But
I recognized Grish Chunder's point of view and sympathized with it.
I recognized Grish Chunder's point of view and sympathized with it.
Kipling - Poems
That is rot--bosh.
But he would be most good to make to
see things. Suppose now we pretend that it was only play"--I had never
seen Grish Chunder so excited--"and pour the ink-pool into his hand.
Eh, what do you think? I tell you that he could see anything that a man
could see. Let me get the ink and the camphor. He is a seer and he will
tell us very many things. "
"He may be all you say, but I'm not going to trust him to your Gods and
devils. "
"It will not hurt him. He will only feel a little stupid and dull when
he wakes up. You have seen boys look into the ink-pool before. "
"That is the reason why I am not going to see it any more. You'd better
go, Grish Chunder. "
He went, declaring far down the staircase that it was throwing away my
only chance of looking into the future.
This left me unmoved, for I was concerned for the past, and no peering
of hypnotized boys into mirrors and ink-pools would help me do that.
But
I recognized Grish Chunder's point of view and sympathized with it.
"What a big black brute that was! " said Charlie, when I returned to
him. "Well, look here, I've just done a poem; dil it instead of playing
dominoes after lunch. May I read it? "
"Let me read it to myself. "
"Then you miss the proper expression. Besides, you always make my things
sound as if the rhymes were all wrong. "
"Read it aloud, then. You're like the rest of 'em. "
Charlie mouthed me his poem, and it was not much worse than the average
of his verses. He had been reading his book faithfully, but he was not
pleased when I told him that I preferred my Longfellow undiluted with
Charlie.
Then we began to go through the MS. line by line; Charlie parrying every
objection and correction with: "Yes, that may be better, but you don't
catch what I'm driving at. "
Charlie was, in one way at least, very like one kind of poet.
There was a pencil scrawl at the back of the paper and "What's that?
see things. Suppose now we pretend that it was only play"--I had never
seen Grish Chunder so excited--"and pour the ink-pool into his hand.
Eh, what do you think? I tell you that he could see anything that a man
could see. Let me get the ink and the camphor. He is a seer and he will
tell us very many things. "
"He may be all you say, but I'm not going to trust him to your Gods and
devils. "
"It will not hurt him. He will only feel a little stupid and dull when
he wakes up. You have seen boys look into the ink-pool before. "
"That is the reason why I am not going to see it any more. You'd better
go, Grish Chunder. "
He went, declaring far down the staircase that it was throwing away my
only chance of looking into the future.
This left me unmoved, for I was concerned for the past, and no peering
of hypnotized boys into mirrors and ink-pools would help me do that.
But
I recognized Grish Chunder's point of view and sympathized with it.
"What a big black brute that was! " said Charlie, when I returned to
him. "Well, look here, I've just done a poem; dil it instead of playing
dominoes after lunch. May I read it? "
"Let me read it to myself. "
"Then you miss the proper expression. Besides, you always make my things
sound as if the rhymes were all wrong. "
"Read it aloud, then. You're like the rest of 'em. "
Charlie mouthed me his poem, and it was not much worse than the average
of his verses. He had been reading his book faithfully, but he was not
pleased when I told him that I preferred my Longfellow undiluted with
Charlie.
Then we began to go through the MS. line by line; Charlie parrying every
objection and correction with: "Yes, that may be better, but you don't
catch what I'm driving at. "
Charlie was, in one way at least, very like one kind of poet.
There was a pencil scrawl at the back of the paper and "What's that?
