Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1899-03-24
RUDYARD KIPLING
AS Seen in His Vermont Home.

l am asked to give few glimpses, as l
myself caught them, of the life of the ia
nous author whose recent illness has
called out such universal and anxious af-
lection.
Mr.. Kiplng dislikes and forbids a sem
sational or mercenary invasion of his pri-
vate life, but, if l understand him, he
welcomes the words of friends who love
and admire him, and who can scarcely be
counted for number, even though they
speak of traits in the man himself which,
even more than his books, have bound
them to him. Perhaps, therefore, he will
not be displeased at the telling of few
impressions from one whom the merest
chance of proximity, though most val
ued one, threw for little time into his
company.
remember my first sight of Mr.. Kip
ling in the early days of his connection
with Brattleboro, VT, two miles north of
which he built his mountain home, Nau-
lahka, being pastor in that village. l
happened to dine at the same table with
him at the hotel, and though recognized
him from portraits which | had seen,
might have done so from the constant
play of comment from him as his eye fell
on every little object in the room with the
liveliest curiosity. Some time after he
was present at the Thanksgiving dinner in
the home of a dear friend of his wife and
her family, and l recall his vivid descrip-
ton, given for the benefit of children pres
ent, of the doings of the troops of mon
keys-the too familiar inhabitants of the
gardens and even dwellings of his Indian
homes. The style of the Jungle Books,
which had not then seen the light, was in
the storytelling A number of months
later, when his house was building and he
occupied a cottage near it, / saw there his
father, the eminent author and artist, who
kindly showed me certain precious and
unique photographs of religious scenes and
customs in Ildia, and who personally i'm
pressed me as one of the most noble, quiet,
sweet-natured, rarely-bred gentlemen l
had ever seen, with an eye and brow that,
because of the deeper experience in them,
surpassed even the expression of his gifted
son. | also went through the partly-con-
structed Naulahka and heard the owner
describe its theory. He called it ship,
with the propeller, that is, the material
provision of the furnace and kitchen, at
the stern, and his own study, opening up
on the roomy piazza looking to the south
and east, at the bow. He pointed out
Monadnock, just visible over the Chester
field hills, and spoke of the impression,
affecting his whole life, received from En-
erson's poem on that mountain.
1t was good many months after before
l was willing to call upon him again,
knowing his preference for retirement /;
but when l did so, felt that l had been
unneighborly in leaving the attention so
long, and l said so, pleading occupation,
but saying that that was no excuse. "But
anyway it was reason" ne said, so kind
ly and quickly as to put me at my ease at
once, implying that the call would have
been welcome, / he did not blame me
for not making it. After that | called fire.
quently, spending many Monday after
Moons for series of months through the
winter and spring and early summer of
the year 1895. | thus enjoyed Mr.. Kip
ling's companionship, both in an indoor
Id an outdoor way. He was intensely
Elterested in all athletics, though playing
more like a poet than an athlete. He
would discourse most eloquentlY about the
uses of the "ski," of snowshoeing and of
golf. His play was good, but his dramatic
description immensely better. We played
golf over snow two feet deep, upon the
crust, cutting holes into the soft snow,
and naturally losing the balls, until it &C.
Cured to him to ink them red. The first
day we experimental with them we dyed
the plain like some football gridiron or
Hohenlinden; then we had them painted.
The trouble with golfng on the crust was
that, as the meadow was upon a side hill
with gradual slope, ball went on forever
when once started unless headed off by
some kindly stone wall or by ones oppo-
nent. 1t was an easy matter to make a
drive of two miles. As spring came little
quitting green's" emerged like GASES in the
snow, and then We had holes made of
empty vegetable cans sunk in the moist
soil, round which we would manGuvre in
rubber boots. For a touch of courtesy |
recollect his intentional miss of hole one
inch away, throwing the victory to me,
who was stroke and five yards behind
him. Retiring from outdoor sports, we
would repair to the library for tea and
talk.
Mr.. Kipling was most generous in his
gift of entertainment; his conversation
was precisely like his books at their best,
and touched upon wide range of subjects.
He rarely referred to his own methods of
work, though now and then he read a
fragment of his writings; and l recollect
certain chapters from Captains Courage
Gus, the poem The American Spirit, and
portions of the striking ode, not then CON-
pleted, Hymn Before Action. He would
talk Interestingly, clearly, brilliantly upon
such topics as classes in English society,
the amusements of remote rajahs in In
dia, English newspapers and periodicals,
especially when the mail came in, for
which he had his private post-office, Amer
lean politics, at whose jingoism, especially
at the time of the Venezuela incident, he
would smile quiet smile, with mental
comparison of American and English ma
Vies. A favorite subject was children,
their tastes, their seriousness and their
depth; he said that he who could reach
the child's heart could reach the worlds
heart. We never actually touched upon
religious themes, except indirectly, but he
spoke of the Bible and his intimate knowl-
edge of it, which was evident enough, and
once he extemporized sermon from the
text, "Put on the whole armor of God"
at my request, to give me line for a SOL
dier's sermon for the following Sunday, in
which Roman aTmor to its minutest detail
was mentioned and moralizeS
All through my brief association with
him the impression of the deep reverence
and profound faith of the author of Nc
Andrews Hymn and the Recessional grew
upon me, absolutely undesirable by
schools, original and sincere, and holding
the very essence of the ethical and Chris
tian genius of his family and race A GER
tain bOyishness, gleefully rejoicing in tum-
bles over the "skis," in chasing after lost
golf balls, in snowshoe catastrophes, deep