The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-03-16
Kipling and Bret Harte.

mlrat1on ana worship that
have been displayed by the civ
ilzed nations of th- o,r+h eo p,.,,ra
Siii'e LIE peslhiiihs ol MS NJ
ness, the Chicago Chronicle thinks it
time politely to call halt The Chron
;o,a doos ,o+ io;x :: 49,, -.
~ 80 40 ''t~ VIII e't'-
mate OF hlpllngs genius. 1t says:
The publications inspired by Kiping's
, ~ nave i1ciuueu Voiumlhous eu'osls-
merit highly fayorahIe in their terms Nc
has been classed with the greatest poers
d. MS age some paced MIN above all
veteran, t,o.t ~ tbn cto,ros ,0aIae. ., snt
he was the Shakespeare of the century"
All this is eXtravagant and fantastic.
pins - ilo' iilu.h " d poet enher as 10
verses. He has with 1ittla ond +hat
not in the most elevated VEIN The pecu-
mar swing OIL MS ringing lines Is his
az. ay,ralno, ~ not., -. ~ . ession-
ism" in its consequences and the duties
which its success imposes. 1.-The Truce of
!, neat ~ d savage satlre on the peace
etry. excent as all natriotic rhymes arc
poetry in their inspiration and the sem
ument thev express. The White Mans
=, ~ 80 1S'i" as - eApi essea
Kipling is entitled to some such place in
literature as that of Bret Harte, the Cal
norma author. Iethaps ms poetry Is OF
IIarte has writ+en Rnt h;s storias of ,,,
lcnial life in the East Indies are not equal
to Bret Harte,s stories of the Pacific min
us lamps an" '''e III INC s"i'Ae''
III so''ie respects comparison VI
N'p1's anu i'ai'e Is llot A'iap'' DUH
are poets anu s'ory 'eiiels. DOM are
i'cluueu III tfat rare Fellowship Oh writ
the successes Oh HE WIN powerful as
tihctness; VINO make their stories END
as END the dramas OF real lie mat are
occurring AROUND us every day-sohls-
tunes IN nlack ana horrible catastrophe,
oot lar more o1teh IN compromise IN
'he uu'i hedft-aches OIL conventional
ISM IN the taclt encouragement be
tween the actors that 1t is better to
make the pest or a pad bargain and so
I'VE on IN a semplance or security, than
10 follow the tragical, instructive
promptlngs or nature and bring ruin
upon innocent as well as guilty.
or the sterling qualities of Mr..
Hartes genus and art the general pub
lie has too little appreciation. No
chance circumstance in his life ever
maze MN the recipient OF that frantic
adulatlon that is being offered up to
Ripping. me Luck or the Roaring
camp instantly Drought him success.
which his later work confirmed, but
level. Harte mas suffered in the pop
ular estimate from an unWarranted
suspicion that MS stories owe more NJ
their fascinating ordnance TO the nov
city OF thelr scenes ana characters than
10 any inherent literary merit. Yet the
very highest SIKH was required wildly
10 portray gamblers, hlghWaymen and
prostitutes without shocking the sensi-
pliltles OF the reHned. Inc keenest In
sight, the broadcast sympathy, the ut
most delicacy OF touch were needed to
convince readers, as Bret Harte better
than any other man has done, that these
rude and vicious beings We're men and
women after all, members OF our COM
mon humanity, possessed of keen re-
sponsiveness to nobler influences and
capable or the heroism OF self-sacrif1ce.
even unto death. But in the last analy-
sis Bre: Harte's genius will be found
to lie in his splendid dramatic instinct