The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1899-08-27
When KipIlng Was a Reporter.

Il
| for 50 many years done 50 much to adoRn
When, too. after fame vas his and AM
| erica and England competed for bis copy.
he sent many sketch IN his best vein
| to the old paper at the old low rate of
| pay. The early hours Of ths first NOM
| ing of his flying return visit to Lahore,
| his City OF Two Creeds, saw him, for
sheer love OF the old work, sitting m the
| familiar office chair correcting the same
old proofs on the same old yellow paper.
with Milan Rukhn-ud-din. the Mohain-
medan foreman printer, flying round the
press with green turban awry. informing
all hands that 'Kippuleen Sani5' had re-
turned. And there his old editor found
him when he came 10 the oniee. But
| those times are not now.
Lahore, however, stands where Il did.
Two and half days Journey up country
/ from Bombay you win find the many
| mosqued capital Of the armed l'unjab, and
| there, on the right-hand side Of the broad
Mall. empowered in siris and peepul
trees, behind lawn studded with pains
and BougaInYillas, whose planting Kip:
ping helped TO superintend. large build
ing bears across the front the legend:
THE Civil and Military Gazette Press"
There Kipling worked for years, and be
fore that, when the Civil and Military Ga
zette was still losing venture, he had
worked for 1t also in humber premises.
near the native city, where the EurAsians
live In dark verandaed bungalows, and
where the native pleader bargains with his
clients.
As a boy from school. Kipling was
brought out to India. and began At once
to earn his modest monthly wage ut the
bottom of the ladder of Anglo-Indian
io1ru lem Nyortr IN India a.
carried on by three classes Of men. The
natives-Hindu, Mohammedan and Sikh
labor side by side in setting up the type
and working the machines. Eurasians
and domiciled British subjects supply the
stan Of readers" while the compare
lively expensive, because imported Ang.o-
Indians, nil the editorial stan. And who
are the shorthand reporters and SUBJ
editors? In Kipling's day the up-country
newspaper had none. The editorial stan,
comprising two men, did the entire work
Of getting out the daily paper.
AS journalist he was the man whom
all editors seek and few find. He was a
staff in himself. He distrusted his own
powers, 1t is true, so much that to de-
mand a leading article from him filled
him with anguish. He said it was
"above him." and he scarcely wrote five
in as many years. But for every other
kind of work, from writing editorial
notes" to putting side heads 10 para.
graphs. or reporting a police court case,
he was as willing as he was gifted. To
every grade OF work he brought bril-
lance of happy thought which placed his
topic in its brightest light. a dead sure
aim with words which made his headlines
fit his matter with that complete aptness
~ ha
mand of abrupt terms Of expression which
supplied humorous side headings to small
paragraphs In such taking ways that the
reader could not help but read; but. more
than all, he exhibited a conscientious in
dustry and an inexhaustible pluck In his
work which made his friends many times
fear that the quick wheels of his mind
would one day wfirr and stop. He went
near to it once or twice.
There are nights in the Punjab when
the rains are delayed and the thsrmome-
ter ranges about 100 degrees day and
night; when the days waxing Thoughts
OF a busy brain twist themselves into
torturing nightmare In those sitting
hours that precede the dawn. and the
dawn brings no relief. Such nights there
were in 1857, and the English speaking
world then went near to losing KIpllng
before 1t had heard OF him.
But he never slackened in his work. OF
which on "high-collar" days there was
more than enough. A "high-collar" day.
1t may be explained, was one on which
no kilograms from England were received
before going to press, and editorial
Notes of the Day" had to be written to
fill the column which the kilograms should
have occupied. thus bringing the editorial
material up close to the head. like a high
collar. of the first column. At other times
a multiplicity of kilograms crowded into
so many Notes OF the Day" that several
OF these. dealing with cognate subjects,
had to be strung together into what Kip
ling called patent seamless" leaders.
Outside contributors to papers in India
nearly all belong 10 the civil or military
services. and their contributions were Of
ten bald in style, though welcome for the
information they contained. Adding the
few lines of comment to qualify their con-
tributions TO be used as notes Kipling
described as hitting on the whiplasn."
and his were always neatly tied and keen
in application.
The heaviest and most distasteful bur-
den that Kipling bore in those journals
tic days was the Blue Book. At certain
seasons Of the year the government OF
This fux of "Blue Books has beer not
inaptly compared to a swarm OF white
ants issuing from an old beam Il wood
journalists to catch these
reports as they come, dissect, boil down. I
and serve up with such literary sarn!sh-
ing as may tempt the appetite OF the ca
PRECIOUS reader.
Besides occasional reporting outside the |
office. KIpling's daily work on the Civil |
and Military Gazette was briefly ~ To
prepare for press all the kilograms OF the !
day; g to provide all the extracts and |
g to make headed articles |
out OF official reports. etc; az TO write |
such editorial notes as he might have |
time for: co. TO look generally after all /
sports. outstation. and local intelligence; |
90 to read ali proofs except the editorial !
matter. He may have had to do more. |
but. roughly speaking. for a few hundred |
Of rupees a month. he did the work Of at \
least two men. and IN his odd moments /
Of leisure wrote his verses and sketches. |
some Of which have been repubnshed in 1
Department Ditties.'' Soldier Three"
and Plain Tales from the His" These /
were scarcely journalism. but they were
the only portion Of his work which ever /
needed editing" His youthful fancy nov
and then kicked too freely over the traces /
OF convention. and more than one sketch /
found Its home in the waste paper basket. /
As a rule. however. they were much too 1
good for q hacks pay on a paper a. the
northwest Of India. and even Ki2I.ng's
almost a fault. could rot blind
him 10 the fact that he was selling his
brain work far below its market valve.
wasting its razor edge on blocks o. liter
airy worthless and perishsbls matter: but
he believed that he owed a debt OF graft