Robert Martin

“ There were so many things to find out, such as when and where to be gowned, who were freshers and who were unapproachable seniors, what attitude to adopt to one's scout and one's tutor. It was all very perplexing, and although Martin did not suffer the acute agony of apprehension that had made terrible his first few days at Elfrey, he remained, in spite of all the hints given him by his cousin Robert, ashamed of his ignorance and fearful of mistakes. ”

“ Martin spent August and September at The Steading. The weather was kind and he could lounge and play tennis to his heart's content. In his spare moments he read Homer and Virgil, marking the hard passages with a blue pencil, according to advice. His cousin Robert, who had just finished his third year at Balliol, was working in a frenzy of confusion and despair. He had devoted the whole previous year to becoming President of the Union and, having gained his end, was now endeavouring to condense all his Greats work into one year. ”

“ Martin’s-in-the-Fields, wavering like a drunken man; the passers-by regarded him with eyes in which he read, as in a glass, an image of the terror and horror that dwelt within his own.
“I am afraid you are very ill, sir,” observed a woman, stopping and gazing hard in his face. “Can I do anything to help you?”
“Ill?” said M’Guire. “O God!” And then, recovering some shadow of his self-command, “Chronic, madam,” said he: “a long course of the dumb ague. But since you are so compassionate—an errand that I lack the strength to carry out,” he gasped—“this bag to Portman Square. ”

“ My father was still to all, “The Masther, the Lord have mercy on him”; the Martins were still “The Family,” who could do no wrong, whose defects, if such were admitted, were revered. “The Martin family hadn’t good sight,” said a tenant, “but sure the people say that was a proof of their nobility.{33}”
There is an incident of one of Robert’s visits to Ross that is not too small to be worth recording. He had given his Gordon setter, Rose, to a friend who lived five miles away from Ross, and she had settled down with resignation to her new life. ”

“ Wellington.’ When Sir Robert Peel was called, in August 1841, to form a ministry on the defeat of the Melbourne administration, he at once named as his chancellor Lord Lyndhurst, with whom he had for years ‘been on the most confidential intercourse on political matters,’ and on whom, to use his own words, ‘he could confidently rely when real difficulties were to be encountered.’ Lyndhurst was now in his sixty-ninth year, but he was strong, and proved himself quite equal to the heavy work of his office. ”

“ The Duke of Wellington was prepared to have done so; Sir Robert Peel, however, was not. Lord Grey resumed office, and the Reform Bill passed without further opposition. Unlike his great rival and friend Brougham, Lyndhurst never rose to speak in the House of Lords unless he felt that his silence might be misconstrued or injure a good cause. He was always eagerly listened to. ”

“ Ladies and Gentlemen—I'm only going to talk to you just for a minute or so this evening. Because...
I have some very sad news for all of you, and I think sad news for all of our fellow citizens, and people who love peace all over the world, and that is that Martin Luther King was shot and was killed tonight in Memphis, Tennessee.
Martin Luther King dedicated his life to love and to justice between fellow human beings. He died in the cause of that effort. ”

“ The great development in both size and speed of modern ships enormously increases the responsibilities of those who command and navigate them, and has led to a careful examination of the existing modes of determining a ship’s position at all times by day or night, both when in sight of land and on the open ocean. ”

“ But it is surprising when we read of the progress made among the ancients in fixing positions on shore by practical astronomy that so many years should have passed without its application to solving exactly the same problems at sea, but this is probably to be explained by the difficulty of devising instruments for use on the unsteady platform of a ship, coupled with the lack of scientific education among those who would have to use them. ”

“ The causes of the changing errors of a compass in an iron ship are described elsewhere (see Compass) , but by making comparisons as above the navigator can at once ascertain what is termed the “total” error, and if he takes from that the portion of error due to the earth, or what is termed variation (known from a chart of such elements) , the remaining error is that caused by the iron of the ship, technically known as deviation. ”

“ Local or ship time can only be found with fair accuracy from calculations based on altitudes of heavenly bodies, when they are nearly east or west of the observer or technically on the prime vertical. Such times can be approximately seen from the azimuth diagrams or from tables of true bearings of heavenly bodies, and the error involved by uncertainty as to the position of the horizon can be greatly obviated in twilight or at night by taking the mean of results arising from nearly simultaneous observations of bodies bearing both east and west. ”

“ He gestured toward the man's cigarette, "Even so, man still instinctively fears fire—even while he uses it. In the case of tissue-regeneration, where the change took place so rapidly, in just a generation or so, that instinctive fear is even more understandable—although quite as unjustified, I assure you."
The doctor stood up, indicating that the session was ending. While his patient scrambled to his feet, hastily putting out his cigarette, the physician came around the desk. He put his hand on the man's shoulder, "Relax, take it easy—nothing to worry about. This is a wonderful age we live in. ”

“ The speed is ascertained from the indication of the patent log, the hand log being generally only used as a rough check on this. Wind direction and force are the result of estimation; as the speed and course of the ship so greatly affect the apparent direction and velocity no practical anemometer for use on board ship exists. Wind force is estimated in terms of what is known as the “Beaufort” scale, based on the supposed amount of sail a vessel could carry at the time. The height 0 the mercurial barometer is carefully read at the end of each watch, as also is the thermometer ”

“ All such methods are capable of considerable accuracy if the observations are made simultaneously. Should only a small number of objects, or sometimes only one, be visible (as frequently occurs at night) other and rougher methods are practised, depending upon the change of bearing of an object while a certain distance in a certain direction is traversed by the ship, such knowledge being based in many cases on an estimate of the action of the tide. ”

