that brought us to the house called Bateman's.
We reached her down an enlarged rabbit-hole of a lane.
When they saw the house they said,
'That's her! The only She!
Make an honest woman of her - quick!
Rudyard Kipling was already world-famous
when he bought Bateman's in 1902.
He wanted to live somewhere
peaceful and secluded
and decided not to have a telephone!
The work on the garden,
which he designed himself,
was paid for out of the £7,700
he received for the Nobel Prize in 1907.
That's about $300,105 in today's money.
There is a working watermill.
The windows are engraved with verses.
This one reads,
Stop and hearken to me!
I will have no shredded wheat
And crucified flour for my tea.
I will have no wafers of rye;
But out of your golden hoard
I will have some honest meat
To bake a loaf for my board.
The miller is filling the hopper with grain.
The wheels must not turn if there is no grain
running through, because sparks might cause a fire.
There is a bell on a strap which is held down by
a full hopper of corn.
When the hopper is nearly empty,
the strap is released and the bell rings a warning.
Visitors can try their hand at grinding corn
with a small millstone.
When Kipling was tired of his guests
he would take them out into the garden
to look at his sundial.
It bears the inscription,
It is later than you think.
He hoped that they would take the hint
and decide to go home.
The front cover of my copy of
Just So Stories
shows How the Elephant Got his Trunk.
*Finn is a young fellow somewhere in the USA
who is studying Rudyard Kipling
with his mother Polly this term.
He has a sister, Annie,
whose hair is long enough for plaits now.
We have never met.
