(ii) 2_____________________THE KIPLING JOURNAL________December 1981 December 1981________THE KIPLING JOURNAL___________________3 THE KIPLING SOCIETY founded in 1927 by J.H.C. Brooking, M.I.E.E. Registered Charity No 278885 PRESIDENT Sir Angus Wilson, C.B.E. VICE-PRESIDENTS Lt.-Colonel A. E. Bagwell Purefoy C. E. Carrington, M.C. Mrs M. Bagwell Purefoy T. E. Cresswell, M.C. Peter Bellamy Joseph R. Dunlap, D.L.S. U.S.A.) Rear-Admiral P. W. Brock, C.B., D.S.O. R. Lancelyn Green, B.LITT., M.A. James Cameron, C.B.E. Joyce Tomkins, D.LIT. T. H. Whittington, M.D. COUNCIL: ELECTED MEMBERS T. L. A. Daintith The Revd G. H. McN. Shelford, Bryan C. Diamond Chairman Mrs L. A. F. Lewis, Mrs Anne Shelford Deputy Chairman Brigadier F. E. Stafford, C.M.G., C.B.E. Miss L. A. C. Price Miss Helen Webb COUNCIL: HONORARY OFFICIAL MEMBERS T. S. Bittleston, Treasurer Mrs G. H. Newsom, Librarian F. L. Croft, L.L.M., Solicitor Martin B. Rodgers, F.C.A., Auditor J. H. McGivering, Meetings Secretary John Shearman, Secretary G. H. Webb, O.B.E., Editor of the Journal OFFICE c/o Royal Commonwealth Society, 18 Northumberland Avenue, London WC2N 5BJ. Telephone 01-930 6733 Assistant Secretary: Miss Celia Mundy The office is usually staffed on Wednesdays and Fridays MELBOURNE BRANCH, AUSTRALIA President: A. L. Brend Honorary Secretary: Mrs Ivy Morton, Flat 7, 13 Hughendon Road, East St Kilda, 3182 Melbourne, Australia VICTORIA BRANCH, BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA Vice-President: Captain D. H. McKay Honorary Secretary: Miss Isabel Howard, 938 Verdier Avenue, Brentwood Bay, British Columbia, Canada VOS 1AO SECRETARIAT FOR UNITED STATES OF AMERICA Honorary Secretary: Joseph R. Dunlap, D.L.S. 420 Riverside Drive, Apt. 12G, New York NY 10025, U.S.A. December 1981________THE KIPLING JOURNAL___________________5 SOCIETY ANNOUNCEMENTS FORTHCOMING DISCUSSION MEETINGS These are held on the first floor of The Clarence', 53 Whitehall, London SW1, at 5.30 for 6p.m. It is near Charing Cross Under- ground Station (Bakerloo, Northern and Jubilee Lines). Wednesday 17 February 1982 Mr D. T. Irvine on Kipling: Singer of the Technics of Living Wednesday 14 April 1982 John Burt, Assistant Librarian, Manuscripts Section, University of Sussex Library, on Kipling's Private Papers Wednesday 14 July 1982 Brigadier F. E. Stafford, C.M.G., C.B.E., on Back to the Army Again ! Wednesday 15 September 1982 (Speaker to be confirmed) Wednesday 10 November 1982 Peter Bellamy—if in England— with a Recital of Kipling Songs, including new settings ANNUAL VISIT, 1982, TO BATEMAN'S, BURWASH, EAST SUSSEX By courtesy of the National Trust and Mr R. C. Taylor, Administrator, our members will be welcome to a private visit to Bateman's on the afternoon of Friday 4 June 1982. (National Trust membership gives free admission: otherwise normal fee payable.) 'The Bear', Burwash, recommended for lunch: tea available at Bateman's. [Council Members: as in June 1981, a meeting at Bateman's is arranged for 12 noon.] ANNUAL LUNCHEON AND ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING, 1982 Arrangements are being made and will be announced soon. RATE OF ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION Turn to page 47 for an important announcement. December 1981 JOHN SHEARMAN WHAT THEY REALLY THOUGHT "The last time he had come that way it had been in state, with a clattering cavalry escort, to visit the gentlest and most affable of Viceroys; and the two had talked for an hour together about mutual friends in London, and what the Indian common folk really thought of things. This time Purun Bhagat paid no calls, but leaned on the rail of the Mall, watching that glorious view of the Plains spread out forty miles below, till a native Mohammedan policeman told him he was obstructing traffic; and Purun Bhagat salaamed reverently to the Law, because he knew the value of it, and was seeking for a Law of his own. Then he moved on..." There is an echo of autobiography in this passage from "The Miracle of Purun Bhagat". The clue is in Something of Myself, chapter III:- "the proudest moment of my young life was when I rode up Simla Mall beside [Lord Roberts, the Commander-in-Chief] on his usual explosive red Arab, while he asked me what the men thought about their accommodation, entertainment-rooms and the like." Lockwood Kipling's sketch above, from the first edition of The Second Jungle Book, is an authentic impression of a stretch of a famous street—even the pattern of railing and lamp-post is precisely as shown in contemporary photographs. THE KIPLING JOURNAL published quarterly since 1927 by the Kipling Society 18 Northumberland Avenue, London WC2N 5BJ Volume XLVIII________DECEMBER 1981__________Number 220 © This issue of the Kipling Journal is the Copyright of the Kipling Society Contents The Kipling Society: Officers and Branches 4 SOCIETY ANNOUNCEMENTS 5&47 Frontispiece: What they really thought 6 EDITOR'S NEWS AND NOTES 8-10 Illustration: "A miracle after a miracle" 11 NO MIRACLE FOR PURUN BHAGAT by Professor L. S. Fonaroff 12-30 Illustration: "Very slightly changed" 17 Illustration: "On the side of the Angels" 19 Illustration: Barasingh and Langurs 21 Illustration: An Earth Avalanche 25 Illustration: Kali's Shrine 31 SOMETHING OF HIMSELF A fifth instalment by C. L. Nicholson 32-33 Illustration: "Lord, look down on Thy Servant!" 33 STAGING the GADSBYS by William J. Lentsch 34-36 Illustration: The cast of The Gadsbys 35 Illustration: Just Not So 37 BOOK REVIEW: Violet Powell's Flora Annie Steel reviewed by Donald Simpson 38-39 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: The Bambridges and Wimpole from Mrs M. M. Bendle; "A Fourth Soldier" Again from Brig- adier F. E. Stafford; "Pukka Kandaharder" from Mr J. T. Healey; Newbolt and Kipling from Mrs G. H. Newsom 40-43 FIREWATER 44 Illustration: A Martini Carbine 44 ANNUAL LUNCHEON AND A.G.M., 1981 45 RECENT DISCUSSION MEETINGS 46 MEMBERSHIP NEWS and an Announcement on Subscriptions 47 A Note on the Kipling Society and the Journal 48 8___________________THE KIPLING JOURNAL________December 1981 EDITOR'S NEWS AND NOTES "THAT I MAY SING OF CROWD OR KING OR ROAD-BORNE COMPANY..." We congratulate Peter Bellamy on election as a Vice-President of the Society. [In March 1981 (pp 35-39) we described one of his recent concerts, reported his 1980 Australia tour (since followed by one in U.S.A.), and outlined his career.] He is a first-class performer in the field of traditional British folk-music, who has made a highly individual specialisation of rendering Kipling's songs in traditional or original—but essentially popular—musical settings. His interpretation works. It both fits and illuminates a good deal of Kipling's verse. To the aural element he often adds a visual one, with illustrative slides accompanying the songs. His zest and talent, with an accurate ear and a touch of theatre, have brought a large number of people to whom Kipling was merely a name into a first appreciation of the variety and vitality of the verse, and of the sympathy behind it. On 20 September 1981 Peter Bellamy gave a benefit performance for the Society. The venue was 'The Fox and Firkin', Lewisham, London SE 13, a pub known for its excellent beer. The occasion was arranged by John Shearman, and David Bruce of Bruce's Brewery who also contributed generously to our funds through a raffle. Geoffrey Hermges projected the slides. John McGivering kindly sent me a report. The audience were noisy, sometimes too rowdy, but they appreciated the show— as well they might. There is nothing of Bloomsbury in Kipling. The vigour and the common touch which, coupled with a genius for evocation, were the hallmark of songs once familiar in pubs, in barracks and between decks around the English- speaking world, stemmed from a popular instinct that ran like a strong thread through much of his verse. It usually speaks for itself, but sometimes Kipling asserted it explicitly, as in the unmistakable sincerity of "A Pilgrim's Way" (a hymn to ordinary people, first published in full in Reveille in August 1918, and now memor- ably set to music by Peter Bellamy). Its theme is hammered out, with variations, in its refrain: For as we come and as we go (and deadly-soon go we!) The people, Lord, Thy people, are good enough for me! KIPLING JOURNAL APPEAL We gratefully acknowledge some more donations, from William F. Hale (Books), Mr J. Parker and Miss Nancy Wintrier, all in the U.S.A. Gifts to our Appeal Fund are a most helpful source of income, since the Journal is increasingly expensive to print and distribute owing to the rise in postal charges and printing costs. Despite our greatly enhanced circulation we could not have produced a 48-page magazine these past two years without kind contributions from some of our members, and from three or four firms and trusts which—readers will know from our printed acknowledgments—have given us grants. We still need to have our hat out for more: cheques to the Kipling Society Journal Account, please. Ocean Transport and Trading Ltd (per the Philip Holt Trust) have now paid us a third instalment of their generous endowment to the Journal, and we would once again like to express our strong sense of gratitude. Their munificent support has been most encouraging. December 1981________THE KIPLING JOURNAL___________________9 NEW SUBSCRIPTION RATES In John Shearman's Announcements (pp 5 and 47) members are told that our sub- scription rate, held at a basic £4 for four years, has eventually had to be raised. Of course, we regret this; but no one will be very surprised. To consider the Journal alone, among the Society's various commitments, printing costs and postal charges have shot up alarmingly. Even with the generous response to our Appeal, some income from advertising, and an influx of new members, we could not expect in 1982 to retain 1978 rates while printing and distributing a magazine that has expanded to three times its former size. We have to hope that we shall not now lose members, but that they will realise they get their money's worth, and will continue to support us. We have made one notable change. The 'junior' rates for members under 18 will now apply to all under 25. Our longer-term survival will depend on this younger element, and we hope they will be encouraged by this concession and bring in others. As it happens, two members of our present Council are under 25, as has been more than one recent contributor to the Journal. Our general image, we feel, is not one of disconcerting venerability or decrepitude. The Society's central accounts being in sterling, our new rates are printed in pounds only. But for overseas Branches, and our fast-growing American member- ship handled by Joe Dunlap's New York secretariat, equivalent payment in dollars goes without saying. Our system of financial delegation abroad is practical for members and benefits the Society as a whole. That Joe Dunlap can write to U.S. members, and forward their Journals, at U.S. postal rates, saves money, and when he remits to us the funds that remain after deduction of his expenses the transaction is conveniently simple. We are now looking into the prospects for setting up a similar delegated arrangement for our Canadian members (not including our existing Branch in Victoria, B.C.). Readers will be pleased to hear that in the past two years our circulation has risen by over 40%, from under 700 to nearly 1000. Sadly there are still members whose payment drags in arrears, and when they are deleted as they will have to be the number will drop a little; but the general trend is upward. If any member, on reading this, reflects that he (or she) has not paid for a year, prompt despatch of what is due (to John Shearman in London, or for U.S. members to Joe Dunlap) will be appreci- ated. It would also help us greatly, and reduce trouble all round, if more members cared to use Banker's Orders to ensure regular payment. OBITUARY Mrs Cecilia Fairhead We regret to announce the death of Mrs Cecilia Fairhead, President of our Victoria (British Columbia) Branch, and an ex officio Vice-President of the Kipling Society, at the age of 88. Born in Birmingham, Mrs Fairhead emigrated to Canada in 1912 and married there. Her husband's family were among early American settlers in the well-known Cypress Hills area of south-western Saskatchewan. Mrs Fairhead, who was widowed early, moved to Victoria in 1935. Before starting her own business she worked for Mr A. E. G. Cornwell, founder of our Victoria 10___________________THE KIPLING JOURNAL________December 1981 Branch. She joined it in 1939, was a devoted member, served many years first as Treasurer and then as Vice-President, and succeeded Mrs D. A. Copeland as