CONTENTS

PAGE

Notes—J. P. Collins         ..................         1

Some Lesser Known Aspects of Kipling in the Further

East—Lt. Col. J. K. Stanford. O.B.E.. M.C.......         4

Another Kipling Prize Essay—'Gunga Din'        ......         7

Kipling  and   Socialism—  Part   III—Sir   Stephen  Allen,

K.B.E., C.M.G., D.S.O................         9

Interpreting Kipling to the Present Generation           ...       11

Kipling and France—Part III—Basil M. Bazley             ...       13

Letter Bag ...         ...         ...         ...         ...         ...         ...         ...       17

THE  KIPLING   SOCIETY

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published quarterly by
THE KIPLING SOCIETY

Vol. XIII No.

December, 1948

Notes

THE OLD WISH.

THIS Journal is cheerily exempt
   from one of the burdens that
befall the average magazine,
which comes and gasps its hour upon
the wayside stall and whisks itself
away to make room for others in
quick succession, including fresh ar-
rivals destined to turn it so soon into
a " back number." That hated obli-
gation forced by a competitive market
is to blazon on its motley cover the
signature of a tale that is calculated to
keep folk awake o'nights with a jab
of horror or surprise contrived and
polished up with fiendish ingenuity
aforethought. Many of us can recall
years not so long ago when the news
of a fresh yarn from the pen of R.K.
was enough almost to start a night-
long queue with campstools and
nosebags, for the sake of catching a
first delivery of the blue " Strand "
or the paler " Pall Mall," so as to be
in front of rivals and neighbours
for    that     exquisite    bonne    bouche.

PARTISANS.

Yet it is gratifying to learn, as the
Editor so often does from friends afar
off, that we have our expectant
partisans all the world over, and they
will hail the day when we return
from issuing quarterly instead of
once a month. And all of these
allies of ours may be glad to note that
in the present number there is a rich
miscellany of appreciation around the
work and memory of R.K. He was
the wizard who perhaps has never had,
then or since, his equal as a master
of the magazine yarn, and some of
the best in this number concerning
him is contained in our pages of
correspondence-in-brief. This and
a hearty New Year's wish for 1949 is
wafted by the Editorial pen and staff
to all and sundry whereso'er they be.

THE ART SIDE OF KIPLING.

Illustration is still the Cinderella
of the short-story world, and although
tremendous strides have been taken
in the past half century to overtake
arrears, it still seems easy to pick
out those big-figure magazines where
every other editor at one time could
safely be classed among people who
emerge from everything but literature
and qualify in everything else but art.
Kipling started with a natural gift
for drawing and a discerning eye for
a first-class caricature or illustration.
But then we must remember that he
drew inherited gifts as well as valuable
lessons from a genius who might have
been far more famous as an artist if
he had not been eclipsed by his author
genius of a son. Writers soon realise,
or ought to if they don't, that readers
never take long to grow weary of an
author's attempts to illustrate his
own stories, so stern is fate in humili-
ating vanity among those who want
to excel in two fields, and generally
fail in both. At any rate, Dickens
was eminently wise in scouting Master
Yellowplush's offer to supply the
pictures for Boz's novels.

THE REMOTE IDEAL.

Even then, Dickens fared badly
until he enlisted the services of men
like Fred Barnard, Frank Reynolds,
and Charles Green ; and it is not
too much to say that R.K. has never
found his true illustrator yet, except
for separate volumes like his sea
ballads and travel yarns.

Days can easily be recalled when
editors and owners sought eagerly
for the all-round man who could
adequately deal with Kipling's prose
and verse as well. One nominee was
the late Cyrus (one of R.K's biograph-
ers prints him as " Cyprus ") Cuneo, a

THE   KIPLING   JOURNAL

2                          THE KIPLING JOURNAL       December, 1948

pupil of Whistler's who combined
strength with drama and finish with
both ; but he was far too tempera-
mental, and would never submit his
sketches for an author's approval or
suggestion. Wells thanked me once
for taking extra pains to get his " War
in the Air " illustrated to his sat-
isfaction ; but acknowledgments of
this sort in
the field of
p e r i o d i cals
are rare.
These and
many more
memories are
aroused by
letters on a
later page,
and one
would like to
see a varied
and compet-
ent commit-
tee brought
together to
deal with the
i 11 u s t ration
aspect of
Kip ling' s
works, from
the thumb-
nail study to
the great
colour-panels
of the Det-
mold brot-
hers and the
rest.

" THE WOOLSACK"

Rudyard Kipling's home in Cape Town, to which he said
" we would descend yearly for five or six months from
the peace of England to the deeper peace of ' the
Woolsack ' ...  in the stillness of hot afternoons   the

fall of an acorn was almost like a shot."
Photo by Miss M. F. Bridie, Lower Heathfield, Nr. Axminster.

BRAINS AND BRIDGES.

Lt. Colonel Barwick Browne, of
Bournstream, Wotton-under-Edge, has
his habitat in Gloucestershire with a
comfortable old-world ring about it
that suggests the Severn Vale and
Shakespeare's Cotswold squires. As an
antiquary, he takes interest in our
doings, as also in the Society for Pure
English. In this capacity he sends
us a volume of the " Collected Essays "
of Robert Bridges, a former laureate,
and this number contains an essay
on " Wordsworth and Kipling." His
ex-Laureateship disparages the old
lake poet and his big Concordance
issued years ago ; and then goes on to
criticise Arthur Young's " Dictionary "
of Kipling's Characters and Scenes.
In    pontificating    about    our    poet-

romancer he finds the latter's blank
verse in " The Sacrifice of Er-Heb "
suffering from " artificial and mono-
tonous constraints " as well as poor
and short rhythms. By the way the
late Laureate's eccentricities include a
special spelling of his own,—half-way
between William Morris's Anglo-Saxon
revivalism, and the modern but no
less defunct
school of
Wm. Archer
and Professor
Furnivall.
Here is a
specimen of
what the
Doctor says
of R.K. and
the reader
can put a
parenthetic
(sic) when-
ever he likes:

" He can
take peins
with nothing
without in
some way
d i s t inguish-
ing it. He
has so true
a feeling for
the value of
words, and
for the right
cadences of
i d i o matic
speech   .  .   .

It is tu be regretted that out of his
abundance he is sumtimes tempted
to overlod his lines with the weiht
ither of sound or of meening, or of
both at wunce."
PLEASE EXCUSE SPELLIN?

