The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-10-16
BOOKS OF THE HOUR
A VOLUME OF TWELVE TALES OF
THE GREATEST LITERARY
IMPORTANCE
NPLlNG'S THE DAYS WORK"

E'The RrushNOod Boy Is One of the
Tales Included In This Volume
''Ry Order of the Magistrate" by
w. PETIT Ridge-''Lucky Bargee,"
by Harry Lander, and Other New
Publications.
A new book by Rudyard Kipling
means to a great many reading people
the possibility Of the keenest and most
delightful sensations that literature
has to offer them. What has ''The
Days Work" to give these devotees,
OF whom the present critic frankly pro-
fesses to be one?
There are twelve short stories in the
volume And of these twelve the last
shall be first, for it is the marvellous
tale compact of mist and flame and
the volatile essence of human nature,
called The Brushwood Boy" Every
body has read this story, which made
its appearance before the world in the
Christmas Century two years ago, and
among people of imagination it had
one of the irresistible instantaneous
successes which only the imaginative
masterpieces achieve. 1t is a story to
be loved rather than to be admired,
and to be read rather than talked
about The motif is very simple. Two
healthy and wholesome young people,
who lead busy, occupied, useful lives
in the outer world, have both had from
earliest childhood a series of constantly
recurring dreams. In these dreams diff
ferent events, the meaningless, yet sig
nltiCant events of all dreams, take place
in the same environment, a world of
sea and downs and shore, Of which
each dreamer has made a map. When
the two meet they find that these
dream worlds Of theirs are one and
identical; and each has been the play
mate and cOmrade Of the other from
the very beginning in that strange life
beyond the bounds of time and space.
Now these things are a parable, and
teach that the pure in heart shall see
God while they are yet in the flesh,
and that the relation of a man and a
woman, that most crucial and search
ing Of all relations, wherein souls are
tried as by fire, is, after all, just what
we make it in our dreams. And yet
there are people who do not under
stand that Kipling is a spiritual teach
err
Of the eleven other tales, there are
three that are in KipIing's magnificent
second manner, that is to say, the man,
ner OF The Mark of the Beast and
My Lord the Elephant" These three
are The Bridge-BuiIders, - The Tomb
OF His Ancestors" and Bread Upon
the Waters" The first of these is an
epic concerning the lives and anxieties
of the constructors Of great works in
India; 1t is a mighty, massive, sinewy
tale, like unto the structure with which
1t deals. The second is an altogether
delightful and indescribable story of
the experiences Of a young English
subaltern whose fathers had fought
and worked in India for four genera
tiOnS, chiefly dealing with native regi-
ments drawn from the Bills, "who are,
perhaps. the strangest Of the many
strange races in India. They were, and
at heart are, wild men, furtive, shy,
full Of untold superstitions. They be-
lieve the last and youngest Of the
Chinns to be the reincarnatiOn of his
grandfather, who had been great and
trusted among them. Hence, many
strange experiences for young John
Chinn. Bread Upon the Waters" deals
with a crafty ship owner who, learnine
that z boat Of a rival line is putting +,
sea with a flaw II her tail shaft, sends
one Of his own vessels after her, to
hang about until she has been deserted
b. her crew and is bounced upon and
brought back, a derelict with an enor.
NOUS salvage to pay, by the boat in
waiting All Of these stories are writ
ten with the swing and zest and vigor
that are Kipling's. The old pace doea
not flag nor the old flavor pail
But there are others. Gan Error in
the Fourth Dimension" and "My Sun
day at Home" are stories poor enough
To have been written by anybody, and
too poor to have been written by most
people. The latter of the two is vul-
gar, with vulgarity quite different from
the wholesome vital cOarseness of the
early work which caused Kipling to be
called vulgar by decent folk who did
not know the strength of an athlete
from the sWagger of a bTuiser. The
former story is inape. Probably these
are of earlier date than the rest CT the
volume 1t is to be hoped so for the
sake of Mr.. Kipling's future. It is an
unfortunate incident that both Of these
inherently poor tales should have been
written about Americans One is I'M
willing to believe that this fact
has anything to do with the essential
lack Of excellence in the stories, but it
may just be possible that American
themes are Mr.. Kiplings hoodoo If
he understood US better, it might be
that he would understand British hu-
man Bature less well, and no one could
wish that. The price would be too
great to pay He understands much
but obviously has human limitations
Is it too much for his admirers to ask
that his pen should refrain from themes
that are not his by the divine right Of
comprehension? 1.-The Ship That
Found Herself" ".007" "a Walking
Delegate" and THE Maltese Cat" are
experiments Of differing degrees of sue
cess ip the art Of sympathizing with
machinery and animals. 1.-THE Ship
That Found Herself is an imaginative
triumph in difficult field; "007' is a.
repetition Of the same theme that bare
ly escapes being tiresOme. Kipling can
gaIVanize enc engine and make it throb
with life for US, but even he has not
enough vitality and Individuality to an
innate whole machine shop or a round
house. One comes back to the rehec-
ton that the proper study of mankind
is man with a certain sensation of
having reached dry land after a tenn
pCstuCus voyage.
AS for "The Maltese Cat" and '"Tbe
Walking Delegate" both seem ineffec-
tive after the Jungle Books" in which
the writer has done the same thing
SO supremely we'll that he will remain
his own rival in this field forever.
OF the twelve tales, then, five are
masterpieces. Is mt that enough? But
the spoiled and exacting reader
answers: From Kipling-nor'
The Days Work" by Rudyard Kipling.
Kew York, Doubleday & Mcclure Co. S159
For sale by the st. Paul Book and Station
cry company.
"By Order Of The Magistrate.
There are very few authors who can
write Of ''the masses simply, human
~ and without pity or patronage. w.