The times., 1898-10-30
4The DAVIS work.~

thousands of copies would be sold in Eng
land and America, whatever London or
New York reviewers might say of the
book. Every critic is thus free to say
exactly what he thinks, untroubled by
any compunctions as TO responsibility,
and the like.
Some of Mr.. Kipling's work is very
good, some of it is less good and some
of it is bad. There are examples of all
three kinds of writing in his latest vol
ume- But every new book which he puts
forth illustrates some phase of his genius
more or less clearly, and this particular
one exhibits him in all his length and
breadth, and narrowness, as the tribal
romancer of Britain. In The Seven
Seas he proved that he was without
doubt the logical incumbent of the posi-
tion of poet-laureate. In THE Days
Work he seems deliberately to have set
himself to glorify England in prose. Now
this is natural, and II is human. But II
is not very artistic. And in all the dozen
chosen stories of this collection genius
has free wing only when the author for
gets that he is a Briton and remembers
that he is, after all, merely 4 mar.
Beyond all doubt, the best of these tales
is William the Conqueror" William
may possibly be considered a new and
finer edition of Kate Sheriff, but she is
the first real woman-body, soul and
spirit-to lend her strong and tender
presence TO Kipling creation. William
is alive and individual; all the more so
for not being over-elaborated The Incl
dents of a courtship-hardly to be called
d courtship at all-in the midst of an In
dian famine; the picture OF the hero. one
OF those strong, silent, ready servants of
the Queen with whom Kipling has made
us acquainted; the girl, William. sharing
the perils and duties of Indian civil serv-
ice with her brother and delighting in it
these things are shown us as only Kip
ling can show them. He is at home in
the sitting atmosphere of Indian deserts;
one can imagine his brain thrilling with
well-remen.bered delight at the return to
familiar haunts of his fancy Every line
of this epic of love and famine is in
stinct with life. Surely never was such
background for the figures of two lovers
A close second TO this tale is THE
Brushwood Boy" which. though It has
less dramatic power, may with some read
ers rank first 1t is in quite a different
vein from anything which the author has
given us heretofore, and its interest CEN
tiers in the psychological phenomenon
called by sweet Mary Seraskier dreaming
true. There is no resemblance between
kipling's brief sketch and du Maurier's
novel; they touch only at this one point
The charm of the tale lies partly in the
absolute accuracy with which the effects
OF dreamland are reproduced. In this Kip
ling surpasses du Maurier. The story of
The Brushwood Boy and his dreams
has an atmosphere realistic to the last
mo ha 1.l H.. II. n.n.
Person of this dreamland furnishes a
glimpse of womanhood as fine though in
different way, as that of William. Mir
lam Lacy will be a figure in the group
stH a very small one, of the women of
hipiing. The poem introduced in this tale
is one OF the most exquisite things in
movement and rhythm ever done by the
author. and will lend itself aptly to a
musical setting. The whole story is as
much a classic as the jungle Books"
and Of the same pure imaginative quality
Another Indian story. lightly touching
upon reincarnation, is The Tomb of His
Ancestors" Mr. Kipling has handed this
topic before. and this time he takes 1t
up in its Indian home-half skeptically. as
becomes the Briton when dealing with
alien superstitions. THE Devil and the
Deep Sea- is a story of adventure on the
waters OF the Orient, and the heroes of the
tale are very disreputable heroes, indeed.
Bread Upon the Waters is another sail
or's yarn, concerning a Scotch engineer
of the McAndrews type. One of the two
stories of animal psychology and also one
of the Indian tales is The Maltese Cat"
dealing with a polo pony who Won the
game for his masters team and saved his
master from an ugly fall This is one of
the cleverest and most delightful sketches
of the hook and one r1rst love ss-Tba FOL
tese Cat as one loves Baloo or Bagheera
From the time his quick hoofs patter up
on the scene as the curtain rises till the
closing tableau with his wise little gray
head in the center of the stage. The
Cat commands our respect and affection
Two tales Of inanimate nature, THE
Ship that Found Herself and "GJ7," are
chiefly remarkable for the skill with which
unpromising material is utilized. If there
is any one thing which Mr.. Kipling loves
10 picture above all others it is the lick
ing into shape of the new recruit, and he
contrives to hammer out this lesson even
on locomotive tenders and fog horns of
steamers.
Three of the stories which remain
might kill the sale of the book in the
United States were Americans inclined to
resent that sort of thing. but the chances
are that nothing of the kind will happen.
The first of the three, "A Walking Dele
gate" is not very caustic, and If Ii were
one might perhaps forgive that fault for
the sake of its amazing cleverness 1t
was written when the author had been
but short time in this country, but
every detail of local color is complete 1t
depicts group of horses, on a Vermont
farm, discussing the labor question in its
equine aspect. The leader of the discus
sion is a yellow horse from Kansas, the
Walking Delegate. The other animals
come from New York, kentucky and the
country near the rendezvous, and each
speaks his native dialect The story as a
whole is perhaps the brightest bit of sa-
tire on the labor question in America
which has ever been seen in print.
A second tale has a certain excuse for
its being in the humor OF its situation. Its
motive is the contrast between an Ameri-
can millionaire with a wild yearning to
be English and the real Englishman. The
American finally, in his eagerness to Sc
cule a much-desired object of vertu, flags
a train. forgetting all his English educa-
tion. He is overtaken by the vengeance of
the British Empire. TO his immeasurable
disgust. The episode is finally the cause of
his leaving England for more active
life in his native land. Through the whole
story runs a vein of biting ridicule of
America and the Americans. The meek
reader in ''the States may feel like in
quiring what we have done to deserve
such punishment, but whether we have
done anything or not it seems that Mr..
Rudyard Kir ing late of Brattleboro,
Vermont. does not like us, or such a sto-
ry as The Fourth Dimension" would
never have been written.
The fact of Mr.. Kipling's deliberate
purpose TO slap America in the face does
not, however, become quite evident until
We reach My Sunday at Home" If this
tale is really the result of Sundays at