The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1894-12-30
srEvENsoN's OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES.

The hold that the writings Of Robert
Louis Stevenson have upon the reading
public Is indicated in some measure by
what is being said of them and of him
by newspaper writer's since his death.
Few authors are praised for so many
and such varying characteristics. One
eulogist is impressed with Stevenson's
art as a teller of stories. and compares
him with Walter Scott: another dis
covers in his novels the most charming
essays; another admires his philosophy:
another is pleased with his verse. His
dramatic power. his virility. his genius
for expression are themes widely dis
cussed, but with all the praises sounded
little has been said of one phase of his
nature that has been clearly manifested
to the delight of thousands. namely, his
child-heartedness. A love for and a
sympathetic feeling for children are
common traits. but the ability to put
oneself on their plane, to view the
world from their standpoint and limited
by their narrow horizon and imperfect
knowledge is rare. That Stevenson had
this simplicity of mind and comprehen-
by numerous touches in his novels
when they contrast strikingly with the
manly vigor of other passages and his
bits of subtle philosophy But it is in
the little collection called "A Childs
Garden of Verses" that this power to
abandon the intricate mental processes
of the man and to see only with the
direct vision of the child is displayed at
its best. In this volume he is first the
child itself and afterwards the intimate
and sympathetic friend of the child It
is an actual little boy who laments that
he must go to bed while it is yet light
and asks with infantils oathos:
Does it not seem hard to you,
When all the sky is clear and blue,
And I should like so much to play.
To have TO go to bed by day?''
1t is a veritable little boy who climbs
into the cherry tree and looks abroad
on foreign lands. and who. if he could
find q higher tree, would see
Where the roads on either hand
Lead onward into fairy land,
Where all the children dine at 5
And all the playthings come alive"
1t is a true child into whose mind
this thought enters:
when / am grown to mans estate
shau be very proud and great,
And tell the other girls and boys
Not to NEEDLE with my toys"
This is passing reflection OF con-
tented juvenile mind:
THE world is so full of a number Of things
I'm sure we should all be as happy as
kings
Here is an invocation to the mind
one of those queer fancies that the baby
mind has in plenty:
80 you. that are so strong and cold.
Q flower, are you young or old?
Are you a heart of field and tree,
Or just a stranger child like me?
% W. q, abacW ats all Day long,
o wind. that sings SO loud songv'
There is a chapter of the odd fancies
of child that is much alone. He tells
of his unseen playmate. the imaginary.
being who loves to be little and hates
to be big:
"'Tis he that inhabits the caves that you
dig, rs,fel q
IT'S he when you play with your soldiers
That sides with the Frenchmen and never
can WIN. G8
This lonely boy describes his little
treasures, his kingdom Of a play place
and the pictures he sees in the water
and the sky as only a real boy can or
as only a man who has the boys heart
yet alive in him can do. He writes
out of his memories; he sees before him
a child who will not answer to call,
for
e. long ago. the truth to say,
He has grown up and gone away,
And it is but child of air
That fingers in the garden there. 3.
And Stevenson himself has now gone
it down and gone to play" and who
can doubt that he has the child heart
still?