Ruddy Kipling and His Aunt Judy

Juliana Horatia Ewing, Rudyard Kipling's "Aunt Judy," came from a much applauded and honored family and early in her brief life (1840–1881) conceived of herself as an inventor of tales. She developed a high degree of success as an author of children's literature in Aunt Judy's Magazine. She was became the mentor of Kipling, not in person but through what she had written. Ewing's Six to Sixteen may well have been the most influential book of Kipling's life: "I owe more in circuitous ways to that tale than I can tell. I knew it, as I know it still, almost by heart. Here was a history of real people and real things." The extent of his debt to Ewin has never been fully explored, but the profound and lasting ways Ewing's writings served to influence Kipling are discussed in detail in this article.