MR KIPLING AS A SCHOOLBOY.

New Zealand Times, Volume LXIX, Issue 3677, 1 March 1899, Page 2

MR KIPLING AS A SCHOOLBOY.

SOME reminiscences. In reading of Stalky,- iM’Turk, and • Beetle, of ■ Kiplingjis .Unique'- stories of Schoolboy.life (says-a-writer iii l the “St. James’s Gazette feel as if I was meeting old friends. I knew the mischievous trio well, under their true names, & ,D - , and Kipling himself. Kipling was “ Beetle,” although we call him “ Qigs.” D lias since become an officer in the Indian army. I first met Kipling in 1879, when he was about 13 years old. In that year I joined the United’Service College, “ Westward Ho, ’ in the iparish of Northam, North Devon, which had then been. in existence for several years,, I was at once assigned to the some house frith" Kipling, and after a; few terms Kipling was- changed to my dormitory, over which ' his particular friend, D , was eventually made subprefect. I sat at different times in the same classes with Kipling, and during the I4st year that I spent at the college, ISB3, rhy study was immediately below the one ofccupied by B —, D-—-, and Kipling. The United Service-College, which was intended chiefly for. the education of sons of Anglo-Indian civil-and military officers, was within sight of the open Atlantic. The immediate neighbourhood, too, was of a character.to delight the heart of any b6y—high frowning cliffs, ah whose base terrible jagged rocks ran far out .into the sea, as a warning to vessels of their sure fate if, by any unlucky chance, they missed the bar. These cliffs, however, were the abode of several species of rare sea birds, thus .offering a. splendid -field for hazardous adventure.

jDuring these seven or eight-years, as sOen by his schoolfellows, it could hardly be said that Kipling appeared to them as a prodigy. In the first place, he was extremely near-sighted,-which was, perhaps, tlie reason, for ;his, not taking any keen interest in either field sports or athletics —a proficiency that almost alone makes an English boy a hero in the sight of his schoolfellows.’ Oh the Other hand, Kipling was not by any means a “sweat.” He was not always to be seen poring over his books. He was ; seldom at-the top of his class, though to be sure never at i.he bottom. Ho did not, take all the prizes that came in-!his, way, and, he. was: not even in due course promoted to the office of although when. he left' the ■ cdllege in 1882 'he carried , with him tip well-earned first prize in English:literature. Only, hO .did seem, to he able t o solve a problem in 10 minutes over which . another, boy might have laboured for an hour. He w : as ; chiefly ,noticsable ;in his schoolfellows’-eyes for, a xeen wrii and ‘a . flow of language -that would only, be sup-; pressed by depriving him ot bis spectacles. About the niiddle'of his school life Kipfling entered into; a strong tie, of; frieudghSp'' with' two’, other ’ boys, hi. many re•pects of his owp temperament. ■ , The.trio sejemed to have aims of their own apart from the rest;o£ the college,, leading: a, kihd- of Bohemian- existence, and amusing themselves: by tilts: -at- the. povyers - that were, in which;encounters they frequently came - off • victorious,’', as - related in' the “ Stalky” stories; At’ the time’ when Kipling and his hwd chums .were first assigned a room, op.“ study”' fpr;,theiy own use, the aesthetic wave of some 17 years, ago was sweeping over English, society, l and .the three boys at once determined to “ live up ” to the ; .prevailing 7 fashion. They first of all painted a wonderful storkdado round their room, their ’-they.•purchased'a number of old plates, spoutless teapOts, Japanese tans, and hung them upon the walls,:v They called it very, “high art,” and for a day or two the 1 whole school came to see and wondered. At the. United Service College-the, cus-, tom prevailed, as in most English “ public schools,” Of placing .a great part-of the out-of-olass! discipline in the hands of the ■headboys, who are called prefects or monitors. In particular these 7 head hoys are responsible for the maintenance of order in the large’dormitories or sleepingrooms —pne prefect having charge of perhaps a dozen of fifteen' boys. Now, ity happened that the prefect of the dormi'tory in which Rudyafd Kipling slept was a treat admirer of the’ thousand and one stories of the “ Arabian Nights,” and conceived the idea that it would conduct; to his early repose if he compelled each of the boys in his . room to tell stories in turn. The idea -was at once put into practice, and the boys .told such stories of sport, love, and adventure as the..fer-. tility of their brains brought forth' but it'became quickly apparent that Kipling so far surpassed the others in that talent that the prefect insisted upon his telling stories out of his turn, of which the result wriuld be generally somewUat as follows : The light having been extinguished the voice of 7 the prefect would be heard: “Now then, Gigs, a yarn.” “Gigs” was an abbreviation for gig-lamps—a nickname conferred upon Kipling by his schoolfellows on account of -the extra large spectacles he'Hy’ofeV” Thefejwonldycome no response' f roiri ’ the bed 'in. the. pbrnffi - . “Gigs! You hear; a yarn.” .Still no answer! “ Look here, Gigs ; if you don t wake up I’ll- ; An expostulating voice from underneath the clothing: “Oh, what is it?” “A yarn—a yarn.” Protestingly: “But, I say, it’s not my turn.” Dictatorily: “ I don’t care if it isn’t. A yarn.” After which there would perhaps follow a pause of five minutes, when the voice of the prefect would be heard again: “All right, Gigs, you brute,” ■%lmmediately succeeded by the crash of a boot in the neighbourhood of Kipling’s bed; to be followed by the muffled sound of a piece of soap striking the clothes. “I say,” from Kipling, by this time wide, awake. “ What is it ? “ A yarn, a yarn.” “ I don’t know any. From the prefect: “On yes, you do; blit, anyway,l’ll give you a skeleton, went to sea, killed the, captain, turned pii-ate, got wrecked on an island, where hq fought a battle against a lot of savages, married the. chiefs daughter, died,, and lived happily ever’ afterwards.'' Now go off.” With a grunt of dissatisfaction Kipling would thereupon begin; shortly, however, making the prefect the villain of the story, and placing him in such absurd situations that tlie whole dormitory would be shouting with laughter, and the noise of creaking shoes" iipph* the stairs WoGIa come as a warning that the house-master was on liis way to see into the nocturnal disturbance.

