The complete series of letters of which these are a part were published in the Pioneer under the title From Sea to Sea, and have this year (1899) been republished in book form under the original title by Mr. Kipling's authorized publishers, Doubleday & McClure Company. (See From Sea to Sea.)

AMIR'S HOMILY, THE. (Life's Handicap.) —A thief, brought to trial before the Amir, avers that he stole because he was starving, having been unable to find work. The despot tells him that he lies, "since any man who will, may find work and daily bread." The magistrate then relates a tale of his "evil days," when he himself was starving. He refused gifts, asking only for work. He was finally successful. Day after day he wrought as a coolie on a daily wage of four annas. Then turning to the prisoner he commands that he be led away to execution. AMONG THE RAILWAY FOLK. (See From Sea to Sea.) ANCHOR SONG. (The Seven Seas.) — A sailor-song first published as Envoy to Many Inventions, and subsequently included in The Seven Seas. It has a rhythmical movement, but fairly bristles with nautical terms.

"A magnificent bit of long-syllable versification. Academy.

ANGUTIVUN TINA.

A poem following " Quiquern " in the Second Jungle Book. It is supposedly a free translation of the Song of the Returning Hunter," as the Esquimaux sang it after seal-spearing.

""

ANSWER, AN. (Ballads.) — The truth that grief and apparent failure are justified if they form part of God's purpose is taught in this parable of a rose, who, tattered and stem-broken, complains to God, and receives an answer which comforts her as she bows her head to die.

ARREST OF LIEUTENANT GOLIGHTLY, THE.

(Plain

Go

Tales.) The story of a vain man's humiliation. lightly, dressed fastidiously, is caught in a tremendous rainstorm which reduces his new white helmet to dough, covers his gaiters with mud, and causes the dye-stuffs of suit, tie, and hat-lining to run. He is mistaken for a deserter for whom the police are looking, and is delivered over to the authorities. After some travelling about in custody, and much struggling and profanity, he is rescued by one of his majors who recognizes the dandy officer under the outward appearance of a dirty tramp.

AT HOWLI THANA. (In Black and White.) · The native who relates the tale has been dismissed from the Police for a piece of rascality, and now begs the Sahib to take him into his employ as a messenger. The demand for an explanation of his conduct leads to a willing admission of the facts, but the most nonchalant and ingenious vindication of his motive. The sketch gives us much insight into the strange workings of the Oriental mind.

AT THE END OF THE PASSAGE. (Life's Handicap.) The health of a young assistant engineer at a lonely Indian station is shattered during the hot season by sleeplessness and pure terror, the latter resulting from phantoms created by his feverish and disordered brain. The doctor offers him a testimonial which will secure him leave of absence. He refuses, since the man that would be sent to take his place lacks the physique to endure the Plains, and would, moreover, bring with him his delicate wife now convalescing in Simla. The doomed man, therefore, remains and

dies at his post.

AT THE PIT'S MOUTH.

(Under the Deodars.) The

place is Simla.

The three characters are Man and his Wife and a Tertium Quid."

the Plains "earning money for his wife to spend on dresses," and writing her daily. The wife is carrying on a violent flirtation with the Tertium Quid. The affair has reached almost the point of scandal when it is interrupted by a tragedy. The two are riding on the HimalayanThibet road, which in places is not over six feet wide, with a sheer drop into the valley below of between one thousand and two thousand feet, when the man's mare shies at a log of wood, and, sinking in the earth loosened by the heavy rains, falls with her rider to the valley below. "When he [Kipling] deals in natural horror (take < At the Pit's Mouth' as a sample, or The Other Man '), I often find him a master." - Francis Adams in Fortnightly.

AT TWENTY-TWO.

(In Black and White.) — An old, blind miner has married a pretty young wife who carries on a shameless intrigue with a collier working in the same gang with her husband. A heavy flood, during the Rains, breaks through the crust of earth over one of the workings and pours into the main galleries. The blind man's mar

vellous knowledge of the mine, born of thirty years' experience, enables him to rescue his own gang and two others. Among the saved is his wife's paramour. The repays him by eloping with the woman.

latter

"For skilful presentment in a few bold strokes of a strange and moving scene, it would be hard to beat the escape from the flooded mine in At Twenty-two,' or the fanatical riot of On the City Wall.' The former story, indeed, is a gem of the first water." Athe

næum.

BAA, BAA, BLACK SHEEP. (Wee Willie Winkie.) Two children of Anglo-Indian parents are committed to the care of an aunt in England. The latter is an unlovely woman, who has some affection for the little girl, but hates the boy, Punch, and subjects him to a series of petty tortures professedly designed for the good of his soul. His childish exaggerations pronounced to be lies, he is finally forced to actual deception in self-defence, and becomes sullen and suspicious. After five years the parents come to claim their children, discover the barbarous treatment the Black Sheep has received at the hands of Aunty Rosa, and, after some difficulty, win back the good there is in the boy's nature by love and tact.

"A strange compound of work at first and second hand. But Punch lives with an intense vitality, and here, without any indiscretion, we may be sure that Mr. Kipling has looked inside his own heart

and drawn from memory."

BACK TO THE ARMY AGAIN.

Gosse.

(The Seven Seas.)

A British soldier who has seen several years' service returns after a time to the army, professing to be as ignorant of things military as any new recruit, but he fails to deceive the sergeant. It is evident from his song that he takes pleasure in coming back, and pride in the prospect of "learnin' the others their trade."

BALLAD OF BOH DA THONE, The.

(Ballads.) A

gruesome story of an outlaw chief unsuccessfully hunted down by an Irish company in the "Black Tyrone." The captain marries and settles down, for the time-being forgetful of his quest. Meanwhile a native servant slays the Boh and sends his head by mail to the captain. The latter opens the package at breakfast, and the hideous Thing

rolls out on the table. The bride faints. A little Irish Kathleen, born shortly afterward, bears the Boh's head as a birthmark.

BALLAD OF EAST AND WEST, THE. (Ballads.)

A

story of magnanimity to a fallen foe, and of the appreciation of bravery even among enemies:

"There is neither East nor West, Border nor Breed, nor Birth,

When two strong men stand face to face, tho' they come from the ends of the earth."

"One of the greatest pieces of epic narrative which is to be found in our literature.' Saturday Review. "Mr. Kipling's poetical masterpiece." Critic, 1892.

Worthy to stand by the border ballads of Sir Walter Scott." Spectator.

"A thing to stir the blood like a trumpet.' Academy.

BALLAD OF THE

BOLIVAR," THE. (Ballads.) A triumphant song of seven drunken English sailors who had brought their half-wrecked vessel through a terrific storm "safe across the bay."

BALLAD OF THE CLAMPHERDOWN, "THE. (Ballads.) -The Clampherdown," an English war-ship, engages with a hostile cruiser, and is badly disabled, but when the enemy demands the captain's sword, he refuses to surrender, and, being then at close quarters, commands that the cruiser be boarded. The latter is cleared from end to end, and, while the war-ship sinks, her crew stands out "to sweep the sea" on the captured vessel.

BALLAD OF THE KING'S JEST, THE.

(Ballads.)