New-York tribune., 1896-11-15
rs mare she neighs the ole DAY long,

rs mare she neighs the ole Gay long,
She paws the ole night through
An she wont take 'er feed cause o waitn lor
is STEP
Which is Just what beast would do.
Is girl she goes with hombardier
Before 'er month is through;
An the banns are up in church TOT she so'
the beggar hooked.
Which Is just what a girl Wouid 90
We fought bout dog--last week it were
No more than q round or two. .
But strook i'm cruel ard, an wish 'adnt
now,
Which r. Just what man can't do.
K was all that ad in the way Of a friend.
An I've ad to find ono new:
But I'd give my pay an stripe for to get the
beggar back
Which it's just too late 20 do.
SO it's knock out your pipes an follow me.
An it's finish off your swipes an follow me.
Oh, ark to the ffes a-crawlin'
Follow me-follow me 'ome.
Take i'm away. 'E's gone where the best men 60
Take i'm away! An the gun wheels turnin' slow.
Take i'm away! There's more from the place e
come.
Take i'm away, with the timber an the drum
For it's "Three rounds blank" an follow me,
An it's Thirteen rank an follow me;
Oh. passn the love o women,
Follow me-follow me ome.
In poems like Back to the Army Again"
or bill 'Awkins,' there lives at its high
est tension that spirit of delight. that smack
of much-loved experience, TO which reference
has already been made. Never was slang so
brilliantly handled as Mr.. Kipling handles it,
never the uncouth speech of common men
made pointed, funny. so full OF a curious
poetry Yet. in taking leave of these poems,
there are two points upon which regretful OBJ
servations must unavodably be passed. In the
first place, Mr.. Kipling has used plain speech
in of his new poems to an extent that
adds nothing to our sense of his viriliy but
on the contrary leaves him for thefirst time con-
victed of bad taste: The danger of standing up
too straight In order to prove your manliness
is that YOU may fall backward. and this is
what Mr. Kipling has done. There are lines in
this book which have no earthly value in the
rounding out Of the poems in which they occur;
they would never be missed and 1t is earnestly
to be hoped that Mr. Kipng will have them
expunged. 1t is only silly affectation to say
that the man of genius must work untramme!ed
by conv antion. The greatest man OF genius liv-
ing to-day may tustifiably be asked to avoid
super1uous coarseness. 1t Is not convention
which Mr. Kipling has violated. but the sense
Of cleanliness and delicacy which he has hither-
to been among the first to uphold 1t Is per-
fectly obvious that he has not intended to be
morbid or In any way to rander to vulgarity.
But like many a man before him. he has such
a mastery over his material that he forgets
sometimes that he cannot take any liberties
with it; he insults his public through assum-
ing that they will call his license strength.
The other objection to be brought against this
book Is possibly captious, yet it cannot he ig-
nored. Good as is the collection from cover TO
cover. It has not the symmetrical quality which
belongs to its predecessor The first volume we
would not diminish by single poem. This sec
ond one. we repeat. Is the best book of poetry
published by any author since Mr.. Kipling pub
lshed his first. but 1t could easily stand some
excisions not merely of such Objectionable
passages as We have mentioned but Of whole
poems. That is surely regrettable Kiplng has
accustomed us TO such a uniformly high stand
ard that it is painful to find 1t declining.