The Red Book of Heroes

Life is not all beer and skittles said a reflective sportsman and all books are not fairy tales. In an imperfect state of existence the peety of it is that we cannot have all things as we would like them. Undeniably we would like all books to be fairy tales or novels and at present most of them are. But there is another side to things and we must face it. Life is real life is earnest as Tennyson tells us said an orator to whom I listened lately and though Longfellow not Tennyson wrote the famous line quoted by the earnest speaker yet there is a good deal of truth in it. The word earnest like many other good words has been overdone. It is common to sneer at earnest workers yet where would we be without them especially in our climate?In a Polynesian island where the skies for ever smile and the blacks for ever dance earnestness is superfluous. The bread-fruit tree delivers its rolls punctually every morning strawberries or other fruits as nice spring beneath the feet of the dancers; the cavern in the forest provides a roof and shelter from the sun; the sea supplies a swimming-bath and man in time of peace has only to enjoy himself eat and drink laugh and love sing songs and tell fairy tales. His drapery is woven of fragrant flowers nobody is poor and anxious about food nobody is rich and afraid of losing his money nobody needs to think of helping others; he has only to put forth his hand or draw his bow or swing his fishing-rod and help himself. To be sure in time of war man has just got to be earnest and think out plans for catching and spearing his enemies and drill his troops and improve his weapons in fact to do some work or have his throat cut and be put in the oven and eaten. Thus it is really hard for the most fortunate people to avoid being earnest now and then.The people whose stories are told in this book were very different from each other in many ways. The child abbess Mère Angélique ruling her convent and at war with naughty abbesses who hated being earnest does not at once remind us of Hannibal. The great Montrose with his poems and his scented love-locks his devotion to his cause his chivalry his death to which he went gaily clad like a bridegroom to meet his bride does not seem a companion for Palissy the Potter all black and shrunk and wrinkled and bowed over his furnaces. It is a long way from gentle Miss Nightingale tending wounded dogs when a child and wounded soldiers when a woman to Charles Gordon playing wild tricks at school leading a Chinese army watching alone at Khartoum in a circle of cruel foes for the sight of the British colours and the sounds of the bagpipes that never met his eyes and ears.CONTENTSTHE LADY-IN-CHIEFPRISONERS AND CAPTIVESHANNIBALTHE APOSTLE OF THE LEPERSTHE CONSTANT PRINCETHE MARQUIS OF MONTROSEA CHILDS HEROCONSCIENCE OR KINGTHE LITTLE ABBESSGORDONTHE CRIME OF THEODOSIUSPALISSY THE POTTERILLUSTRATIONSGo back! he said [See page 350]Fifteen thousand Romans fell that dayFather Damien went out and sat in a lonely place by the seaA great army of Irishmen have swooped down on the Atholl countryThe place was swarming with ratsShe took all her nuns for a solemn walkThey saw a man in uniform shining with gold flying towards themA jar of water in the figures right hand emptied itself on his headRoger could hardly believe his eyesShe came forth with a golden circlet round her headHannibal was determined not to stir until the elephants were safely overUnder the eyes of the army the combat beganIn vain Guedelha implored him to wait till the fatal hour was pastAbout thirty or forty of our honestest women did fall a railing on Mr. William AnnanYou will soon have no caste left yourselfOften ... he had felt that a terrible death was very nearSir Thomas sat silentWhat now Mother Eve? he answeredYou are mistaking me for somebody elseThe archers s