Dr. Bridges also deals with what
he calls " a filological treatis," namely
Dr. W. Leeb-Lunaberg's " Word-
formation in Kipling of years ago,"
and congratulates an ex-foreigner on
mastering " a living tung that is
not natal tu him." He approves
novel adverbs like " monsoonishly."
but jibs at " unpicturesquely " as a
negation " that connotes nothing defi-
nit." Dr. Bridges' sense of humour,
alas, was so imperfect that he could
not accept an everyday reference like
" Policeman  Day "   as   admissible  in

December, 1948

THE KIPLING JOURNAL                        3

even a modern masterpiece of border-
land fancy like " The Brushwood Boy."
With his epics and poems and hymns,
his strange anthology, " The Spirit of
Man," and his still stranger "Testament
of Beauty," Dr. Bridges remained a
curious hybrid between the pedant
and the bard. But we had hardly
thought him  a lofty  classic until he

to the late Jan Hofmeyr, who has
been rightly christened the Aristides
of South Africa. If only to make
new settlers feel more at home, one
might welcome a volume of tributes
and portraits, by way of a popular
round-up of the figures of both races
who have led up to the prosperity of
the   great   peninsula ;   and   why   not

THE STOEP OF " THE WOOLSACK"

In Rudyard Kipling's autobiography, Something of Myself, he writes:
" To this Paradise we moved each year-end from 1900 to 1907 . . .
To one side of us was a pine and eucalyptus grove, heavy with
mixed scent . . . Behind all, tiered the flank of Table Mountain,
and its copses of silver-trees, flanking scarred ravines "

Photo by Miss M. F. Bridie, Lower Heathfield, Nr. Axminster.

sniffed at a reference like " Policeman
Day," even when it companioned
so lovely a figure as " the City of Sleep."
But how could he miss the tenderness
of passages like that of the twilight
smoke among the roses, or the breath-
compelling ride of the lovers upon the
southern downs ?
WOOL GATHERING IN SACKS.

There is a curious parallel between
the period of quietism succeeding the
Kipling boom of years ago, and the
strange term of power that has super-
vened after the long regime of British
influence at the Cape. But it was
inevitable sooner or later, and it can
do the party now in power no harm if
they do something to revive the
memories of a long line of moderate-
minded heroes, from Jan van Riebeek

another volume about its monuments,-
from the fabled treasure-towers of
Zimbabwe to the slab on Rhodes's
mountain tomb ? One of the most
enchanting, surely, is the seaward-
facing bungalow called " the Wool-
sack," that Rhodes left Kipling on
the terms of an annual stay. Con-
sidering the hold it had on his affections
(a hundred times more than its big
neighbour, Groote Schuur) one wonders
why Kipling, after his glowing des-
cription in " Something of Myself,"
did not write a song of farewell before
it reverted, on his death, to the
Rhodes Estate. But in any case,
the delightful photos that adorn this
number will help us to realise why R.K.
called the little place a " paradise."
J. P. Collins,

4                          THE KIPLING JOURNAL       December, 1948

Some Lesser Known Aspects

OF KIPLING IN THE FURTHER EAST

BY Lt.-Col.  J.   K.  STANFORD,  O.B.E., M.C,
(I.C.S.  RETIRED)

SINCE my previous paper on this
subject, which was published
in the Kipling Journals of July
and October, 1947. I have derived
much profit from conversations with
members, notably Captain E. W.
Martindell, whose knowledge of Kip-
ling's earlier writings is much vaster
than mine. These have enabled me
to add certain details to those I gave
the Society before.
RIBBENTROP'S FORBEAR ?

In the Journal for Oct. 1929 (page
23) I see that it seems to be confirmed
that the Muller described by Kipling
as " the gigantic German who was
head of the Woods and Forests of
all India " was indeed named Rib-
bentrop, the " chartered libertine of
all the offices " at Simla. I hope
that some member of the Society
may one day verify, as Statter Carr
once told our member Major Hop-
wood, whether this Ribbentrop, whose
house had a lurid reputation in Simla,
was indeed the forbear of the more
notorious Von Ribbentrop, who was re-
cently hanged at Nuremberg. Though
Muller, unlike the Nazi Ribbentrop,
seems from the story to have been a
very likeable, and not noticeably
eccentric,   Forest   officer.

I see also that in an earlier issue of
the Journal (No. 4 Jan. 1928) it is
hinted that the Infant, whose story
of dacoit-hunting is told in A Con-
ference of the Powers was really Sir
George Ross-Keppel. According to
one of Kipling's later stories the
Infant inherited " an estateful baron-
etcy " and retired to live in a county
where his neighbours lived " in savage
seclusion among woods full of phea-
ants ", an unforgettable phrase for
the countryside of the early 1900's.
But this was not apparently true of
Sir George Ross-Keppel who died
while still serving. Certainly Kip-
ling's most vivid story of Burma is
one of which I was not aware when I
spoke to you before. It appeared in
the Civil and Military Gazette and
is  called Le Roi  en Exil.    It is   an

imaginary interview between Lord
Dufferin, then Viceroy of India, and
King Thibaw and his queen, Supa-
yalat, then living in exile at Rat-
nagiri. Written in the style of Victor
Hugo, it describes the harassed Viceroy,
—with his conquering forces scattered
through miles of jungle attempting
the long and difficult task of pacifying
Upper Burma, (a country described
by Sir George White, the Commander-
in-Chief in Burma, ' as " one ' vast
military obstacle ")—asking Thibaw
for his advice. The campaign to
capture Mandalay took about a month,
it will be remembered, and the pacifi-
cation about another 5 years.

Lord Dufferin was given sherbet and
a Burma cheroot, and was shocked
to see Queen Supayalat also smoking.
" Before women and tobacco all men
are equal." He then complained
that Burma was now his, " with
Reservations," a Reservation being an
Unforeseen Contingency, in this case
dacoity, which seems to have been,
as rampant in 1887 as it was after
the 1931 rebellion, or the end of the
war in 1945. He described Burma
(how the words echo today !) as a
country " abominable, expensive, un-
wholesome and disturbed," full of
people who, as Thibaw reminds him
are " dacoits by night and villagers by
day. They cannot be caught and
when caught are released because
they have not actually been seen
killing men." " You try," goes on
Thibaw, " to govern by Slow Law
when a quick bullet is needed."

Thibaw then, assisted in gruesome
dumb show by his Queen, goes on to
indicate remedies : " when an elephant
is mad, the mahout does not tie its
legs with jasmine-wreaths. When
there is a fire in the land, the leaves
of law books make it burn more
fiercely."

In short, King Thibaw proposes a
complete censorship of news and the
liquidation of not more than 1,500
people, after which Burma will be
still   and   will   attain   its    Nirvana,

December, 1948         THE KIPLING JOURNAL                        5

Pacification. ' " It is a paradox," mur-
mured His Excellency, pouring the
sand from his boots. '

How aptly this tale describes con-
ditions prevailing in Burma and
Malaya in 1948, though written in 1887,
only those who have helped to ad-
minister either can appreciate.
" AN INTERESTING CONDITION"

Another delicious parody among
these early writings, which one can
only hope will be made more easily
available one day to the general
reader, appeared in the Pioneer in
1888, called An Interesting Condition.
It is about Mr. Gladstone hailing the
fact that the people of India desire
to enter public life. He describes
the East as an old but beautiful
woman 'of a moral reputation in-
different' whom the Englishman be-
lieves himself to have married by ' the
rope and sabre' and now 'exhorts
with tears to enter the life political.'
Too long to quote, it is of uncanny
prescience and witty.

In 1886 Kipling also published in
an Indian journal a poem called A
Nightmare of Names which has special
reference to Burma. It is, in short,
the tale of a wearied journalist with
20 telegrams about the Upper Burma
fighting " all waiting to be read :"
It is a maze of outlandish, (as we may
think them,) names of people and
villages. In those days, when Kip-
ling wrote, the simplified Burmese
spelling had not been adopted, and
one can imagine his despair. His
verses are devoted almost entirely
to names of Burmese villages and the
poem ends with the sleepless journa-
list rising anew.