Presi- dent in 1978. She had for some time been in frail health, and died on 1 October. Our sympathy goes to her family: her daughter (Mrs C. J. Newsom) and grandson (Mr R. H. Newsom) are members of the Society. THE ELMS, ROTTINGDEAN The indignant reaction of 'Rottendeaners', and others who know and like their village, to a proposal to erect several houses in the garden of The Elms, Kipling's home from 1897 to 1902, was reported in our last two issues. Our Rottingdean Correspondent now sends us further news, with relevant cuttings from the Brighton and Hove Gazette of 11 December 1981. The Rottingdean Preservation Society, with such endowments and bequests as it can count on, and with the support of other like-minded organisations, has come forward with an alternative proposal—to purchase if possible the garden of The Elms and convert it into a public extension of the adjacent Green, while retaining its private flavour with a flower garden, croquet lawn and conservatory. Brighton Council's Planning Committee has expressed approval of this scheme in principle. However Persimmon Homes, owners of The Elms, are appealing against the Council's rejection of their 'development', and a public inquiry is shortly to be held. Our own position is clear. Even on the narrowest sentimental front we would be sorry to see this attractive property, with its intimate literary associations, muti- lated. On the footing of the wider public interest we share the preservationist view— that Rottingdean still has enough of the atmosphere of a traditional Sussex village to merit care with what is left; that the Green is the heart of Rottingdean; that The Elms is a substantial and harmonious part of the Green; and that to cram new buildings into the garden would be a tasteless intrusion on the essential character of the village. We await the outcome with anxiety. VALEDICTORY I am due back in England from the U.S.A. in February 1982. Thereafter I shall be happy to receive at my home address (Weavers, Danes Hill, Woking, Surrey GU22 7HQ) letters, articles, etc., which are about the Journal or for me personally— but on no account, please, correspondence on any other Society matter, which of course should always be directed to the Secretary's office at the Society's London address. I leave America with real regret. I have seen enough of the great beauty and enormous variety of the U.S.A. and Canada to want to revisit them in the future. As far as the Journal is concerned, I have received many kindnesses from U.S. and Canadian members. Since over a third of our present membership is located over here, together with many significant links with Kipling's life and writings, as I mentioned in the last issue, my tour of residence on this side of the water has given me a fuller appreciation of an important North American factor, which I hope to ensure is adequately reflected in the Journal. A MIRACLE AFTER A MIRACLE "And the villagers, one by one, crept through the wood to pray...but their Bhagat was dead, sitting cross-legged, his back against a tree, his crutch under his armpit, and his face turned to the northeast. The priest said: 'Behold a miracle after a miracle, for in this very attitude must all Sunnyasis be buried!' " [Lockwood Kipling's bas-relief for "The Miracle of Purun Bhagat" in The Second Jungle Book, volume VIII in the Outward Bound edition, Scribners, New York, 1897.] 12____________________THE KIPLING JOURNAL________December 1981 NO MIRACLE FOR PURUN BHAGAT by L. SCHUYLER FONAROFF [Professor Fonaroff is an American scholar, teacher and university administrator, with an academic background of striking diversity. After early faculty and research appointments at Johns Hopkins University (Baltimore)—both on its main campus where he took his doctorate and at the Medical School—he went to Georgetown University (Washington) as Clinical Associate Professor at the School of Medicine; and thence to the University of Maryland, where for the last twelve years he has been Professor and Director of Graduate Studies in the Department of Geography. His various visiting or occasional lectureships, at several leading American uni- versities, have mainly related to anthropology, geography, ecological systems and cultural evolution. His major intellectual interest today—leavened by extensive travel abroad, and by mountaineering in India, Pakistan and Nepal—is in the field of the ecological adaptation of human and animal populations, with particular reference to population biology, medicine and biogeography, and human/animal relationships in tropical climates. The Professor, whom I have had the pleasure of meeting, has read Kipling with enthusiasm for thirty years, has "dogged his footsteps at every opportunity" in India, and is a member of our Society. He has been profoundly impressed by what he sees as Kipling's developed though largely tacit capacity for what one might call scientific perception. This is something which not every critic, however aware of Kipling's accurate observation, imaginative evocation and of course literary gifts, is well- equipped to identify. Perhaps we should not be surprised; and it so happens that an article on medicine in the last issue, and a note on aeronautics in the next one, point in the same direction. Kipling's eye for observable facts was legendary, his fascination with emergent technology was almost notorious, and the restless foraging of an enquiring mind is detectable in much of his writing. Henry James thought him at twenty-six "the most complete man of genius (as distinct from fine intelligence) that I have ever known". Dave Carey, baggage-master at Brattleboro railway station, paid him a wry but resounding tribute: "He had the darnedest mind: he wanted to know every- thing about everything, and he never forgot what you told him." "The Miracle of Purun Bhagat" first appeared in the New York World in 1894 (and soon afterwards in England) under the title "A Miracle of the Present Day"; the next year it was collected in The Second Jungle Book. Professor Fonaroff here takes it as main exemplar for his theme, that the author of The Jungle Books was not merely a penetrating observer but was in advance of his time in his realisation of the unity of man and nature. Parts of the Professor's argument are inevitably a little abstruse for those (like myself) whose upbringing did not include all the vocabulary of modern scientific thought. But the article is an original and stimulating contribution to Kipling scholarship, which will enhance the reader's appreciation of one of Kipling's most sensitive and beautiful stories.—Ed.] December 1981________THE KIPLING JOURNAL__________________13 INTRODUCTION TO THE THEME Kipling's world-view of human progress—Evolution in the broadest sense—is complex, and seldom explicitly stated. Victorian social sensitivities inhibited clear and unmistakable pronouncements that Man was an integral and ecological part of the Animal Kingdom. In the ingeniously disguised Jungle stories, and elsewhere, Kipling inserted enough clues to reveal his personal preferences. His animals were not simply animals speaking the English language, but were creatures subtly exhibiting social and "behavioural" characteristics on an unprecedented scale. As a transitional Victorian, Kipling correctly perceived some scientific trends before the mass of society, and indeed much of the scientific community at large, were able to recognise them. Few were aware of the enormous changes about to take place in questions pertaining to Man/Nature relations. The Kipling animals and Purun Bhagat himself were uniquely endowed, with skills and environmental vision portentous of things to come. Questions bear- ing on e.g. the concept of Culture, the uniqueness of Man, and even earthquake-prediction, are smoothly blended in "The Miracle" and in many of the Jungle stories. Current research often follows paths used by Kipling three quarters of a century before. PART ONE: THE NATURE/NURTURE QUESTION THE EVIDENCE OF THINGS UNSAID It appears axiomatic in sleuthing circles, that if you want to hide something, leave it out in full view. In this sense, Conan Doyle and Kipling share something in common with other exceptional story- tellers. Unlike Doyle however—who made Sherlock Holmes remove all impossible and improbable circumstances, thereby revealing the residual "elementary" solution—Kipling preferred a more complex, if not opposite, technique. By adding on clue after clue in the Jungle stories he managed to reveal, surreptitiously to be sure, as much about himself as one might dare in the unusual social atmosphere that pervaded the dying decades of Victorian England. In "The Miracle of Purun Bhagat" particularly, Kipling's crafts- manship ingeniously concealed, as readily as it exposed, an unsus- pected depth and scope of scientific insight that ranged from the 14___________________THE KIPLING JOURNAL________December 1981 evolutionary to the geological in content. There is little doubt that the "romance of mechanism", and the "psychology of moving bodies under strain", phrases he formally uttered to the Royal Geographical Society2 and elsewhere, were themes already firmly established years before in The Jungle Books. In any event, as suggested below, Kipling, as did Purun Bhagat, "saw a great deal more than he said". News reporters of the 1880s and 1890s intuitively recognised one basic fact: the essence of good journalism was the simple, full, clear and factual presentation of events. The unassailable "Law of the Five W's"3 reigned supreme as it still does, establishing the crux of every basic news story. Just how journalism got that way is a deceptively complicated question, that interested media-psycho- logists are likely to argue for some time to come. Some experts suggest that such clear and unadorned presentation touches a responsive and deeply-buried chord in the emotional nexus of individuals, and in an ill-defined way manages to fulfil some basic human need. For Kipling however, in what might have been a momentous personal revelation, this fundamental journalistic formula, the cornerstone of his livelihood, was not only a literary burden but, more importantly, one which was essentially obsolete. Stage dramatists had already realised the psychological impact of the "evidence of things unsaid"—and things unseen. That Shakespeare had Hamlet's father describe the murder permitted the audience to contemplate individually one's own scene of an act too odious and horrible to stage visually. In this "McLuhanesque" perspective,4 the Jungle story technique, the multi-level message if you wish, rejects the clear, straight and factual directness of simpler stories. In contrast with the news media, which consciously reject audience- participation at a psychologically significant level, these stories force the reader to "co-produce" rather than simply consume. In a sense one is forced to construct a personal scenario for the Godot that never appears.5 KIPLING'S DOUBLE METAPHOR What one is to make of this must ultimately remain conjecture. Duality of meaning, as an inherent if not fundamental characteristic of the most useful concepts, phrases and words in the English lang- uage, is a condition too tempting for perceptive writers to ignore. Perhaps the Jungle stories, mysterious in their sudden appearance, were the irresistible vehicles for the Kipling double metaphor. One obviously invites audience-participation, to make what it will of December 1981________THE KIPLING JOURNAL__________________15 the jungle creatures. The other, deeper and more elusive, to which the bulk of these comments are addressed, presents the audience with the "co-producer" option—of removing a carefully-fitted fairy-tale facade, to glimpse and personally reconstruct the perceived relationship between the cutting edges of Victorian science and a writer's private Franciscan belief as to where they might lead. Overlap is as inevitable as it is intended. PERCEPTION AHEAD OF HIS TIME Precisely how Kipling developed the allegorical matrix for his Jungle stories will never be known. Although the voluminous literature that has arisen through the years, concerning the alle- gorical focus intended, is not the prime concern of these comments, it has covered most of the obvious possibilities—from Man through Empire. What is of special interest presently, however, is the sugges- tion that young Kipling not only perceived the varied options afforded by the Darwinian revolution more clearly than most of Victorian society, but somehow managed to choose correctly, from an almost limitless range of possibilities, a remarkable series of behavioural acts basic to modern social theory. The Jungle stories, in