Trafalgar School - Echoes Yearbook (Montreal, Quebec Canada)

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RUDYARD KIPLING RUDYARD KIPLING the Bard of the Empire was horn in Bombay in 1865. He was sent home to England and at seventeen returned to India. He hegan to write at Lahore; he wrote of things England knew and understood because at that time many people had brothers or fathers out in India. Kipling knew India and loved it. He knew the natives and their ways. He felt all the thrill of the life of the few white men among the millions of Indians. He wrote stories of their life, and of men whom he had known who could not leave it, who loved the dusty plains and the hill stations, just as he did, but who could not express their love. People who knew nothing of India read his stories and enjoyed them; and Kipling wrote a very short poem to those who knew, about those who did not know I have written the tale of our life For a sheltered people ' s mirth. In jesting guise but ye are wise, And ye know what the jest is worth . In prose and poetry Kipling has poured out his love of England and all she stands for. He understood the common soldier, sailor and peasant and although at times he seems almost to idealize them they are delightful to read about. I think he held foreigners rather in contempt, just as his British sailors did. No one has ever written better short stories than Kipling; they won him his fame and rightly so. He has filled these tales with all his love of life, crowded and full of joy. He makes us feel the thrill of hard work well done, of long hot marches and of lonely nights in the desert. Kipling knew that if we set out looking for adventure, adventure would come. After reading Kipling we feel fired with his enthusiasm, we long to got out and do things, and we feel what fun it would be ta be men together in some great adventure. In his animal stories Kipling is at his best. He loved all animals whether wild or tame and he understood them. The thoughts and intelligence of his animals do not seem unreal because he has so skilfully taken their possible feelings and enlarged and explained them. There are good and bad animals just as there are good and bad human beings. In fact, in the jungle there is a group living as we live among conflicting desires, hates and loves. When Kipling created Mowgli, he created the ideal of many a boy. Mowgli lived a wild life among wild beasts. He could swim, jump, climb and run better than any in the jungle. He had a great rock-python, a panther, a bear and the wolves for friends and he outwitted his crafty enemy the tiger. How the Camel got his Hump? How the Leopard got his Spots and many others were written for children yet men and women of all ages read them and the older one grows the more one finds in them. The greatest tragedy in Kipling ' s life was when he lost his son. His son was only [31]

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ROBIN HOOD AND THE SHERIFF Bold Robin Hood liad sevenscore men. Brave and bold were tliey, He dressed them all in Lincoln green With fine and good array. Now one fine day, up came Little John And said to his master dear The sheriff is having a shooting match And challenges you to go near. Full loudly laughed bold Robin As he said to his merry men all Array yourselves in different clothes For we ' er off to pay a call. Then spake the sheriff to his lady Methinks the villain ' s not here, For while he is brave in the forest Here he would run like a deer. When Robin arrived at Nottingham town He and his merry men tall He looked just like a beggar As he awaited his turn with them all. He placed his shaft in his stout yew bow His aim was good and true The bow it twanged, the arrow flew And hit the round spot of blue. When Robin arrived at Sherwood About the break of day He wrote a note unto the sheriff Explaining about yesterday. May heaven bless thy grace this day Say all in sweet Sherwood That you did give the prize away To merry Robin Hood. Peggy Capps, Form IIIa, [30]

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eighteen when he was reported missing after Loos in ' 15. Tliey we il l)iroug}i all the wards asking if anyone had seen Lieut. Kipling, but no one had. This has made Kipling bitter and a little fierce, but in his earlier days he had no trace of bitterness in him. In his humorous and refreshingly active way he taught us that romance and adventure are not things of the past. He sliowed us that a pounding steam ship is as interesting as a gliding tea clipper, that the passing of the horse is not the passing of romance. This is the feeling which runs through all his work and is summed up in the two lines — Confound Romance! .... and all unseen Romance brought up the nine- fifteen . Jean Scrimger, Matric. 1. HOMEWORK (With apologies to R. C. Rogers) The hours I spend with thee apart, Are as a string of pearls — maybe! I count them over every one, faint heart. Ah woe is me! Ah woe is me! Each hour a task, each task a toil. To vex a mind unduly pained, I strive each problem to uncoil And wonder what is gained. O memory, futile and frail, 0 barren brain and worried lass, 1 writhe each night and strive at last to learn How I can pass, how I can pass! Betty Roberts, Form Matric. I. SEA FEVER (With apologies to John Masefield) Give to me the life I love. The sea, and the clean winds blowing. Soft wliite clouds and blown spray flying And the eternal tide deep flowing. Give to me a little white boat Tlie strain of ihc tiller in my hand Freedom to follow the sea gulls ' call Away from the restraints of land. Give to me a long summer day On the salt, blue unquiet sea. Till homeward bound in sunset glory The beauty enters the heart of me. EiJ AHETii Anme Kemdall, Form IVa.