" But ere he took his mapbook up, he
prayed a little prayer, ' Oh, stop them
fighting Lord-knows-who, in jungles
Deuce-knows-where.' Many war corres-
pondents from 1941 to 1945 must have
breathed that prayer, and one has only
to listen to the B.B.C. mangling Bur-
mese place-names, whenever they are
in the news, to realize how truly Kip-
ling anticipated the moment when
Burma and the River of the Lost
Footsteps, would again be everybody's
concern.
THE ONLY WORD.

I do not propose to repeat what I
said in my previous paper except
that so often Kipling has said, not

only   the   last   word,   but   the   only
word,   in   a   hundred-and-one   occur-
rences   which  few   but   exiles   in   re-
mote   places   know.    They   leap   to
the   mind,   those   phrases,   scores   of
them, but let me instance a few.
Few, forgotten and lonely, where the
white  car-windows  shine.   No !   not
combatants,   only   details    guarding
the line.
or

the Sikh officer reminiscing in A
Sahibs' War " I would have schooled
this people till they kissed the shadow
of my horse's feet upon the ground."
(In the old Burma, of which we saw
the last about 1921, it was the custom
for villagers, derived from the days
of the Burmese Kings, to get off the
road when they saw a high official
approaching and kneel beside it till
he passed).

A    thousand    other    unforgettable

phrases leap to the mind of the exile

lamenting   the   India   that   he   knew

We will go back to the boltless doors,

To   the   life   unaltered   our   children

knew
or

the   lisp   of  the  split   banana-frond
That talked us to sleep when we were

small

or that compelling phrase
Because of the sights and the sounds

and the smells
That ran with our youth in the eye

of the sun.

You will hear those phrases quoted
by men who read little, not only
because they are supremely quotable
but summarize what they, the in-
articulate, felt and could not say.
Only a great genius could tell stories
from the differing points of view of
an engineer, a polo pony, a working
horse, a ship in a storm, a steam-
engine, a naval rating, and a Roman
centurion, to take only a handful
from Kipling's great store. How one
could wish he were alive today !
I hope for example some one will one
day collect all he has said about
Russia, and has he not said the last
word about democracy where in
Little Foxes he describes Mr. Lethabie
Groombride (in the words of an
Ethiopian) as having been driven
out of his own land by " Demah-kerazi,
which is a devil inhabiting crowds
and   assemblies?"   And where   in   all

6

THE KIPLING JOURNAL      December, 1948

the millions that have been written
will you find twelve more unforget-
table words to describe not only a
Surrey spring but the generations
that have known it?

By Merrow  Down  the  cuckoos cry,

The silence and the sun remain.
If there are,  I  do not know them.

If Tennyson was " a reed through
which all things blew to music," one
can only think of Kipling as an organ
with an almost incredible number of
vox humana stops. Witness the amount
he has packed into one line in The
Truce of the Bear where the injured
hunter says :

" He left me blind to the darkened

years and the. little mercy of men "

or that phrase of the trackers waiting

all over the world for the overdue
travellers hastening " to the camps of
proved desire and known delight"
which    runs :

" Who shall meet them at those altars,
Who shall light them to that shrine ?

Velvet-footed who shall guide them to
their goal?"

Or again, most poignant of all to
those who have suffered loneliness
in remote parts of our ex-Empire,
the tortured exile in the hot weather
of the Indian desert recoiling with
horror from his companion's memories
of a summer Sunday evening at home ?

Where else in the history of the
last fifty years will you find a writer
with his range of subject and uncanny
depth of feeling?

"A Name Renowned"

THE following extract is taken
from Arthur Mee's Staffordshire,
one of the attractive " King's
England" series of volumes, published
by Messrs. Hodder and Stoughton
Ltd. (10/6d. net). " East of Mow Cop
lies Biddulph Moor, the source of the
Trent, and in a valley beyond, sur-
rounded by well-wooded hills, lies
the beautiful Rudyard Lake on whose
shores Lockwood Kipling asked Alice

Macdonald to be his wife ; they
called their son after the place and so
made its name renowned throughout
the world. This lake is two miles
long and its greatest width is over
400 yards ; actually it is the reservoir
for the canal dug to link the Mersey
with the Trent at the close of the 18th
century. Perhaps it is odd to think
that Kipling is named after a reservoir.
— London Member.

Obituary

MRS. ALICE MACDONALD
FLEMING

WE announce with regret the
death of Mrs. Alice Macdonald
Fleming, Rudyard Kipling's
sister, who passed away on October
25th at West Coates, Edinburgh.
Mrs. Fleming was the widow of Lt.
Col. John Murchison Fleming, and
daughter of the late «John Lockwood
Kipling, C.I.E. She was a Vice-
President of the Kipling Society, in
whi<h she always took great interest,
and until recently attended the London
meetings. Her broadcast talk, entitled
' My Brother, Rudyard Kipling ' was
reproduced in the Kipling Journal
issues of December 1947 and January,
1948.
COLONEL C. H. MILBURN.

The Kipling Society has sustained

a further loss by the passing of Colonel
C. H. Milburn of Harrogate, who
died on October 27th at the age of
eighty-eight. Colonel Milburn's med-
ical career began in 1877, and he was
a founder member of the Hull Medical
Society, and its President in 1897.
He had a long and distinguished
record of military service. He re-
ceived many honours, and as far
back as 1902 he was presented by
the Prince of Wales (later King
George V) with the Special South
African medal for services in con-
nection with the despatch of hospital
orderlies, ambulance materials and
medical comforts for the sick and
wounded to the seat of war. He was
a keen antiquarian, and a valued
member of the Kipling Society of
which he was a Vice-President.

December, 1948         THE KIPLING JOURNAL                        7

Another Kipling Prize Essay

By ' GUNGA DIN.'

On the proposition "The basis of all Kipling's work was
reporting on a gigantic and lavish scale ..."

(In our last issue we published the
essay written by the First Prize winner
in this year's Kipling Essay Competition
for the Martindell prize among the boys
at Victoria College, Jersey. Below we
publish the essay of the " runner up "
J. R. Rowley, aged seventeen.)

WHEN writing about Kipling it
is always hard to know where
to begin and equally difficult
to know where to end.

Yet there can be but one beginning ;
the picture of a youthful laughing
Kipling. He was rather an unusual
schoolboy, with his short, square-
built body, his close cropped dark
hair, dark complexion, heavy eyebrows,
his shoulders slightly rounded, and
his spectacles, behind which were
found his deep blue eyes. Yes, we
must go right back to the 80's and to
the early years at Westward Ho!,
where we glimpse for the first time the
poet and the journalist, growing
already those famous whiskers, and
preparing the background for his
wonderful future. To say without
reservation that " the basis of all
Kipling's work was reporting on a
gigantic and lavish scale " is indeed
a sweeping generalisation, yet it is
one which is to a great extent true.
A  BORN  JOURNALIST.

Kipling was a born journalist and
a reporter on a vast scale ; he wrote
for the people of his time, he employed
every piece of material upon which
his eye rested, and he expressed all
this in a poetry and prose both in an
original and infectious manner.

Kipling's actual journalistic career
may be said to have started at school
with the post of editor of the " Chron-
icle "; here he had the task of writing
every sort of literature, and living in
contact with his own critical public.
Just as then at Westward Ho! be
stored away the memories and the
dialect of the people around him, so
it was always. Kipling the reporter
turned every experience to use and
shows both in his poetry and prose

that  same  tense,  imaginative  vision
of which he was the possessor.