this sense, are original in character and scale. It must be borne in mind that at a time when the notion of "jungle" conjured up images of hazardous environment (that modern audi- ences would tend to associate with Tarzan of the Apes) Kipling, as did Peter Kropotkin6 in Mutual Aid, not only tried to ameliorate the "struggle" aspects of natural selection, but appeared to realise that competition between species certainly was not the all-out bloody and bleak situation that the Darwinists pictured it to be. Preferring the Kipling view, population biology has effectively laid that idea to rest. Nonetheless it is remarkable that at a time when allegorical shields had to be cleverly crafted by any writer with an irresistible urge for social commentary in the Man /Nature genre, Kipling clearly and directly charted a course neither too east nor too west, and isolated themes that struck at the heart of the distinction between biological and social heredity. (In the absence of genetic theory, and at a time far too early for E. B. Tylor's7 con- cept of culture to be meaningful, this distinction was at best very nebulous.) Curiously enough, this problem had yet to be rigorously address- ed a century after the publication of The Origin of Species8 The nature/nurture question had acquired more sophisticated and refined research language during recent decades, but the basic 16___________________THE KIPLING JOURNAL________December 1981 controversy did not take on a clear focus, in natural environment contexts, until Jane Goodall's9 primate behaviour studies in the early 1960s. For the first time, the newly emerging science of socio- biology10 took root, permitting ethologists11 to address serious scientific audiences on topics Kipling sensitively and directly per- ceived more than a half-century earlier. (What was at stake, and still is in some quarters, was the relevance and nature of the distinction between symbolic learning12 and instinctive behaviour, as the unas- sailable boundary separating humans from other primates and lower members of the Animal Kingdom.) MAN IN EVOLUTIONARY PERSPECTIVE : A HOLISTIC VIEW It was from Brattleboro, however, that Kipling managed to keep the human animal in reasonable evolutionary perspective, and proceeded to over-ride the Victorian "blind spot" concerning the behavioural capacities of the lower animals. Precisely how this was possible remains unknown, but it is important to keep in mind the scientific and social ferment that made the half-century prior to the Jungle stories pivotal to modern science. Disciplinary constraints which normally contained scientific discussions seem to have been discarded at the opening of the Victorian period, with the publi- cation of Chambers's Vestiges of Creation.13 This brick through the contented facade of a new era was the beginning of the end of the old "complacency". By the time Kipling "arrived" on the scene via Vermont, much of the emotional groundwork for a new way of environmental thinking had been tried on wary political and scientific communities. Tennyson's "In Memoriam" for example daringly had Nature— "red in tooth and claw"—claiming Man as a subject of her own laws, and by 1871 Darwin's The Descent of Man helped cement the incredible alliance between the prestigious clergyman Charles Kingsley and the equally prestigious atheistic scientist Thomas Huxley. Wisely, Darwin himself kept in the shadows. The placid Victorian professional facade was surely unravelling, and with Kingsley's highly-touted epithet relating how 'the new science and religion belonged together', the confusion of signals from the fundamental argument of the times would hardly have been lost on Kipling, or for that matter on any other relatively uninhibited social observer. For Kipling however, ecological holism14 as a concept—the outer physiology, as Haeckel15 referred to it—became the leitmotiv for VERY SLIGHTLY CHANGED The accompanying article touches on Kipling's insight into the Darwinian revolution and the fierce controversy engendered over Natural Selection by The Origin of Species ( 1859). This cartoon from the Hornet periodical in 1871 —the year of Darwin's Descent of Man, deriving mankind from a hairy quadrumanous anthropoid related to the progenitors of other primates—is a mild sample of the scepticism and outrage the Darwinists provoked among those who misunderstood or disliked their theories. In Darwiniana: Essays, also in 1871, T. H. Huxley wrote: "The Origin of Species has worked as complete a revolution in biological sciences as the Principia did in Astronomy...it contains an essentially new creative thought. And as time has slipped by a happy change has come over Mr Darwin's critics. The mixture of ignorance and insolence which, at first, characterised a large proportion of the attacks with which he was assailed is no longer the sad distinction of anti-Darwinian criticism. Instead of abusive nonsense, which merely discredited its writers, we read essays...more or less intelligent." However, the notorious Tennessee "monkey trial" of 1924, and a new case now brought to court in Arkansas, where creationists, entrenched in an intellectual redoubt not dissimilar to that of the flat-earthers, deny all evidence for evolution, suggest that Huxley's optimism was premature. As to Kipling, though steeped in the Bible he was no fundamentalist, and one hardly looks to him for explicit statements on a debate which he would have regarded as settled. That he had a perception of the essential unity of nature is certain, and the light verse of "A General Summary" (1886) probably expressed his view— We are very slightly changed From the semi-apes who ranged India's prehistoric clay. 18___________________THE KIPLING JOURNAL________December 1981 the Jungle stories. The idea had intermittently intruded in scientific circles for a quarter-century, but somehow failed to become estab- lished. Darwinists were still preoccupied and hard-pressed for a mechanism by which evolution and change might be explained, unaware of its existence in Gregor Mendel's16 obscure genetics research paper. However, Darwin's publicised 1872 observations describing meta-communication with his dog, a notion that had already privately fascinated much of Victorian society for more than a generation, could hardly have been unknown and unread by Kipling. The young writer quickly grasped the fact that new kinds of animals were not suddenly created, God was not being rejected— indeed, just the opposite—and proceeded to envision the rudiments of a newer approach to animal behaviour. Against considerable differences of opinion, Kipling's animal world suggests for the first time in detail the basic premise that animals other than Man have their own rights, privileges, and individual psychological idiosyncrasies, and that between the two groups there exists some unifying connection. That few viewed the books as probabilistic social statements is perhaps a tribute to the Kipling skill, but incidental here. What is more interesting and highly important is the process of acqui- sition, storing and organisation of the environmental clues that embellish the characters so subtly and uniquely. Certainly the Kipling touch, premeditated to be sure, is much more than simple allegory and other generalised pretences of representation. Grossly different from Aesopian fables in their human content, Kipling pushes the Jungle stories far beyond simple anthropomorphism, and deftly places his characters in an ingenious Australopithecine time-warp.17 Time is compressed, and with millions of years juxtaposed. The Bandar-log, with no remem- brance, no hunting-call, indiscriminate eating-habits—in all, creatures with the classic instinctive attributes—are contrasted with Mowgli. In manhood, Mowgli can symbolically ask, "Am I to give reason for all I choose to do?" Bagheera responds—and by modern criteria correctly so—"That is Man !" (In at least an epistemological sense, this socio-cultural model of a conversation, a "time-machine" drama, had in fact already taken place in the human/ hominid past, and probably not far from some Afro-Asian area Kipling imagined as an ideal locale for the stories.) ON THE SIDE OF THE ANGELS Hanuman, the Monkey God and General, widely revered and loved for his epic bravery and gentleness. There were even stories prevalent that the British were the descendants of Hanuman's Monkey Army—perhaps an unwelcome compli- ment, but one that might serve to explain, in fulfilment of ancient prophecy, their conquest of the country. A sketch by Lockwood Kipling in the chapter "On Monkeys" in his Beast and Man in India, published by Mac- millan in 1891. Monkeys, despite their thievery and tiresome habits, commonly enjoyed some respect among Hindus. Lockwood Kipling, some of whose great knowledge of Indian animal lore was distilled into this book, attributed that respect to their associ- ation with Hanuman. He also suggested that a traditional Hindu sense of kinship with monkeys showed that in one regard "the latest conclusions of European Evol- utionists" had been anticipated in ancient India. From the "respect for life" of the Hindu, his "admission of the essential unity of the life-spark...and...special regard for the ancestral monkey", it could be inferred that Eastern philosophy had "for ages sat in tranquil occupation of a peak of discovery to which the vanguard of Western science has but now attained". Rudyard Kipling's view of the animal kingdom, especially in stories about India, was deeply influenced by his father's wisdom and learning. At nineteen, in "Divided Destinies", frivolous but not shallow verse, he reached out in imagination towards the life the monkeys led, and ended :- ...but how my spirit cried To be an artless Bandar loose upon the mountain-side! So I answered:- "Gentle Bandar, an inscrutable Decree Makes thee a gleesome fleasome Thou, and me a wretched Me. Go! Depart in peace, my brother, to thy home amid the pine; Yet forget not once a mortal wished to change his lot with thine." This puts in proper perspective that bit of honeymoon dialogue in "The Garden of Eden" (The Story of the Gadsbys, 1888) where Captain Gadsby—hardly a profound thinker, except over patterns of saddlery—is dismissive of evolution:- mrs. G. (as a troop of langurs crash through the branches). Darwin says that we came from those! CAPT. G. (placidly). Ah! Darwin was never in love with an angel. That settles it. Sstt, you brutes! Monkeys, indeed! You shouldn't read those books... They lead to nothing, and bother people's heads. 20___________________THE KIPLING JOURNAL________December 1981 THE ENIGMA OF KALI'S GRIN And so, in "The Miracle", the actors carefully portray the Kipling response to the Darwinian quandary that beset Victorian society. They often transcended the instinctive digital response that pervaded most of the lower animal forms. Meta-communication, analogic thinking and learning theory (not calculated in those terms of course) were the processes through which these new actors had to operate. The langur's eyes, for example, which "were full of things that he could not tell", or the barasingh clashing against the grinning statue of Kali ("Ah! ye came to warn me"), required the central nervous system to respond to an anthropomorphic com- plexity unapproached before. More on the surprising implications of this later, but for the moment it appears correct to assume that as a literary device Kipling brought an incredibly subtle behavioural aspect to what was formerly simplistic and relatively unencumbered anthropomor- phism. Jungle Law, he seems to tell us—more than simply the object of the Law—was an intricate and carefully conceived premeditated act of high order, with remarkably covert psychological and cultural dimensions. In a scientific sense it was to become part of some future, barely perceived, new ordering of the natural world. It is always tempting to contemplate whether inventive story- tellers can resist the temptation to insert themselves, Alfred Hitch- cock style, into their more complex creations. Was Kali's grin, for example, Kipling's private joke, his personal response to the future that he, along with Huxley and a few others, perceived but which most of Victorian society did not? What is one to make of this most horribly-regarded figure in the Hindu pantheon, as a quiet, docile and all-knowing grinning observer? Normally, this controversial and transitional figure is portrayed as a standing goddess, maniacal or drunken in appearance, with tongue hanging out, bloodshot eyes, and sporting a necklace of human skulls draped below a pair of corpse earrings. Not so in "The Miracle". And so in the end, as in the beginning, the