Please donate to help keep TarBoard and All Things Ransome going

Re: Stars - the night sky


[ Follow Ups ] [ Post Followup ] [ Previous # Next ] [ Start New Thread ] [ TarBoard ]

Posted by Ed Kiser on March 16, 2015 at 09:02:45 user Kisered.

In Reply to: Stars - the night sky posted by Ed Kiser on March 12, 2015 at 07:19:57:

In the Ransome series, the visibility of the stars in the
nighttime sky is mentioned in a few places, but primarily in
the Winter Holiday tale.

In Swallowdale, there is noted that John saw the stars.
This was a great way of emphasizing just how late they had
stayed up the night before they wanted to get an early
start on the overland hike the next day. Being in the
Summer, with its short nights, they must have really been up
much past their intended bedtime to see that star display.

Another mention was in Picts and Martyrs. That first night
that the D's arrived at Beckfoot, with Dorothea in the guest
bedroom, and with Dick in Captain Flint's room, Dick sees
the telescope there by the window, and expresses his delight
in perhaps getting to use it to see the stars tonight, but
Cook did not think much of that planning, as he will be
wanting to be fast asleep long before it is dark enough to
see the sky. This, too, was Summer time, with short nights
and long days.

It is in Winter Holiday that the night sky becomes a point
of display of great interest. Dick meets these new friends
and is identified as being the astronomer, as he seems to
have some knowledge of the star patterns in the sky and the
names of some of these as well. Their purpose in going up
to that old barn was to make use of it as an observatory,
where they could get a good look at the display of stars
that were easily seen since the days were so short, and
the nights so long in the Winter time.

It was Dick's interst in the stars in Winter Holiday that
captured my attention when reading all this back in the
World War Two days. In those youthful days, I lived on a
farm, well out in the country away from the lights of the
town, and could easily see that fantastic display of stars
that Dick had so skillfully directed my attention to.

Having seen the sky in those days, and seeing how things
look today, I can greatly contrast that visibility change
and can sorely miss that which I had grown up to so enjoy.

Winter Holiday was a definite influence on my growing up
years, as the lessons Ransome taught me stood well by me
when I became involved in the Boy Scouts, for it was there
that I was able to finally establish a leadership position
among my peers as I was teaching them what Ransome had
taught me in Winter holiday - and that was essentially two
lessons: the appreciation of the nighttime sky and the star
groups seen there, and its changes throughout the seasons,
and, the magic of signalling as an aid in communications, as
I was able to teach Morse code to my fellow scouts and see
them get fascinated with this new skill.

Even today, it is an occasional delight to take some text
file, translate it using the "Nancy Blackette Font"
(available for download via All Things Ransome) and then to
review those ancient skills by reading the resultant
semaphone format. Too bad that font and related tools were
not available during my Boy Scout days, but there we did
learn by signalling to each other across some open field.

There was that childish chant: "I know something you don't
know." We could display our unique skills at school, in the
lunchroom, where we communicted with others who were "in the
know" across that large noisy dining room, while others see
us flapping about just thought we were nuts. They were not
"in the know" and to this young boy, that was an important
edge in that society.

For that "edge" - I do know I owe it all to Ransome, to his
stories, to Dick who made me see the advantages of knowing
these skills. For this, Winter Holiday has its special
place.

But that sky of Winter Holiday was described of another
time, now long ago, as it was back in the early '30's, but
now I cannot help but wonder, to what extent has Outdoor
Lighting so polluted the sky that the stars in these times
have faded into oblivion. Have the lights of "Rio" become
so bright as to take away such delights that were
experienced so long ago?

Ed Kiser, Kentucky, USA [kisered@aol.com]


Follow Ups:



Post a followup (Only if you agree to the Terms and Conditions)

Name:
Email (optional). This will be visible to everyone on TarBoard, and spammers:

Existing subject (please edit appropriately) :

or is it time to start a New Thread?

Comments:

Optional Link URL:
Link Title:
Optional Image URL:

post direct to TarBoard test post first

Before posting it is necessary to be a registered user.


[ Follow Ups ] [ Post Followup ] [ TarBoard ]