Complete Works of Rudyard Kipling (Illustrated) (1301 page)

“In regard to the idea of the book, I have no hope that the stories will be of the least service to anyone. They are meant to be read in railway trains and are arranged and adorned for that end. They ought to explain that there is no particular profit in going wrong at any time, under any circumstances or for any consideration. But that is a large text to handle at popular prices ...”

“The Declaration of London.” Five stanzas in the Morning Post of June 29th, 1911, beginning, “We were all of one heart and one race.” A few lines are quoted here :

THE DECLARATION OF LONDON.

[On the reassembly of Parliament after the Coronation, the Government have no intention of allowing their followers to vote according to their individual convictions on the Declaration of London, but insist on a strictly party vote. — Daily- Paper.]

“We were all of one heart and one race

When the Abbey trumpets blew,

For a moment’s breathing space

We had forgotten you.

Now you return to your honoured place

Panting to shame us anew.

“The light is still on our eyes

Of Faith and Gentlehood,

Of Service and Sacrifice,

And it does not match our mood,

To turn so soon to your sophistries

That starve our land of her food.”

“The Spies’ March.” Eight stanzas and a refrain in The Literary Pageant, a Charity Magazine issued on July 12th, 1911, in aid of the Prince Francis of Teck Memorial Fund for the Middlesex Hospital. A few lines are quoted here:

[“ The outbreak is in full swing and our death-rate would sicken Napoleon. . . .

Dr. M          died last week and C  on Monday, but some more medicoes are coming. . . . We don’t seem to be able to check it at all. . . . Villagers panicking badly. ... In some places not a living soul. . . . But at any rate the experience gained may come in useful, so I am keeping my notes written up-to-date in case of accidents. . . . Death is a queer chap to live with for steady company.” — Extract from private letter.]

“
There are no leaders to lead us to honour, and yet without leaders we sally,

Each man reporting for duty alone — out of sight — out of reach of his fellow.

There are no bugles to call the battalion, and yet without bugle we rally

From the ends of the earth to the ends of the earth to follow the standard of yellow!

Fall in! O fall in! O fall in!

“What does He next prepare?

Whence will He spring the attack?

By water, earth or air?

How shall we head Him back?

“Can we starve Him out if we burn Or bury His food-supply?

Creep through His lines and learn — That is the work of a spy! “

“A Burgher of the Free State.” The fourth of the uncollected “ Stories of the War.” Published in the Daily Express for June 26th, 27th, 28th, 29th, and July 2nd, 3rd, and 4th, 1900. A series of pictures of Bloemfontein during the early stages of the war written round the person of Allen, foreman printer of the Bloemfontein Banner. He is the burgher, a dour Scot, who has come to regard the Orange Free State as home by reason of forty years’ sojourn. The paper belongs to Mrs. Bergmann, and is edited by Dessauer, her nephew, both being under Transvaal influences. Allen foresees that the entity of the Orange Free State may be sacrificed by war. He loathes the proposals to instigate the blacks against the British, and hopes that the statements published in the Banner, that the English are utilising the Indian Army against the Boers, is inaccurate. Presently the town is occupied, the office is taken over by the war correspondents, from whom Allen learns that the tales about the Indian troops are lies, printed with intent to deceive the burghers. A

proclamation, which was to have been issued to the Basutos, is discovered in the racks, but Allen so conducts himself that the Englishman in charge suppresses what Corbett, an American journalist in the company, recognises as a scoop of the biggest kind imaginable.

