Whenever they travel, my
second cousin Mark and his wife Liz, from London, try to stay at properties run
by The Landmark Trust which abound in the U.K. Restored manor houses, castles, forts,
and cottages, they exude history and charm. The Landmark Trust USA offers a
small group of historic homes for vacation rentals as well, one of which is Kipling’s
former shingle-style home outside Battleboro. 90 feet long but only 22 feet
wide, it was designed to resemble a ship riding the hillside like a wave, with
vistas of the Connecticut River Valley and a glimpse of Mt. Monadnock. It’s a
stunner, alright. When cousin Mark, who studied and taught at Oxford, started
planning a trip to the States two years ago, he lost no time nailing down a stay
at Naulakha.
Determined to know something
about old Rudyard before I slept under his roof, I checked out “The Jungle Book.”
I found all the anthropomorphizing a little daunting so I stuck to the preface.
Between that and recent articles in the Globe and the New York Times about the
new Kipling biography, I can now reel off a few fun facts about the life of
Francis Rudyard (Ruddy) Kipling.
Did you know…
His parents fell in love in Staffordshire, England at a picnic on Lake
Rudyard;
At age 41, he was the first English-language writer and youngest-ever
winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature;
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle bought him a pair of downhill skis, believed to be
the first in Vermont;
He allegedly coined more phrases in the English language than any source besides
Shakespeare and the Bible. Aside from the “white man’s burden,” he is
responsible for introducing “bite the bullet,” “never the twain shall meet,” “slack-jawed,”
and “Svengali.” Who knew?
Kipling was a complex man of
startling contradictions. He has been variously called a colonialist, an
imperialist, and a racist, as well as one of the greatest and most versatile
writers of all time. He was also no slouch when it came to socializing,
counting among his friends Henry James, Mark Twain, Frank Doubleday, and Teddy
Roosevelt
So how did this Bombay-born
Brit come to call Vermont home from 1893-1896?
At age 23, he fell in love with and married American Carolyn “Carrie” Balestier.
On 10 acres of land near Brattleboro, where Carrie’s family had settled
generations earlier, he built his dream house which he named Naulakha.
By all accounts, the Kiplings
thrived in New England. There Rudyard wrote “Captains Courageous” and “The
Jungle Book,” earning him world-wide recognition, and began work on “Kim.” He
also started telling what came to be known as the “Just So Stories” to their
two young daughters. Their idyllic life in New England, however, came to an
abrupt end when Kipling and his alcoholic brother-in-law had an epic falling out
that culminated in a messy court battle. With public opinion against him, he
packed up his family and returned to England, leaving behind most of his
possessions.
Naulakha, if you’re wondering,
is a Hindi word meaning “jewel without price.” That’s not entirely true today, as
the opportunity to sleep in Kipling’s bed and bathe in his claw-footed tub is
hardly free. But how often can one relax in a famous author’s book-lined study
and sit at the very desk from which literary classics were penned? Paying
guests can also stroll among the lovely grounds and play a few sets of tennis,
just as the Kiplings did. Not to mention barbecue burgers on the outdoor grill,
which I’m fairly certain the Kiplings did not do.
Breakfasting at the original table in the
spacious updated kitchen, along with with my husband, sister, brother-in-law,
and British kin, I read aloud the top 10 things to do in Brattleboro from the
Moon travel guide to Vermont. We chuckled over the prospect of attending a clothing-optional
nightclub nearby but opted instead for a hike to the former ice pond at Retreat
Farm, followed by a visit to the Grafton Village Cheese Shop. I think we made
the right call.
Simply put, it’s
cheese-lover’s paradise. And who among us lactose-tolerant types doesn’t love unlimited
free samples of fromage? Toothpicks for spearing
cubes of cheddar, flavored with chili, truffle, garlic, and sage, were flying
fast and furiously(ly), mostly by me. And then there was the award-winning Shepsog,
the Algonquin word for sheep, as we all know. But it wasn’t all curds and whey. To cleanse
the palate between cheese courses, one could also sample savory spreads such as
Triple Ale Onion on mini crackers, and… well, you get the picture. The only
real disappointment was the chocolate bar. Bursting with mouth-watering peppermint
patties, dark chocolate covered pretzels, salted caramels and the like, there was
a distinct absence of toothpicks, tongs, or any other items to facilitate free
tastings, within reach.
If following in the actual footsteps
of one of the most prolific and popular writers of the 20th century
is on your bucket list, or just playing on his original pool table, the charms of
Naulakha await. For a less intimate but more immediate experience check out the
newly published “If: the Untold Story of Kipling’s American Years” by
Christopher Benfey, the Andrew W. Mellon Professor of English at Mount Holyoke.
Howard Rice’s “Rudyard Kipling in New England” can also be found on the shelves
at the Norwood Library, as well as “The Strange Ride of Rudyard Kipling: His
Life and Works” by Angus Wilson. To read his own words, “Kim”— required reading
for all CIA operatives in Vietnam—is available through our streaming service,
Hoopla.
Younger readers might prefer “Rikki-Tikki-Tavi,”
a short story in the 1894 anthology “The Jungle Book” about the adventures of a
young Indian mongoose. To enjoy Kipling without committing hours of time, I
recommend the delightful, and delightfully short, “Just So Stories.” “How the
Elephant Got His Trunk” and “How the Camel Got His Hump” are two of my
favorites.
Whether you venture as far as Vermont
or as close as your local library, Rudyard Kipling offers treasures for readers
of all ages. “Just So” you know.
