The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1904-10-15


street Al High Tide and gives inportan Mt
Information concerning the fierce and
eleody struggle between the northern
and southern armies at Gettysburg
famous battle is defended with all a
Nifes devotion.
Mrs Longstreet says in an explanatory
This wee story of a gigantic event.
and General Longstreet's part therein
was arranged for publication in book
form in the fall of 1saS. 1t is the care
fully sifted story OF the records and
contemporaneous witnesses, and for
ciearness 1 have here and there intro
duced General Longstreet's personal
version of some OF the disputed points.
But the reader will perceive that at last
IL is the story of the records"
She also includes the following letter;
Washington, Sept Is, 1902
Gen d. E. SickIes. Gettysburg, Pa
Ny Dear General Sickles: My plan
and desire was to meet You at Gettys-
burg on the interesting ceremony at
tending the unwilling of the Slocum
monument; but today l find myself in
no condition to keep the promise made
You when last we were together. l am
quite disabled from a severe hurt in
one of my feet. SO that l. am unable to
stand more than a minute or two at a
time Please express my sincere re-
grets to the noble Army of the POto-
mac, and accept them, especially, for
yourself.
on that field you made your mark
that will place you prominently be-
fore the world as one of the leading
figures of the most important battle Of
the Civil war. As a northern veteran
once remarked to me: General
Sickles can well afford to leave a leg
on that field"
I believe it is now conceded that the
advanced position at the Peach Or
chard, taken by your corps and under
your orders, saved that battle field to
he
and saddest reflection of my life for
many years; but today, can say, with
Sincerest emotion, that II was and Is
the best that could have come TO US
all, north and south; and hope that
the nation, reunited, may always enjoy
the honor and glory brought TO IL by
that grand work,
Please offer my kindest SITUATIONS
to your governor and your fellow COM
rades of the Army Of the Potomac
JAMES LONGSTREET,
Lieutenant General Confederate Army.
In concluding the preface she says;
This hour does not clamof for the
charity of sileness but for the white
light of truth which 1 reverentlE IN
dertake to throw uDon the deeds OF the
commander, who. from Manassas TO
Appomattox was the strong right arm
of the Confederate states army
Il was writing for love OF him whose
dear name and fame had been attack
ed; to place before his fading vision
deeds as a soldier and high qualities as
q gentleman. Providence decFeed
otherwise. While the opening chap
tiers were running into type, the Great
Captain on High called him hence,
where he can at last have his wrongs
on earth forever rlShted-
"The warrior sleeps serenely today
undisturbed by all earthly contentious,
the peace of God upon him; ana
bring to his tomb this little leaf ira
grant with nay love, believed with my
tears, heavy weighted with my woe
and desolation-
Rudyard KipIing's new book, ''Traf-
fics and Discoveries" first published
by Doubleday, Page & Co. is disaP-
pointing. One critic who says it is not
quite so bad as Stalky & Co. asserts
that IL is one of the least satisfactory
of his books. He says the book is
redeemed by one story. They" The
same critic adds:
has lost his power to write great and
stirring fiction; the one recent story, |
They" is sufficient answer TO such
theory. But Kipling is nothing if not
original, and il is inevitable that his
originality should lead him into many
experiments that prove to be failures !
From the first, too, he has written to
please himself rather than to cater to
any public taste, and so long as the
banefuI spell of the Boer war was
upon him he chose to preach aggres- |
sive Imperialism at the expense of his |
art This collection of stories is large
ly the product of that unfortunate ma |
mia, six of the eleven being mere war
cries In the shape of fiction. Among
the least desirable of these are the
ones in which he revels in the out
ward and material aspects of imperi- !
alism as represented by the British |
navy
Sandwiehed in among these unfeeling
tales of war and of horseplay is the |
dainty lob,
Mr.. Kipling strikes the deepest and |
truest note he has yet achieved. 1t is /
the story of a blind woman who lives
in a secluded wood and draws into her |
sweet presence the spirits of little dead /
children, who come to play in the beau /
tiful house and grounds that she de- !
votes to them The visitor, the ~ of /
the story, is man who does not per- /
ceive that these shy, merry children are 1
only little ghosts, until one Of them |
creeps up and kisses the palm of his 1
hand as his own little loved and lost /
child had been wont to do. Then he 1
and the reader un- /
derstaAds, too, with an ache in the |
throat that bears witness to the depth /
Of feeling with which the story was 1
penned-
Anyone who remembers the bereave-
lnent suffered by Mr.. Kipling shortly /
after his serious illness will perceive in |
this story the passionate yearning of |
the parental heart for a lost child 1t is
q story written from the heart and ex-
ecuted with a grace and tenderness all /
too rare in Mr.. Kiplfng's work It not
only vihTates with suppressed feeling,
but throws many q ray into hidden re-
cesses Of the soul One of the significant
things in it is the pathetic fact that I
the blind woman. for all her yearning
love. can only hear the chiIdren's voices |
never touch or fondle them-because
she3has never had any OF her own. Il
have no right, you know" she SAYS
bowling her head In her hands. I have |
neither borne nor lost-neither borne
nor lost" To which comes the reply:
"a BE very glad, them said /, for nv
Is a poignant, beautiful story. not in the
least morbid. but attesting 8 depth of |
feeling to which many q bruised heart |
will respond.