KIPLING'S EARLY DAYS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20420, 23 November 1929, Page 2 (Supplement)

KIPLING'S EARLY DAYS.

JOURNALISM IN INDIA.

" INK-SLINGING IN LAHORE."

INTERESTING REMINISCENCES. Mr. Kipling's reference in a recent speech to llie " faraway (lavs " when lie was an obscure journalist, " ink-slinging in Lahore," recalls a most interesting and almost unknown chapter in tlie life-siorv of this world-famous author—a story whiuli the writer of an article in an 'English newspapei, Mr. 11. Criehton, is in rather an exceptional position to toll, lie writes: IL was a blazing stilling day in 1806. I was walking with a friend in the riiiiin street of Lahore when 1 saw coming toward me, a. shortish, squat figure attired in white cotton trousers and thin vest open al the neck, and crowned by an enormous pith helmet. The ligure was hustling along wiili head down, evidently oblivious of his surroundings. As ho passed he chanced to glance upwards, and L caught a glimpse of a sallow face and keen eyes looking through large spectacles, ns with a nod and a cheery " good morning " to my companion he passed us. "Who is that little man?" ' asked. " That's Kipling," my friend answered. " Far and away the. cleverest young follow in Lahore; and, unless 1 am much misla ken, I lie world will hear a good deal of him some day. I must introduce you to him at the club this evening." A few hours .later the promised introduction was made, and I was spending one of the most delightful hours of my life iu the company of the young man whose name was already becoming familiar in India as author of some clever verses, known to day the whole world over as " Departmental Ditties"; and it was not long before I realised that he was indeed an extraordinary young man. A Shyness that Vanished.

For a time (.Iso voting writer seemed shy ami indisposed to talk; but I lie shyiies.s sDiiii vanished, and lie was transfigured. The heavy face was alight with animation; the halting speech became fluent, almost torrential; Ins eyes began literally to daneo with huniour; and the; Hashes of wit and repartee succeeded each other as swiftly and brilliantly as gleams of summer lightning. Loss than four years earlier young Kipling had cotuu from England, where he had boon educated at Westward Ho, to do the work of assistant editor on the Civil and Military Gazette and Pioneer, and these years lie had spent in the dreaiy drudgery of newspaper work—on seissors-and-pasto paragraphs, dry political notes and summaries of Government reports — doing the work of three men in the stilling heat of iho .Punjab, and doing it with unfailing cheerfulness, never showing weariness and never downhearted. After his long ofliee-hours were i-ver, he found solace in writing his delightful sketches and poems, some of which found a corner in the Gazette: others, which the editor could not ("• lid room for, he sent to other papers in exchange for a few rupees. A few days after my first meeting with Kipling, ) had the. pleasure of spending an evening with his family, which only included four members, but each was little less remarkable than himself. The father, .John Lock wood Kipling, then curator of the Lahore .Museum, was one of the most genial and delightful men I have ever met. a man of great artistie and literary gifts, and author of more than one clever book. The mother was a charming lady, with a tongue almost as witty as her son's; while Miss Kipling, the daughter, was a beautiful girl, devoted to art and letters, and with the most amazing.memory I have ever known.

Splashes of Ink. The following morning, at Mr. Kipling's invitation, I called, at his office to see him at his work, an experience I shall never forget. As 1 entered I was greeted with shrieks of merriment and saw (he assistant and his chief convulsed with laughter, which even my appearance was powerless to check for some time. " You must really excuse me," said the editor after Mr. "Kipling had composed himself sufficiently to introduce me; " hut. •ie:.!ly 1 couldn't help it. This young fellow " (pointing to Kipling) " will be the death of me. lie. is so screamingly funny."

And indeed I could have laughed loudly myself, for tlie assistant, now restore:! to proper decorum, was the strangest- spectacle I have ever set eyes on. Picture liim for a moment in his white, trousers, his open vest exposing an expanse of chest—and literally covered from neck to fort with splashes of ink, which also thickly sprinkled the floor for yards around his seat. "He is a most dangerous man to approach," said the chief, seeing the cause of my amusement. " 1 scarcely over come near him without getting a dab of ink in my eye or on my clothes, so recklessly does ,ho flourish his pen. But, you see, one can forgive much in a genius." " Genius he hlowed i " was Kipling s comment as his chief retired to his .sanctum, and we settled down to our chat. Certainly no man ever so little suspected the genius that was already struggling for expression than Rudvard Kipling in those days.

Man o! Modest Genius, When I suggested to Kipling thai, he was wasteil in India, and should seek a wider sphere, his laugh rang out merrily. " Why should I? " he answered " What does England know or care for an obscure Indian journalist I am doing useful work here, getting a good drilling, and it will be. time enough to leave it when I know that i can do really good work. But that is not yet." Such was the "incorrigible modesty of (he man whose name within a few years was lo be a household word in four continents. But he was quite right. The training ho was getting in the Punjab was necessary to his future fame; and no man over worked harder to secure it. Already there was no man who knew so intimately every phase of Indian life. IS'ow he was hoh-nobl>ing with the Tommies in (he. barracks on (lie sun-scorched plain of Mian Mir, absorbing every detail of (heir lives, their (honghts. their language. until lie knew Ihem inside out better than any chaplain or sergeant. Now lie was living among the railway men, that strange jumble of whiles and blacks who dwelt in a world of their own. receiving their confidences, listening to the stories of their lives, mastering all the technicalities of their work, At Home With the Natives.

Among tho natives of every class lie was equally at home, exploring every secret. of their lives and customs, and winning their confidence as no other man ever did. Hindoo and Mussulman, Parsec and Pathan, lie knew them all better than thev knew themselves; and to-day many an eye will still brighten at the very mention of " lvipiing Sahib." No danger deterred him in his quest of knowledge, for he was as ready to spend a suffocating night, among the opium-enters in the lowest slum of Lahore as to_ look on I lie midnight orgies and butcheries of Mussulman and Hindoo.

Such was Kipling in his 'prentice years of hard toil in the sun-scorched, suffocating citv of Lahore, content to do to the best of his ability the work at his hand, and dreaming little and carina less that within a very few years " R. K." of the poets' corner of Indian newspapers would be hailed the world over as one of the greatest forces in English letters.