The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-12-24

rear should be-the owner can look di-
rectly down the valley to it's foot, five
miles away. Both sides contain thickly
! wooded groves divided by wide patches
of heather, with here and there a Gull
tivated field or strip of pasture land
Six hundred feet above the sea, it is
high enough to get the invigorating
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, fine specimen of the vigor-
Gus, hardy manhood native to Great
Britain. His strong, resolute features
are tanned by exposure in the cricket
field, on the tennis court and by the
season after season of bird and rabbit
| shooting. 1t can be seen at once that
| he needs no tonicS for nervousness or
| dyspepsia. Apparently he has no
nerves, for whether handling cricket
| bat in decisive play or sighting his
gun in a supreme moment, one cannot
! 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 a youth in his teens.
| As enc turns the pages of such books
as ''She White Company" Micah
Clark and "Brigadier Gerard" he is
/ struck with the rugged manliness of
! the principal characters, while through
| out each work a tone of vigor and vir-
! ility prevails which is original with
the writer. Talk with him even for a
half hour and you realize that they are
the product of a mind not enfeebled by
over exertion, but nourished and
strengthened from a superb physical
system. In word, he has not developed
his mental faculties at the expense of
the others. but has kept BOTH we'll bal
anced with the result that today he
much in the literary field as he has
already accomplishment perhaps
more.
He has built up his constitution SO
| that today he is capable of enduring
any amount of fatigue without being
the worse for it. The four miles from
! Hindhead to Halsemere is a short walk
| for him and many times year does
/ he cover it. Probably everyone for ten
miles around knows him by sight, for
his figure is familiar to the country
folk.
Naturally of a peaeeabe disposition,
the author is not to be trified with any
more than some of the characters in
his writings. He is a great believer
| in fair play, and on more than one oc-
casion has stood up for the weaker man
| in trouble to the cost of his assailant.
They tell a story about Halsemere of a
little adventure in which he took part
at Southsea near Portsmouth, his for
mer home. Many of the cart drivers
at Southsea have boys to help. believer
their loads. One morning, as the doctor
was getting little exercise to whet his
/ appetite for breakfast, one of these
carts came along. The driver. heavily
built man, had been drinking until he
was in an ugly mood. For some reason
he became angry with the boy. and
stopping his horse, began beating the
lad with the handle of his whip. He
was so busily engaged that he did not
know anyone else was interested until
a hand grasped him by the shoulder
and pulled him headlong into the street.
] It think you've done about enough of
this. my man."
It's no business of such gentry as
you to interfere when the young rascal
needs a beating" and the enraged
driver, who had struggled to his feet,
drew back his whip to strike the new
conner. The DOCTORS right fist landed
on his face and he went down like
log. When he arose it was to aplo-
gize. The fight had been to use a
slang phrase, knocked out of him.
They call him ''Kenn'n Doyle in the
neighborhood. The word Conan"
seems to be difficult to use and is
so commonly mispronounced and mis-
spelled, as the writer has indicated,
that at the time of his visit he saw a
box from London directed to Mr..
Canon Doyle, Hindhead," and probably
no one relished the joke conveyed in
that religious title more than the au-
thor himself.
But little sign of literary work is to
be found about the house. Even his
library is made the receptacle for
cricket and tennis kits. guns and trout
tackle are spread all over the place. for
while the family in Hindhead is small,
excluding the six servants, more or less
friends from London or nearby are
being entertained. The doctor. is
member of one of the best amateur
cricket teams in the country, and dur
ing his week every year as host ii is
an open house to all lovers of the sport.
Nothing is reserved from them The
players generally have a contest daily
and are driven to it Ia the brake, a
vehicle very essential to English couh-
try life, which will carry the entire
eleven with room to spare. On the
return to evening tea, the table is
Illuminated by a banquet lamp shaded
by design in salmon silk This is
called the Victory shade. as it is con-
sidered a sign Of good luck and is all
ways brought out by Mrs. Doyle during
Cricket Week" Through its influence
several trophies are supposed to have
been Won The hostess is as enthusi-
astic as her husband over the sport, and
II necessary TO afford room. will bun
die the children off to some rela-
tive's to remain until the guests have
departed. As the cricket season occu-
pies nearly two months, it may be sur
missed that very little literary work is
done about 'Undershaw'' until its close