Posted by Ed Kiser on March 27, 2009 at 17:27:08 user Kisered.
In Reply to: Re: burghers of Carlisle posted by Peter H on March 27, 2009 at 11:05:56:
The concept of using bonfires as a beacon was also used in "the Lord of the Rings" in the part three "Return of the King" as a signal seen from quite a distance.
Such signaling is meaningful only if there is well known agreement as to what that fire means. Such a signal is very binary in effect, that it is either burning or it is not, and once burning, will continue until the pile of fuel is consumed, a signal not easily repeated any time soon. But such signalling is very effective in that the "message" can be transmitted rather quickly across vast distances.
Such a binary signal could become misinterpreted unless thoroughly understood ahead of time as to what that intended meaning will be. A similar problem in WH was the "flag at Beckfoot" in that the flag is either there, or not, thus is, like the bonfire, binary in concept. The problem was that there was not a complete agreement among all concerned what that flag meant, as some thought "Nancy is coming to council" or "start for the North Pole." And in that difference lay the twist to the plot of the story.
Winter Holiday is the book that seems to call attention to the concept of signalling, by various means. Although signalling was used in some other AR stories, it seems to be more used in WH. There was the square triangle method, the two flag semaphore (or just two arms waving as Nancy did from her sickroom window to the others on the lawn), the one flag flapping for Morse, the blinking light Morse. including the hiding and showing of the latern in a Morse pattern from the North Pole itself, a signal that became quite significant, as across a large distance, it was seen by Nancy at Beckfoot. There is also the "stick figure" messages using semaphore to carry the text.
I still feel somehow they missed a great chance for signalling in SD, when they were on the lookout rock and saw Holly Howe. John even mentioned the possibility of signalling to Mother there, but it was just a passing thought.
I don't think the concept of the Pigeons in PP is signalling but is actually a form of sending a written message text, almost like writing a note to be delivered by "native mail." But the flashing of lights using Morse between Gulch and the main camp at night is true signalling, as was the two arm flapping done by Titty's group returning from their fearful through the mountain adventure, or by the scouts looking out for Squashy Hat and reporting his status to the prospectors.
This worked only when someone was actually watching for the signal. Some agreement had to have been made as to the meaning of certain letters to shorten the signal's length.
GN had some flag waving for signalling. Roger used it from his lookout post which was a sort of sanctuary for him. There were other semaphore usages.
WD had signalling by raising a certain signal flag to "request a pilot" or to "request customs clearance". There was also the signalling by foghorn or banging the frying pan to indicate "anchored" or "running with the wind."
There was a bit of nautical type signalling in SD, when Susan, at the half-way camp up the mountain, blew on her whistle two shorts and one long, meaning "you are standing into danger" meaning there would be trouble if not quickly getting to sleep. This was a signal Roger understood. Wonder how he came to know that meaning... Father was a sailor, maybe he learned it from his Father? Wonder what was the origin of the definition of the Morse "U" (di-di-dah) being "you are standing into danger."
Signalling becomes shortened to a form of code, so the meaning of a certain code needs to have some common agreement to avoid misunderstandings. But full spelling out text can get tedious, so abbreviations get substituted, and sometimes interpreted incorrectly.
In SW, the Eels used rockets for signals.
But it was the concept of Morse in WH that attracted my interest as a boy in that skill, and led me to not only learning it, but teaching it to the others in my Boy Scout troop where most seemed delighted to gain this ability. It was a good feeling, to have that skill, thanks to AR.
Ed Kiser, Kentucky