OUR ROCK BORDER'S BEING
COMPLETELY RUINED!"]
* * * * *
OUR BOOKING-OFFICE.
(_By Mr. Punch's Staff of Learned Clerks._)
I have the feeling that when Mr. RUDYARD KIPLING called his new volume _A
Diversity of Creatures_ (MACMILLAN) he was rather taking the word out of my
mouth, or the sword out of my hand, or whatever one does for the confusion
and discomforting of critics. Because it is just the extreme diversity of
the tales herein which, while providing (as they say) something for all
tastes, makes it very hard to appraise the book as a whole. In form it
follows the KIPLING convention, endeared to us by so much pleasure, of
sandwiching prose and verse, the poems echoing the idea of the tale that
has preceded them, and themselves likely to prove for many the most
attractive pages of the book. As for the stories, here we get diversity
indeed; and not of theme alone. It is, of course, almost impossible for
anything signed by Mr. KIPLING to be wholly commonplace, but I am bound to
admit that there is at least one of the collection (which, pardon me, I do
not mean to name) that makes a notable effort in that direction.
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