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it but to convey the impression that it is and must remain to Europeans a land of mystery. The student who wishes to investigate this phase of Kipling's work should read "The Strange Ride of Morrowbie Jukes," "The City of the Dreadful Night," ""The Man Who Would be King," " William the Conqueror," and "Kim." The first is hair-raising enough to satisfy the most fastidious boy; the second is the hottest story ever written, there being in it not one breath of air; the third shows how the European who lives in India lives on a powder magazine; "Kim" is a wonderful tale about an Irish orphan boy cast adrift among Oriental mysteries; and "William the Conqueror" is the story of a man with a halo of dust, a strong man who did his duty in time of pestilence and famine by acting as nurse to a troop of orphan Indian children.

Kipling, indeed, is preeminently the king of all writers about and for children. In 1894 and 1895 he published the first and second "Jungle Books." These caused even severe critics of his previous work to admit that he is a writer of inspired genius. "Just-So Stories" 1902 added to his fame in this branch of letters and to the joy of childhood.

In 1896 he put forth a new volume of poems entitled "The Seven Seas." Among them were several pieces in which he undertook to do for the British sailor what he had previously done for his brother Tommy Atkins. "The Liner She's a Lady," ""Mulholland's Contract," and "The Mary Gloster" all showed him vividly and powerfully; but none of these was equal to " McAndrew's Hymn." In this he sang the song of steam in a fashion which is as good in its way as Burns's "Cotter's Saturday Night." He has since created in three short prose stories" The Bonds of Discipline," "Their Lawful Occasions," and "Steam Tactics"-two British sailors who are as entertaining as Mulvaney. These are Emanuel Pycroft, second-class pettyofficer, and Mr. Hinchcliffe, engineer. Their adventures afloat and ashore are excruciatingly funny.

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From the British sailor to the British Empire is an easy step. In "The Seven Seas," two great poems-" The Song of the Banjo and "The 'Eathen "-deal with this theme. It is the main subject of "The Five Nations," another book of poems, published 1903.

"The Feet of the Young Men " and " The Explorer" are perhaps the best things in this volume. They are like trumpet-calls. "Traffics and Discoveries," 1904, contains " A Sahib's War," "Private Copper," and "The Army of a Dream," all short stories on this subject. His most influential imperialistic utterances, however, have been four editorials in verse-" The Truce of the Bear," 1898, a warning against Russian designs in India; "The Islanders," 1902, in which he exhorted his countrymen to be prepared for war; "The White Man's Burden," 1899, a message to the United States; and "The Recessional," 1897,

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a solemn warning on the occasion of the sixtieth anniversary of Queen Victoria's accession to the throne. Their influence for good or evil has been so pronounced that Kipling has been called a greater political power than any member of Parliament.

As a literary artist, however, he has done better work in the field of mechanics than in that of politics. One critic says that his ships. and his engines are more human than his men and women. "The Day's Work," 1898, deals largely with this theme, previously unknown to literature, and deals with it so well that it is almost his best book..

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To him a boiler affords, indeed, almost the same degree of inspiration that Wordsworth found in a daffodil or a sunset. "The Bridge Builders,' "" 2007," '007," ," "The Ship that Found Herself," "The Devil and the Deep Sea," and "Bread upon the Waters are not merely good stories; they strike a new note. In " Traffics and Discoveries" there is more in the same vein-" Their Lawful Occasions," which deals with torpedo boats; "Steam Tactics," the theme of which is the perversity of steam automobiles; and "Wireless." "With the Night Mail," which is in "Actions and Reactions," dips far as human eye can see into the future of aërial navigation.

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It must not be inferred, however, that Kipling is insensible to spiritual things. In some of his stories he has reached heights and depths unattained by any of his contemporaries. For subtlety, for fineness, for insight into the soul of man, it would be hard, in contemporary literature if in any, to match "William the Conqueror,' "An Error in the Fourth Dimension," "An Habitation Enforced," and "The Brushwood Boy." In these the themes are love, loyalty, courage, and those everlasting mysteries that make and mould men and women for better or for worse.

