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Dear Paddy, John Radcliffe and I are on record as doubting that these are Rudyard, Carrie and Elsie, and neither of us would win prizes on the rifle range, so the possible unearthing of documentary evidence may well teach us that we should be wary of these judgements! It has already been a very worthwhile hunt, and I very much doubt that I will be able to claim to be 'the man they called "Hi!"'. Thank you Paddy, for Fit the First. Best regards, John On Mon, Feb 27, 2017 at 10:35 AM, Paddy at Tiscali.co.uk < [log in to unmask]> wrote: > Progress report - > > Following David's suggestion (below) I contacted the Library of Congress > about the* extraordinary and charmingly indiscreet account, a lengthy one > of 30,000 words which he sent to his children*. and received the > following reply: > > Dear Mr. Moindrot - > I believe the item you seek is found on reel 244 of the Taft Papers > microfilm in a letter to his son Robert A. Taft dated 29 July 1922. The > item is listed on page 2128 of volume 6 of the Taft Papers correspondents > index http://lcweb2.loc.gov/service/gdc/scd0001/2010/ > 20101202003wi/20101202003wi.pdf. According to the index *the letter > consists of 108 pages*. > *William Howard Taft to Robert A. Taft, 29 July 1922, reel 244, William H. > Taft Papers, Manuscript Division.* > Copies of the Taft papers microfilm edition are available at Cambridge > University and the British Library. > Those last three magic words led me to the British Library site, which > says they lend microfilm reels out. We shall see! I have requested reel > 244 from their archive > > William H. Taft MFR 2812 658 REELS OF MICROFILM > > and hope they will agree to lend it to my local library, which has a > microfilm reader. With any luck I should find at least a passing reference > to the event, and maybe Taft's views on the Kiplings! > > Fingers crossed, breath held etc > > Thanks to you all for a set of very helpful suggestions and pointers. > > Paddy > > ------------------------------ > *From:* DAVID JURY [mailto:[log in to unmask]] > *Sent:* 21 February 2017 15:04 > *To:* Paddy at Tiscali.co.uk; [log in to unmask] > *Subject:* Re: Seeking three honest serving-men: can you help? > > I think you need to ascertain exactly what William Howard Taft did during > his visit to England in 1922. There is an account of some of what he did in > "The Life and Times of William Howard Taft" Vol 2 by Pringle - if you do a > search on archive.org you will find a copy - the account starts around > page 1000 - it mentions he dictated on his return to the US "an > extraordinary and charmingly indiscrete" account of 30000 words which he > sent to his children - that account will probably cover most of what he did > on that trip - the papers of William Howard Taft are held by various > institutions in the US but suggest you ask the Library of Congress > > > >