The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1892-07-31
" OUR OVER SEAS MEN,"
Rudyard Kipling.
oopy+eM 1893 ~ Raigard Kipiin5.

|
or greed OF golden fec,
We must not sell your galley slaves
| That row you over tho sea-
| For they come OF your blood OF your own blood
| ny your own gods thcy swear.
| So you must not sell them overseas
| Because they rowod you there.
| KING Eruia
All things considered. there arc only two
| kinds OF men in the world-tiosc that stay at
home and those that do not. Tho second are
the most interesting Some day man will
| hethink himself AMI write about tho brood In
book called THE Book OF tho Ovcrseas
Club" for 1t is at the club houses all the way
| from Adon to Yokohama that the life Of the
| outside mon Is best seen aud thor talk best
heard. strong family likeness runs through
both building aud momhcrs. and n largo and
careless hospitality is the note. There Is
always the samo opon-doorod. hgh-ceilod
house, with mating on the floors; the same
| como and go OF dark skinned servants; and the
| same assembly OF mon talking horse or bus-
ness. In raiment that would fatally scandal
| izc n London COMMITTEES. among fllos OF news
paper from fortnight to ilve weeks old. The
| life of tho outside Men includes plenty Of sun.
| shine and as much air US may lie stirring At
| the Cape, whore tho Dutch housewives distil
| and sell tho very potont Nandcrhum. and the
absurd home made hanson cabs waddle up
| and down tho yellow dust OF Adlcrey street.
arc tho members OF the biz. import and EXPORT
| firms. the shipping and insurance Offices In
| ventors OF mines, and cxploitcrs Of new terri.
| tories. with now and then an officer strayed
| from India to buy mules for the Government
| Government House aide de-cnrp, sprinklinp
| of the officers OF the garrison. tanned skip
pers OF tho Union and Castle lines, and
| naval officers from tho squadron at Simon's
| Town. Here they talk of tho sins OF
| Cecil Rhodes. the insolence OF Natal the
beauties or otherwise OF the solid Boer vote
and the dates Of steamers. The argotis Dutch
| and Kafllr. and evory one can hum the nation.
al anthem that begins Pack your kit and
trek. Johnny Bowlegs." In the stately Hong
kong Club house. which is to tho further what
the Bengal Club is to this nearer East you
meet much the same gathering. minus tho
mining spectators and plus men whose talk
is Of tea silk. shirtings. and Shanghai ponies.
| The speech of the Outside Men at this point be-
| comes fenrfully mixed with "ridgin- English"
| and local Chinese forms. rounded with corrupt
| Portuguese At Melbourne. in a long veran-
| da giving on a grass plot. where laughing
jackasses laugh very horribly. sit wool
kings. premiers. and breeders OF horses after
| their kind. The older men talk Of the days
| OF the Eureka Stockade. and tho younger Of
"shearing wars " in North Queensland. while
the traveller moves timidly among them won-
dering what under tho world every third word
| may mean. At Wellington. overlooking the
harbor tall riGht-minded clubs should COM
| mand the seal. another and yet like sort Of
men speak OF sheep. the rabbits tho land
courts. and the ancient heresies OF Sir Julius
| Nogel: and their moro expressive sentences
borrow from the Maori. And elsewhere. and
elsewhere. and elsewhere among tho Outside
Men it is tho same-the same mixture of every
trade calling. and profession under the
sun: the same clash Of conflicting interests
| touching the uttermost ends Of the earth;
| the same intimate. and sometimes appall-
ing. knowledge Of your neighbours busi-
ness and shortcomings: tho same large
palmed hospitality. and tho same keen
interest on the part OF the younger men In the
legs of a horse. Decidedly itIis at the Overseas
Clubs oil the world over that you got to know
some little Of the life of the community. Lon
don is egotistical. and the world for her ends
with the four-mile cab radius. There Is no
provineialsm like tho provincialism Of Lon
don. That big slackwater. coated with the
drift and rubbish Of n thousand mems
thoughts. esteems itself the open sea because
the waves Of all the oceans break at her bor-
ders. To those near her she is terribly
| imposing. but they forget that there is more
than ono kind of imposition. Look back upon
her from ten thousand miles. when the mail
Is Just in at an Overseas Club. and she is Won
drous tiny Nine-tenths Of her news-so vital.
so epoch making over there-loseS It's signl6-
canoe. and the rest is as the scuf!ing Of ghosts
In n back attic.
Here In Yo kohama the Overseas Club has
two mails and four sets of papers-English.
French, German. and American. rs suits the
variety of it's constitution-and the voranda
by the sea. whero tho big telescope stands. Is
perpetual Pentecost Tho population OF the
club changes with each steamer in harbor. for
Hello! whore did you como fromt mix az
the bar and tho billiard tIplcs Tor their APP
painted war var ships supply their contingent Of
members also mud thor" ar" wonderful men.
an m iqtcrest in sen 6riEs lLat 60. to ths
Kurile Islands, and somehow get into trouble
and judges s ' "i the G$nS9ar Court meet
men over on leave from tho China ports. or, 1t
he M ana @xs a n y the "k ssa res
dents; Everyt4n% Is always as bad .f as it can
mt INV w wcn they have deeided
that life is no lorg"r worth living they 90
among IN" Iapcr- and thcre is n sound Of
ice n ena TN and
races races, ' the lie seems to be desraSle one.
;'Whai; moro could man need to mako him
sS Sx ys sso pony Of p Rsssss
society, and AZ, 'he n2test people on earth to
tho passer 10y to, stay through July and
| August. Further. he presses him to do bust
| ness with tho pplitcst people on earth. and to
continue SO doing for q term of years. Thus
the traveller pcrceives beyond doubt that the
| resident is preJuiiccd by the very fact Of his
residence, and gives It as his matured onn-
ion that Japan is II taultless land marred only
b. tho presence OF the foreign community.
And vel, lot us consider. 1t is the foreign
community that have, made it possible for the
| traveller TO come and 20 from hotel to hotel
TO got his passport for inland travel. to tele-
graph MS safe arrival to anxious friends. and
he would have been able to do in his own
country. G9vernments and gunboats may
Club that keep it open. Their reward mot
alone IN Japnnl Is the bland patronage or the
profit by their iaborss; 1t Is hopeless to
..ohanoed" into half a dozen shops and and
sG .Gi,. G ont OF half q dozen more and
Is an Oriental and. the, ofore, embarrassingiy
e econ Of the truth. That's his polite,
70 hur, your feelings. Love him and treat him
lik1a brother, and he'll change" Totroat ono