“The Enlightenments of Pagett, M.P.” Not collected in the English edition, but included in “In Black and White,” the Oversea Edition. It appeared originally in The Contemporary Review for September, 1890. Pagett is spending New Year’s Day with Orde, a former schoolmate who has “ become a cog-wheel in the machinery of the great Indian Government.” Orde seizes the opportunity to bring Pagett face to face with facts calculated to remove some of the misconceptions the English M.P. has formed. Pagett complains about the treatment meted out to him by Dawlishe, a judge with whom he had foregathered, and who had listened to his, Pagett’s, theories and bluntly called them tommy rot. Orde explains, and later a Mr. Edwards calls, who throws light on certain notions, also erroneous, which the M.P. has formed about the working classes in India. Orde also shows his visitor sketches by Bishen Singh, a craftsman in wood-carving, to whom Pagett is introduced. Bishen Singh knows nothing about the “ National Congress Movement,” which is near to Pagett’s heart and his imagination. The next person to pay a duty-call on Orde is Rasul Ali Khan, a Mohammedan landholder, who intimated “ with a smile which even Mohammedan politeness could not save from bitter scorn “ that he also was indifferent to the movement. The next visitors are a dozen cultivators, headed by Jelloo, who have a grievance against the people in a village adjacent to their own, but they none of them had ever heard of Pagett’s National Congress. At last a youthful student, Mr. Dina Nath, is introduced, who is left alone with the M.P. He at least knows all about the matter, but the interview only serves to show Pagett how entirely wrong are his views. Mr. Reginald Burke, the hero of a Bank Fraud and “ no politician but a business man,” expresses the opinion emphatically that that “ kind of agitation is anything but wholesome for the country.” Finally, Dr. Eva McCreery Lathrop opens the man’s eyes to the great need for more protection for the native woman.

“Erastasius of the Whanghoa.” The first story in “ Abaft the Funnel.” Erastasius, a tailless Japanese cat, falls down the ventilating funnel of the “ Whanghoa,” and is brought up from the stokehole in a bucket. While he cleans himself, the captain tells the passengers how Erastasius saved a quarter of a million dollars, by giving warning, on one voyage, that a cargo of Chinese in the steerage were plotting mischief.

“Fables for the Staff.” During the S.A. War, Kipling acted as associate editor of The Friend, a Bloemfontein journal, edited by the war correspondents with Lord Roberts’s force. For that publication Kipling wrote “ King Log and King Stork” (March 24th, 1900), “ The Elephant and the Lark’s Nest “ (March 24th, 1900), “The Persuasive Pom-Pom,” “ Vain Horses,” and Nos. five and six not entitled. In the issue of April 2nd, 1900, was a poem entitled “ A Song of the White Man,” of which Julian Ralph states in “War’s Brighter Side” that it was written “to be read at a dinner in Canada.” The first line runs: “ Now this is the cup the white men drink.” Before Mr. Kipling “ joined the staff “ he sent a contribution, “ St. Patrick’s Day “ (March 17th, 1900), beginning, “ Oh! Terence, dear, and did you hear the news that’s going round?” Two four-line stanzas constituted the first issue, but six days later the whole of the poem,  five stanzas of eight lines, was printed. The Friend also contains two series of “ Kopje-Book Maxims,” compiled “ with suggestive help from Perceval Landon,” the now famous traveller and author. These maxims relate to horse, foot, guns, etc. Those last named are ascribed to the two journalists mentioned and A. H. Gwynne. The editorial in The Friend of April 2nd, 1900, bids farewell to Mr. Kipling on his return to Cape Town. The contributions to “ The Friend” are reprinted in Julian Ralph’s “War’s Brighter Side,” published in 1901. The book contains a portrait of Mr. Kipling with the three other associate editors.

“Folly Bridge.” The second of the four uncollected “ Stories of the War.” Published in the Daily Express of June 15th and 16th, 1900. McManus, an African banker, is summoned to Bloemfontein by the Commander-in-Chief of the British Army and the High Commissioner to help to disentangle the finances of the State. His passports require that his progress is to be facilitated by every means. At Folly Bridge, which has been blown up, McManus and others have to walk from one point to another to make connection. The military orders are that none are to be sent forward from one side unless their passes are countersigned by the officer, one Smith, behind. He, it happens, is taking his bath when the party arrives. McManus goes ahead on foot, but is held up by the officer on the other bank of the Orange River. The situation is saved by the candid comments of others of the party, including an officer in charge of the “ Little Man’s “ private mail.

“For One Night Only.” Uncollected from Longman’s Magazine of April, 1890. A slight and somewhat farcical story of an evening spent at the theatre by a certain Mrs. Skittleworth and her friends.

