a mewing like themewing of the she-otter. This mewing seems to goadFleet to fresh paroxysms of madness, and his s trengthbegins to desert him . Foam issues from his month aftereach fresh attack.The tell-tale mewing of the Thing outside leadsStrickland and his friend to lie in wait by the door .After a terrible struggle they catch the Silver Man, whois dragged into the room where Fleet is dying. Thelatter twists and doubles up as if he has been poisonedwith strychnine . They bind the leper, and Stricklandremarks : “Now we will ask him to cure the case .The barrels of a gun are thrust into the fire to heat, andafter a few minutes Strickland seizes them with a towelwrapped round his hand . Kipling says that whatfollowed is not to be printed . However, the Silver Manis forced to remove his evil spell

,and Fleet falls asleep .

The leper is then allowed to go. This seems to be theweakest part of the story, since Kipling has ascribed to

the Silver Man certain occult powers : once free, hewould not fail to use them upon Fleet again . The lepershould have been shot .When Fleet wakes next morning he has no recoll ection

of his doings since he “ mixed his drinks last night .”

The intervening day is lost to him . But when he camedown into the dining-room he sniffed

,and remarked to

Strickland “ Horrid doggy smell you shouldreally keep those terriers of yours in better order.”

150

CHAPTER IX

THE SOUL OF SUSSEX

Markl ake Wi tches Sussex Wi tches: Puck H ill and old Mollythe Wi tch The E ttrick Shepherd The King’s Task In

dependent and stubborn Sussex spiri t A Burwash iron-founderand Wealden astuteness The very old ’

nu The Sussex Farmerand poor simple Satan Old FarmHouses Kipling and Chesterton“ An Habi tation Enforced Dymchurch Fli t PhariseesAll the fairies’ evidence Brookland Church A legend of a

b ell-tow er Shepherds A true Sussex rustic, and some passagesfrom his li fe An odd-fashioned woman and her burial Beer and

Gala Days Bread and Beer at Sussex Funerals Henry Fitzherbertand his w ill The Flint Man The Sheep are the P eople !Fri endly Brook My Son

’s Wi fe .


Many are the stories of Sussex witches that have fromtime to time been circulated, but I do not think there isany stranger story than that related to me, some years ag o,by the aged sexton ofBurwash Church oneevening 1n thesmoking-room ofthe Bell Inn, which stands opposite .The sexton’s tale was to the effect that a large hare

which haunted this neighbourhood had on numberlessoccasions baffled the hounds, or carried off

, unhurt,incredible quantities of Shot . One luckless day it crossedthe path of a party of keen Sportsmen, near Puck Hill, whofollowed it upwith great determination and fired severalrounds with the usual want of success . Before re

linquishing the chase, one of them, who considered theanimal as something beyond an ordinary hare, suggestedthe trial of s ilver bullets, and, accordingly, Silver coinswere beaten into slugs for this purpose . The hare wasagain seen, fired at, and, this time, wounded, thoughnot so effectually as to prevent its running round thebrow of the hill

,and disappearing among the bushes .

In searching for the hare, they discovered instead old

Molly, a village witch, crouched under a shelving rock,panting and flushed by the long chase . From that dayforward She had a limp in her gait .The counterpart of this story appears in the notes tothe Ettrick Shepherd’s Poems . A boy there offers toStart a hare if the sportsmen will give him a guinea andthe black greyhound to hold . The guinea was paid anda hare started, but the hounds were baffl ed and gaveup the chase, when one of the party suddenly cut theleash which held the black greyhound . At this mischancethe boy lost all caution and all recollection, and cried out,Huy, mither, rin ! hay, rin, ye auld witch, if ever yeran 1’ your life rin

,mither

,rin

Rudyard Kipling has seized and set out in an arrestingand vivid manner the independent and stubborn spiritof the sons of theDowns and Weald in his poem TheKing’ s Task

154

T H E S O U L O F S U S S E X

After tbesa ck of tbeCity, wben Romewa s sunk to a name,I n tbc years wben tbeLig bts weredarkened, or ever Sa intWilfrid came,Law on tbeborders ofBrita in, tbeancientpoets sing ,Between tbeclifi

'

and tbeforest tbereruled a Saxon king .

Stubborn a ll werebispeople, a stark and ajea lous bordeNat to bescbooled by tbecudgel, sca rce to becowed by tbesword

Blitbeto turn a t tbeirpleasure, bitter to cross in tbeir mood,And set on tbeways of tbeir cboosing a s tbebog s ofAndred

’s Wood.

Many people look upon this particular form of Sussexstubbornness as stupidity

,

” but the countryman oftenwins through in his slow way. Indeed, among the quiet ,laborious people of the country-side, busy amid thedoings of nature, one often finds more wisdom to thepeck than among whole cities full of cleverness andmoderni ty . Apropos of Wealden astuteness, there is atradition that a particularly griping furnace master atBurwash (who built the house where Rudyard Kiplingnow lives) promised his men Christmas fare as long asthe oak-log lasted .

” The Sussex furnace men, who

were always able to take care of themselves— for all theycall it Silly Sussex— laid their heads together, sought outthe biggest

,gnarliest oak upon the estate, cut a huge

log from it, soaked it in the little Dudwell down byWilling ford Bridge for a week, then rolled it in triumphto Batemans, and laid it behind the firedog s . There ithissed and fumed and spluttered for a good fourteendays —until two nights after Twelfth Night some sayin spite of all the ash Sticks, faggots, and dry twiggy woodthe master of the old manor house piled upon it . Agrim old Sussex fellow was the iron-founder, and he didnot wink an eyelid, and being wagg ish withal, he saw thehumour of the situation, and rewarded his men for thusoutwitting him with a great supper and an extra measureof ale all round . But he did not mention the log . Thatwas Sussex Seely Sussex for everlastin’

A firm belief in “ the very old ’um,

” as a real and

I SS


ever-present personage, was at onetime a most distinctivearticle of the rustic creed . I feels bad and yet I can’ tsay bow I feels,

” an old lady would say to her neighbour.“You depent on it, clear, that

’s that ’ere old Satana- trying of ye,

” the sympathising friend would reply.

However, one popular story of the “ very old ’um

,

which throws a little light on the Wealen formationofhuman nature is too good to pass over .Once upon a time Satan asserted a claim to a field

which had been hitherto in the possession of a farmer ;and after a great deal of disputing, they came to anarrangement by agreeing to divide its produce betweenthem . At seed time

,the farmer asks “ the old ’

nu”

what part of the crop he will have, tops or bottoms .Bottoms ,

” said the Spirit upon which the crafty farmersows the field

'

w ith wheat, so that when harvest arrivesthe corn falls to his share, while the poor man ” isobliged to content himself with the stubble . Next yearthe old ’

nu,

” finding he had made such an unfortunateselection in the bottoms, chose the tops ; whereuponcunning Hodge set the field with turnips, thus againoutwitting the Simple claimant . Tired of this um

profitable farming, the Devil agrees to hazard hisclaims on a mowing-match

,thinking that his super

natural strength would give him an easy victory ; butbefore the day of meeting

,the cunning earth-tiller pro

cures a number of iron bars which he stows among thegrass to be mown by his opponent ; and when thetrial commences , the unsuspecting Satan finds his progressretarded by his scythe coming into contact with theseobstacles , which he takes to be some very hard— veryhard— species of clock . Mortal hard docks, these, saidhe ; Nation hard docks His blunted scythe soonbrings him to a standstill, and as, in such cases, it is notallowed for one to sharpen without the other

,he turns

to his antagonist, now far ahead, and inquires, in a toneof despair,

“ When d ’ye wiffle-w affle (whet) , mate !”

156

R U D Y A R D K'

I P L I N G

! Nowhere,” but he cannot be regarded as the Man

without a Country, for the lot has fallen to him in“ a fair ground— Yea, Sussex by the Sea .” Kipling’sworship of England is of a distinctly ritualistic type, anddispels at once Mr . Chesterton’s confl icting remarks thathe is naturally a cosmopolitan,

” and that he displaysa lack of patriotism . Such verse as the author has givenin his beautiful tribute to Sussex in The Five Nationsis more than love for Eng land, it rises to passion . Theverses are wreathed with Sussex incense and starred withSussex tapers . There is a little-known letter written byKipling to a motoring friend, which shows the authorto be an infatuated admirer of rural England

To me i t is a land of stupefying marvels and mysteries and a day in

the car in an English county is a day in some fairy museum where all theexhibi ts are alive and real and yet none the less delightfully m ixed upwi th books. For instance, in six hours I can g o from the land of theIngoldsby Legends by way of the Norman Conquest and the Baron ’

s

War into Richard Jefleries’ country, and so through the Regency, oneofArthur Young’s less known tours, and Celia ’s Arbour,” into G ilbertWhite’s terri tory. On a morning I have seen the Assizes, j avelin-men and

all,come into a cathedral town by noon I was skirting a new-built convent

for expell ed French nuns before sundown I was wa tching the ChannelFleet off Selsea Bill , and after dark I nearly broke a fox’s back on a Roman

road. You who were born and bred in the land naturally take such triflesfor granted, but to me i t is still miraculous that if I want petrol in a hurryI must ei therpass the place where Sir John Lade lived or the garden whereJack Cade was killed. In Africa onehas only to put the miles under andgo on ; but in England the dead, twelve-coffin deep, clutch hold ofmywheels at every turn, till I sometimes wonder that the very road does notbleed. Tba t is the real joy ofmotoring— the exploration ofmy amazingEngland.

Yes, I still think that England holds a very foremostposition in Kipling’s affections . The little details incountry life and in nature attract Kipling surprisingly

,

and we find in his “ An Habitation Enforced ” how

George Chapin, American multi-millionaire, feels the

call of the 0 d Country .

Chapin, an overworked and broken-down American,158

T H E S O U L O F S U S S E !

and his wife Sophie are the principal characters . Thedoctors have just informed him that his nervous complaintwill end in a speedy death unl ess he stops work at once .At the moment when he is stricken down with thismalady of the soul, his career had j ust reached theculminating moment when he w as going to break upall opposition, and rule the greater part of America withthe iron hand . Thus, by the interception of the divinej anitor, he is cheated of his plunder . The doctors ’

command must be obeyed,and Chapin and his wife set

out for Europe . They can find no rest for their soulson the Continent not even the enchanted gardens ofItaly can hold them, and the millionaire still yearns forthe traffic and barter of the market-place . They seeeverything that is to be seen ; they go everywhere atthe bidding of guide-books and fellow-travellers ; onlyat last 1n England, in a village l n the southern counties,do they attain that peace of the soul which all along theyhave been seeking. So the millionaire, who has beenaccustomed to the boldest operations on money marketsof the world, is bewitched by the Old Country . Hebecomes a simple English country gentleman, loving theslow and quaint workings of the village mind . And here

,

in the quiet old world, all the good things of life whichthe bustling new world denied them , came to their aid— health, rest, and parentage . They have returned asStrangers : they shall remain as sons .” Indeed

,the old

house which they have purchased has an eternal allurement, for it seems that, led by a star of accident, theyhad found the very estate that was once owned by theirforbears . As I have hinted, a son is born to them,

andthus does an old rustic lecture the sometime financieron the distinction between the temporary and theenduring. It is a discussion over the building of abridge across a brook 1n the Gale Anstey Woods . Chapinis in favour of the New York slapdash way with a fewpine planks , but the old farmer remarks

I S9


You can ut up larch and make a temp’ry job and

by the time t e young master’ s married , it’ll have to be

done again . Now ,I ’ve brought down a couple of as

sweet six-by-eight oak timbers as we’ve ever drawed .

You put ’em in,an’ it’s off your mind for good an’ all .

T’other way he’ll no sooner be married ’ave

it all to do again .

Mr . I . S . Cobb, in the New York Evening P ost, tellshow Kipling takes a great pleasure in the trivial littleobj ects and customs of rustic life— those simple thingsthat are best of all .“ On a walk after lunch, Mr . Cobb remarked the

number and the tameness of the pheasants, and the littleEnglish robins .“ Ah ! you know birds,

” said Kipling. I don’tknow birds so well, though I

’m fond of them . I wishyou would stay until after dinner,

” he went on,

“ I ’dlike you to hear a nightingale that comes every eveningto our garden . I know all the popular illusions aboutthe nightingale ; but the truth is, he

’ s a blackguardwith a gift ofmusic in his throat that he can’ t controla noisy swashbuckling blackguard of the garden . Hecomes here at night and he proceeds to abuse all hisenemies for all he’ s worth . I t’ s feathered profanity ina disguise of harmony, and he gets so worked up over it,that he finally ends in an inarticulate gurgle .On a walk in the garden they came upon a mason

adj usting a grape-vine trellis in a concrete block aboutfive feet below the surface of the ground .

