Looking back it is dificult to! understand the rapidity with which] Rudyard Kipling acquired his reputa-ton in England. He certainly. was famous even at a time when in India his quality had hardly. been appre-clated. He acquired his carly putation by" satirizing the official routine, yet he did more than anyone before or since {0 expound the merits of service achievements In Thea, and those services owe him a debi of gratitude accordingly. "Alive as he was to the defects. of the system and mercilessly Jexposed it, he never grasped. the reasons forthe development which in the course of time, by constitutional processes, changed' the face of the Tndian scene, And he was quite ott of thumb methods of his public school, Kipling was, not unpopular and, when he was able to take Hill leave, hie revelled in the raritied atmosphere of Simla, There is record the fact that he carried com Plaisance to the point of appearinis In the Amateur Dramatic Clubs production of "A Serap of Paper" in 1888, the role allotted to him being, Brisemouche. ils stage experiences Inspired him to some verses which have not appeared in his published works, and he also wrote a prologue for a burlesque of "Luein From the "Civil & Military Gazette" Kipling was promoted to he Assistant Editor of the senior paper. awned by the same company—"The Ploneer,"—and this took him Allahabad, There he continued to turn ovt his short stories, verses. and sketches with Ithe additional advantage of having near him the headquarters of Wheeler & Ca, the bookstall agents who were the first pubshera of his. works.
His reputation in the offices of the two papers was food. An old Indian Compositor, not so long ago, when cross-examined about Kipling, observed "Kipling Sahib was ood sahib, his copy was so clean,'
Jor sympathy and out of touch with the political side of Indian. rife, His adherence to the recalcitrant element which Inst year tried to prevent the of India embarrassing. to many of his associates—he was £0 resolutely living in the "80's of his active service in India, But that lack perception seems {o have always. degued Kipling's otherwise - acute sympathy with the "bottom dog." The oct who could bitterly expose the Mis Caller In Trouble In the course of his duties on the "Piones-" he "covered" a meeting the local Congress Party, then in Infoney. Mis. subsequent report fained personal remarks derogatory the appearance of an. Anglo-Indiat. captain who was somehow present. 'The aggrieved captain visited the "Pioneer" office with a horsewhip and, obtaining ready access to the Editor's room, was proceeding to] express his displeasure on the distinguished body of Mr. George Chesney. Fortunately for' Mr. Chesney, hod a stalwart deputy "in the person of Mr. (aflervards Sir) Maitland Park, of the "Cape Times." Maitland Park quickly entered and threw the captain through the chile fon to the verandah, The sequel took Place in the courts, with an_ action against the "Pioneer" for libel ani a counter-action against the captain for assault, Sir George Allen, then the chief proprietor of the "Pioneer," thought it world be advisable for Mr, Kipling to take a holiday and suggested thet a journey to England via "America would be a pleasant Change: Ripiing <seadiy serves and the tour took him to China and Japan, giving him a valuable experlfence which found due expression it Subsequent writings. Unfortunately a controversy arose between him and hhis newspaper over the publication of hhls works. Kipling was in the vight and the treatment which he received caused a breach which was never really heated until in 1992 the Goth impervious to the mildest progressive views. The very snobbery which he castigated in Lahore and, afterwards, Rngland, caught him' relentlessly in its tolls the moment he started to [dive below the political surface, 'The Meauties of "Kim'
Again, although no man has wri with £0 much insight and appre! on of the finer side of Indian character, Kipling's writings have' never Jappeated to Indians and they not wnnaturally regard him as a hostile critic. Even the beauties of "Kim™ have not absolved him in their eyes. This may partly be attributed to the circumstance that he was the vielim of one of the mast amazing and yet ineradicable misquotations ever perpetrated, The lines "East is East, and West Is' West. and never the twain shall meet" have been divorced from their context and made to convey: Jexactly the opposite of the poet's intentions as will be recognized by the fall quotation:
Oh, ast ts Hast, and West ts West.
and never the iwaln shall meet DiI Earth and Sky stand presently jed's great Judgment. seat But there ft neither East por West.
Border nor Breed nor Birt When feo strong men stand face to face, though they come from the ends of the earth.
The misquoters have the excuse that they interpreted the poet's political outlook rather than the actual signi-france of his artistic expression. sides being a great artist, a brilliant poet, Kipling was probably one of the
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.