The Twentieth Century 183 



him to the electrified platform where he danced when they turned on the 

 "juice"; and he let them heave him into the tank where the polar bears "did 

 their stuff." (p. 217) 



(William A. Maguire, chaplain. Rig for church. New York, 1942.) 



Reprinted with permission of Father Maguire's heirs and representative. 



1920 



H.M.S. Renown moved into the sultry waters of the tropics. Neptune came 

 on board, and he demanded the royal victim with glee. The good fellowship 

 of Osborne was called on now: Üie British capacity to grin through five 

 minutes of discomfort. The Prince was docile whue the courtiers of the 

 Equatorial king sang: 



Shave him and bash him. 



Duck him and splash him. 



Torture and smash him 



And don't let him go. 



The orders were carried out with brutal precision. 



(Hector Bolitho. King Edward VIII. His life and reign. London, 1937. 

 p. 101.) 



Reprinted with permission of Eyre & Spottiswoode, publishers. 



"And whereas in this our time, the minds of men are so diverse, that some 

 think it a great matter of conscience to depart from a piece of the least of their 

 Ceremonies, they be so addicted to their old customs; and again on the other 

 side, some be so new-fangled, that they would innovate all things, and so 

 despise the old, that nothing can like them, but that is new: . . ." 



Everybody knows that certain humorous ceremonies are associated with the 

 passage of the Equator, that "imagiaary line drawn round the earth equidistant 

 from the Poles." Nobody knows why, or whence the custom was derived. That 

 it is a very ancient custom is undoubted, though its association with the Line 

 in particular is comparatively modem, and cannot be older than the fifteenth 

 or sixteenth centmies. Such investigations as have been made into ancient 

 records have thoroughly estabhshed the fact that ceremonies similar to those 

 now practised in "Crossing the Line," were earlier observed in many other 

 parts of King Neptune's domains. The Straits of Gibralter, and the entrance 

 to the Baltic through the Sound, were long associated with ceremonial ob- 

 servances. In the old whaling days similar ceremonies were observed on 

 crossing the Arctic Circle. 



Such records as are available throw little hght upon the origin of these 

 ceremonies. There is evidence that, in the case of the Sound, not only were 

 "novices" initiated with amusing frolics ( much as now in "Crossing the Line" ) 

 but the ship herself had to pay a forfeit — which was presmnably spent in 



