New-York tribune., 1901-06-09
KIPLING'S ENGLISH HOME
THE EIMs AND THE QUAINT VILLAGE OF ROT
TINGDEAN
From Black and White.

Bile for neither glory of architecture the
ambitious proportions of its dwelling places
One feels that truly, with kipling, an English
mans house is his castle TO himself, Whatever
it may be to others. To the residence OF so
noted a certain halo of distinction at
| taches. In spite of this. however. the visitor
who makes pilgrimage to Rottingdean TO see
laugh at the sight of The Elms. The whole
place is charmingly Kiplingesque-modest un-
assuming to absurdity. and one instantly ieeis
4 that he likes his Rudyard kIphng more than
eyer because of ii. Solidly. unrornanticaliy
comfortable. without pretence TO beauty OF
picturesqueness modest in size. The Fins
stands tight defiantly unlovely. inclosed by a
high stout wall of typically rural fashloninS-
The EIms would not win second glance from
mildly successful talIow chandler. and a city
clerk would consider the place impossioiy ul-
attractive: the aesthetic would shudder 20 t'.iS MN
that the "RecesSiOnal' created within TINS
little commonplace in stone plaster ana reu
tiles -,
! A Tolstoi could scarcely desire a more modest
little establishment. a hermit of greater privacy.
A double barrelled gateway solid and hlsh as
the walls. guards the way TO the front entrance
and the little electric bell looks quantity NEON
gruous inset in much OF ancient solIdity.
a tiny trapdoor in the gateway. Just Iarse
enough for to squeeze his card through. -
governed from the inside. and the inmates OK
The Films secure from intrusion once theS
'sport their Can-
| So far as living interest is concerned. The Kip
Iings are Rockingham for the outside world "
has associations. pleasant and sad aSsoel,,,l9ns.
however. apart from this family The ancient
vicarage Just across the way, is far more
important seeming establishment than The
a
notice. The rockingham vicarage was anciently
famous as a school Cardinal Manning. the
great Duke of Wellington and Bulwer Lytton
were among the scholars of the old time Wears.
| Rottingdean is a strange admiNture OF the
medieval and the modern some OF ITS tortuous'
struggling highways of corduroy pattern Dor
dered by quaint. Old World cottages and gardens.
carry one far back into history. and make him
forget the cIatter of excursion parties in brakes.
cabs traps and motor cars from the too. too
adjacent Brighton. For moment one can think
that Klpling has home, quiet and Isolated
yha yVh0 IilIn
Tales he tells. And then turn brings one back
10 the main thoroughfare. where are up to date
little shops and-the electric light Yes the eiec-
tric light in shop and street in this pocket of a
place Your driver brisks up his steed and
whirIs YOU rapidly past The Elms. UP the hill
side by the house pulls UP at a corner some dis
tance along the white steep road and. mute
and expectant. invites by gesture your admira-
tOn and appreciation of the most advanced out
post of civilization IL is electric lamp SET
in the corner of the lane. with background of
hayricks and barns and looking as stransey
placed a steam plough in the Garden of Eden.
But. incongTuOus or not the HluUtnant IS
there. and the Kiplngs are not the least con-
siderable consumers of it, Comfort and con-
veuence form the key TO the domestic policy
of The Ems. Mr.. Kiplins used To possess a
motor and make his journeys to and from
Brighton in it. But the machine proved frac-
tious. the Brighton cabmen reasserted their
title to him. They all know the master of
The Films. and count him the finest of patriots
in disCardinG his road engine
/ All the boys in the village are the PERSONAL
churns of the owner of The Elms He knows
them all by name. and is familiar with the his
tory and characteristics of each
There is a little wood and iron erection stand
ing close by the house and the pond 1t is the
gymnasium which MIR. kipling has built for the
rising hopes of Nottingham When work pals
in the evenings he takes himself and his pipe
across to the gymnasium. and has u gossip with
his young friends. in whose exercises he takes
"A great delight. When the boys have finished
they cluster around their patron and beg him To
tell them something about India the army
Many fascinating word picture of the jungle
and its deniZens he will draw for them. The
world admiFcs KplnS a genius; the boys who
know him at home worship him a sort of
sOritied elder brother.
He is keenly interested in military exercises
for youths. and will take the most promising Or
his youthful friends down to the beach SHOOTING
He has organized a rifle club for the encourase-
ment and practice of Workmanship among the
older men of the village. II is not surprisir,
that Nottingham men have been fighting at the
front.
Mr.. kiplinS stands aloof from the public work
of the village, and Will have of the local
board He Is not n public home. His
work is probably less known from reading by
the ROttingdeaners than by the residents i'm
many an isolated town in North America. Yet
he Is clearly the most popular man in the Will
lage. not as Rudyard kip,ing the poet and ali-
thor. but as kudyard kipling the man. the play
mate of the boys. the idol of the young mem