The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1899-03-09
KIpLING AND CHILDREN
His Wonderful Insight of Their Su
a fcrinrs and Ioupinps.

-.4tIr t.t.., III |NaHIu|l.a4
His Wonderful Insight of Their sur.
ferings and Longings.
Louisville, Courier Journal: The ma
tons that have watched with such So
llcltude the sick bed OF Rudyard Kip
ling, and have reJoIced over his success
ful struggle with disease, have been
shocked bY the. announcement OF his
little daughters death.
The deep sympathy that would go
out to Mr.. klpllng under any clrcum-
stances In such an atillctlon, will be in
tens!hed In this case because he more
than almost any other OF the great
modern writer's has made himself the
interpreter OF the sorrows and suffer-
innss of childhood. His power to depict
the pathetic side OF child life and death
Is one OF the most wonderful character
istlcs OF his genius.
The preternatural cleverness with
which such p:odigies as Tod lay down
the law to their elders has been crlti-
cised With good deal OF force, and
though "Tod's Amendment" Is fine
story, 1t must be admitted that there IS
good deal OF cheap work about II. 1t Is
NOT so IN that marvellous tale of little
Tota's life and death In without Bene-
MT OF Clergy" How the coming OF the
halt-caste baby was first resented by
the father and then how the infant
grew Into his heart is told with power
ana skill that passes understanding,
When 1t 10 recalled that the author was
then young bachelor supposed TO
have no knowledge OF the movlngs Of
iatherhood than comes from the study
OF The universal nature. This Is quite
the most remarkable feature OF story
which, II not the very best that Kip
ing ever wrote. Is next to It. The chIId's
death, the agony and self-reproach Of
the mother. her impatient rebukes OF
the father, are told With depth OF feel
Ing to which there is little that is COM
parable In modern literature. Contrasted
with It's simple, but heartread!ng pa
thos, the story Of Little Nell becomes
cheap and meiodramatic.
And WHO can forget the brief life Of
little Mchammed Din with his request
for the abandoned ball; the tiny struc-
lures on his playground and the
glimpse OF the little burden on the
fathers shoulder as he carried his dead
away? That picture OF humble bereavc-
ment Will bear favorable comparison
with anything in Shakespeare, and yet
II Is only the story of poor little Hin
doc baby and his childish toys. The
toys were the toys of children of all
lands and ages. and the going out OF
the little life meant as much to the
poor Hindoo as 1t would have meant In
a palace. That is the gift of Kip
ling to be able to show to every reader,
In "Wee Willie Wlnkic." BLACK
Sheep" and In THE Light that Failed"
the autho: has shown his profound
sympathy with childish suffering and
lonEinss with a power that Is heart
breaking, but not with the marvellous
insight revealed In the story OF Tota
and little Mohammcd. Anyone can
move, by recitals of cruelty and incon-
sideratlon to helpless children, though
none can put it SO strongly as Kipling
has done. The boy that was going blind
and unable to study. but was punished
as idle and stupid, is one OF the most
sorrowful pictures in modern fiction,
but there are many others in his writ
iags. No one who reads them but has
been taught I forbearance and discern.
ment in his dealings with the tiny peo-
pie of his acquaintance, be they OF his
own family OF some other. p