His first works of importance
appeared in London in the shape of
the Rupee Books, " Plain Tales "
and " Departmental Ditties." These
were originally contributions to the
" Pioneer " then the daily paper of
Allahabad, and of which he was
assistant editor. These books were
followed by a succession of stories
and verse which bring before our
eyes the endless range and untiring
variety of Kipling's power.

We find stories of his birth, the
natives, the English officials and above
all the soldiers whom he had known.
Pictures of Mowgli and the East,
Bagheera the panther and Baloo the
bear, those three soldier heroes and
so many other vivid memories re-
ported for us in Kipling's own inimit-
able style. The range of his originality,
his sleepless energy of observation,
and his voracious appetite for facts
and ways of life, can be realised
when we appreciate the distance over
which his reporting carried him.
Kipling has revealed not only India,
Canada, Egypt, New Zealand, Australia
and South Africa and the South
Seas, but also has awakened the
spirit of the British Army and Navy.

Not only did Kipling's work show
a vast variety of material; it also
showed a great diversity of style, in
that he used not only prose, but also
sinewy, vivid poetry, which appealed
to the people and aroused the spirit.
HIS POETRY.

In the last decade of the 19th
Century Rudyard Kipling created a
sensation by his poetry. Poetry that
roused and surprised, deliberately
intended to appear rugged and vulgar,
it is cleverly devised, a mixture almost
of the folk song and the music hall
chorus ; bound together with a rhythm
worthy of Swinburne. Kipling's poetry
was a hymn of Imperialism, it had
courage and it embodied a popular
philosophy. It progressed with grow-
ing dignity from  the  Barrack-Room

8

THE KIPLING JOURNAL      December, 1948

Ballads in 1892 to the Seven Seas
in 1896 and the Five Nations in 1903.

Once again Kipling was reporting
on a lavish scale, these roughly hewn
poems with their compelling swing.
All were gained through observation
and   personal   genius   of   application.

Kipling has been criticised as a
' Banjo Bard ' and as a ' megalo-
maniac ';    yet    we    must    recognise

Kipling in his true light, forget the
rush and racket of his wonderful
career, and remember Kipling, the
courageous reporter. The man who
told us, and showed us, more of the
Empire than any other ; the man who,
both in his poetry and in his prose
has, above all, abundance and sharp-
ness of vision, courage and stead-
fastness of purpose.

The House Behind a High Wall

(The following extract from the
September, 1947 issue of " St. Dun-
Stan's Review " was sent by Mr. T. C.
Angus).

A HOUSE behind a high wall
and a pond nearby. What
better excuse for a tour of
inspection than the merest inkling
that " just around the corner " in
Rottingdean could be found a house
in which Rudyard Kipling once lived ?
How to get there was a minor head-
ache but, once there, how should
we know the house ? By the high
wall and a nearby pond, to be sure.

Was it not true that Kipling had
wished for peaceful seclusion in this
house, and had he not, eventually,
had to leave it because of the curious
eyes of the trippers, who used to
climb on top of the high wall and
peer inquisitively at him, whilst he
sought to write in what he had fondly
hoped to be the seclusion of an old-
world garden? Was inspiration to
be found by feeling that high wall,
or was it just once more a case of
idle curiosity?

A venture across the main Brighton
road under maybe the friendly and
watchful eyes of a policeman who
knew us. A leisurely cup of coffee
at the Creamery, that present-day
rendezvous of St. Dunstaners on
Saturday and Sunday mornings, and
then the search.

A second crossing over the main
road, walking along the main street
of Rottingdean. Dodging passers-by,
who probably wondered what on
earth we meant by bumping into
them, with only a hurried " Sorry,
we didn't see you." Past unseen
houses and shops, down kerbs, across
narrow roads, and then the corner.
What lay around the corner ? Were
we to find the house, the walled garden
and the nearby pond? Not we on
that bright Sunday morning.

But, later, the elusive house was
located. Across the road was the
round pond, and facing that the old
stone-built church. Nearby a house
with a walled garden. Sure, it was
the same wall we had found and
passed that previous October morning.
. . . The name of the house ? No
longer is it known by R.K.'s title.
Now  it is  " The  Elms."

But one likes to imagine that in
that quiet garden the spirit of Kim
hovers, and to visualise that down
this quiet, old-fashioned street once
walked two men—Rudyard Kipling
and Burne-Jones. And so we leave
in peace the renamed house, and
pause awhile in the quiet old church-
yard, and listen to a V.A.D. reading
the inscriptions on the tablets de-
noting, too, that once Burne-Jones
lived and had died here.

Maureen V. Lees.

To New Readers

THE    Kipling   Society   exists   to
honour and extend the influence
of Rudyard Kipling in upholding
the   ideals   of  the   English   Speaking
World.    We    invite    all    readers    of
Kipling who are not yet members to
join our Society.    Membership is open
to men and women of every nation-

ality, wherever resident, who are
genuinely interested in the works
of Rudyard Kipling. The Subscrip-
tion is 10/6d. per annum. New
readers are invited to correspond
with us at 98, Gower Street, London,
W.C.l.

December, 1948         THE KIPLING JOURNAL                        9

Kipling and Socialism

(The third part of an Address to the Auckland, N.Z. Branch of the Kipling

Society).

BY SIR STEPHEN ALLEN, K.B.E., C.M.G., D.S.O.

NOW I return to The Mother
Hive. In this story, the hive
is the State. It is old and
overcrowded, and just in the con-
dition which is ripe for new doctrines,
a " brave new world," or perhaps
" a new order." Into the Hive, the
Wax Moth contrives to introduce
herself, the Herald of the new order.
It is not this time the socialism of
the Walking Delegate, rough and
violent, but that different brand
which insinuates itself more subtly,
under the disguise of pure love for
its fellows and zeal for the common
good. The Wax Moth begins to
lay her eggs, spreading her prin-
ciples, and gradually corrupts the
Hive, and all is done with the utmost
sweet reasonableness. It is in fact
the work of insidious propaganda,
as opposed to the policy of direct
action in the Walking Delegate,
but it is surer and deadlier in attain-
ing its objects. We should study
how this is done. First, the Wax
Moth lays her eggs—" These are my
principles, and I am ready to die
for them " she says, and later, " When
you have killed me, write me, at least,
as one that loved her fellow workers."
It is reminiscent of much that we
have listened to, or read, of recent
years in this country. Then as the
mischief progresses, the propaganda
goes further : " You misunderstand
me as usual, love ... to expend
precious unreturning vitality and real
labour against imaginary danger, that
is heartbreakingly absurd." " If I
can only teach a—little toleration—
a little ordinary kindness." The Wax
Moth was a pacifist, it seems. Soon
the Hive begins to develop oddities,
instead of true workers and drones,
and these all lived on the stored-up
honey, which the few remaining
workers strive to maintain. In short,
the community is feeling the strain,
and fanatics and cranks, with all
their quack remedies, are appearing.
No one, except the old Queen and
a   few   loyal   workers,   are   seriously

alarmed, because as one of the
oddities says, " This Hive produces
the Hival Honey. You people never
seem to grasp the economic simplicity
that underlies all life." In these
days we hear exactly the same thing ;
for the " hival honey," substitute
the words the " Wealth of the Com-
munity," which we are taught now-
adays that all must share, without
thought of who are to produce it,
or where and how it is obtained.
Still the mischief in the Hive con-
tinues. The Wax Moths say " You
see what we have done." " We
have created New Material, a New
Convention, a New Type." " More
than that," say the Oddities, " you
have created a new heaven and a
new earth." I need not compare
this language with the new world,
or the new deal, language so familiar
to us. Kipling continues the story
to its logical conclusion, when the
bee-keeper destroys the rotten hive,
but he leaves one ray of hope. In
one corner of the old hive, a few
remaining workers had reared a new
Queen, and when the old hive is
destroyed, the new Queen, with her
small but faithful band of workers,
leave the hive and swarm—" a hand-
ful, but prepared to go on."

