ANECDOTES OF KIPLING.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 96, 24 April 1926, Page 27

ANECDOTES OF KIPLING.

HIS INTEREST HC LIFE. CHEQUES AND AUTOGRAPHS. Although Rudyard Kipling, unlike many other great - literary figures, has not had his career dogged'by a swarm of anecdotes—-probably owing to his retired way of Tire—tnere> are plenty of good stories told-about him.

They show his unalterably fresh interest in life, his unexpectedness—the eternal schoolboy in him. ■'

There is, for instance, the case of the American autograph hunter, who had read somewhere -that. Kipling never wrote for less than' half-a-crown a word. He sent Kipling his autograph album, together with. five .shillings, and a request that Kipling --would write two words.

The album came back, minus the five shillings—and the two words written in it were not "Rudyard Kipling," but "Thank you." |

Another good autograph story relates to the time when Kipling carried out all his. business transactions _by means of cheques—paying even trifling amounts in this way.

! After a time, he found that his bank balance was much larger than the counterfoils of his cheque-book warranted. The mystery remained unsolved for months, until" one day Kipling saw, in a shop at which he dealt, one of his cheques framed and hanging on the wall. I

- The secret was out. Tradesmen had found that they cpuld get more for Kipling's cheques from autograph hunters than" they could by cashing them!

Kipling's schoolboy' editorship had an amusing echo some years ago, -when the youthful editor -of a school magazine wrote to him asking" for a contribution.

Kipling, who was receiving enormous prices for his work, was delighted at the audacity of the request, and promptly sent back an article on "Schoolboy Etiquette." He said : ' "Never shun a master out of bounds; pass him -with an abstracted eye, and at the same time pull out. a letter and study it earnestly. He may think it is a commission for someone else. ■

"When pursued by an angry farmer always take the nearest ploughed land. Men stick in furrows that 'boys can run over.

j "If it is necessary to take other ! people's apples do it on Sunday. * You then put them inside your topper, which is better than, trying to button them into a tight Eton:'* ~

.But the gem of Kipling's contribution was his note to the editor:

# "You will/ he .said,' 'find this advice Worth enormous sums of money; but 1 Should be obliged with.a cheque or postal order, for 6d, at your convenience/if the contribution shall be found to fill more than one page."

A story- that Kipling used to tell against himself concerns the time when he was staying in, the Hills at Simla, It is the custom, for the wives of Anglo-Indians to stay in the Hills during the summer, when the climate of the plains is too hot for them to endure. ; Kipling was introduced to one of these 'grass widows," and during a talk, he "ff-id to her, "I suppose you. can't help thinking of that poor husband of yours, grilling down there?" .

For answer, his companion gave him a very odd look-7

He found out later-that she was not a grass- widow but'a real-one"!'

In 1890, Kipling was unknown, and for existence in a London garret.

Of that time he once said

"It is not easy.for a-man of catholic tastes and healthy appetite to exist for twenty-four days on fifty shillings, nor is it cheering to begin experiments alone in all the loneliness of- London."

Those were the days when his room was littered . with rejected storiesstories that a few years later he was selling for more than tenpence a word.

Here is one more story of his days of fame:

. An American woman aealled on Kipling at his Sussex home, armed with a letter of introduction. *

"When, she caught- sight of. him, she simply stood still and murmured in a whisper of astonishment, "You!—you! —you Sir. Kipling!"

.Then, realising her impoliteness, she bsgan to explain: "I expected you to be so very different," she said.

"So I am, madam, so I am," answered Kipling, "only this is my day off!"