“Do you see how substantially he’s doing that ! ”

said Kipling.

“ That should be interesting to anAmerican, who is used to seeing things done in a hurry .

But here in Sussex they build for the ages . Once Iasked a man why he ploughed so deeply

,and I asked this

mason why he went as far as five feet down for hisconcrete foundation when two feet or three feet woulddo, and they both made the same answer— a phrase that160


trespass into Kent . Brookland lies about nine miles tothe north of Lyd in a country of many waters, and itwas in the shadow of the picturesque old village treesin the midst of a hot June night that the rusticcaught sight of the face of his ghostly love

Sbeonly smiled and sbenever spoke,Sbesmiled and went away

Butwben sbe’d g

‘

onemy beartwa s broke,And my wits was clean a stray.

Brookland Church has a unique steeple, or threestoried bell tower of massive timber, Standing detachedon the north side . A legend has been related to meregarding the situation of this steeple on the ground .

A group of hard-headed Marshmen, after much hagglingand baiting

,induced a local builder to erect a steeple

to their church at a starvation figure . The builder was sowrathful over their stinginess that he determined to

carry out his revenge . He built the tower on the ground ,and when the structure was completed he went to thecommittee and demanded payment . But we want thesteeple on the church

, not on the ground,” said the

spokesman . A smile overspread the builder’s face .Certainly, but you must pay extra . I contracted tobuild the tower, but no mention was made abou t

po sition .

” But not another penny would they pay theuilder, and so the tower was left upon the ground tillthis day.

Hobden, the rustic character, introduced by Kiplinginto “ Puck of Pook’ s Hill ” and other stories, is awonderful portrait . Just such a man is old Lilburn, andit is interesting to compare him with Kipling’s picturesof bygone Sussex life and manners . I spent some dayswith Lilburn last summer, and I came to the conclusionthat there is something in the blood of the Sussex manwhich is untouched, unalterable— the accumulation of astubborn and dominant Spirit throughout the ages .162


My friend is a shepherd in the upland district a fewmiles north-west of Bexhil l-on-Sea . From Hooe toRomney Marsh the Sheep are the chief animate obj ects,and this district is nearly as famous as the South Downsfor its flocks . From the earliest times the smugglers whosmuggled wool out of the country, contrary to thestrict penal laws against the exportation of fleeces

,were

more important even than those who smuggled goodsinwards and they had a Special designation too. Theywere owlers . Old Lilburn would not call himself ashepherd .

” Shepherds in this part of Sussex are calledlookers .” When the agricultural labourer of thisdistrict takes up with ship ” he announces : “ I bea-going a-lookering ,

” lookering being in fact a varietyof shepherding peculiar to these surroundings, and theduties of the looker require expert understandingof the marsh country as distinct from the Downs .His ancestors have lived in a certain cottage at Hooe

for two hundred and fifty years,and during all that time

rent has been regularly paid, which is to say the valueof the house has been paid for ten times over . And yetduring the last few years when high food prices made hislife a terrible struggle for existence he would not leaveit, for every stone of the walls, every crack in the pavedfloors

,Speaks to him of the dead . When one enters hi s

ancient cottage down a couple of steps,one sees and

smells antiquity. A Georgian table stands uneasily on

the sloping floor like a modern guest who has droppedin and does not feel at home . The ceiling beams scowldown at this piece of furniture as though anything madewithin the last two hundred years is a mere impertinence .What are two hundred years to beams which have beenin position many centuries, which had grown to maturityin the great Sussex forest long before the polecat, buzzard,and eagle had become extinctLilburn has always seemed to me to be a type of the

best Sussex rustic now living in this locality— of poverty

163


ennobled . Upright, dignified, an enthusiast over old aleand old songs, he never grumbles or dwells upon thegloomy side of things, although his lot might seem, if aman’s life consist in the goods and gear he possesses,hardly better than the sheep he watches .His theology ! It is very like the pantheism of our

poets . “ If the earth does not call me home is oftenon his lips . He has the spirit of place in his soul, andthe true spirit of place may have something in it almostof consecration . Anyway

,if he has no vivid Spiritual

experiences,he has a remarkable sense of what is right

and fitting . Before his fire a grand specimen of theEnglish setter dog sprawls in one corner, and a longdog (greyhound) S its daintily in the other. When theWar forced food prices up, his wife obj ected to theseanimals on the score of expense . Why not exchange’em for a good pig she asked . There would be j ustabout some sense to that .” Fancy saying that to thesort of chap I be

,

” chuckled old Lilburn,and he took his

stick and pretended to look along a g un. Lowering hisvoice to me as he related the story, he whispered, Iwon’t use the word as I did use

,but it w as not fit for

fancy-talkin’ . Da rn you, woman I can’t g o poachingwith a pig !Many minor interests crowd to my mind when I take

up an old Sussex guide book . The very names of thevillages are full of charm and phantasy. There is Ticehurst, the wood of the fairy or nymph Tys , and exceeding ly mysterious, too

,is the raking sound of the

waves on the shore at Bulverhythe, which surely foretellsa storm . The fishermen say they hear Bulverhythebells,and the Stranger who comes into the county must hearthe sounds and thrill

, for if he hears them not he willdepart the stranger he came . The monastery Wilfredfounded at Selsea Isle w as submerged

,and here again

from under the sea rises mom and noon the sound of

bells , and we may as well believe it as not . Things have164


and will-power . Not so the Sussex rustic . He loves hisale, but he is of a certain temper of mind which goes tomake up the ideal beer-drinker . He has in his soul thatamalgam of contemplation, philosophy, content whichis a benediction in these days in which the pose point ofview

,and the smart

,cynical, sophisticated attitude is

everywhere about us. The Sussex man drinks his alewith great deliberation, and any night you will see himat the inn

,smoking, throwing biscuits to his dog , and

taking slow draughts of his ale, until his thoughts glidedown to the centre of all ideas, the Idea ofContent .Nor is the ceremony of wetting the baby’s head atSussex christenings an extinct thing. AS for the funeralmeats and drinks, the custom of providing them is stillkept up

,and possibly the peculiar attachment of the

lower orders to attending funerals may be a kind of

hereditary habit engendered by these entertainmentsprevalent for so long a period . Some interesting and1nforming Sidelights on the custom of bread and drinkat funerals are to be found in some of the ancient willsof the country people . I t is touched upon in the will ofHenry Fitzherbert, dated 1551 . He was a member ofan old Sussex family, one of his ancestors having beenlord of the manor of Sherrington, while another wasmixed up in the fatal sporting affray in Sir NicholasPelham’ s park at Hellingly

,where one of the knight’s

servants was killed . For this affair young Fitzherbert,Lord Dacre, and others were put upon their trial

,and

though his associates were acquitted, all the efforts of hisfriends could not save the young peer from the scaffold .

In this will the testator, having given directions for thedisposal of his body, orders twenty shill ings to be givento the poor at his funeral

,together with “ a bullock

price xvi ' and brede and drynke while for the Spaceof ten years on the anniversary of his burial his executorsare to distribute twenty shillings to twenty of the poorestpeople in Ringmer, and the same in the parishes of

166


Cliffe and Glynde, “ and a penny a piece upon GoodFriday.

”

Thi s is Kipling’s Sussex— Kipling’ s England . So hesees it, and as he believes it will continue to remain . Thesoil i s not a thing that lends itself to financial speculation,or to exploitation to the advantage of the owner . Thecharacter of the Flint Man in “ The Knife and theNaked Chalk,

”who helplessly tries to explain why he

paid such a terrible penalty for the Magic Knife to

guard his land, is the same as Chapin in An HabitationEnforced,

”who falls gradually under the influence of

his estate in Sussex .

I t is our land,” says Chapin’swi fe. Wecan do wha t welike with it.”It

’s not our land. We’ve only paid for i t. Webelong to i t, and i t

belongs to the people . Our people, they call ’em.

In their love for the land long generations of menseemed to have combined to make, as it were, a wondrouspoem, a drama ofman

’s life of consummate workmanship .

By the Great King s of the Chalk ! ” cries Puck to the Flint Man,

when he sees that his right eye has been gouged out, was tba t your

priceI t was for the sheep. The sheep are thepeople, said the Flint Man

in an ashamed voice. What else could I have done

Rather the land is a legacy of responsibility— a thingwhich holds and possesses the owner, calling upon himfor s treng th and patience and sacrifice. I t demands allthe traditional excellence in a man’s character, and thedead, twelve-coffi n deep,

Wberebeaves tbc turf in many a mouldering beap,

are always whispering, questioning, and encourag ing.

We are vassals of the land, and the land is very Wise andknows those who are worthy and honest of intention, as

167


Kipling has explained at length in his allegorical narrative,Friendly Brook (A Diversity of Creatures) . The wayin which our land and we are interfused and are part ofthe same thing constantly finds an echo in Kipling’swork, and one turns almost instinctively to such apassage as

His dead a re in tbe cburcbyard— tbirty genera tions la id.

Tbeir names went down in Domesday Book wben Domesday Book was made.

And tbepa ssion and tbepiety andprowess of bis lineHaveseeded, rooted,fruited in someland tbc Law ca lls mine.

The virtue of the land appears as a panacea for alltroubles in the story called My Son’ s Wife .” Midmore

had suffered from the disease of the century Since hisearly youth, and before he was thirty he was heavilymarked with it . He and a few friends had rearrangedHeaven very comfortably, but the reorganisation of

Earth, which they called Society, was even greater fun .

It demanded Work in the Shape ofmany taxi-rides dailyhours of brill iant talk with brilliant talkers ; somesparkling correspondence ; a few silences (but on theunderstanding that their own turn should come soon)while other people expounded philosophies ; and a fairnumber of picture-galleries

,tea-fights, concerts, theatres,

music-hall s, and cinema- shows ; the whole trimmedwith love-making to women whose hair smelt of cigarettesmoke .” Midmore has no respect for the base c on

vention which is styled marriage ” ; his need of selfexpression finds its outlet in other ways .Then by the death of a relative he inherits an estate

in the South of England, and the land begins to cast acharm over him . By degrees he begins to proj ecthimself into the intricacies of English country life, andstretch himself out until he has gained some knowledgeof the strange and only half-articulate mysticism of

Rhoda Dolbie, an old family retainer. The characters

he has always looked down upon in Jorrocks— Dickens168

CHAPTER X

AN IMAL STOR IES

Kipling ’s animal stori es 1 Cats J. Lockwood Kipling on cats“ How the Leopard got his Spots ” Alexandre Dumas pére

and his pet Jerome K . Jerome The Specta tor on Pussy cat

The Crab tha t played with the Sea Wolf-reared childrenWolf-boy at Mission House of Agra Old Man Kangaroo

Quiquern .


cat,however, is not to be attracted so easily ; he is

curious about the humans in the cave, but declares hewil l always walk by himself.” The warm milk and aright to sit by the fire is a constant attraction, but hisindependence will not let him barter his freedom for

comfort . The cat despises the dog who will lick thefoot that kicks him : for straightforward, level-headedreasoning g o to puss . The dog thinks a powerful lot ofmere man— there never was such a clever thing as aman

,in a dog’ s opinion and he takes good care to bark

it to everybody he meets . Naturally enough the CaveMan thought that the dog w as a most intellectualanimal

,and being deluded by his winning manners and

the promise to hunt through the day and g uard thiscave by the night

,

” he allowed Wild Dog the right tomake the cave his home . The Cat w as always creepingaround the cave eavesdropping, which is a way theyhave

,and when he heard the dog surrender his body

and soul for a few roasted mutton bones, Wild Catlooked towards the dog with an expression of disgust onhis face that would have made a travelling actor feelashamed of himself. The cat

, you see, had his own

opinion about Man and Woman as he has ever since hadabout all humans . He does not say much, but you canlearn enough from his manner to make you glad he can

’ ttalk to you . The consequence is that humans put downpussy as an animal without intelligence . Even Kiplingis very scathing about the cat

,and suggests that he is

really incapable of any true affection towards man .

When a cat rubs against its master’s legs and walkssideways, mews and appears to be transported with joy,it is only pretend

,

” says Kipling. After all these signsof affection pussy will run out the front door and stayout till the morning light

,without another thought to

the household ; but the dog“ snores at my feet all

night, and he is my Firstest Friend .

