Honoring the astonishing Mr. Gould
It鈥檚 only fitting, in celebrating the 80th anniversary of a consummate storyteller鈥檚 first appearance in 海角大神, that I begin with a story.
I鈥檇 been editor of The Home Forum for 18 months. John Gould was in the 56th year of what would be a 61-year run. 鈥淭his can鈥檛 be right,鈥� I said as I read Mr. Gould鈥檚 latest offering. It had arrived by mail, manually typed with a faded ribbon and double-spaced. The pages were dotted with proofreader鈥檚 marks, as befitted the former editor of a small-town newspaper. Deletions and insertions had been made in pen. It was ordinary, in other words, professional and clear. But the story it told was another matter.
You can read the essay for yourself, if you like, by visiting the our recently published 鈥�John Gould Sampler.鈥� For those of you impatient to know, however, I will summarize (spoiler alert!):聽
It鈥檚 the summer of 1918. Ten-year-old John Gould and his buddies are playing baseball on a field by the railroad tracks. Every day at 4:30, a slow work train passes, sometimes hauling a deadhead Pullman car from the Boston-to-Halifax train. A porter often stands on the stairs of the car鈥檚 open vestibule. On this particular day, the train鈥檚 passage coincides with a soft line drive that arcs toward the train. Incredibly 鈥� and here I start shaking my head 鈥� the porter catches it. He holds it up and waves to the boys as train, porter, and their only baseball recede.
But that鈥檚 not all.聽
Two weeks pass. Same buddies playing ball, same 4:30 train, same porter standing on the stairs. This time he waves and tosses something toward the players as the train passes: It鈥檚 a baseball. 聽
In Mr. Gould鈥檚 words, 鈥淭he baseball was unblemished, except it had the autographs of all the first-string players of the American League Boston Red Sox.鈥� Including, yes, George Herman Ruth.聽
Enough, I thought, and I called Mr. Gould. Surely this is a tad 鈥� embellished? I said. Mr. Gould was pleasant but insistent. That鈥檚 what happened, he said, offering to put me in touch with the lad, now advanced in years, who鈥檇 ended up with that autographed baseball.聽
I worked with Mr. Gould for the rest of his life, and he continued to astonish me. It turned out Mr. Gould had known not one, but two veterans of the Battle of Gettysburg. He wrote speeches for Sen. Margaret Chase Smith of Maine, and the U.S. State Department sent him on a fact-finding tour of postwar Germany. He wrote bestsellers, appeared on a TV game show, and, oh yeah, taught Stephen King all about writing 鈥� according to Mr. King himself. And on and on.聽
On top of all that, he welcomed, engaged, entertained, gently persuaded, and won the hearts of generations of Monitor readers, which is why we鈥檙e celebrating him now, 80 years after his first publication in the Monitor, in our weekly print issue鈥檚 special edition of The Home Forum and also online.聽
And the baseball story? Given the rest of Mr. Gould鈥檚 eventful life, it doesn鈥檛 seem so far-fetched. More to the point, it鈥檚 a great story, it鈥檚 too late to fact-check, and if it isn鈥檛 true, it should be.
