Batemans

[poliphilo]

I've always loved Kipling. Always. Starting with the Just So Stories- which were read to me before I could read them myself- right through to the very difficult late short stories. I don't share his politics, but I reckon I understand them- and see how they might be accounted virtuous. He was a great writer; also  a very  good man- loyal, stoic, loving.

My granny was at Batemans during the First World War- with the Land Army- posted there to look after the cows. She was the person- more than any other- who turned me on to him.

I've been to Batemans several times. It's always a bit like coming home. The house was gifted to the National Trust by Kipling's surviving daughter- Elsie- along with all the furnishings and knick-knacks. Everything is just as Rud and Carrie left it in the 1930s- only tidier. 

P.S. You know the alphabet necklace from How The Alphabet Was Made? Well, it actually exists- and can be viewed in a glass case at Batemans.  I suppose Kipling must have made it himself- perhaps with a little help from the numerous artsists and craftspeople in his family. It's a lovely, ingenious thing.

Comments

[lblanchard.livejournal.com]

The first Kipling I recall reading was Gunga Din, when I was eight. I was mesmerized by the rhythm and memorized it. And The Vampire, and Tomlinson, although I don't think I could recite those any more, except for the first verses of both:

I've loved Kiping ever since. I suspect my father read me the Just So Stories when I was much younger, but I didn't connect them to the author of Gunga Din until later.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I loved the Jungle Books. Intensely. Later I discovered the adult fiction and the poetry. I think he's still an under-rated writer. People dismiss him as a gung-ho imperialist- which is- at best- a caricature.