Kipling Made Man's Last Hours Happy

1905

Popular Author Comforted Dying Sailor in Hospital

A pretty story about a popular author was told the other day. A nurse in an American hospital had as patient a sailor who was a great sufferer and not expected to live many days.

The poor man worried a great deal because he thought there would be no sea in heaven. To him the prospect of playing on a golden fiddle offered no attraction. As the priest had failed to comfort him, it occurred to the nurse that it might benefit her patient if she could get Mr. Rudyard Kipling to come and talk a little to him, and as he happened to be visiting the hospital at the time, Mr. Kipling willingly acceded to her request. He said a few words to the dying man and apparently gave him much comfort.

A few days afterward Mr. Kipling sent in his own handwriting a copy of the poem, "The Last Chantey," which the conversation with the sailor had inspired. The dying man was so delighted with it that he expressed a wish for it to be placed in his coffin, and the nurse duly carried out his wish.

If Mr. Kipling's reward for his kind action came in the inspiration he obtained, Shakespeare's well-known description of mercy — "It blesseth him that gives and him that takes" — was justified. — Liverpool (Eng.) Mercury.