New-York tribune., 1901-09-21
MR.. KIPLING'S NOTEBOOK
IT'S RELATION TO HIS LATEST WORK OF
FICTION.

one great source OF Mr.. Kipnng's power az 3
writer of fiction has been his gift for the delinea-
tion OF fact. AS his Imagination roves over the
broad spectacIe Of Anglo-Indian life, II is most
deepiv touched by the elements IN 1t that make
for human passion and drama; yet he realizes
always how wonderfully that spectacle minis
fers TO the delight of the eye and II ne presents
a situation in his pages. he also presents PCT
rre Kim IS full OF pictures. In fact' they
outnumber the situations suggesting that on
this occasion the author has been less Interested
, relating the incidents Of his hero's career than
in eynptving the contents of his notebook INTO
the form of a fictitious narrative. There couio
be no better Introduction to the work than the
following fragment. taken at random;
They met troop of long haired. strong
scented Sansis with baskets Of lizards anc olner
unclean food on their backs. the lean ooes snin- @
iing at their heels. These people Kept thsir own
side of the road moving at a quick, 1uruNe JOE
trot and all other casteS gave them ample room
for the Sansi is deep pollution BEHIND tnein'
walking wide and stifny across the strong shad-
oHs the memory Of his leg irons sun or nun,
strode one newly released from the Ia.i' nis @ lu
stomach and shiny skin 10 prove that the gov
trnnent fed its prisoners better than most noh-
est men could feed themselves. Kim knew that
walk well and made shrill jest of IL as they
passed Then an Akali. wild eyed. WIG mar 60
sikh deyotee in the blue checked clothes OF ms
faith, With polished steel quoits glistehms ou
the cone of his tall blue turban, staiKeo past,
returning from a visit to one of the independent
sikh States where he had been singing the an,
Gent glories Of the Khalsa TO college tfaiiieu
princelings in top boots and white cord breeches
Kim was careful not TO irritate that man. 1or
the Akalis temper is short and his arm quick. quick
Here and there they met were oVer.aRei
by the gayly dressed crowds OF Whole Viilases
turning out to some local fair: the women, WIN
their babes on their hips, walking oehlnd the
men, the older boys prancing on STICKS or . sugar
cane dragging rude brass models or loconlotlNes
such as they sell for a halfpenny, or flashlng tne
sun into the eyes of their betters from cheap 10Y
-,7frrO
had bought; and IL there were any DOUBT IL heea-
"a only 10 watch the wives comparing brown
arm against brown arm, the newly purcnaseu
dull glass bracelets that came from the N NoTth-
west The merrymakers stepped slowly. Gaming
one TO the other and stopping TO maggie win
sweetmeat sellers or TO make a prayer beIore
one Of the wayside shrines-sometimes Hlnooo.
sometimes Mussulmsn-which the low caste OF
both breeds shared with beautiful lnparliahtS-
There is more more than we have space to
ouote hut further quotation is. indeed. unneces-
sary The book is ssven-eighths description. and
save that it is marked here and there by a road
side episode, q quarrelsome dialogue. ftful
snurt of action IL proceeds from beginning to
erd along the line illustrated above. The scene
changes From the sunny, brilliant, crowded,
busy highway We carried to the cool. narrow
! paths of the hillmen, and at last TO the Hima-
iayan peaks. But the panoramic motive holds
throughout; we hear of what Kim did. but we
hear more Of what he saw. The book is COM
pacted too, Of word pictures rather than Of the
very sights and sounds OF nature; are con-
scious of the intermediary. of the artist. where
we ought only to be conscious OF the landscape
and its figures There is nothing in this book
to rival I'm sheer truth and beauty such a con-
summate passage that in which the author
OF TN the Rukh" makes the forest live before
us with all it's changing lights. its dim murmurs,
its pungent fragrances But IL there is no in
spiration in this book. there is an abundance of
such observation get only from Mr.. Kip
ling. All the bizarre types that have passed be-
reath his devouring eye troop through these
pages. Kim himself. waif half Irish and half
native who is lured from the streets TO play an
obscure but useful part in the secret service of
the government, is not more vividly portrayed
than the old Lama with whom he links his fort
unes, or the horse copper who befriends him. the
Babu with whom he co-operates in his official
iabors. and the many native men and women
that stroll across his horizon. The touch is
swift and In a few lines the author puts
the members Of his motley crowd on paper, and
shows us India in little. But what of the story?
II scarcely exists AT the outset, kim is acci-
dentally drawn into situation from which it
seems inevitable that something In the nature
of a dramatic succession of events should spring
With obviousness TO recent misunderstanding
events in the actual world which should have
warned him Of danger Mr.. Kipling darkly gives
us TO understand that the British Government
enjoys the services OF officers with almost mi
racuIous powers of detection. These gentlemen
with the aid OF spies trained in q school that
would have filled Sherlock Holmes with envious
despair. preserve the equilibrium of his majes-
ty's Indian Empire. and, like Ouida's heroes
they never turn a hair. Kim interests of
them, and is inducted into a and perilous
life wherein ne expects TO play the great
game" In his playing of it the reader is tacitly
given to understand that he VIII find his ac-
count. But nothing really momentous hap
pens as Kim simply proceeds his travels
with the interruption Of schooling, and
does nothing but acquire for his employers the
notes which a couple of Russian spies have been
unlawfuIly taking, the reader rubs his eyes and
wonders what in the world could have happened
TO Mr.. Kipling.
That hitherto extraordinarily inventive writer
gives us now hardly any invention at all That
once generous provider of thrilling incident de-
nies us a single thrill. That creative genius,
who wrote THE Man Who Was" Without
Benefit Of Clergy" ''The Incarnation of Krshma
Mulyaney" and THE Jungle Book" produces a
o. work of over four hundred pages, which neither
whole nor in parts is to be seriously con-
sidered in the same breath with those master
pieces. He who has exerted powers of positive
enchantment is actually tedious, for there
are stretches Of kim" that can be characterized
fairly by no other epithet. The disappointment
is crushing. Something Of the old Kipling re-
mains, as have shown. in this volume; some
thing Of the brilliant literary impressionist,
something Of the penetrating interpreter Of Ind
ian life something Of the intutively accurate
portrait painter. But of the consuramate story
teller there is sign, not even the sign of hav-
ing aseood story TO tell.
4 hook that they cornpare to Mr 9