Dear subscribers,
I am a Briton who is resident in Vermont, and am trying to research Rudyard
Kipling's Brattlboro period. I am looking for any information about his
bicycle in particular. Not knowing all that much about the evolution of the
bicycle, I am also after a simple history. I am trying to answer questions
such as what kind of bicycle did RK ride? Who gave it to him? What would
it have looked like/been made of? How would the locals have taken to seeing
the Englishman pedalling around the steep lanes of southern Vermont? Also,
peripherally, it has recently been told to me that RK had a passion for
motorcars, although was himself unable to drive. Did this fact make the
bicycle the closest thing he could find to driving an automobile?
I would be grateful for any leads in relation to any of the above! I live
in Peacham, Vermont, and am residing in Vershire in the Upper Valley for the
duration of the summer as a break from my year-round job of teaching English
to high-schoolers. So, if anyone knows of a good bicycle rental company in
the Dummerston/Brattleboro area, I might just head down there one evening to
take myself out along RK's fateful route along Pine Tree Hill..!
Many thanks in advance.
Sincerely,
John Mackenzie
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