I Can Jump Puddles by Alan Marshall (1955)

I initially picked up this book knowing it was an Australian Classic but with little knowledge of its content. It had been on our bookshelf, unread for years, until a few months ago when it caught my eye and I decided to use it for our read aloud. It is a fictionalised autobiography of the author and has sold over three million copies.

In the early 1900's, not long after Alan Marshall had just started school, a polio epidemic swept through Victoria. Very little was known about Infantile Paralysis (poliomyelitis) at the time and the word 'Paralysis' was associated with idiocy. When it became known that Alan had been struck down with the disease, the first question many people asked was, "Have you heard if his mind is affected?"

After he contracted polio, Alan's legs were left paralysed. Not long afterwards, the muscles in his legs began to contract and the sinews behind his knees tightened,  forcing his legs into a kneeling position. It was decided that he needed surgery and so he was admitted to the hospital twenty miles away. 

Reading about a young boy's hospital experience in the early 1900's makes you realise and appreciate how much things have changed over the years. 

Alan was the only child in a ward full of adult males. Visiting hours were strict; parents were not allowed to stay with their children and not much was communicated to either patients or families about anything. Admission to hospital was a frightening enough experience for an adult, let alone a six year old boy.

After he had recovered from his surgery, Alan returned home. His parents didn't have enough money to buy a wheelchair so his father made him a long, three-wheeled vehicle out of an old perambulator and each morning he was pushed to school in the pram by the children who lived down the road. Once at school, he left his pram near the door and walked into the school on his crutches.

Children make no distinction between the one who is lame and the one who has the full  use of his limbs. They will ask a boy in crutches to run here or there for them and complain when he is slow.

Alan's father was a horse trainer and Alan had always wanted to be a horseman. After his illness his father explained to him that he could never ride - not until he was a man and could walk again - his legs could not grip and as he had to hold onto the pommel to keep his balance upon the horse, he had no control of the reins. 

I listened to him in silence. I did not believe what he said was true. I wondered that he believed it himself. He was always right; now for the first time he was wrong.

I had made up my mind to ride...

This book is not just the moving story of a little boy who defies and overcomes a major disability but it is also a picture of a period that has passed. In the preface to his book Marshall writes:

The men and women here described are a product of that period and they too are passing. The influences that made them self-reliant, forthright and compassionate, have given way to influences that can develop characters just as fine, but the mould has changed and the product is different.

One of the most memorable and inspiring features of the story was Alan's attitude to his 'disability.' As far as he was concerned, he didn't have one. 

Having a normal mind my attitude to life was that of a normal child and my crippled limbs could not alter this attitude. 

"That's the saddest darn song I've ever heard, but it should never have been sung in front of that kid here." He pointed a dramatic finger at me, shaking it in emphasis. "It's not the right song to sing in front of him." He turned and came towards me. "Don't you take any notice of it, Alan."

I was astonished at his outburst. I had not connected the song with myself...

"What's wrong with it?" Prince protested to Arthur. "That song's all right. Alan knows he's crippled, don't he? So do we."

Arthur stood up and leant across the table so that he could speak confidentially to Prince.

"That's where you're wrong, Prince; he don't know he's crippled. He raised an emphatic finger to support each word with a gesture. "He'll never know it if he lives to be a hundred."

This was an inspiring book to read. Both poignant and humorous, there are some beautifully written nuggets contained within its pages. One of my favourite passages is here, when Alan is taken out into the sunshine after his prolonged stay in hospital. 

Although Marshall wrote the book as an adult looking back on his childhood, he never lost the ability to see with the eyes of a child. My ten and fifteen year olds enjoyed this description of Alan's science lesson:

Once a week we were given a lesson called "Science." I liked this lesson because then we were allowed to stand round he table and you could push and shove and have fun.

Mr. Tucker opened the cupboard contains some test tubes, a spirit lamp, a bottle of Mercury and a leather disc with a piece of string attached to the centre. He placed these things on the table and said, "Today we are concerned with the weight of air which is fourteen pounds to the square inch."

