Kipling's Choice Read Online Free Page A
Author: Geert Spillebeen
Roberts! Look at his face! What a mess."
Lord Roberts? Good old Bobs? Irish Guards, of course. Is it you?
John loses consciousness again.
Â
"Fantastic news, old boy!"
John sees that his father is walking toward him at a pace that is brisker than usual.
"This is for you, Lieu-ten-ant Kipling. Congratulations!" Cheerfully, Daddo waves the letter that his old friend Lord Roberts has just given him in London.
John snatches the paper from his father's hand. "The Irish Guards? Has that good Bobs fixed it up for me?"
Colonel Roberts is an aged veteran who earned his stripes during the Boer War in South Africa. Too old now to be at the army top, Bobs nevertheless has always had his own regiment, and he doesn't want to miss this war.
Daddo isn't totally satisfied. In the newspaper not too long ago he vented his wrath against the Irish, who want to free themselves from English rule. That
his
son must now be thrown together with those Irish! But Bobs is prepared to take John on as an officer, to return a favor; years before, the colonel had asked Rudyard to write for a new army paper, and Rudyard had obliged.
"If you don't think this regiment is suitable for John, I can certainly have him put on a list for a different one," Bobs assures him. But, of course, Rudyard can't dismiss the colonel's gesture. Besides, the list of candidates who are waiting impatiently for their commissions is getting longer by the day. And with John's eyes...
The official letter comes two days later, on September 13, 1914. John is appointed second lieutenant, backdated to August 16. Right away he receives four weeks of service time as a gift. The governess and the other servants hurriedly pack Master Kipling's luggage. The next day the whole family travels to London to visit the barber and John's tailor, who works a full hour taking measurements for his uniform. Everyone thinks it's exciting that John's life has been turned upside down in just one day. The Kiplings lunch together in the city and wave goodbye to John at the Warley Barracks, the dilapidated soldiers' quarters in Brentwood, where his regiment has been crammed while training for the fight.
Bad news arrives three days later. After a terrible battle, George Cecil is missing at the front. "Missing in action," Mummy writes. Now John can understand why she was so quiet and anxious when she said goodbye to him. George Cecil, such a splendid fellowâhow can that be? George used to visit them regularly. In August he was among the first British troops to be sent to the Belgian front via the French port of Boulogne. The British Expeditionary Force, known commonly as the BEF, has a clear goal: "To stop the German barbarians and save poor little Belgium." Everyone is quite worked up over the graphic stories in the English papers. To their bewildered readers they dish out so-called reports about German atrocities: villages burned to the ground, rapes. Sketch artists show Belgian children being speared on German bayonets, with a devil-like Prussian in a pointed helmet dragging women and girls in the background. The war propaganda machine is going at full speed. Every able-bodied British male should be flying into the action. The papers brush over the fact that in the meantime the inexperienced BEF is being ground into mincemeat near Mons. They are losing almost as many men as the Belgian troops. On September i, the Grenadiers, young George Cecil's battalion, were bayoneted to death while retreating. John Manners, who was George's best school friend and whom the Kiplings also knew, is dead, that is certain. But George's body has not been found. The strong ties between the Kiplings and George's parents become even stronger. At Bateman's, Rudyard and Carrie sympathize greatly with Lord and Lady Cecil, who are desperately searching for news about their son. The war has suddenly taken on a face. George and his friends are the first who will never return. And the list of dearly beloved sons of
Lord Roberts? Good old Bobs? Irish Guards, of course. Is it you?
John loses consciousness again.
Â
"Fantastic news, old boy!"
John sees that his father is walking toward him at a pace that is brisker than usual.
"This is for you, Lieu-ten-ant Kipling. Congratulations!" Cheerfully, Daddo waves the letter that his old friend Lord Roberts has just given him in London.
John snatches the paper from his father's hand. "The Irish Guards? Has that good Bobs fixed it up for me?"
Colonel Roberts is an aged veteran who earned his stripes during the Boer War in South Africa. Too old now to be at the army top, Bobs nevertheless has always had his own regiment, and he doesn't want to miss this war.
Daddo isn't totally satisfied. In the newspaper not too long ago he vented his wrath against the Irish, who want to free themselves from English rule. That
his
son must now be thrown together with those Irish! But Bobs is prepared to take John on as an officer, to return a favor; years before, the colonel had asked Rudyard to write for a new army paper, and Rudyard had obliged.
"If you don't think this regiment is suitable for John, I can certainly have him put on a list for a different one," Bobs assures him. But, of course, Rudyard can't dismiss the colonel's gesture. Besides, the list of candidates who are waiting impatiently for their commissions is getting longer by the day. And with John's eyes...
The official letter comes two days later, on September 13, 1914. John is appointed second lieutenant, backdated to August 16. Right away he receives four weeks of service time as a gift. The governess and the other servants hurriedly pack Master Kipling's luggage. The next day the whole family travels to London to visit the barber and John's tailor, who works a full hour taking measurements for his uniform. Everyone thinks it's exciting that John's life has been turned upside down in just one day. The Kiplings lunch together in the city and wave goodbye to John at the Warley Barracks, the dilapidated soldiers' quarters in Brentwood, where his regiment has been crammed while training for the fight.
Bad news arrives three days later. After a terrible battle, George Cecil is missing at the front. "Missing in action," Mummy writes. Now John can understand why she was so quiet and anxious when she said goodbye to him. George Cecil, such a splendid fellowâhow can that be? George used to visit them regularly. In August he was among the first British troops to be sent to the Belgian front via the French port of Boulogne. The British Expeditionary Force, known commonly as the BEF, has a clear goal: "To stop the German barbarians and save poor little Belgium." Everyone is quite worked up over the graphic stories in the English papers. To their bewildered readers they dish out so-called reports about German atrocities: villages burned to the ground, rapes. Sketch artists show Belgian children being speared on German bayonets, with a devil-like Prussian in a pointed helmet dragging women and girls in the background. The war propaganda machine is going at full speed. Every able-bodied British male should be flying into the action. The papers brush over the fact that in the meantime the inexperienced BEF is being ground into mincemeat near Mons. They are losing almost as many men as the Belgian troops. On September i, the Grenadiers, young George Cecil's battalion, were bayoneted to death while retreating. John Manners, who was George's best school friend and whom the Kiplings also knew, is dead, that is certain. But George's body has not been found. The strong ties between the Kiplings and George's parents become even stronger. At Bateman's, Rudyard and Carrie sympathize greatly with Lord and Lady Cecil, who are desperately searching for news about their son. The war has suddenly taken on a face. George and his friends are the first who will never return. And the list of dearly beloved sons of
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