Delaware gazette and state journal., 1902-11-20
IMPRESSIONS OF KIpIrye.
Little, Healthy, Earnest, and He Dres
in Outlandish Manner.

Little, Healthy, Earnest, and He Dresses
in outlandish Manner.
Mainly About People.
Here are my mpressions-frst i'm
pressions, as it happens-of Rudyard
Kipling, apostle of the gospel of
national. "fitness,' who blossome
forth as an orator when he opened
new range at Sydenham the other da
The period of waiting was broken
two snaps from the rife gallery. Th
were shots fired by Mr.. Kipling,
first, 'sighter," scoring an "oute''
the second an inner. - No doubt
card board target. with the minute but
iegible Signature, "R. kipling,n will
long be cherished possession of the
Jaeger Rife Club.
Then Mr.: Kipling appeard, accom-
panied by Mr.. Iomalin and Sir Albert
Rollit, and mounted the platform,
somehow Mr.. kipling's photographs
ne is distinctly little man. Had he
lived a less active and healthy life he
would have been puny, AS it is, he is
Just little man, with a little mans
thews and sinews, neither fat nor thin,
neither over nor under developed. A
brewers lorryman could pick him up
and walk away with him under one
arm-but don't know that he would
60 very far. Although he is obviously
nt, there is no ruddiness in Mr..
hipiing's cheeks His complexion has
been tanned and bronzed into a
nealthy. clear, light mahogany. To
physiognomist the face is rather
banning, The eyes, the windows of
the soul, are obscured by the gold
rimmed spectacles. while the thick,
darK moustache masks that other sure
guide to character, the mouth. Nor is
the nose particularly distinctive. But
from the eyebrows much may be
Cleaned. Black as night, immensely
thick, straight and lying very close to
the eyes, they seem to indicate strength
OF will, determination of character,
hre, productive activity. With ordi-
nary eyebrows he might be common
place looking, but those he has lift
him out Of the ruck as regards appear
ance. When one adds to these eye
brows forehead, in it's lower lobe that
OF mathematician, in its upper that
OF an idealist, and the Jaws and chin
OF man of action, one begins to under
stand something of the pewildering
compiexity of kipling's character. in
which the poet iostles the mechanic,
the soldier. the philosopher, the
traveller, the recluse.
As regards the outer man, Mr.. Kip
ling dresses as only the very rich or
very famous can afford to DO. On this
occasion he wore dark gray fanuel
SUIT, obviously not cut in the vicinity
OF Bond street, striped linen shirt,
and-horesco referens-a very low,
striped, turn-down collar, of which
about an eighth of an inch was visible
above the coat. Round this was large
black tie-not a bow-of the kind worn
chiefly by elderly city clerks. Other
Items" were straw hat, new, and
probably purchased most reluctantly
for the occasion, gold band round
the third finger of the left hand and
black shoes, untidily laced.
While the chairman was speaking
Mr., kipling fidgeted, clasping and
unclasping his hands and drumming
on the boards with restless foot. Not
that he was inattentive, for spasm
contracted his features when the chair
man was guilty of that very common
soleclsm, under the circumstances
which, and moreover, he was quick
to mark his approval of tine speakers
points. When the time arrived he
jumped up, came forward with a curl
GUS, awkward gait and stood peering
at US through his glasses. Gentle
men," he began, only to correct him
self and substitute Ladies and gentle
men," in response to an audible re-
minder from the rear. 1t may only have
been slip, but it struck me as char
acteristic of the man. He had como to
talk to men of mons work, and,
although there were many ladies
present, including the Dowager Duchess
of Sutherland, in a sense he saw them
not. kipling's speech has been so fully
reported that L need not refer to its
substance here. As regards II de-
livery, MIR. Kipling has none of the
arts of the born or praoticed orator. AT
the same time, the conditions were
unfayorable. Trains ratified past close
by, forcing the speaker to pause in the
middle Of sentence till the olatter
had ceased. | should not like 60 saw
that the 5. L. X. was trying to avenge
hipling's elaborate satire on our rail-
ways, which appeared in the Contem-
porary, L think, but certainly more
trains seemed to pass during the cere-
mony than after it.
What struck me most was the
speakers earnestness. There was NO
lack of humor, aud I discovered a Ger
tain boyishness in Kipling when he
Joined in the laughter evoked BY his
Jokes, but one felt all the time that
here was man in cool, deadly earnest,
determined to leave no stone unturned
to gain his object, ''a nation broke to
the matter of war;" to purchase one of
his lines. and convinced alike of the
necessity and feasibility of his pro-
Iect. As / have said, Kipling is no
orator, but he neither mumbied nor
faltered, despite trains and the sudden
whir of the biograph. He made him
self heard, and he said what he meant
to say. He has peculiar voice, and
one difficult to describe "Academic''
almost hits it, but it would puzzle one
to say precisely why or how. In GER
tain tones it sounds almost effeminate,
yet it has penetrating quality and
carries we'll.
Mr.. kipling ended as absent-mind-
eddy as he began, for he pumped down
without declaring the range open. The
omission, of course, was speedily
remedied, but again it vas characteristic
of the mans concentration. He had
come to exhort young men to the use
of the rifle, and that occupied his mind
to the exclusion of everything else.
New Hotel Proprietors.
less M Ervain1ar pnanaoa. "a I-.l