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The Absent-Minded Beggar

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Poetry & Opera

   The Absent-Minded Beggar is an 1899 poem by Rudyard Kipling, famously
   set to music by Sir Arthur Sullivan. It was written as part of an
   appeal by the Daily Mail to raise money for the dependents of soldiers
   fighting in the South African War (sometimes known as the Boer War),
   and exhorted its audience to "pass the hat for your credit's sake, and
   pay— pay— pay!"

   In September 1899, it was clear that the crisis in South Africa was
   likely to turn into war. By the 2nd October, all military leave had
   been cancelled, and urgent preparations were under way to send a large
   expeditionary force to the Cape, with horses and supplies being
   requisitioned and mobilised. On 7th October, a proclamation was issued
   calling out the Army Reserve; of 65,000 liable men, around 25,000 were
   intended to be called up for service.

   Many, if not all, of the men thus mobilised were ex-soldiers in
   permanent employment; returning to the Forces meant a significant cut
   in their income. In addition, there was no contemporary legislation of
   the time protecting the permanent employment of reservists; employers
   could – and often would – replace them with other workers with no
   guarantee that if the soldier returned he would be able to take back
   his job.

   As a result, a large number of families were quickly plunged into
   poverty – a lifestyle comfortably maintained on a workman's wage of
   twenty shillings could not be kept up on the infantryman's "shilling a
   day." As if this were not enough, there was no guarantee that the
   husband would have a job to return to, even without the prospect of
   injury or death. A number of charitable funds existed to support these
   individuals, most notably the Soldiers' and Sailors' Families
   Association, but a number of private appeals were also made.

   Simultaneously, a wave of patriotism was sweeping the country, catered
   to by jingoist newspapers such as the Daily Mail; many of these
   newspapers were also involved in the charitable fundraising efforts.
   The Mail's proprietor, Alfred Harmsworth, hit upon the idea of
   commissioning Rudyard Kipling, the foremost popular poet of the day, to
   write a poem for the newspaper's charitable fund. Kipling agreed, and
   produced The Absent-Minded Beggar on 16th October.

   The poem was highly popular, with performers at music-halls and
   theatres adding recitals to their acts. The poem was set to music – to
   what Kipling described as " a tune guaranteed to pull teeth out of
   barrel-organs" – by Sir Arthur Sullivan. The setting was completed on
   November 5th, and the first public performance of the music was made on
   the 13th at the Alhambra Theatre. Sullivan's manuscript was later
   auctioned for £500 towards the fund.

   The Mail's charitable fund was eventually titled the "Absent Minded
   Beggar Relief Corps" or the "Absent Minded Beggar Fund," providing
   small comforts to the soldiers themselves as well as supporting their
   families. It raised a total of about £250,000. The money was not raised
   solely by the Mail; the poem was publicly available, with anyone
   permitted to perform or print it in any way so long as any resulting
   profits went to the fund.

   The popularity of the poem was such that allusions to it were common.
   By November 18th – a month after publication – "a new patriotic play"
   planned to open the next week was titled The Absent Minded Beggar, or,
   For Queen and Country; the same month, the Charity Organisation Society
   called the Absent-Minded Beggar the "most prominent figure on the
   charitable horizon at present." Even a critical book on the conduct of
   the war published in 1900 was titled An absent-minded war.
   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Absent-Minded_Beggar"
   This reference article is mainly selected from the English Wikipedia
   with only minor checks and changes (see www.wikipedia.org for details
   of authors and sources) and is available under the GNU Free
   Documentation License. See also our Disclaimer.