motivational forces that have shaped the Kipling world view and personality remain shadowy and as elusive as ever. "Everyone", Mark Twain remarked, "is a moon, and has a dark side which he never shows to anybody." Kipling's dark side was immense. That he is often misread is under- standable. That T. S. Eliot found it necessary to defend him against the charge of excessive lucidity is incredible. What apparently must remain unknown is just how Kipling kept such a vast part of himself so completely hidden from the closest of friends. André Maurois was able to add little insight to his friend's writings, mannerisms and general demeanour. Insinuating more than he said, Maurois remarked—of comments that seemed to reinforce rather than remove the zone of mystery—that Kipling "had to perfection the art of leaving motives in the shadow". BARASINGH AND LANGURS These stylised drawings for "The Miracle of Purun Bhagat" are typical of Lockwood Kipling's "decorations" for The Jungle Books. Above is the barasingh—"that big deer which is like our red deer, but stronger". Barasinha, a Hindustani term for the widely- scattered Cervus wallichii Cuvier, means "twelve horns", the animal's standard number of tines. Here eleven can be seen and a twelfth may be inferred. Between are the rosary, begging-bowl and short crutch of a bhagat or holy man, and that "jewelled order of his knighthood which went back to the Indian Government" when Sir Purun Dass, K.C.I.E., abandoned the world. Below with the aged bhagat are two langurs—"the big gray-whiskered monkeys of the Himalayas". These inarticulate but companionable creatures are not to be com- pared with Mowgli's irresponsible Bandar-log. On the rain-drenched night when they "felt the earth would move" their prediction of landslide was sound, and one of them, with a barasingh in support, took practical and altruistic action. Because they "loved him with the love / That knows but cannot understand" they warned the bhagat. Hence, "when the roaring hillside broke / And all our world fell down in rain", the villagers were saved. In the crisis, the langur's eyes, "full of things that he could not tell", recall the terribly eloquent eyes of that heroic reprobate the ship's cat in "Erastasius of the Whanghoa" (Abaft the Funnel). Erastasius sensed impending mutiny, "was dying to tell his fear, but couldn't", yet by his exertions saved the ship. 22___________________THE KIPLING JOURNAL________December 1981 PART TWO: THE MIRACULOUS "AVALANCHE" PRAGMATISM, WITH LITERARY MAGIC Set aside for the present the paradox of the animal versus human counterparts problem. Ignore momentarily the symbolic relation- ship some have seen between Kipling's Himalayas and Forster's Marabar Caves, where Nature dwarfs Man at every turn. Defer if you will the internalised world of Kipling's Hinduism, and its identi- fication with beastliness and the great darkness of his childhood. Were it possible to sidestep some of these more psychologically satisfying avenues of explanation, might not a glimpse of the more pragmatic Kipling emerge? Practically speaking, it has been said that competent writers, like competent scientists, must first be receptive observers. "The Miracle" in modern context demonstrates that the real miracle has little to do with Purun Bhagat's spiritual or psychic qualities (which seem commonplace enough today) but with how, in the face of staggering statistical odds, Kipling as scientist-naturalist continues to perform literary magic. Reinforcing the earlier contentions that the stories have some ulterior motive beyond their immediate entertainment value, Kipling proceeds to observe the physical landscape, and report its behaviour, in remarkably sophisticated contexts. The miracle, clearly, is just how any observer at that time, especially a literary one, was able to sift the contrarieties and confusion of a seemingly endless quantity of subtle environmental signals, speculate their relationships to each other, to other animal species as suggested earlier, and ultimately to the Sunnyasi18—Man himself. It is arguable perhaps whether this environmental unity (the partnership with animals, and the overall epistemological approach to causation that is so representative of Hinduism) was present in the Kipling consciousness. The Western logical law of the excluded middle,19 that seems so natural, has no ultimate meaning in the fundamental Indian world-view concerning continuity and uni- versal change; but that depth of analysis of the Hindu process of knowledge has yet to be made. For the present however, and with particular reference to items below, one might conclude that Kipling's art was not simply a question of imitating raw nature in complex allegorical imagery but more precisely in reporting it faithfully as it was, and with an accuracy of detail that is astounding. For example, the miraculous "Avalanche". December 1981________THE KIPLING JOURNAL__________________23 ORIENTAL EARTHQUAKE PREDICTION Earthquake prediction in the West was regarded as quackery until recently. The earthquake at Haichung in 1974 was the dramatic turning point for modern scientists, when Chinese seismologists accurately tallied a series of environmental clues—precursors—and averted what might have been a horrendous casualty level. This apparent miracle was accomplished, for all practical purposes, in much the same way that Purun Bhagat saved the hillside village below his isolated retreat. Now, as then, anomalous and seemingly unrelated precursors provide an effective early warning system, that not only makes more accurate predictions possible but recently forced a re-examination of the entire idea (see Journal of the Seis- mological Society of Japan, 51:3, 1976, in Japanese). Whether Kipling had access to the vast ancient oriental literature, empirical as well as mythical, that is slowly becoming available in the West, is not known. Almost all of it is in Chinese and Japanese languages, and locating the barest traces of it in English would have taxed the most dedicated bibliophile. Despite the research and broad bibliographic curiosity he had, "The Miracle" was probably constructed from personal observation of natural environmental processes, coupled with local tribal lore. Opportunities to gather such materials were possible on several occasions. OBSERVATIONS OF TOPOGRAPHY For example, during the 1885 trip through Sikh territory to Fort Jumrood near the Khyber Pass, the young reporter, indeed any curious observer, would have recorded more than simply the move- ments of the Amir Abd-ur-rahman20 in the Pamir Knot region. The journey, an arduous one certainly, must have impressed Kipling immediately in several ways. Undertaken during the torrential monsoon season, it provided unrivalled opportunity to observe in situ the vast ever-present geomorphic movements that punctuate virtually every turn of this spectacular landscape. Lubricated by the excessive rains of that year,21 the extreme topographic contrasts and narrow defiles that typify the Afghan mountain country and Hindu Kush might have afforded any interested observer, let alone one with Kipling's sensitivities, numerous demonstrations of the awesome, brutal forces of nature that ten years hence were to form the classic centre-piece for "The Miracle". Other Himalayan excursions followed, including a difficult 24____________________THE KIPLING JOURNAL________December 1981 journey "along the Himalaya-Tibet road".22 Beginning at Jakko Hill amid the Annandale roses where topographic relief is minimal and the Siwaliks easily scaled, he traversed territory that drops off the roadside for two thousand feet or more, and eventually passed "mountain villages near Kotgarh... perched on the edge of all things". Other less demanding journeys in the Siwaliks, in all directions from Simla and Dalhousie, followed by residence in the seismic- prone New England hills, provided ample opportunity to appreciate the "wonder and beauty of inanimate things", and no less an oppor- tunity for first-hand environmental education. With the Himalayan experience not far behind, the geologic clues that abounded in the Vermont landscape would not have been new or strange to him. Vermont was not the Simla country, of course, but in this sense at least it was not too different from it either. EARLY WARNING SYSTEMS At first glance it is tempting to compare the modern Chinese with the Kipling approach to environmental disaster. Prior to the Hai- chung 'quake, and by direct orders from Chairman Mao, the national leadership was delegated to "prepare for disaster—for the people". Quickly searching more than three thousand years of "records", Chinese seismologists immediately ordered the evac- uation that saved tens of thousands of potential victims, all except the few non-believers who refused to leave. Purun Bhagat, of course, dramatically rushed into the village below as if seized by some miraculous and spiritual signal, shouting of impending disaster—"Up and out!...The hill falls!...Across the valley and up the next hill!...Leave none behind!..."—at which point Kipling makes the people run "as only Hill folk can run", and all are saved. (Both examples are in high contrast with a Mrs Budd, wife of an ex-Governor of California, who in apparently the only known prediction of her life, calmly warned of the occurrence of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, and simply saved herself.) At second glance it seems incredible—but true nonetheless—that the Chinese early warning system manned by students, farmers and other workers maintains a watchful eye for earthquake precursors that for all practical purposes were the ones used by Purun Bhagat to warn his village. Here Purun Bhagat might be regarded as the ideal prototype, a human precursor exhibiting what might be "normal" social behaviour for delegated modern Asian earth- quake-watchers. AN EARTH AVALANCHE Mudflows, earthflows, slumps and other types of "avalanche" are earth-movements often set in motion by tremors acting on water-saturated hill-slopes. Rotational movement of slump blocks often produces 'suction' noises. [Photo by U.S. Geo- logical Survey. Inset diagram shows generalised cross-section.] 26_______________THE KIPLING JOURNAL________December 1981 WARNINGS FROM ANIMALS During the last decade, Kipling would be gratified to know, such individuals have successfully reported such activities and precursory signals as: (1) Peculiar behaviour of many animals (particularly tigers) at the Tien Tsin Zoological Gardens, that preceded the nearby Buo Hai earthquake by more than two hours. (2) Peculiar behaviour on the part of chickens, pigs, horses and sheep, that preceded the 5.8 magnitude Tien Tsin 'quake (not the above-mentioned) by about eighteen hours. (3) A great variety of precise public observations that predicted many earth-tremors, causing commercial and private organis- ations and citizens to evacuate houses and move farm animals to safer locations (see People's China, September 1975). Anomalous but predictive animal behaviour has become well- known in the countryside, and watchers now number in the hundreds of thousands. They have reported dependable "peculiar behaviour" in a wide range of animals which now include snakes, birds, fish, rabbits, deer, etc., numbering more than twenty species. The snorting, hissing and feet-stamping that marked Kipling's barasingh is now regarded as "normal" critical precursory behaviour. In the Taitung district, watchers reported hibernating snakes leaving their burrows, and rats so agitated that their fear of humans disappeared and they were able to be caught easily by hand. The same rat behaviour was noted from the 1855 Edo (Tokyo) and the 1923 Kanto 'quakes in Japan. (Prior to this latter tremor a story- teller, being informed of particular rat behaviour, predicted the 'quake because he immediately recognised the same signals reported as precursors to the Edo tremor.) Earthworms and centipedes reputedly behave strangely before earth movements, and modern Tokyo-ites became highly alarmed during the 1973 summer invasion of dragonflies, although no 'quake occurred. Peculiar behaviour of monkeys, however, preceded the Managua 'quake of 1972. OTHER WARNINGS Other aspects reminiscent of Purun Bhagat's behaviour, currently receiving more precise scientific scrutiny, include: December 1981________THE KIPLING JOURNAL__________________27 (1) Peculiar weather preceding a 'quake—particularly mist, fog and rain. The chiki ("air from the ground") is noted in the rare Dai Nihon Jishin Shiryo (Japanese Imperial Earthquake Committee Report of 1904, reprinted and appended 1973). (2) Underground and well water, salty, discoloured or bub- bling: a