The Short-story Part 27

PAGE 148. SIRE: obsolete French for sir. BURGUNDY: a section of eastern France bordering on the river Rhone. The Count of Burgundy by a treaty with the English recognized the claim of the English king, Henry VI, to the throne of France. Their troops at the time of the story were endeavoring to establish this claim by force of arms. Joan of Arc figures in this war. SAFE-CONDUCT: a pa.s.sport. As Denis had one, he must have come from the French forces and consequently was among enemies.

149. CHATEAU LANDON: an ancient town southeast of Paris.

150. BOURGES: a city in the Department of Cher, west of Burgundy.

154. RUSHES: In those days the floors of rooms were covered with rushes into which people were accustomed to throw refuse. Cleaning was done by removing the old rushes and putting a fresh supply in their place.

155. LEONARDO: Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), a famous Italian painter who did much portraiture, particularly of women. One of his best-known works is the "Mona Lisa."

156. DAMOISEAU: obsolete French word denoting rank.

163. SALLE: (French) _hall_.

164. CHARLEMAGNE: the French form of _Charles the Great_ (742-814), a great king of the Franks and Emperor of the Romans.

169. HERCULES: a great personage in Greek mythology, famous for his strength. SOLOMON: king of Israel, 993-953 B.C., noted for his wisdom.

NOTES ON "MARKHEIM"

This psychological study was written in 1884 and published in _Unwin's Annual_ for 1885.

PAGE 179. "TIME WAS THAT WHEN THE BRAINS WERE OUT": a misquotation from Shakespeare's "Macbeth," Act III, scene iv, lines 78-79. In full this most apposite reference runs:

"The times have been, That, when the brains were out, the man would die, And there an end; but now they rise again, With twenty mortal murders on their crowns, And push us from our stools: this is more strange Than such a murder is."

180. BOHEMIAN GOBLETS: drinking gla.s.ses of gla.s.s made in Bohemia, the most northern portion of the Empire of Austria-Hungary. Its gla.s.sware is famous.

182. BROWNRIGG: Elizabeth Brownrigg, a notorious English murderess of the eighteenth century. Pictures of such persons were common at country fairs. MANNINGS: other murderers, man and wife. THURTELL: another murderer and his victim.

185. OTHER MURDERERS: compare the agonies of Bill Sykes in "Oliver Twist."

186. SHERATON SIDEBOARD: Thomas Sheraton (1751-1806) was a well-known English furniture maker. JACOBEANTOMBS: graves of the times of the English kings named James of the seventeenth century.

187. A FACE WAS THRUST INTO THE APERTURE: This was not a real person but one born of Markheim's troubled mind. The conversation shows the dual nature of man, containing both good and bad, and how a man excuses his wickedness. The subject was used again by Stevenson in "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde."

RUDYARD KIPLING

Rudyard Kipling is the son of John Lockwood Kipling, successively Professor in the Bombay School of Art and Curator of the Government Museum at Lah.o.r.e, India, and of Alice Macdonald, the daughter of a Wesleyan minister. He was born at Bombay, December 30, 1865. His given name commemorates the meeting-place of his parents, a small lake in Staffords.h.i.+re.

In accordance with the custom dictated by the needs of health and of education in the case of white children born in India, he was taken in 1871 to England, where he stayed with a relative at Southsea, near Portsmouth. The experiences of such little exiles from the home circle are feelingly shown in "Baa, Baa, Black-sheep" and in the beginning of "The Light that Failed." When thirteen he entered The United Services College, Westward Ho, Bideford, North Devon. Here he stayed from 1878 to 1882, taking part in some at least of the happenings so well narrated in "Stalky and Co." (1899).

On leaving college in 1882 he went to Lah.o.r.e, India, where he became sub-editor of _The Civil and Military Gazette_. In 1887 he joined the editorial staff of _The Allahabad Pioneer_. To these papers he contributed many of the poems and short-stories soon collected in the volumes named "Departmental Ditties" (1886) and "Plain Tales from the Hills" (1888). All of these writings come near to actual occurrences, and give a fascinating glimpse of conditions in India. In the same year of 1888 he published in India six other volumes of tales.

Leaving India in 1889, he returned to Europe via China, j.a.pan, and the United States, sending back to the two papers travel sketches which have since been collected under the t.i.tle of "From Sea to Sea" (1899).

On reaching England he found himself a celebrated man. There he met in 1891 Wolcott Balestier, an American, to whom he dedicated "Barrack Room Ballads" (1892) in an introductory poem filled with glowing tribute. In the same year he made further journeys to South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand.

He married Caroline Balestier in 1892, the year of publication of "The Naulahka," which had been written in collaboration with her brother. The travelling continued till they settled in Brattleboro, Vermont, where their unique house was named appropriately "The Naulahka." The fruit of his American sojourn was, among other writings, "Captains Courageous"

(1897), a story of the Atlantic fis.h.i.+ng banks, full of American atmosphere and characters. In the meantime, in various periodicals had appeared short-stories and poems, which were quickly put into books. One of the stories is "A Walking Delegate," which is so wonderfully accurate in the local color of Vermont as to be worthy of special mention. It forms one of "The Day's Work" group (1898). In it is seen Kipling's power of observation, which he possesses to such a remarkable degree. To this period belong those famous collections, "The Jungle Book" (1894) and "The Second Jungle Book" (1895), containing the beast stories which seem so plausible, and a book of poems, "The Seven Seas" (1896).

In 1896 the Kiplings returned to England, taking a house at Rottingdean.

While England has remained his permanent home, he has continued to take journeys. During a trip in 1899 he was seriously ill in New York with pneumonia. While ill, his condition was a constant source of anxiety to all cla.s.ses of people. He recovered, but his little daughter Josephine died of the same disease. One cannot fail to note the intimate touches reminiscent of her in "They," published in "Traffics and Discoveries"

(1904). Another trip, in 1900, was to South Africa, while the Boer War was in progress. The results are to be found in many poems and stories about the struggle.

In late years honors have come to him. The n.o.bel Prize of Literature and an honorary degree from Oxford were both awarded him in 1907. He has taken some part in politics, but he continues to write, though not so prolifically as before. His more recent books are: "Kim" (1902), a vivid panorama of India; "Puck of Pook's Hill" (1906), and "Rewards and Fairies" (1910), realistic reconstructions of English history; "Actions and Reactions" (1909), a series of stories, among them "An Habitation Enforced," a rare story of the charm of English country life; and "The Fringes of the Fleet" (1916), relating to the European War. His son John has had the misfortune to be captured in the present war.

One book, "The Day's Work," deserves particular mention, as it contains some of his best stories, such as "The Brushwood Boy," and exhibits especially the three cardinal points of his philosophy of life--"Work,"

"Don't whine," and "Don't be afraid."