KIPLING'S LATEST.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 681, 4 December 1909, Page 9

KIPLING'S LATEST.

"Actions and /Reactions?' By .Endyard: Kip. , .ling..;MncmillanV Colonial Library.- 2s. - i 6d. V.; -■..,:■:■ ":';■-.' -,i '',"-..'.. ''■ A; new-book : by Mr. Kipling is still an event, but it is. looked forward to nowadays less for the pleasure that it may give 1 than for■ what it.:will tell'us, of Kipling's condition.- In this volume of short'stories there'is some , fine work, but its net effect is to confirm James Hunekers old judgment that "the laureate of Empire" has-all the time been only a "cornet virtuoso." That Kipling is an artist spoiled by politics is the correct summary. ■'■■ He has ceased to develop; and although his Imperialism was a barren thing, incapable "of developing into anything-capable, indeed, only of stopping when the fashion passed— yet there wero in, him seeds that might have grown into strong' and fruitful trees. The work that made him rich and famous—tho "Plain Tales," the loud and ringing doggerel, tho glorifications of guns and clamour—were barren of philosophy,-, In tho Jungle stories, .'■■' the, "Brushwood Boy, ;: T?hey," and "Puck of- Pook's., Hill," however/ there were-heart and imagination, evidences of flesh -and'.blood. .".Macro is no 'cause ■ for-tears in : the .final disappearance of the, loud and ringing "Kipling :ot.the early days i< regret 'is . for., the -almost.complete.. extinction, of, .tho 'philosophical idealist 'of ."Thoy.".,-. "Almost",., complete—because•• there areilashes-of his .dying summer-in' :'the- : first and best- stbTy in "Actions .and-.'•:Eeaotidns". His .style is-improved.'of course.-,He'is : a more capable .worker'in. the-.-Bnglish-'ilarig'uage''than fever.: ..He,;is jerky .and-kineniatographic' and military .in;.his style .'.still,,'but Habitation . lie. has cared ■; nibro/'for'., matter than';, for ■ manner,:, and '.the,' manner; is';lresultantlyj ;■ finer.. •>lt is ,'a delightful:;story,' and a profoundly -moving '.one—the. story.".of a*:young commorcial millionaire who' buries -.'himself •in Englandi'with his'.wife.to •fecdyer.from"a nervqus breakdown, and;gradually grows • -strong; yei'y.Jhappy, '.and saturated .with, the' spirit': of peace 'and permanence'that. l 6teals'; upon him' from.: the alien "soil,' alien no : motel -Nothing happens; the. only excitement isthe birth of the heir; but .therelis 'excitementvin the ,suc-' cess-.'with'which /Kipling has- : captiired •- the priius.'of :the.lovely country,- which, is : only a hundred miles from ; London. -So; the poet: of "Sussex"-.is not yet dead;,; The.accompanying poem :is not unworthy -to bo - placed " beside .Sussex": ;. - ■ . ■'-.<• ~--.-;.

."'.-.-'-I:am the land of their fathers,-> • ! .' ; :. . V'. In .mo. the', virtue-stays';' •;!; '.:'.' ";' ... ' ."'.-..""1 will'bring back my children: ' ' V. ' •-,: V;After.!c'orfein','dj(iys^'-: v };vT : '$ ! 'p .;■ = i'\ Under.their-fect?in ijho' grasses; ■ %,-y : : :l .',.-" Myjclinging :magic, runs.. ,'-,'.;• ~:'They, shall return as .strangers, ■:?-. .-"•.-' .'-They shall :remain'.a's sons.::','.-. Over their heads in the/branches . ... :; ,Of their nevr-boughtancient trees, .', ': I weave an incantation, - .' j:'-'' And draw.tthem'-jtq'- my, knees. ... ..Sce'nt'.of smoke, inithe evening,': ::.'- ."■; ;■' ■'.'-.' Smell of rainMtt th'&'.iligilit,''! I .'" 1 -".:;■''"■'..- -.-'•.-. ■■'■}■'• :,.', -Order their soiils aright;',' ;■'. -." -. ( • } Till. I. make plain the meaning vOf all,mj:.thousan'd years— i : '\\ H,,7.:TiIL I ,fijl 'their "hearts with knowledge *; ■';••' ;.■ iWhile-I'.'fill their, eyes with tears; :. •■'

