American Notes
()
About this ebook
Rudyard Kipling
<p>Rudyard Kipling nació en 1865 en Bombay, donde su padre era profesor de escultura arquitectónica y director de la recién fundada Escuela de Arte Sir Jamsetjee Jeejebhoy. Como era costumbre en la época, cuando cumplió cinco años lo mandaron, con su hermana Alice, a Inglaterra a una especie de internado en Southsea, especialmente concebido para hijos de «angloindios» (así llamaban a los ingleses establecidos en la India): allí pasaron siete años sometidos, como Kipling escribiría en sus memorias, a una «tortura calculada, tanto religiosa como científica». Luego estudió en Devon, en el United Services College. Volvió a la India en 1882 para trabajar como reportero. En 1888 publicó una colección de esbozos, poemas y cuentos ya aparecidos en la prensa, con el título de <i>Plain Tales of the Hills</i>. Cuando un año después volvía a Londres, era ya una celebridad. <i>El hándicap de la vida</i> (1891), <i>Barrack-Room Ballads</i> (1892), los dos <i>Libros de la selva</i> (1894, 1895), <i>Capitanes intrépidos</i> (1897), <i>Kim</i> (1901) y <i>Los cuentos de así fue</i> (1902) acabaron de cimentar su fama, como narrador y como poeta, y en 1907 le fue concedido el Premio Nobel: fue el primer escritor en lengua inglesa en recibirlo. Casado con la norteamericana Caroline Starr Balestier, vivió entre 1892 y 1896 en Vermont, en Estados Unidos. Al terminar la Primera Guerra Mundial, en la que su hijo John murió en combate, se incorporó al Comité Imperial de Tumbas de Guerra, responsable de los cementerios ajardinados que aún se conservan a lo largo de lo que fue el frente occidental. Murió en Burwash (East Sussex) en 1936.</p>
Read more from Rudyard Kipling
Kim Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Kim Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Classic Children's Stories (Golden Deer Classics) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Christmas Library: 250+ Essential Christmas Novels, Poems, Carols, Short Stories...by 100+ Authors Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Rudyard Kipling's Tales of Horror and Fantasy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Jungle Book: Level 1 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Plain Tales from the Hills Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Just So Stories: Level 1 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Classic Starts®: The Jungle Book Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/520 Eternal Masterpieces Of Children Stories (Golden Deer Classics) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Complete Works of Rudyard Kipling: All novels, short stories, letters and poems Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSomething Of Myself: For My Friends Known And Unknown Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Short Stories Of Rudyard Kipling: "He travels the fastest who travels alone." Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Victorian Mystery Megapack: 27 Classic Mystery Tales Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Greatest Christmas Stories: 120+ Authors, 250+ Magical Christmas Stories Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to American Notes
Related ebooks
The Thirty-Nine Steps Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5American Notes Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAmerican Notes: "We have forty million reasons for failure, but not a single excuse." Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAdventures of Richard Hannay: The Thirty Nine Steps; Greenmantle; Mr. Standfast Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOscar in Africa Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe 39 Steps Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Country of Ghosts Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Thirty-Nine Steps (Warbler Classics Annotated Edition) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Man on the Box Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Thirty Nine Steps (Illustrated) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Thirty-Nine Steps (Dream Classics) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Colored Man Round the World Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Thirty-Nine Steps (Diversion Classics) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Thirty – Nine Steps Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsI Kill Monsters: Fury (Book 1) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Alarms And Discursions (A Selection Of Essays) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Richard Hannay Collection: The 39 Steps, Greenmantle, Mr. Standfast Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Complete Richard Hannay: "The Thirty-Nine Steps","Greenmantle","Mr Standfas Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFrog Gig and Other Stories Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe shadow over Innsmouth Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Man Who Would be King Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Big Four (Annotated) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMy Friend the Chauffeur Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Shadow of Innsmouth Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Ivan Greet's Masterpiece Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde: New Revised Edition Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSelected Works of John Buchan Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Good Delivery: Nine Men. A Perfect Crime. Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
