Somebody down below this entry (didn't leave a name, and that's good) said (he or she?) can't bear to read Kipling's poetry because he sometimes lapses into what we might call "baby talk". I say that's perfectly true. Kipling does indeed burble and coo when addressing the very young. So I'm 70 years old, a man grown, a former sergeant of Marines, and I burble and coo when I talk to my loving cat, Sam (who probably is smarter than most human infants).

But I wonder if the anonymous writer has read the Kipling lines that combat solders often quote:

"When you're wounded and left on Afghanistan's plains,
And the women come down to cut up what remains,
Just roll to your rifle and blow out your brains,
And go to your God like a soldier."

That sure doesn't sound like sissy stuff or baby talk to me. What it tells me is that Kipling had been there. Kipling saw it all and felt what he saw. He was a tough old buzzard.

Some folks don't like Kipling. As for me, I love everything I've read by Kipling thus far, and I wish Rikki Tikki Tavi would come and sleep with me and my cat Sam in our bed. Kipling wrote some of the most astounding fiction I've ever read. Those who don't like Kipling should try George MacDonald Fraser. If you think Kipling was a liar, try Flashman's account of the Sepoy Mutiny, the Rani of Jhansi or of the battle at Cawnpore Well. WOW!

If you think George MacDonald Fraser was a liar, you should know he crawled through the jungle on his belly and fought the Japanese banzai boys from one end of Burma to the other. Every once in a while, though, he liked to stop, build a fire, and "brew up". He died a couple of years ago and the world is a lesser place for that. Most of what he wrote is outrageously funny even for being some of the grittiest stuff I've ever read.

Fraser is (was) a rare talent. So was Mr. Kipling. ( )

A compilation of Kipling's stories, novels, and verse. Shows him at his best.