Thank you, Tim Connell, George Engel and Andrew Dodsworth! Between you it
looks as though you've solved a puzzle that's bothered me for years. The
title 'The Propagation of Knowledge' combines The Society for the
Propagation of Useful Knowledge/The Advancement of Learning: yes, I'm sure
that's what Kipling was thinking of. The story is about conventional
teaching, a teacher provoked into a genuinely interesting diatribe,
knowledge gleaned by Beetle's promiscuous browsing - and how Stalky turns
it into Useful Knowledge: 'This ain't your silly English Literature, you
ass. It's our marks.' Marks that will get them commissions in the army.
But meanwhile the enraged King, provoked by Beetle and friends, has
succeeded in interesting them in a literary subject. As Andrew quite
rightly points out, Kipling loved jokes and wordplay.
And Kingsley Amis said Kipling wasn't good at titles. Hah! Lisa
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