The evening times., 1899-03-03
The Tribute TO kipIinE.

certainly owes Schley justice.
The Tribute TO F<ipIing.
Perhaps the most striking result Of the
illness of Rudyard Kipling has been the
phenomenal number of expressions of SYM
pathy evoked by the news. Practically
everyone in England. from the Queen down
to the soldiers in their barracks, has been
more or less affected by the apprehension
of his death, and cablegrams from promi-
nent people among the novelist's country
men have been innumerable. The anxiety
on this side the Atlantic has been scarcely,
if at all. less marked than that in Eng
land. All day long, eager and anxious peo-
pie have scanned the bulletins at the
hotel. and these people have been from all
all classes of society and of all ages. Not
within a period of many years has there
been such widespread concern over the i'll
ness of any famous man. 1t is not 100
much TO say that if the life of this brilliant
Englishman had been cut short at this
time thousands of people would have felt
! as if they had lost d friend. His person
/ ality IS so strong his talent so many
! sided. his power TO interest and delight
"
( careless reader to whom books are merely
/ A pastime for idle hours, there are few
who could fill his place; while TO those
who regard literature in its true light, as
a means of shaping human thought, Kip
ling has seemed more than any other the
poet and novelist of the coming generation.
This has been called commercial age,
and it has more than once been hinted
by pessimists that the world no longer
has an interest in anything save the max
ing of money. But the sympathy and sor-
row which were caused by the fear of
Kipling's untimely death 90 far to dis
prove this There is no financier. or poll
tcian, or nobleman. or wealthy man, or
any man of merely material power whose
death could have seemed such an inter
national calamity. There is none whose
Illness could have awakened such keen
emotion in the masses of the people. This
shows enthusiastically that the power of
personality is still greater than any
thing else in the world, so far as the shap-
ing of human thought is concerned, and
that the man of thought is still a stron-
ger influence in the world than the man
whose aims and deeds are merely ma
terial. And there is another thing which
should be noted in this connection; that
kipling's power over his readers is due
/ in great measure to their conviction that
he is fearless and incorruptible. The CO.
lossal fortunes which have been made and
/ lost in this country since the war and the
general uncertainty of values in a grow
ing nation have led many almost against
their will TO LAY too much stress on mere
wealth and have given America pecu-
liar phase of civilization which impresses
many foreigners with the notion that We
are deyoured by the greed of gain. But
the very swiftness with which the heart
of the people responds to anything which
is absolutely free of fear or favor should
disprove this. The popularity of Kipling
is but one instance
1t should be remembered. moreover. that
the many evidences of sympathy which
have been called forth from the American
people by the illness of this stranger with
in our gates. and the feeling of friendliness
and admiration from which they spring,
exist in spite of some decidedly emphatic
expressions Of antagonism to America on
his part 1t may be that he has been mis-
led by some apparent dislike of him on the
part of Americans. His criticisms of Amer
lea, written while he was yet a young
British newspaper man of insecure fame,
aroused considerable resentment on this
side the water. and recriminations were
freely indulged in. Some of his books have
also been criticised here very sharply. But
if Mr.. Kipling has inferred from these
superficial indications that the American
! people do not understand and admire all
of his achievements which are worth ad-
miring, the spontaneous expression of their
feeling toward him during his illness
should undeceive him. In the words of his
own hero, Dick Heldar, let him not hence
, forth forget that he is the steward of these
gifts and try to make us love and appre-
ciate his work with thick stick Let
him endeavor henceforth to understand
America as well as Americans have under
, 1 ctGod him