Jack B. Yeats

“ She was the finest vessel we had in the fleet.
She was built out of a toy lifeboat, with a lead keel fastened on, and she had paper sails and a rudder.
[Pg 22]
The “New Corinthian” sailed in the nicest way, but we were too proud of her, after we had rigged her, to let her go down the big river, so we sailed her on a small pond called Mystery Bay; we called it that name because it looked so terribly deep, but was really only about three feet deep.
The “New Corinthian” did not have any adventurous voyages, but she had as good a time as she could have, sailing round and round Mystery Bay. ”

“ The owners of this small merchant fleet had nowhere else handy to float their vessels in than the small and winding Gara river and a very small pond; the vessels when upon the river drove along with the stream, their sails, when they had any, only being of use to get them out of bad places, except occasionally when the current ran slowly; then, with a fair wind, the “Pasear” and the “Monte,” at any rate, would walk along at a fine pace.
Long, light sticks were carried to steer the ships round dangerous corners, and through narrow and difficult channels like the Two Snags ”

“ She kept a fine course from that on, and went at a great pace, about fifteen knots; once she stuck her nose in the bank, but the sails swung her round, so on she went and ran beautifully into Safety Cove. But, like a silly, her skipper came out of it again before we could tell him not to, and hit against, oh! such a nasty rock; it heaved her on her beamends, and then she turned very slowly round until her masts and sails were underneath, and her stone keel on top. And that was the end of her.
This was what the Pirate Poet made about her:
And now by Gara rushes,
When stars are blinking white ”

“ No breadth of range, no scope, is allowed to him. He has lost touch with the external forces of daily life. An introspective study, an allegory of the state of his own mind, is the most we can look for from him. ”

“ The “Monte” then put her head south-west by south, half south, a little southerly, sir, and tried to make the current called the Bully Bowline, but she kept too far to the west’ard, and so she got caught by the other current, the wrong one, called the Blackwall Hitch. The “Monte’s” skipper got excited then, [Pg 11] and tried to cross the middle of the river, but she dashed round in the current under the cliffs, and was only saved by very good steering from running straight into the very dangerous snags called the Bad Snags. ”

“ Here we have no mere jejune text, but also the characters and the scenery painted unstintingly by the author, and all ready to be gummed on cardboard and strut and fret their five minutes on the toy stage. As Stevenson, were he now living, would probably cut his work in order to produce this drama if it reached him in working hours, the rest of us need take no shame to ourselves for the same inclination. ”

“ Never, I mean, apart from the present showmen, who, however, promise yet better things. Stevenson, you mark, had two sources of enjoyment—play and puppet-show—and Mr. Mathews announces his intention of producing the plays, with scenes and characters, on sheets, to be cut out and played on miniature stages. What will the next generation be like? Certes, ’tis a bold experiment, and, to say the worst, a queer revival.”—Speaker, 1/2/02. F. J. S.
“At a time when the palmy days of the drama are a melancholy remembrance, we welcome the publication of James Flaunty ”