' For two years Rudyard Kipling occupied the editorial chair of the “ United Service College Chronicle,”' during which period many bright verses and clever articles from his pen appeared within the pages of that little journal.; This - was entirely an honorary position, ‘ which, however, led to an engagement on i).o local paper under novel and. amusing circumstances. It would seem that one of the masters of the college, apart from his scholastic duties, held the office of chairman of the local board,_partaking of the nature of an unpaid rural supervisorslup, with- perhaps a little - patronage‘attached that somebody or other was anxious, to possess, and Tie had succeeded in gaining the. assistance of the editor of the local paper. The consequence was that, for a time, a number of crudely virulent and personal attacks were made upon the policy of the board, to all of which the master paid no attention whatever. Then the editor, probably having seen some of Kiplingfa work on ithe- college paper, entered iefo an agreement with him—• that for a small weekly consideration the latter should dp' his best, to goad the master into the indiscretion of a retort. It was not long, therefore, before denunciatory articles appeared in the paper,; treating of the board’s local drainage scheme in such piognant sarcastic terms that everybody began to talk about the matter, and the master was compelled to take up his pen in self-defence —a literary duel ’thus commenced between the all'unconscious’- m'astpr and his'/pupil that afforded those who were in.ihe secret a weekly fund of amusement. ' Eventually fie master resigned his chair; but whether he discovered the, personality