This ironic and forceful little story,
by itself, would be enough to rouse
the anger of socialism against Kipling.
Truth is always hateful to the false,
and when truth is set out by a master
hand, in the guise of a parable such
as this, there is small cause for wonder
that those who gave rise to it should
belittle the author. But though truth
may be hidden for a long time, it
usually prevails in the end. Time
alone can show whether Kipling is
to be an enduring figure in the literary
world, and a continuing influence
in England and the Dominions, or
if his enemies can succeed in suppress-
ing that influence, but we look forward
to the future with confidence.

It only remains for me to try to
point    the    moral.    Since    I    wrote

...

10

THE KIPLING JOURNAL      December, 1948

the foregoing part of this paper, the
elections in England have taken
place, with results which I shall not
attempt to explain, criticise, or dis-
cuss. In New Zealand itself, however,
we can see a Hive at work, in miniature
certainly, but none the less busy,
and possibly repeating the action of
the story I have been referring to.
I daresay you saw an article written
by the late Rector of the Waitaki
Boys, High School—Mr. F. Milner
—for the " Observer," and reprinted
later in the " United Empire Journal."
In that article there were some strik-
ing remarks, from which I venture
to quote a few sentences, as illustrating
the tendencies of the present day :—
" Just prior to this world war, a
Dunedin professor . . . contributed an
article to a magazine, subsequently
suppressed for sedition, in which he
scathingly denounced our parasitic
infantilism, our simian servility . . .
Its anti-British implications evoked
loud applause in academic quarters."
" Then we are treated to the egregious
spectacle of a Wellington professor
solemnly quoted as an oracle, in the
official data book of the New Zealand
section   of   the   Royal   Institute   of

International Affairs, to the effect
that, in view of anticipated war, the
disadvantages of our staying within
the Empire are overwhelming ! An
Auckland professor capped this
academic symposium by proposing
our contrite surrender of Gibraltar,
Malta, Aden and Singapore, to their
real owners . . . The war of course
discourages such subversive activi-
ties."

The article I have quoted from
may well be read by lovers of Kipling,
and compared with The Mother Hive.
It shows very clearly how the Oddities
have arrived, and are established and
flourishing in our midst. There is
no need for me to draw any further
lesson, for those who read The Mother
Hive for themselves, note the in-
sidious spread of the poison, the
increase of the oddities who foul
and waste the substance of the hive,
and their final abandonment to share
in its destruction.

I have said enough now to explain
the causes for the fear and dislike,
that exist in some quarters, for
Kipling's works, and I hope I have
supplied additional reasons for their
study.

The Story of Mrs. Bathurst

IN the Kipling Journal for October,
1938 there is an account of a
paper read by the late Mr. Capel
Hall on some of the stories in Traffics
and Discoveries. Amongst others Mr.
Capel Hall dealt with Mrs. Bathurst
and the mystery of the two charred
bodies found at the end of a railway
siding.

I was Chairman at that meeting
and had previously arranged with
Mr. Capel Hall the details of his
lecture. I had promised him I would
ask a certain question during the
usual discussion, but when the time
came I completely forgot what that
question was to have been. It was
not until some time later that I
remembered, but by then Mr. Capel
Hall had passed away, and my
question has remained unasked until
to-day.

As the  story  of Mrs.  Bathurst is

almost in the "mystery" class 'and
has never been satisfactorily solved,
it may be appropriate to put my
question before the readers of the
Journal.

It will be remembered that the
action of the story takes place in a
guard's van on an isolated railway
siding. Hooper is talking about
Vickery and Mrs. B. As he talks
he is continually feeling in his waist-
coat pocket, but never withdraws
what is concealed there.

Now the question I had intended
to ask was :—" What was in Hooper's
pocket? Was it a set of artificial
teeth?" If so, then the mystery
of those two charred bodies is partially
solved.—W. G. B.  Maitland.

(Note.—For other references to
Mrs. Bathurst see K.J. Nos. 22, 34,
43, 47 and 48),

December, 1948         THE KIPLING JOURNAL

11

Interpreting Kipling

TO THE PRESENT GENERATION

Rudyard Kipling. By Rupert Croft-
Cooke. The English Novelists Series.
(Home & Van Thal Ltd. 6s.)

THE ' story came first, as it always
did with Kipling." This sen-
tence sums up the subject better
than many volumes ; and the author
develops this dictum by explaining
that the wealth of correct detail
everywhere to be found in Kipling
is only a means of presenting an air
of verisimilitude—" the fanciful tale
must rest on a steel framework of
correct observation." The above re-
lates to ' The Finest Story in the World,''
but it applies to all the others. Mr.
Croft-Cooke, unlike so many critics,
shows an understanding of Stalky & Co.;
" They (the heroes) live in the mind
as no analysed creature of the later
psychological school stories can ever
do." Kipling, limited by his bad sight
to be a looker-on in the activities
of life, has a high respect for the men—
and women—who do things ; one
cannot imagine him creating Hamlet.
" Mrs. Hauksbee ... is a photo-
graph." But is this true? Is she
not modelled on several characters,
just as an artist will use various
models for one figure ? Kipling uses
this method of character delineation
again and again, and the fact that his
people are modelled on humanity in
general makes them true to life. This
is so with the Soldiers Three : " It may
be that Kipling had an exaggerated
notion of the civilian's contempt for
the soldier at the time, but certainly
that contempt existed. In portraying
these men he was deliberately answering
it, but never by attempting to white-
wash his heroes. They had all the
sins of licentious soldiery. But he
loved them. And better than openly
pleading their cause he made them
lovable to his readers." Most of us
who lived in those times knew that
this contempt did exist, just as we
saw the reality of things in India.
Mr. Croft-Cooke excuses Kipling's
'old-fashioned" view by saying that
it was normal at the time that he
wrote—views that " he had formed—
in favour of law and order ... in

favour of men of his own race whom
he never ceased to consider the flower
of the world." Mr. Croft-Cooke seems
enthusiastic about the plunge into
self-government by the peoples of
the Indian peninsula, but, viewing
affairs as they are, was the picture in
Kipling's tales over-drawn ? He cer-
tainly had no inferiority complex in
regard to the English, differing from
those of our intelligentsia who think
it enormously clever when an Irishman,
or Eastern Communist, abuses us.

Mr. Croft-Cooke does not like the
plot of Kim (Kipling having declared
it " plotless ") : " the Secret Service
story is not better than John Buchan
might have written(?) and never
ceases to be a tiresome distraction
from the ' nakedly '—and magnifi-
cently—picaresque." We can only
say with the Lama, " What a to-do
is here," when, after some assorted
fault-finding such as " tawdry plot,"
Mr. Croft-Cooke ends his summing-up
of Kim thus : " The reader does not
finish this novel—he disembarks from
it regretfully, remembering the places
to which it has carried him, the
coloured coastlines(?) and crowded
cities he has seen . . . With a line or
two of dialogue and half a paragraph
of description Kipling sets each on
his square and though they move to
and fro in the book we need no more
than the first glimpse he gives us."