“Half a Dozen Pictures.” Printed, according to the late Professor F. York Powell, in the Civil and Military Gazette of Lahore, September 3rd and 5th, 1892.

“Haunted Subalterns.” Horrocks and Tesser of the Inextinguishables are bothered with ghosts in the quarters, which turn their room upside-down and break the strings of one man’s banjo. Neither Tesser nor Horrocks, alone or together, can get at the bottom of the matter, and when Tesser goes off with a junior to a fort, his ghost, with a banjo, follows him. The junior subaltern declares he will not stay with Tesser, and is relieved by Horrocks. The two men still fail to find what is wrong, though they discover that Horrocks’s ghost is local, while the banjo-player is personal. This story is included in the Outward Bound Edition, but is not in the English.

“The Horse Marines.” An uncollected story which appeared in Pearson’s Magazine, October, 1910, with illustrations by Charles Crombie. The preface is an extract from a daily paper regarding a question put to the Right Honourable R. B. Haldane, Secretary of State for War, on April 18th, 1910 (Haldane of the Spiritual Home). Lord Ronaldshay asked if rocking-horses were to be supplied to all the county regiments for teaching recruits to ride. Mr. Haldane, replying, described the dummy horses on rockers, which had been tested with satisfactory results. . . . The rocking-horses were made at Woolwich and were quite cheap. Kipling’s story is a satirical comment upon the practice. Therein are reintroduced Lieutenant Morshed, Pyecroft, and Leg- gatt, along with a contingent of Boy Scouts, and a French sailor named Jules. The four men, under Morshed’s leadership, contrive to introduce a rocking-horse into the camp where army manoeuvres are in progress. This they place on a pile of mangold-wurzels, and call attention to it by letting off fireworks. The result is an encounter between the men, in which the roots serve as missiles.

“The Lamentable Comedy of Willow Wood.” An uncollected dialogue published in The Fortnightly Review, May, 1890. He and She, riding on the downs, discuss their hosts the Deeleys, and their fellow-guests Oulthorp, Miss Julia Massing, Mr. and Mrs. Dollins, and Mr. Warbstow.

“The Last Relief.” An Indian story which appeared in the first number of The Ludgate Monthly, May, 1891. It was illustrated by Mr. Frederick Waddy, and has not been included in any book. A very poignant story that Kiplingites greatly admired, and still admire.

“The Legs of Sister Ursula.” A story, not collected, from The Idler, of June, 1893, where it was illustrated by Hal Hurst. A nursing sister steps out on to a corridor, and the door closing after her, she finds that she is cut off from her patient, who is suffering from a nervous mental breakdown. She succeeds in getting back to her duty by ascending the fire-escape ladder, but in so doing attracts the attention of Cott Van Cott, a violinist possessing a Strad. He thinks there is a fire, and follows the nun. The humour of the adventure strikes the patient, and helps him to throw off the depression which had almost led him to commit suicide.

It was published also in McClure’s Magazine, March, 1894.

“Mrs. Hauksbee Sits Out.” An “ un- historical extravaganza,” published in The Illustrated London News Christmas Number for 1890, fully, and admirably, illustrated by A. Forestier. The main idea is that May Holt, staying with an aunt, Mrs. Scriffshaw, at Simla, wishes to go to a Volunteer ball. Mrs. Scriffshaw withholds permission, and May seeks the help of Mrs. Hauksbee, and persuades her  uncle, Lieutenant-Colonel J. Scriffshaw, to accompany her. At the ball, Mrs. Hauksbee takes charge. May is taken over by Charles Hilton Hawley, with whom she is in love. Mrs. Scriffshaw is kept occupied by Major Decker, an Irishman with a persuasive tongue, and afterwards by H.E. The Viceroy. When the inevitable collision occurs, Mrs. Hauksbee contrives to transfer May to the Viceroy and lets Hawley tackle the aunt. By sheer bluff he reduces the lady to a condition in which she will grant him anything, to the delight of His Excellency, who overhears the conversation, and places the boy on his staff for a month. The story is not in the English Collection, but is included in the Outward Bound Edition.