MR RUDYARD KIPLING

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18991, 12 October 1923, Page 7

MR RUDYARD KIPLING

LORD SECTOR OF ST. ANDREW’S. A HUMOROUS SPEECH. ADVICE TO UNDERGRADUATES. free* Association—By Telegraph—Copyright LONDON, October 10. (Received. Oct. 11, at 5.5 p.m.) Mr Rudyard Kipling was installed as Lord Rector of St. Andrew’s University in succession to Sir James Barrie. Among those who received honorary degrees was Mr Baldwin, who is Mr Kipling's cousin. Tlie undergraduates enlivened the proceedings by stripping boots and socks from each .other daring the installation and throwing them into the air, and by indulging in other escapades. Mr Kipling, in a witty address based on Burns’s lines on the glorious privilege of being independent, said that independence meant “let every herring hang by its own head,” and signified the blessed state of hanging on to as few persons and things as possible. The desire tor independence was one of the earliest human instincts. Not until a man abandoned his family tree and associated himself with others on the Hat for predatory or homicidal purposes did he sacrifice nis personal independence of action. “Science tells us,” he continued, “that man began life as a monkey-like creature among the tree-tops. It is interesting to recall when speech was born. The first use man made of his new power of expression was to tell a frigid and calculated lie. Conceive his pride when the first liar found that by mere word of mouth he could send his simpler companions shinning up the trees in search of fruit he knew was not there. The success of his early lies showed man that he was a miracle-worker. Can you blame him for thinking he is a god? He is only kept within bounds by the discovery that this art of lying is not confined to himself. Apparently the two first liars were of the opposite sex. They married and had a numerous progeny.” Mr Kipling concluded by urging the undergraduates at all costs to remember that the one thing that stands outside belittlement through all changes is the guidance that drives a man to own himself. and that no profit a man makes oy con essions to public opinion can justify his disregard of that principle. “Yourself is the only person you cannot possibly get away from in this life, and maybe in another. It is worth a little pains and money to be good to oneself.”—A. and N.Z. "Cable.