The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-02-28

this work he composed innumerable verses
and stories. In his remarkable story of
The Man Who Would BE King" he has
given us a sketch OF himself sitting at his
desk one Saturday night, waiting to put the
paper TO press. "A king or courtiev 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 keeping us
back. 1t would not come off. . . . I
drowsed off, and wondered whether the tele-
graph was a blessing and whether this dy-
ing man was aware Of the inconvenience
and delay he was causing. " : The
clock hands orept up to 8 o'clock, and the
machines spun their fly wheels two or
three times, to see that all was in order be-
fore I said the word that would set them
off. 1 could have shrieked aloud. Then the
roar and rattle of the wheels shivered the
quiet into little bits
1t was in this trying environment that
Kipling nevertheless composed some Of his
best things. In a couple of pages on MY
First Book" which he contributed to Nc
Oh0HN - AN0A - ' SNAAD h5Ct A1 ACAA SOAAAC
thing about the way in which his verses
were written, saying:
Bad as they were, I burned twice as
many as were published, and of the surviv-
ors 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 per-
petual strife between the manager extend
ing his advertisements 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, sir; just coming
proper length to-day. You giving more soon.
One-third column just proper. Always can
take on third page Mahmoud, who set
ring to a new lyric as Eek aur chiz-one
more ~thing-which l never liked. The job
side. too, were .unsympathetic, because l
used 10 raid in their type for private proofs
with Old English and Gothic headlines.
Even a f1lndoo does not like TO find the
serlfs of his rs cut away to make long SIS.
And in this matter, week by week, my
verses came to be printed in the paper"
of course, these verses immediately at
tracted 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 bargained 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 question, but
[ knew that Rukn-Din and the office plant
@ a. my 04SPOGQA ct d pAANNf II Il NNQ
not use the office time. Also, l had handled
in the previous year a couple of small books,
of which l was part owner, and had lost
nothing. So there was built a sort of a
book, a lean, oblong docket, unrestricted,
to initiate a D.. .. 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 government officials, and among q pile
of papers would have deceived a clerk Of
twenty years service. Of these books we
made some hundreds. and as there was no
necessity for advertising, my public being
to my hand, | took reply postcards, 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,
and reckoning twelves as thirteens, no COM
mission and no credit Of any kind whatever.
The money came back IN poor but honest ru-
pees 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 l remember 1t, has since prevent
ed my injuring my health by sympathiZing
with publishers who talk OF their risks and
advertisements"
once Kipling leaped into fame. he was,
of course, free to leave behind him utterly
his old journalistic grind, but it is said that
he parted with the rag in India with
deep regret. In the London Academy we
read that when America and England were
sketch in his best vein to the old paper at
the old rate of pay. Early on the first
morning of his flying return visit TO Lahore
his City of Two Creeds' saw him, for sheer
love of the old work, sitting in the familiar
Office chair, correcting the same old proofs
on the same old yellow paper, with Naim
| Rukn-ud-din. the Mohametan foreman prin-
ter, flying around with his green turban
awry, informing all hands that kuppuleen
Sahib' had returned. And there his old ed1-
tor found him when he came TO the office
The editor aforesaid was e. Kay Robinson,
who has written some delightful reminis-
cenceS of the famous author. Wnen tney
first became acquainted the editor was dis
appointed in his assistant, but they soon be-
came fast friends, as we have seen. Mr..
Robinson gives some amusing notes on the
personality of his colleague. He says;
There was one popularity of Kipling's
work which / really must mention; namely,
the amount Of ink he used to throw about.
In the heat of summer white cotton trous-
erS and a thin vest constituted his office at
tire, and My the days end he was spotted
all over like a Dalmation dog. He had a
habit Of dipping his pen frequently and deep
into the inkpot, and, as ali his movements
were abrupt, almost jerky, the ink used to
fly. When he darted into my room, as he
used to do, about one thing or another in
connection with the contents OF the paper q
dozen times in the morning, l had to shout
to him to stand off, otherwise, as l knew
make. and the flourish with which he placed
the proof in his hand before me, would
send the penful of ink-he always had a
full pen in his ~hand-hying all over me.
Driving or sometimes walking home to
breakfast in his light attire, plentifully be-
sprinkled with ink, his specialized face peep
ing out ~under an enormous, mushroom
shaped pith hat, kipling was a quaint-look-
ing object. = . = When | knew kipling in
India ne was bubbling over with poetry,
which his hard days office work gave him no
time to write. The efforts of the native po-
lice band in the public gardens at Lahore to
discourse English music to a sparse gather
ing Of native nurses and infants would
awaken. as we passed, some rhythm with
accompanying words in his mind, and ne
would be obviously i'll at ease because he
could not get within reach OF pen and INK.
Whether Kipling would ever have been
much of a musician j cannot say, but 1
know that all the poems he wrote during
the years we worked together-many of the
Departmental DittieS,' for nstance-were
written not only to music, but as music. /
have before me now one of Kipling's poems
of the Departmental Ditty' order which
was never published. One of midas little
wars was in progress, and our special cor
respondent had telegraphed that on account
Of our newspapers comments on the COM
position of the generals staff he had been
boycotted by the generals orders. Here
said I, handing the telegram to ktpling, is
a subject for a nice little set of verses
'Kipling read the telegram, thought a
moment, then said: I have it. How would
this do-Rum tiddy um ii tum ii tum. Ira
la la ii tum ii tum?' Cor words to that effect
hummed in notes that suggested a solo on
the bugle.) 1 was quite accustomed TO hav-
ing verses in their inceptional stage sub
mitted in this shape for editorial approval.
so l said that the poem sounded excellent
and returned to my work. IN twenty min
utes Kipling came to me with the verses,