”Allpainfully true, of

course, Best Beloved, but pussy has many good and sterling1 74

A N I M A L S T O R I E S

traits . We must not allow our prej udice to override ourj udgment . For level-headed reasoning give me cats you

can’t fool a cat with soft words the same as you can adog . Pussy 13 admired by learned men the world overbecause of his independence and the secrecy of his ways .Again, cats, like all scholars, are yearners after the

silence of the “ Wi ld wet woods,” and have no fear ofthe darkness ; if they had not been too proud to bearthe yoke, ZEolus would have taken them for his couriersin the night . Richelieu, Joachim du Bellay

,Tasso,

Chateaubriand,Maupassant, Baudelaire and Dumas pére

all adored cats . In fact, nearly all great men have entertained a very great respect for cats .But to return to Kipling’s story of the “ Cat that

Walked .

” The Wild Cat, after the other wild animalshad sold themselves to bondage

,walked up to the cave

to reconnoitre, and he saw the cheery glow of the CaveWoman’s fire

,and he smelt the smell of warm milk.

When the woman looked out of the cave she asked theWild Thing out of the wood what he w as doing on

her doorstep, and told him to g o away. But the craftypussy assumed an aspect of chastened sorrow, and beggedof the woman to give him the chance to show what awise creature he was. The woman agrees to let the catshare the cave

,fire and milk

,if she three times praises

him . Pussy easily wins the first and second word of

praise by soothing the baby, and the third by killing amouse . From that day till the hour he died the WildCat of the Woods w as allowed to drink warm milk threet imes a day

, sit by the fire in a drunken stupor all day,

and wander about the wild wet woods all night .If you watch any cat closely, you will see that from

time to time he will turn deliberately round and laughat you . He is chuckling in remembrance of the joke ofjokes in the cat world ; you can almost read Kipling

’swords on the lipsStill I am the cat that walks by himself, and all places arealike to me.

M 1 75


Generations of devoted cat-lovers in Europe have notbeen able quite to overcome the tendency of the pussyto run wild . Lockwood Kipling says that many agamekeeper tell you of cats which, during the day,are models of saintly propriety, and at night are

“ j ustprowling tigers .” It will be noticed that cats

,tigers

,

leopards, zebras, and giraffes are protectively coloured .

Their whole organization is a perfected mechanism forcatching and killing living prey by a sudden pouncefrom a point of vantage . With a few exceptions thebackground of the coat is a shade of yellow or grey

,

lightened by black markings forming Spots, patches orstripes which render them less conspicuous when creepingalong the branch of a tree, or crouching to spring upontheir prey.

Kipling deals with the old subj ect of the protectivecolouring of animals in “

How the Leopard g ot hisSpots ” (

“ Just So A leopard of a greyishyellowish colour, and an Ethiopian, not then black

,

discover that they are daily experiencing more difficultyin catching their dinners and teas . They find that thegame has gone into other Spots in other words, theanimals they have been in the habit of hunting havegrown so much like their surroundings that it is impossibleto track them down . Thus a giraffe standing in a clumpof acacias is practically invisible a t a little distanceowing to his blotchy coat, which resembles shadows andsunl ight streaming through the leaves . Or

,take the

deer always either spotted with white, the effect of

which also resembles that of the sunlight falling inpatches, or uniformly dark to accord with the denseforests or j ungle which they inhabit .Of course the yellowish coloured leopard and the

Ethiopian can easily be evaded by the other animalsbecause they remain different from their surroundings,so they accordingly proceed to make a little adjustmentin their appearances . The Eth iopian blackens his skin,1 76


Perhaps one of the best examples of the cat’s placidbearing and plain common sense has been noted byJerome K . Jerome

Now,have you ever noticed a dog at the end of a cha in, trying to kill a

cat as is si tting washing her face three-quarters ofan inch out ofhis reachOf course you have . Well, who’s g ot the sense out of those two Thecat knows tha t i t a in’t in the nature of steel chains to stretch . The dog ,who ought, you’d think, to know a durned sight more about ’em than she

does, is sure they w ill i f you only bark loud enough .

Of course the cat provides immediate inspiration fornursery rhymes . In an article on thi s subj ect in theSpecta tor (November 20, a writer offers this noteon

“ Pussy cat,Pussy cat, where have you been !

”

which seems to bear out Kipling’s outlook on the felineworld

The cat, haughty ofmien and dainty ofperson, stalks in at the doorw i tha serene indifference, a superb carriage of head and ta il, which suggestsroyalty at once . Where has the cat been To the very hub of thing s ,surely ; to walk apart wi th princes ; to bring back the air of the palaceto the humdrum farm. Yet the cat, for all her queenliness, must be sentabout her business sheis reminded that her sole real achievement at thepalace was the terri fying ofa mouse . Shemust beput in herplace indeed,shemust beput into thewell . Methods w i th the c at aredirect ; therearemore elaborate treatments of less familiar creatures. The frog, likethe cat, has an air the frog is a g ay fellow who comes to a bad end. Thereis a rakish humani ty about the frog he has hands and feet, and he can beset walking upright, and he has a yellow waistcoat and tight green trousersand a rolling eye he is sent on his voyage wooing, and the duck or thecrow finishes him.

The Crab that Played with the Sea is founded on

the Filipius folk- story which tells of the King Crab tha tlives at the bottom of the ocean in a big hole . The crabis larger than a hundred buffaloes

,and once every day

and night it comes up to the surface,looking like a

The I dler magazine, October, 1 892, Novel Notes.” Illustrationsby Louis Wa in. In this article Mr. Jerome has brought tog ether manyanecdotes of cats.1 78


large island . When it reaches a smooth beach it crawlsup to land, and thus causes the waters to pour downinto the hole, and the tide to fall low on all the islands .When it gets tired of the shore and retires down intoits hole, the waters rush out, and the tide rises .The story of Pan Amma ! — the king-crab— ranges

from Singapore to Torres Straits . The hole he lives inis called Pusat Tasek .

From the Story of Romulus and Remus to Kipling’ sMowgli, legends of wolf-reared children have beencommon in all nations . But the original of Kipling’scharacter may have been the wolf-boy discovered by anAmerican lady

, who saw him at the age of twenty, atthe English Church Mission

,Agra

,in 1 875. This lady

described the strange wolf-boy in a book of travels,which was privately printed some years ag o . At theage of eight he had been rescued from a wolf’s den . Hehad been seen crawling on all fours in the companyof a she-wolf. In the early days of his captivity hehowled like a wolf

,would eat only raw meat, and con

tinned to move about on his hands and feet . It tookyears of infinite patience on the part of his manager toteach him the few words he was able to articulate whenMrs . Frances saw him . At that time he still made hiswants known mainly by gestures and ej aculations, andhis lower jaw was constantly moving. He had a wildlook still, but w as not disagreeably ugly

,

” had becomequite tame

,

” and appeared to the American ladykindly disposed .

”

In the ninth volume of the journa l of tbeAntbropolog ica l I nstitutes there are also some notes on the subj ec tof a man with wolf-like characteristics .Mr . V. Ball, of the Indian Geological Survey, says thatthis man smelt food when it was offered to him beforehe would decide whether to eat it or not, and hid any

MalayMagic, by W.W. Skea t, should be consulted for an accountofP an Amma .

I 79


portion of it left over under the straw on which heslept

.He could not s

peak, but made signs, grunted,

and generally behaved li e a wolf.The sixth of the Just So Stories is a tale about

Old Man Kangaroo . He is called Boomer, has legs ofabout equal size, and is discontented and quite inordinately vain . His pride urges him to g o to the gods andpetition them to make him different from all otheranimals . The Big God Nqong complies and sets YellowDog Ding to chase Boomer into the heart of Australia,by which time the kangaroo’s hind legs had grown so

larg e that he was different from all other animals .In the “ Jungle Book we have beast stories pure and

simple,and animal Stories in which the human element

enters as well ; and I think that Kipling’ s power is dis

played to the best advantage in the latter . The threefirst stories

,Mowgli’s Brothers ,

” Kaa ’s Hunting,” and

Tiger,Tiger ! ” were apparently a development from

In the Rukh — the delightful j ungle sketch which to

my mind is the best in Many Inventions . In thisstory the author tells the reader of Mowgli’s marriage

,

and how the little brown baby born to him is foundplaying with a wolf .I think it is true to say that most of the jungle stories

are allegorical, and charged with Imperial ideals . For

instance, there is the story of a mongoose Rikki-TikkiTavi, which is presumably written with a purpose . Hereyou find Kipling’ s infinite sympathy with the

,animal

(or man) who can do the real fighting. Rikki-Tikkikill s three snakes in succession and thereby saves the lifeof his protector . Rikki-Tikki represents the energeticand honourable English youth

,ready at all times to

defend the Empire from its enemies . Chuchundra, themusk-rat, is the indifferent and selfish slacker who iswaiting to be asked to help . Kipling tell s us that“Chuchundra is a broken-hearted little beast ” thatwhimpers and cheeps all the night . He is for ever trying1 80


Kipling tells us that, like the Spirit Bear, he has severalextra pairs of legs— six or eight— and this Thing j umpingup and down in the haze had more legs than any realdog needed .

The pair to whom this apparition became visible wereKotuko and a girl who had followed him when he left thestarving village, in obedience to a supposed commandfrom a torna g, and with the ho e of finding food in themidst of the most cruel of rctic winters . A clearexplanation is given of a tornaq . Kotuko, the youngInuit who is the hero of the story, one night halted to

lean his back against a boulder . The hunger, darkness,cold, and exposure had told on his strength . He beganto hear voices inside his head, and to see people whowere not there out of the tail ofhis eye .” The boulderagainst which he leaned rolled over

,and as he sprang

aside to avoid it, the stone slid after him, squeaking andhissing on the ice-Slope .This stone was a tornaq— Kotuko w as not certain, but

he thought so. The stories he had heard in his childhoodof a one-eyed Woman-Thing, called a tornaq, whichlived inside a stone

,came to his mind . Perhaps it was

going to follow him and ask him to take her for a guardianspiritThe Angekok, or village sorcerer, helps Kotuko

’s

imagination to frame a veritable message from thetorna its (Spirits of the stone), and the vill age peopleshouted : The torna its have spoken to Kotuko . Theywill Show him Open ice. He will bring us the seal again .

”

But the reader must turn to the story for the ex lanation of the Quiquern,

”for I am reluctant to 10 him

of the pleasure of the unexpected denouement.

As an example of Kipling’s insight into the natures of

animals, or, at any rate, his assumption of it, we must

read his account of the Monkey People .” Before I read

the Jungle Book I had supposed the monkey possessedmtelligence of a high order and was quite capable of1 82


being, if not civilized exactly, tamed to man’s service .Natives always say that baboons and monkeys can talk,but are afraid to do so within human hearing lest theyshould be captured and made to work . But Kiplingspeaks of the Monkey People in terms of completescorn, and when Mowgli talks with the Bandar-log hisfriends Baloo and Bagheera

,become very angry with

him . Listen,man-cub,

” says the Bear to Mowgli .They have no law . They are outcasts . Their way

is not our way. They have no remembrance. Theyboast and chatter and pretend that they are a greatpeople about to do great affairs in the j ungle, but thefall ing of a nut turns their minds to laughter

,and all is

forgotten .

” It must be said that Kipling’s descriptionof the “Monkey People ” seems to be an attempt to

expose and ridicule a certain class of English politicallife . It is a parable much in the same style as TheMother Hive in Actions and Reactions,

” which is aviolent attack on the ideas which are indifferently calledLiberal,

” Advanced,

” and Progressive .” Here is abrief outline of the story of the bees . The Stock of thehive is old and overcrowded, and the wax-moth has laidher eggs everywhere

,spreading ruin and decay and disease

all over the hive,and heretical doctrine amongst the

workers . Where bees are too thick for the comb theremust be sickness or parasites, and after that chaos . Anorder is given to make pillars at the entrance to keepout the Death’s Head moth . But the idea of a Death’ sHeader making an attack upon the hive is viewed as animpossibility by the indifferent and lazy dwellers in thehive. The downy, day-old bees twiddle their thumbs,cough

,and ask,

“ Is not the building of pillars a wasteof wax Do you mean to say that if we trust theDeath’s Head he will attack us without warning ! ”

Are not pill ars nu-English and provocative So in theend the hive becomes full ofwax-moths and oddities

,

”

who hold enquiries and chatter about the joy1 83


of working amidst the merry, merry blossomsand forget all about the welfare and defence of the hive .Then comes the bee-master, and when he sees thatcorruption and muddl e are rife, he takes the hive andcasts it into the fire . In vivid intuition and skill inortraiture this sketch can only be compared withIli/l aeterlinck’s “ Life of the Bee,

” both alike animatedwith the same sympathy, and, perhaps, presenting thesame symbolic significance .As I have already suggested,

“ In the Rukh is thestem from which all the other Mowgli stories ultimatelyflowered . These stories are not directly the outcomeof such sketches as The Walking Delegate and TheMaltese Cat

,

” although his pre-eminence in that literarymodel may have helped Kipling to find his final pattern .