European History For You
The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Blitzed: Drugs in the Third Reich Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Masters of the Air: America's Bomber Boys Who Fought the Air War Against Nazi Germany Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Time Traveler's Guide to Medieval England: A Handbook for Visitors to the Fourteenth Century Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mein Kampf: English Translation of Mein Kamphf - Mein Kampt - Mein Kamphf Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Quite Nice and Fairly Accurate Good Omens Script Book: The Script Book Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Anarchy: The East India Company, Corporate Violence, and the Pillage of an Empire Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Oscar Wilde: The Unrepentant Years Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Neither here nor there: Travels in Europe Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Gulag Archipelago [Volume 1]: An Experiment in Literary Investigation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Victorian Lady's Guide to Fashion and Beauty Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Celtic Mythology: A Concise Guide to the Gods, Sagas and Beliefs Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Witch: A History of Fear, from Ancient Times to the Present Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Six Wives of Henry VIII Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Notes from a Small Island Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Very Secret Sex Lives of Medieval Women Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Killing England: The Brutal Struggle for American Independence Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Forgotten Highlander: An Incredible WWII Story of Survival in the Pacific Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Rise of the Fourth Reich: The Secret Societies That Threaten to Take Over America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Faithful Spy: Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the Plot to Kill Hitler Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Finding Freedom: Harry and Meghan and the Making of a Modern Royal Family Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Anglo-Saxons: A History of the Beginnings of England: 400 – 1066 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Jane Austen: The Complete Novels Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Psychedelic Gospels: The Secret History of Hallucinogens in Christianity Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Galileo's Daughter: A Historical Memoir of Science, Faith and Love Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Churchill's Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare: The Mavericks Who Plotted Hitler's Defeat Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire: Complete Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Book of English Magic Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Reviews for American Notes
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
American Notes - Rudyard Kipling
AMERICAN NOTES
..................
Rudyard Kipling
KYPROS PRESS
Thank you for reading. In the event that you appreciate this book, please consider sharing the good word(s) by leaving a review, or connect with the author.
This book is a work of nonfiction and is intended to be factually accurate.
All rights reserved. Aside from brief quotations for media coverage and reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced or distributed in any form without the author’s permission. Thank you for supporting authors and a diverse, creative culture by purchasing this book and complying with copyright laws.
Copyright © 2015 by Rudyard Kipling
Interior design by Pronoun
Distribution by Pronoun
TABLE OF CONTENTS
American Notes
At the Golden Gate
American Politics
American Salmon
The Yellowstone
Chicago
The American Army
America’s Defenceless Coasts
AMERICAN NOTES
..................
AT THE GOLDEN GATE
..................
"Serene, indifferent to fate,
Thou sittest at the Western Gate;
Thou seest the white seas fold their tents,
Oh, warder of two continents;
Thou drawest all things, small and great,
To thee, beside the Western Gate."
THIS is what Bret Harte has written of the great city of San Francisco, and for the past fortnight I have been wondering what made him do it.
There is neither serenity nor indifference to be found in these parts; and evil would it be for the continents whose wardship were intrusted to so reckless a guardian.
Behold me pitched neck-and-crop from twenty days of the high seas into the whirl of California, deprived of any guidance, and left to draw my own conclusions. Protect me from the wrath of an outraged community if these letters be ever read by American eyes! San Francisco is a mad city — inhabited for the most part by perfectly insane people, whose women are of a remarkable beauty.
When the City of Pekin
steamed through the Golden Gate, I saw with great joy that the block-house which guarded the mouth of the finest harbor in the world, sir,
could be silenced by two gunboats from Hong Kong with safety, comfort, and despatch. Also, there was not a single American vessel of war in the harbor.
This may sound bloodthirsty; but remember, I had come with a grievance upon me — the grievance of the pirated English books.
