Henty Essay Contest Winners

SECOND PLACE WINNER

Carter Butaud

LIFE LESSONS from G.A. HENTY

Colonel Alfred Adams leaned forward in his armchair, placing his glass of port carefully back on the handsome side table. Resting his chin upon his folded hands, he studied the problem in front of him. The polished surfaces of the gilded chess pieces reflected his knitted brow and thoughtful frown as he considered his next move. Looking across the table at his opponent he smiled to himself at the look on the young boy’s face. His thoughts were easy to read. He was wondering if this kindly old man had noticed the way in which he had left his queen open to attack. Alfred had noticed it, of course, as soon as Jack removed his hand from the piece. However, he was not the kind of player Jack was, who rushed ahead with whatever plan first entered his mind. He was a more deliberate, methodical man who took time to consider every option before moving on. Instead of taking the queen, Alfred moved his rook to the closest file to Jack. He noticed the look of relief on Jack’s face before he said, with a twinkle in his eye, “Checkmate”.

“What?!” said Jack. “How... but...why. No! Not again!”

Alfred chuckled at his theatrical dismay. “You’ve got to learn not to assume that the obvious thing is the right thing. Sometimes the best things are buried deep, like gold or silver.”

Jack sighed. “How did you get to be so good at chess, Colonel Adams? Do you have chess books that teach you or something?”

Alfred shook his head and smiled. “No, young man, I’ve just played for years and years. When you’re as old as me, you will probably be able to beat eleven year old kids too.”

By this time, Jack’s attention wandered away from the conversation to a perusal of the wonderful bookshelves Alfred’s study contained. He had started looking for chess books but at this point was just examining all of the books in the shelves. All of them were beautifully bound classics arranged in perfect order and were thus well worthy of his cognizance. Every important author, from Homer to Shakespeare, had his place on those shelves. But one immense set in particular drew Jack’s attention.

“Whoaaa! Colonel Adams, what is that set of books? There must be fifty of them there!”

Alfred walked over to the set, which was a little too high for Jack to reach, took a book down, and looked at the cover. “I see you have discovered my Henty set,” he said. “I consider these to be some of the most influential books on my shelf.”

“What are they about, Colonel Adams?” Jack asked curiously.

“What are they about? Well, Jack, they tell of young men, who lived in many different times in history. There are Henty stories which tell of men fighting to defend the Temple, young men who fought with the British in Africa, and men who fought during the Civil War.”

“How were they influential? What did they teach you?”

“They taught me all sorts of things. They taught me how to read better. They taught me how to write well. They taught history. But most of all, they taught me courage, honor, and duty.”

“How did they teach you all those things?”

“I think the best way to answer that question is to tell you a story. Is that all right with you?”

Jack nodded vigorously. Colonel Adams had told him stories about his life before, and they were usually very interesting and exciting. Jack went quickly back and sat in his chair, picking up his wine glass, which was filled with cranberry juice instead of wine. He and Colonel Adams liked to pretend that he was drinking wine because the juice looked like wine. As Jack was noisily draining his glass of “port”, Alfred sat down and sipped his own, preparing to tell the story.

“Now, I can’t tell you all of the ways these books have influenced me in one story, but I’ll tell you a few short episodes of my life. The first time I was really influenced by the Henty books was when I had just graduated from college. It was a time when our country was at war and all able young men were being drafted, which means that they were required to join the army. I really didn’t want to join the army and leave my life behind, and I decided to leave the country to avoid being drafted. As I was packing all of my belongings, I noticed one Henty book in particular. It was Bonny Prince Charlie. I remembered how the main character of that book, Ronald Leslie, had fought for Prince Charles even though he knew that there was little chance of his success. I felt ashamed to see how I was not doing my duty to my country, even though it was almost certain that she would succeed. I instantly changed my mind and the very next day I reported for duty.

“Then, after I had finished the training, which had been expedited because of the pressing war, I was assigned to a troop. I had heard that this particular troop’s captain was very experienced, and that he was very strict. I went to my first drill with the troop feeling rather uneasy. In fact, I was so nervous that I did rather poorly when given commands that should have been easy to carry out. Because of that, I was put on kitchen duty. I was pretty embarrassed at being reprimanded in front of all the other men. I was getting pretty mad, and I don’t think I would ever have respected that captain, even though he was one of the best. Then, I remembered how John in For the Temple had obeyed the orders of Josephus, even though he didn’t believe that it was a good idea to quarter all of the Jewish people in one city. I realized that I was not the most important person and that the captain obviously knew what he was doing or he would not have been made captain. I needed to honor him for his position of authority. And let me tell you, Jack, that understanding of honor served me well the rest of my life.

“Now, I’ll tell you my final story. Shortly after I joined the army, my troop was told that we would fight in the next battle. Most of the men were delighted with this news and I was more or less swept along in the excitement. But when the actual battle came and we were given the order to march forward, my legs began to quake. We were deployed in a forest and had the cover of trees to shoot from. We were doing well and I had begun to hope that the battle would be over and I would escape uninjured. Suddenly, one of my companions was shot and lay in the open, moaning in pain and unable to move to cover because of the bullet in his leg. I was in turmoil, trying to decide whether I should stay in safety or aid my friend and drag him to the tree. As I was agonizing over this, I recalled that Archie Forbes had the courage to risk his life again and again to protect his companions in In Freedom’s Cause. In a sudden burst of courage born of a renewed sense of duty, I rushed out to save my friend’s life. We both got back to the safety of my tree receiving no further injuries and from that time on I played a more courageous part in battles.”

“Do you think that reading the Henty books made you become a colonel?” wondered Jack aloud.

“I’m sure they helped me a lot on my way. Even twenty-first century boys and girls like you can learn about courage, honor, and duty from the writings of G. A. Henty.”

“Those must be some pretty good books. Can I borrow some of them, Colonel Adams? Because I want to be a colonel just like you when I grow up!”

“Sure you can, Jack,” Alfred replied. “Make sure you read them carefully and pay attention to the history as well as the fictional plot. Believe me, they will help you out a good deal in history class.”

“Oh, thank you Colonel Adams. I’ll be very careful with them and I’ll give them right back when I’m done.”

“I’m sure you will, Jack. Why don’t you come over again sometime? We can play some more chess and I can tell you another story.”

Jack got up and went over to the handsome French doors. “I will. Thank you again.”

Alfred watched with an amused smile on his face as Jack skipped gleefully over to his house next door. Then he turned back to his library and picked out another of the Henty books, sat down in his armchair, took up his port, and started reading.

ABOUT CARTER BUTAUD

Carter is fourteen, lives in Bothell, Washington, and attends Providence Classical Christian School. His interests include reading, writing, basketball, soccer, and language studies.

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