/'; In •"Garni, a. .fiostag©"—Garm.- is.fhe- dog of :Stanley Qr'tkeris, of ancient "romird, .• but a Stanley as.wastedas Kipling now: he is; "ono of ■ my.,best nicn". (the lieutenant;; have a ; dueer thing.' .The Kipling of "An* Habitation: "Enforced"'.is {sliding' back ":into-, the Smart,'' irietallic. Kip." of- the, earliest, days, • and finds himself wanting tho old brazen precision of'his literary youth. It js : really very painful. You feel as. you 'would; feel, if /you saw a 'respectable still' vicious, aiming-'wjth-un-success due-to>uric• acid-in'-his-.joints,..at!.a. 'repetition' of, the: roystering exploits-'.of .■., his youth. "Garm" serves only to Ternin'd ,-us !of what: Kipling•'■really"^w'as.^T■'SobeV, i uuappropriateness.of what we admired l in our late •■ Victorian" cups; ''and wo; blush at vour rovealed-, folly,:.'.and .it. -is painful,'' and—let us hursy ori to "The Mother Hive."', It is a good parable—the '.bees; are. this: time/the ,'English people. -The parabolism,is .pretty .exact, 'althonff.h beekeepers,-.will 'probably hold.that view of;. Kipling, 1 .the..apiarist, ..that-is usually expressed ; when'tho naval'officer discusses: Kipling the: engineer.. -Sound andpoirited much, of his oblique political criticism, undoubtedly is :—

-■'"Pardon■■nie;".'said'tho 'blind thing,:sucking hard.; "But'.this is the hive,'is it not?"--vIt was.. Worse !luck,-it is. ! VAnd the/Htvar: Honey 'is here,'is it not?" "It opened a:fresh Store-cell to prove it.—VYe-es, but'it won't be long '.at' this rate,"' said' Melissa.—"The rates have nothing to do with it:'. This Hive'produces the Hival Honey. You". people never .seem to grasp the economio simplicity,-that.'underlies all life." ■■'■.. 'But'there is:often• shrillness /and excess in his paraboliodenunciationof the follies of Eadical- . ism. :Tho humour, is excellent and„ humour in Kipling is raro enough to.excuse a great deal. ,'• In "Withthe Night Mail" we have the authentic Kipling—at his best arid worst.. It ißareal 'feat'of mental;projection,' but it is as barren pf philosophy as everything' that'is mos£ characteristic of our .man.- -Barron, too, of intelligibility—unless : thereis. clarity" : '•in "uhderbody eollqids,". and ''tranapqrter-slings,",and "liftshunts," and {' "dip-dials," and ''dorsal-tanks," and.."dispatching caissons."- There is a thrill, -nevertheless,, in his rush through;, vastnesses and 1 .eerip:-uhintelligibilitie6, i but it will be a small thrill, and aii unabiding thrill, to" those who travelled with Bert Smallways.' to. the smashing' of New York. To-porfeot what;.he clearly intended as his supremo .. effort; invraisemblance, Kipling gives us.unintelligibleextractsirom'newspapers of tho airship age. One notes only ..that, the. advertiser of the.far future follow9the sanie methods as .'the advertiser of to-day's' motor-cars.' The remaining stories' are poor enough—"The House Surgeon".is.a study in the eerie, and yet fails of its intention. The dreadful* "Stalky".; appears again, in.""A- Deal •in Cotton," w.hioh,-like' "Little Foxes," will beblnshed 'at, by: the people who are ashamed of their' former /delight in -the sharp,, strong men—that "talk.like.-.telegrams," "The Times" . neatly said—with .whom Kipling caught us all ori the.hop when the glare was.in our eyes. Unless "An Habitation Enforced" is a : promise of ■ Kipling's 'future/ he must. be given, up as a worn-out, ivritten-out man—a poet spoiled' by politicai preoccupations, a Phaeton ruined in his Imperialistic ear.—M.C.K. -..; /...{•/ '.'"'