This didn't make sense to me but the fact that I was standing beside Maggie Mulligan made me wish to shine so I proffered the information that my father had told me the fuller you are with air the lighter you are and you couldn't sink in the river. I thought this had some bearing on the subject...

The teacher was not impressed...

He then wet the leather disc and pressed it in the desk and none of us could pull it off except Maggie Mulligan who ripped the guts out if it with one tank and proved air didn't weigh anything.

I Can Jump Puddles used to be required reading in Australian schools but it has largely been forgotten and most of Marshall's books are out of print. It's surprising that a book that deals with overcoming disability, written by someone who has been such an inspiration to children and adults in many different parts of the world has been neglected, especially when we now have a greater awareness of the needs and rights of the disabled.

Alan Marshall was awarded the O.B.E. for his services to the physically handicapped in 1972 and died in 1984.

This article was written for the 100th anniversary of Alan Marshall's birth and I quote from it below:

"...I think sooner or later, the Education Department will once again promote his work as an example of not giving in to adversity. And I think that's one of the reasons he was universally accepted. You could take his story and present it to any people in any country, and they could identify with his struggle against his pain and suffering. He really made good.''

I Can Jump Puddles by Alan Marshall is my entry for 'A Forgotten Classic' in the Back to theClassics Challenge.

AusReading Month 2014 - For the Term of His Natural Life by Marcus Clarke

Originally written as a monthly installment in 1870-1872 under the title His Natural Life, Marcus Clarke's classic was later published as a book in 1874 with the title, For the Term of His Natural Life. Some of the characters and events in Clarke's book are based upon real people and actual events which help to portray a realistic picture of convict life in Van Dieman's Land.

The story centres around the injustices, blunders and futility of the English system of transportation, which was used as a method of punishment at the time, by telling the tale of one man as he serves his sentence.

Richard Devine, a young Englishman, allows himself to be convicted of a crime he did not commit in order to protect his mother's reputation.

Adopting the name Rufus Dawes, he gives up his true identity, and withholding information that would have gained his release, is sent to the Australian penal colony in Van Dieman's Land 'for the term of his natural life.'

Just under 500 pages long, the book is divided into four parts:

Book One: The Sea: 1827

The account of the sea journey from England where Rufus Dawes encounters the brutal lieutenant, Maurice Frere, his nemesis all through the story, and the lovely Sylvia, daughter of the Captain.

During the voyage a mutiny is planned by some of the the convicts and by chance the plot is overheard by Dawes who reports it to the Captain and the mutiny is squashed. However, the mutineers revenge themselves on Dawes by saying that he was the instigator of the plot.

Book Two: Macquarie Harbour: 1833

The mutineers' sentence is commuted to six years at the penal settlement of Macquarie Harbour on the desolate west coast of what is now Tasmania. Dawes is fettered and confined to a solitary area and attempts to kill himself by flinging himself into the sea. The shock of the ice cold water brings back his sense of self-preservation and a huge drifting log loosened from a nearby raft becomes his means of preservation. He gains land only to find the settlement has been abandoned and he is on his own.

But meanwhile there had been another mutiny and Dawes comes upon Lieutenant Frere, the Captain's wife and her daughter, Sylvia who had been abandoned by the prisoners. Dawes uses his knowledge and skills to keep them all alive and wins the affection of Sylvia who calls him, 'Good Mr. Dawes.' He eventually builds a vessel which enables them to escape but Sylvia falls into a delirium and is unable to recall what has happened and when they are picked up by an English vessel, Frere takes the credit for everything Dawes has done and Dawes is sent to Port Arthur to finish his sentence.

Book Three: Port Arthur: 1838

Sylvia, still unable to recall the part Dawes played in her deliverance and not knowing Frere's true character, agrees to marry him after a few years. Frere meanwhile lives under the constant threat of the truth being revealed and over time his brutal and crude nature come to the fore.

A group of convicts involved in the initial mutiny plan and execute another escape. One of them is John Rex who had once been employed by a man in England to discover the whereabouts of his stepson, who happened to be non other than Richard Devine. Rex had unravelled some of the mystery surrounding Dawes and  when he realises that he has found the missing stepson he plots to secure the fortune that was left to Devine upon the death of his stepfather.

