when they have done so they are sacred, and not to be touched,
not only by others, but even (religious touch!) by themselves.
That red turret is one of the last of the temples. Posting a letter and
getting married are among the few things left that are entirely romantic;
for to be entirely romantic a thing must be irrevocable.
We think a pillar-box prosaic, because there is no rhyme to it.
We think a pillar-box unpoetical, because we have never seen it
in a poem. But the bold fact is entirely on the side of poetry.
A signal-box is only called a signal-box; it is a house of life and death.
A pillar-box is only called a pillar-box; it is a sanctuary of
human words. If you think the name of "Smith" prosaic, it is not
because you are practical and sensible; it is because you are too much
affected with literary refinements. The name shouts poetry at you.
If you think of it otherwise, it is because you are steeped and
sodden with verbal reminiscences, because you remember everything
in Punch or Comic Cuts about Mr. Smith being drunk or Mr. Smith
being henpecked. All these things were given to you poetical.
It is only by a long and elaborate process of literary effort
that you have made them prosaic.

Now, the first and fairest thing to say about Rudyard Kipling
is that he has borne a brilliant part in thus recovering the lost
provinces of poetry. He has not been frightened by that brutal
materialistic air which clings only to words; he has pierced through
to the romantic, imaginative matter of the things themselves.
He has perceived the significance and philosophy of steam and of slang.
Steam may be, if you like, a dirty by-product of science.
Slang may be, if you like, a dirty by-product of language.
But at least he has been among the few who saw the divine parentage of
these things, and knew that where there is smoke there is fire--that is,