Show KIPLING IN SCHOOL I 4 IlIYouthHe Was By No Means a Prodigy A t OUJ TpLL GOOD STOR ES BUT HE NEVER WAS A ScHOOL BOY HERO His Sight Was ioo Defective For 1IiI to Exeel In GamesWon Only OuPre That For Excel fence In Esiglish LiteratureIn dined to 13e Joker + Cop rlght d bySo S McClure Co 189B in reading or StallY McTurlc and Beetle of KlpIings unique stories of schoolboy life I feel as if I was meeting meet-ing old friends I knew the mischievous mischiev-ous trio yell under their true names Beresford Dunstervllle and Kipling hImself Kipling was Beetle although al-though we called him Gigs Dunster yule has sInce become an officer In the Indian army I first met Kipling in 1879 when he was 14 years old In that year I I joined the United Service college col-lege Westward Ho In the parish of Northam North Devon which had I been in existen e for several years I I was at once assigned to the same house with Kipling under a master named Pugh and after a few terms Kipling was changed to my dormitory over I which his Jarticular friend Dunster yule was evqntiially made subprefect I sat at different times In the same I classes with Kipling and during the last ear that I spent at the college 18SJ my study was immediately below the one occu > led by Beresford Dun I stervllle and Kipling I The masters referred to in the stories arc Cormell PrIce the head master W C Crofts the classical master and M H Pugh the house master who undoubtedly suggested the Prout of whom KI ling speaks The United Service college which was Intended chiefly I for the dUI dU-I of eons of nglIndian civil and mllltary officers was within sight of I the O1en Atlantic rile immediate nelirhborhood was of a character to I delight the heart of any boyhiS frowning cliffs at whose base terrible I jagged rocks ran far out Into the sea as a warning to vessels of their sure fl1te 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 NciP A YOUTHFUL PRODIGY During thbse four or five years as seen bv his school fellows it could hardly be saId that Kipling aooeared to them as a prodigy In the first place he was always extremely nearsighted which was perhaps the reason for his not tithing tiny very keen interest in either field sports or athleticsa proficiency profi-ciency that alone almost makes an English boy a hero in the sight of hIs school fellows On the other hand Kipling Kip-ling was not by any mEans a sweat He was not always to be seen oaring ovcr his bObKs He was seldom at the tol > of his class though to be sure he was never at the bottom He did not take all the prizes that came In his way and he was not ven in due course promoted to the office of subprefect although when he left the cOllege In 1882 he carried with him the well earned first prize in English literature Only he d1cl seem to be able to solve a problem in ten minutesover which another an-other boy mIght have labored for an hour He was chiefly noticeable In his schoolfellows eyes for a keen wit and a flow of language that could only be suppressed by depriving him of his spectacles STALKY BEETLE AND l1TURK About the middle of hIs school lire KiJling entered into a strong tie of friendship with two other boys In many respects of his own temperament The trio seemed to have aims of theIr own apart from the rest of the college leading a kind of Bohemian existence and amusing themselves by tilts at the powers that wpre In which encounters they frequently came off victorIous as related In the Stalky stories At the tIrnewbert KIpling and his twO chums were first assigned to a room or tudY fop their own use the aesthetic wave of some seventeen years ago rs sweeping over English society and the three boys at once determined to live up to the prevailinf fashion They first or all painted a wonderful stork dado round their rom then they purchaSed a number of old plates spoutless teapots and Japanese fans and hutig them Uibn the walls They called it very high art and for a day the whole school came to see and wondered At the pnited ServIce cOllege the custom cus-tom prevailed as In most English public pub-lic sqhoolp of placIng a great part 01 the outofclass discipline In the hands of the headbdya who are called pre feds oi monltdin In particular these head bo s are responsible for the maintenance main-tenance of order in the large dormitories I dormitor-ies oreFeeping roomsone prefect hay InS charge of perhaps a dozen or fifteen fif-teen boys TELLING STORIES AT NIGHT Now it happens that the prefect of the dormitory in which Rudyard Kipling Kip-ling slept was a great admirer of the thousand and also storIes of the Aia blan Nights and conceived the idea that it would conduce to hIs earlyre pose if he compelled