Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1899-03-13

/ often sits about the hotel and chats
with people whom he knows anu
reads the newspapers. The shopkeep-
ers all know him and like him. But
the stranger who seeks him out, with
fulsome praise to serve as an introduce
ton, wishes he hadn't. His favorite
expression is the good old English ex-
preston of "egad," but there are no
end of "damns" interlarded in his
conversation. Occasionally he plays
a game of pool or billiards in the no
tel. He doesn't play particularly well,
but his opponents declare that it is
simply from lack of practice. They
assert that he would be very expert
| if he cared to be- A good many peo-
pie believe that Mr.. Kipling could do
anything if he cared to try earnestly
enough.
These things make Kipling popular
in Brattleboro, and the people will
not listen to the stories about his
boorishness. The men who have work
ed for him-and tney are many-say
that he is the kindest and most gener-
GUS employer they have ever known.
There is one thing he always asks of
them, and that is to tell nothing about
his daily life or the incidents of his
household affairs. From all of which
it will be seen that there is no Eng
lishman in Great Britain who guards
his privacy more closely than this
author who hasn't the least hesitation
in getting at the secrets of other peo
pie when he wants them for tale.
But that is an entirely different story,
as Kipling has remarked himself on
various occasions.
If you should happen to see Kipling
trundling a wheelbarrow, as many
people have, and happen to think of
The Gate Of Hundred Sorrows or
The Strange Ride of Marrowbie Jukes,
it is as paralyzing as was the expert
ence Of Brattleboro's Chinese laundry
man when Kipling stopped him on the
street one day and addressed him in
his native language.
And think of the feelings aroused
by seeing him handle plough! That
is one Of the sights that the people
of Brattleboro have seen, and they
talk about it. Kipling followed fur
row for whole half day once, hold
ing his own with the farmers. And
he was mighty proud of his skill, too,
expressing more satisfaction than his
successful writing has called from him.
Men who have written about Kip
ling's life in India say that lie was an
Indifferent hOrseman and really never
cared much about a horse Of course
this cannot be true, and that marvel
of tale The Maltese Cat proves IL
very plainly. Therefore it isn't SO
remarkable that Kipling should oc-
casiOnally feed his own horses. Maybe
it was from them he learned about
the Vermont horse and incorporated
it all in The Walking Delegate, which
is the only purely American story he
has ever written.
If Kipling only would explain how
can make it seem that he has passed
all his life in the regions he writes
standardization it be India, the arc
tic circle, London or the ocean-ever
so many thousands Of people would
feel relieved.
If it is a secret it is one he closely
guards. Perhaps there isn't anything
mysterious about it after all. Now
and then a real literary man like
Charles Warren Stoddard visits Kip
ling, and comes away simply bursting
with admiration and love for Kipling
the man, and with a desire to tell
about him, that others may also share
the admiration. But he doesn't do it,
because Kipling objects.
Just imagine talking to man who
writes as we'll as does Kipling, and
who lives up to what he writes. Think
Of a conversation opening with the
greeting:
Good heavens! How much water
has run under the bridges since last
we metz
He talks in the direct, simple, con-
else, picturesque way he writes. He
is not complex, but charmingly natu-
raj, and the swear words seem abso-
lutely necessary. They are really
not profane at all.
Some sceptical people who know him
hather we'll are not sure whether
Kipling is absolutely without vanity
or whether he has such tremendous
ly high opinion of his genius that he
never condescends to talk about it.
One thing is certain, and that is he
is always absorbing material. He will
even stop in the streets Of Brattleboro
and jot something down on a piece
of paper which he holds against a
wall Probably some biographer may
discover these scraps and permit a
naturally curious public to know what
they were. But it isn't likely.
Once when Kipling was asked why
he did not tell more about Mulvaney
he replied: Terence has not reported
for duty for long time; drunk again,
suppose"
When the Kiplings are at Brattle-
boro they go out good deal of the
time socially and get as much of the