re as _With the Night Mail_, a remarkably graphic sketch of a
voyage across the Atlantic in a single night in a great aeroplane.
Another side of Kipling's genius is seen in his _Jungle Stories_, in
which all the wild animals are endowed with speech. Mowgli, the boy who
is suckled by a wolf, is a distinct creation, and his adventures are
full of interest. Compare these stories with the work of Thompson-Seton
and you get a good idea of the genius of Kipling in making real the
savage struggle for life in the Indian jungle.

Of Kipling's long novels _The Naulakha_ ranks first for interest of
plot, but _Kim_ is the best because of its series of wonderful
pictures of East Indian life and character. _Captains Courageous_ is a
story of Cape Cod fishing life, with an improbable plot but much good
description of the perils and hardships of the men who seek fortune on
the fishing banks.

As a poet Kipling appeals strongly to men who love the life of action
and adventure in all parts of the world. In his _Departmental
Ditties_ he has painted the life of the British soldier and the
civilian in India, and his _Danny Dever_, his _Mandalay_ and others
which sing themselves have passed into the memory of the great public
that seldom reads any verse unless it be the words of a popular song.
The range of his verse is very wide, whether it is the superb imagery
in _The Last Chantey_ or the impressive Calvanism of _McAndrew's
Hymn_. His _Recessional_, of course, is known to everyone. It is one
of the finest bits of verse printed in the last twenty years.

Kipling, in spite of his many volumes, is only forty-six years old,
and he may be counted on to do much more good work.

If he turns to historical fiction he may yet do for English history
what the author of _Waverley_ has done for the history of Scotland.
Certainly he has the finest creative imagination of his age; in
whatever domain it may work it is sure to produce literature that will
live.

_Bibliography_

_Short Notes of Both Standard and Other Editions, With Lives,
Sketches and Reminiscences._

_These bibliographical notes on the authors discussed in this volume
are brief because the space allotted to them was limited. They are
designed to mention the first complete editions--the standard
editions--as well as the lives of authors, estimates of their works
and sketches and personal reminiscences. A mass of good material on
the great writers of the Victorian a