“ In the Rukh has now been transferred to its properlace at the end of the book in which the adventures of£40n are given . After having set before us theimpressions that Mowgli and his brothers of the j ungle,the wolves, made upon two white men in the Departmentof Woods

,Kipling evidently realized that he had only

touched the outer fringe of his subj ect . He saw how

rich it was in its possibilities . The idea urged him to g o

back to a source nearer the fountain head, and tell ofMowgli’s babyhood and j ungle education Without fallingback upon the white man’s civilization for balance andballast to his narrative . There is invention in the earlystory, and a little imagination . But as Kipling broodedover the outline of it after the Story had been given tothe world, the true imagination with all its power cameto him, and with breathless speed and wonder the j ungleand all its inhabitants were flashed before the author’svis ion . That is the true vision, which transcends mereinvention with all its mul tiplied tricks of the trade .It was revealed to Kipling that the j ungle people weregoverned by laws j ust as surely as a bank

,a hotel

,or an

Empire is governed by them . It is this portrayal of the

184

CHAPTER XI

POETRY

Kipling an expander of our languag e The Seven Seas and a

verse from Omar A yearning for wonderful words A songof the guns The Academy quoted George Moore’s remarks

on Kipling Pierre Loti The Puri tan strain in Kipling Thestrenuous life as a cure-all Carlyle re-vitalized A Banjo-BardThe Anchor Song Dana ’s SailingManual A sea chanteyThe Ballad of the Clampherdown The song of the exilesThe Gipsy Trail ” The White Man

’s Burden A reply by

Mr. Georg e Lynch Departmental Ditties Mary, P i tyWomen A corrective note on the poem Veiled arrogance inRecessional Pagett

,M.P .

” “An Unqualified P ilotThe Fires The dreamy endurance of the East Kipling’s

power w i th the short lyric Cities, Thrones, and PowersSea : Music : Poseidon’s Law The Glory of the Garden.


The inspiration for it has been discovered in Omar .The phrase occurs in Fitzgerald’s translation, the thirdedition, forty-seventh quatrain

Wben you and I bebind tbeveil a repa ssed,Ob, but tbe long , long wbile tbeworld sba ll last

Wbicb ofour coming and departing beeds

As tbeseven sea s sbould beed a pebble cast.

Kipling,in answer to ‘an editorial request in T.P .

’

s

Weekly, has put the question of the meaning of thename of his book to rest once and for all . He has givenhis verdict as follows

The Seven Seas areNorth Atlantic .South Atlantic .North Pacific .South P acific.Arctic Ocean.

Antarctic Ocean.

Indian Ocean .

Which Seven Seas include all the lesser ones.

Scrupulous choice and consideration of words is oneof the elements that make for greatness in Kipling’sbooks . Every Story

,every line he writes

,is wrought out

with great labour . Do not think for a moment thatthose wonderful combinations of words

,each conveying

a different and subtle shade of meaning with which hestars that mystical tale “ They

,

”flow from his pen

Without delay or trouble . Those who have tried to

learn the magic of words will tell you there is only one

way of learning— you have only to be very fond of

writing a phrase, a verse or a story over and over again .

Does not even the conjurer tell you the same thing !A young man asked the poet Baudelaire how he couldlearn the magic ofwriting. It depends

,

” answered thepoet,

“on whether you really enj oy reading the dic

tionary.

”So it is of no use longing to be a Magician

of the Printed Word Without longing to work. Kipling,I 9O

P O E T R Y

one feels certain,has brought into his work that spirit

which we in England always prize so highly— a capacityfor sticking to the guns .One might g o on writing indefinitely on Kipling’ s

yearning for and use of strange and wonderful words, asone after another his stories recur to the mind . Onecannot forget certa in of his hrases

,they dwell indelibly

with us . A well -dark winding staircase in the Cityof Dreadful Night brings the required shudder ;a great rose-grown gate in a red wall brings to themind the garden that every man remembers, though hemay have forgotten many things . Kipling also finds theBible a very fertile hunting-ground for phrases, and theharmonious mode of Speech peculiar to the work of theHebrew writers may be often traced in his works . In hisSchool Song Let us now praise famous men -he

has paraphrased lines of that ext raordinary and beautifulchapter of Eccles iasticus .Kipling has many Stylistic mannerisms

,and at certai n

times he is inclined to overstrain the use of the hyphen .

Lexicographers have not given any hard and fast rul eswith regard to the correct use of this Sign, but certainlymany of Kipling’s compounds are unnecessary transgs

ressions, and he can have no excuse for such examples

“ rapidly-filling ,” perfectly-tem ered

,carefully

watched,

” shaved head . Now and3

again we get longdrawn hyphen flashes . Kipling may have acquired thiskind of colloquialism 1n the United States, where it hasbecome an irritating habit with the journalist. Listento the following mannerisms

You’re only-a- little girl ” sort of fl irtation ; We

took it easy that gun-practice . We did it in a com

plimentary‘ Jenny-have-another-cup-of-tea style

painty-w inged, wand-waving

,sugar- and-shake-your

head set of impostors . In “ Just So Stories Kiplingperhaps reaches the very limit of linguistic recklessnessand plays ducks and drakes with word-formation .

19 1


But enough of this ! The obj ect of this chapter wasneither to indulge in a stylistic-philological study of theauthor’s works nor in a list of his errors . It was to tryand discover Kipling’s wonderland of words . Theinstruction one derives from any single volume of

Kipling is incalculable . One of Stevenson’s heroes saidofWhitaker that he acquired more information from thevolume than he would beable to make use of in a lifetime . That is how I felt after reading Kim .

”

Kipling’s enthusiasm for the pageant of modernindustrialism has always been clear to the reader. As aboy he was known to be more inquisitive about thetradesman or the mechanic than his schoolfellows .There are several passages in Stalky and Co.

” whichthrow a sidelight on his predilection for professionalterms . He loves to wallow in the technicalities of anytrade or calling . To bear myself out

,if the reader turns

to Stalky and Co.

” he will find that one of Kipling’sschoolfellows chaffs him for being so filthy technical

,

”

and upon another occasion,when Beetle (Kipling) is

assisted by Stalky and McTurk in the setting up of theSwillingford P a triot, he is requested not to be so

beastly professional ” in his directions to the Staff.

”

Certain of his works are starred with racy Americanisms .One might almost pick out the works which came fromhis pen during his long stay in his Wife’s native country .

I think that period covered from August,1 892, to Sep

tember, 1896. And the books which were writtenduring this sojourn are characteristic of the Americandialect you find it in Captains Courageous,

”

A Walking Delegate,

” Many Inventions,” and most

particularly in the “ Jungle Books .” “My speech isclean and single, I talk of common things

,

” he haswritten in some verses on Canada that is exactly whathe has done, and he has done it in such a thoroughgo ing way that the speech of common things threatensto become involved, especially when he goes to the


Others have wri tten more beautifully, but no one that I can call tomind at this moment has wri tten so copiously. Shelley and Wordsworth ,Landor and Pater, wrote wi th part of the language but who else, exceptWhi tman

,has wri tten wi th the whole language since the Elizabethans

The flannelled fool at the wicket, the mudd ied oaf at the goal,” iswonderful language. Hewrites wi th the eye that appreciates all that theeye can see, but of the heart he knows nothing, for the heart cannot beobserved ; his characters are therefore external, and they are stationary.

Now it appears to the reader of the above passage thatMr . Moore voices the Opinion that Kipling’s work isextremely consistent from first to last ; that the exceptional brilliancy of his impression painting with whichhe burst forth so suddenly upon a j aded literary world ispreserved faithfully in his later volumes ; but, at thesame time

,he does not seem to have progressed in the

deeper thoughts on human life. I think that manycritics will be minded to dissent strongly from Mr .Moore when he says Kipling “ knows nothing of theheart .” There is certainly little ground to support thish othesis, if some of the author ’s late stories be caref y studied ; that the peculiarly ingenious novelties ofMulvaney, Ortheris, and Learoyd should be misunderstood by Mr. Moore is, I suppose, quite natural ; butwhen he has nothing to say about the deep insight of“Without Benefit of Clergy

,

” “ Wee Willie Winkie,

”

and Little Tobrah,”one is forced to protest . Again,

take the story They here Kipling’s almost faultlessartistic instinct enters, and we find in it a wonderful

pirception of the heart of a child ; like the Story of

y Heart by Jefferies, it is an autobiography of thesoul . Later, Mr. Moore makes a comparison betweena certain inner coldness and hardness he finds in muchofKipling’s work with the manner ofPierre Lot1

Onewriter blows his pipe on the hi ll-side, the other blares like a m ili taryband all brass and reed instruments are included in this band. Mr.

Kipling’s prose goes to a marching rhythm,the trumpet’s blare and the

fife’s shr1ek there is the bass clarionet and the great brass tuba that emits

194

P O E T R Y

a sound like the earth quaking fathoms deep or the cook shovelling coal inthe coal-cellar. The band is playing variations but variations on wha ttheme ! The theme will appear presently Listen ! There is thetheme, the shoddy tune of the average man I know a trick worth twoof that .

In this phrase ofDick Heldar,I know a trick worth

two of that,

” Mr . Moore finds not only the condensedrepresentation of

“ The Light that Failed,” but the

epitome and quintessence of Kipling’s creed . The criticwho searches may find

,it is true, reflections of this

phrase in Kipling ; but it is the trick that gives onethe grip on life and a renewed determination to playthe game through .

Kipling’s style has often been likened to that of PierreLoti . Still, it must be admitted that the work of theformer is wider in its scope, and more varied in itscharacteristics than that of the French author . Kipling’stales of Indian life, for instance, exhibit a superabundanceof genuine invention which is totally lacking in thestories of Pierre Loti . While Loti, as a young navalofli cer on foreign service

,was content to write the love

stories of yellow and tawny native Cyprians in a morenatural and piquant manner than his redecessors haddone, Kipling was making a determinecfprotest againstall such outworn literary conventions . In Loti ’s storiesof his amorous adventures in Turkey, Tahiti, Senegal,and Japan, there is, to be sure, a freshness of styleand a certain triteness of expression which one mightconnect with the creator of Mulvaney, but apart fromthat

,the monotony of plot and sentiment is in striking

contrast with Kipling’s glorious field of imaginativepower .Kipling has always obj ected to the interviewer . But

Dr . Kellner, author of the History of English Literature in the Victorian Era,

”was permitted to visit him in

1 898. He summed up his impressions of his vis it toRottingdean in the memorable phrase, To day I have

I 9S


seen happiness face to face .

” Authentic descriptions ofthe inner Side of Rudyard Kipling and his home are soscarce that I venture to draw upon Dr . Kellner’s interview.

The work-room is of surprising simplicity : the north wall is coveredwi th books half its height, over the door hangs a portrai t of Burne-Jones(Mr. Kipling’s uncle) , to the right near the w indow stands a plain tablenot a wri ting-table—ou whi ch liea couple ofpages containing verses. No

works ofart, no conveniences, no knick-knacks, the unadorned room simpleand earnest like a Puri tan chapel.

Dr. Kellner remarks that the old Puritan Strain inKipling probably aided him to keep a cool head in hishour of triumph . I am very distrustful against fame

,

”

said Kipling,very distrustful against praise .

” It is apity that this self-critical and distrustful attitude hasnot been strong in the minds ofmany other great menOscar Wilde

,for example . You know the fate of

eighteenth-century English literature,how many ‘

im

mortal ’ poets that prolific time brought forth, and yethow much of this ‘ immortal ’ poetry Still lives in our

time To name only one— who reads Pope nowadaysI often run over these volumes (here he pointed to theEdition de Luxe ” of his own works) and think tomyself how much of that which is printed on suchbeautiful paper ought never to have seen the light .How much was written for mere love of gain, how oftenhas the knee been bowed in the house of Rimmon(a favourite expression of Kipling’s) .The conversation of Kipling reflects his spontaneity

,

buoyancy of success, love of outdoor life, and exuberantgood health . He understands as few writers have everdone the secret of balance in his work— the balance of

the serious with the humorous,the pathetic with the

merry, ofwork with rest .He knows that ideas do not always come when one

sits down at his desk and cudgels one’s brains,and most

196


For there is a perennial nobleness, and even sacredness, inWork. Werehe never so benighted, forgetful ofhis high calling, there is always hope inaman that actually and earnes tlyworks . In idleness alone is thereperpetualdespair. Work, never so Mammonish, is in communication wi th Naturethe real desire to get Work done w i th itself leads onemore and more totruth, to Na ture’s appointments and regula tions, which are tru th .

