The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-12-18

haps follow pause Of five minutes,
when the voice of the project would be
heard again, "All right, Gigs, you
brute" Immediately succeeded by the
crash of a boot in the neighborhood of
Kipling's bed, to be followed by the
muffled sound of a piece Of soap strik-
ing the clothes.
Il say" from Kipling, by this time
wide awake. WHAT'S it?'
"a yarn, a yarn.
81 don't know any"
From the project: ooh, yes you do;
but, anyway, I'll give you a skeleton.
Once upon a time there was a man who
went to sea, killed the captain, turned
pirate, got wrecked on an island, where
he fought battle against a. lot of saw
ages, marries the chiefs daughter,
died and lived happily ever afterwards.
Now go on
With a grunt of dissatisfaction Kip
ling would thereupon begin shortly,
however, making the project the villain
of the story, and placing him in such
absurd situations that the whole dormi-
tory would be shouting with laughter,
and the noise of creal1ing shoes upon
the stairs would come as warning
that the house master was on his way
to see into the nocturnal disturbance.
AS A COLLEGE EDITOR.
For two years Rudyard Kipling oc-
cupied the editorial chair of the United
Service College Chronicle, during which
period many bright verses and clever
articles from his pen appeared within
the pages of that little journal This
was entirely an honorary position,
which, however led to an engagement
on the local paper under novel and
amusing circumstances. The head mas
ter of the college, apart from his scho-
lastic duties, held the office of chairman
of the local board--partaking of the
nature of all unpaid rural supervisor
ship, with perhaps a little patronage
attached that somebody or other was
anxious to possess.
This ambitious person succeeded IN
gaining the assistance of the editor Of
the local paper. The consequence was
that. for a time, a number of crudely
virulent personal attacks were made
upon the policy of the board, to all of
which the head master paid no atten-
ton whatever. Then the editor, prob
ably having seen some of Kipling's
work in the college paper, entered into
an arrangement with him, that for
the sum of $3.50 a week the latter
should do his best to goad the head
master into the indiscretion of a re-
tort.
~ IN
THE HEAD MASTER.
It was not long, therefore, before de-
mandatory articles appeared in the pa
! per, treating Of the Dcard's local drain
age scheme in such poignant, sarcastic
! terms that everybody began to talk
about the matter, and the head master
was compelled to take up his pen in
| self-defense-a literary duel thus COM
mencing between the all unconscious
master and his pupil that afforded
those who were in the secret a weekly
fund of amusement.
Eventually the head master resigned
his chair, but whether he discovered
the personality of his brilliant antag-
onist is not known. Had he done so,
there is a probability that young Kip
ling would have been painfully made
aware of the fact. as the cane and the
birch are still important factors in
| English public" school discipline.
When a looking-glass first engages
the serious attention of a youth, a
somewhat Iudicrous devotion to the
respect, Kipling and his two particular
chums inclined toward the Bohemian,
until they perceived in the opposite eX-
l IRENE a chance to enact a good part,
which, for the time being, afforded
their companions no little amusement.
| At the United service cOlleSe 1t nap
pened that there was a certain classical
master. who had developed profound
aversion to anything approaching f9p-
pishness, and to whom fancy waist
coats, sporting scarf-pins and silk
handkerchiefs were an abomination
second only to what he termed the
modern side of the school.
HAVING SPORT WITH THE MAS
TIERS.
To such an extent did this master
carry his discrimination in the matter
Of clothes that those attending his
classes or coming more particularly
under his jurisdiction, who evinced the
j least tendency to style" were prompt
| ly made the butts of his most wither-
! ing sarcasm, and We're even occasional
ly peremptorily ordered not to appear
again in his presence wearing conspic-
uolsly offensive garments. Now, Kip
ling and his two chums, in the course
of promotion, at length found them
! selves brought into daily contact with
] this master; and, having duly made