Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-09-01
THE LIBRARY TABLE
Bv the Bookiorer

The versatility of Kipling in subject
matter is apparent as soon as one
begins to attempt classification OF his
short stories. He has not one type,
but many types. His reputation was
first established by his stories of Anglo
Indian life Plain Tales From the
Hills" appeared in 1887, before the life
of the British military and civilian
officials in India was as familiar sub
iect of literature as it is today. In tire
trail blazed by Kipling. e. NJ. Forster,
Maud Diver and many other fiction
writer's have followed In this volume
are the we'll known stories of "Yokcd
With an Unbelievcr," Beyond the
Pale" 'Tods Amendment" The Gate
Of the Hundred Sorrows and The
Story of Muhammad Din" Here also
we're born the immortal trio Pvts Null
vaney. Ortheris and Learoyd. whose
adventures we're continued in Soldiers
Three" published in 1888. The God
From the Machine pvt. Learoyd's
Story" and "Only Subaltern" occur
In this volume.
In The jungle Book fi894) and
THE Second jungle Book" 1880 Kip
ling made new departure what might
be called taking stories What
ever the ethics OF these books from the
standpoint of biologists. the opinion Of
the public, both Juvenile and adult,
about them was unanimous. The whole
family was enthralled by them. Grand
father read them aloud to the children
and father and mother watched their
chances to seize the book when 1t was
laid down for moment. The adven-
lures OF Mowgli, the little brown Jungle
boy adopted by the Wolf family, with
his friends, Shere Khan. the tiger
Akela, the great gray wolf. leader of
The pack; Baloo, the brown bear. Bag
heera. the black panther; HATH. the
Wild elephant; the Bandar-log, or
monkey people Kaa, the great py non.
and Rama. the bull buffalo. have taken
their place with the quite different
adventures of the animals of the
medieval beast epic Of "Reynard the
Fox The animal tales in Just So
Stories" 1902. for little children. are
modern fables How the Whale Got
His Throat How the Camel Got His
Hump How the Rhinoceros Got His
Skin, How the Leopard Got His
Spots" The Cat That Walked by Him
self" The Butterfly That Stamped"
end the others are guaranteed to make
any normal child squeal with delight.
X
In The Days Work" ll308l. two
othor different story types appeared.
The Bridge Builders, " THE Ship That
Found Herself" The Devil and the
Deep Sea-" ".0O7" and Bread Upon the
Waters evidence Kiplngs interest ~
machinery. whether found in ships or
locomotives. This interest had already
appeared earlier in "McAndrew's
Hymn and other poems. In the volume,
The Seven Seas" 1896. The two
stories. The Ship That Found Herself"
and .007" are probably the best of this
machinery type The first is the story
OF the Dimoua, cargo steamer of
2,500 tons, on her first voyage. durinc
which she discovers her own person
atty. For when a ship finds herself
oil the talking Of the separate pieces
ceases and mclts into one voice. which
is the soul OF ship" The second is the
story OF the first run of the big new
locomotive, No. 007. "an 8-whecle,i
American locomotive. worth $4,000 on
the companys books" and how he be-
came "a fun and accepted brother of
the Amalgamate3 Brotherhood OF Loco
motives and as such entitled to all
shop. switch, track. tank and round
house privileges" In the same volume,
The Days Work. is one OF KiplingS
two ps"chIc tales which rank among
the few best of their kind The Brush
wood Boy" tells of the dreams of the
boy George. who nightly roams from a
pile Of brushwood on a beach by q
road over the downs. into valleys of
wonder and unreaSon" unless he is
stopped By Policeman Day and turned
back from the City OF Sleep, and how.
miraculously he later finds tho girl who
has been part of his dreams and dis
covers that she has from childhood had
the same dreams. The other psychic
tale They" in the volume. Traffic
and Discoveries, Is of blind woman
who creates for herself dream world
In which she lives and in which spirit
children take the place of the real chill
dren she has never had,
Twenty years after his srst literary
successes. Klplinc created new type
OF story in Puck Of Pook's HUI" tl906l
stories for children combining old Eng
lish history and legend with fairy lore
All are fantasies. "Weland's Sword" Of
the Druid period. Young Men at the
Manor and Old Men al Pevensey" of
the Norman conquest "On the Great
Wall of warfare between the Picts AMI
Scots. The Winged Hats" of the Ro-
mans in Britain. and The Treasure
end the Law OF Runnymede and
Magma Charta
= r "
THE Skull OF Swift" is a grussome
title Tor biography of the Dean but 1t
is the one Shane Leslie has chosen. In
the first two chapters Mr.. Leslie COM
ments on previous biographies OF Swift
and points out their deficiencies much
as Carlyle criticizcs his predecessors in
his Essay on Burns" Then follows
the life story, from Swifts secretaryship
With Sir William Temple until the last
years Oh clouded mind, ending in death
1t was life in which good and Ill for
tune were mingled In not very uneven
proportions and in which the disap-
pointmentS were at least partly caused
by the arrogant and morose nature of
the man. He worshfped independence
OF thought and action. but throughout
his life was obliged to limit both be-
cause of the necessity of pleasing
patrons. He longed for bishopric but
failed to receive II because hn offended
Queen Anne by the violence OF hts
defense OF the Church of England In
the Tale OF Tub" Though he hated
living In Ireland, he accepted the office
when he was made Dean of st
Patricks, Dublin. because 1t WAS the
best he could expect from tho QuNen
His striking literary success and leader
ship had their beginning In the favor of
Sir William Temple which he managed
to retain through long period, in spite
of some disagreements, He loved and
was loved by three women and Ill
treated them all, "Varina" was an early
love who first refused him and whom
he later Scorned "Vanessa" is sup
posed to have died heartbroken because
OF his brutality Whether or not he was
ever married to Stella" Esther John
som. Sir William Temples ward and
Swifts pupil Is still q mystery. Al any
rate she seems to have been the one
person whom he ever really loved for
any length OF time. rs the journal to