fairly common precursor. ("Bubbling Well Road"!)23 (3) Downslope movement of materials ("The hill is falling!"). Dolomieu24 the geologist, citing the Calabrian 'quake of 1783, suggests that the materials are physically detached from a hillside—a notion subsequently confirmed by other earth- scientists who described and predicted the propagation of shock-waves, the basic idea being how their major axes most often proceed along the length of valleys and mountains, but seldom cross them transversely. Hence, as Purun Bhagat wisely observed, one side "falls down" more readily than the opposite. Clues of such hill behaviour are common in the Siwaliks and neighbouring flanks of the Himalayas—and for that matter along portions of the Thames Valley—for those who can recognise them. (4) Often, the common precursor to extensive earth-movements is the precise suction sound and slow separation that Purun Bhagat reports—"saw two slabs of the floor draw away from each other, while the sticky earth below sucked its lips". The observation at the present time appears to be a sophisticated one. Purun Bhagat's exhortation to his villagers is closely embodied in a simple oriental saying: "close together—silence—great earth- quake". He was keenly aware of some basic rules for guidance that the U.S. National Academy of Sciences (1976 Earthquake Predic- tion Panel) have explored for the establishment of formal methods of people-management, response and decision-making in the presence of precursory phenomena. "AND YET—WHY SHOULD I GO?' Lastly, how "erratic" was the ungainly behaviour of Purun Bhagat under "environmental uncertainty"? This question in the end cannot be answered. The traditional Hindu world-view, which basically precludes the customary Western separation of Man from the natural world, makes the thrust of the question somewhat redun- dant. It is not that it is counter to Hindu dogma, but an idea alien 28___________________THE KIPLING JOURNAL________December 1981 to the point of not being conceptually understood. In this sense, reflecting sentiment from old Rig Veda25 times, any force or god may be called upon for a limited, albeit seemingly arbitrary, function. It is likely thereby, at least as far as Hindu belief systems are concerned, that Purun Bhagat's behaviour is in every sense "normal" behaviour. (Modern psychiatric and medical evaluations are being conducted on human response-patterns to such extreme geophysical events.) In the customary Western cosmological mode, it is not difficult to see supernaturalisms, premonitions, abstract predictions and other aberrant procedures blending almost imperceptibly with fringe science, educated guessing and more traditional scientific approaches with their own internal problematical conclusions and varying "excluded middle" aspects. THINGS AS THEY REALLY EXIST It is in this latter category that Kipling's observational powers excel. Perhaps before this new decade ends, the erratic qualities of many phenomena will have their "excluded middles" exposed, making "stimulus-response sequences" obvious. Earthquake- prediction, as social behaviour under extreme geophysical threat, is providing fragmentary samples of human response to extreme events. Of human response to alteration of the magnetic field, atmos- pheric anomalies, and undoubtedly many unperceived changes, a little, but very little, is critically known or documented. In this regard, complete explanation for Purun Bhagat must be deferred. For the present let it be said that earthquake prediction, whatever the style, is hard to keep secret: sooner or later word will get out. And so again, as before, the Kipling mystique prevails. Dr Johnson's comments on Shakespeare appear equally suitable to Kipling at this point: "His descriptions have always some peculiari- ties, gathered by contemplating things as they really exist." Kipling on Kipling might be summed up from his observation that morning while standing in a garden on the shores of Yokohama Bay:26 above the tremors of the Nikko earthquake he noted that "a tall crypto- meria waggled its insane head back and forth with an 'I told you so' expression; though not a breath was stirring". And finally, the Chinese. Why, someone enquired, do they predict earthquakes in the unorthodox way they do? Their answer: "We don't have the money to do it any other way." December 1981________THE KIPLING JOURNAL__________________29 NOTES BY THE EDITOR 1. NATURE/NURTURE QUESTION. The controversy about the weight to ascribe to genetic as against environmental factors responsible for the character- istics of an organism. 2. ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY. See Kipling's remarkable 1914 address to the R.G.S., "Some Aspects of Travel" (collected in A Book of Words). 3. LAW OF THE FIVE W's. "Who? What? Where? When? Why?" 4. McLUHANESQUE. Reference to the Canadian literary critic and communi- cations specialist, Marshall McLuhan (1911-81), author of many books including (jointly) The Medium is the Message (1957). 5. GODOT. Reference to Samuel Beckett's singular play, Waiting for Godot (1954). 6. KROPOTKIN. Prince Peter Kropotkin (1842-1921), Russian geographer, revolutionary idealist, and nihilist; author of learned works on a wide range of subjects, including mutual aid in evolution. 7. TYLOR. Sir Edward Burnett Tylor (1832-1917), British anthropologist, author of Primitive Culture (1871), early proponent of the concepts of animism and fetishism, first Professor of Anthropology at Oxford. 8. THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES by Charles Darwin was first published in 1859. 9. GOODALL. Jane van Lawick-Goodall, author of notable works about the study of chimpanzees, including In the Shadow of Man (1971). 10. SOCIOBIOLOGY. The study of all aspects of social behaviour up to and including the evolution of social behaviour in Man. 11. ETHOLOGY. Concerned with the behavioural study of different species, this began as a branch of zoology, attained prominence with the work of Konrad Lorenz in the 1930s, and later writers such as Desmond Morris, and is now recog- nised as relevant to studies of human behaviour. 12. SYMBOLIC LEARNING. An aspect of human behaviour associated with G. H. Mead's "role theory". According to this, Man differs from other animals in the immense range of "symbolic" or "conventional" meanings which he is enabled to learn and store, on account of his complex nervous system, especially involving use of language and ability to imagine oneself objectively. 13. CHAMBERS. Robert Chambers (1802-71), Scottish author and publisher, whose Vestiges of Creation, a precursor of Darwinism, appeared anonymously in 1844. 14. ECOLOGICAL HOLISM. The extension of the basic theme that a whole may exceed the sum of its parts, into the field of the natural environment, with emphasis on the unifying connections throughout nature. 15. HAECKEL, E. H. Haeckel, German biologist, (1834-1919) who in 1873 first applied the term ecology to that branch of biology which deals with the inter- relationships between organisms and their environment. 16. MENDEL. Gregor Johann Mendel (1822-84), Austrian biologist and monk, whose pioneer researches into hybridity in plants (1865) were to establish the "law" of dominant and recessive characters. 30____________________THE KIPLING JOURNAL_________December 1981 17. AUSTRALOPITHECINE. Discoveries in Africa of remains of Australopithecus, and related extinct ape-like primates, indicate that mankind dates back several million years. As to compression of the time-span, Kipling certainly implied this. See Muller's comments in "In the Rukh"—"he is at der beginnings of der history of man". (See also Journal 217, p 9.) 18. SUNNYASI. What Purun Dass became—a "holy man...a houseless, wandering mendicant". In Hobson-Jobson (Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1886, reissued 1968) the term is elaborately explained, with many learned instances. 19. LAW OF THE EXCLUDED MIDDLE. The principle that every proposition must be either true or false—precluding any third class which for lack of proof, or other reasons, cannot be placed in either category. 20. AMIR ABD-UR-RAHMAN. The occasion was the ceremonial reception of the Amir of Afghanistan at Rawalpindi by Lord Dufferin, newly appointed Viceroy of India, in March 1885. It coincided with the Panjdeh incident, a disquieting Russian intrusion into Afghan territory, but Dufferin's negotiations with the Amir prevented a major crisis and were the prelude to an Anglo-Russian delimi- tation of the Afghan frontier. Harold Nicolson in Helen's Tower (Constable, 1937) describes the durbar, and also comments with mingled acerbity and appreciation on Kipling's succinct allusion to the Panjdeh incident in "One Viceroy Resigns" (1888) — "The North safeguarded—nearly". 21. EXCESSIVE RAINS. Though Kipling covered the durbar for the Pioneer and the Civil & Military Gazette, his account which is remembered is the whimsical one in "Her Majesty's Servants" (The Jungle Book). Its opening words are: "It had been raining heavily for one whole month." The phenomenal rain is also vividly described by Harold Nicolson. 22. HIMALAYA-TIBET ROAD. This journey, likewise in 1885, is mentioned in chapter HI of Something of Myself: echoes are found in "Lispeth", The Story of the Gadsbys, Kim, "Some Aspects of Travel", and elsewhere. See also Carring- ton's Rudyard Kipling (Macmillan, 3rd edn, 1978) pp 96-98. 23. BUBBLING WELL ROAD. This is the title of a slight but vivid short story in Life's Handicap, unconnected with this article; it was also the name of a main thoroughfare in pre-revolutionary Shanghai. 24. DOLOMIEU. Déodat de Dolomieu (1750-1801), a French mineralogist, import- ant for his researches into volcanic rocks, who gave his name to dolomite. 25. RIG VEDA. Reference to one of the ancient Sanskrit scriptures. 26. YOKOHAMA. This incident of 1892 is briefly recounted in chapter V of Some- thing of Myself. The background however, including a description of the nervous shock imparted by an earthquake, is much more fully given in "Some Earthquakes", later published in Letters of Travel. KALI'S SHRINE "Under the shadow of the deodars stood a deserted shrine to Kali—who is Durga, who is Sitala, who is sometimes worshipped against the smallpox. Purun Dass swept the stone floor clean, smiled at the grinning statue...and sat down to rest... 'Here shall I find peace'." [One of Aldren Watson's illustrations, some in colour, others black and white, for the 1948 American reissue of The Jungle Books by Doubleday, New York.] Kali (Sanskrit for black) is the dark earth-mother, devouring and ferocious, rep- resenting the destructive aspect of the supreme goddess Devi (who is consort to Shiva and has other kindlier forms). Kali is typically depicted as a hideous blood- smeared hag, naked save for garlands of severed hands, skulls or other emblems of death—and with wide mouth, bared teeth and lolling tongue. Whether Kipling had this horrible effect in mind when twice describing her in "The Miracle of Purun Bhagat" as grinning may perhaps be doubted. Though the Thug assassin cult, till suppressed by the British in the 19th century, worshipped Kali the destroyer, she is also paradoxically linked in Hindu thought with concepts of creation and life-force. Her comparative benignity in this picture may be justifiable, given the tranquillity of the story and the key position of the shrine in the bhagat's peaceful process of assimilation with wild creatures. In the maze of Hindu theology, where divinities, concepts and names are bewilder- ingly duplicated, Durga's identification with Kali is close but not invariable. Durga is associated with death, with embattled demons, with blood-sacrifices, and with the consuming—yet expiating—element of Fire: but she also has the benigner form of a mountain deity. Sitala, a northern Indian name for a baneful goddess of cholera and smallpox, is likewise linked with Kali. In "The Bridge-Builders" (The Day's Work), written in 1893 not long before "The Miracle", Kali appears as the Tigress of destruction, Sitala as the Ass of epidemic disease. Both seem essentially implacable. 