each or the boys in his room to ten stories in turn The idea was at Once put Into ractIce and the boys tolil such storIes of sport love and adenture as the fertility or their brains brought forth but it became I quickly apparent thatKipling so far sUrpassed the others In that talent that the prefect insisted upon his telling stories out of his turn the result of which practlcewould be generally mehat as follows c The light having been extinguished the voice of the prefect would be heard I Now then Gigs a yarn GIgs was an abbreviation for gig lampsa nickname conferred upon Kipling by his school 1Elows on account ac-count of the extraordinarih large spectacles spec-tacles hewore There Would come no response from the Ifej in the corner GIgs You heal A yarn Still no answer v Look here Gigs ifyou dont wake I uP 111 An expostulating voice frqp underneath under-neath the clothingQh what is it A yarn a yarn Protestingly But I say its not my turn i Dictatorlallv Idont care ifit isnt I a yarn After which there Would per I note of his supreme aversion they proceeded pro-ceeded to stimulate It after theIr own fashion So it shortly came to be noticed no-tIced that the Kipling trio were putting on stylea fact that the master In question also noticed but concerning which he contEnted himselfwIth scornful scorn-ful remarks until a shilling bottle ot I overpowering perfume was the direct I cause of an explosion of wrath of the I f ss aIel h nOfwi classroom windows being thrown wide open one cold winter morning and oC something besides inveetves being hurled at the offenders heads In spite of thIs emphatic rebuff KIPling KIP-ling and his chums continued their efforts ef-forts to approach the extreme height or fashion borrowing such likely garments gar-ments as they did not themselves possess i pos-sess and choosIng Sunday as the day on which to make abrbvedlsplay of theIr personal adornments for the l three sat close to thh classlcdl master in church A gainfor a time the master mas-ter confine himself to sneering rej marls but t1uee pairs or light cloth topped patentleathy shoes brought the matter ton clirnc On the part cular Sunday when the shoes were first worn the classical master quickly spied them out and having beckoned the three youths before be-fore him pointed to the objectionable articles and desired to be informed as t I k I I I 1I 1 ti I RUDYARD KIPLllTG FROTlLJI A PHOTOGRAPH TAKmT SOON AFTER HE LEFr COLLEGE I haps follow a pause of five minutes when the voice of the prefect would be hear again All right Gigs you brute immediately succeeded by the crash of a boat in the neighborhood of Kiplings bed to be followed by the muffled sound of a piece of soap striking strik-ing the clothes I say from Kipling by this time wide aale What is It A yarn a yarn I dont Inowany From the prefect Oh yesyou do but anyway Ill give you skeleton Once upon a time there was a man who went to sea killed the captain turned pirate got wrecked on an Island where he fought a battle against a lot of savages sav-ages marries the chiefs daughter I died and lived happily ever afterwards Now go on With a grunt of dissatisfaction Kipling Kip-ling would thereupon begin shortly however making the prefect the villain of the story and placing him In such absurd situations that the whole dormitory dormi-tory would be shouting with laughter and the noise of creaking shoes upon the stairs would come as d warning that the house master was on his way I to see into the nocturnal disturbance AS A COLLEGE EDITOR For two years Rudyard Kipling occupied I oc-cupied the editorial char of the United ServIce College Chronicle during which I period many bright verses and clever I articles from his pen appeared within I the pages of that little journal This I was entirely an honorary position which however led to an engagement Ion Ion I-on the local paper 1Dder novel and amusing circumstances The head master mas-ter of the college apart from his scholastic scho-lastic duties held the office of chairman of the local boardpartahng of the nature of an unpaid rural supervIsor ship with perhaps a little patronagr attached that somelbody other was anxious to possess This ambitious person succeeded in gaining the assistance of the editor of the local paper The consequence was that for a time a number of crudely I virulent personal attacks were made upon the policy of the board to all of which the head master paid no attention atten-tion whatever Then the editor probably prob-ably having seen some of Kiplings work in the college paper entered into an arrangement with him that for I the sum of 250 a week adtht latter I should do his i st to goad the headmaster head-master Into