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Show i Interview Willi Klpllmr. "1 hear Hint Ittidyaril KlpllngV man. ncrs tisivu Improved u good deal since he canto lo this country, nearly ten yr.-iMiiRHind Unit lie has cut that iliort. sharp "ml decisive' pso tliat lio clung to so teriiiciously." wild tho correspondent cor-respondent or n Chicago papor who used to be a hotel reporter In ilie town df wind. "I was sunt down to Kip line's hole! to pick u bit of talk out nf Mm when lie (lift struck Chicago, on hi) way from Sun Francisco to New York. He wasn't quite bucIi a big gun then as ho Is now, but he wan big enough. All the way from the coast to Chicago the reporters ho had met luil been hammering him as n caso of remarkably bright young mun,aullet-ul mun,aullet-ul with el- phmtla-df) of tiio skull. I 'concluded that all of this anvil chorus music mad" by tho reporters Kipling had mut wug unjust.' I had such an opinion of my own Interviewing skill that I would hitve licun willing lo lay better than even money that I would nuccKcd In gutting a corking; rod-lint talk out of tint young Eist Indian, "lie got Into Chicago ut 1 o'clock in iho alternoun, too late for the hotel ro purlers for the ntteruoou pupiTS to gut lu a talk wlili him. Kipling put up at 'he Richelieu, and 1 sent up my card f to him about 7 o'clock In the ovenitig. I After about live uiiuuies a young man Hearing a very baggy suit of clothes mid tho Imminent: black Derby hat I ever faw, got olf the elevator and ni Gambled into the hotel lobby. 1 know ' iho young man was Kipling. Ho koked about iho satuo thott as lie does now -same bulldog. llocU-of-Cibrallar , Jiw, tiuno moustache, searching eyes and general look of tdouehlness. "lie had my card in tils bund as ho entered tho lintel lobbv. IIu seemed to reward the card as a ureal ejirloslty. IIu examined it from nil points of vlow, wnlkuil over to the window front of iho hotel and scrutinized It front tip to Mtimi; hold it out :it arm's length, ami seemed to havo all kinds of dlll i eulty In arriving at a determination what ihe deuco the card meant. I walked over to where ho vas funibflng with the card tit the window front. '"Mr Kipling?' I said. "Ho turned unnti mo sharply. Uo looked me iu the eyes. Then ho lowered low-ered lug eyes to my foot ami began a low study of mo from my shoes up. When his eyes finally reached tho point of my chin lie looked at my twisted card iu his hand aud tald lua W, choppy voleoj " 'Uni-what if I am? I don't know yii- Did you soud mo this card?' "I admitted the soft Impeachment. " 'I nm Just after being hurtled down hero by my city editor to (1ml out what you think nijoui tho world, the Hash d iho devil,' I said. 'Go nhoad. Lot's lve it, Cough up. Any old thing you say will do. Kj '"Kiplipys rugged cuuntenanun was Momentarily crossedby"a very boyish, fU-hhig Krn, r " 'You're ij very cheeky sort, aren't Vnu?' lie Inquired, not qulto soclinpr Il'y as ho liad spoken befoio. 'What does your blasted city editor or any-b0(1i' any-b0(1i' else suppose that I know about devil, iho flush or the world? I'm ' , ly slx-and-twcnty a kldi a kid lu England at any rate, whom precoplty, butemi of itolnpr at u premium, as It 'eenis to bo over here, Is a soolal vico. 'Tho world, tho flesh and tho dovll?" Uj Ilaven'tyou got any hoary patriarchs nereta wlnniiyoucan put thoqueatlonf" . nn " 's''-ws or iu', I replied. 'Ilttt thoy J) baven't writton books about tiio doing MiDvanoy Onhorls atrft t.oaroyed.' -Hut stuff if yours Is pretty i,ood that Uk U isn't half bad. Yo.i'ro of tiio im-rovlng im-rovlng sort, I think, and you'll pro-Ual'ly pro-Ual'ly do flniufi very ilecont work later r ou.' p1'00 you K01 nt'xb 10 yoi"'ulf' l" Kipling took off his spectacles, wiped them with his pcket hmidkor- C"tef, readjust tl them, and looked mo t k" . I 0 through Mr fully a nilnuic bore lio 8 poke. " '1 say,' ho (hen said, 'you're n con. founded Impertinent sort ol n cove aren't vou? What Iho deuco do yoii mean? It's solacing tn run across a man Who's devised of )Uro Kaliia novel. I mean. What do you waul mo to suv?' " 'How do you hko what, you've seen of this count ly. anyhow?' 1 nuked Mm, lo make a swlich in the lino of tnlk "'I like it In spnls.' ho replied. 'What Jiifforonco does It mako whether I like it or noi?' '" 'Lois.' I said. 'Wo want to bo np-proved. np-proved. We strive to please. Wo desire de-sire tn bo patted on tlm back some. I'll Jako It down lfi shorthand.' " 'I wish ynu'd go away and lot mo alone,' sulil Kipling. " 'If f was working for a salary, In-steiid In-steiid f writing on fpace. I'd obllgo ynu for this Isn't funny for me,' mid 1. 'Tell me something nbout American soldiers, what you've seen of them.' " They'rt a lilnotnint: duo lot, your soldiers tiro,' said Kipling, looking Interested. In-terested. 'They are crack jnun way-up way-up men tho horso out Ilia especially. I've visited al'out a dozen posts, and I'd Hko to havo spent a month at ouch of 'em. I luiiiglno it, must bo lino work, soldiering down there in Arizona,' i "'Nice work,' said I. 'I often long to bo b.iek lo old San Carlos, I put In three yo:irs as a liuuk private In onu of the troops down there. "Well, lhal's how I got Kipling because be-cause I had soldiered, and If there is on (i thing Umt Interests Kipling moru limit nuylhlng It's soldierlm;. His liom -ly phiz lit lip when I menlloued that soldlorlug Incident In my tunitil-tii tunitil-tii iiH caiccr, aud for three-quarters of an hour ho sat there In tho window-front window-front of tiio Hotel 'lllrhelleti ' and allied over tho ml'ltary end of It In at clever, luminous, sketchy way Hint was full of meat. He told me all about Die American military posts ho hud visited, comparing our 'soldiers with the men who enmposo Hie litillsh outfits, out-fits, it ml well. It made over two col-iiintis col-iiintis of Up top stuff. When I rose to take my 1eavo of Kipling I said: 'Now, don't forget whenever you write something that you think Is really good Just scud me along a hatch of advance proofs unit I'll give you a slick or iwo or a not leu Iu my puper If I approve of the stuff and consider It up to Hie mark.' Kipling xnnply glared at mo amusedly amus-edly out of his shrewd eyes, said some-thing some-thing mat stmnded like 'impudent whelp!' and I went away to wrltu my Interview." Washington Star. |