These lines almos t define the aspiration of Kipling’s

muse. Work has been saluted by him in the spendid

verse which ends

Ea cbfor tbejoy oftbeworking , and eacb in bis separa testar,Sball draw tbeTbing a s besees I t,for tbeGod of Tbing s as Tbey Are.

Kipling’s God i s the God of the Old Norse SeaKings

,the fighting God, the Lord of the Hosts of

Cromwell, a terribly real and awful Deity, who, nevertheless

,can sympathise with a first-rate fighting man,

and will in the end see that j ustice is done,” writes a

critic in the Review of Reviews .

There are mingled elements in Kipling’s blood,but

there is more of the Puritan strain than anything else .Those who have known the man do not doubt it, and tomy mind at least

,his genius yields the strongest proof of

it in Recessional,” in which he strikes with an unerring

hand the lyre of the Hebrew bard . Man is unto himselfa mystery : by ways strange and undreamed of, acrossthe o

pposing currents of a lifetime

,the soul of a race

wins ack to its own. Kipling remains Methodist insoul, spite of his years in India, spite of his immersion inthe great sea of Imperialism

,spite even of the profane

lang uage of the barrack-room . Oh yes,the pendulum

always swings back and the immemorial claims of raceand blood str1vewithin him for reassertion

God of ourfa tbers, known ofold bewitb us yet.

The Song of the English is as direct, as simple andas forceful as Recessional . Our duty is to hold the

198

P O E T R Y

faith our fathers sealed and to keep the law of our

Imperial mission . Kipling’s modern saint gets into thegame and plays it . The man who endeavours to keephimself unspotted from the world he looks upon asa rogue and a coward . The more we understand life,the better shall we comprehend death is the decisionalways arrived at by Kipling.

Critics have dubbed him the Banjo-Bard ” withcontempt . But after reading The Song of the Banjo,onebegins to realize that this epithet loses all its intendedsting. Here 18 a rare song, i lluminated throughout byflashes of heroic life, sealed by the personality of theAnglo Saxon, and all credit goes to the splendiferousadventurer who can hammer such haunting mus ic out

of the democratic banjo. How all the intolerablehindrances and disappointments of the pioneer flash to

the mind in the line

I bavetold tbenaked stars tbeGrief ofMan.

In some respects the Song of the Banjo remindsthe reader of the spasmodic conversations of Mr . Jinglein “ Pickwick —sudden spurts of thought and fancyand description

,with a gilly-willy-winky-popp for

breath pause,and then on again with the war drum of

the white man round the world .

”

Some of the less aspiring ballads have an excellent g oabout them . Let us take one example from Puck of

Pooks Hill ,” called The Smuggler ’s Song this poemis worthy ofRobert Louis Stevenson .

It 13 not easy to determine the value of such poems a sIf and

YThe Thousandth Man .

” Whatever maybe their faults— and they seem to contain many— as purepoetry, they are charged with a note of materialisticrealism, and urge the high doctrine of loyalty, whichappeals at once to the everyday sentiments of the averageman . Had Kipling been more of an idealist he woul d

I 99


have soared too high over the heads of the people ; buthe knew that one cannot carry soldiers, sailors, colonizers,and codfishers with one in these towering flights withPegasus .In If Kipling preaches a sermon on divine energy.

Life is a bank account, with so much divine energy atyour diSposal . What are you going to do w ith it I f

you can watch the things y ou gave your life to, broken,and stoop and build ’em up with worn-out toolsyours is the Earth and everything that’s in it, andwhat is more—you’ll be a Man, my son

If you canforceyour beart and nerve and sinew

To serveyour turn long after tbey a reg one,And so bold on wben tbereis notbing in you

Except tbeWill wbicb says to tbem Hold on

The question is, then, are you tinctured wi th that dashof persistency that urges you to constantly put forth aneffort to Hold on !

” when all strength but cold willpower has deserted you ! If not

, you are merely acamp- follower .That section of Kipling’s verse which deals withnature and outdoor life must be placed in a division byitself . Some of the poems in which he sings of theg o fever reminds oneof the exquisitely phrased paganglorification of mere existence of Borrow’s Laveng ro

Li fe is sweet, brother There’s night and day, brother, both sw eetthing s sun, moon, and stars, brother, all sweet things there’s likew ise

the wind on the heath . Li fe is very sweet,brother ; who would w ish

to die

Mr . J . De Lancey Ferguson,of Columbia University,

said that so far as the love of out-of—doors was madea subj ect of poetry by Kipling’s predecessors, it wasseldom more than a repeated desire to follow the hayinghounds , or to sport with Amaryllis in the shade . Hepointed out that none of the poets ever mentioned

200

P O E T R Y

what he would do if it were cold or wet, or if the seawere really rough . But Kipling has changed all this

,for

he hunts on new trails . He has hymned the shipengineer and the locomotive driver . He has sung of

the sa ilor’s love of the sea,of the pleasure 1n the bucking,

beam sea roll of a coffin screw-steamer with her loadlineover her hatch, and a shifting cargo of rails . He hassung of the ram-

you-dam-

you liner with a brace of

bucking screws,”

of sealers fighting to the death in afog , of the cattle-boat men who made a contract withGod

, and of the wholly unauthorized horde of Gentlemen Rovers — the legion of the lost ones

,the cohort

of the damned .

The Anchor Song is an ambitious attempt to forcesea terms and words of command to accommodatethemselves to the uses of verse . It will be noticed thatthe instructions given by a master of a sailing vessel ingetting his ship off to sea are arranged in their exactorder in this poem . It should be pointed out thatsome of the words of command which Kipling uses hereare now rapidly passing out of use . I t 13 interesting tonote that The Anchor Song follows closely theinstructions given in Dana’s Sa iling Ma nua l for gettinga boat away.

Many of Kipling’s sea verses are written on the truechantey model. The refrain A—hoy 0 ! To me O !'

n Frankie’s Trade ” i s to be found in many sailorsongs . Some of these chanteys are based on fragmentsof topical song adapted by the musical seaman ; some g oback through the centuries till we find parallels to theirtunes in the glorious sea days of the great Elizabeth .

They often bear with them a rich legacy of nauticalmemories

,and no doubt Kipling has realized that the

indispensable kernel of the true sea song is to be foundin these quaint chanteysI give the following remarkably mournful song, with

a long dragging chorus,to show how closely Kipling has

203


modelled some of his new ballads on the chantey. Itis likely that this onehas lifted the sail ofmany a clipperof the sixties

Tommy’s g one, wba t sba ll I do P

Harrab, Hilo.

Tommy’s g one, wba t sball I do P

Tom’s g one to Hilo.

ToLiverpool, rba t noted scbool,ToLiverpool, tba t noted scbool,Tommy

’s g one to Quebec town,

Tommy’s g one to Quebec town,

Tbere’s P retty Sall and jenny Brown,

Tbere’s Pretty Sa ll andjenny Brown,

A-dancing on tba t stony g round,A-dancing on tba t stony g round,Tommy

’s g one to Baltimore,

A-rolling on tbesandyfloor,Tommy

’s g one to MobilleBay

To roll down cotton all tbc day,He

’s g one away toDixie

’s Land,

Wbere tbere’s roses red and violets blue.

Up aloft tba t ya rd must g o,I tboug bt I beard tbeskipper say,Tba t bewouldput ber tbroug b to

-day,Sbakeber up and let ber g o,Stretcb ber leecb and sbew ber slew,

Onepull moreand tba t will do,Hurrab, Hilo.

Onepull moreand tba t will do,Tom

’s g onetoHilo.

The Ballad of the Clampherdown was one of thepoems that first exhibited Kipling j ust as much a poetof the sailor as the soldier. Perhaps the technical termsare rather bewildering

,and a brief explanation of some

of them may be of interest to the reader

Stays . Wire ropes which uphold the masts and funnels of the battleship.

Make it so.

” The expression of assent used by a naval officer to a

subordrnate.

Ram. The Ram is a part of the machinery of the gun. I t is used for204


power of coining striking phrases that causes even hisdoggerel to pass thoroughly into everyday life . Poetrydoes not always require wisdom of the intellect andscholarliness to be great . Burns, Blake, Keats, Poe,Whitman show how a lack of scholarship is often com

pensated by an intuitive wisdom of heart and emotion .

TheWhite Man’s Burden ” is a song of Imperialism

which is not to be confused with the flaunty Jingoism of

the music-halls . Kipling has put the Imperialist doctrineon the right basis, and in this poem he assionately andseriously formulates the only true moral asis of Empire .

It w as this poem which more than any other did so muchto hearten the Americans to attempt the preliminarycon uest of a silent, sullen people, half devil and halfchil The toil, fatigue, and bloodshed which were thereliminaries of taking up the white man’s burden in thePhilippines, almost disheartened the people of the UnitedStates . But they had to learn that such sacrifices areim osed upon all who would tread the path of Empire .W atever may be said concerning the methods of theStates in shouldering these burdens, we as a nation haveplayed our part . Our share of those silent, sullen peopleamounts to four hundred millions, while the other whitenations of the world wage the savage wars of peacewith only a hundred millions . Thus it will be seen tha teach white man under British rule is responsible for sevenblack or copper-coloured men .

The old Puritan spirit breathes in every line of TheWhite Man’s Burden .

” As the Infinite Drill-Sergeantwho is above all Princes and Kings is the guide of theWhite Man, so must the White Man be the Providenceof the Black People . Needless to say these verses haveprovoked many parodies and replies, in which thepoetasters never fail to inform the public how we haverobbed the sullen people .” One

,which was published

in Concord and from the pen of Mr . George Lynch, iscertainly not lacking in fervour

206

P O E T R Y

Bear we tbeBla ck Ma n’r burden

Ybo J tea ling ofour land! ,Driven ba ckwa rds

,a lwayr ba ckwards,

E’en from our desert rand;

You bring u: your own poiron,Fireliquor tba tyou rell

,

WbileyourMirrionr a nd your Bible:Tbrea ten your WbiteMan

’r bell .

Still more emphatic is the fourth stanza,which ends

with the couplet

Tou ebea t 11: for your profi t,Tau damn urfor your g a in.

A certain section of the people have been inclined tosneer at Kipling as the poet of the music-hall . Onemight as well declare that Mozart w as a composer forthe barrel-organ . But true genius cannot be vulgarized .

Our Viceroy Resigns in Departmental Ditties,

seems to have been written under the immediate andinsistent influence of Browning. Kipling employs theBrowning metres, the Browning involutions, and theBrowning abruptness . This poem contains a clevercameo portrait of Lord Roberts which is said to havevexed the great soldier .I think it must be granted that the Barrack Room

Ballads are an honest and singularly successful attemptto explain Tommy Atkins, as Kipling tells us, both

“for

Lord Lansdowne took the place ofLord Dufierin as Viceroy of Indiain 1 888. Lady Dufferin, in Our Viceregal Li fe in India,” says that onthe Sunday after the arrival of the new Viceroy D . shut himsel f upwithLord Lansdowne and talked to him four hours w i thout stopping .

”Lord

Dufferin w as made Ambassador at Rome after he returned from India ;hence the line “ I go back to Rome and leisure.” I t was his boast thatduring his tenure of offi ce he had annexed a coun try tw ice the siz e ofFrance (Burma) and thus checked the encroachment of the Russians.A grim lay reader wi th a taste for coins, and fai th in sin most men wi thhold from God

,

”of course, refers to Sir T. C. Hope . I t is interesting now

to observe how accurately Kipling foresaw that the then Sir FrederickRoberts would win his way to the Lords by way of Frontier Roads.”

207


our pleasure and our pain .

” Critics from time to timehave attacked Kipling very bitterly for his descriptionsof the Tommy ; they have quibbled and wrangled overthe Kiplingesque coarseness of the slang and held uptheir hands in shocked amazement because the poetdares to give some barrack-room reflections about women .

It is true that the soldier, who like Jack has a girl in everyport, is not strong on monogamy. In The Ladies

,

he says,

“ I ’ve ’ad my picking o

’sweet

’earts and four

0’ the lot was prime,

” and the epitome of the poem isgiven in the line

,the more you have known the others

,

the less will you settle to one.

In Mary,Pity Women ! ” Kipling has attempted to

show something of the misery and burning shame feltby the soldier’s abandoned mistress . But it is to beregretted that Kipling should hint that it is quite inorder that the women should suffer and the men g ofree . Lord Kitchener’s parting message to the Expeditionary Force struck the right corrective note inthis respect . Even the pity for the unfortunate i sgrudged, and Kipling seems to try and cover up thetracks of the transgressor with world-weary cynicismWhat ’s the good,

” What’s the use, &c .