“ In 1556 Martin Cortes published at Seville Arte de navigar. He gives a good drawing of the cross-staff and astrolabe, also a table of the sun’s declination for four years (the greatest value being 23° 33′) , and a calendar of saints' days. The motions of the heavens are described according to the notions then prevalent, the earth being considered as fixed. He recommends the altitude of the pole being found frequently, as the estimated distance run was imperfect. He devised an instrument whereby to tell the hour, the direction of the ship’s head, and where the sun would set. ”

“ The second line of position, obtained when the sun's bearing has altered some 25°, is dealt with in a similar way, and the intersection of' the two lines so obtained gives the position of the ship at the time of second observation. This mode of procedure enables all observations, whether near or far from the meridian, to be similarly dealt with; in all cases the altitude the heavenly body should have is computed and compared with what it actually has. ”

“ The doctor smiled openly now, "Not at all, not at all. Things have moved pretty fast in the past few years. I suppose it takes people's emotional reactions a while to catch up with developments that, logically, we accept as matter of fact."
He pushed his chair back from the desk, "Maybe it's not too hard to understand. Take 'fire' for example: Man lived in fear of fire for a good many hundred-thousand years—and rightly so, because he hadn't learned to control it. The principle's the same; First you learn to protect yourself from a thing ”

“ With all this knowledge the earth is still considered as stationary-although Wright alludes to Copernicus, and says that he omitted to allow for parallax. Wright ascertained the declinations of thirty-two stars, and made many improvements or additions to the art of navigation, considering that all the problems could be performed trigonometric ally, without globe or chart. He devised sea rings for taking observations, and a sea quadrant to be used by two persons, which is in some respects similar to that by Davis. ”

“ He gives instructions for all kinds of sailings, for marine surveying and making Mercator’s chart. There are two good traverse tables, one to quarter points, the other to every 15 minutes of arc; the distance to each is 120 m. There is a table of meridional parts to minutes, which is more minute than customary. Book ix., upon what is now called “the day’s work,” or dead-reckoning, appears to embrace all that is necessary. A great many methods, we are told, were then used for measuring a ship’s rate of sailing, but among the English the log and line with a half-minute glass were generally used. ”

“ Directions are given for making a compass similar to those then in common use, also for ascertaining and allowing for the variation. The east is here spoken of as the principal point, and marked by a cross.
The third part of Martin Cortes’s work is upon charts; he laments that wise men do not produce some that are correct, and that pilots and mariners will use plane charts which are not true. In the Mediterranean and “Channel of Flanders” the want of good charts is (he says) less inconvenient, as they do not navigate by the altitude of the pole. ”

“ Such an instrument is of obvious value in ships where, owing to the small number of available men, it is difficult to maintain a continuous line of soundings. To avoid an unnecessarily wide détour in rounding points and shoals, extensive use is now made of both horizontal and vertical danger angles; the former is the angle on the arc of a horizontal circle passing through a point at the required distance from the danger, and through two previously selected, easily recognized, fixed objects. ”

“ Every day Martin grew more familiar with the sea, and loved it more, and it was his companion and playmate. He was bolder than the little restless sanderlings that ran and flitted before the advancing waves, and so never got their pretty white and grey plumage wet: often he would turn to meet the coming wave, and let it break round and rush past him, and then in a moment he would be standing knee-deep in the midst of a great sheet of dazzling white foam, until with a long hiss as it fled back, drawing the round pebbles with it, it would be gone, and he would laugh and shout with glee. ”

“ Martin waited, amazed at the clarity of Roberts’ words, amazed at this strange and powerful mind, still formidable. Again the adviser looked at him.
“Die?” he asked peevishly. Then more firmly, “No you won’t, darling. Unhappy men don’t die.... Could you give me your strong, brown arm without shuddering? It would mean a great deal to me.... I can see your strong, brown arm where there’s heat and dark, flashing clouds. It’s peeling a tangerine—cutting a fruit for lips as soft as the flesh in my spine—oh, wicked!... A dark girl’s belly—the cup for your mouth. Oh, God, Martin! ”

“ Then Martin got up and stared all round him at the wide landscape, and everything looked strange and dim and sorrowful. A shadow passed over the lake, and a murmur came up out of the rushes that was like a voice saying something that he could not understand. A great cry of pain rose from his heart and died to a whisper on his lips; he was awed into silence. Sinking down upon the grass again, he hid his face against the rosy-breasted bird and began to sob. How warm the dead bird felt against his cheek—oh, so warm—and it could not live and fly about with the others. ”

“ He enjoyed his work at the bank, where his cordiality and adeptness, his alert, receptive mind, were laying for him a strong foundation for a successful career.
He called often at the home of Isabel Souders, listened to her playing, made one in an occasional game of cards, escorted her to musicals and dramas. He played and talked and laughed with her, but he soon discovered that he could not interest her in any serious matter. At the mention of his work, beyond the merest superficialities, she lifted her hands and said in laughing tones, “Please, Martin, don’t talk shop! Father never does. ”

“ Martin knew an alternative in that purple morning. A gun—the shot—the quick flutter of his hand.
“No,” he whispered. “Too demure. Fruitful, but demure.”
Outside, the sun blended into trucks and the yapping noise of turning wheels. He dressed and went into the street, stopping at the nearest bar. And strangely, in all his tiredness and fear, arose the man as he had been—straight from the ocean, with clear eyes that had watched the sea so often, and with hand half-raised as though holding the helm of his ship. It was momentary; but the bartender stood looking at him quietly and with respect. ”

“ Martin drank in silence, and looked even more gloomy than usual. The whole winter he had been out of work. Tom Robson had lent him money, and that made him even more morose, for he was proud after his own fashion, and gratitude was not in his nature. ”