Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1898-09-15

duties were hard ana dlstasteful 10
the degree Of slavisA drudgery, and
yet, 1t is said, he performed them not
merely uncomplainingly, but with en-
thusiasm, His energy was irrepres-
sible. He was literally bubbling over
with humor and imagination. His
powers of observation seemed to EN-
brace everything. In the life OF the
English soldier in India, in the life
Of the English civil servant in India
and in the many-hued, many-tongued
life Of the native population of India
he saw field for literary enterprise
which no one yet had ever seen or
even thought Of looking at. And it
is to his credit that he OWNED the
immense possibilities of this field and
at once set at work to realize some
of them He wrote tales and sketches
and poems descriptive of this life and
one by one these tales and sketches
and poems found their way into the
papers. some into his own, but most
into others. His work had the quail
ty of genous in it from the very first.
From the very first it was matter
of wonder how one so young could
have sufficient knowledge to write as
he did, for he wrote of camp life and
official life and social life, as well as
of the life of the natives, with par
ticularity Of technical detail that
seemed impossible except to actual
experience. "Where does the young
ster pick it all up" was the question
put by every one, Even Lord Dutfer-
in, the governor general of India at
the time, thought 1t was impossible
for one to write of the working of the
inner councils of state with such
Photographic accuracy as Kipling
seemed to show. unless he was an
eye witness to 1t all.
Mr.. Kipling has told us how he
published his first book. The ease
with which the book was disposed OF
shows how hrmly established his
reputation soon came to be:
"Men in the army and in the civil
service and in the railway wrote me
saying that my rhymes might be
made into a book. Some OF them had
been sung to banjos around camp
fires and some had run as far down
the coast as Rangoon and up to Man
dalay. A real book was out of the
question, but | knew that the office
plant was at my disposal II | did not
use office time. SO there was built
a sort of book, lean, oblong docket,
wire-stitched, to initiate govern
ment envelope, printed on one side
only, bound in brown paper and Sc
cured with red tape. Among a pile
of papers it would have deceived a
clerk of twenty years service. OF
these books we made some hum
dreds. Then | took reply postcards,
printed the news Of the birth OF my
book on one side, the blank order
form on the other, and posted them
up and down the empire from Alden
to Singapore and from Quetta to Co.
lombo. There was no trade discount,
no reckoning twelves as thirteens, no
commissions and no credit of any
kind whatever. The money came
back in poor but honest rupees d.
rect. And every copy sold in few
weeks"
This first book Of Mr.. Kipling's was
entitled Departmental Dtties" and
was, as we have just seen, wholly an
Indian home production, This was in
1886, when he was youth of twenty
one. Then came "Pain Tales from
the Hills" another Indian produce
ton, but issued. however, in orthodox
form. 1t was in this book that Null
vaney and Ortheris first came into
the acquaintanceship of an admiring
world. In the meantime other stories,
sketches and poems were appearing
in the Allahabad Pioneer, to which
he was now transferred, and in 9TH
er Indian papers. But by now Kip
ling's reputation was beginning to
make an impression in England
slowly, however, at first, for English
people were very loath to believe that
any good thing could come out of In
dia. But no man ever read a Mulvan-
ey story who did not banker after an
other. The little paper-bound Indian
books-soon there were several OF
them-were constantly being asked
for. Then suddenly-all over the
Kingdom at once. as it seemed--a de.
mana TOR Tnem arose maj coulu ne
satisfied only in one way. In 1888
six volumes of Mr.. Kipling's were
published in England almost stimuli
taneously and when, in 1889, "Sol-
diers Three" appeared, with Learoyd
to form the third Of the immortal
trio, the young author, who came to
England that year, found himself not
merely famous, but one of the most
popular writers then standing before
the English public,
The reputation that Mr.. Kipling
won in 1889, at the age Of twenty
three, has been steadily maintained.
He has written many short stories
since that date and, though none
singly have won the reputation OF
the MulvanW stories, yet there are