Wba t’

: tbeg ood 0’

pleadin’wben tbemotber tba t boreyou,

(Mary, pity women ! ) knew it a ll beforeyou.

Q Q Q t O

Wba t’: tbeg ood 0’

prayin’

jor TbeWra tb to strike’im

(Mary, pity womenI) wben tberest arelike

’im.

There you have in Kipling’s own words Kipling’s own

idea of men . We sincerely hope that the “ rest arenot at all like the ruffian in “ Mary

,Pity Women

Let us stamp out such barbarous conceptions . Stampit out ! ” Justice cries it. Art echoes it . The qualitiesof a mother are the heritage of her sons . To have astrong and truthful race of men who are afraid of no

208


training. They can hardly be described as elaborateortraits because they all come from the same mould .

t is true that Kipling has expressed in his early poetryand prose a human type, a type that is known whereverthe British soldier is known . But the soldier of to-dayhas left our friends of Barrack-Room Ballads far backin the distance . The men in the trenches of Francewere more thoughtful than the rough-and-ready

,domin

cering, but far from ignoble type Kipling found in Indiaat the end of the last century . This sturdy but awkwardwarrior furnished Kipling with an ideal, and he producedfrom it the utmost emotional value which a commonpla ce ideal can give .

But Mulvaney, Ortheris, and Learoyd have all had theirday, and the almost ever-present coarseness which the

author mistook for vigour needed a check. All greatwriters have a natural delight in coarseness, but inSoldiers Three Kipling gave us j ust a little too muchof it . I cannot find a single private soldier in Kipling’swritings who is not illiterate . This is a mistake . Therewere to be sure thousands of Tommies in 1 885 who

mishandled their Queen’s English, but there were manywho could write well and think well too. ThomasHardy, David Christie Murray, Archibald Forbes wereall common or garden Tommies in their time . So

Soldiers Three only gives us a certain type of soldier,doubtless a faithful portrait of that type

,but Kipling has

not attempted an accurate description of the vari ousmen 1n the average reg iment .Kipling’s Deity is the terrible and real “ Jehovah

of the Thunders,”who can sympathize with men who

can put up a good fight, or sing a roistering barrack song.

There is perhaps a suggestion of arrogance in his writingsan idea that we are the Lord’s chosen people and thatHe has smote for us a pathway to the ends of all theEarth .

” Observe the veiled arrogance in certain linesof Recessional,

” in which he hints that our battleline2 10

P O E T R Y

is no small affair but a far-flung array, which isqualified to control the destiny ofhalf the universe . Mark,too, his naive admiration for the greatness of Empirein one of his happiest lines in which he speaks of Do

minion over palm and pine .

” The last three word scarry the reader’s mind in instantaneous sweep acros sour territories from Canada to Ceylon .

In an editorial note,under the title of The Truth

about ‘ The Recessional,

’Litera ture (April 1 3, 190 1 )

gave the following interesting facts about Kipling’ sfamous verses

So many accounts of the way in which Recessional reached TbeTimes have been published on the very best authori ty tha t i t may be

as w ell to d ispose of them by the publication of the follow ing letterwhich enclosed the MS .

DEAR

Enclosed please find my sentiments on things—which I hope areyours. We ’ve been blowing up the Trumpets of the New Moon a

li ttle too much forWhite Men, and it’s about time we sobered down.

I f you would like it,it

’s at your service—on the old condi tions

tha t I c an use i t if I want i t later in book form . The sooner it’s inprint the better. I don’t want any proof. Couldn’ t you run i t to-nightso as to end the week piouslyI f it’s not your line, please dropme a w ire.

Ever yours sincerely,R. K .

The poem was published the next morning. Mr. Kipling was askedto name his own price, but absolutely declined all payment.

Now and again Kipling sounds a whimsical note .

He has unfolded in a most startling fashion the wonderingamazement of the Hindoo brought face to face with theWestern religion and The Man of Sorrows

l

Wba t Gods aretbeseYou bid meplea se

TbeTbreein One, tbeOnein TbreeP Not soTo my own g ods I g o.

I t may betbey sball g ivemeg rea ter ease

Tban your cold Cbrist and tang led Trinities.

2 1 1


in Departmental Ditties is one of

the most successful Anglo-Indian poems . I t has beenmentioned in a quarter that should be well informed,that the late Mr . W . S . Caine, M.D . , w as the originalof Kipling’s character . Mr. Caine was, however, onlyone of a number ofM.P .

’s who did India and wrote

books about their travels, and certainly his book on Indiawas far from being the wors t of its kind . The thingthat seems to annoy the Anglo-Indian, is that a man whois merely a tourist should dare to pose as an authorityon subj ects any oneofwhich might well occupy a lifetimeand leave the learner difiident at the end . The behaviourof the native-born American, who spends a few weeksin England with a guide-book, and then goes home towrite a book on London life, is excusable beside that ofthe travell ed idiots who profess to have mastered in afour months’ visit all the religious and political problemspresented by India .Anglo-Indians have ever been known to inveigh againstKipling for immaturity of j udgment : the Eng lisbmanof Calcutta attacked the story An Unqualified Pilotwhen it appeared, remarking that the author had veryevidently primed himself by reading the article on theHugli in Hunter’s Gazetteer.

“ The Fires ” was printed by way of a preface to

Messrs . Hodder and Stoughton’s collected edition of

Kipling’s poems . In those verses the author had only torecall his own joyful adventure in becoming lawfullyseized and possessed of hearth and roof-tree in thatsecluded nook of England by Burwash

How can I answer wbicb is bestOf all tbefi res tba t burn P

I bavebeen too often bost or g uestAt everyfi re in turn.

This story has not been included in any English edi tion of the author’sworks. I t was printed in the WindsorMag a z ine, February, 1895.

RU D Y A R D K I P L I N G

do more than mention Herrick’s To Daffodils as a

possible source of inspiration in the writing of Citiesand Thrones and Powers but of course that is merespeculation . Eddi ’s Service is another short gem of

narrative poetry, and“ Sir Richard’s Song,

” with itsirresistible cry of But now England have taken meis a poem ofwonderful appeal .Kipling has few equals as the exultant singer of the

sea and the sea-wind, the high-hearted lyrist of thegreat deeds and Imperial destiny of England .

”Even a

man from Bedfordshire, as Stevenson has observed, whoscarcely knows one end from the other of the channelsteamer till shebegins to move, and is as sea-sick as Nelson,feels a proprietary interest in the sea , and no poet hasexpressed it in larger language than Kipling. If one hadtime

,it would be a delightful task to g o through

Kipling’s writings and make a little anthology of his seamusic . It would have on the prefatory age those vividstanzas on

“ Poseidon’ s Law ” telling ow the brassbound man must never act or tell a falsehood to thepulse and tide of the sea . It would give us that glorioussong The Wet Litany

,with all the thrills and perils

of the deep unseen sea as it swells and swings in thefog . It would give us The English Flag

,

” the songof the Red and White Ensigns of England ’s seapower. As long as we love the sea, such an anthologyshould be dear to us as the music of the waves andwind.

At another time Kipling takes up his pen to sing theGlory of the Garden,” and shows that the s irit of thegardener is, or should be, akin to the note (Ironed andchanted by McAndrew

’s eng ines : LAW ,

ORDER, DUTYAND RESTRAI NT, OBEDIENCE, D ISCIP L I NE .

Tben seek yourjob witb tbankfulness and work tillfurtber ordersIf it

’s only netting strawberries or killing slug s on borders

And wben your ba ck stops a cbing and your bands beg in to barden,You willfind yourselfa partner in zbeGlory of tbeGa rden.

2 14

R U D Y A R'D K I P L I N G

entitled A Ballad of Photographs,” in R. K .

’s writing.

The album was presented by the author to a charitybazaar in Simla . The verses are charming and mostrealistic word-pictures of the Indian views, which aredisplayed in “ pomp of full-plate cabinet,

” and takesthe reader from Benares Ghat to Mussorie Woods ; to

the dead homes of kings— the East of the ancientnavigators, so old and mysterious, so resplendent andsombre, living and immutable, full of peril and promise .

But,alas ! These early verses by Rudyard Kipling may

be doomed never to see the light of day, . as Mr . Kipling’ sliterary agent refuses to allow them to be reproduced .

And it is not unexpected that Kipling, who lives by theword alone the word picked and polished,

” shouldobj ect to the impressions of youth, and the randomtag-rag of his work in old albums being dragged beforethe searchlight of criticism .

Captain Martindell’s presentation copy of Echoes,

with the manuscript verses on the flyleaf, is also unique .The verses are headed

, Evelyn, from R. K . , Sept .Kipling was only eighteen when he wrote these verses,and I am told that they sound an absolutely differentnote from any of his other verse . This poem, I fear,must also remain unpublished . In an interesting letteron his collection of Kipling manuscripts, proofs andletters, Captain Martindell writes as follows

You might like to know that the poem Cleared was first wri tten a s

deing in phonetic Irish ; but the author, when he corrected the proof,deleted the phonetic Irish spell ing throughout, e.g . , patroit to

patriot av coorse to“of course,” etc . The original MS. of

Tomlinson is most interes ting, and varies very considerably from theversion that appeared in Barrack Room Ballads.

” At one point thewords RANK BAD have been wri tten in the margin, and above W. E .

Henl ey attempted wi th characteristic courage ra ther than success to

improve on two of the lines . On the same folio aga inst the line commencing Winnow him out is Kipling’s comment : “ I f you cut thisout I

’ll kill you .

”Later on four lines aredeleted

,and the author wrote

four o thers in substitution, while the last six lines have been entirely2 18

P O E T R Y

omi tted and do not appear in the poem as printed. My Kipling lettersaremost interesting. Onesays As to the Ballads ofEast andWest,’ theAbza i are a tribe on the Indian fronti er. The Bonairs are another tribe .They w ere mentioned to show the scope of Kamel ’s raids. Fort Buklohand The Tongue of Jagai do not exist in space . There is a fort Minto,but i t is not near the hunting grounds ofKamel . Kipling’s contributionsto the United ServiceCollegeCbronicle, after he left Westward Ho weresigned under various names

,e.g .,

The Song of the Gates In No . 16,October 15, 1883, was signed Gigs On Foo t Duty, in No. 18

March 28,1884, was signed Z . 54 R. A. The Ride of the Schools,

in No. 2 1 , October 30, 1884, was signed N. W . P .

”

2 19

CHAPTER XII

STALKY AND CO .

Tm: Maiden Aunt who is in search of a nice book for alittle boy with a shining face, a boy with irreproachablemanners and tidy ways

,had better not put Stalky and

Co .

”on her list . For the adventures of the Schoolboys

Three are not such as give joy to the timid guardians ofyouth

,while the heroes themselves are young rapscallions

of the deepest dye . It is true that Stalky, McTurk, andBeetle have made a casual acquaintance with some of

the great masters of English literature, but a slightknowledge of Fors Clavigera

” and “Men and Women ”

seems only to have served as an affected gloss to thecombined characteristics of the terrible trio whose deeprevolving council s swayed all, from the head master tothe study-fag, at those twelve blea k houses by theshore .”

There were many who obj ected to the book,and

pointed out that young Goths who smoke, swear, shootcats

,chivy the fags

,and j ape with the house masters

were not worthy to grace the literature of school life .The book makes no claim to be a minute study of allthe various classes of young male animals which are tobe met with in our ublic schools . It is simply a shortseries of episodes, all of which were crowded into thelast two years of Kipling’s schooldays at that toughseminary of practical Imperialism— a cross between apublic school and a convict settlement

,from which

nothing soft emerged . Some finicky persons would,indeed

,hold “ Stalky and Co .

”to be

Pa “ gross and

223


absolute travesty of facts,” but the truth is these boys

are quite true to life, and I have been told that some ofthe amazing practical jokes which Uncle Stalky and hisretainers carried out were too wicked for ty e, and werefor this reason kept out of the book . The college,indeed

,seems to have been organized for the purpos e of

giving Stalky and Co . the utmost room and merge fortheir pranks . There is n o limit to their impudence,j ust as there seems to be no boundary to their slang.

The order and good government of the college theyreduce to chaos, to themasters they bring headache andheartbreak.It is natural for us to look back on the school stories of

the past with a certain tenderness and regretful admiration . A golden haze envelops those de asted books ofour youth, and even through the sickly sentiment of

Eric,” upon which Kipling has bestowed much ridicule,

many happy reminiscences of childhood brightly gleam .

