16 DECEMBER 1955, Page 16

SIR,—I like to think of Mr. Wain 'battering his nauseated

way' through Kim and Puck of Pook's Hill through 'an habitation enforced' and `friendly brook.' I wonder what Mr. Wain does call good stories. He is shocked by the protection of a yard foreman from assault, and his comment on the passage suggests that he thinks a Communist private can shake his fist under the nose of his CO without reproof.

Mr. Wain does not mention Kipling's verse even to abuse it. If Mr. Wain has to batter his nauseated way through Kipling's short stories he must know of a lot of better stories by other men. We should like to hear about them.—Yours faithfully,

A rmsley, Fordingbridge