Westward Ho! Reminiscences

Abstract

Now comes the difficult task of describing Kipling, the schoolboy — difficult because my recollection of him is chiefly in his capacity as editor of the school Chronicle. He was not outstandingly popular: not that he was unpopular, for he was always bright and cheerful and had a ready tongue, but his weak eyesight prevented him from playing games, and that is always a handicap amongst boys. Strange to say, he did not shine much in Latin; French he knew well, and of course he had a brilliant knowledge of English literature. His literary skill was early recognised as he was made editor and principal contributor to the Chronicle, and excellent stuff he put into it. Unfortunately, I did not keep my copies of the Chronicle; had I done so, they would now have been worth their weight in gold; but there is one verse from it which, on account of its ‘jingle’, or from the fact that it was about ‘tuck’, has stayed in my memory all these many years. In one of the studies, the boys, while cooking, had set fire to the curtains, and unwittingly had done their best to burn the College down. This evoked an edict from authority that, except in prefects’ studies, all cooking was forbidden. This prohibition of ‘brewing’ gave Kipling a chance to respond with this burning effusion:

Kipling Journal, VIII (July 1941) 6-7.