Nevertheless, after reading Tom Brown’s Schooldays ,”

The Human Boy,” “ The Hill, and all the other

literature of s chool life, we are bound to confess thatthere was room for Stalky and Co .

” It must be evidentat once that some, at least, of the success of the Stalkygroup of studies is due to Kipling’s bril liancy of insightinto the barbaric and abnormal state of mind . It is theuncivilized type of boy, so to speak, that he handles best .The boys at Westward Ho were uite exceptionalboys, was the verdict of one critic . t may be noted,too, that the school was entirely different to all otherinstitutions of that kind on account of the apparent lackof discipline. In any other school the power of Kipling’ strio would have been swiftly and pain q y crushed .

For the first time in the history of the school storyhas a writer ventured to make his hero sneer at cricketand football, and yet we all know that fifty per cent . ofany school hold the same views on the national sport asMcTurk. My own experience at a county grammar224


to teach his unruly crowd of boys common sense Truthand God’s own common sense which Kipling believedwas more than knowledge, could not have been butgratified with this tribute

,coming as it did after many

da 5.

It may be freely granted that if ever there lived threeboys who were the embodiment of the resourceful andcheerful Anglo-Saxon spirit, they are to be met arm-in

arm in Stalky and C0.

” Stalky became in due course acolonel of Sikhs, McTurk entered the Indian TelegraphService

,and the sportive Beetle, with his gig- lamps,

sailed out to India and fame .“ The Head

,

”who for twenty years had been busy

laying broad the foundations of a truly Imperial education

,had kindliness and wise insight enough to know

that a boy may be in every mischievous scrape that takesplace in the school, and yet remain pure and wholesome,and withal lovable. Anybody who can discern betweenthe lines of Stalky and C0. is well aware that the realhero of the book is The Head himself. Readers willbear in mind that Kipling’ s old master

, Gormell Price,died in 19 10, at the age of seventy-four .

226

CHAPTER XIII

KIPLING ’ S CULTURED DELIGHTIN ODOUR

Kipling and the sense of smell : Kipling ’s passion for dogsGarm—A Hostage .”


I think that this keen olfactory sense in the author mustcertainly be considered in estimating his powers in theart of story-telling . I am perfectly aware that it isagainst all the canons and laws of the literary professionto launch upon a discussion about the human nose in itsrelation to the art of writing. The reason why thissubj ect is taboo while so many other less savoury subj ectsare permitted is rather difficult to determine . I onceread that some sainted anchorite declared the use of thenose to be dangerous to the soul, and from thenceforwardit was looked upon as a moral depravity to use this organwith any freedom . Most people, however, have ceasedto look upon smelling as a sin, but from the scullery tothe drawing-room it is looked upon as a decidedlyindelicate subj ect . But since Kipling has shown such alively and wholesome curiosity about smells I am mindedto cast convention to the winds and probe into thematter.It seems to me that much of the beauty and gri ping

power of Kipling’s verse and prose is missed by or inarypeople like ourselves, who j ust sit and read books withoutever first having lived books . This statement deservesand needs a little fuller explanation . In the first placeit is as well to point out that Kipling’s readers are notconfined to the mere literary world ; they are not

confined to the mere novel-reading public, in fact hisbooks travel to parts where the literary man and thenovel-reader very seldom penetrate . You will find hisbooks in Canadian railway bunk-houses

,barrack-room

lockers, tramp steamers, and mixed with the cookingots and pails of the miner and pioneer . What is it inling’s work which appeals to

‘

such a wide and varied

.

u lic By what magic does Kipling bewitch theterary man with fastidious senses, the uncritical novelreader, or the illiterate soldier with case i It is diflicultto answer such questions, but beyond a doubt Ki linghas made use of certain tricks to capture all clilsses230

K I P L I N G ’ S D E L I G H T I N O D O U R

of readers . He has moved the emotions and imaginationof some people with rhythm others he has enticed withcertain qualities of strength and coarseness, as displayedin the ugly story The Mark of the Beast he catchesthe ear of the soldier with his ribaldry and humour.For those who are not attracted by his humour or hishorror, he aints wonderful word pictures of India andits native fife. Those wonderful chapters in Kimare only so many gorgeous pictures, cunningly con

s tructed to attract the eyes of the reader . Kipling isdetermined to let no class of reader escape his attention— he fishes with a net of the finest mesh . If neithertouch nor hearing nor sight moves his reader he fills hisnostrils with odours to stir up old memories . In Kimyou can smell— how gloriously does he talk of smellsthose smells that mean everything to the questing man !Above all other smell s Kipling ranks the smells of thecamp fire, and of melting fat, which call up (how vividlythe cooking of the evening meal and the steaming billy.

With a puff of dung- fed camp- smoke and a whiff of

burnt cordite,he can transport the soldier, in a second,

from Aldershot to the sixteen-year-old battlefields ofSouth Africa . These flashes of memory aided by smellare wonderful . Through smell we achieve a sense of

the past ; the secret members of the mind are roused tolife and memory.

In South Africa the scent of the wattle awakes in theNew South Wales trooper memories of his native land .

Smell s are surer than sights or sounds theywhisper old man come back,

” he sings . In this poem,

L1chtenberg (“ The Five Kipling has

gone out of the way to appeal to the olfactory sense ofthe reader. A

‘gain, does not the time-expired soldier inMandalay recall a ll the burnished East by thosespicy garlic smell s ” of Burma ! Other odours men

tioned by Kipling are the smell of camel—pure camel,one whiff of which is all Arabia ; the smell of rotten

23 1


eggs at Hitt,on the Eu

flphrates, where Noah g ot the

pitch for the Ark the avour of drying fish in Burma,and “ the smell of the Barracks which every soldierknows . Of course there are other smells less materia l intheir appeal, which almost come within the range of thisshort note. One is the first chill smell of the mountains,especially when one reaches the heights towards sunsetor in the night . To g ain j

know ledge of this experiencethe reader must turn to the wanderings of Kim and theLama in the huddled mountains of the Sewalik range .

Another is the odour of the fores t or the jungle, whichis to be gained from the Jungle Books .” It has beensaid that of all the smells in the world, the smell ofmany trees is the sweetest and the most fortifying.

” I tcalls up in mankind dim unconscious memories of

primeval life, when men were not pillowed and proppedout of all possibility of leading a free and Open life .The smells of travel are indeed innumerable. I have

quoted in another chapter of this volume an article fromthe ‘Times which gives some unique odours, which, onceencountered, linger in the voyager

’s nostrils for evermore .

Read through Kim again,and you will find that

Kipling knows the odours of India as a man knows thewoman he loves . The chapter in which Kim and theLama fall in with the shuffling procession on the GrandTrunk is a perfect study in the super-refinement of

the five senses, particul arly vision and smell . Ki ling’sfeeling for the East is filled out and made richer

Iby hiscultured delight in odour . His aesthetic a preciationof landscape, colour and odour are so subt y and intimately blended that the icturehe gives you of a placeis quite remarkably vivid and concrete . What

, for

instance, could be more striking than this passage fromKim Then the night fell

,changing the touch of the

air, drawing a low, even haze, like a gossamer veil of blue,across the face of the country

,and bringing out, keen and

distinct, the smell of the wood-smoke and cattle, and the232


cars and the wbolesomeflavour of bea ltby troops . There is no better guideto camp than one ’s own thoughtful nose and though I poked m ine everywhere, in no place then or later did i t strike that vile betraying taint ofunderfed, unclean men . And the same wi th the horses .

Can any man who has once lived the life of a soldierbe deaf to the force of these lines Some phrasespossess an intense slice of youth and vehemence : trythe wholesome flavour of healthy tr00ps,

” think it,pronounce it, and you will see in the flash of those wordstens of thousands of bronzed soldiers marching. Abovethe steady champing of the marching feet, you will hearthe insolent throbbing and staccato detonations of thedrums

,and you will smell the odours of the camp the

burning of wood, the cooking of the evening meal, andthe fortifying smell ofwell-cared-for horses .Yes, Kipling can still handle English words with that

contemptuous ease and terseness which appeals to theunpolished soldier, as well as to the bookman in hisstudy.

How often it occurs to us that there is something halfphysical in the reading of Kipling’s books ; it brings toone the same tingling sensation that is to be experiencedin walking in the wind and rain . I t is a breathless speedand wonder . It does not feel like any deliberate processof settling down to read a book page by page . Thereis so much freedom in the pages

,like the freedom of

youth : abandon, audacity, shuddering and horror,splendours and mirth . We feel

,when we have once

entered into the spirit of such a book as Kim,

” expanded,

powerful, infinitely alive . We draw deep breaths of thediamond air with the Lama, and the smells of all Indiarush to our nostrils . It is Kipling’s adoration of colour,smell, and action, that accounts for this and we do notrealize how cunningly the author appeals to the reader ’solfactory sense . In s ite of all our neglect of the theoryof smell, in regard to

°

feand literature,the nose is always

active . This must be true,els e it would not aid our

234

K I P L I N G ’ S D E L I G H T I N O D O U R

memory and warn us of danger . Here is a subj ect forwhich few people feel any curiosity

,and yet

,consider

what illuminating researches are available in regard to

it . Owing to our apathy about this subj ect few peopleare aware that taste is a very limited sense which onlyresponds to

“ sweet,” “ sour,

” and a few plain nervereactions . Often we wrongly credit to taste the actionof the olfactory sense. For instance, it is the odour offood that we take pleasure in while we are eating ; it isthe bouquet of good wine before the taste that is desired—we often confuse the taste and the smell . Thus it isvery difficult to distinguish between what we think is thetaste of cinnamon, and that of cloves, if the nose is held .

We are sorely in need of research in regard to the phenomenon of smell . However, the fact is, that most of theinvestigation in this direction has been left to animals .Ordinary citizens, even as you and I , remain more ignorantthan a dog about it

,for it seems that we work from the

complex to the simple,and the obvious is the last thing

we know. We are so exquisite that we politely denythat there even is such a thing as an individual odourto ourselves and our friends . The student of the dogwill tell you that this animal always uses the olfactoryorgans to confim his vision . We have all seen a dogmake a long and searching nose investigation of his masteron meeting him ; he is using his keenly sensitive senseof smell to make certain that it is not somebodyjust likehis master.But Kipling has seen that he could not afford to scorn

the consideration of this sense . It is remarkable howintimate he has made some of his work with the aid ofit . Perhaps, some day, a writer with the vision will ariseand arrange all the facts of the sense of smell in real order,and so, suddenly, we shall take one more great step inadvance on the great road of life and literature . Butwe do not seem within measurable distance of the timewhen this will be accomplished . Ellwood Hendric ,

235


writing on the olfactory sense in the Atlantic Montbly,says

Sir William Ramsay, whose ever-young enthusiasm leads him into so

many of the secret gardens ofNature, has found a rela tion between odour

and molecular weight, and J . B. Haycroft has pointed out wha t appearsto bea cousinshipofodours that accords wi th the periodic law anothernotes that odorous substances seem to be readily oxidized, and Tyndallshowed that many odorous vapoursh ave a considerable power ofabsorbingheat . Some work has been done in German, French, and I talian laboratories to discover the nature of the phenomenon of smell, but very li ttlethat is defini te has been brought out ; only here and there a few facts ;and nobody seems to w ant to know them.

And yet the scientific possib ili ti es arevery fascina ting, even i f they are

bew ildering. For instance, i t appears that the sensi tive region of ei thernostril is provided w i th a great number ofolfactory nerve-cells embeddedin the epi thelium . The olfactory cells are also connected by nerves whichextend to the brain. Well, what happens when wesmell anything Theolfactory nerve-cells are surrounded by a liquid. What is the na ture oftha t liquid Do the particl es which weassume to bethe cause ofolfactoryphenomena dissolve in i t i If they do—and here wepray thee, oh, greatArrhenius, come help us l—does dissociation take pla ce, and are theresmell ions That is, do fractions of the molecules of those bodies thatgive odour dissociate themselves from the res t and ride in an elec tric streamto the nerves What do they do when they get there

Of the unsolved problems in regard to the olfactorysense we have enough and to spare . I need not fill thesepages with such questions

,but it is diflicult to understand

and explain how a dog can recognize certain emotionsthrough his nose . In Garm— A Hostage,” by Kipling,the reader learns a great deal about the power of thedog ,

” and it is noticeable that the author believes theanimal capable of determining fear

,good-will

,and anger

with his highly developed olfactory organs . How thedog is able to recognize these emotions with the nosebecomes clearer when we learn that certain rare andsubtle odours are created by nerve-reactions

“ The Sense ofSmell, Ata lanta Montbly,March,19 13. To this lucid

and searching study of the phenomenon of smell I am indeb ted fornumerous fac ts in this chapter.

