Come On In – The Water’s Fine!

T’other day one of the gels was asking me about Dryads and Naiads in the Chronicles of Narnia.  Specifically, she wanted to know if C.S. Lewis had invented these creatures or if he had incorporated them from some other mythological tradition.  I assured her that they were, indeed, products of Greco-Roman legend and did not spring full-grown from Lewis’s own head.

This got me thinking (once the gel was suitably out of the way, of course) about the fate of Hylas:

Hylas and the Water-Nymphs by John William Waterhouse (1896)

Greek myth is full of premature death, of course, but it strikes me that some manners of demise are much preferable to others.

Welcome To St. Mary of the Immaculate Moonbounce

Via the Telegraph:

Italian nuns are hoping to lure beach bums to pray instead of sunbathe this summer by setting up an inflatable church and convent in Molise on the Adriatic coast.

The 100-foot-long church will be set up on Saturday and is to be manned by a team of priests waiting to hear confession, give mass and sing holy music.

“There will be four or five people singing, with music about God,” said Chiara Facci from the Catholic group Sentinelli del Mattino, which is putting up the blow-up church.

A night-time mass, competing with the more worldly attractions of local night clubs and bars, will take place between 10pm and 1am.

The move from lilos and beach towels to plastic pews has already fallen foul of coastal weather: an attempt to set up the church in Sardinia last month was foiled by strong winds.

The Catholic church is trying to counteract the holiday effect of the Italian summer, when large cities empty and holidaymakers head for the beach.

With businesses already suffering the holiday effect, churches want to make sure the travelling faithful do not leave their sense of piety and devotion at home.

The inflatable church is not the only such effort. Near Naples a group of nuns have relocated to beach cabins to help tourists say the rosary with an alter set up between tents.

“The concept of a beach-convent is something that is appreciated by vacationers and the nuns themselves,” said priest Antonio Rungi.

Of course, while the execution seems a bit silly, the underlying concept is pretty solid: just because you’re on vac doesn’t mean you should blow off your weekly obligation to God. To that end, I’ve already done some recon and know exactly which church I shall visit while up in Maine next week.

But of course, if one looks on weekly devotion and participation in the Mass as an “obligation”, as in “Aw, Ma, do I haaaave to?” one simply misses out. Back in the day, I would never have dreamed of going out of my way to find a church when out of town, whether for the weekend or longer. But since getting my religious house in order, I’ve made a point of it, and have found great satisfaction as a result.

Must I Vote For Just One?

Don has a Wodehousian poll up over at Scuffulans hirsutus.

The only problem with the categories as that several of them overlap to one extent or another: For example, both Psmith and Uncle Fred have paid visits to Blandings Castle (the former once, the latter several times), so how does one go about scoring those stories?

Ah well, the best thing about this particular poll is that there is, in fact, no wrong answer.

The Sharp End of Empire

One Mile To Bushy Run Station by Robert Griffing. Go here to buy a print.

August 5 & 6 mark the anniversary of the now little-known Battle of Bushy Run. Fought in 1763 some 20-odd miles east of what is now Pittsburgh, it marked the height of the also now little-know Pontiac’s Rebellion, and perfectly represented all the horrors and heroism of that awful chapter of Colonial history.

First, an extreme thumbnail sketch of the Rebellion: In the struggle for possession of the North American continent, the British and French both recognized the importance of obtaining the assistance and support of Indian allies. As the British gradually gained the upper hand militarily against the French, they also further expanded their relations with the tribes of the Ohio Valley and around the Great Lakes, sending various goods and supplies and establishing treaties of alliance which purported to allow the Indians to be left alone once the war was over should they cooperate with the Brits. Pursuant to this policy, the Brits built a string of frontier fortresses across the region, the largest being Fort Pitt on the site of the captured and destroyed French Fort Duquesne.

Well, once the French had been put down and hostilities ceased, the British Commander in North America, Lord Jeffrey Amherst, decided that he need no longer suck up to the Indians: He had got rid of the French, and the Natives ought to be grateful to come under Brit hegemony and Do As They Were Told. Oh, and of course the Ohio Valley was not going to be an Indians-only preserve, given the pressing demand of the colonists to push westward. It was not very long before the Indians realized that with the French eliminated there was absolutely nothing to stop the Brits from rolling forward unhindered. Some of them accepted this as fate and prepared either to be subsumed into the Crown or else to pack up and move even farther westward. Several, however, including Chief Pontiac, believed they had no choice but to strike fast and hard, basically to terrorize the Brits and colonists into pulling back and not daring to encroach further on Indian lands. To this end, a series of surprise attacks was launched against the frontier forts, many of them resulting in extremely gruesome and savage liquidation of the local garrisons and hangers-on.

