New-York tribune., 1893-12-10
MR.. KIPLINGS MISTAKES.
HE las INDEED SOUGHT OFT MANY IN
yENTIONS.
To the Eiitor Of The Tribune.

To the Eiitor Of The Tribune.
Sir: May be permitted to point out In your
columns that your correspondent. Miss Molly
Elliot Seaweil. who wrote the article on Rudyard
Kipling's Inaccuracies in last Sundays issue. has
evidently got hold Of "the wrong tiger In one par
tcular. over which she waSes facetious
The Ballad Of the Clampherdowa" is full OF Glar-
ing abs'.rd.ties when you come to analyze Ii In
detail. as your correspondent has done. but the
line ] refer to-namely: You can hear the hiss
OF the helpless ram''-s perfectly consequent and
intcIllble as Il Is not reference to the ram fitted
II the bows of the ship any more than II Is 20 the
constellation Aries but 10 the ram. or. more
properly speaking. TANNER" connected with me
hydraulic oad1g gear for the big turret gun' an"
which If put ont Of action by shot from the
dainty Iio;chisiss gun" OF the cruiser. would be
Likely to cause kissing noise from the escape OF
compressed air.
However inaccurate KiplIngs "sailor-man's
taIkce" Is. It VIII. / think. be admitted that his
rhymes expressive, and that what Is wanted
in ballad making in political oratory. IL not
accuracy but emoton-ccs,atic intui,ion-call 1t
what you will. "Nnat you want is thrill. as
Garbetta said to Mark Twain. In a discussion OF
the causes Of success on the platform
In a criticism Of the 'Clampherdown' tale al
.owance should be made for many ounces OF poetic
license the ton Of padding, and then 1t VIII be
found that 1t is by no means bad synopsis OF
the errors committed in ship designing by naval
constructors, which is what l take II to be In
tended for.
1t used to be said that there only four writ
crs who could describe maritime adventures with
out committing solecsms calculated to provoke
smile from those who go down to the great waters
In ships-to wit. Marryat. Dana, Clark Russell
and Giibort-and may search long tine
through Peter Simple" Two Years Before the
Mast The Wreck Of the Grosvenor" or the bad
Ballads" before finding such blunder as the pas
scnger made who said TO one of his feow-travel-
lers he was glad to sail In ship commanded by
such n humane captain as he hah just heard MIN
give an order the carpenter 10 make n SCARF
FOR the head OF the galley cat the order being
really GO and scarf the cathead you son OF
marlinspike and a purscr's SOW" There may be
other marine writer's now who are technically cor
rect In their lingo. but one rarely comes across
them and Mr. KiplnG Gor whose works no one mas
a greater admiration than the writer OK these
lines) is certainly not Of the number
Besides the collection OF rhymes alluded to by
Miss Seawell there is n sea story called Juhsoh
AMI the Empire" published in Many Inventions.
which is far more open to criticism than the BAL
lads" as there Is excuse for the license OF the
poet In that Invention" and the wonder is-no the
.'Wonler" that mixed up the Mellishes-"that. II
another story"-but that any one so quick to
seize upon local color Mr.. Kipiing should have
10; fall so many slips OF the tongue In describing
a naval officers conversatiOn
First he falls into that commonest OF all errors
among lOneshoremen. which is the very shibooie'h
vrhe
farng life: namely he talks OF an officer being
ON instead OF In a vessel Hundreds OF writer's
in newspapers of all sorts except the service
iournals) from THE London Times to THE
Blazonvlle Squeakcr" (Colorado). commit this
error though one Is just likely 10 overhear
TON" Ioatcs say he had a mount In certain
horse n, Ncwmarhc; It would be to hear
naval officer talk OF the time when ne served Oh
the 'Mongoose>
Secondly. laying aside ,hc rnpTobability or the
Admiralty sending fnar-of-war TO the Cape under
the nj OF Junior navigating officer OF less
than eight years standing. 1t f. ridiculous TO sup
pose the admiral Of the staton-thc ono described
(p 800 as going over the side according TO the
rules Of the service" "a paragraph suggesting The
Topmast Slayer at one time contemplated heaving
such @ an an officer on dplomatic mission when he
had a plentiful supply OF officers In the executive
The most SaTns nsonssency 0t AL all dS,rs
vlsi; Of Inspection to the na-iron rCinboat %. s6
where he orders the bow gun to be laid ever %
although are told both previously and subse,
quently OPP 25 and 317 that this gun Is mounted ,,
the ship instead Of running On on InGSy T"eGI o,, No,
exchange his billet for second place on the "Anson
or the Hove" Now the second In command In
s'le the of navns SaSs4 Of h
by any means 70 attractive TO make IL likely one |
advantage Of transfer promotion and fresh en-
ployment Wouldn't he exchange? just try me-"
once more. on p. 36s ct sequitur COM |
PEELED 10 carp when are introduced 10 the liou- |
tenant Of the "Mongoose." real white painted |
gunbOat." Now II this gentleman the lieu- |
tenant commander Of that ship. he well might |
be- occupying the stern cabin "a sunboat being n |
icutenant's command gun vessel commanders |
commanI). ne should BE- called the skipper OF |
the MongOose' and II he were not the captain he !
ought be made TO say: II am under orders for |
Zanzibar" etc. bu: I'VE under orders"
Continuing the scene in the club al the Cape,
we are told that the admiral his secretary in |
search OF Iu1son Then II comes out that this |
secretary. whose name IL Sperril Is called staff
captain. Now, every who knows anything /
knows that admirals' secretaries not chosen |
rule from the list OF sfaifcap'ains. but from the
non -conbatant branch OF assistant payrnas,crs
This "secretary stnffcaptain' Is In our story |
sent on errand after junior officer and IL made
10 accompany the commander -!n-chief on his visit |
OF Inspection 10 the FlG-Iron. OF which her skipper
would not be likely to tell off either his secretary /
or "A staff captain for either Of these duties. They
would be performed by his flag lieutenant. the |
officer who acts that is. as aiiede-camp to an ad-
miral.
would be tempted 20 express surprise AT lady |
handling naval matters. because as Charles bud. |
ley Warner says. woman alI-nys did make muss |
OF IT," both In a garden and elsewhere. when out
hearth end the social circle" where she times
reigns as queen which H. az II should be.
II yon want the moral OF this tale apply Juve-
nals "Quis cus'odiet ipsoS cusodos 10 critics. and
You may you may not. find IT, AZ all events.
Mr. Kipng was happily inspired when he named
HIS book MANY Inventions e. III. W.
Cromwell Conn. Nov. 20. 1881.
STATE. CHURCH AND SCHOOLS.