The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1904-08-07
Things and Thd Man.
(Joel Chandler Harris in Atlanta Con-
StitutiOn.)


(Joel Chandler Harris in Atlanta Con-
stitution.)
Kipling's latest poem. recently pub
lished in The Constitution by special
arrangement with Golfers Weekly,
which holds the American copyright,
will not prove a disappointment to
kiplng idolators 1t is KiplinSesque
in every line, and. once the reader has
the key, not at all enigmatic, although
concrete parts may be POLITICALLY
vague.
And Joseph dreamed a dream, ana
he told ii to his brethren: and they
hated him yet the more. Genesis
XXXVii. !.
Herein is the key and the great
sentiment upon which the poem is
Guided. The modern Joseph of Brit
lsh poltics-Joseph Chamberlain,
who, like 'Dothans dreamer pos
sesseS a coat of many cOlorS, polltl-
cally-has dreamed a dream of in
creased British imperial and CONNER
cial power which he has told to the
self-Sufiicient ear of his conservative
brother Britons. The dream, of course.
is the differential tariff to foster colo
NAL and domestic trade and the tell
ing OF it, as we have seen i'll recent
British political affairs, has caused
the bigoted Cobdenites to hate the
Man of the Monocle even more than
he was hated a few years ago for his
high-handed policy toward the Beer
republics.
So much for the Chamberlain anal
Coy. which is made the basis for the
whole Chamberlain eulogy. The spirit
of the Hebrew dreamer of old is a
greater theme. 1t is the spirit or
greatness. Of genius born but as yet
unrecOgnized, which holds communion
with the stars and reads therein the
scroll Of fate, brushing aside with pro-
phetic vision the intervening years OF
'fouts and flings' and seeing itself
the cap-sheaf in the worlds harvest
field, to which the under sheaVes 90
obeisance. il is the Old story of the
Boy Tasso, for whose divine dreams IN
self-isoIation "the only answer was Il
blow frcm parental hands that knew
only the MOL and grief OF the
ground" The earth-mind sees only
the pdlpable, and woe to the child or
the sun who is bound to it or behold
ell to ii by earthly ties!
The unofficial poet laureate of Eng
land begins mis- high pitched song with
q characteristic sarcasm at the ex-
lsnse of British self-sutticiency. They,
wise heads, hold the written cieW
to all save all unwritten things'-to
all save the great things Joseph IS told
of in a dream. OF these they in their
obtusity know nothing and would
know nothing. Another eXemplif1ca-
ton of the bliss of ignorance i'll high
places. 1t is prOverblal that great
men are born in advance of their age,
and often like great poets II remains
for posterity to see that they marked
an epoch-a human cycle.
however, it IL haru even at this dis
lance, where we have no prejudice
against Chamberlain as the result of
local partiSanshipS. to see in the man
quantities, accomplishments ana ambl-'
tons that permit or him being apoth
eoSlzed as one who "single-handed met,
ana threw magicians, armies, ogres,
Kings" and While We may be able 10
appreciate the pathos OF his political
isolation at the present writing, as the
result OF his unpopular fiscal policy
we must confess that we are utterly
unequal to the mastering Of poetic
imagination sufficient TO descrv
wings in his loneliness. Still, Jo-
seph the Second has flown some IN
recent English history. Perhaps we
cannot descry his wings because they
have been clipped pretty close, so Tar
as political power ana presuge go.
He locked the ranks, he launched the
van
Straight at the grinning teeth Of
things.
Presumably this is RGdyard Kip
ling's way OF referring TO the DR..
Jamison raid on johannesburg. That
was launching the van" all right, in
true imperialistic fashion. Some
shocked foundations" were disturbed
by this "ribald questioning" Of the de-
cent laws of nations, and there was "a
decided seismic jar when Kaiser Will
helm sent his telegram to Kruger.
Although there is much Of kipling' S
admired "blood and iron" in Cham
bcrlainian Statecraft, there are many
10 doubt that the spectacular Joe
ever barred" as many of the other
fellows political wires and strings"
rs he has pulled of his own. The
desert wanderings" the quondam
colonial secretary headed in the spirit
lis heading today in Somaliland and
Tibet-are the Tommy Atkins stock
md trade OF the Kiping muse. The
Fuzzy w uzzies, the .nuttered folk
and wild, are nuts to imperialism Of
the jingoish cockney kidney, and
Cham beriain has we'll earned the ad-
miration of Kipling and Kiplngites
Nothing can be truer than the poetic
statement that these stirring land
grabbing expeditions against weaker
peoples have led Britannia " a little
from the ruck of things" They have
ed her into a peck of unprofitable
trouble and into q financial abyss.
The strongest of the five stanZas is
this one, the fourth:
Thrones, powers, dominions block tSe
view
With episodes and underings;
The meek historian deems them true
Nor heeds the song that Clio sings
The simple central truth that stings
'Ihe mob to boo, the priest to ban,
Things never yet created things.
once on time there was man.
There is pregnant thought and poe