At first, Amherst and the officials closer to the seaboard dismissed the attacks as meaningless. However, when the Indians went after Fort Pitt and beseiged it, they finally began to take serious notice. In response to the news, Amherst ordered Colonel Henry Bouquet and a scratch army of about 450 men to march on Fort Pitt and raise the siege.

After a long, hard, hot march across Pennsylvania, Col. Bouquet and his men ran into trouble around 1:00 PM on August 5 about 26 miles from Fort Pitt, where his column was suddenly ambushed by an Indian force of unknown size. Although suffering a number of casualties and being surrounded, Bouquet and his men kept their heads and fought off the multiple Indian attacks until sundown. After dark, the Brits built a redoubt at Edge Hill, a place that Bouquet described as “a commodious piece of Ground, and Just Spacious Enough for our Purpose”. The wounded were collected in the center and covered with flour bags. There was virtually no water available to the troops. Bouquet wrote a dispatch to Amherst describing what had happened, and making pretty clear that he thought he was not going to survive the renewed Indian attack the next day.

When dawn came, so again did the Indians. As Bouquet put it:

In the Morning the Savages Surrounded our Camp, at the Distance of about 500 Yards, and by Shouting and Yelping, quite Round that Extensive Circumference, thought to have Terrified Us, with their Numbers. They Attacked Us Early and, under Favour of an Incessant Fire, made Several Bold Efforts to Penetrate our Camp; And tho’ they Failed in the Attempt, our Situation was not the Less Perplexing, having Experienced that Brisk Attacks had Little Effect upon an Enemy, who always gave Way when Pressed, & Appeared again Immediately: Our Troops were besides Extremely Fatigued with the Long March, and as long Action of the Preceding Day, and Distressed to the Last Degree, by a Total Want of Water, much more Intolerable than the Enemy’s Fire.

Frustrated with the Indians’ float-like-a-butterfly-sting-like-a-bee mode of warfare, the wiley tactician Bouquet determined to set a rope-a-dope trap of his own:

The Savages growing Every Moment more Audacious, it was thought proper still to increase their Confidence; by that means, if possible, to Entice them to Come Close upon Us, or to Stand their Ground when Attacked. With this View two Companies of Light Infantry were Ordered within the Circle, and the Troops on their Right and Left opened their Files, and Filled up the Space that it might seem they were intended to Cover the Retreat; The Third Light Infantry Company, and the Grenadiers of the 42d, were Ordered to Support the two First Companys. This Manouvre Succeeded to Our Wish, for the Few Troops who Took possession of the Ground lately Occupied by the two Light Infantry Companys being Brough in Nearer to the Centre of the Circle, the Barbarians, mistaking these Motions for a Retreat, Hurried Headlong on, and Advancing upon Us, with the most Daring Intrepidity, Galled us Excessively with their Heavy Fire; But at the very moment that, Certain of Success, they thought themselves Masters of the Camp, Major Campbell, at the Head of the two First Companys, Sallied out from a part of the Hill they Could not Observe, and Fell upon their Right Flank; They Resolutely Returned the Fire, but could not Stand the Irresistable Shock of our Men, Who, Rushing in among them, Killed many of them, and Put the Rest to Flight. The Orders sent to the Other Two Companys were Delivered so timely by Captain Basset, and Executed with such Celerity and Spirit, that the Routed Savages, who happened to Run that Moment before their Front, Received their Full Fire, when Uncovered by the Trees; the Four Companys Did not give them time to Load a Second Time, nor Even to Look behind them, but Pursued them ’till they were Totally Dispersed.

(- From the Dispatch of Col. Henry Bouquet to Sir Jeffrey Amherst, August 6, 1763, reprinted in Appendix D of The Conspiracy of Pontiac by the great Francis Parkman. Parkman says, “The despatches written by Colonel Bouquet, immediately after the two battles near Bushy Run, contain so full and clear an account of those engagements, that the collateral authorities consulted have served rather to decorate and enliven the narrative than to add to it any important facts.” You ought to read them in full if you can. )

Col. Bouquet and his relief expedition eventually made it to Fort Pitt, where they raised the siege and saved the fort. The defeat at Bushy Run was an enormous psychological victory for the British (even though there were more Brit than Indian casualties in the engagement), and broke the spirit of the Indians. Even though some hard fighting remained, the battle marked the turning point of the Rebellion.

Putting aside the larger issues of colonialism, Indian rights, Pontiac’s motivations, Amherst’s ham-handed administration and the like, I instead can’t help dwelling with a mixture of awe, horror and admiration on the spirit of those thousand-odd men pitted against each other in the wilds of Western Pennsylvania on those hot August days 250-odd years ago.

UPDATE: Link fixed. Thankee to Stillers.