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July 29, 2008 | Permalink
One of the young men that was directly touched by Ballantyne's witness through literature was a young Robert Louis Stevenson. This young man was so impressed with the story of The Coral Island that he would later base portions of his famous book Treasure Island on themes found in Ballantyne's The Coral Island. In fact, he honored Ballantyne in the introduction to Treasure Island with the following poem:
Storm and adventure, heat and cold,
If schooners, islands, and maroons
And Buccaneers and buried Gold,
And all the old romance, retold
Exactly in the ancient way,
Can please, as me they pleased of old,
The wiser youngsters of to-day:
--So be it, and fall on! If not,
If studious youth no longer crave,
His ancient appetites forgot,
Kingston, or Ballantyne the brave,
Or cooper of the wind and wave:
So be it, also! And may I
And all my pirates share the grave
Were these and their creations lie!
-Robert Louis Stevenson Treasure Island
