Source
A hand written version in the Library of Congress in Washington D.C., dated 30 September [1889]. The lines were written while Kipling was crossing the Atlantic on the SS City of Berlin, with a note:
‘9.35. Had a good hand at Euchre’
It was not collected by Kipling, but is to be found in Rutherford (p. 467) and Pinney (p. 2177).
Euchre is a competitive card game for two or four players. It is an offshoot of Juckerspiel, a game that became widely popular throughout Europe during the Napoleonic era. In the 1800s, it became one of the most popular card games in America and Australia. It was later eclipsed by Bridge.
[P.H.]
©Philip Holberton 2020 All rights reserved