2 36

CHAPTER XIV

KIPLING ’ S LONDON DAYS

Villi ers Street The Old Water Ga te Happy and tranquil daysof 1 89 1 Aubrey Beardsley and his theories on drawing Wilde and“ Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime Stories wri tten by Kipling at

Villiers Street : Ink and the G ipsy-caravan : Henri Murger

The Light tha t Fa iled Brug g lesmith Holywell StreetMr. Arthur Bartlett Maurice on Kipling’s London St . Clement’sDanes Dr. Johnson Embankment Chambers and The Lighttha t Failed Bessi e Broke The Record ofBadalia HerodsfootSoho and its odours Charlie Mears and The Finest Story in theWorld Ri chard LeG allienneand the Strand Private OrtherisSt. Paul

’s A Matter of Fact Gough Square and Johnson.


last links with the folk-song and folk-dance, maypolesand feasts and beer of our fathers .It was at the Gatti restaurant in Vill iers Street that

the oddly garbed, weary-eyed, high priest of morbidity,Aubrey Beardsley

,often made his way to meet friends .

Three years later he attracted much attention by thedepravity of his exquisitely refined decorative genius .Physiologists would no doubt connect his grotesquefancy with the malady which foredoomed him . A friendof mine once pressed Beardsley for his theories on thesubj ect of drawing.

Why,

” he asked, do your men partake of a devilnature ! Why are all your women so sensual

,and so

wholly gracelessBeardsley repliedI have no theories on art . None at a ll . I represent

things as I see them— outlined faintly in thin streaks (j ustlike me) . I take no notice of shadows, they do not interestme ; therefore I feel no desire to indicate them . I amafraid that people appear differently to me than they doto others ; to me they are mostly grotesque, and Irepresent them as I see them . I can say no more . All

humanity inspires me . Every passer-by is my unconscioussitter ; and, strange as it may seem,

I really draw folkas I see them . Surely it is not my fault that they fallinto certain lines and angles . I think most people whoknow anything of the subj ect will admit that my figuresare anatomically correct .”

Oscar Wilde, it may be safely inferred, knew Gatti’swell, and it will be remembered that his book of stories“Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime,

” was published in theyear Kipling came to London . It was from some suchSpot as the Embankment at the end ofVilliers Street thatLord Arthur Savile seized Mr . Podgers by the legs andflung him into the Thames . The idea of the story isthat Lord Arthur learns from a palmist that at someperiod of his life it is decreed that he will commit a242

K I P L I N G ’ S L O N D O N D A Y S

murder. Wishing to get the matter satisfactorily performed and off his mind once and for all

,he tri es to kill

a charming aunt and a benevolent uncle, and failing in

both essays, he walks miserably on the Embankment,where he finds Mr . Podgers the cheiromantist deep inthe contemplation of the river . Lord Arthur steals upand tilts Podgers over the parapet— a heavy splash

,and

all is s till . There are some delicate descriptions of

London at dawn in this story,and

,over the sudden

effacement of Podgers,‘ ‘ the moon peered through a

mane of tawny clouds , as if it were a lion’s eye

,and in

numerable stars Spangled the hollow vault,like gold-dust

powdered on a purple dome .

Rudyard Kipling must have spent some of his happiestdays at Villiers Street . He was free from material care

,

he was full ofphysical and mental vigour, and was workingat his best . During the time that he spent here he wrote“ The Finest Story in the World,

”Brug g lesmith,

”

The Record of Badalia Herodsfoot,” At the End of

the Passage,

” “ The Light that Failed,” “ The Last

Relief,

”For One Night Only,

” Without Benefit ofClergy

,and many other stories and poems . And in

going through this work one may often get a glimpse ofthe dead little London of 1 89 1

— a very searching touchwhich goes clean through one— a curious traffi c withshades .It was in Villiers Street that Kipling for the first time

in his life pondered on the great puzzles of existence, asa man penned in by four w alls and working overmuchwith his brains Is likely to do. For those who have truegenius and good constitutions the life of ink and thegipsy-caravan is only a debatable land between youthand fame for others it is a land of enchantment which

,

as years pass along,gradually turns into a tarnished fairy

land with no outlet . One has only to read the lives ofFrancoys Villon, Gerard De Nerval, and Henri Murger

to fully realize this fact . But it may be said of Kipling

243


that he knew little of the sordid cares and gay regretfullife of the true literary Bohemian . Fame came to himswiftly in London and placed him well beyond theirksome duties of the unknown literary hack .

Perhaps the precarious financial position ofDick Heldarin The Light that Failed is a memory of Kipling’ searly days in London, but I venture to state very confidently that he was never in the plight ofHenri Murger

’shero Randolph, who in Winter, when all his furniturehad been used as firewood, warmed himself by burninghis early poetry, finding that the third act wasmuch too short .” However, it is in the work that camefrom Kipling’s pen while he was quartered in VilliersStreet that we find the only shadowy pictures of thetyranny and turmoil of our great Capital that is con

rained in all his writings . The environment of CharingCross was a valuable factor in his literary career . You

will find it all in The Light that Failed — the unknownshores of London, where soul clashes endlessly on soul,and where

Quests, adventures , vag ue a ndfar,W

'

onders a nd wideencbantments a reBorne on tbe tireless stream tba t g oes

From Cbaring Cross to TempleBa r.

Romancelies tberewitb outstretcbed band.

I t is a new a ndfaery landWben I

,big b on a lurcbing

’bus ,

Go eba rioteering down tbe Strand

In that remarkable story, Brug g lesmith,

” Kiplingshows a masterly sense of the genius of places . Whatcould be better than Holywell Street never goes tobed i This road w as demolished in 190 1 , and perhapsKipling’s remark will seem obscure when a hundredyears have passed . It was also called Booksellers’ Row ,

and was less sacred in its history than in its origin .

244


great lexicographer once, not far from this veryspot, gave his arm to a lady somewhat in liquor to

assist her across the road, upon which he remarked,“ She offered me a shilling, supposing me to be the watchman .

”

Dr. Johnson’s pew is at the front of the north galleryof the church . Note also the Johnson window, wherewe find him amid his friends— a laughable group, forMr . T. F . Curtis had tried to make the window into agathering of saints ! Mr. Curtis is not so skilled instained-glass worldliness as he is with stained-glasssaintliness !Embankment Chambers are chiefly associated inKipling’s writings with “ The Light that Failed, for

here it was that Torpenhow found a studio for Dicka big box room really - in the top storey in therickety chambers overlooking the Thames . Kipling’sdescriptions still hold good to-day : The well of thestaircase disappeared into darkness, pricked by tiny gasj ets, and there were sounds of men talking and doorsslamming seven flights below,

in the warm gloom .

”

From the outside this antique and dismal buildingdepresses one, and it seems that the weight of so manyprevious lives spent there helps to accentuate thissombreness . The vicinity was aptly characterised byTorpenhow when he remarked that it was not a placehe would recommend for a Young Men ’s ChristianAssociation.

A few yards past the building a passage leads intoVictoria Embankment Gardens

,passing the beautiful

old Water Gate . Kipling’s rooms overlooked thislittle oasis with its steep grass banks and fine statue of

Robert Burns, and it was from thi s window thatTorpenhow and Dick

,in “The Light that Failed,

”

leaned into the darkness,watching the greater darkness

of London below them :“ Northward the lights of

Piccadilly Circus and Leicester Square threw a copper246

THE GUNN ISON STR E ET OF THE “ RECORDOF BADAL IA HE RODSFOOT


and one subtle odours of the great metropolis . Take themyriad smells of Berwick Street at night-time . It is anarrow bazaar-like thoroughfare, lined with a thousandstall s, and one might almost imagine it was the straightstreet ” of Damascus at moments when encounteringdark-eyed Oriental-looking girls —for this is the realJewish quarter of the West End . And permeating all isthe smell ! The flitting ghost of odours, subtle withsuggestions of a hundred cities Turmeric

,peppers, and

Egyptian cigarettes conj ure up the old Mouski at Cairo.

The mysterious warm cooking smells of Old ComptonStreet

,with an occasional whiff of garlic, are rich in their

associations with Continental pilgrimages . How long arethe smells of London to lack a championNor should one forget Charlie Mears , the bank clerk

on twenty-five shill ings a week, who often climbed upthe seven flights of stairs at Embankment Chambers .Charlie, acting under ancestral compulsion, placed inKipling’s hands

,with a proflig ate abundance of detail,

stories of adventure, riot, piracy, and death on unnamedseas . And while Charlie roams through the fields of

ether, and“ swings the earth a trinket at his wrist,

”

Kipling is smitten with a sudden fear that somethingmight come to the boy which would kill remembrance .The flaming colours of an Aquarium poster caught theauthor’s eye, and he wondered whether it would be wiseto lure the boy into the power of a professional mesmerist,and thus obtain further secrets of his past lives . ButCharlie, who knew all things, and stood at the door of theworld’s treasure-house, falls under the fascination of agirl with a curly head and a foolish slack mouth,

” andthe Lords ofLife and Death shut the doors ofhis memorylest he should remember other and more beautifulwooings in long

past years . That is the reason the finest

story in thewor d was never written .

’

At times Stanley Ortheris felt that sudden and inexplicable hunger for London which is common to all248

K I P L I N G ’ S L O N D O N D A Y S

exiled sons of the great city. Its huge presence,as of

some living,sentient thing

,loomed upon his mind, and

dwarfed every other longing desire . Whether you loveLondon or hate it (and you can do both), the magic spellseems to be the same . To realize it you must leaveLondon, as Stanl ey Ortheris did, and then you may withhim feel the irresistible heart-hunger for the Strandlights . It is to Richard Le Gallienne that we owe theBallad of London,

” in which we catch the alluringglare of the iron lilies of the Strand .

”

Ab, London London our delig bt,Grea tflower tba t opens but a t nig bt,Grea t City of tbeMidnig bt Sun,Wbaseday beg ins wben day is done.

Lamp after lamp ag ainst tbeskyOpens a sudden beaming eye,Leaping a lig bt on eitber band,Tbeiron lilies of tbeStrand.

Ab, London London our delig bt,For tbee, too, sbeeterna l nig bt,And CirceP a ris ba tb no cbarm

To stay Time’s unrelenting arm.

Timeand bis motbs sba ll ea t upa ll .

Your eba rming towers proud and tall

Hesba ll most utterly abase,And set a desert in tbeirpla ce.

In the following lines Kipling has suggested much of

the psychology and some of the biography ofNo. 22639Private Ortheris

No. I’m sick to g o

’

ome—g o’ome -

go’ome. No, I ain’t mammy

sick, cause my uncle brung me up, but I’

m sick for London again ; sickfor the sounds of ’

er, and the sights of ’er

,and the stinks of ’

er ; orangepeel and hasphalt, and g as coming in over Vau’all Bridge . Sick for therail g oing down to Box

’Ill w i th your g al on your knee, and a new clay

249


pipe in your faice ; that and the Stran’lights where you know s every

one, and the copper that taikes you in is a old fri end that tuk you upbefore when you was a li ttle smitchy boy lying loose betw een the Templeand the dark Harches .

Round about Gracechurch Street, London Bridge, andSt . Paul’s

Remotefrom all tbeCity’s moods,

I n big b, untroubled solitudes,Likean old Buddba swa tbed in dream.

Charlie Mears,in his latter incarnation as a bank clerk,

roamed on his round with a bill -book chained to his

waist . It was in passing over the Thames with theauthor that some chord within him was touched by thesmell of tar

,piled-up deals, and barges, and changed

him from a bank clerk to some unknown and audacioussea-wolf. The bellows of a lonely ship’s cow in a bargemade Charlie skip a half-dozen existences and dimlyremember an episode in the days of the Vikings

Wben tbey beard our bulls bellow sbeSkroeling s ran away

The age and spell of London appears in A Matter ofFact,

” where we are shown the effect produced on anAmerican visiting the city for the first time

That afternoon I walked him abroad and about, over the streets thatrun between the pavements like channels of grooved and tongued lava,over the bridges that aremade of enduring stone, through subways flooredand sided w i th yard-thick concrete, b etween houses tha t arenever rebuiltand by river-steps hewn, to the eyes, from the living rock. A black fogchased us into Westminster Abb ey. I could hear the wing s of the deadcenturies circling round the head of Litchfield A. Kell er, journalis t ofDayton, Ohio, whose miss ion i t was to make the Britishers sit up.

Mr. Bartlett Maurice has pointed out that

Fleet Street, too, is of the tales, even when i t is not actually in thetales. As an insti tution ra ther than a street i t was in the mind ofRudyard250

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