32___________________THE KIPLING JOURNAL________December 1981 SOMETHING OF HIMSELF by C. L. NICHOLSON [This is the fifth in our series of notes of reminiscence by Miss Cecily Nicholson, formerly Kipling's Private Secretary. After showing me a snapshot of Kipling in the Bateman's garden with the black Aberdeen already referred to in the Journal of September 1980, p 30, Miss Nicholson kindly agreed to write the following short and unsentimental note on the last of Kipling's dogs. Kipling in later life, Carrington tells us, had "submitted to a dynasty of Aberdeen terriers, the companions of his solitary hours". In verse, they appear in "The Supplication of the Black Aberdeen" (1928) and "His Apologies" (1932); in prose, the Aberdeen 'Boots' is narrator of Thy Servant a Dog (1930). "His dogs", says Carrington, "were the last creatures on whom he turned his exact and penetrating gaze, to the renewed delight of his readers who bought 100,000 copies of Thy Servant in six months." But a love of dogs comes out through Kipling's writing career, starting with 'Vixen' in the early Indian stories. In "Garm—a Hostage" (1899, Actions and Reactions), in "The Dog Hervey" (1914, A Diversity of Creatures), in "Teem—a Treasure- Hunter" (1935, Thy Servant a Dog & Other Dog Stories) and in several other stories, dogs convincingly occupy leading character roles.—Ed.] The accompanying photograph of Mr Kipling with his dog Michael was taken by me in 1934. Michael was in many ways a privileged member of the Bateman's household. Both Mr and Mrs Kipling were fond of him, and used to play games with him, throwing a rubber ball in the garden or in the hall. They did not, however, take him for walks, or see to his meals. I took him to Dudwell Farm when I went there for lunch each day; and the Bateman's servants attended to his food and looked after him when the Kiplings were away. Michael had never had any training, and hardly ever did anything he was told! The Kiplings were too busy to give the necessary time to train a dog, and they were away for about three days each week— apart from their longer visits abroad. So Michael's education had been neglected, and he had been spoilt by the servants. He could hardly be blamed for being a nuisance; though I think that Mr and Mrs Kipling would have been surprised if it had been suggested to them that Michael was a nuisance. When they were at home he spent most of the time in the house and garden with them. He was not given to sleeping on Master's bed—but he was allowed in the Study. "LORD, LOOK DOWN ON THY SERVANT!" Rudyard Kipling in his garden in 1934, with his Aberdeen terrier Michael [photograph by courtesy of Miss Cecily Nicholson] 34____________________THE KIPLING JOURNAL________December 1981 STAGING THE GADSBYS by WILLIAM J. LENTSCH [As our readers may recall, The Story of the Gadsbys, that tour de force by the very young Kipling, was interestingly adapted and enterprisingly produced by Mr W. J. Lentsch in New York in late 1980 as a short-running play. We briefly mentioned it in the Journal in December 1980 (p 8) and March 1981 (p 8); but our June 1981 issue (pp 6 and 32-35) carried a full review of the play, together with a critical summary of the episodic origins in India, and the later impact in England, of Kipling's pre- cocious little quasi-dramatic novel. Mr Lentsch, whose wide theatrical experience, practical resourcefulness and enormous enthusiasm for The Gadsbys inspired the production, as a reader of the Journal, saw the review. He later sent us the following note, by way of supplement and explanation—with particular reference to a passage in which we had said that the New York press notices of his production had erroneously supposed that The Gadsbys had been intended as a play, and become lost, and that Kipling's moral had been militaristic, and that Captain Mafflin had been a real person.—Ed.] It was with the greatest pleasure that I read in the Kipling Journal of June 1981 your article on my production of The Story of the Gadsbys. It convinced me firmly and finally that the audience for which I mounted the production was well served by it. Kipling experts, Britons, citizens of the Commonwealth, retired British Army officers who had served in India, all loved the production. Americans were rather less enthusiastic. But the show was ulti- mately successful in terms of what I had wanted it to be—my personal Valentine to the British Empire. I am an Anglophile and make no apologies for it. I must offer a word of explanation regarding one or two of the points raised in the article. The inaccuracies of the reviewers in describing The Gadsbys as a "lost play" etc. should really be charged to the peculiar necessities of the New York theatrical publicity PLAYERS AND OTHERS, IN THE ILLUSTRATION OPPOSITE FRONT (left to right): Demian Akhan (Bearer/Khitmutgar); Parvin Khokhar (Ayah). 2nd ROW: Russell Hill (Doone); Maggie Jakobson (Miss Deercourt), Marian Clarke (Mrs Herriott), Elizabeth DeBruler (Mrs Gadsby); Patricia Hunter (Poor Dear Mamma), Mark Brandon (Dr Anthony). 3rd ROW: George Holmes (Mackesy), Aaron Lustig (Curtiss), Joe Dunlap U.S.A. Secretary, Kipling Society); (Ed.), Peter Basch (Junior Chaplain); Erick Avari (Blayne). BACK: Stephen C. Bradbury (Mafflin), David Silber (Captain Gadsby). [photo by Barbara Carrellas] THE CAST OF THE GADSBYS [for names, see opposite] 36___________________THE KIPLING JOURNAL________December 1981 machine, particularly in regard to a production mounted by an off-off-Broadway, non-commercial, unknown theatre group. It would not have been enough to tell the simple truth in the press releases; with upwards of three hundred off-off-Broadway com- panies vying for attention we would likely have attracted no attention at all. So we had to embellish the truth, in what I had hoped would be an inoffensive manner. The Gadsbys after all was written in the form of a play (although it is really a film-script !), and it has been lost through neglect and through the commercial pressures of the American publishing industry. Even in New York, one comes by a copy of The Gadsbys only with some difficulty. All the uniform editions of Kipling's works are long since out of print, and what we usually get are The Jungle Books, Captains Courageous, the other "children's" books, and some of the poetry—the stuff that will presumably turn a "quick buck". (Not surprising in a country in which we cannot even buy our own great writers in uniform editions.) Regarding militarism, there is a subtle point in the play which I am afraid was missed by everyone. It does seem to me that Kipling was saying, at least in part in this work, that if the officers and civilians who served in India had not been so concerned with per- sonal matters and English creature-comforts, the situation in India (which did indeed lead to Independence) would not have been so untenable. And if they had not all been so unwilling to see India in its own light, rather than through the prism of "Britishness", the position would have been much different, both in Kipling's day and in our own. The surgery and manipulation on the text, to which you rightly refer, were necessary to make the piece viable for the American stage. Someone told me at one point that some of the then-current Indian slang Kipling used would not even have been comprehensible to contemporary British audiences—much less to audiences here in the Colonies! And what I strove for above all else was to make Kipling's Indian world as understandable to Americans as I could. (As it turned out, however, my striving at the same time for as much accuracy as possible seems to have undermined this effort.) I do hope that this production, with all its flaws, represents only a beginning for the stage life of The Gadsbys. Kipling's powers of observation and understanding of the human condition remain unsurpassed. His power as a writer remains, to me, freshly startling every time I read another Kipling piece. Everyone, including Kipling's detractors, agrees that Kipling was very much ahead of his time. Perhaps his time has come. JUST NOT SO Mr J. R. Gambling, of London, has kindly provided this picture of a Russian matchbox label. In a suitable note of parody he writes: "It is all in red and pink and yellow and green and blue and black, but I am not allowed to paint these colours (and it would embarrass the printers) so I have made a photo-copy in monochrome." In a satirical footnote to the picture Mr Gambling appends: "This is the Jungle Match that took place on the banks of the great grey-green, greasy Limpopo River... The river has gone all blue and stripey because the picture is Export Quality...The Moscow Funny Paper 'Krokodil' is believed to have published a version of the story called Pull Devil Pull Baker, or How The Zionist Failed To Get His Trunk Through Soviet Customs..." The commercial artist's imitation of "The Elephant's Child" is obvious. It must stem from realisation that a visual link with a famous picture of a popular fable, in a book known round the world for three quarters of a century and read in dozens of languages, will benefit sales abroad. As matchbox labels go it is not bad, and it carries a good pun. But the childish crudity of the depiction of the animals is dread- fully apparent when the picture is compared with Kipling's original drawing in Just So Stories For Little Children. There, the beautiful intricacy of the detail, the balanced tension of the whole, and the bold contrasts of tone, make Kipling's design—like his other illustrations in a book written ostensibly for the nursery—well worth the attention of the discerning adult eye. 38___________________THE KIPLING JOURNAL________December 1981 BOOK REVIEW FLORA ANNIE STEEL: NOVELIST OF INDIA by Violet Powell (Heinemann, 1981; xii + 173 pp; illus.; £8.50) Flora Annie Steel wrote some thirty books, most of them dealing with India, between 1884 and her death in 1929, and was a popular and successful novelist. Her name and reputation faded from view with changing tastes, but in 1963 Dr Daya Patwardhan, in A Star of India, reassessed her work in favourable terms, and later wrote: "As a lover of India, as an interpreter of the Indian mind to the Western reader, Mrs Steel remains unrivalled." She is referred to many times in Allen J. Greenberger's The British Image of India (1969), and has a chapter in Benita Parry's Delusions and Discoveries (1972). Now Lady Violet Powell has written Mrs Steel's biography, drawing on her lively but somewhat rambling autobiography The Garden of Fidelity and on other sources including family papers and memories, to produce an affectionate and enjoyable account of a remarkable woman. Flora Annie Webster was born in 1847, and at the age of twenty was married to Henry William Steel of the Indian Civil Service, and accompanied him to India almost immediately. For twenty years she lived in the sub-continent, an energetic, intelligent and courageous woman who showed an active interest in the way of life of Indians. She was a pioneer in the education of Indian women, and in 1884 was appointed a Provincial Inspectress of girls' schools—a post whose creation she herself had suggested. She involved herself in medical and welfare work, studied local handicrafts, and risked unpopularity by writing articles in a Lahore newspaper champion- ing the cause of peasants against large landowners. She began writing in 1884 with a book of folk tales called Wide-a- Wake Stories, which was reissued in London in 1894 as Tales of the Punjab, with illustrations by Lockwood Kipling. (One is reproduced in this book.) Though Tales of the Punjab was republished in a handsome edition in 1973, Lockwood Kipling's pictures have disap- peared and it is "Decorated by David Gentleman". Regrettably, neither the Royal Commonwealth Society nor the Kipling Society, possesses a copy of the earlier version. Violet Powell is somewhat vague in her references to Mrs Steel's appearance on the English literary scene, but it was in 1893 that her first novel, Miss Stuart's Legacy, was published, and in the same year a volume of short stories appeared; in 1894 more short stories December 1981________THE KIPLING JOURNAL__________________39 and the novel The Potter's Thumb. In that year she returned to India to undertake research on the Indian Mutiny, both in the archives at Delhi and by discussions with survivors—in preparation for her most famous novel On the Face of the Waters, published in 1896 and widely acclaimed. She made one further visit to India in 1897 in preparation for the book Voices in the Night, but her later writings drew on her earlier memories. She wrote more Indian novels and short stories, four historical romances on the Mughal Emperors, novels of English life, and historical and descriptive works on India. Active into old age in many causes, including women's suffrage—there is a splen- did photograph of her in black bonnet with admonitory finger outstretched—she lived with her daughter and son-in-law after her husband's death in 1923, and when she died at the age of eighty- two was cremated wearing a dress which had been woven for her by schoolgirls in Lahore many years before. Her early books on India obviously benefitted from their appear- ance a few years after Kipling's sensational début in British publishing, and the works of the two writers have been compared from time to time, chiefly to stress Kipling's literary superiority but the wider range of knowledge and sympathy for Indian life in Mrs Steel's books. This biography is somewhat disappointing in this respect. Though Kipling appears some twenty times in the index, most of the references are slight and somewhat slighting (perhaps reflecting Mrs Steel's own feelings). The most substantial is a comparison of the treatment of love across racial barriers in "Beyond the Pale", "Without Benefit of Clergy" and On the Face of the Waters. For more substantial comparisons we have to turn to Patwardhan and others. Violet Powell does not give much appraisal of her subject's works, though she summarises some of the plots; and there is no list of publications. Nevertheless, this is a biography and not a literary critique, and as such is attractively written and a welcome re-presentation of a very likable personality. DONALD SIMPSON Librarian, Royal Commonwealth Society CORRECTION. In the Journal of June 1981, in a review of Dr Mahrukh Tarapor's study of Lockwood Kipling's work in India, the words he and his were used, as though Dr Tarapor were a man. Actually she is a woman and deserves our apology. The fault was not the reviewer's: our gallant Secretary, who made arrangements for that review, wishes me to state that he, John Shearman, takes responsibility!