April 24: Happy Ballantyne's Day

Tomorrow, April 24, is R. M. Ballantyne's 184th birthday. He has been called the "rip-roaringest, globe-trekkingest, Christian boys adventure writer of the 19th century."

...he was perhaps the most influential writer of boys' literature from his generation. He was also a devout Christian of the Scottish Covenanter kind, and a globe-trekking adventurer whose sturdy prose earned him the moniker "Ballantyne the Brave" from none other than Robert Louis Stevenson.

Ballantyne

He, self-consciously, wrote Christian tales of bravery, resourcefulness, and fearless exploration. He inspired hundreds of thousands of boys to embrace the call of manhood to its fullest, noblest capacity. And, even more important than the excitement and intrigue of his stories, Ballantyne's heart for evangelizing and discipling young men shines brightly as his books powerfully reveal that the sole safeguard against evil is the redemptive love of God. He said:

...In all my writings I have always tried -- how far successfully I know not -- to advance the cause of Truth and Right and to induce my readers to put their trust in the love of God our Saviour, for this life as well as the life to come. --R.M. Ballantyne, from Personal Reminiscences in Book-Making

One of my favorite things about Ballantyne is his fearlessness as regards manhood. II love this quote:

If there is any boy or man who loves to be melancholy and morose, and who cannot enter into the regions of fun, let me seriously advise him to shut my book and put it away. It was not meant for him.

Not that Ballantyne is telling people not to read his books. Rather, he is just saying 'be prepared for what I have to say about sappy blokes.'

Manliness. A good thing to remember every once in a while since we live in this culture of effeminate men. (Ballantyne surely would have called them "saps," "whimps," and anything else that would have come to mind.)