The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-12-24
WHERE CONAN DOYLE LIVES.
SHERLOCK HOLMES HAS MADE THE
AUTHOR FAMOUS AGAIN.

Where He Lives at Hindhead-Grcnt
Cricket Player and AthIete-Stories
of His PrOwess-Home Suggests n
Comfortable English Gentleman
Rather Than m AuthOr-Statue
Bust of sherlock HOImes-About
Mrs. DoyIe-Whcre the Author Has
Obtained His Impressions AMI Lit
erary Material.
Copyright, 1899. by the Author.
New York, Dec. 22.-The presentation Of
Sherlock Holmes as a play has revived
the interest in DR.. Conan Doyle to a re-
markable degree. Sherlock Holmes Is
unquestionably the greatest detective in
fiction, and his impersonation by Mr.. Gil
lett haseet critics to thinking again about
DR. Doyles newer work ana his work
ways. 1 had the pleasure Of visiting DR..
Doyle recently in his English home. He
is as far removed from civilization as is
Kipling in his home at Nottingham He
lives fully four miles from the nearest
railroad-at Hindhead. 1t is one of the
charming English residence towns free
from most of the unpleasant features of
city life, yet with urban advantages. A
person of means and tastes who desires
both country and city existence should
feel satisfied in this part of the Queens
domain unless over fastidious Along the
range of hills can be found the homes OF
some of England's most noted writer's and
scientists. past and present. Tennyson
lived here. Prof. Tyndau was also one
of the Haslemere colony, living next door
to DR.. Doyle The natural beauties of the
surroundings impress themselves on the
mind at once. From his rear or perhaps
front varanda-for the house seems to
have a front where the rear should be-the
owner can look directly down the valley
to its foot five miles away. Both sides
contain thickly wooded groves divided by
wide patches of heather with here ana
there a cultivated field or a strip of pas
ture land Six hundred feet above the
sea, it is high enough to get the invig-
Grating air of such attitudes, while from
the English channel, but twenty miles
away. comes the pleasant sea breeze.
A glance at Doyle indicates how well
this country is suited to his tastes and
habits. He might be 45-he might be 40
1t is hard to say, as he stands over six
feet, a fine specimen of the vigorous,
hardy manhood native to Great Britain.
His strong, resolute features are tanned
by exposure in the cricket field, on the
tennis court and by season after season of
bird and rabbit shooting. 1t can be s en-
at once that he needs no tonics for ner-
vousness or dyspepsia Apparently he
has no nerves, for whether handling a
cricket bat in a decisive play or sighting
his gun in a supreme moment one can
not trace a tremor of the muscle or a
culver of the eyelids, Indoor and out
door exercises have given him muscles of
steel and the suppleness and agility Of q
; youth in his teens.
AS one turns the pages of such books
as the White Company. Micah Clark and
Brigadier Gerard he is struck with the
! rugged manflness of the principal charac-
ters while throughout each work tone
Of vlgor and virlity prevails, which is crlg-
inal with the writer. Talk with him even
for a half hour and you realize that they
are the product OF mind not enfeebled
by over-exertion, but nourlshed and
streng thening from a superb physical sys-
TEN. In a word he has not developed his
mental faculties at the expense Of the
others, but has kept both well balanced
with the result that to-day he seems as
| capable of accomplishing 8 much in the
literary field as he has already accom-
pllshed-and perhaps more.
He has built up his constitution so that
to-day he is capable of enduring any
amount of fatigue without being the
worse for it. The four miles from Hind
head TO Has!emere is a short walk for him
and many times a year DOS he cover 1t.
Probably everyone for ten miles around
knows him by sight, for his figure is IA
mi lar to the country felix.
Naturally of peaeeable dispos ton the
author is not to be trihed with any more
than some of the characters in his writ
ings. He is a great believer in fair play,
and on more than one occasion has stood
up for the weaker man in trouble to the
cost of his assailant. They tell story
about HaSlemere of a little adventure in
which he took part at Southsea near
Portsmouth, his former home. Many of
the cart drivers at Southsea have boys to
help deliver their loads. One morning, as
the doctor was getting a little exercise 10
whet his appetite for breakfast, one of
these carts came along. The driver, a
heavily built man, had been drinking I'M
III he was in an ugly mood. For some rea-
son he became angry with the 10y, and
stopping his forEe Logan beating the lad
with the handle CT his whip. He was 50
busily engaged that he did not know any
one else was interested until a hand grasp
Ell him by the shoulder and pul ed him
! ,ong into the street. 81 think you've