The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1895-01-10

Cor0O Dy long Nall G0aG runs the en-
tire length of the building on the west
side. Looking at the house from the
highway, one wonders if Kipling, in his
dread of the interviewer and the Gu
rious public, has built house without
a door, for no means of entering the
strange looking residence are to be seen.
There is a door, however, but it is at
the rear of the house well concealed
from view. At the southern end of the
house is a double porch, from which
may be obtained a magnificent view of
the New Hampshire hills and the Con-
necticut valley. Kipling's study is To-
Gated at this end of the house.
Kipling has caused a deal of local
gossip since be located near Brattleboro
and the stories describing his eccentrici-
ties would fill volume. He has very
pronounced views on a great many sub
jects, but he reserves bis strongest Ian
guage for newspaper men. 1t is said that
it is about as difficult to interview the
Anglo Indian novelist as it is to get
President Cleveland to talk to a reporter
for publication. If a reporter accosts
him on the highway, he terms the incl
dent an outrageous assault and takes to
his heels. If eccentricity makes genius,
Kipling is a genius of the first magni-
tude For many years seeker of fame
and public attention, he now assumes
the attitude of shy and shrinking lit
erary recluse whose motto is, 1.-The pub
lie be something or othered" His
aversion to reporters seems rather
strange, too, when it is remembered
that in India he was a newspaper man
himself.
About the first thing Kipling did in
literary way after he arrived in Brat
tleboro was to write a story in which
town suspiciously like Brattleboro in
certain respects was held up to ridicule.
Thissdid not make the people love him,
but it made them talk. and Kipling en-
joys making people talk, provided they
do not talk to him. One of the sights Of
the town is to see him strolling along
the streets, with his English pipe clutch
ed between his teeth and an expression
of unconquerable determination written
upon every feature. He is anything but
dandy He is fond of old clothes and
affects rusty som brero that has seen
better days and many Of them. On
cold days he goes abroad in big fur
coat and looks more like Russian nj
hilist than an Indian novelist
Like most Englishmen of means, how
ever, Kipling usually dresses for dinner
and appears at the table clad in the con-
ventional dress suit of polite society.
When he first made Brattleboro his
home, he rather snubbed the society
that sought him, but he has since be-
come less exclusive, and he has num-
Der of friends outside of the Balestier
family, who picture him as a most com
panionable man and an entertaining,
hospitable host '.Begad" and damn
are two of his fayorite words, and any
one who offends him is usually referred
to as that driveling idiot. He is very
fond of children. and his baby, which
is now about years old, is monarch of
all she surveys He likes Vermont and
declares that there is nothing like Yer
mont air for babies.
In his relations with the humble mem
bers of society Kipling is inclined to be
very democratic. He scrapes an acQuaint-
ance with numerous odd characters he
meets, and it is said he created some
what of sensation in Brattleboro one
| day by stopping a China1nan on the
street and conversing with him in Chi
nese for half an hour.