the indiscretion of a retort re-tort A NEWSPAPER CONTEST WITH THE HEAD MASTER It was not long therefore before denuncIatory de-nuncIatory articles appeared In the paper pa-per treating of the cards local drainage drain-age scheme in such poignant sarcastic terms that everybody began to talk about the matter and the head master was compelled tO take up hIs pen in selfdefensea literary duel thus commencing com-mencing between the all unconscious master and his pupil that afforded those who were in the secret a weekly fund of qmusement Eventually the head master reslgtd hIs chair but whether he discovered the personality of his brilliant antagonist antag-onist Is not known Had he done so there Is a probability that young Kipling Kip-ling would have bee painfully made aware of the fact as the cane and the birch are still important factors in English public school discipline When a 10oldngglass first engages the serious attentJn of a youth a somewhat ludicrous devotion to the wardrobe Is often the result In that respect Kipling and his two particular chums inclined toward the Bohemian until they perceived In the opposite extreme ex-treme a chance to enact a good part which for the time being afforded their companions no little amusement At the United Service college It happened hap-pened that there was a certain classical master who had develped a profound aversion to anything approaching fpp plshness and to whom fancy wfllst coats sporting scarfpins and silk handkerchiefs were an abomination second onlY to what he termed the modern side of the school HAYING SPORT WITH THE MASTERS MAS-TERS To such an extent did this master carry his discrimination in the matter Of clothes that those attending his classes Dr coming more particularly under his jurisdiction who evinced the least tendency to style were promptly prompt-ly made the butts of his host witherIng wither-Ing sarcasm and were even occasionally occasional-ly peremptorIlY ordered not to appear again in his presencE wearing consplc uQsly offensive garments Now Nip hing rind his two hums In the course of promo Ion it length found themselves them-selves brought Into dally contact with J this master and having dUly mild Lla > V to their precise nature Which things sir asked Kipling following with his gaze the direction indicated by the classical masters forefinger fore-finger and wonderingly surveying the floor as if he expected to behold some strange insects crawling there Which things sir Those things emphatically replied the master pointing to Klpings feet My feet sir asked Kipling os if I he were still in doubt as to the masters mas-ters exact meaning No the vile things youve got on them angrily explained the former Go and trite them off at once At once Dyou understand me Wheret1on the Kipling trio divested themseTvcs of their beautiful shoes and the classical master posted a house notice no-tice to the effect that patent leather shoes among other enumerated foppish fop-pish articles of dress were nceforth strictly prohibited As If in despaIr at the sweeping nature of this edIct the KIpling trIo immediately reverted to the other extreme and the next Sunday Sun-day appeared at the church call over as if they had slept in their best clothes I over night with only their shoes so wonderfully polished that the c asslcal I master first mistook them for the contraband con-traband patent Woehowever I ei On closer inspection however being I satisfied that his surmise was incorre and perhaps regarding the trios dis hevelled appearance as for once a backward step in the right direction he merely recommended a vigorous application ap-plication of the brush and unsuspectingly unsuspect-ingly permitted them to go on their way to church It was not long after the service had commenced before every one in the vicinity of the Kipling trio became conscious con-scious of a most pungent and sickening sicken-Ing odor of blacking the classical master mas-ter who sal next to Kipling being the first of course to sniff the air with suspicion But as the church warmed up the smell became so altogether lm bearable that the classical master casting a look of supreme disgust upon the remarkably devout and apparently quite innocent youths at his side hurriedly hur-riedly 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 i mouths to sUppress explosions of laugh tot a merry twinkle beamed out I through Gigs enormous spectacles It was generally thought that the three I would meet with aewift and terrible punishment but the cladsical master I for some reason decided to hold his I peace and thereafter permitted the I edict regarding foppishness to fall into i abeyance I I MICHAEL GIFFORD WHITE |