New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-02-07
RUDYARD HIPLING.
a NEW COLLECTED EDITION OF HIS
WORKS.
THE WRITINGS IN PROSE AND VERSE or
RVDYARD KIPLING The "Outward Bound
Edition. Volume |, plain Tales from the Hills.
Octave DID xvi. $50. Charles SCribncr's Sons.

Octave. PIP xvi. $50 Charles Scribncrs Sons.
Disraeli told Matthew Arnold that he Arnold
was one Of the few men who have the privilege Of
seeing themselves regarded classics in their life
time. The list Of such men is naturally very short
at any time, and in some he pleasing sem
sation alluded to turns out to be deceptive. Mr..
Swinburne for example has witnessed his own
apotheosIs, but It is doubtful II he feel the con-
hdence in his fame which Tennyson. say. could feel
TO the day Of his death. The vogue passes. and
editions de luxe vain In the case OF Rudyard
Kipling prophecy dwes lovingly about his name
and takes such a reprint of his works as the out
ward Bound" edition the kind Of tribute which
posterity Is likely to indorse Perhaps some frag-
ments Of the work presented in these volumes may
fall into oblivion. The author is himself inclined to
suspect much-if we are to take the hint offered
in his introduction That Introduction is addressed
ito the Nakhoda or skipper of this venture" and
in the course Of 1t he is advised to tho methods
he would best pursue in order TO spread the stuff
OF the volumes abroad: in trading 1t is to he
membered that there be many who can Immediately
discern the bad from the good. DO not seek TO
overwhelm such men with marietta lk or else We
two are shamed. Say nothing: let them choose
and throw n sail over certain bales OF lesser worth
This is modest and wise. But the VIII pause
ere he throws a sail"
That he Will pause thus in turning the pages OF
this initial volume In the series is peculiar tes-
timony TO tho apparently indes,ructible character
HIS" We are Informed In a PREDATORY note were
first published in India zen years ago They Illus
trate, therefore. some Of the earliest years OF the
authors experience as a writer of fiction. They
wear as well as some Of his maturest productions
There are tales of his which surpass In power and
picturosquencss the one inaugurating this volume
but when its special character IS considered Lis
peth seems almost the best thing with which Mr.
Kipling could have opened his new edition In
"ldspeth' he exercises the gift which, more even
than his gifts Of originality and Imagination. has
caught the car of the world-that gift for inter-
pretng the curious interplay OF racial opposites
which goes on year after year in the Queens India
The East and the West meet in this brie. nara
tive. II the latter showed them merely in their
relations of contrast. OF antagonism, It would be
an effective picture nothing moro. But Kiplings
genius Is shown by the manner in which he takes
that picture and indicates the common ground
upon which its figures stand. indicates the human
kinshp beneath their social differences. He does
not indulge In any crude or sentimental expedients
He does not mako the chaplans wife open her
eyes to the existence OF a heart in Tdspeth Just
like her own. TO do that would be to destroy the
Legitimate effect No; he sends Lispeth back to
her people, with the chapain's wife observing
that she believed that "Lispeth was always at
heart inndel" And. though the English lady
would not have admitted IT. can see that at
bottom she and her maynard charge were made OF
eXactly the same human materials. 1t is not al
account lie sets forth he figures and the reader
can make up the sum. The reader grasps the
truth about Lispeth. the truth about the chaplain
wifo-who did not understand hrr-and. though he
author implies that he thinks the Western woman
was something OF fool he stays in the long run
quite outside the argument. II he provokcs ans |
thoughts how the English should treat the
Indians be does incidentally. His main point |
is TO enlarge our experience by making us fully |
acquainted with two authentic branches Of one |
Interchangeable human root.
IT il in his impartiay sympathetic and eloqucn. |
celebration OF all sorts and conditions Of men tina;
Kipling most clearly reveals himself the master |
that he is Some OF his manrersms have been mis- |
taken for essential ingredients OF his work Per |
haps trey are. but in very minor way His self
consciousness for example is occasionally visible !
in his style but never does his Cynicism or his |
cocksurcucss divert him from the natural drift OF
his tale. There you have the inspiration OF the |
true narrative genius 10 hold himself aloof from the
march Of events. no matter how much he may in |
dulge himself In verbal ido<yncrasies Tho breadth
of conception which IL typhed by "Tlspeth" Is en-
couniercd In all the remaining stories In the book
it will bc found anlmatns every OF the volumes
10 Enrching It's primitive strength and flow
ing from its generic forces. there the clements
which 20 TO make Kipiing writer various as n. |
Is compact The undercurrcn, OF human passion |
never changes but the special noe Is taking ALWAYS
some new flight. Now IT Is bizarre and mysterious
even supernatural, ghosty, as in Haunted Subal. |
terms or The Broken-Link Handicap" or ''rho |
R0ut OF the white Hussars." Again IL Is uproorI- ,
ously funny, in Pig or The Arrest OF Lieu,ep-
ant Goightly." SAN again la Thrown Away" or |
'Bitters Neat or "foked with Cnbel!cyer".I