—Ed. 40___________________THE KIPLING JOURNAL________December 1981 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR THE BAMBRIDGES AND WIMPOLE From Mrs M. M. Bendle, Amber Cottage, 23 East Hill, Charminster, Dorset Dear Sir, Referring to the interesting article on Wimpole Hall by Mr J. R. Gibbs in the Journal of June 1981, may I be allowed to make a correction regarding the dates of R. K.'s visits to Wimpole? From my researches at Sussex University I have notes to the effect that in March 1933 Kipling was very sad that he was kept in Paris by a recurrence of his internal troubles (awaiting further diagnosis by a local French doctor), and therefore was unable to go to Wimpole to be his daughter's first guest there. (He was not able to do any work, and was thrown back on what reading he could get and solving crosswords.) In April he was cheered to receive letters from Elsie and George telling him of their introduction to English rural living, English food and English clergy. In a letter to Elsie he wrote: "...but you will simply have to put up with British cuisine. It's a religion—not an Art. Anyhow your Padre ought to be interesting to talk to. Most of that sort have neither knowledge, sympathy nor expression." In a letter to George Bambridge dated 17 May 1933, after his first visit to Wimpole, R.K. writes, typically, "...with both wings dynamited, it would be a lovely gîte...". He goes on to say that he is now free of pain but full of rebellion towards his diet, "which would insult a canary". Yours faithfully, MERYL MACDONALD BENDLE [FOOTNOTE BY JOHN SHEARMAN. From C. E. Carrington's notes of Mrs Kipling's Diaries it is clear that the Bambridges rented Wimpole Hall from Lord Clifden from 15 April to 15 August 1933, and that the Kiplings visited at least twice, on 30 May and 7 July 1933. On the evidence of the diary notes, it is not impossible that they visited Wimpole earlier in May also, since we have "8 May...Home (from France) by the Golden Arrow" and "30 M ay...via Tilbury to stay at Wimpole." So, between 8 and 30 May 1933 (for which period there are not many diary notes) they may well have fitted in a first visit. The Bambridges did not buy Wimpole Hall till 1938, as Mr Gibbs notes. The Kiplings knew about the 1933 renting as early as 14 January 1933. Incidentally the "local French doctor" was a Dr Roux.] December 1981________THE KIPLING JOURNAL__________________41 "A FOURTH SOLDIER" AGAIN From Brigadier F. E. Stafford, 3 Holbrook Park, Horsham, Sussex RH12 4PW Sir, When I prepared my paper on "A Fourth Soldier" I hoped that it would stimulate some well-informed comment, since those of us who are able to talk at first hand about the lot of a British soldier in barracks in India are few and dwindling. Hence, I welcome Major Thornton's letter in the June 1981 Journal, and I would like, if you can spare some space, to comment briefly on its content. I should however emphasise that I am not putting Kipling "on a charge" as the Major might imply; and I am possibly the one marched in needing defence. Point One. The song "Mandalay" clearly arose out of the cam- paign in Upper Burma which started in 1885. The greater part of the period to which Major Thornton refers was prior to that time, and before the campaign started. It may well have been that there was time for "the odd liaison" subsequent to the earlier occupation of Lower Burma, as, by and large, the people of that area were not unfriendly to the British soldier. The conquest of Upper Burma was a river campaign depending on the Irrawaddy Flotilla (of the song), which plied from Rangoon to Mandalay (the "road" of the song). It involved a fairly constant succession of actions against guerillas, dacoits, in very unhealthy conditions. See for example "The Taking of Lungtungpen" in Plain Tales from the Hills. The romance in Mandalay was moreover set in Moulmein, which is on the other side of the Gulf from Rangoon and, as the author himself said, "is not on the road to anywhere". Mandalay itself is inland, about 500 miles up-river from Rangoon. I suggested that a soldier of the line, in that campaign, would have had small chance of savouring the delights described by the singer of the song, and in Moulmein at that. I was of course only concerned with regimental soldiers, and I think that the Major makes a good point, that the soldier in question may not have been a soldier of the line. (Yet he does refer to "our sick beneath the awnings when we went to Mandalay!".) Point Two. There is little variance between Major Thornton and myself about the mechanism of the Martini-Henry rifle. Certainly the tampering with the rifle and ammunition by Mulvaney and his ill-wishing comrades [in "Black Jack", Soldiers Three] was technically possible, and one accepts wholly what the Armourer- Sergeant said about stripping a Tini'. What I do question is whether these nefarious operations could have been carried out, with no one in authority noticing, in an open barrack-room, given the 42____________________THE KIPLING JOURNAL________December 1981 way of life in those surroundings. Finally. Although, as Major Thornton says, Kipling was writing for a local readership in India, and there is no more critical reader than a soldier on matters of his concern, I take leave to doubt whether many serving soldiers of those days were part of the reader- ship, or would feel impelled to be active critics. After all, the schoolboys of our day were not inclined to take issue with Frank Richards about the implausible content of some, if not all, of the "Greyfriars" stories. Yours faithfully, F. E. STAFFORD "PUKKA KANDAHARDER" From Mr J. T. Healey, P.O.Box 8029, Sta: B, San Jose, California 95155, U.S.A. Dear Sir, Thank you for your interesting letter.* Strangely enough, I had never heard of the Society though I acquired the first of my Kipling library several years before it was founded. The original set, titled as the Sahib Edition, was 'Manufactured in U.S.A.' by P. F. Collier & Son. In ten volumes, it is somewhat sparsely illustrated by Sir E. Burne-Jones, R. Bolles and W. Kirk-Adams, but thoroughly introduced by three gentlemen, Francis Adams, Walter Besant and J. M. Barrie. My father, born in 1859 in Newcastle-under-Lyme, joined Mr Kipling's Army in 1880, was shipped out to Bombay and, with other drafts, marched, by way of Bolan Pass, to join "Little Bobs's" army in relief of Kandahar and the rescue of General Primrose. Later, his unit was returned to Karachi for garrison duty and went, time-expired, to England in '84. Later that year he and my mother were married. They emigrated to the U.S. in 1889. I am 85 years old and a widower. There are two sons and a daughter, and six grandchildren of whom five are girls (but any of the girls could carry a rifle). Sincerely, JAMES T. HEALEY * Mr Healey first wrote to me at the suggestion of Byron Farwell the military historian [members should read his latest book, Mr Kipling's Army (Norton, New York, 1981, $13.95); issued in Britain (Allen Lane/Penguin, £8.50) as For Queen and Country]. I replied, and Mr Healey wrote back to join us. The text above is extracted from his answer, which included details of his family's December 1981________THE KIPLING JOURNAL__________________43 fine record of service in every major war from the Boer to the Korean. "We have done our bit. Strangely enough, none dead, only two wounded." The unauthorised Sahib set of ten (specified above, and checked in detail by telephone) interestingly is not listed in the standard Kipling bibliographies.—Ed. NEWBOLT AND KIPLING From Mrs G. H. Newsom, The Old Vicarage, Bishop's Cannings, Devizes, Wiltshire Dear Editor, I now feel a cad for having exposed Henry Newbolt to public ridicule. Can I make amends? [Note: Mrs Newsom refers to corres- pondence on Newbolt in Journals 213-15. Publication of this letter has been delayed through no fault of hers.—Ed. ] Who would not have been irritated by the applause Kipling got for the flamboyant use of one's own well-known ballad form, and the ensuing confusion in authorship? Such professional pride apart, Newbolt I think was a wise man, with remarkable foresight, and a quick wit. He wrote to Edith Olivier at the outbreak of the 1914-18 War: "This war is going to change the world for us all. Nothing will ever be the same again." Up to that time, life had been so ordered and secure: she just could not believe him. But how terribly right he turned out to be. Referring, on another occasion, to those pre-war days, Edith wrote (in Without Knowing Mr. Walkley), "I once heard Lady Robert Cecil (herself an ardent Suffragist) say impatiently, on hearing that a publisher had refused Walter de la Mare's Nursery Rhymes as 'unsuitable for children': 'I suppose they were sent to be read by some idiotic woman.' Whereat Sir Henry Newbolt took her ear-trumpet and said gravely down it: 'Not a case for giving women the vote then?'" Yours sincerely, MARGARET NEWSOM "THE WAY THAT HE TOOK''? Apparently there is a climber's route or pitch on a British mountain, named after Kipling. Can any member confirm this?—Ed. THE GURKHAS. Byron Farwell, the well-known biographer and military historian and a member of this Society, is writing a book about the Gurkhas. If any other member with material or information which might be of use to Mr Farwell cares to write to him at P.O.Box 81, Hillsboro, Virginia 22132 U.S.A. it will be appreciated. 