Very rightly the Puck books are
praised, including Kipling's ability
" just how to insert a fragment of
specialised knowledge so that it would
give colour and outline to an incident."
We must compliment Mr. Croft-Cooke
here for being able to see something
more than a mere collection of
technicalities ; we must also con-
gratulate him for his eulogy of
Pyecroft, whom most of the critics
ignore. There is frank acknowledg-
ment of the charm and comicality of
the later stories—again ignored by
many: " He (Kipling) is not tired or
indifferent or irritable, he is not even
disillusioned. But he does not whistle
at his work, he does not grin or gasp
at   his   own   cleverness."    There   is

12

THE KIPLING JOURNAL      December, 1948

quite a good summary to end with :
" He was the least egotistic of writers.
Even Something of Myself is about
other people far more than it is about
Kipling. All contemporary endeav-
ours to make a popular figure of the
man himself were defeated by his
natural modesty and his quiet determ-
ination to be left alone to do the job
for which he was fitted, the only
job which interested him: the noble
and eternal job of telling a good
story."

There are a few inaccuracies. Sold-
iers Three appeared as one book in
1892 (it had, of course, appeared
before then). There are ten, not nine
Stalky  stories ;   " 'Stalky' "  was  the

first of them, not " In Ambush ; "
and the College buildings at Westward
Ho ! are faithfully described. Kim's
mother was surely rather more than
"presumably" British, as Father
Victor " saw Kimball married to
Annie Shott." Lastly, if Mr. Croft-
Cooke had looked at a little verse
called "Very Many People" (1926),
he would have seen that Kipling made
many lamentations about the " broken
peace " of the Downs. These, however
do not greatly detract from the
merit of this short book, which is an
honest attempt to interpret Kipling
to the present generation.

B. M. B.

"Wrote Mandalay".

OUR    postbag   recently  brought
us a note from the late Colonel
C. H. Milburn, who enclosed a
cutting from the ' Hull Daily Mail ' of
August 28th,   1948 which reads :—

WROTE   MANDALAY.

Oley Speaks, composer of " On the
Road to Mandalay " and more than 200
other songs, has died in New York. He was
74 and had been in ill health for some time.

Speaks, who was also a singer, left a
clerical job in a railway office at Columbus,
Ohio, to continue his music studies in New
York.

" There seems " comments Colonel
Milburn, "to be some mistake here.
Did Kipling compose " Mandalay,"
and Oley Speaks claim it? or did Oley
Speaks write it and Kipling claim it? or
are there two " Mandalays." or did
Speaks only compose the tune?

For the information of readers
who may have been puzzled by this
reference to ' Mandalay ' and Mr.
Speaks, it may be said that there is
absolutely no question as to who wrote
' Mandalay ' the poem, although several

composers    have   provided    different
versions of the music.

Our   Hon.   Librarian   writes :—

" There obviously can be no question
as to Rudyard Kipling's authorship
of the poem ' Mandalay,' and the
notice in the ' Hull Daily Mail ' is
most misleading.

A list compiled by the late Mr. F. W.
MacKenzie-Skues of " Kipling Poems
set to music" (K. J. December 1932)
includes the following : "On the Road
to Mandalay " composed by Oley
Speaks, published by John Church &
Co., U.S.A. 1897 "

Whatever fame the late Mr. Oley
Speaks may have enjoyed as a musical
composer in the U.S.A. his setting of
Kipling's poem is not well-known on
this side of the Atlantic. The best
known and most widely used setting is
that written by G. F. Cobb., published
by Chas. Sheard, London in 1894
under the title " Mandalay."

Victoria, B.C, Canada

WE    thank    the Hon. Secretary
Treasurer of the Victoria, B.C.,
Canada Branch of the Society
(Mrs. Maud Barclay)—for her recent
report on local Branch activities.

" There have been eight meetings"
she writes. " In addition, the Ann-
ual Dinner was held as usual, the
Annual Picnic was a great success,
and there have been monthly
meetings   of   the   Reading   Circle.

The Society has been enabled,
through the generosity of interested
U.S.A. guests, to present the local
Veterans' Hospital with three vol-
umes of Kipling stories.

In spite of transportation strikes
(when the whole city had to walk)
malevolent weather, high cost of
living etc, a faithful band, few in
number but great in enthusiasm,
have carried on.

December   1948

THE KIPLING JOURNAL

13

Kipling and France

by BASIL M

(This is the third part of an address
to members of the Kipling Society in
London).

WHEN considering the Kipling
poems that have a French subject
I omit pieces like " The Anvil "
("Never was a blacksmith like our
Norman King") and other things in
the little English History with its
charming verse, because the French-
men who appear therein are in the
main Normans ; that is to say, men
who were domiciled in France for
barely four generations. However,
there are four poems that may be
considered predominantly French in
character, the chief of which is that
fine piece of literature, " France,"
which made its appearance in 1913.
It is too long to quote in full, but
certain lines almost force themselves
on  the   most  casual  reader :—

In   each   other's   cup   we    poured

mingled blood and tears,
Brutal    joys,    unmeasured    hopes,

intolerable fears,
All that soiled or salted life for a

thousand years.
Proved beyond the need of proof,

matched in every clime,
O companion, we have lived greatly

through all time!
JEANNE D'ARC

There is a  particularly  clever  and

dignified reference to Jeanne d' Arc—

Pardoning old necessity no pardon

can efface—
That   undying   sin   we    shared  in

Rouen market-place.
Pride of place from all the  fine things
in this poem must go, I think, to the
eight lines which form the beginning
and    ending :—

Broke to every known mischance,

lifted over all
By the light, sane joy of life,  the

buckler of the Gaul,
Furious in luxury, merciless in toil,
Terrible with strength renewed from

a tireless soil,
Strictest judge  of her own  worth,

gentlest of man's mind,
First to face the Truth and last to

leave old truths behind—
France beloved of every soul that
loves or serves its kind!

BAZLEY

" THE SOIL OF FRANCE."

Less serious in tone but breathing
in its every line the deep love of its
author for the actual soil of France
is the " Song of Seventy Horses,"
which of course refers to a motor-car
commencing a tour in that country.
It begins breezily :—

Once again the Steamer at Calais—

the tackles
Easing   the   car-trays   on    to    the

quay.    Release her!
Sign—refill, and let me away with

my horses.

(Seventy Thundering Horses!)
Slow through the traffic, my horses!

It is enough—it is France!
Of the other five verses the fourth is
my favourite :—

Whether   that   gale   where   Biscay

jammed in the corner
Herds  and  heads  her  seas  at  the

Landes, but defeated
Bellowing smokes along Spain, till

the uttermost headlands
Make themselves dance in the mist.
(Breathe—breathe   deeply,   my
horses!)    It  is   enough—it  is
France!

One is glad to know both these fine
poems have been effectively trans-
lated into  French  rhymed  verse.

FRENCH ROADS.