Book Four: Norfolk Island: 1846

Rex escapes and finds his way to England. He impersonates Richard Devine, whom he greatly resembles, and lives in high style but his coarse ways and profligate life disgust Devines' mother who begins to doubt his legitimacy. Lady Devine confronts Rex and the mystery behind why her son allowed himself to be convicted in the first place is revealed. In a curious twist of fate Rex finds his own life so inextricably linked with the man he is trying to supplant.

Although For the Term of His Natural Life contains elements of Victorian melodrama and has some unbelievable twists and coincidences, Marcus Clarke drew upon official reports (documented in an appendix at the end of the book) to furnish his tale and spent time as a journalist in Tasmania studying the convict system.

The author's descriptions of the landscape are palpable. I've been to both Macquarie Harbour and Port Arthur a few times and I thought he captured the atmosphere of both places well.

For the Term of His Natural Life is an Australian Classic and I kept thinking that I should read it at some stage. I put it off because I thought it would be too depressing. It is bleak but it has an ebb and flow to it that kept me reading, waiting to see if 'Good Mr. Dawes' was going to get justice. The story reminded me in some ways of Uncle Tom's Cabin - but it was a long time ago that I read that book and it was very a different setting - perhaps it was the suffering the main characters endured.

Age suitability:

I'd definitely pre-read and even then it would be a book I'd only recommend for mature readers in late high school and I'd want to discuss some of the content with them. Besides the brutality and allusions to cannibalism, the two Ministers of Religion in the book are presented as 1) a Pharisaical type, shallow, self-serving and ineffectual  2) a man with a conscience and compassion but who struggles with a hidden addiction to alcohol and his love for a married woman. 

 The picture below is from an out of print hardback copy of the book which I own but the image of the book I put at the top of this post is of an edition of the book that is in print.
The book is available as a free Kindle version here.

I'm linking this post to Brona's Books:

Robbery Under Arms by Rolf Boldrewood - an Australian Classic

Robbery Under Arms is a ripping good yarn set in the mid 1850's in the colony of New South Wales and is narrated in the first person by a young man, Dick Marston, who tells his tale using the vernacular of the time.

Dick's father was a cattle duffer and he drew Dick and his younger brother Jim into his schemes, ignoring the objections and pleadings of his wife and daughter. After being involved in numerous escapades and criminal activities, Dick and his brother became fugitives, and Dick was eventually caught and imprisoned. He begins his story in a prison cell awaiting the day determined for his hanging.

...it's all up now; there's no get away this time; and I, Dick Marston, as strong as a bullock, as active as a rock wallaby, chock-full of life and spirits and health, have been tried for bush ranging - robbery under arms they call it - and though the blood runs through my veins like the water in the mountain creeks, and every bit of bone and sinew is as sound as the day I was born, I must die on the gallows this day month.

As he looks back on his life, Dick reminisces about his home life and family and the events leading up to his capture. From cattle stealing with his father, adventures with the swashbuckling Captain Starlight, the gold rush of the 1850's and bush ranging escapades, to humorous encounters and colourful characters, the story creates an authentic and vivid picture of colonial New South Wales and Western Victoria.

Everything seemed dead, silent, and solitary, and a rummier start than all, here we're we - three desperate men, driven to make ourselves a home in this lonesome, God-forsaken place! I wasn't very fanciful by that time, but if the devil had risen up to make a fourth amongst us I shouldn't have been surprised. The place, the time, and the men seemed regularly cut out for him and his mob.

I'd had this book for quite a few years but I'd put off reading it because I expected it to be a depressing colonial story. Sometimes Australian books set in this time period are a bit that way but I really enjoyed this one.

The background setting of the gold rush in a part of the story was very interesting and overall the book painted a wonderful picture of Australian life seen from the point of view of a working class lad, the son of a former convict. It would fit in well to a study of Australian History during the colonial time period and would be suitable for around ages 14 years and up.

The book is available for free at Project Gutenberg and this website has information on the goldfields of New South Wales:

http://www.goldtrails.com.au/html_files/explore/sofala-link-history.html