Stillness 5-5:
“Fire!” said the voice; and a volley ripped up the sea all around us, knocking off splinters from the planks. For the next half-hour we were just within extreme range of the carbines and musketoons. During that half-hour we were slowly slipping by the long two miles of Slapton Sands. We could not go fast, for the only sail was a coat, and, though the wind was pretty fresh, the set of the tide was against us. So for half an hour we crouched below that row-boat’s gunwale, just peeping up now and then to see the white outline of the breakers on the sand, and beyond that the black outlines of the horsemen, who followed us. (From Jim Davis by John Masefield)
In the old days, story-telling was our essential entertainments. This hasn’t changed—just take a peek at the fictional entertainment that tends to burgeon during times of stress: Hollywood films of the 1930s during the Depression and the sheer amount of movies and shows that are currently streaming through our screens. What’s your favorite kind of tale? I’ve been re-reading some old favorites of mine: I’m particularly drawn to stories from the first half of the twentieth century. Yesterday I pulled off my shelf a very old novel by John Masefield called Jim Davis that I used to adore. It was a glorious few hours of thrilling pleasure. Many of you know John Masefield’s famous poem called “Sea Fever,” but did you also know he wrote more than thirty novels and other books? Jim Davis features an enterprising boy who is press-ganged into a smuggler’s ring and who encounters some spine-tingling exploits and adventures. In his The Bird of Dawning, a young hero takes charge of a life-boat after a nautical disaster, and navigates challenges of starvation, storms, sharks, and mutiny on the long voyage to safety. H. M. Tomlinson is another author who takes me far out to sea with his novels like The Sea and the Jungle and Gallion’s Reach, both of which I still keep in my well-used library, ready to read and re-read, like encountering an old friend who’s always willing to say hello. I think it’s a good time to let ourselves be swept away by good stories. It’s how we remember our own courage, adventure, and heroism.