Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1899-04-28
HOW HE GOT KIPLING
AREPoRTER's TussLE TO INTERVIEW
THE GREAT AUTHOR.
After an Unavailing Exhibition of
Impudcnt Nerve the Effort Succeed
ed by Turning the Conversation to
the Subject of Soldering,

-S ~
the Subject of Soldering.
"When Rudyard Kipling first visited
this country, he had q short, sharp and
decisive pose to which he chung tenacious
ly," said n Chicago newspaper man, ''and
l was sent down to Kipling's hotel to pick
a bit of talk out of him when he struck
Chicago on his way from San Francisco to
New York. Hc wasn't quite such a big gun
then as he is now, but he was big enough.
All the way from the coast to Chicago tho
reporters he had met had been hammering
him us II case of n remarkably bright
young man afflicted with elcphantiasis Of
tho skull. l concluded that all of this
anvil chorus music made by the reporters
kipling had met was unjust. I had such
m opinion of my own interviewing skill
that l would have been willing to lay bet
ter than even money that I'd succeed in
getting a corking, redhot talk out Of the
young East Indian.
HE got into Chicago at 4 O'Clock in the
afternoon, too late for the hotel reporters
Tor the afternoon papers to get in u talk
with him. Kipling put up at the Richie
lieu, and I sent my card up to him about
2 O'Clock In the evening. After about five
f" ~ AAGs wearing d tCEY
baggy suit Of clothes and the FUNNIEST
black derby hat I ever saw got off tho
elevator and shamblcd into the hotel lob
by. I knew the young man was Kipling.
He looked about the same then as ho does
now-same bulldog, rock of Gibraltar
jaw, stubby mustache, searching eyes and
general look Of s%louchiness.
He had my card in his hand as he en-
tered the hotel lobby. He seemed to re-
gard the card as a great curiosity. He ex-
almined it from all points of view, walked
over to the window front of the hotel and
scrutinizcd 1t from top to bottom; held it
out at arms length, and seemed to nave
all kinds of difficulty n arriving Mt q de-
termination what the deuce the card
meant. I walked over to where he was
fumbling with the card at the window
front.
"'Mr. Kipling?' 1 said.
HE turned upon me sharply. He looked
me in the eyes. Then he lowered his ewes
to my feet and began a slow study of mo
from my shoes up. When his eyes finally
reached the point of my chin, he looked at
my twisted card in his hand and said in a
short, choppy voice:
"'Um-what if I am? I don't know
you. Did you send me this cardp'
II admitted the soft impeachment.
~ am just after being hurtled down
here by my city editor to find out what
you think about the world, the flesh and
the DEVIL I said. GO ahead. Let's have
1t. Cough up. Any old thing you say will
do t
"Kipling's rugged countenance was
m~omentarily crossed by a very boyish,
fetching grin.
NIVo,,,vo n ~roA%- oLa,1.- -- ----n
you?' he inquired, not quite so choppily rs
blasted city editor or anybody else suppose
that I know about the devil, the flesh or
the world? I'm only six and twenty-a
kid, a kid in England, at any rate, where
precocity, instead of being at a premium,
as it seems to be over here, is q social
vice. 1.-THE world, the flesh and the deyil?''
Haven't you got any hoary patriarchs here
to whom you can put that question:
"'Slews of 'em,' I replied. But they
haven't written books about the doings Of
Mulvaney, ,Ortheris and Learoyd. That
stuff of yours is pretty good-that is, it
isn't half bad. You're of the improving
sort, I think, and you'll probably do some
very decent work later on, when YOU get
next to yourself
"Kipling took off his spectacles, wiped
them with his pocket handkerchief, read.
justcd them, and looked me through for
fully a minute before he spoke.
"'I say he said then, you're q con.
founded impertinent sort of q cove, aren't
your What the deuce do you meant? It's
solacing torun across a man who's devised
of pure gall-it's novel, I mean. What do
you want me to say?'
"'How do you like what you've seen OF
this country, anyhow 1 asked him, to
make q switch in the line of talk.
CT like it in spots, he replied. what
difference does it make whether I like it
or notP''
"'Lots, I said. we want to be approx.
ed. We strive to please. We desire to be
patted on the back. Go on and pat us on
the back some more. I'll take it down in
shorthand
"'1 wish you'd go away and let me
alone said Kipling.
"'If I was working for Q salary instead
of writing on space, I'd oblige you, for
this isn't any fun for me- said I. TELL
me some things about American soldiers,
what you've seen of them.'
They're q blooming fine lot, your SOL
diers are,' said kipling, looking interest
ed. They are crack men-way up men
tSAS AOAoo OUo0oS SS0SSA0Ays to S1S1U6U
about q dozen posts, and I'd like to have
spent q month at each of 'em. I imagine
it must be fine work soldering down there
in Arizona.
"'Nice work, said I. 4 often long to
be back at old San Carlos. I put in three
years Us q buck private in one Of the troops
down there
well, that's how I got Kipling-be-
cause l had soldiered, and if there's one
thing that interests Kipling more than
another it's soldering. His homely phis
lit up when I mentioned that soldering
incident in my tumultuous career, and for
three-quarters Of an hour he sat there in
the window front Of the Hotel Richelieu
and talked over the military end of it in q
clever, luminous, sketchy way that was
full of meat. He told me all about the
American military posts he had visited,
comparing our soldiers with the men who
compose the British outfits, and-well, it
made over two columns of tiptop stuff.
When I rose to take my leave Of Kipling,
I said:
- a.