New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1898-10-02
FICTION.
MR. KIPLING's EXCURSIONS INTO THE
REALM OF MECHANICS.

tavo. pp 43i Doubleday 4 Mcclure Company.
THE SHAPE OF FEAR AND OTHER GHosTLY
TALES BY Ella w Peatte. Duodecirno. PIP.
us The Macmillan Company.
Octave. PIP. %3. Frederick A Stokes ,oih-
pany.
GALLOPs. BY David Gray. Duodecrno' pP 20
The Century Company.
BLApYs OF THE sTEwPoNEY A Novel BY
S Barring Gould NJ A. Octave, pp. @l' freq
erick A. Stokes Company.
THE LUST OF HATE BY Guy Bootnby. Duo
dccimo, PIP 2s3. u. Appleton Co
1t is Mr.. KiplinGs way 10 take his readers ny
surprise. Fate managed this for him in the
first place when II kept him In India until
his work had maturcd and then sent his thih'
paper covered and entirely miraculous volumes
into the hands Of the few IN England and Amer
lea who know a man OF genius when they see
one He burst upon the world IKE comet
The extraordinary revelation OF the jungle
Books followed in due course captains 'oui
ageous" added 10 the proofs OF the author
versatility: and only the other day THE keces-
sionar showed that the poet OF the "BarracK-
Room Ballads had one more unexpected re-
source In the mean time Mr.. klping mao
been looking into mechanics ana turning them
into literature. This almost the greatest
surprise Of all. Who had ever expected tha'
poetry could bc disclosed in ships rlNet, tha'
a locomotive could be personahzed. that gar
board s,rakc could te made to seem living
thing? Yet nov that THE Days Work rs
in our hands. with the uncannY realism Oh
How lie Ship Found Herself Jostling the
almost mystical fantasy OF The Brush"ooo
Boy" We find ourselves speculatInE as 10
whether ought to be surprised AT all WheI'
Mr. Kiplinr annoxes a new province his pubiic
accepts him though he mad ruled u all
his life long. There is none OF that specious
glitter which so often gets into the WORK OF a
man who is versatile and nothing else The
work is solid rock Surprise fades ana
only deep conientment remains, the content
ment Of rcaler who murmurs to himseii
as he turns the last page. Il shall soon be
reading this again
The man who puts ms heart into his task
whether ~ be painting pictures or SOWING
great engineering problem. feels rapture that
nothing else could bring So Fndlayson, IN
The Bridge Builders" the first story IN this
volume, pOurs his soul into the great network
of iron that ne u fing'ns across the Gunga
and his sensations are Incompatible. MT Klp-
ling makes thes. sensations his own and puts
them into ms page, where ne VINO chooses
may experience them too. II Is experience that
he gives you. besides pleasure. the experience
Of one who has seer tho great bridge, who has
watched its slow rise 70 perfection and its
epical struggle with the fierce waters Of the
Gunga. And here. where one would think the
author justified ~ stopping. he passes from
the bridge to - environment. brnee the gods
OF India IN the shape Of animals "a commune
together in tho engineers presence on the
banks L. which the river has driven man and
beast. and al once an inc deni of human effort
and OF human mo, haDIcs is made one with the
mysitlious atmosphere OF tn East, ancient re-
ligon meets. with a shock. the modern man
and his science. ana you not only the bridge
but its place in the world ana Ia the drift of
human thought II i very strange imag-
NATIVE achievement. but while the key is lifted
above facts the facts somehow always
present "a make the footing more secure.
IL is Mother Gungd racing furOusly down upon
the bridge. with all that her dread significance
to The Indian implies, but when you read how
lin the silence men heard the dry yawn Of
water crawling over thirsty sand. you grasp the
intense reality Of the thing. well the
charm a. Of "a goddess in the waves. The
Bridge Builders" - pa .ked with these brief.
illuminative sentences. Never has Mr.. Kip
ling's descriptive are been more eloquent than
in this story. We would call il the best thing
in the book but The ship That Found Herself
is here with co. and that makes selection
seem invidious 1t rs enough TO say that in
these three tales Mr.. KIpline reveals the soul
that j. ~ Inanrnato things, and that the effect
is prodigioue The Tomb Of His Ancestors"
is another leaf from the authors notebook of
AnglO-Indan life II Is good. but not on a
level with his best. "A Walking Delegate and
THE Maltese Cat are also brilliant, stronger