The collection consists of a framed facsimile (or possible forgery) of The Absent-Minded Beggar, an 1899 poem by Rudyard Kipling. The poem was set to music by Sir Arthur Sullivan as part of an appeal to raise money for the Boer War.

The accrual consists of a framed facsimile (or possible forgery) of The Absent-Minded Beggar, an 1899 poem by Rudyard Kipling. The facsimile was presented to J.S. Day in 1900, the Salmon Arm Branch in 1940 and to Bill Sonne on April 14, 1968.