It was not until some years had elapsed after the death of Edward Young,
that John Adams became _seriously_ impressed with the great
responsibility of his position.
In the year 1804 a son was born to him, whom he named George, whether
after the King of England or a relative of his own we are not prepared
to state. After the King very likely, for Adams, although a mutineer,
was a loyal subject at heart, and never ceased to condemn and deplore
the act of mutiny into which, after all, he had been surprised rather
than willingly led.
This infant, George, was the last of this first generation, and his
father was extremely proud and fond of him. Having already three
daughters, he seemed to have peculiar satisfaction in the advent of a
son; and having latterly acquired the habit of mingling a dash of
Scriptural language with his usual phraseology, he went about the first
day or two after the child's birth, murmuring, "I've gotten a man-child
from the Lord--a man-child, let's be thankful; an' a regular ship-shape,
trim little craft he is too."
There can be no doubt that the seaman's naturally serious mind became
more profoundly impressed with religion shortly after this event. A
dream which he appears to have had deepened his impressions. Like most
dreams, it was not in itself very definite or noteworthy, but we have no
doubt it was used as a means towards perfecting the good work which had
been already begun. At all events, it is certain that about this time
Adams began to understand the way of life more clearly, and to teach it
more zealously to the little community which was fast growing up around
him. The duties which he had undertaken to fulfil were now no longer
carried on merely because of his promise to Edward Young and a sense of
honour. While these motives did indeed continue to operate with all
their original force, he was now attracted to his labour out of regard
to the commands of God, and a strong desire for the welfare of the souls
committed to his charge.
Naturally he fell into one or two errors of judgment. Among other
things, he at first imagined that it was his duty to attempt the keeping
of all the Jewish festivals, and to institute a fast twice in the week.
These errors were, however, corrected by increased knowledge in the
course of time.
But it must not be supposed that this earnest searcher after truth
became ascetic or morose. Despite his mistakes, and the somewhat severe
discipline which he was thereby led to impose on himself and the
community, the effect on him and his large family of the Scriptures--
pure, unadulterated, and without note or comment--was to create love to
God, to intensify their love for each other, to render them anxious to
imitate the example and walk in the footsteps of Jesus, and to cause
them to _rejoice_ at all times. It was quite evident, ere long, that
the whole community had drunk deeply into the spirit of such passages in
the Word as these:--"Delight thyself in the Lord,"--"By love serve one
another,"--"Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say,
rejoice,"--"Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might, as
unto the Lord and not unto men,"--"Ask and ye shall receive, seek and ye
shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you,"--"Let each esteem
other better than himself."--"Whatsoever ye would that men should do
unto you, do ye even so to them."--"Love is the fulfilling of the
law,"--"Let not the sun go down upon your wrath."
The last text was a favourite one with Adams, who occasionally found
that even among the tractable and kindly troop he had to deal with, sin
was by no means extinct.
Do not suppose, good reader, that we are now attempting to depict a
species of exceptional innocence which never existed, an Arcadia which
never really had a local habitation. On the contrary, we are taking
pains to analyse the cause of a state of human goodness and felicity,
springing up in the midst of exceptionally unpromising circumstances,
which has no parallel, we think, in the history of mankind; which not
only did exist, but which, with modifications, does still exist, and has
been borne witness to through more than half a century by men of varied
and unquestionable authority, including merchant-skippers, discoverers,
travellers, captains and admirals in the Royal Navy. The point that we
wish to press is, not that the enviable condition of things we have
described is essentially true, but that this condition has been brought
about by the unaided Word of God; that Word which so many now-a-days
would fain underrate, but which for those who are taught by the Holy
Spirit is still the power of God unto salvation.
The hilarity of the Pitcairners increased rather than diminished as
their love for the Bible deepened. Fun and solemnity are not
necessarily, and never need be, antagonistic. Hand in hand these two
have walked the earth together since Adam and Eve bid each other
good-morning in the peaceful groves of Paradise. They are subject, no
doubt, to the universal laws which make it impossible for two things to
fill the same place at the same time, and they sometimes do get, as it
were, out of step, and jostle each other slightly, which calls forth a
gentle shake of the head from the one and a deprecatory smile from the
other; but they seldom disagree, and never fight.
