The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1892-12-11

runs through so much Anglo-Indian poe
try had been struck then. You will ind
1t most fully suggested in "The Long In
dian Day." comparatively modern affair,
but there is set of verses called sScanty
Ninety-five. dated about Warren Hast
ings' time, which gives a lively idea of
what our seniors in the service had 10 nut
up with. One of the most interesting
poems I ever found was written in Nee
rut, three or four days before the mutinv
broke out there. The author complained
that he could not get his clothes washed
nicely, and was very facetious over his
worries.
My verses had the good fortune to last a
little longer than some Others which were
more true to facts and certainly better
workmanship. Men in the army and the
civil service and the railway wrote to
me saying that the rhymes might be
made into book. SorAe of thens had
been sung to the banjos round the camp
fires, and some had run Is far down the
coast as Rangoon and Aoulmein and up
to Mandaiay. A real book was out of the
question, but / knew that Rukn-Din and
the office plant were at my disposal at
price, if | did not use office time Also,
had handled in the previous year a couple
of small books, in which / was part owner,
and had lost nothing. So there was built
sort of a book, long oblong docket,
wire stitched. to initiate q d. o. govern
ment envelope. printed On one side only.
bound in brown paper and secured
with red tape. 1t was addressed to all
heads of departments and. all govern
ment officials, and among. a pile of
papers would have deceived clerk of
we made some hundredsS and as there was
no necessity for advert Using, the public
being to my hand. ttook reply post
cards, printed the nefs of the birth
of the books on one sside, the blank
order form on the other, and posted
them up and down the empire from
Alden to Singapore and from Quetta to
Colombo. There was no trade discount, no
reckoning twelves as thiteens, no com mis-
sion, and no credit of any kind whatever
The money came back in poor but honest
rupees, and was transferred from the pub
Usher, the left-hand pocket. direct to the
author, the right-hand pocket. Every
copy sold in few weeks, and the ratio of
expenses to profits, as remembered it,
has since prevented my injuling my health
by, sympathising with publishers who
talk of their risks and expense The
down-country papers complained of the
form of the thing. The wire binding
cut the pages. and the red tape tore the
covers. This was not Intentional. bu,
heaven helps those who help themselves.
Consequently there arose demand for
new edition, and this time I exchanged
the pleasure of taking in money over the
counter for that of seeing real publish.
er's imprint on the title page. More yer.
sions were taken out and put in, and some
of that edition travelled as far as Hong
kong on the map, and each edition grew a
little fatter. and, at last, the book came to
London with gilt top and stiff back.
But loved it best when it was little
brown baby with a pink string round its
stomach. a chIldss child, ignorant that it
was afflicted with all the most m odern all
ments, and before people had learned.
beyond doubt, how its author lay awake
of nights in India plotting and scherning
to write something that should take"
with the English public.
RUDYARD KIPLING.