In " A Song of French Roads "
we read a very happy little verse
inspired by the matter-of-fact manner
in which Napoleon numbered the
great Routes Nationales of France—
a practice continued to the present
day to the great convenience of the
tourist. This is another piece of
work that shows Kipling's affection
for the French country-side, manifest
in the careful topical allusions to the
places on the route. Here is the
introductory stanza, which repeats,
with a few variations, as a termination;

Now praise the Gods of Time and
Chance

That    brings    a    heart's    desire,
And lay the joyous roads of France

Once more beneath the tyre—
So numbered by Napoleon,

The  veriest ass  can spy
How Twenty takes to Bourg-Madame

14

THE KIPLING JOURNAL       December, 1948

And Ten is for Hendaye.
All sorts  of places  and  districts  are
mentioned.    Route No.  16 speaks of
the battle grounds between Dunkirk
and Péronne,

And  Thirty-nine   and  Twenty-nine

Can   show   where   it   has   gone,

Which   slant   through   Arras   and

Bapaume,
And join outside  Cambrai.

" GEOGRAPHICAL CORRECTNESS"
The traveller's journey passes by
Angoulême with its masses of white
dust, and the warmth of the sun
welcomes him to Blaye. Langon,
some 42 kilometres east of Bordeaux,
takes him " down that grey-walled
aisle of resin-scented pine " the Odyssey
ending with the sight of Fontarabia
and the Bidassoa. It may be noted
that Kipling's love for correctness in
geographical matters is strongly mark-
ed here as elsewhere. The last stanza,
with its slightly altered wording,
once again exhibits his whole-hearted
devotion to the terrain of France :—
Oh, praise the Gods of Time and

Chance

That   ease   the   long   control,
And   bring   the   glorious   soul   of

France

Once   more   to   cheer   our   soul
With beauty, change and valiancy

Of sun and soil and sky,
Where   Twenty   takes   to   Bourg-
Madame,

And Ten is for Hendaye!
The lovable ex-military old priest
who is the central figure in " The
Miracle of Saint Jubanus " makes a
second appearance in a poem called
" The Curé," a short of infinite
pathos in the manner of Winthrop
Praed. I shall not say much about it
here, as that would be merely to
repeat what I have already said when
discussing the story. The poem, as
will be seen from a few lines quoted,
accentuates with simple charm the
humble life of this attractive character,
happy, like the hero of Gray's Elegy,
to remain unknown to Fame, while
performing " the daily round, the
common task " in the humdrum
and far from luxurious surroundings
of an obscure village. The lines
His pay was lower than our Dole ;
The piteous little church he
tended

Had   neither   roof   nor   vestments

whole
Save what his own hard fingers

mended

give an idea of the conditions under
which this man lived and worked.
At the same time, there is nothing
morose or mournful about him in
word or deed :—

His   speech—to   suit  his  hearers—

ran
From    pure    Parisian    to    gross

peasant,
With   interludes    North   African

If any Légionnaire were present :
And  when  some  wine-ripe  atheist

mocked

His office or the Faith he knelt in,
He    left    the    sinner    dumb    and

shocked

By oaths his old Battalion dealt in.
Like a wise man he knows the value
in village life of attention to small
details :—

And he was learned in Death and

Life;
And he was Logic's self (as France

is).
He   knew   his   flock—man,   maid,

and  wife—

Their    forbears,    failing,    and
fiancés.

To-day?    God knows where he may
lie—

His   Cross   of   weathered   beads

above him :
But    one    not    worthy    to    untie

His shoe-string, prays you read—

and love  him!

THE    FRENCHMAN    IS    GLORI-
OUSLY   AN   ARTIST.

On no account must we omit
mention of a little sixpenny book
that saw the light in 1915—" France
at War," a companion to " The New
Army in Training " and " The Fringes
of the Fleet." With his usual desire
to see things for himself Kipling
made an extensive visit to the French
battle-line ; the result is shown in
the numberless touches of accurate
detail that we expect as a matter of
course. Like this :—" Every soldier
has some of the old maid in him,
and rejoices in all the little gadgets
and devices of his own invention.
Death and wounding come by nature,
but to lie  dry,  sleep  soft,  and keep

December, 1948         THE KIPLING JOURNAL

15

yourself clean by forethought and
contrivance is art ; and in all things
the Frenchman is gloriously an artist."
The relations between men and officers
are touched on :—" Moreover, the
French officers seem as mother-keen
as their men are brother-fond of
them. Maybe the possessive form
of address : ' Mon général,' ' mon
capitaine,' helps the idea, which
our men cloak in other and curter
phrases." There is a vivid description
of the condition of Rheims (not, of
course, at that time, mentioned by
name !) " One quarter of the place
had been shelled nearly level ; the
façades of the houses stood doorless,
roofless, and windowless like stage
scenery. This was near the cathedral,
which is always a favourite mark
for the heathen." Here is another
vignette of ordinary life at the Front :-
" The day closed (after an amazing
interlude in the chateau of a dream,
. . . The proprietor was somebody's
chauffeur at the front, and we drank
to his excellent health) at a little
village in a twilight full of the petrol
of many cars and the wholesome
flavour of healthy troops. There is
no better guide to a camp than one's
own thoughtful nose ; and though I
poked mine everywhere, in no place
then or later did it strike that vile
betraying taint of underfed, unclean
men.    And the same with the horses."

One could go on quoting ad lib
from this brochure. I must, how-
ever, give two more short ones, one
on the French fighting quality :—
" The Boche does not at all like
meeting men whose womenfolk he
has dishonoured or mutilated, or
used as a protection against bullets.
It is not that these men are angry or
violent. They do not waste time
that way. They kill him." Lastly,
there is the usual note on French
hospitality. A young Frenchmen
(nicknamed Alan) takes an English
party round :—" We took tea in the
hall upstairs, with a propriety and
an interchange of compliments that
suited the little occasion. There was
no attempt to disguise the existence
of a bombardment, but it was not
allowed to overweigh talk of lighter
matters. I know one guest who sat
through it as near as might be
inarticulate with wonder. But he
was English, and when Alan asked
him whether he had enjoyed himself,
he said : ' Oh, yes. Thank you very
much.' ' Nice people, aren't they?.
Alan went on. ' Oh, very nice. And
such good tea.' He managed to
convey a few of his matured sentiments
to Alan after dinner. ' But what
else could the people have done?'
said he.    ' They are French."

(To be concluded)

"Mandalay " in Danish

A COPY of the Danish musical
version of ' Mandalay ' has
reached us from Lieutenant
Kai Hensen, Vimmelskaftet 22,
Horsens, Denmark, a member of
the Kipling Society. Kipling's words
were translated into Danish by Dai
Frus Moller, and set to the music
by Erling Winkel. Lt. Hensen men-
tions the interesting fact that during
the war, when the Germans overran
Denmark, this song was very popular
there, and " every boy was singing
and whistling the tune in the streets ;
it was also to be heard on the wireless

and in the dance halls, particular
emphasis being laid on the words,
' Come you back, you British soldier !'
Later on, when the R.A.F. paid their
daily and nightly visits, this stanza
was much in evidence, and the Germans
were very angry, forbidding us to
sing and play ' Mandalay.' But, of
course, we continued to sing and
whistle it heartily, and some had
to go to jail for that !"

We thank our Danish member
for sending this interesting contri-
bution to our records.

