The Project Gutenberg eBook, Rudyard Kipling, by John Palmer

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Title: Rudyard Kipling

Author: John Palmer

Release Date: March 24, 2006 [eBook #18045]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)

***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RUDYARD KIPLING***

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RUDYARD KIPLING

by

JOHN PALMER

[Frontispiece: Rudyard Kipling]

New York
Henry Holt and Company
First Published in 1915

CONTENTS

I. INTRODUCTION
II. SIMLA
III. THE SAHIB
IV. NATIVE INDIA
V. SOLDIERS THREE
VI. THE DAY'S WORK
VII. THE FINER GRAIN
VIII. THE POEMS
BIBLIOGRAPHY
AMERICAN BIBLIOGRAPHY
INDEX

I

INTRODUCTION

There is a tale of Mr Kipling which relates how Eustace Cleever, a
celebrated novelist, came to the rooms of a young subaltern and his
companions who were giving an account of themselves. Eustace Cleever
was a literary man, and was greatly impressed when he learned that one
of the company, who was under twenty-five and was called the Infant,
had killed people somewhere in Burma. He was suddenly caught by an
immense enthusiasm for the active life--the sort of enthusiasm which
sedentary authors feel. Eustace Cleever ended the night riotously with
youngsters who had helped to govern and extend the Empire; and he
returned from their company incoherently uttering a deep contempt for
art and letters.

But Eustace Cleever was being observed by the First Person Singular of
Mr Kipling's tale. This receiver of confidences perceived what was
happening, and he has the last word of the story:

"Whereby I understood that Eustace Cleever, decorator and colourman in
words, was blaspheming his own Art and would be sorry for this in the
morning."

We have here an important clue to Mr Kipling and his work. Mr Kipling