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Traffics and Discoveries by Kipling, Rudyard, 1865-1936
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A word from our supporters: File extension TD | "I've seen that," said Pyecroft quickly. "It was so." "But if he was all charcoal-like?" said Pritchard, shuddering. "You know how writing shows up white on a burned letter? Well, it was like that, you see. We buried 'em in the teak and I kept... But he was a friend of you two gentlemen, you see." Mr. Hooper brought his hand away from his waistcoat-pocket--empty. Pritchard covered his face with his hands for a moment, like a child shutting out an ugliness. "And to think of her at Hauraki!" he murmured--"with 'er 'air-ribbon on my beer. 'Ada,' she said to her niece... Oh, my Gawd!"... And all Nature seems at rest, Underneath the bower, 'mid the perfume of the flower, Sat a maiden with the one she loves the best----" sang the picnic-party waiting for their train at Glengariff. "Well, I don't know how you feel about it," said Pyecroft, "but 'avin' seen 'is face for five consecutive nights on end, I'm inclined to finish what's left of the beer an' thank Gawd he's dead!" BELOW THE MILL DAM"OUR FATHERS ALSO"Wit or the works of Desire-- Cushioned about on the kindly years Between the wall and the fire. Standeth no more to glean; For the Gates of Love and Learning locked When they went out between. Signalled it was or told By the dear lips long given to theirs And longer to the mould. Written it was or said By the mighty men of their mighty youth. Which is mighty being dead. The Temple's Veil they call; And the dust that on the Shewbread lies Is holy over all. Of slow conspiring stars-- The ancient Front of Things unbroke But heavy with new wars? Wit or the waste of Desire-- Cushioned about on the kindly years Between the wall and the fire. BELOW THE MILL DAM"Book--Book--Domesday Book!" They were letting in the water for the evening stint at Robert's Mill, and the wooden Wheel where lived the Spirit of the Mill settled to its nine hundred year old song: "Here Azor, a freeman, held one rod, but it never paid geld. _Nun-nun-nunquam geldavit_. Here Reinbert has one villein and four cottars with one plough--and wood for six hogs and two fisheries of sixpence and a mill of ten shillings--_unum molinum_--one mill. Reinbert's mill--Robert's Mill. Then and afterwards and now--_tunc et post et modo_--Robert's Mill. Book--Book--Domesday Book!" "I confess," said the Black Rat on the crossbeam, luxuriously trimming his whiskers--"I confess I am not above appreciating my position and all it means." He was a genuine old English black rat, a breed which, report says, is rapidly diminishing before the incursions of the brown variety. "Appreciation is the surest sign of inadequacy," said the Grey Cat, coiled up on a piece of sacking. "But I know what you mean," she added. "To sit by right at the heart of things--eh?" "Yes," said the Black Rat, as the old mill shook and the heavy stones thuttered on the grist. "To possess--er--all this environment as an integral part of one's daily life must insensibly of course ... You see?" "I feel," said the Grey Cat. "Indeed, if _we_ are not saturated with the spirit of the Mill, who should be?" |