Thus it came to pass that though John Adams, as time went on, read more
than ever of the Bible to his audiences, and dilated much on the
parables, he did not dismiss Robinson Crusoe, or expel Gulliver, or put
a stop to blind-man's-buff. On the contrary, waxing courageous under
the influence of success, he cast off his moorings from the skeletons of
the stories to which he had at first timidly attached himself, and
crowding all sail alow and aloft, swept out into the unexplored seas of
pure, unadulterated, and outrageous fiction of his own invention.
"Them's the stories for me," Daniel McCoy was wont to say, when
commenting on this subject. "Truth is all very well in its way, you
know, but it's a great bother when you've got to stick to it; of course
I mean when story-tellin'."
Neither John Adams nor his pupils knew at that time, though doubtless
their descendants have learned long ere now, that after all truth is in
very deed stranger than fiction.
As time passed changes more or less momentous occurred in the lonely
island. True, none of those convulsions which rack and overturn the
larger communities of men on earth visited that favoured spot; but
forces of Nature were being slowly yet surely developed, which began to
tell with considerable effect on the people of Pitcairn.
They were not, however, much troubled by the ills that flesh is heir to.
Leading, as they did, natural and healthy lives, eating simple and to a
large extent vegetable fare, and knowing nothing of the abominations of
tobacco or strong drink, their maladies were few and seldom fatal.
John Adams himself had the constitution of a horse. Nevertheless, he
was troubled now and then with a bad tooth, and once had a regular
attack of raging toothache. As none of the people had ever even heard
of this malady, they were much alarmed and not a little solemnised by
its effects on their chief.
Walking up and down the floor of his house, holding his afflicted jaw
with both hands, the poor man endeavoured to endure it with fortitude;
but when the quivering nerve began, as it were, to dance a hornpipe
inside of his tooth, irrepressible groans burst from him and awed the
community.
"Is it _very_ bad, John?" asked his sympathetic wife, who was cleaning
up the house at the time.
"Ho-o-o-rible!" answered John.
"I'm _very_ sorry, John," said the wife.
"Oh-o-o-o-oh!" groaned the husband.
When it became known in the village that Adams was suffering from some
mysterious complaint that nearly drove him mad, two or three of the
children, unable to restrain their curiosity, ran to his house and
peeped in at the open door and windows. The sufferer either disregarded
or did not see them.
In a few minutes the poor man's steps became more frantic, and another
groan burst from him. Then he stopped in the middle of the room,
uttered a deep growl, and stamped.
At this the heads of the peeping children disappeared. They gazed at
each other in solemn wonder. They had never seen the like of this
before. To stamp on the floor without an apparent reason, and without
being done in fun, was beyond their comprehension.
"Where's the tool-box, lass?" gasped Adams suddenly.
His helpmate brought to him an old hand-box for nails and small tools,
which had once done service in the _Bounty_.
With eager haste Adams selected a pair of pincers, and, seizing his
tooth therewith, he began to twist.
At the same time his features began to screw up into an expression of
agony.
"Howgh!" he exclaimed, between a gasp and a short roar, as the pincers
slipped. And no wonder, for it was a three-fanged grinder of the
largest size, situate in the remote backwoods of the under jaw.
He tried again, and again failed. Then a third time, and then
discovered that, up to a certain point, his will was free to act, but
that beyond that point, the agony was so intense that the muscles of the
hand and arm refused to act responsive to the will. In other
circumstances he might have moralised on this curious fact. As it was
he only moaned aloud. Two of the children, of peculiarly sympathetic
natures, echoed the moan unintentionally. They immediately vanished,
but soon peeped up again in irresistible curiosity.
"Old 'ooman," said Adams, "this is out o' sight the worst fit as ever I
had. Just fetch me a bit of that small strong cord out o' the cupboard
there."
Mrs Adams did as she was bid, and her husband, making a sailor-like
loop on it, fastened the same round his tooth, which was not difficult,
for the evil grinder stood unsupported and isolated in the jaw.
"Now," said her husband, "you take hold o' the end o' this and haul;
haul hard,--don't be afraid."
Mrs Adams felt nervous, and remonstrated, but being persuaded after a
time to try again, she gave a vigorous pull, which drew from the unhappy
man a terrible yell, but did not draw the tooth.
