The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1901-08-03
KIPLING AT ~KOTTINGDEAN.
The NoveIist's Manner OF Life in His
English Home.
Black and White.

Black and White.
Rudyard Kipling is very English in his
love of home. His castle is The Fins.
one of the least pretentious houses In a
village remarkable for neither glory OF
architecture, nor the ambitious proportions
of its dwelling-places. To the residence or
so noted a man a certain halo of distinc-
ton attaches. In spite of this. however.
the visitor to rockingham is irresistibly
bound to laugh at the sight of The Elms.
Solidly, automatically comfortable. with
out a p%retense to beauty or picturesque
ness, modest in size, THE Fins stands
tight. defiantly unlovely. irclosed by a
high, stout wall of typically rural fashion,
ing. The Elpls'' would not win a second
glance from a mildly successful tallow
chandler. A double-barreled gateway,
solid and high as the walls. guards the
way TO the front entrance. and the little
electric bell looks quantity inccngruous
inset in SO much of ancient solidity. a
tiny trapdoor in the gateway just large
enough for one to squeeze his card through,
is governed from the inside. and the in
mates of THE Elms'' are secure from in
trusion once they sport their oak"
So far as living interest is concerned, the
Kiplings are Rottingdean for the outside
world. 1t has associations, however. apart
from this family. The ancient vicarage.
just across the way, is a far more i'm
portant establishment than Tho Films,
and was ancienIly famous as a school. Car
dinal Manning, the great Duke of yelling
ton and Bulwer Lytton were among the
scholars of the old-time Wears. Rotting-
dean is a strange admixture of the medi-
aeval and the modern. Some OF its tortuous
struggling highways of corduroy pattern,
bordered by quaint, old-world cottages and
gardens, carry one far back into history,
and make them forget the clatter of ex-
rHrG1On norf1aC in hTal-pS cal C trans and
motor cars from the too, too adjacent
Brighton. And then a turn brings one back
10 the main thoroughfare. where are up
to-date little shops and the electric light.
Your driver brisks up his steed and whirls
you rapidly past The Elms. up the hillside
by the house, pulls up at a corner some dis
lance along the white. steep road. and.
mute and expectant. invites by gesture
your admiration and appreciation OF the
most advanced outpost of civilization. 1t
is an electric lamp set in the corner Of the
lane, with a background of hayricks and
barns, ard looking as strangely placed as
a steam pillow in the Garden of Eden. But,
incongruous or not, the illuminant is there,
and the kipiings are not the least consid-
cradle consumers of it. Comfort and con-
icy Of The Elms. Mr.. Kipling used to pos
sess a motor car and make his journeys to
and from Brighton in it. But the machine
proved fractions, so the Brighton cabmen
reasserted their title TO serve him. They
all know the master of The Elms, and
count him the finest of patriots in discard
ING ilS TOdu engine.
All the boys in the village are the per-
sonal chums of the owner of The Elms.
He knows them all by NAME. and is famil-
lar with the history and characteristics of
each. There is a little wood and iron erec-
ton standing close by the house and the
pond. 1t is the gymnasium which Mr.. Kip
ling has built for the rising hopes OF Rot
tingdean. When work pals in the even
ings he takes himself and his pipe across
to the gymnasium and has a 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 or the army. Many a fascinating
word picture Of the jungle and its deniZens
he viii draw for them. The world admires
Kipling as a genius; the boys who know
him AT home worship him as a sort Of glor-
flied elder brother. He Is keenly interested
In military exercises for youths, and will
take the most promising of his youthful
friends down to the beach shooting. He
has organized a rifle club for the encour-
agement and practice of craftsmanship
among the older men of the village. Ii is
not surprising that ROttingdean men have
been fighting at the front. Mr.. Kipiing
stands aloof from the public work of the
village and will have none of the local
board. He is not a public man at home.
His work is probably less known from
reading by the RottiT gdeaners than by the
residents in many an isolated town in
North America. Yet he is clearly the most
popular man in the village. not as Rudyard
kipling. the poet and author, but as Rud-
yard KiDiing, the man. the playmate of the
boys, the idol of the young men.