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His greatest work, however, has yet to be considered. In 1906 and 1910 he published two volumes of stories dealing with English history. These were called "Puck of Pook's Hill" and Rewards and Fairies." Nothing like them had been printed before. They were inventions just as surely as the telephone and the phonograph were inventions. In them Dan and Una, a very modern boy and girl living on a farm in Kent, meet on various occasions with Puck, who introduces to them a number of people who once lived in England and whose influence was such that it survives in the England of to-day. Never before was there such history teaching. The spirits of the past rise under the magician's wand and tell their tales. Prehistoric cave man, Roman centurion, Saxon priest, Norman soldier, mediæval architect, Elizabethan sailor, Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, Napoleon Bonaparte, and the Duke of Wellington live again for us. "Puck of Pook's Hill" also contains, in "The Road to Rimini," a Roman counterpart of "Tipperary "; and "Rewards and Fairies,” "If," perhaps the greatest of all Kipling's poems. The two books, indeed, are priceless. They enrich the world.

Since 1910 Kipling has published a child's history of England, written in collaboration with C. R. L. Fletcher, 1911; "The Harbor Watch" (a play) 1913; "The New Army in Training" 1915; and "The Fringes of the Fleet " 1916.

Contemporaries are poor judges of the probable duration of current literary fame, but it is hard to believe that posterity will not cherish "Mandalay," "If," " Mulvaney," ‚""The Jungle Books," and " Puck of Pook's Hill."

QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES

1. When you think of poetry and machinery why does Kipling come to your mind?

2. Name five different classes of Kipling stories.

3. What was the occasion of the publication of "The White Man Burden"?

4. What truth does the "Recessional" convey?

5. In what book does Private Mulvaney appear?

6. Which story of Kipling's do you like best? Why?

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7. What is meant by imperialism"?

8. Compare Carlyle's "Gospel of Work" with Kipling's; which is the more optimistic?

9. Name two great books on school life.

10. What is meant when it is said that Kipling has been the greatest political power in England?

Suggested Readings.-Almost everyone knows Kipling. If you do not, read "Captain Courageous," "The Light that Failed," and " Soldiers Three" of his prose; and The Recessional," "The Feet of the Young Men," ," "The Mary Gloster," and "McAndrew's Hymn" of his poetry.

FINAL QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW

1. Name in the order of their greatness the ten most eminent English writers.

2. Have the great English writers been liberal or conservative in politics? 3. Have they come from the cottage, the middle class, or the nobility? 4. What proportion of them have been college graduates?

5. Make a list of those who are Cambridge men and a list of those who are Oxford men. Which list is more imposing? Is there any underlying reason for this phenomenon?

6. Name in the order of their merit the greatest writers of Greece, Rome, Spain, Italy, France, Germany, England, and America. Copious discussion should precede and follow the completion of this exercise. 7. Is the literature of to-day more or less vigorous and excellent than that of the following periods: (a) 1360-1400; (b) 1560-1616; (c) 1630-1688; (d) 1700-1744; (e) 1744-1780; (ƒ) 1786-1832; (g) 1837-1892?

8. Will future excel past English literature?

9. Will future American excel future English literature?

10. What, in your opinion, is the chief advantage to be derived from the study of English literature by American boys and girls?

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Edward I, 1273-1307.....
Edward II, 1307-1327... Play
Edward III, 1307-1377.. Juvenile
Richard II, 1377-1399... Play
Richard II, 1377-1399... Novel
Henry IV, 1399-1413.... Plays (2)

Richard Yea and Nay Ivanhoe

King John

The Treasure and the Law
Rebecca and Rowena
The Merry Adventures of
Robin Hood
Forest Days

Edward II

St. George for England Richard II

The White Company Henry IV, pts. i and 2

Hewlett

Scott

Shakespeare Kipling Thackeray

Pyle
G. P. R.
James

Marlowe
Henty
Shakespeare
Doyle
Shakespeare

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