"This'll never do," groaned John, feeling the rebellious molar with his
finger; "it's as firm as a copper bolt yet. Come, wife, I'll try
another plan. You go outside that door an' do what I bid you. Mind,
never you heed what it means; you just obey orders exactly."
It was not necessary thus to caution poor tractable Mrs Adams. She
went outside the door as bid.
"Now, then," said her husband, "when I cry, `Pull,' you shut the door
with all your might--with a bang. D'ye hear?"
"Yes," replied the wife, faintly.
Fastening the cord once more round the tooth, the wretched sailor
attached the other end to the handle of the door, and retiring till
there was only about eight inches or a foot of "slack" cord left, stood
up and drew a long breath. The glaring children also drew long breaths.
One very small one, who had been lifted on to the window-sill by an
amiable companion, lay there on his breast visibly affected by alarm.
"Shut the door!" cried Adams.
There was a tremendous bang, followed by an instantaneous yell. The
children jumped nearly out of their own skins, and the little one on the
window-sill fell flat on the ground in speechless horror; but the tooth
was not yet out. The cord had slipped again.
"This is becomin' terrible," said Adams, with a solemn look. "I'll tell
'ee what, lass; you run round to the smiddy an' tell Thursday that I
want him d'rectly, an' look alive, old girl."
Mrs Adams hastened out, and scattering the children, soon returned with
the desired youth.
And a most respectable youth had Thursday October Christian become at
that time. He was over six feet high, though not quite sixteen years of
age, with a breadth of shoulder and depth of chest that would have
befitted a man of six-and-twenty. He had no beard, but he possessed a
deep bass voice, which more than satisfied John Adams's oft-expressed
wish of earlier days to hear the "sound of a man."
"Toc," said Adams, holding his jaw with one hand and the pincers in the
other, "I've got a most astoundin' fit o' the toothache, and _must_ git
rid o' this grinder; but it's an awful one to hold on. I've tried it
three times myself wi' them pincers, an' my old 'ooman has tried it wi'
this here cable--once with her fist an' once wi' the door as a sort o'
capstan; but it's still hard an' fast, like the sheet-anchor of a
seventy-four. Now, Toc, my lad, you're a stout young chap for your age.
Just you take them pincers, lay hold o' the rascally thing, an' haul
him out. Don't be afeared. He _must_ come if you only heave with a
will."
"What, father, do you mean that I'm to lay hold o' that tooth wi' them
pincers an' wrench it bodily out of your head?"
"That's just about what I do mean, Toc," returned Adams, with a grim
smile. "Moreover, I want you to make no bungle of it. Don't let your
narves come into play. Just take a grip like a brave man, heave away
wi' the force of a windlass, an' don't stop for my yellin'."
Thus adjured, Thursday October took the pincers, and gazed with a look
of great anxiety into the cavernous mouth that Adams opened to his view.
"Which one is it, father, asked Toc," rolling up his shirt sleeves to
the shoulder and displaying arms worthy of Vulcan.
"Man alive! don't you see it? The one furthest aft, with a black hole
in it big enough a'most to stuff my George into."
Thursday applied the pincers gently. Adams, unable to use clear speech
in the circumstances, said chokingly, "'At's 'e un--'ool away!" which,
interpreted, is, "That's the one--pull away."
Toc pulled, Adams roared, the children quaked, and the pincers slipped.
"Oh, Toc, Toc!" cried Adams, with a remonstrative look, such as martyrs
are said to give when their heads are not properly cut off; "is that all
you can do with your big strong arms? Fie, man, fie!"
This disparaging reference to his strength put poor Thursday on his
mettle.
"I'll try again, father," he said.
"Well, do; an' see you make a better job of it this time."
The powerful youth got hold of the tooth a second time, and gave it a
terrible wrench. Adams roared like a bull of Bashan, but Toc's heart
was hardened now; he wrenched again--a long, strong, and steady pull.
The martyr howled as if his spinal marrow were being extracted. Toc
suddenly staggered back; his arm flew up, displaying a bloody tooth with
three enormous fangs. The "old 'ooman" shrieked, the child on the
window-sill fell again therefrom in convulsions, and the others fled
panic-struck into the woods, where they displayed their imitative
tendencies and relieved their feelings by tearing up wild shrubs by the
roots, amid yells and roars of agony, during the remainder of the day.