The age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1897-1902, 1899-03-03
KIPLING. THE MAN
From the London Sun.

From the London Sun.
rockingham is a fresh, charming little
place on the south coast of England. There
Sir Edward Burne-Jones has beautiful
house. and opposite his nephew, Mr.. Rud-
yard Kipling, had taken a place for the
summer My mother used to visit Lady
Burne-Jones. and we frequently met the
Kiplings there I think he visited no other
house in nottingham, because, they said,
che had a holy horror of being made a
fuss off,
He used to settle himself in his chair as
though he were at peace with all the world,
and beam upon us through his gold-rimmed
glasses, and he had odd habit of ges-
ticulating with two fingers on any empha-
sized word as if he were knocking a nail
into 1t.
Conjure a rather squat man. with such
ragged, gorse-like mustache that you must
have liked him very much to have let him
kiss you. Then fine chin and jaw, strong
in line, gentle in contour. And my mother
sad "a head wonderful in breadth from
temple to temple" Always he wore gray
suit and he never tied his shoe laces.
You could see him, with his odd walk
that came from the shoulders lurching
dCIoSS tne village streets on sunny AFTER
moons. He was sun-browned, muscular, ra-
diant-I think, the happiest man 1 ever
met. never saw him in the open, but that
he was singing Misunderstanding, per-
haps, is the better word.
His amusements! Well, he used to cycle
across to Brighton, when we all used to
stand in the road to see him start, and he
would return in the evening to dinner. Or
we would miss him for two or three days
and find he had gone away to ireland.
Sometimes, with my sister and I, he would
sit on the beach at Nottingham and idle
away a morning. AT cost of infinite trouble
he would pile line of stones quite near
the water; then he would scramble back to
us and we would all fire volleys together.
We were allowed three throws to his one,
but I think the ratio was afterward re-
versed, because he was a poor shot. This
recreation he called "decimating an enc
my's palisade," and, as our shots slowly
brought down the stones, he would get
quite excited, and his shoe laces become
more and more united. Also, we would
fling stones out on the sea, and In this, too,
we always beat him. 1t may be- he allowed
us to win, but at the time he never per-
mitted us the idea.
What used talk about? oh, about
dogs and birds and children (of which he
was genuinely fond) and the pleasant moth
ing at all. Always there were about him
a simple sincerity and a directness of talk
which they say are only met in the very
great and the very little. About his books
his own or anybody elses-he never made
remark. Once. when spoke of india he
said he went there when he was quite
child, and had stayed there very many
years, and that he liked the place Then
he stopped whistled to his dogs and we all
went In for luncheon. But, really, this talk
was in no way remarkable as that OF
twenty obscure men I know in London.
The Kipling children were uncanny little
souls original in manner rather than pref
ty in feature. There are three of them
two girls and boy; all the summer they
went about, whether in their house, in the
village or on the beach, always without
shoes or socks. and their legs and hands
were sunburned to a gypsy brown.
Their great sport was to fl ng stones one
at the other in a kind of triangular duel
When this recreation palled upon them they
enIiyened themselves in a grand interna-
tional fight, conducted on all sides with
great spirit and determination. the girls as
eager combatants as the boy. When all
was over they sat in row on the beach.
removed the signs of battle, solemnly kissed
and then the queer little trio, hand in
hand would go singing home to lunch.