Morris tribune. [volume] (Morris, Minn.) 1880-2000, 1899-04-08

roar and rattle of the wheels shiverei
the quiet into little bits.
1t was in this. trying environment
that Kipling nevertheless composed
some OF his best things. In couple OIL
pages on my First Book, = which he
contributed to McClure's four or five
years ago, he. told something about the
way in which his verses were written,
saying -
Bad as they were, | burned twice
as many as were published, and of the
survivors at least two-thirds were cut
down at the last moment Nothing can
be wholly beautiful that is not useful,
and therefore my verses were made to
ease off the perpetual strife between
the manager extending his advertise
ments and my chief fighting for his
reading matter. They were born to be
sacrificed Rukn-Din, the foreman of
our side, approved Of them immensely,
for he was a Muslin of culture. He
would say Your poetry very good,
SIT Just coming proper length today,
You giving more soon. One-third col
umn just proper. Always can take on
third page,
"Mahmoud, who set them up, had
an unpleasant way of referring to a
new lyric as Elk aur chiz-One more
thing-which / never liked. The job
side, too, were unsympathetic, because
used to raid into their type for private
proofs with Old English and Gothic
headlines. Even Hindoo does not like
to find the serifs of his rs cut away to
make long SIS.
And in this manner, week by week,
my verses came to be printed in the
paper"
Of course these verses Immediately
attracted the attention of the English
exIles in India, and scores of people
soon began to demand the publication
Of the rhymes in book form This was
a little more than Kipling had bar
gained for when he dashed off his lines
as the exigencies Of the paper or the
inspiration of the moment suggested.
Here again we may quote his own
words;
"a real book was out of the CUES
ton, but I knew that Rukn-Din and
the office plant were at my disposal at
a price, if | did not use the Office time :;
also I had handled in the previous year
a couple Of small books, Of which I was
part owner and had lost nothing. So
there was built a sort Of q book, a lean
0bl0ng docket wire stitched, to initiate
q D. O. government envelope, printed
on one side only, bound in brown paper
ana secured with red tape. It was ad-
dressed to ali heads Of departments and
all government officials, and among a
pile Of papers would have deceived a.
clerk Of 20 years service Of these
books we made some hundreds, and
as there was no necessity for advertis
ing, my public being to my hand, took
reply postcards, printed the news Of the
birth Of the book ca one side, the blank
order form On the other and posted them
up and down the empire from Alden to
Singapore and from Quetta to Colombo.
There was no trade discount, no reck-
oning twelves as thirteens no commits
sion and no credit Of any kind what
ever. The money came back in poor but
honest rupees and was transferred from
the publisher, the'left hand pocket, di-
rect to the author, the right hand
pocket. Every copy sold in a few weeks,
and the ratio Of expenses to profits, as
remember it, has since prevented my
njuring my health by sympathizing
with publishers who talk Of their risks
and advertisements "
The price received by Kipling for his
work he regards as nobody's business
1ut his own; nevertheless everybody
viii feel a keen interest in The British
Neekly's paragraph on this subject:
.'Perhaps no one receives such large |
prices for his work as Mr.. Rudyard Kip
ing. He has contracted to, write eight !
tories for one of the magazines next 1
ear, for each of which he will receive |
bout gao. This is simply for the Eng
ish serial rights of the stories. In ad-
ition Mr.. Kipling receives payment
rom America, India and the colonies. |
his will probably bring up the price of
he stories to about $500 each, making |
a, coo for the year. In addition to this,
fr. Kipling receives, the royalties for
ook publication in England and Amer
Ca This will not amount to less than |
bout ga, 600, so that for each story the |
uthor ultimately receives not less than
1, 900. Whether these high prices will
g kept up is very doubtful. If the
heap magazinism succeeds in injuring
he older periodicals they cannot be
maintained. 1t remains to be. seen
7hether the public cares much for
ames, and it must be remembered that
be papers with the largest circulation
4 this country do not depend upon
ames at all. remember some years ago
IL. Kipling contributed one of his best
ieces of work, better work by a great
cal than he has been doing lately, to a
lonthly review. The editor informed
le that not one extra copy of the pc
iodical was sold. >
Among the first Of the stories of Kip
ng to attract attention was 1.-The Man
Who Would Be King" and later came
-Om his nrOlific and versatile pen such