Jasper County Democrat, Volume 4, Number 35, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 December 1901 — CONDENSED STORIES. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

CONDENSED STORIES.

How Kipling's Great Memory Serves Him In Story Writing. “Thirty years ago,” says an An-glo-Indian civil engineer to a London correspondent, “I traveled out to India on the same steamer as a Mrs. Lockwood Kipling. She had with her a baby girl and a boy of three. 'Ruddy,’ as she called him, •was a solemn, yellow faced little chap, with a big hat and frilly round the ends of his tiny trousers. We soon struck up a friendship. He would walk up and down the deck fyvith me for hours, holding on to fay thumb. In after years, as you know, Kipling obtained the subeditorship of an Indian paper. I was engaged about that time in building a great railway bridge. The editor of Kipling’s paper wrote to me asking permission for one of his reporters to come and write a series of three or four articles on the subject of the bridge, which was one of the biggest undertakings of its time. I replied, saying that if ‘Ruddy’ eared to come he should have every privilege, but I didn’t want anybody else. “Sure enough ‘Ruddy’ came, and a great time he had. We showed him everything, and he took everything in. His eye for detail was wonderful. He was like a human camera, with a memory for names as well. Years afterward he wrote ‘The Bridge Builders,’ and in it he used the information he picked up from me and my men then. It is all as accurate as possible. There’s not a technical error in the whole thing. As far as I can see every one of his engineering stories is absolutely correct.” Helping Out Mr. Gladstone. The announcement from Canada that the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall had to give up promiscuous handshaking while on their visit there recalls an incident of Mr. Gladstone’s memorable Midlothian tour. At one time there was a

great handshaking ordeal at the window of the old gentleman’s railway carriage, and he was rapidly getting the worst of it. A stalwart young policeman who accompanied Mr. Gladstone proved equal to the occasion. Crouching behind the great man and thrusting his hand under Mr. Gladstone’s Inverness cape the muscular policeman gave each comer in turn a grip that had no lack of cordiality. “The auld man’s uncommon veegorous at his time o’ life,” observed one unsuspecting Scot as he stroked his fingers. “He is that,” concurred another of the policeman’s victims, “but did ye notice his nails ?”

Testing His Wit. Charles Battell Loomis recently gave a lecture in a little church in Scotch Plains, where he makes his home. The subject of his lecture was “American Humor.” After the author had quoted from and criticised several so called American humorists and had eulogized a few that pleased him well he drew to the close of his lecture by reading what he called “several bits of really exquisite humor.” When the lecture was over, and the author was on his way home, a friend who had accompanied him asked interestedly: “By the way, Loomis, who was the author of those last few bits you gave ?” “Well, I’ll tall you,” said the 'author, lowering his voice confidentially, “I’ve received so many contrary criticisms on my ‘wit’ that I was anxious to know whether I really had any or not. I decided to put it to a test. Those last few bits which sent our rural friends into spasms of laughter were ‘poor things, but mine own'!’ ” He Bolstered the Collection. A minister in a Kansas town recently adopted a novel scheme ft>r bolstering un the church collection) which had oeen diminishing. He informed his congregation just before the plates were passed around that the members who were in debt ’were not expected to contribute. The collection that day was double the usual sum.

HE GAVE EACH COMER A GRIP THAT HAD NO LACK OF CORDIALITY.