Then a reporter leaped aboard, and ere I could gasp held me in his toils. He pumped me exhaustively while I was getting ashore, demanding of all things in the world news about Indian journalism. It is an awful thing to enter a new land with a new lie on your lips. I spoke the truth to the evil-minded Custom House man who turned my most sacred raiment on a floor composed of stable refuse and pine splinters; but the reporter overwhelmed me not so much by his poignant audacity as his beautiful ignorance. I am sorry now that I did not tell him more lies as I passed into a city of three hundred thousand white men. Think of it! Three hundred thousand white men and women gathered in one spot, walking upon real pavements in front of plate-glass-windowed shops, and talking something that at first hearing was not very different from English. It was only when I had tangled myself up in a hopeless maze of small wooden houses, dust, street refuse, and children who played with empty kerosene tins, that I discovered the difference of speech.
You want to go to the Palace Hotel?
said an affable youth on a dray. What in hell are you doing here, then? This is about the lowest ward in the city. Go six blocks north to corner of Geary and Markey, then walk around till you strike corner of Gutter and Sixteenth, and that brings you there.
I do not vouch for the literal accuracy of these directions, quoting but from a disordered memory.
Amen,
I said. But who am I that I should strike the corners of such as you name? Peradventure they be gentlemen of repute, and might hit back. Bring it down to dots, my son.
I thought he would have smitten me, but he didn’t. He explained that no one ever used the word street,
and that every one was supposed to know how the streets ran, for sometimes the names were upon the lamps and sometimes they weren’t. Fortified with these directions, I proceeded till I found a mighty street, full of sumptuous buildings four and five stories high, but paved with rude cobblestones, after the fashion of the year 1.
Here a tram-car, without any visible means of support, slid stealthily behind me and nearly struck me in the back. This was the famous cable car of San Francisco, which runs by gripping an endless wire rope sunk in the ground, and of which I will tell you more anon. A hundred yards further there was a slight commotion in the street, a gathering together of three or four, something that glittered as it moved very swiftly. A ponderous Irish gentleman, with priest’s cords in his hat and a small nickel-plated badge on his fat bosom, emerged from the knot supporting a Chinaman who had been stabbed in the eye and was bleeding like a pig. The by-standers went their ways, and the Chinaman, assisted by the policeman, his own. Of course this was none of my business, but I rather wanted to know what had happened to the gentleman who had dealt the stab. It said a great deal for the excellence of the municipal arrangement of the town that a surging crowd did not at once block the street to see what was going forward. I was the sixth man and the last who assisted at the performance, and my curiosity was six times the greatest. Indeed, I felt ashamed of showing it.
There were no more incidents till I reached the Palace Hotel, a seven-storied warren of humanity with a thousand rooms in it. All the travel books will tell you about hotel arrangements in this country. They should be seen to be appreciated. Understand clearly — and this letter is written after a thousand miles of experiences — that money will not buy you service in the West. When the hotel clerk — the man who awards your room to you and who is supposed to give you information — when that resplendent individual stoops to attend to your wants he does so whistling or humming or picking his teeth, or pauses to converse with some one he knows. These performances, I gather, are to impress upon you that he is a free man and your equal. From his general appearance and the size of his diamonds he ought to be your superior. There is no necessity for this swaggering self-consciousness of freedom. Business is business, and the man who is paid to attend to a man might reasonably devote his whole attention to the job. Out of office hours he can take his coach and four and pervade society if he pleases.
In a vast marble-paved hall, under the glare of an electric light, sat forty or fifty men, and for their use and amusement were provided spittoons of infinite capacity and generous gape. Most of the men wore frock-coats and top-hats — the things that we in India put on at a wedding-breakfast, if we possess them — but they all spat. They spat on principle. The spittoons were on the staircases, in each bedroom — yea, and in chambers even more sacred than these. They chased one into retirement, but they blossomed in chiefest splendor round the bar, and they were all used, every reeking one of them.
Just before I began to feel deathly sick another