of his brilliant antagonist is not known. Had he done so there is a probability that young Kipling would have been painfully made aware of the fact, as the cane and the birch are still important factors in the English “ public ” school discipline. When a looking-glass first engages the serious attention ot a youth a somewhat ludicrous devotion to the wardrobe is often the result. In that respect Kipling and his two particular chums inclined towards the Bohemian, until they perceived in the opposite extreme a chance to enact a good part, which, for the time being, afforded their companions no little amusement! At the United Sendee College it happened that there was a certain classical master who had developed a profound aversion to anything approaching foppisliness, and to whom fancy waistcoats, sporting scarfpins, and silk handkerchiefs were an abomination second only to what was termed the “modem” side of the school. To such an extent did this master carry his discrimination in the matter of clothes, that those attending his classes or coming more particularly under his. jurisdiction who evinced the least tendency to “ style” were promptly -.made the butts of his most withering sarcasm, and were even occasionally peremptorily ordered not to appear again in -his presence wearing conspicuously offensive garments. NonKipling and his two chums in the course of promotion at lengtn lound themselves brought into daily contact 'with this master, and, having duly made*, note of his supreme aversion, they proceeded to stimulate it after their own'fashion: So it. shortly came to bo noticed" that the Kipling trio were putting on “stylo”—a fact that the master in question noticed also, but concerning which he contented himself with scornful remarks, until -a shilling bottle of overpowering perfume was the direct cause of an explosion of wrath, of the classroom windows being thrown open one cold winter morning; arid of something besides invective being burled at’the effendel's’ heads. ,; Ih spite of this emphatic- rebuff; Kipling arid his chums continued'their efforts te approach the extreme height ,of fashion, borrowing such likely garments as they did not themselves possess, and choosing Sunday as the day on which to make a brave display of their personal adornments, for the three sat close to the classical master in church. Again, for a i.mc, the master confined himself to • sneering, remarks ; but three pairs of light cloth-topped patent leather shoes brought the matter to a climax. .Oil the particular. Sunday when the shoes Vere’. fifst worn the classical master quickly spied them out, and having beckoned the three youths before him,: pointed;to the objectionable articles, arid desired to be informed as to their precise nature. TWhich- things, Sir?” asked Kipling, following withMiis gaze: the direction- indicated ‘ by .the classical master’s forefinger, and‘worideririgly surveying the floor as;i£ he. expected to behold some strange j.rise.ctricrawling .there.. “ Which things, Sir?” “Those things,” emphatically replied the master, pointing to Kipling’s feet. “My, feet, Sir?” asked Kipling, as if he were still in doubt as to thb master’s exact meaning. “No, trie vile things you’ve got on them,” angrily explained the former. “Go and take them off at once. At once ! Ifyou understand me?” Whereupon the Kipling trio divested themselves of their beautiful shoes, and] the classical master posted a house notice to the effect that patent leather shoes, among other enumerated “foppish” [articles of dress, were- henceforth strictly pro i hibited.'"| As “llj in despair. afc thp sweeping nature of this edict, the Kipling trio immediately reverted to the other extreme), and the next j Sunday appeared at the church call-over as If they had slept iri. their jbest clot ies overnight, with • only j their [shoes sc woriderfully polished that the'.c'assical master!.at first mistook them for 'the contraband patent leathers. On’ closer inspection, however, being satisfied that his surrriise was incorrect, and perhaps regarding the trio’s dishevelled appearanpe as, for once, a backward step in the right direction, he ■ merely recommended ’it vigorous application of the-brush, and unsuspectingly permitted them to go' ‘on their; way to chiirch. It was not long alter the service hail comriicnced before every one in the .vicinity of the Kipling trio became, conscious of a most xningent arid sickening odour of blacking, the ‘‘classical master, who sat next to Kipling; being the first, of course, to sniff the air-with suspicion. Brit, as the church warmed up the smell became so altogether unbearable, that the classical master, casting a look of supreme disgust upon the remarkably devout and apparently quite innocent youths at his side, hurriedly rose from his seat and sought refuge in another part of the church. Then, as the other boys near by crammed their handkerchiefs into their mouths to suppress explosions of laughter, a merry twinkle beamed out through Gig’s enormous spectacles. It was generally thought that-the three would meet with a • swift and terrible punishment; but;the classical master, for some reason, decided to hold his peace, and, what is more, permitted the foppishness edict to fall into abeyance.