44 THE KIPLING JOURNAL________December 1981 FIREWATER In the 14 July 1981 issue of the Washington Star (to the shade of which we offer acknowledgment: this distinguished 129-year- old paper died in the following month) appeared a letter from a Mr Sullivan, headlined 'A New Twist in Martinis' :- My grandnephew, home for the summer from military school, was sipping thoughtfully on a ginger ale while I was having my usual Manhattan as a "sundowner". "This morning", he said, "I was reading Kipling's poems as part of my summer reading program, and I ran across a beaut of a puzzlement. In 'Fuzzy- Wuzzy', his well-known poem about the Soudan Expeditionary Force, there are these lines: We sloshed you with Martinis, an' it wasn't 'ardly fair; But for all the odds agin' you, Fuzzy-Wuz, you broke the square." " Well", I said, "it wasn't easy in those days for any foe to break the square formation of a regiment of British infantry." "That part of it I dig", said Brian, "but why were the Tommies aiding and abetting the enemy by getting them so ferociously drunk that they didn't give a damn about the British square's combat record?" "It's too much for this Manhattan man on a 95-degree day", I answered. "Tell you what I'm going to do. I'll write to 'Letters' in The Star and dozens of cooperative readers will quickly clarify the sloshing with martinis bit. " "I certainly hope so", said Brian, "because it will probably come up in class in September and I want to be prepared." A volley of replies, captioned 'Coming Next: Gunga Gin?', produced the solution. But the Star failed to print one from our member Mr R. W. Peckham, a rifle enthusiast. It will be in the next Journal—also information he has helpfully sent on the origin and specifications of the Martini-Henry. [The photo at left, of the cavalry's carbine version, is his.] It was the standard British and Indian Army weapon in those far days when the single-shot rifle was still the main arbiter of war. On the Continent, through the last half of the 19th century, the technical development of small-arms was of weighty relevance to the uneasy balance of power. At Sadowa (Konig- gratz), the decisive battle when Prussia crushed Austria in 1866, a crucial factor was the new Prussian breech-loader. (In The Light That Failed, the Nilghai's coverage of war went back to "the birth of the needle-gun" at Königgrätz.) Next year, the British adopted a breech- loader, the Snider. The anxiously-argued evolution of more effective rifle-power, with first the Martini, then the magazine Lee- Metford, would soon transform colonial cam- paigns, indeed all warfare. The story is an interesting footnote not just to Kipling but to the history of the times. ANNUAL LUNCHEON AND A.G.M., 1981 The Society's Annual Luncheon was held on 5 November at 6 Hanover Street, London W1. Thanks are again due to John Shearman and others who organised this successful and enjoyable function. Mr R. O'Hagan took the Chair: others present were:- Mr & Mrs W. H. Alexander; Mr & Mrs R. B. Appleton; Miss A. M. D. Ashley; Lt-Col & Mrs A. E. Bagwell Purefoy; Mrs A. Boyes; Mrs L. V. E. Bowden; Mr F. H. Brightman; Rear-Admiral & Mrs P. W. Brock; Mrs D. M. Carpenter; Mr C. E. Carrington; Mr T. L. A. Daintith; Mr B. C. Diamond; Mrs B. Casely Dickson; Mr N. Entract; Miss P. Entract; Lord Ferrier; Lady Grover; Dr & Mrs F. M. Hall; Mr J. M. Huntington-Whiteley; Mrs A. Kilburn; Miss C. Kipling; Mr M. W. R. Lamb; Mr & Mrs P. H. T. Lewis; Mrs S. R. Lister; Mr & Mrs D. M. W. Logie; Miss R. McFarlane; Mr J. H. McGivering; Mr M. J. Moynihan; Mrs G. H. Newsom; Miss L. A. C. Price; Mrs B. Santa-Cruz; Mr J. Shearman; Revd G. H. McN. & Mrs Shelford; Brigadier & Mrs F. E. Stafford; Mr A. Stafford; Miss T. M. Thatcher; Mr & Mrs S. Wade; Lt-Col E. G. Walsh; Mr J. B. Wright. Apologies from Mr A. D. Barker and Dr J. M. S. Tompkins, who had made reservations but were unable to attend. The Right Hon. Lord Ferrier, E.D., D.L., who as Guest of Honour proposed the Society's traditional Toast, first delivered an attractive and entertaining address on Kipling and India. He said he would "try to suppress the old Blimp's tendency to reminisce", but all were glad when he did not wholly succeed, since he went on to conjure up with affectionate vividness the India he had known in his youth, the "box-wallah's India" he said—in some respects evocative of the India Kipling knew. A transcript of Lord Ferrier's speech, and of Charles Carrington's vote of thanks, have reached the Editor and will appear in the next issue. The Annual General Meeting, by a new arrangement to make it easier for more members to attend, was held immediately after the Luncheon, on the same premises. Present were:- Mr O'Hagan (Chairman); Revd G. H. McN. Shelford (Chairman-designate); Mr & Mrs B. J. Bolt; Mr Brightman; Mrs Carpenter; Mr Carrington; Mr Daintith; Mr Diamond; Lord Ferrier; Mrs Lewis; Mr McGiver- ing; Mrs Newsom; Miss Price; Mrs Shelford; Brigadier Stafford; Mr Wade; Mr Shearman (Secretary). Apologies had been received from Sir Angus Wilson (President); Revd A. R. Ankers; Mr Bittles- ton; Mr Cresswell; Mr Greenwood; Dr Tompkins. Summary of Principal Business. The Minutes of the previous A.G.M. were approved and signed; the Accounts for 1980 were circulated and approved; Appointments of the new Treasurer and Solicitor were confirmed; also the Re-election en bloc of the other Executive Officers; three new Elections to the Council were made; the new Subscription Rates were discussed and approved; the Secretary's Report was accepted and he was thanked for his work; the outgoing Chairman handed over to his successor. 46___________________THE KIPLING JOURNAL________December 1981 RECENT DISCUSSION MEETINGS THEY CAME TO BATEMAN'S On 9 September 1981 the Revd Dr Arthur K. Ankers spoke on They Came to Bateman's—or Something of his Friends. Taking as his basis the Visitors' Book at Bateman's, which the Kiplings maintained from 1902-36, he convincingly demonstrated that despite the reputation of being a recluse, Kipling actually had a large number of diverse and interesting friends who were in the habit of calling frequently throughout his years at Bateman's—as well as streams of other visitors who enjoyed a less close personal footing. Treating this broad field selectively, Dr Ankers provided some entertaining and illuminating information about many of the journalists, politicians, country neighbours, literary figures and old friends from days in America and South Africa, whose regular visits are on record. Copies of his text are with the Editor, and in the Society's Library. Mr J. H. McGivering was in the Chair. Others present included:- Mr & Mrs W. H. Alexander; Miss A. M. D. Ashley; Mr T. S. Bittleston; Mr D. S. Cottrell; Mr T. L. A. Daintith; Mr F. L. Derrett; Mr B. C. Diamond; Mr J. R. Gambling; Mr H. R. Harlow; Mr D. T. Irvine; Miss A. M. Jackson; Mrs L. A. F. Lewis; Mr M. J. Moynihan; Mrs G. H. Newsom; Miss L. A. C. Price; Miss D. Salter; Mr J. Shearman; Revd G. H. McN. & Mrs Shelford; Mr S. Wade; Miss H. M. Webb. "THE ENEMIES TO EACH OTHER" On 11 November 1981 Mrs L. A. F. Lewis spoke on "The Enemies to Each Other" and other stories from Debits and Credits. The speaker, who had addressed us in 1979 about another story from the same collection, has made a thorough examination of the con- tents of that enigmatic but important book, including the connecting ideas which obscurely but significantly seem to link certain of the stories—ideas which bear on both the meaning of the writing and the mind of the writer. On this evening she again produced a stimulating and original piece of literary criticism, a positive contribution to the study of the subject. Copies of her text are with the Editor, and in the Society's Library. Mr J. H. McGivering was in the Chair. Others present included:- Mr & Mrs W. H. Alexander; Mrs D. M. Carpenter; Mr & Mrs D. S. Cottrell; Mrs G. Darling; Mr F. L. Derrett; Mr B. C. Diamond; Miss S. Frazer; Mr J. R. Gambling; Mr W. N. Greenwood; Mr H. R. Harlow; Mr D. T. Irvine; Mrs A. Kilburn; Miss C. Mundy; Mrs G. H. Newsom; Mr J. Shearman; Miss V. C. Smith; Brigadier F. E. Stafford; Miss J. V. With. MEMBERSHIP NEWS NEW MEMBERS We are pleased to welcome forty-three new members:- Wing Commander A. V. Ades (Washington DC, U.S.A.); Miss S. Andrews (Surrey); Mr J. Angleton (Arizona, U.S.A.); Mr G. A. Barons (Victoria, Australia); Miss E. M. Burgess (Ontario, Canada); Captain G. J. Byers (London); Mr M. J. Canning (Washington DC, U.S.A.); Honorable W. J. Casey (Washington DC, U.S.A.); Mr F. L. Croft (London); Mrs G. Darling (London); Mr R. F. Eggleston (Sussex); Mr T. W. Fleming (Wiltshire); Mrs J. Freidin (Connecticut, U.S.A.); Mr O. Graser (Ontario, Canada); Mr S. L. Gupta (New Delhi, India); Mr D. Harts- horne (West Midlands); Mr J. T. Healey (California, U.S.A.); Howard University (Washington DC, U.S.A.); Lieutenant-General R. C. Kingston (Florida, U.S.A.); Mr C. R. Landon (Quebec, Canada); Miss E. L. Maitland (London); Miss M. M. Middleton (Sussex); Colonel D. A. N. C. Miers (Washington DC, U.S.A.); Mr M. R. Morland (Washington DC, U.S.A.); Mrs C. J. Newsom (Victoria, Canada); Mr B. Noone (Maryland, U.S.A.); Mr J. Parker (Washington DC, U.S.A.); Mr A. M. Puckle (Hampshire); Ambassador & Mrs A. C. E. Quainton (Washington DC, U.S.A.); Brigadier D. J. Ramsbotham (London); Miss J. Schrieder (Ontario, Canada); Mrs C. Sligo-Young (Fife); Miss V. C. Smith (Middlesex); Mrs M. St Georges (Maryland, U.S.A.); Miss J. P. Stevens (Essex); Mr H. S. Streeter (Massachusetts, U.S.A.); Miss T. M. Thatcher (Cambridgeshire); Miss G. Tyler (Washington DC, U.S.A.); Mr W. Walker (Victoria, Australia); Mr & Mrs L. H. Whanslaw (Sussex); Brigadier A. R. L. Wheatcroft (Washington DC, U.S.A.); Miss D. J. Wood (Wash- ington DC, U.S.A.); Miss S.-J. Wyatt (London). ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE SECRETARY (supplement to the Society Announcements on page 5) RATE OF ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION TO THE KIPLING SOCIETY A general increase in subscriptions has, after very full consideration by your Finance Committee, been recommended by Council and approved by the Annual General Meeting held on 5 November 1981. Subscription rates from 1 January 1982 are as follows:- Individual Member (United Kingdom) £6.00 Individual Member (Overseas) £7.50 Junior Member (up to age 24, worldwide) £3.00 Corporate Member (United Kingdom) £12.00 Corporate Member (Overseas) £15.00 These new rates are essential if the Society is to continue its activities without financial disaster. Administrative work is beginning, to bring the rates into force. Meanwhile, please, will Members pay up and look pleasant! It saves us, your part-time staff, a lot of work and expense if you for your part are good and generous enough to let us have your subscriptions without reminders and correspondence. Banker's Orders and Covenants help greatly: please let us know if you would like the necessary forms. December 1981 JOHN SHEARMAN A NOTE ON THE KIPLING SOCIETY Office at 18 Northumberland Avenue, London WC2N 5BJ This literary and historical society is for anyone interested in Rudyard Kipling's prose and verse, life and times. His published writings, in 35 volumes, are by any standard remarkable. His life (1865-1936) was eventful, and the period through which he lived and about which he wrote was one of immense change. As a non-profit-making cultural organisation run on an essentially unpaid footing to provide a service, the Society has the status of a Registered Charity in Britain. Its management and principal activities are in England, but it has branches in Australia, Canada and the U.S.A. Over a third of its members, including scores of colleges and libraries, are in North America. Founded in 1927, the Society has attracted many notable literary and academic figures, including of course the leading authorities in the field of Kipling studies; but it also caters for an unspecialised public of general readers, from whom its wider membership is drawn. Its managing focus is the Secretary in London, John Shearman. He and other office-holders arrange various activities, including regular talks and discussions in London, and an Annual Luncheon; answer enquiries from corres- pondents; and maintain a specialised Library for reference and research. The quarterly Kipling Journal is sent free to all members. In this issue, on pages 4, 5 and 47, is some general information on the Society. More can readily be obtained from John Shearman or branch Secretaries. Applications for membership are welcome: the Society and this Journal depend on such support. ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION RATES Individual Member Junior Member (up to age 24) Corporate Member LITERARY CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE KIPLING JOURNAL The Kipling Journal is essentially the Kipling Society's publication, and though the Editor selects its contents with an eye to merit, originality and an interesting range of topics, he must always allot space to the Society's business, including some at least of the addresses delivered at the Society's meetings. Independent literary contributions, however, are very welcome. If we cannot print them at once we may be able to place them in a later issue. Like other literary societies, we do not pay for articles: authors gain the satisfaction of publication in a periodical of authority and repute, recognised as the only one specialising in this subject. We have now for some time had rather more material on hand than can be fitted in, and have deferred with regret some items of interest. Still, this is healthy. We hope and need to receive more. Wider choice makes possible a better-balanced selection of higher quality. Articles submitted should be fairly brief. Our average page carries only 400 words of text. A 4000-word article, however good, may be hard to place. We impose no limit, but should remind contributors of a factor which must influence selection. Letters to the Editor are welcomed: unless told otherwise, we reserve the normal right to shorten. Book Reviews, usually invited, may be volunteered: a range of 200 to 800 words is suggested. We will gratefully accept, even if we cannot quickly use, relevant and reproducible illustrations, news cuttings, book excerpts, catalogue data and other miscellanea which might enhance the Journal's interest. Since Kipling touched the literary and practical world at many points our terms of reference are broad. Britain Overseas £6.00 £7.50 £3.00 £3.00 £12.00 £15.00 (iii)