And it doesn't matter. For the great mass of
mankind the only saving grace that is needed is steady fidelity to what
is nearest to hand and heart in the short moment of each human effort. In
other and in greater words, what is needed is a sense of immediate duty,
and a feeling of impalpable constraint. Indeed, seamen and duty are all
the time inseparable companions. It has been suggested to me that this
sense of duty is not a patriotic sense or a religious sense, or even a
social sense in a seaman. I don't know. It seems to me that a seaman's
duty may be an unconscious compound of these three, something perhaps
smaller than either, but something much more definite for the simple mind
and more adapted to the humbleness of the seaman's task. It has been
suggested also to me that the impalpable constraint is put upon the
nature of a seaman by the Spirit of the Sea, which he serves with a dumb
and dogged devotion.
Those are fine words conveying a fine idea. But this I do know, that it
is very difficult to display a dogged devotion to a mere spirit, however
great. In everyday life ordinary men require something much more
material, effective, definite and symbolic on which to concentrate their
love and their devotion.
Pages:
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273
274
275
276
277