12. Satirical Treatment of Character. 13. Sympathetic Treatment of Character 14. Spiritual Treatment of Character I. BIRTH AND PARENTAGE. Rudyard Kipling was born Dec. 30, 1865, in Bombay, India. His father's ancestors were English and Dutch; his mother's English, Scotch, and Irish. Both his grandfathers were Wesleyan ministers. Rudyard's father, John Lockwood Kipling, was born in Yorkshire, and passed the early years of his manhood in the Burslem (Staffordshire) potteries as a modeller and designer. On leaving the potteries he worked for a time in a sculptor's studio, and finally received an appointment on the staff of the executive art department of the South Kensington Museum. In 1865 he was appointed Professor of Architectural Sculpture in the School of Art at Bombay. After having been engaged for several years in making casts of the mythological sculpture of the Rock Cut Temples in the central provinces, he was appointed curator of the Government Museum at Lahore. Mr. Kipling is said to have done more than any other man toward preserving the native art of India. The poet's father was more, however, than a mere artist, in the narrower sense. His scholarly and literary aptitudes are shown in Beast and Man in India, 1891, a book which brought him wide and well-deserved recognition. Regarding his personality, Mr. E. Kay Robinson, who knew the family intimately at Lahore, has this testimony: "John Lockwood Kipling, the father, a rare, genial soul, with happy artistic instincts, a polished literary style, and a generous, cynical sense of humor, was, without exception, the most delightful companion I had Rudyard's mother was a Miss Alice Macdonald, daughter of the Methodist preacher at Endon, Staffordshire, and a young woman of great beauty. She was one of three sisters who were noted for their exceptional culture and talents. Both of the others married distinguished English artists, one being the wife of Sir Edward J. Poynter, president of the Royal Academy, and the other the wife of Sir Edward Burne-Jones. Mr. Robinson has written also of Mrs. Kipling: "Mrs. Kipling, the mother, preserved all the graces of youth, and had a sprightly, 1 McClure's Magazine, July, 1896. See also Boston Transcript, March 2, 1899, and Congregationalist, March 16, 1899. if occasionally caustic wit, which made her society always desirable." 1 Such were the parents of the most eminent of living poets. He was born into an atmosphere of ideal charm and culture, and yet the circumstances of his birth in the great cosmopolitan city of western India left much to be desired. There is sincere pathos in those lines of The Native-Born: "We learned from our wistful mothers To call old England 'home.' 2. CHILDHOOD. Rudyard Kipling was named from Rudyard Lake, Staffordshire, on the banks of which John Kipling first met Miss Alice Macdonald. As a child the poet was familiarly called “Ruddie.” It is interesting to learn that as he grew in years he "scorned all play things that were commonplace toys; but any sort of instructive puzzle or game that required thought and intelligence appealed to him at once, and with these he found endless pleasure and pastime.” When, under his mother's guidance, he had once mastered the art of reading, it was difficult to get him to play with the other boys. He was precocious, and filled with curiosity on all subjects. The first five years of his life, excepting a short visit to England with his mother, were spent in his native city or its neighborhood, but in 1871 he was McClure's, July, 1896. |