New Members

The   following   new   members   have
been enrolled since the last issue  of
the Journal appeared :
LONDON.—Colonel W. A. Gibbs ; Mr.

A.  J. Craig-Harvey ;  Mr. Eric Link-
later ;

NEW ZEALAND..—Mr. Arnold Har-
rison ; Dr. Grace De Courcy.

16

THE KIPLING JOURNAL       December, 1948

A Kipling Life

A  CORRESPONDENT  sends  the
following   extracts   from   " The
Statesman " :—Rudyard    Kip-
ling.    By     Nella     Braddy     (Collins.
Rs. 5-4).

Miss Braddy's life of Kipling for
children will pass a few hours
pleasantly for " kiddies and grown-
ups too." The story starts in Bom-
bay where Kipling was born in the
cold weather which his friend Mark
Twain, as the author recalls, declared
was called " cold " in India because
people had to have some way of
distinguishing between weather that
would melt a brass door-knob and
weather that would only make it
mushy. At six " Ruddy " went to
England and spent the only really
unhappy years of his life as a small
and unloved P.C in Portsmouth.
Reading was his solace and he nearly
blinded himself before he was old
enough to go to the United Services
College at Westward Ho ! where he
became known as " Gigger " because
of his thick spectacles. The famous
doings of Dunsterville, Beresford and
Kipling, the Stalky and Co. of Study
No. 5, are followed by the exploits
of Kipling Sahib, the young C and M
subeditor.       Miss    Braddy     wrongly

claims that The City of Dreadful
Night is a picture of Lahore, thus
depriving Filthy Calcutta of the
dislike which Kipling allotted to it.
Kipling's travels, friends, relations
and connexions from the Burne-
Joneses to Earl Baldwin, flit through
the pages as Kipling travels through
the Empire he loved and America
which he did not (though he married
an American). The most interesting
passages describe the scenes, people
and conversations which gave Kip-
ling the ideas for his stories and
verses. Many anecdotes illustrate his
simplicity, and unlionizability, for
example, he had to turn away
thousands of autograph hunters who
sought to sell his handwriting; but
for the daughter of a cousin he wrote
out whole pages of his name so that
she could cut them up and swap
them with school friends for other
treasure. The little girl grew up
into the novelist Angela Thirkell.
The British in India, Miss Braddy
observes, were often angered by the
impertinence of the young Kipling
who made superficial reports on
municipal politics " with all the
assurance of a Member of the British
Parliament touring India in the cold
weather."

SCARCE  COPIES  OF  THE   KIPLING   JOURNAL

WE thank members of the Society who have recently returned scarce copies
of  earlier   numbers  of  the    Journal.    Any   members   who   possess   the
following numbers which they can spare, and who will  present them to
the   Society will  earn  our  gratitude.    Old   copies  of the   Journal   immediately
required are :

Nos. 3,5,6,7,8,9, 15, 18, 19,24,25,32,41,
51, 46, 48, 53, 56, 59, 67, 71, 73, 81, and 83.

Copies   should    be    addressed   to :
The   Kipling Society, 98, Gower Street, London, W.C.l.

In the next issue of The Kipling Journal we hope to publish special

tributes   to   the   late   Mrs.   Alice   Macdonald    Fleming   and    Colonel

C. H. Milburn.

December, 1948        THE KIPLING JOURNAL

17

Letter Bag

Correspondents are asked to keep letters for publication as short as possible.

KIPLING AND THE ENGINEERS.

ON page 212 of " Something of
Myself,"Kipling mentions "mirac-
ulous escapes in technical matters
which make me blush." Possibly one
of these occurs in the story—" An
error in the Fourth Dimension " in
"The Day's Work." On page 303
Wilton Sargent being in haste to get
to London to fetch a scarab which is
under discussion, sent his butler to
" flag " the first down train. Obviously
this should have been the first up
train. Yours faithfully, T. Kennedy
Shaw, Colonel, Teffont Magna, Salis-
bury.

THREE       KIPLING       PICTURES

With reference to the enquiry about
" Three Kipling Pictures," from Mr.
J. S. I. McGregor, of Cape Province,
South Africa, which appeared in the
" Letter Bag " of the October 1948
Kipling Journal, the answer to question
(2) is, I think, that the drawing
referred to is by Scott Rankin, in
" People I have Never Met," pub-
lished in The Idler of June 1893. As
regards question (3) this is a similar
drawing evidently reproduced by Ern-
est Prater with the caption " Traffics
and Discoveries," in the Illustrated
Budget dated October 15, 1904.—E. W.
Martindell, Oaklea, Hook, Nr. Basing-
stoke,   Hants.

FIRST   KIPLING   CARTOON.

Answering Mr. J. T. McGregor's
inquiry in the current Journal, I
can place No. 2 " The Light That
Failed." This appeared in the " Idler
Magazine " for June 1893, one of a
series " People I Have Never Met,"
and was by Scott Rankin. In Mr.
Thurston Hopkin's " Rudyard Kip-
ling " Simpkin Marshall, 1915, where-
ever my collection of cartoons and
photographs of Kipling appears, the
series is wrongly named " People I
Have Met."

Though my collection now runs into
three figures, I cannot place Nos. 1 &
3. was probably a U.T.A. production,
3 was perhaps from " Punch." The
first Kipling cartoon in England
appeared   in    " Ally    Sloper's    Half-

Holiday "   for   Saturday   Aug.    15th,
1891.—T.  E. Elwell,   Regent   House,
Ramsey I. O. M.
THE  FIGURE   OF   THE  EGG.

I don't believe anybody has dealt
with this following " Crypticism "
in the Journal although for more than
a year, in 1930—32, we had many
pages given up to them . . . traced on
the rug the figure of the Egg itself.

It  occurs  in  line   6.   Page  317  in
" They "—Volume— Traffics and Dis-
coveries, uniform, Macmillan   Edition
1904.
What is the Egg?—" Heron."

—Stevenage, Herts.

R. K. &  FRENCH   WRITERS.

With regard to Kipling's library of
books in the French language, I should
guess that he frequented the Bibliothèque
Nationale. Not that I think ' deriva-
tive ' could be applied in any way to
the work of such a genius. I am
interested to know, for instance, if
such writers as Marcel Proust, Paul
Valéry, André Gide, Alain etc.—the
leaders of modern French writers
before 1939—were favourites of his
or did he scorn them as did Anatole
France, whose seat in the Académie
Française, Paul Valéry succeeded to
after his death : the irony of fate.—
(Mrs.) Edith M. Buchanan, Hon.
Secretary, Auckland (N.Z.) Branch,
79, Victoria Avenue, Remuera, Auck-
land, N.Z.

THE  MAIN PITFALL.

On p. 14 of Puck of Pook's Hill,
(Weland's Sword) Puck derides the
conception of fairies as " little buzz-
flies with butterfly wings," and
pictures Sir Huon and his troop heading
out into the teeth of a sou-west gale ;
but on p. 268 (Dymchurch Flit)
Puck, as Tom Shoesmith, compares
" their liddle wings " to those of
tired butterflies, and they need a
boat to cross the Channel. Yet
they had not weakened through over-
crowding; it was the natives of the
Marsh  that  sickened.

This is an outstanding example
of the main pitfall of " episodal "
fictional writing.—T. E. E.

W.   H.   Houldershaw.   Ltd..   Printers,   49-55,   London   Road,   Southend-on-Sea.