The San Francisco call., 1898-12-18
Special to The Sunday Call

TN reading of Stalky, McTurk and
 Beetle of Kipling's unique stories
 of schOolboy life l feel as if I was
 meeting old friends. I knew the
 mischievous trio we'll under their true names-Bensford, Dunsterville and Kipling himself. Kipling was Beetle" although We called him Gigs" Dun sterviUe has since become an officer in the Indian army.
 I first met Kipling in 1879 when he was If years old. In that year I joined the United Service College Westward Ho" in the parish of Northam, North Devon, which had been in existence for several years. I was at once assigned to the same house with kipling under a master named Pugh, and after few terms kipling was changed to my dor mitory, over which his particular friend, DunsterVille. was eventually made sub-prefect. 1 sat at different times in the same classes with kipling and during the last year that l spent at the college, 1883, my study was inn mediately below the one occupied by Beresford, Dunsterville and kipHng.
 The masters referred to in the stories are Cornell Price, the head master; w. C. Crofts, the classical master. ana NJ II. Pugh, the house master, who un. doubtedIy suggested the 'Prout or whom kipling speaks.
 The United Service College, which was intended chiefly for the education of sons of AngIO-Indian civil and mll- tary officers, was within sight of the open Atlantic The immediate neigh borhoOd was of a character to delight the heart of any boy-high frowning cliffs at whose base terrible jagged the a warning to vessels of their sure fate if by any unlucky chance they missed the bar. These cliffs, however, were the abode of several species of rare sea birds, thus offering a splendid field for hazardous adventure.
 Not Youthful Prodigy.
 During these four or five years, as seen uy hls school fellows, it could hardly be said that kipling appeared to them as a prodigy. In the first place he was always extremely near-Sighted, which was perhaps the reason for his not taking any very keen interest in either field sports or athletics-a prof. ciency that, alone, almost makes an English boy a hero in the sight of his school fellows. On the other hand Kip ling was not by any means a sweat" He was not always to be seen boring over his books. He was seldom at the top of his class, though to be sure he was never at the bottom. He did not take all the prizes that came in his way, and he was not even in due course promoted to the office of sub-prefect, although when he left the college in 1882 he carried with him the we'll earned first prize in English literature. Only he did seem to be able to solve a problem In ter minutes over which an- other boy might have labored for an hour. He was chiefly noticeable in his c-FT- flow of language that could only be suppressed by depriving him of his spectaCles.
 ''Stalky, Beetle and McTurk"
 About the middle of his school life Kipling entered into a strong tie of friendship with two other boys, in many respects of his own temperament The trio seemed to have aims of their own apart from the rest of the college, leading a kind of Bohemian existence, and amusing themselves by tiIts at the powers that were. in which encounters they frequentl.- came off victorious, as related in the "Stalky" stories. At the time when Kipling and his two chums were first assigned to a room or study for their own use, the esthetic wave of some seventeen years ago was sweeping over English society, and the three boys at once determined to Tive to InE prev dllIIiS AdSIilOll. 1lSS III ISl of all painted a wonderful stork dado round their room; then they purchased a number of old plates, spoutleSs tea pots and Japanese fans and hung them upon the walls. They called it very high art" and for a day the whole school came to see and wondered.
 At the United Service College the custom prevailed as in most English public schools !" of placing a great part of the out-of-class discipline in the hands of the head boys who are called projects or monitors. In particular these head boys are responsible for the maintenance of order in the large cor rnitories or sleeping prefect having charge of perhaps a dozen or fifteen boys.
 Telling Stories at Night.
 Now it happens that the prefect of the dormitory in which Rudyard Kip ling slept was a great admirer of the thousand and one stories of the Ara bian Nights, and conceived the idea that it would conduce to his early re- pose if he compelled each of the boys in his room to tell stories in turn. The idea. was at once put into practice, md the bovs told such stories of sport, love and adventure as the fertility of their brains brought forth; but 1t became quickly apparent that Kipling so far surpassed the OIIleIS III liAelA le1AS44l tiloil the prefect insisted upon his telling stories out of his turn, the result of which practice would generally be somewhat as follows:
 The light having been extinguished, the voice of the prefect would be heard:
 Now, then, Gigs, yarn.
 "Gigs" was an abbreviation for gig larnps-a nickname conferred upon Kipiing by his school fellows on ac- count of the extraordinarily large spec tacles he wore.
 There would come no response from the bed in the corner.
 "Gigs! You hear? A yarn.
 Still no answer
 Look here, Gigs, if you don't wake
 An expostulating voice from under meath the cIothing-"Oh, what is it?''
 A yarn. a yarn"
 Protestingly, But I say, it's not my turn"
 9 varn." After which there would per hans follow a pause of five minutes, when the voice of the prefect would be