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ABAFT THE FUNNEL
By RUDYARD KIPLING
Abaft the Funnel
BY
RUDYARD KIPLING
"Men in pajamas sitting abaft the funnel
and swapping lies of the purple seas"
NEW YORK
B. W. DODGE & COMPANY
1909
Copyright, 1909, by
B. W. DODGE & COMPANY
PREFACE
The measure of a man's popularity is not always—or indeed seldom—themeasure of his intrinsic worth. So, when the earlier work of any writeris gathered together in more enduring form, catering to the enthusiasmof his readers in his maturer years, there is always a suspicion thatthe venture is purely a commercial one, without literary justification.
Fortunately these stories of Mr. Kipling's form their own best excusefor this, their first appearance together in book form. Not merelybecause in them may be traced the origin of that style and subjectmatter that later made their author famous; but because the stories arein themselves worth while—worth writing, worth reading. "The Likes o'Us" is as true to the type as any of the immortal Mulvaney stories;the beginning of "New Brooms" is as succinctly fine as any prose Mr.Kipling ever wrote; for searching out and presenting such splendidpieces of fiction as "Sleipner, late Thurinda," and "A Little MoreBeef" to a public larger than their original one in India, no apologyis necessary.
A.F.
CONTENTS