A reel in a bottle for Jack in the Doldrums

Front matter

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Preface

Doldrums is the name given by seamen to those parts of the ocean directly under the Equator, where they have neither North East nor South East trades, but baffling winds and calms. In the navigation of life all men fall into the Doldrum state some time or another. Too many persons, indeed, keep there a good part of their days, their sails seldom filled with the gales of the Spirit, and rarely, if ever, finding the trade- winds of success.

Now it may be well for all such, or for any others, whether on a tedious or quick navigation, to turn hither and try to make out how this reel got into the bottle, and how they can get it out, or wind off its lessons of wisdom. They will be sure to meet in these pages something to please, employ and profit them. They will find Peter and John genial companions, in whose society they can while away an hour, and be all the better for it.

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This unique manuscript of an Old Salt, practically experienced in the navigation described, we have made into a book for all that get into the Doldrums, land-lubbers as well as sailors, and whether at sea or on the land, for everywhere life has its Doldrums, on ship or shore. It is for all, indeed, upon the voyage of life, whether they meet with driving gales, or with baffling winds and calms. It has been put into the present Editor's hands to revise and correct for the press, and introduce to public notice, because while intended for readers at large, it was thought to be especially suitable for a contemplated series of volumes, constituting a Library for the Sea, Hence the pertinence of its name.

The Editor takes the liberty to say, whether it pleases the Author or not, that the Old Salt is no mere crabbed fellow that has lived on salt junk all his days, till his juices are all dried out of him. But his humor is rich and generous, and he seems to be well skilled in the Nautical Almanac used in the navigation here taught, while the language and imagery of the Sailor's Epitome, spiritually at least, seem as familiar to him as the images of things that lay about the home of our childhood. He has also kept the eye of his Christian voyagers on all passing events to windward, while themselves steering steadily by Compass and Chart, and looking at all things from their own standpoint in their Heavenly Epitome, the Living Word their only rule. Hence the value of their comments upon the various crafts found launched upon these tides, and the practical wisdom of their own maxims of navigation.

All the meaning couched under the various names and

PREFACE. VII

allusions may not be apprehended by every reader at a single perusal, but a second reading through, the glass of the Word will make it clear. To all the King's Sailors, on the Land or Lea, of the Old World and the New, with earnest wishes for their good, the book is now dedicated by the Editor.

New York, Nov. 1851. H. T. C.

THE OLD SALT'S PKEEACE

SECOND EDITION.

With the thanks of the Old Salt and his friendly Editor for the kind reception of their Book by the people, a word seems necessary in regard to the title, misapprehended in some quarters, and possibly operating as a scare-crow at a gate- way, to keep some persons from entering. As long ago as we can remember, the Reel in a Bottle was itself a standing allegory, the very presentation of a riddle. We believe that in the minds of ninety-nine tars out of a hundred, the phrase may be recognised as indicating a puzzle, if not synonymous with the very word. We never dreamed of A Reel in a Bottle suggesting to any imagination the phantasm of a dance among bottle-imps, any more than of a temperance tea-party. The title is simply another name for an English or a Chinese Puzzle, which, constructed in thought, imagery and language, instead of blocks, cards, or steel rings, may constitute what in this volume is endeavored to be realized, an instructive, thoughtful Allegory of Eternal Realities, and not merely a fanciful or amusing Dream. Our world, alas, is a dreaming world, in which they that are asleep act as if they were awake, and they that are awake too often seem to be asleep. It is also a world in which shadows are pursued as realities, and realities are treated as shadows. We wish to show, by shadows, the .substances that stand behind, and the Great Sun, whose realities alone causes all the difference between light and shade. May the Book continue to be blest of Him, whose grace alone can ever keep the soul of the Pilgrim, by land or sea, in the King's own Highway.

New York, April 17, 1852.

PRATER, PROVIDENCE, AND FAITH 290