Newton's Grace

Why you!

Hey, have you seen a little boy, with height like this

with an apple?

Yeah, over there lad.

Wait here, ah!

There you are you little blimer!

Hold on a moment, what is going on here?

- Much obliged Pastor Newton, now if you'll just hold him,

I'll give him the caning he deserves.

- As a point of personal privilege sir, no one shall

be whipped in my presence.

Then you deal with him.

What has he done wrong?

- Sir, fighting with the other boys, disobedience,

swearing, he tipped over me stall.

Oh sir, he's a bad seed.

These are serious charges.

- I'm serious sir, please stand back and let me give

him the caning he deserves.

Not in my presence Mr. Chapman.

- Fine, he's your problem, you deal with him!

, ha.

Thank you sir.

- Fighting eh, swearing, these are serious charges.

You're Ms. Watson's oldest aren't you?

Aye, she's me stepmom.

- Hmm, well I was about to go inside for a spot of tea,

would you like to join me.

Might there be any biscuits?

Well there might be, let's go see.

So, fighting and swearing.

You wouldn't understand.

No?

- How could you, you're the parson and all.

- I think I might understand much better than you think.

I was once a little boy myself.

And I think by the time I was your age I had been expelled

from two different schools for fighting and swearing.

You, never!

- Hmm, yes I wasn't always a church parson you know.

In fact I've been a great many different things in life.

I've probably done things far worse than fighting

and swearing.

Like what?

- Well I was a cabin boy on a ship, I was a ship's captain

later on, I was even a slave for a while.

Nah sir, you're leading me on!

- No I'm not, would you like to hear a little of my story?

Well, are there more biscuits?

- Hah, there might be, yes, and more tea as well.

Of course it was all a very long time ago you understand,

but, I don't think that little boys have really changed

that much do you?

I remember my dear mother as if it were only

a few weeks ago.

She taught me to pray, she taught me to read

by reading me the Scriptures.

She died when I was only six.

My father was a merchant seaman, a captain.

While I'm sure that he loved me in his own way,

I don't recall ever feeling loved by him.

He soon remarried a beautiful young woman

who bore him other children.

She wasn't terribly interested in me and so

he was away at sea and I ended up in boarding school,

it wasn't long before I was expelled from that school

for the same sort of trouble you've been in.

Do you mean fighting?

Aye and general disobedience.

When I was young I had this hot core of anger inside of me

that burned all the time, and it was out of control,

I couldn't control my actions always.

Aye?

You do understand, don't you?

It wasn't long before I was expelled from the next school

for the same thing and my father decided that the only

thing to be done was to take me to sea and so I went

on a ship with him when I was 11.

We served as cabin boys, carrying and cleaning

and doing whatever any grownup sailor wanted done.

But that burning core of anger was still inside me,

and when it would burn, I would always end up in trouble.

There, suck on that young master Newton,

maybe you'll think twice about slinging blasphemies

around in me galley.

- I took my anger out on the other boys, the ones

who were smaller than I, and ended up in trouble again.

But in spite of the trouble I got into,

I grew into a man aboard merchant ships, and I became

an able-bodied seaman.

- Ship leaves next Wednesday for Jamaica, we can use you

if you'll sign on.

- Aye sir, I will, I'll be visiting in Kent for a few days

but I can be back for Wednesday.

Little did I know how those few days in Kent

would affect the rest of my life, for it was there,

staying with friends of my mother, that I met

the love of my life, my Polly.

Her name was Mary, Mary Catlett, and almost from

the first time I saw her, my heart was a captive.

My secret nickname for her was Polly.

My dear Polly, my beloved.

She was a little younger than I, and her beautiful smile

melted my heart and made a permanent mark upon my soul.

- Mr. Newton, I shall speak plainly, we loved your

dear mother and held her in the highest regard,

Mary is too young yet for any decision, but her father

and I do not object to an understanding provided--

Yes?

- Provided that when you return from your voyages

we will see some signs of stability and of prospect.

Prospect?

- Prospect for a living Mr. Newton is of great importance.

- Yes, I shall keep that in mind Mrs. Catlett,

and I shall return.

Now I went back to sea with a goal in mind,

to make my way, to find advancement, to make my fortune,

so that I could return and marry my dear Polly.

The beautiful memory of her smile, of her sweet face,

got me through many long watches and lonely nights at sea.

But even the memory of her smile could not

keep me from trouble, that hot anger burned inside me still

and would boil over at times.

Send him to the surgery.

And you, you're on report, reduced rations for a week.

- And of course I was a seaman at sea, no different

from any other, when it poured I joined heartily

in the sins that waited any sailor.

Oh!

- But not all temptations were in port.

- Ah you're a fool if you believe all that blatter.

All of this can be explained by reason and science.

Ah there's no God up there, the rationalists have it right.

- Is that what you do when you're off duty,

read philosophers?

Aye, there's lots of hours at sea, John.

Lots of time to think, Hobbes, Voltaire.

They make more sense than a pack of priests mumbling Latin.

Ah, nothing but superstition to control the rest of us.

You should read Hobbes, I'll loan you his book, Leviathan.

- And so I too became a sailor-philosopher of sorts.

Spinoza and Hobbes, often made quite a deal of sense.

And just as often made me doubt the simple faith

of my childhood.

One night, at sea, I fell asleep over a book,

and I had the strangest dream, one that would come back

to me again and again throughout my life.

- As long as you preserve this ring, you will be successful

and happy, but should you lose it or part of it,

you must only expect sorrow and distress.

You believe that ring is magic?

As long as I preserve and keep it,

I should be happy and successful.

Are you knocky boy?

What a simpleton, you believe anything you're told don't ya?

It seemed right.

- What's right about it, some stranger hands you a ring,

tells you it's magic, it's a talisman, and you believe him?

What a (mumbling)!

Seriously John, how can you buy such claptrap?

You ascribe magical powers to a wee piece of metal,

shaped in a circle.

I'd be ashamed to admit such superstitions to another man.

Don't you understand that by subscribing to

such superstitions it saps your own human powers of reason?

Throw it away.

Go on, throw it away, create your own faith,

take control of your own destiny, go on, throw it away,

go on, go on, show you're a man!

Aye.

Oh you are a fool, what a , believe anything

you're told, but now you're lost, for that ring

contained in it all the mercy (mumbling).

And now it's gone, at your own hand.

What did you do with it?

I threw it away.

I threw it away!

Where did you throw it?

I brought it back for you.

No.

If you're to be entrusted with this ring again,

you will soon bring yourself to the same distress,

you're not able to keep it, but, I will preserve it for

you, and whenever it is needful, I will produce it

on your behalf.

- It wasn't long before that voyage was nearing

its end and I would be able to return to Kent

to visit my Polly, as the ship turned home, all my thoughts

had turned to her and the prospect of again seeing

her sweet face.

But it was not to be.

Less than five miles from her house, I encountered

a press gang, these were the days of an impeding war

with France, and the Navy needed fresh men all the time.

Press gangs roamed the country authorized to virtually

kidnap a likely young lad, and press him into