El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1899-05-17
STORIES ABOUT KlPLING
Some Biographical Odds and
Ends of Interest.
HIS EDITORIAL CHARACTERISTICS.

Amusing Reminiscehces of tIfe Fn-
nous Author. Written by His Col
LEAGUE. Editor e. Kay Robinson.
KipIing's Life Mt His BrnttIeboro
Home.
Th., private life of Rudyard Kipling
has always been screened from the pub
lie gaze. but few biographical odds
and ends have at one time or another
seen the light. For example. we know
something of what his duties were on
The Civil and Military Gazette. He had
to prepare for the press all the tele-
grams of the day: he had to provide
extracts and paragraphs; he made arti-
cles out of official reports; he wrote
brief editorial notes; he kept an eye on
sports and looked after local news gen
orally finally he read all proofs except
those of editorials. and on top of all
this work he composed innumerable
verses and stories In his remarkable
story of 1.-The Man Who Would Be
King he has given us sketch of him
self sitting at his desk one Saturday
"A king or courtier was dying at the
other end of the world, he says, land
the paper was to be held until the last
possible moment. 1t was a pitchy.
black. hot night and raining-now
and again a spot of almost boiling
water would fall on the dust. .
The thing. whatever it was, was keep
ing us back 1t would not come off.
IF rod
whether the telegram was a blessing
and whether this dying man was aware
of the inconvenience and delay he was
causing = y The clock hands crept
up to O'Clock. and the machines spun
their fywheels two or three times to see
that all was in order before l said the
word that would set them off. I could
have shrieked aloud. Then the roar and
rattle of the wheels shivered the quiet
into little bits.
It was in this trying environment that
Kipling nevertheless composed some of
his best things. In couple of 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 We're, burned twice as
many as were published. and of the sur
vivors 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 advertisements
and my chief fighting for his reading
matter. They were born to be sacrificed.
Rukn-Din, the foreman of our side, ap-
proved of them immensely, for he was
a Moslem of culture. He would say:
Your poetry very good, sir; just COM
ing proper length today. You giving
more soon. Onethird column just prop
er. Always can take on third page.
Mahmoud, who set them up, had an un-
pleasant way of referring to a new lyric
as elk aur chiz-one more thing-which
never liked The job side, too, were
unsympathetic, because l used to raid
into their type for private proofs with
old English and Gothic headlines. Even
a 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 curse these verses immediat ely at
tracted the attention of the English ex-
lies 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 bargained for
when he dashed off his lines as the ext
gencies of the paper or the inspiration of
the moment suggested. Here again we
may quote his own words:
"A real book was OFT of the question. |
but knew that Rukn-Din and the Office |
plant were at my disposal at price if |
1 did not use.t the office time; also 1 had |
handled in the previous year couple |
of small books. of which 1 was part |
owner. and had lost nothing. So there |
was built a sort of book, lean, oblong |
docket. wire stitched to initiate D. |
o. government envelope. printed on one |
side only. bound in brown paper and |
secured with red tape 1t was addressed |
to all heads of departments and all gov
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 advertising. my public
being to my hand, L took reply post
cards printed the news of the birth of
the book on 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 reckon
ing twelves as thirteens. no commission
and no credit Of any kind whatever.
The money came back in poor but hon
est rupees and was transferred from the
publisher, the left hand pocket. direct
TO the author. the right hand pocket.
Every copy sold in a few weeks, and
the ratio of expenses to profits. as re-
member it, has since prevented my in
Turing my health by sympathizing with
publishers who talk of their risks and
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