The record-union., 1899-06-24

He represents the worker, the fighter;
he speaks their unworded thought, their
unrecognized aspiration Without aspir-
ing to political Office, he voices the
outspreading movement of his race;
without cant or hypocrisy his Recess
sionaa is our prayer; neither ON plat
form nor in the pulpit, he writes what
we dream. Destiny directs our ways
in the South Seas to the coast of China
and among the greater Antilles he
proclaims her path and justifies her
means.
Multitudes listen and respond, may
hap to him, in reality to themselves.
The persuasion which thrills us to
action stirring our minds, qufckening
our heart throbs, shortening our breath
and even o'erspreading our faces with
an unexpected glow, we ascribe to Kip
ling. He but returns to US ourselves.
Perchance, we do not recognize our
selves, but we do appreciate the pres
ence of some mighty force; we ascr1be
it to him, but we do not defy him for
We are in sympathy with him and suf-
fer with him in his suffering, pray for
him when he lies i'll and breathe forth
relief with him as he regains his
health.
Kipling, then, is one of us: he is a
man of the present. He is no Milton,
calling upon the heavenly muse to aid
him in his holy work, nor a Shakespeare
a. demi-god nor even Tennyson sing
ing of Sir Galahad and the Table
Round. He represents to-day's hopes
and purposes, nor it's fears-he is an
Individual personifydng this age. And
SO, as we understand the movements
of our times we can know him. He
feels what the world feels, he sees what
the world sees; he is what the world is.
And what does this age stand for?
Material progress? Advance in scien-
tdfic knowledge? Consolidation of
wealth and power? Is there not bru-
tality that can be seen lowering in the
shadows of our flashing lights? Can
We not see the likeness of Cain in the
background and hear the cruel ques-
ton, am / my brothers keeper? Are
We moving aside from the love of God
as we reach for the useful forces of
nature? Is 1t goodness or is it great
ness before which we bow? Do we
laud Dewey or Kipling because Of
their mightiness? KipIing answers the
question for to-day; he knows men in
their aspirations and in their humil-
ity and writes the RecesSonal; he
knows them in their burdens and in
their gloom, and writes:
Take up the white mans burden,
And reap his old reward
The blame of those We better,
The hate of those We guard
The cry of those ye humor
(Ah, slowlyD toward the light is
why brought We US from bondage.
Our loved Egyptian night?"
And he knows men, too, in their nor
NAL mood-as is illustrated in his ode
not ascribed to the praying officer nor
to the Admiral Of the squadron in all
his dignity and authority, but to Cap
tain Robley d. Evans, to Fighting Bob.
to the man who, while shocking the re
ligiouS world, remains a heroic animal.
Zogbaum draws with a pencil,
And / do things with pen;
But you sit up in a coming tower
Bossing 500 men.
Zogbaum takes care of his business,
And l take care of mine;
But you take care of 10000 tons
Sky-hooting through the brine.
Zogbaum can handle his shadows,
And l can handle my style;
But you can handle ten-inch gun
To carry seven mile.
To him that hath shall be given,
And that's why these books are sent
To the man who has lived more stories
Than Zogbaun or 1 could invent.
But, if Kipling We're only what the
world is. if he only felt what the world
feels, he would pass as ship in the
night. Certain distinctive qualities
to a greater or less extent present in
us all-are crystalized in him.
In the first place he is noticea bly,
masculine. He recognizes the power Of
physical manliness more fully and pic
lures it more realistically than does
any other writer of to-day whose works
have read Kipling's men are open
truthful. Some of them may be coarse,
bestial to a degree, aJt.nSii not spir-
itual Kdpling makes them SO, because
he writes the truth. The male, as he
sees him, is Annually brave. In 1.-The
Light That Failed the courage of Dick
Heldar, while he travels from London,
stoneblind, to the Soudan and reaches
his destination only to fall dead in the
arms of his friend Torpenhow, with a
natives bullet through his skull. goads
On the animal courage Of every male
reader Of the story. In the foolish
obstinacy of Wilton and the directors
of the Great Buchonian Railway Com
pany, male courage bristles or stands
steadfast as long as the Error in the
Fourth Dimension exists.
And all through the hot days of the
Madras famine with the natives dying
like flies" and every white man doing
two mems work in the fiat red India
of palm-tree, Palmyra tree and rice
all dead and dry in the baking heat
The land of death"-ft is Jim Hawkins,
the Head of the Famine, unshaven, un-
washed. but CHEEKY and entirely in
command" who says of Scott, his main
support, that's good man, if all goes
we'll 1 shall work him hard"-it is Jim
Hawkins and Scot, too, who meet the
approval of men, because they are phys
cially brave. Kipling knows that cour-
age is manly, and he says so, and he
illustrates it. and he makes his mem
men, in this e1L ect, and thus he reaches
men. because man is the courageous
enc, Annually When man recognizes
the absence of the liking to take a
blow, he knows that he misses manli-
ness. In his heart, he is ashamed of
his own being; he is unsexed.
Kipling sees this fact, expresses 1t
forcdbly and his male reader is more
nearly ready than he was yesterday to
meet his enemy face to face as man
and to fall if need be with his wounds
all in front
And then, again. Kipling's men love
as men love. In all the stories which
have read of KipMng's, not one man in